മത്സ്യബന്ധനത്തിനുളള വിവിധതരം ട്രോള്‍ വലകള്‍ (Different kinds of trawl nets for power fishing)

Trawl net is a bag-shaped gear towed through water, the mouth of which is kept open either by a frame or beam or otter boards and floats or kites and sinkers or weight. Sometimes the opening is effected by dragging the net with two boats

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE EXPERIENCE OF COLLECTIVE FARMING BY KUDUMBASHREE IN KERALAM, INDIA

One of the most alarming impacts of development experienced by Third world economies in the contemporary era of globalization is the fast depletion of agricultural land. This is especially so in countries in the Third world where the rapidly increasing population and unplanned growth of economies have decreased the size of croplands to highly threatened levels. There has also been a significant shift in the meaning of land in several of these locations to being an object that can be sold and bought like any other commodity. Looking at it from a wider perspective one can vividly see that all harmful impacts – ranging from shortage of food production to global warming – of development have basically arisen from the shifts in the meaning and uses of land. The context of Keralam in South India is not an exemption from these trends, where, in fact, they have more intense connotations due to the small size of its geography and the heavy density of population – high even by the standards of developing economies. The state, once known for high levels of social development, has switched its focus towards economic development from mid 1990s. This has resulted in a real estate boom in the state where there is a huge demand for land for the purposes of erecting shopping malls, residential complexes and so on. One dangerous outcome of this was that most of the land thus sold was fertile paddy fields, which play a central role in ground water conservation as well as in sustaining its rich biodiversity. The changing equations over land and its utility have considerably contributed to the changing ecological balances within the region. The need to reinvent sustainable forms of development specific to the conditions of the state was felt acutely amidst such transformations. There was a sudden demand to reinvent the productive capacity of land, especially paddy fields, in the state by both involving more people in this area as well as by resuming farming in land that otherwise remain fallow waiting for real estate agents. Kudumbasree was an organization that commenced its operations in the State in 1998 with the intention of engaging in women empowerment and poverty alleviation programmes. Its successful career has motivated its workers, basically housewives and women from different walks, to focus on non-traditional sectors in the state. As part of this, Kudumbashree started to intervene in the agriculture sector in 2002 with the objective of ensuring sustainable livelihood to poor families by bringing back fallow land to cultivation and women to agriculture. This was the context against which the idea of collective farming was introduced by the organisation. This not only ensured a new, albeit unconventional, and sustainable source of livelihood for women in the community but also has been considerably contributing to food and nutritional security of the state. This has literally revolutionized the development concepts in the society where women empowerment and livelihood programmes were combined to reinvent the idea of sustainability

Sustainable Livelihood and Sustainable Development: the Experience of Collective Farming by Kudumbashree in Keralam, India

One of the most alarming impacts of development experienced by Third world economies in the contemporary era of globalization is the fast depletion of agricultural land. This is especially so in countries in the Third world where the rapidly increasing population and unplanned growth of economies have decreased the size of croplands to highly threatened levels. There has also been a significant shift in the meaning of land in several of these locations to being an object that can be sold and bought like any other commodity. One dangerous outcome of this was that most of the land thus sold was fertile paddy fields, which play a central role in ground water conservation as well as in sustaining its rich biodiversity. The changing equations over land and its utility have considerably contributed to the changing ecological balances within the region. The need to reinvent sustainable forms of development specific to the conditions of the state was felt acutely amidst such transformations. There was a sudden demand to reinvent the productive capacity of land, especially paddy fields, in the state by both involving more people in this area as well as by resuming farming in land that otherwise remain fallow waiting for real estate agents. Kudumbasree was an organization that commenced its operations in the State in 1998 with the intention of engaging in women empowerment and poverty alleviation programmes. Its successful career has motivated its workers, basically housewives and women from different walks, to focus on non-traditional sectors in the state. As part of this, Kudumbashree started to intervene in the agriculture sector in 2002 with the objective of ensuring sustainable livelihood to poor families by bringing back fallow land to cultivation and women to agriculture. This was the context against which the idea of collective farming was introduced by the organisation. This not only ensured a new, albeit unconventional, and sustainable source of livelihood for women in the community but also has been considerably contributing to food and nutritional security of the state. This has literally revolutionized the development concepts in the society where women empowerment and livelihood programmes were combined to reinvent the idea of sustainability

Mass fluctuation kinetics: analysis and computation of equilibria and local dynamics

The mass fluctuation kinetics (MFK) model is a set of coupled ordinary differential equations approximating the time evolution of means and covariances of species concentrations in chemical reaction networks. It generalises classical mass action kinetics (MAK), in which fluctuations around the mean are ignored. MFK may be used to approximate stochasticity in system trajectories when stochastic simulation methods are prohibitively expensive computationally. This study presents a set of tools to aid in the analysis of systems within the MFK framework. A closed-form expression for the MFK Jacobian matrix is derived. This expression facilitates the computation of MFK equilibria and the characterisation of the dynamics of small deviations from the equilibria (i.e. local dynamics). Software developed in MATLAB to analyse systems within the MFK framework is also presented. The authors outline a homotopy continuation method that employs the Jacobian for bifurcation analysis, that is, to generate a locus of steady-state Jacobian eigenvalues corresponding to changing a chosen MFK parameter such as system volume or a rate constant. This method is applied to study the effect of small-volume stochasticity on local dynamics at equilibria in a pair of example systems, namely the formation and dissociation of an enzyme-substrate complex and a genetic oscillator. For both systems, this study reveals volume regimes where MFK provides a quantitatively and/or qualitatively correct description of system behaviour, and regimes where the MFK approximation is inaccurate. Moreover, our analysis provides evidence that decreasing volume from the MAK regime (infinite volume) has a destabilising effect on system dynamics

Alternative mechanisms of structuring biomembranes: Self-assembly vs. self-organization

We study two mechanisms for the formation of protein patterns near membranes of living cells by mathematical modelling. Self-assembly of protein domains by electrostatic lipid-protein interactions is contrasted with self-organization due to a nonequilibrium biochemical reaction cycle of proteins near the membrane. While both processes lead eventually to quite similar patterns, their evolution occurs on very different length and time scales. Self-assembly produces periodic protein patterns on a spatial scale below 0.1 micron in a few seconds followed by extremely slow coarsening, whereas self-organization results in a pattern wavelength comparable to the typical cell size of 100 micron within a few minutes suggesting different biological functions for the two processes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Plant Traits in Fig as Indicators of Resistance to Shoot Borer, Dyscerus? Fletcheri Marshall (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

A comparative study was conducted on fig (Ficus carica L.) cultivars Deanna and Poona to test whether antixenosis due to plant traits was at least partially responsible for a differential susceptibility to the shoot boring curculionid weevil, Dyscerus? fletcheri. Field evaluation revealed significant difference in borer incidence in cvs. Poona (6.25%) and Deanna (75%). Further, traits of plant architecture such as number of primary/ secondary/ terminal shoots, plant vigour and density of terminal shoots were significantly higher in cv. Deanna, which was highly susceptible to shoot borer. However, latex-flow index was significantly higher in cv. Poona that was resistant to the borer. A step-wise multiple regression analysis revealed that the tested plant traits explained 60% of the total variation in stem borer infestation (y=-0.96-0.02x1+0.23x2-0.03x3+0.24x4+1.28x5-1.31x6, R2=0.60) in the susceptible cultivar, Deanna. Role of these traits in preference/non-preference of D. fletcheri for a cultivar is discussed

Blood-brain barrier-associated pericytes internalize and clear aggregated amyloid-β42 by LRP1-dependent apolipoprotein E isoform-specific mechanism

Table S1. Demographic and clinical features of human subjects used in this study. Figure S1. Aβ deposition in microvessels in AD patients and APPSw/0 mice. Figure S2. Biochemical analysis of Aβ42 aggregates. Figure S3. Cy3-Aβ42 cellular uptake in wild type mouse brain slices within 30 min. Figure S4. Pericyte coverages in Lrp1lox/lox and Lrp1lox/lox; Cspg4-Cre mice. Figure S5.. LRP1 and apoE suppression with siRNA. (DOCX 1454 kb

Electrophoretic patterns of sarcoplasmic proteins in carangid fishes

The present paper reports muscle myogen patterns of four species of carangids, viz. Decapterus russelli, D. macrosoma, Selar crumenophthalmus and Megalaspis cordyla using horizontal slab polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The number of protein fractions (presumptive loci) in the muscle of D. russelli, D. macrosoma, S. crumenophthalmus and M. cordyla were found to be 9, 7, 6 and 5, respectively. The Rf value ranged from 21 to 84 in S. crumenophthalmus, 2 to 72 in M. cordyla, 15 to 89 in D. macrosoma and 18 to 96 in D. russelli. The difference in number of fractions, their mobility pattern and staining indicated species-specificity. With the limited number of samples used in our study, there has been an indication of intraspecific polymorphism among three species of carangids, being 3.5% in D. russelli, 13.5% in D. macrosoma and 6.6% in S. crumenophthalmus. M. cordyla showed no intraspecific polymorphism. The study reveals that protein fractions in carangids can be used as species-specific markers, which could be helpful in resolving disputes in the event of any taxonomic ambiguit

Chemopreventive Potential of Synergy1 and Soybean in Reducing Azoxymethane-Induced Aberrant Crypt Foci in Fisher 344 Male Rats

Synergy1, a prebiotic composed of Inulin and Oligofructose (1 : 1). Soybean meal is a natural source of isoflavones. The objective was to investigate the effects of feeding Synergy1 and SM on the incidence of azoxymethane- (AOM-) induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in Fisher 344 male rats. Rats (54) were randomly assigned to 9 groups (n = 6). Control group (C) was fed AIN-93G and treatment groups Syn1 and SM at 5% and 10% singly and in combinations. Rats were injected with two s/c injections of AOM at 7 and 8 weeks of age at 16 mg/kg body weight and killed at 17 weeks by CO2 asphyxiation. Colonic ACF enumeration and hepatic enzyme activities were measured. Reductions (%) in total ACF among treatment groups fed combinations were higher (67–77) compared to groups fed singly (52–64). Synergistic mechanisms among phytochemicals may be responsible suggesting protective role in colon carcinogenesis with implications in food product development