Price trend and integration of wholesale markets for onion in metro cities of India

Availability of market intelligence on various aspects like the potential markets, quantity arrived and prevailing and expected prices in different regions during different months of the year are important in mitigating many of market related problems. Study reveals that there was high variability in the arrival of onion in the month of March and April in selected markets. Among the markets, the coefficient of variation in both arrivals and prices were found to be higher in Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The zero order correlation matrix between two markets average wholesale prices of onion indicated the high integration among the selected markets except Ahmedabad with Mumbai market. This might be due to the movement of produce from one market area to another depending upon price prevailed in the markets. The competitive conditions prevailing in the selected markets might have influenced the movement of prices in the same direction. The magnitude of regression coefficient revealed that an increase in market arrivals by a MT in a month led to an increase in prices by Rs.6.00/MT and Rs. 0.40/MT in Bangalore and Delhi markets respectively. On the contrary, prices of onion decreased in Ahmedabad (Rs. 6.00), Mumbai (Rs. 10.00) and Kolkata (Rs. 2.00) markets with increase in arrivals by one MT in a month. Key words: Instability, Market integration, Price behavio

Exploiting Aging Benefits for the Design of Reliable Drowsy Cache Memories

In this paper, we show how beneficial effects of aging on static power consumption can be exploited to design reliable drowsy cache memories adopting dynamic voltage scaling(DVS) to reduce static power. First, we develop an analytical model allowing designers to evaluate the long-term threshold voltage degradation induced by bias temperature instability (BTI)in a drowsy cache memory. Through HSPICE simulations, we demonstrate that, as drowsy memories age, static power reduction techniques based on DVS become more effective because of reduction in sub-threshold current due to BTI aging. We develop a simulation framework to evaluate trade-offs between static power and reliability, and a methodology to properly select the “drowsy” data retention voltage. We then propose different architectures of a drowsy cache memory allowing designers to meet different power and reliability constraints. The performed HSPICE simulations show a soft error rate and static noise margin improvement up to 20.8% and 22.7%, respectively, compared to standard aging unaware drowsy technique. This is achieved with a limited static power increase during the very early lifetime, and with static energy saving of up to 37% in 10 years of operation, at no or very limited hardware overhead

Atomic Scale Depth Profile of Space Weathering in an Itokawa Olivine Grain

No abstract available

Study on investment pattern and organizational structure of Super markets in India-An empirical evidence of Karnataka

Retail business has shown tremendous growth in the World in the recent past. In India, the organized food retailing sector is on the verge of a boom and expected to undergo further change with prospective new domestic and global foreign entrants and the takeover or exit of some existing participants. Among the Indian states, Karnataka is far more forward looking as far as food retailing is concerned. Therefore, it is imperative to study the entire business aspects of organized food retailing. The study indicated that majority of the organized supermarkets has multi outlets operating under the single management. The un-organized supermarkets were formed by the big local and conventional store owners. The average area of the supermarket outlets in Bangalore (4333 Sqft) and Mysore (3133 Sqft) is more compared to other cities of Karnataka like Mangalore (2833 Sqft), Hubli-Dharwad (1833 Sqft) and Belgaum (1200 Sqft) as the supermarkets in these cities were recently converted from the conventional ‘kirana’ format. The average total fixed cost per outlet is Rs. 78.42 lakh for the state as a whole and total costs required to establish a supermarket in the Karnataka is Rs. 261.33 lakh. The investments in establishment, modernization and expansion are capital intensive in supermarkets. In all the supermarkets, the liquid assets to total assets ratio indicated organized supermarkets seems to better than other unorganized supermarkets in terms of assets liquid ratio. Further, organized supermarkets/supermarkets in multi outlet (chain of supermarkets) firms/companies followed line, line and staff, and the functional categories of organizational structures. Whereas line organization was commonly followed in un-organized supermarkets and are family owned. Key words: Retail, Super market, Multi-outlet, Organization, Investment, Profi

Control and analysis of crucial parameters for an automatic boiler unit in a chemical industry

A boiler plays a significant role in a processing industry, particularly in chemical industry. It requires proper adoption of control techniques for supplying accurate temperature, pressure, steam, and water flow to produce chemicals. An uncontrolled boiler can shut down the whole process. Therefore it requires a continuous monitoring system for avoiding such shutdown. In the past few decades, relay logic, embedded or process card systems were used for controlling the boiler system. In the conventional system, the controlling scheme was also complex for troubleshooting because process cards are used only once. In order to overcome this type of problem Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system helps to collect data and information about the flow of boiler from various sensors. In this paper, SCADA and PLC assist in controlling crucial parameters using Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control. PID controller used in this paper is programmed according to the boiler operation's need, and the data can be stored and analyzed using the SCADA system. The results in this paper help the industrial personnel for boiler automation, allowing the plant operator to observe the crucial parameters for increasing boiler efficiency and reducing the financial losses.&nbsp

Plant Derived Bioactive Compounds, Their Anti-Cancer Effects as an Alternative Target Treatment Strategy for Breast Cancer: An Updated Overview

For decades, cancer has been a major public health concern worldwide owing to its high mortality rate. Many therapeutic strategies have come up in the scientific world, but it\u27s pitiful to know that synthetic chemotherapeutic agents either cause adverse effects or cancer cells develop resistance to these agents. Plant-derived chemotherapeutic agents present a wide range of therapeutics and most are yet to be discovered. In the current review, we have discussed the tumoricidal properties of Mucuna pruriens (seed), Withania coagulans (berry), Anacyclus pyrethrum (rhizome), Arachis hypogea (leaf), Rhizaoma polygoni (root) and Terminalia chebula (fruit). We have also tried to summarize the latest research in cancer chemoprevention and treatment using the bioactive components from these natural plants. Pharmaceutical developmental challenges and opportunities in bringing the phytochemicals into the market are also explored. The authors wish to expand this research area not only for their scientific soundness, but also for their potential-yet-affordable druggability

Highly selective BSA imprinted polyacrylamide hydrogels facilitated by a metal-coding MIP approach

We report the fabrication of metal-coded molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using hydrogel-based protein imprinting techniques. A Co(II) complex was prepared using (E)-2-((2 hydrazide-(4-vinylbenzyl) hydrazono)methyl)phenol; along with iron(III) chloroprotoporphyrin (Hemin), vinylferrocene (VFc), zinc (II) protoporphyrin (ZnPP) and protoporphyrin (PP), these complexes were introduced into the MIPs as co-monomers for metal-coding of non-metalloprotein imprints. Results indicate a 66% enhancement for bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein binding capacities (Q, mg/g) via metal-ion/ligand exchange properties within the metal-coded MIPs. Specifically, Co(II)-complex-based MIPs exhibited 92 ± 1% specific binding with Q values of 5.7 ± 0.45 mg BSA/g polymer and imprinting factors (IF) of 14.8 ± 1.9 (MIP/non-imprinted (NIP) control). The selectivity of our Co(II)-coded BSA MIPs were also tested using bovine haemoglobin (BHb), lysozyme (Lyz), and trypsin (Tryp). By evaluating imprinting factors (K), each of the latter proteins was found to have lower affinities in comparison to cognate BSA template. The hydrogels were further characterised by thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to assess optimum polymer composition