Effect of abiotic factors on the distribution of earthworms in different land use patterns

AbstractThe distribution of earthworms is usually diverse and their numbers fluctuate in relation to the different abiotic factors and land use patterns of the soil. The aim of the present study is to determine the biodiversity, distribution and relative abundance of earthworms under different land use pattern and its relation to abiotic factors (physico-chemical properties) of the soil. Earthworms were collected from different sites on the basis of various environment niches like agriculture fields, gardens, nurseries, along the river and road side etc. by hand sorting method. Physico-chemical analysis of the soil was also done to know the important factors affecting earthworm biodiversity and distribution. Total five species of earthworms belonging to the families Megascolecidae and Octochaetidae were identified: Metaphire posthuma, Lampito mauritti, Amynthas morissi, Eutyphoeus waltoni and Eutyphoeus incommodus. M. posthuma was the most abundant species and found in all the collection sites while other four species were abundantly found in gardens and nurseries. Shannon–Wiener diversity index, Margalef species richness and Pielou’s evenness was ranged from 0.11 to 0.37, 0 to 0.6 and 0 to 0.53 respectively. Principal component analysis also proved that the abiotic factors like pH, moisture, soil texture and OC has strong positive effect on the distribution of earthworm. Earthworm biodiversity and distribution have been found to be positively correlated with type of vegetation and moisture content at the different collection sites and also varied according to soil habitat, soil tillage and land used pattern

Exploring Gender Disparities in the Utilization of Electronic Information Sources among Indian Doctoral Students: A Thematic Analysis

Electronic information sources are essential for PhD students in India\u27s expanding higher education system. This cohort\u27s gender differences in electronic information resource access, use, and choice are examined. Inclusion and diversity in digital academia need understanding how gender affects information-seeking and resource utilization. Academic equity policies are informed by qualitative thematic analysis of gender inequality. In the digital age, higher education gender equality is crucial. This study examines Indian PhD students\u27 electronic information use by gender. Gender-related information-seeking habits and preferences are examined to find impediments and opportunities for equal access and use. Scholarship must address gender-related information access and use inequities to include women in academia and student resource access. This study examines electronic information resource use, literacy, and barriers in different male and female participants. Surveys illustrate how people choose, evaluate, and use digital information. Many of the analyzed population uses E-journals, E-databases (Research & Statistical Database), and E-databases (Abstracting & Indexing). Interestingly, resource consumption gender discrepancies were minor, indicating equitable access. Despite skill category differences, respondents were confident in their information literacy. These self-assessments demonstrate the need for information literacy training to empower users. Our study found that low computer skills, internet access, power supply instability, and information overload impede technology use. Address these issues for equitable digital resource access and use. This study suggests treating and supporting male and female users. Future study should address socio-economic and cultural resource use issues to create an inclusive and informed digital environment

Environmental Influence of Soil toward Effective Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting is a process by which the organic waste is converted into manure with the help of earthworms. Growth rate, onset of maturity (clitellum development), rate of reproduction (cocoon production) and population buildup of earthworm during vermicomposting have been depend upon the conditions like temperature, moisture and physico-chemical properties of the feed mixtures. Eisenia fetida was superior to other epigeic species and tolerate wide range of temperature, moisture and pH. Endogeic species produced lesser cocoon than epigeic species and cocoon production decreased at low temperature. Maintenance of temperature and moisture content is the critical step for vermicomposting. Growth and maturation of earthworms was best at 20–25°C temperature with 80–85% moisture content. Increase temperature upto 30°C accelerated growth rate of earthworms and lessened the time to sexual maturity. Earthworms can survive in the soil contaminated with heavy metals by accumulating heavy metals in their tissues

A Position Effect on the Heritability of Epigenetic Silencing

In animals and yeast, position effects have been well documented. In animals, the best example of this process is Position Effect Variegation (PEV) in Drosophila melanogaster. In PEV, when genes are moved into close proximity to constitutive heterochromatin, their expression can become unstable, resulting in variegated patches of gene expression. This process is regulated by a variety of proteins implicated in both chromatin remodeling and RNAi-based silencing. A similar phenomenon is observed when transgenes are inserted into heterochromatic regions in fission yeast. In contrast, there are few examples of position effects in plants, and there are no documented examples in either plants or animals for positions that are associated with the reversal of previously established silenced states. MuDR transposons in maize can be heritably silenced by a naturally occurring rearranged version of MuDR. This element, Muk, produces a long hairpin RNA molecule that can trigger DNA methylation and heritable silencing of one or many MuDR elements. In most cases, MuDR elements remain inactive even after Muk segregates away. Thus, Muk-induced silencing involves a directed and heritable change in gene activity in the absence of changes in DNA sequence. Using classical genetic analysis, we have identified an exceptional position at which MuDR element silencing is unstable. Muk effectively silences the MuDR element at this position. However, after Muk is segregated away, element activity is restored. This restoration is accompanied by a reversal of DNA methylation. To our knowledge, this is the first documented example of a position effect that is associated with the reversal of epigenetic silencing. This observation suggests that there are cis-acting sequences that alter the propensity of an epigenetically silenced gene to remain inactive. This raises the interesting possibility that an important feature of local chromatin environments may be the capacity to erase previously established epigenetic marks

Improving Parallel Shear-Warp Volume Rendering on Shared Address Space Multiprocessors

This paper presents a new parallel volume rendering algorithm and implementation, based on shear warp factorization, for shared address space multiprocessors. Starting from an existing parallel shear-warp renderer, we use increasingly detailed performance measurements on real machines and simulators to understand performance bottlenecks. This leads us to a new parallel implementation that substantially outperforms and out-scales the old one on a range of shared address space platforms, from bus-based centralized memory machine to hardware-coherent distributed memory machines to networks of computers connected by page-based shared virtual memory. The results demonstrate that real time volume rendering is promising on general purpose multiprocessors, and illustrate the utility of tool hierarchies in conjunction with algorithmic and application knowledge to understand memory system interactions and improve parallel algorithms. 1 Introduction Many computer graphics applications are impor..