Toxic effect of chalkones and antitoxic role of ascorbic acid

One of the chalkones synthesised in the author's laboratory was selected to determine its toxicity to fish, Lepidocephalicthys thermalis at different concentrations and time periods. Ascorbic acid contents were determined and it was found to be antitoxic

Managing Flood Flows for Crop Production Risk Management with Hydraulic and GIS Modeling: Case study of Agricultural Areas in Shariatpur

AbstractShariatpur District, under Dhaka division with an area of 1181.53 sq km, is mainly surrounded by the two big rivers, the Padma at north and the Meghna at eastern side. Also, the Arial Khan River is located at the south western side of the district. When the Padma and the Meghna Rivers attain peak flood levels simultaneously, this district faces devastating floods. These floods have a destructive effect on agriculture especially on Aman (June- September) variety at optimum level of flood depth but also have a positive impact on next year's Boro (December- march) production due to sedimentation by the previous year's flood. So there is a scope of managing flood flows which ensures the optimum level of flood depth that promotes the crop production risk management. The present study provides a method for flood management aiming to crop production risk management. In this study, inundation maps have been produced using hydrodynamic model HEC-RAS and HEC-GeoRAS extension of ArcGIS9.2. Then calculation of optimal flood depth for crop production risk management has been done using some sophisticated statistical analysis. Finally, volume of water above the optimal flood depth has been calculated using GIS model with ArcGIS 9.2 and based on this, proposed some ways of flood flows management which ensure the crop production risk management. The study findings show that, the optimal flood depth is 1.85m (msl) in where Boro production would be safe and Aman production would face about 200 ton/yr loss, we can called this condition as crop production as farmers get more return from Boro variety. This study also find two equations that provide estimation of Mawa discharge depending on two upstream stations (Hardings Bridge and Bahadurabad Ghat) and targeted discharge of Mawa that needs to release from Mawa to the study area for ensuring the optimum flood depth

A proposed minimum skill set for university graduates to meet the informatics needs and challenges of the "-omics" era

10.1186/1471-2164-10-S3-S36BMC Genomics10SUPPL. 3BGME

The Possible Share of Soft/Decentralized Renewables in Meeting the Future Energy Demands of Developing Regions

An assessment is made of the maximum size of the share of soft/decentralized technologies based on renewable energy sources that could meet the energy demands of the developing world regions, 20 to 50 years from now, if a policy strongly in favor of such renewables were pursued in the coming years. Promising technologies with favorable cost economics and possibilities of large-scale application in urban and rural environments have been identified. The possible role of each such technology in meeting the future energy requirements of the developing regions has been analyzed in the light of the detailed energy demand projections made for different world regions by the Energy Systems Program Group of IIASA. It is concluded that the soft/decentralized technologies based on renewables may be invoked to meet as much as 15% of the commercial final energy demand of the developing regions by 2030

APBioNet-Transforming Bioinformatics in the Asia-Pacific Region

10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003317PLoS Computational Biology910

Evolution of Future Energy Demands till 2030 in Different World Regions: An Assessment Made for the Two IIASA Scenarios

An assessment is made of the evolution of energy demand in different world regions over the next five decades using an energy demand model called MEDEE-2. The 1975 pattern of energy consumption in each region is analyzed in terms of useful and final energy requirements of a large number of activities in three broad sectors of the economy: industry, transportation, households/services. Projections of useful and final energy demand to the years 2000 and 2030 are obtained by considering a plausible evolution of these activities together with feasible improvements in technological factors and likely changes in lifestyles. The detailed scenario assumptions underlying these projections are spelled out and the rationale behind these assumptions is explained. The extent of energy conservation embodied in these projections is elaborated and the shares of various energy forms in the projected sectoral energy demand trajectories are discussed. The assessment shows an increase in the final energy demand of the market-economy developing world regions by a factor of 7-12 between 1975 and 2030, and a corresponding increase in the developed world regions by a factor of 1.8-2.6. The final energy demand levels projected in various world regions for the year 2030 are about 20-50 percent lower than those expected on the basis of historical final energy-to-GDP elasticities of the 1950-1975 period

Applicable anode based on Co3O4–SrCO3 heterostructure nanorods-incorporated CNFs with low-onset potential for DUFCs

Besides the high-current density, lower onset potential of urea electrooxidation is key parameter which influences the direct urea fuel cell performance. In the present article, low-onset potential has been reported for nickel-free (NF) electrocatalyst in urea electrooxidation. The nickel-free electrocatalyst: Co3O4–SrCO3 heterostructure nanorods-incorporated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were synthesized by electrospinning technique, followed by calcination of electrospun mat composed of strontium acetate, cobalt acetate, and poly(vinyl alcohol) sol–gel in inert environment at 750 °C. Physiochemical characterizations confirmed the formation of Co3O4–SrCO3 heterostructure nanorods-incorporated CNFs. The electrochemical activity of resultant nickel-free electrocatalyst toward the electrooxidation of urea in alkaline medium is evaluated using cyclic voltammetry measurements (CV). Co3O4–SrCO3 heterostructure nanorods-incorporated CNFs reveals high-current density of 21.33 mA/cm2 at low-fuel concentration. Notably, the low-onset potential has been observed, showing a good application prospect in direct urea fuel cells.This Publication was made possible by NPRP grant # [8-1344-1-246] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The findings achieved herein are solely the responsibility of authors

Probing the isovector transition strength of the low-lying nuclear excitations induced by inverse kinematics proton scattering

A compact approach based on the folding model is suggested for the determination of the isoscalar and isovector transition strengths of the low-lying ($\Delta S=\Delta T=0$) excitations induced by inelastic proton scattering measured with exotic beams. Our analysis of the recently measured inelastic $^{18,20}$O+p scattering data at $E_{\rm lab}=30$ and 43 MeV/nucleon has given for the first time an accurate estimate of the isoscalar $\beta_0$ and isovector $\beta_1$ deformation parameters (which cannot be determined from the (p,p') data alone by standard methods) for 2$^+_1$ and $3^-_1$ excited states in $^{18,20}$O. Quite strong isovector mixing was found in the 2$^+_1$ inelastic $^{20}$O+p scattering channel, where the strength of the isovector form factor $F_1$ (prototype of the Lane potential) corresponds to a $\beta_1$ value almost 3 times larger than $\beta_0$ and a ratio of nuclear transition matrix elements $M_n/M_p\simeq 4.2$.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure