Sugarcane smut: the political economy of biosecurity

The discovery of sugarcane smut in one Queensland cane region, in June 2006, triggered a clear-cut biosecurity response aimed at containment and eradication. Farm financial analyses helped to set the incentives offered to canegrowers to gain their cooperation in the eradication effort financed by the Queensland and Australian governments. Eradication was abandoned when the smut became endemic in November 2006, and the disease management that took its place was now entirely Queensland's responsibility. A number of conflicting stakeholder objectives had to be reconciled by the Queensland government in determining the type and extent of industry assistance. An independent inquiry was called to consider the scientific, production, economic and social aspects of the problem. Economic modelling of farmer decisions, farm economics analyses and regional adaptation scenarios were carried out. The results indicated that government largesse would not actually contribute to industry's adjusting to the endemic disease. Instead, a smaller but targeted contribution to plant breeding was offered. The industry cooperated with the process and accepted the outcomes.Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Public Economics,

Sub-50 nm scale to micrometer scale soft lithographic patterning of functional materials

This PhD thesis addresses two major issues:\ud 1) Fabricating nanometer-scale patterns of functional materials,\ud 2) Extending the applicability of soft lithographic processes to a wide range of functional materials on conventional silicon substrates and flexible plastic substrates.\ud This thesis describes novel soft lithographic processes, with which it is possible to fabricate sub-50 nanometer to micrometer length scale patterns of a wide range of functional materials, including metals, nanoparticles, organosilane molecules, nanowires, semiconducting materials and conducting polymers on silicon and flexible plastic substrates.\ud Chapter 2 describes the patterning of oxide materials in sub-50 nm scale to micrometer scale using transfer printing metal loaded water soluble polymers. The process is a simple and low cost approach to pattern a wide range of oxide materials on the sub -100 nanometer scale that have potential applications in the fabrication of device structures.\ud Chapter 3 introduces a method to pattern organosilane molecules on silicon substrates on the nanometer and micrometer scale. The process is a time-controlled approach which uses the phenomena of geometry dominated condensation of organosilane molecules from a vapor phase to generate high-resolution patterns. PDMS stamps of large dimensions can be used to fabricate patterns of much smaller dimensions.\ud Chapter 4 extends the application possibility of the process described in the previous chapter to pattern inorganic functional materials on the nanometer to micrometer scale. The chapter shows that the gas phase pattern deposition of organosilane molecules is fully controllable. Also self-assembled molecular thin films of mercaptosilane molecules were used as thin resists for the electrodeposition of metallic and semiconducting materials.\ud Chapter 5 further extends the application range of the process described in chapter 3. Sequential deposition of different organosilane molecules on silicon substrate is used to fabricate substrates with multiple chemical functionalities. Multifunctional multi-length scale surfaces have been realized on the micrometer and nanometer scale. The potential application of organosilane patterns as resists for atomic layer deposition (ALD) and as template for site-selective adsorption of nanoparticles has been demonstrated.\ud Chapter 6 describes a novel process to pattern octadecanethiol (ODT) SAMs on gold substrate by channel diffused plasma etching. The patterned SAMs were used as templates for electrodeposition, electroless deposition and solution phase deposition of a wide range of functional materials (Ni, Ag, ZnO, and ZnO nanowires) on the nanometer and micrometer scale.\ud Chapter 7 describes the potential application of channel diffused plasma surface modification of plastic substrates like polycarbonate (PC), PDMS and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to create a hydrophilic-hydrophobic contrast on these surfaces. After surface modification, subsequent material deposition processes such as electroless deposition, solution phase deposition, site selective de-wetting and site selective adsorption were used to obtain patterns of functional materials such as ZnO, ZnO nanowires, Ag , TiO2, conducting polymer (PEDOT:PSS) and Ag nanoparticles\ud Chapter 8 describes a novel process of electrodeposition in capillaries. The process enables bottomup micro and nano patterning of metallic and semiconducting materials by electrodeposition of an electrolyte solution inside PDMS capillaries in contact with a substrate.\ud The thesis closes with conclusions and outlook in chapter 9

Light Dependent Morpho-Physiological Changes and Yield Response of Hybrid Napier Cultivars under Rainfed System

For small dairy farmers in the tropics, open land for fodder cultivation is often limited because of the predominance of tree crops and paddies. Probably because of this limitation, to offset fodder supply for the livestock, growing fodder crops under tree crops such as coconut is a widely prevalent practice in the tropics. However, successful establishment and growth of most fodder crops especially high yielding types such as hybrid napier under shade depends on the amount of light available and the consequent morpho-physiological responses of the crops

Υ_G-Operator in grill N-topology

In 2017, Lellis Thivagar et al. introduced a closure operator $N\tau_G$-$cl$  by using the local function $\Phi_G$ in grill $N$-topology. In this article, we introduce a new operator $\Upsilon_G$ in the same topological space. We study the properties of this new operator which helps us to derive a few equivalent expressions and a characterizing condition, in terms of $\Upsilon_G$. Then a  suitability condition for a grill in $N$-topological space $X$ is formulated. Also, we discuss the characterizing condition for the discussed suitability condition. In addition, we introduce and study $\widehat{\Upsilon}_{G}–$sets and utilize the $\Upsilon_G$-operator to define a generalized open set and their properties

Correlation of fine needle aspiration cytology with histopathological diagnosis in assessing breast lumps at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide (22%) and India ranks the second after cervical cancer. The diagnostic accuracy of FNAC increases to 99% when it is combined with clinical and radiological examination. In this study, authors plan to correlate the cytological findings with histopathological examinations for breast lesions and determine the accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of breast lesions.Methods: It is a retrospective study carried out in the Department of Pathology at a Tertiary Care Hospital. All the FNAC results of breast lesions during the one year period were collected. Gauge needle maximum of 3 passes were made and the slides were fixed in 70-80% alcohol and stained with routine haematoxylin and eosin stain.Results: Among 200 patients, 197 were females and 3 were males. Benign breast lesions were found in 158 cases; among which fibroadenoma was the commonest lesion. Malignancy was observed in 25 cases. Two cases of phyllodes tumour were incorrectly reported as fibroadenoma on cytology. Of 12 cases which were diagnosed to have atypical lesions, 4 cases were papillary neoplasm, and 8 cases were atypical ductal hyperplasia.Conclusions: This study concludes that breast FNAC is a reliable, easy, cheap and effective procedure for the diagnosis. It reduces the need of core needle biopsies and very well correlated with histopathological examination. FNAC differentiates non neoplastic from the neoplastic by which it reduces the patient’s anxiety and helps the surgeons in planning the mode of treatment

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC CHANGE IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS (A CASE OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS IN THE COAST REGION, KENYA)

An analysis of change implementation has often indicated that people tend to resist change especially if not effectively implemented. Major failures are associated with the implementation phase. The general objective of this study was to assess the implementation of strategic change in tertiary institutions; specifically to identify the change implementation pitfalls in tertiary institutions, determine the strategies adopted by tertiary institutions in strategic change implementation and determine the factors that influence the success of strategic change implementation in tertiary institutions.  The study adopted the force field theory of driving forces and restraining forces.  The population of the study was drawn from the staff and management of two government tertiary institutions in the coastal region of Kenya. A sample size of 102 was targeted; however the real analysis was based on 98 respondents. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists version 12. The study revealed that strategic change implementation is a critical phase in change management and institutions should involve all stakeholders and work towards ensuring that the major pitfalls are mitigated and deliberate efforts to enhance the success factors. The realization of the anticipated goals of the implementation of strategic change in tertiary institutions is to a greater extend, however more capacity building on change management is necessary. Keywords: Change, Strategy, Implementation pitfall

Electrodeposition in capillaries: bottom-up micro- and nanopatterning of functional materials on conductive substrates

A cost-effective and versatile methodology for bottom-up patterned growth of inorganic and metallic materials on the micro- and nanoscale is presented. Pulsed electrodeposition was employed to deposit arbitrary patterns of Ni, ZnO, and FeO(OH) of high quality, with lateral feature sizes down to 200–290 nm. The pattern was defined by an oxygen plasma-treated patterned PDMS mold in conformal contact with a conducting substrate and immersed in an electrolyte solution, so that the solid phases were deposited from the solution in the channels of the patterned mold. It is important that the distance between the entrance of the channels, and the location where deposition is needed, is kept limited. The as-formed patterns were characterized by high resolution scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray diffraction

Fishery resources of the Indian Economic Zone

The present marine fish production in India is ahout 1.5 million tonnes of which the lion's share is from the nearshore waters, wi tbin less than 50 m depth and probably from an area of about 100,000 sq km which is only 25% of the area of the continental shelf and 5% that of the economic zone

How do potentially inappropriate medications and polypharmacy affect mortality in frail and non-frail cognitively impaired older adults?:A cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To test whether the use of potentially inappropriate central nervous system acting medications, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or polypharmacy are associated with mortality in cognitively impaired older adults and whether frailer people are at greater risk of harm. SETTING: A cohort study nested within the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study II, a population representative cohort study of the older population in Cambridgeshire, Nottingham and Newcastle, UK. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1154 cognitively impaired participants, aged 65 years or older. EXPOSURES: Any use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, other anticholinergic medication, benzodiazepines or PPIs, polypharmacy (5-9) and hyperpolypharmacy (≥10 reported medications) were ascertained at baseline. Frailty was assessed using the Fried criteria. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Mortality up to 8 years follow-up. HRs associated with potentially inappropriate medication (PIM), frailty and their interaction were estimated adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Within the sample, 44% were taking one or more PIM. Apart from antipsychotics (adjusted HR=3.24, 95% CI 1.83 to 5.73), use of specific PIM was not associated with greater subsequent mortality. Polypharmacy (HR=1.17, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.45) and hyperpolypharmacy were associated with mortality (HR=1.60, 95% CI 1.16 to 2.22). Being frail (HR=1.90, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.72) or prefrail (HR=1.56, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.20) was associated with increased mortality. There was some evidence that the HR for polypharmacy on mortality was lower among frailer individuals, but the overall polypharmacy by frailty interaction was not statistically significant (p=0.102). CONCLUSIONS: For those with cognitive impairment, greater concern should be afforded to the number of medications than the prescription of specific classes. Frailer individuals may have a lower relative risk of mortality associated with polypharmacy than less frail individuals