Impact On Small Farmers and Fishermen Through Use Of Mobiles in India

Telecommunication and more specially mobile phones have the potential to provide solution to the existing information asymmetry in various lagging sectors like Agriculture. India’s agricultural sector suffers from low growth rates and low productivity. Issues in access to information is a week point at every stage of the agrisupply chain. For small farmers base economy like India, access to information can possible enable better incomes and productivity to the farmers. This paper through focus group discussions and in-depth interview with farmers in villages of India, has tried to find answers to the use and impact of mobile and mobile enabled services on agricultural productivity. The answers to these questions are of relevance to develop better policy environment conducive for the small and medium farmers and has implications for mobile operators, for information service providers, and for policy-makers. The results show that although, mobiles can act as catalyst to improving productivity and rural incomes, the quality of the information, the timeliness of the information and trustworthiness of the information are the three important aspects that has to be delivered to the farmers, to meet there needs and expectations. There exist critical binding constraints that restricts the ability of the farming community to realise gains at full potential and this is more for the small than to large farmers.Mobile and Agriculture, India, Productivity, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, Production Economics, Q13, Q16, Q18,

Flow past a rotating cylinder

Flow past a spinning circular cylinder placed in a uniform stream is investigated via two-dimensional computations. A stabilized finite element method is utilized to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in the primitive variables formulation. The Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter and free-stream speed of the flow is 200. The non-dimensional rotation rate, α (ratio of the surface speed and freestream speed), is varied between 0 and 5. The time integration of the flow equations is carried out for very large dimensionless time. Vortex shedding is observed for α < 1.91. For higher rotation rates the flow achieves a steady state except for 4.34 < α < 4:70 where the flow is unstable again. In the second region of instability, only one-sided vortex shedding takes place. To ascertain the instability of flow as a function of a a stabilized finite element formulation is proposed to carry out a global, non-parallel stability analysis of the two-dimensional steady-state flow for small disturbances. The formulation and its implementation are validated by predicting the Hopf bifurcation for flow past a non-rotating cylinder. The results from the stability analysis for the rotating cylinder are in very good agreement with those from direct numerical simulations. For large rotation rates, very large lift coefficients can be obtained via the Magnus effect. However, the power requirement for rotating the cylinder increases rapidly with rotation rate

Energy spectra of flow past a circular cylinder

Unsteady flow past a circular cylinder is computed for 100≤Re≤107. A stabilized finite element formulation is utilized to solve the incompressible flow equations in the primitive variables form. Close to the cylinder and in the wake region, the finite element mesh has very high resolution. The phenomenon of drag crisis (sudden drop in drag v/s Re at Re~2×105) is captured by the present, two-dimensional, computations. With an increase in Re the transition point of the shear layer, separated from the cylinder surface, moves up-stream. Our computations indicate that at the critical Re the instability reaches the point of flow separation and energizes the local flow causing it to re-attach. Energy spectra for these highly resolved flows at various Re are computed and the effect of various parameters involved in their calculation is investigated. It is found that despite the high shear in the flow, the kinetic energy shows the same structure as observed for 2D isotropic turbulence. For large Re flows it is found that the energy, E(k), varies as k-5/3 below the energy injection wave number and as k-3 for higher wave numbers

First & Second Law Analysis of Solar Air Heater

In this paper, thermodynamic analysis is performed for different cases of artificial roughness surface on the absorber plates of solar air heater duct. This analysis has been performed by using the correlations for heat transfer coefficient and friction factor developed experimentally for different type of roughness within the investigated range of operating and system parameters. The comparison has been made for different types of roughness on the basis of first law analysis (effective efficiency) and second law analysis (entropy, irreversibility distribution ratio and entropy generation number)

Influence of soil fabric on dynamic properties of sand: An experimental study

Natural field sites originate under the action of external sources such as rivers, wind, or marine environments. These sources are responsible for constituting a variety of soil fabrics, which ultimately modify the deformation characteristics. Additionally, the dynamic properties of a site present the characterization of a region and have been profusely utilized by field engineers and researchers. In the present study, the dynamic properties of soil specimens have been evaluated for specimen preparation techniques, namely, air pluviation (AP) and water sedimentation (WS). The cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the strain-controlled consolidated undrained specimens at a frequency of 0.1 Hz. This frequency has been used in several studies to replicate earthquake or liquefaction scenarios. The calculation of shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) was performed using symmetric hysteresis loops generated through cyclic loadings. The outcomes suggest that the specimen prepared using the WS technique possesses a larger shear modulus value than AP ones. The reason behind this observation was the lower degradation characteristics of the WS-prepared specimens. Additionally, the liquefaction susceptibility of the specimens has been noticed for different specimens. © 2023 ISEC Press

Liquefaction proneness of stratified sand-silt layers based on cyclic triaxial tests

Most studies on liquefaction have addressed homogeneous soil strata using sand or sand with fine content without considering soil stratification. In this study, cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the stratified sand specimens embedded with the silt layers to investigate the liquefaction failures and void-redistribution at confining stress of 100 kPa under stress-controlled mode. The loosening of underlying sand mass and hindrance to pore-water flow caused localized bulging at the sand-silt interface. It is observed that at a silt thickness of 0.2H (H is the height of the specimen), nearly 187 load cycles were required to attain liquefaction, which was the highest among all the silt thicknesses with a single silt layer. Therefore, 0.2H is assumed as the optimum silt thickness (topt). The silt was placed at the top, middle and bottom of the specimen to understand the effect of silt layer location. Due to the increase in depth of the silt layer from the top position (capped soil state) to the bottom, the cycles to reach liquefaction (Ncyc,L) increased 2.18 times. Also, when the number of silt layers increased from single to triple, there was an increase of about 880% in Ncyc,L. The micro-characterization analysis of the soil specimens indicated silty materials transported in upper sections of the specimen due to the dissipated pore pressure. The main parameters, including thickness (t), location (z), cyclic stress ratio (CSR), number of silt layers (n) and modified relative density (Dr,m), performed significantly in governing the liquefaction resistance. For this, a multilinear regression model is developed based on critical parameters for prediction of Ncyc,L. Furthermore, the developed constitutive model has been validated using the data from the present study and earlier findings

Evaluation of interleukin-10 production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa induced acute pyelonephritis

SummaryPseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen of immunocompromised hosts. This pathogen has a tendency to form biofilms on the surface of indwelling catheters leading to acute and chronic urinary tract infections that result in significant morbidity and mortality. In the present study, kinetics of interleukin-10 (IL-10) production in mouse renal tissue was studied employing experimental mouse model of acute pyelonephritis induced with planktonic and biofilm cells of P. aeruginosa. IL-10 production was found to be significantly lower in biofilm cell instilled mice compared to planktonic cell infected animals, which corroborated with higher bacterial load and tissue damage. The data suggests that downregulation of IL-10 production may be novel strategy employed by biofilm cells to cause tissue damage and hence bacterial persistence. The results of the present study may open up avenues of research that will ultimately provide the foundation for the development of preventative measures and therapeutic strategies to successfully treat P. aeruginosa biofilm infections based on the administration of anti-inflammatory agents

The diagnostic role of saliva: a review

As a diagnostic fluid, saliva offers distinctive advantages over serum because it can be collected non-invasively by individuals, even by patient. Does not require special equipment for collection and storage as unlike blood saliva does not clot. Advantageous for person in whom blood drawing is difficult as in obese and haemophilic patient. Whole saliva used for diagnosis of systemic diseases, because it contains serum constituents. These constituents are derived from the local vasculature of the salivary glands and gingival cervicular fluid.This review examines the diagnostic application of saliva for hereditary disorders, autoimmune diseases, malignant and infectious diseases, and endocrine disorders, as well as in the assessment of therapeutic levels of drugs and the monitoring of illicit drug use, and also for forensic evidence and others. . In future we are likely to see the increased utilization of saliva as a diagnostic fluid. As we enter the era of genomic medicine, sialochemistry will play an increasingly important role in the early detection, the monitoring and progression of the systemic and oral diseases

Optimal Location Of Series-Shunt Facts Devices In Transmission Line And Impact Of SSSC Compensated On Performance Of Distance Relay

The research works says that the impacts of facts devices changes with the change of their location on transmission line. Basically in power system we have two types of compensation devices. First is series facts devices, second is shunt facts devices by using these devices controlling of transmission line voltage and power flow is possible. Facts devices are also very useful to control the reactance power of transmission line and damping of power system oscillation for high power is possible. Series facts devices are connected in series of transmission line and works as a controllable voltage source. Shunt facts devices are connected in shunt with power system line.it works as a controllable current source. During the SLG fault, shunt capacitance of SSSC-compensated line affects the performance of distance relay. Research also shows the impact of ignoring the shunt capacitance of the line on the distance relay over and under reach conditions. By using MATLAB we can study the effects of series and shunt compensation according to the variation of location of these in transmission line. We can find the most suitable and optimal location of series, shunt or the combination of both compensation

Autonomic regulation therapy to enhance myocardial function in heart failure patients: the ANTHEM-HFpEF study.

BackgroundApproximately half of the patients presenting with new-onset heart failure (HF) have HF with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF) and HF with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction (HFmrEF). These patients have neurohormonal activation like that of HF with reduced ejection fraction; however, beta-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors have not been shown to improve their outcomes, and current treatment for these patients is symptom based and empiric. Sympathoinhibition using parasympathetic stimulation has been shown to improve central and peripheral aspects of the cardiac nervous system, reflex control, induce myocyte cardioprotection, and can lead to regression of left ventricular hypertrophy. Beneficial effects of autonomic regulation therapy (ART) using vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) have also been observed in several animal models of HFpEF, suggesting a potential role for ART in patients with this disease.MethodsThe Autonomic Neural Regulation Therapy to Enhance Myocardial Function in Patients with Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction (ANTHEM-HFpEF) study is designed to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, and safety of ART using right cervical VNS in patients with chronic, stable HFpEF and HFmrEF. Patients with symptomatic HF and HFpEF or HFmrEF fulfilling the enrolment criteria will receive chronic ART with a subcutaneous VNS system attached to the right cervical vagus nerve. Safety parameters will be continuously monitored, and cardiac function and HF symptoms will be assessed every 3 months during a post-titration follow-up period of at least 12 months.ConclusionsThe ANTHEM-HFpEF study is likely to provide valuable information intended to expand our understanding of the potential role of ART in patients with chronic symptomatic HFpEF and HFmrEF