Ethnobotanical significance of Zingiberales: a case study in the Malaipandaram tribe of Southern western Ghats of Kerala

The knowledge on the use of plants of the order Zingiberales by the Malaipandaram tribe inhabited in South India was documented. The data was recorded through questionnaires after proper consultation with the traditional healers and others. The informant consensus factor and use value were analysed. Taxonomic studies were carried out and herbarium specimens were preserved at Catholic Volege Herbarius (CATH) herbarium and live specimens were conserved in the Catholicate College Botanical Garden. A total of 17 ethnobotanically important species were identified in Zingiberales distributed under 5 families, viz., Zingiberaceae, Costaceae, Musaceae, Marantaceae and Cannaceae. The plants were listed with scientific name, local name, family, parts used, preparation methods and use. The commonly used taxa was Curcuma longa with 52 use reports and highest use value of 1.62. In the investigation, endocrinal disorders and tooth pain reported highest Fic of 1. The information collected will be the baseline data for future phytochemical and pharmacological research to develop newdrugs and service

Observation of microwave radiation using low-cost detectors at the anka storage ring

Synchrotron light sources emit Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) for wavelengths longer than or equal to the bunch length. At most storage rings CSR cannot be observed, because the vacuum chamber cuts off radiation with long wavelengths. There are different approaches for shifting the CSR to shorter wavelengths that can propagate through the beam pipe, e.g.: the accelerator optics can be optimized for a low momentum compaction factor, thus reducing the bunch length. Alternatively, laser slicing can modulate substructures on long bunches [1]. Both techniques extend the CSR spectrum to shorter wavelengths, so that CSR is emitted at wavelengths below the waveguide shielding cut off. Usually fast detectors, like superconducting bolometer detector systems or Schottky barrier diodes, are used for observation of dynamic processes in accelerator physics. In this paper, we present observations of microwave radiation at ANKA using an alternative detector, a LNB (Low Noise Block) system. These devices are usually used in standard TV-SAT-receivers and are very cheap. We determined the time response of LNBs to be below 100 ns. The sensitivity of LNBs is optimized to detect very low intensity ”noise-like” signals. This microwave radiation study shows the possibility to apply the LNB for bunch length monitoring

Electro-optical bunch length monitor for flute: Layout and simulations

A new compact linear accelerator FLUTE is currently under construction at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in collaboration with DESY and PSI. It aims at obtaining femtosecond electron bunches (~1fs - 300 fs) with a wide charge range (1 pC - 3 nC) and requires a precise bunch length diagnostic system. Here we present the layout of a bunch length monitor based on the electro-optic technique of spectral decoding using an Yb-doped fiber laser system (central wavelength 1030 nm) and a GaP crystal. Simulations of the electro-optic signal for different operation modes of FLUTE were performed and main challenges are discussed in this talk. This work is funded by the European Union under contract PITN-GA-2011-28919

Investigating polarisation and shape of beam microwave signals at the ANKA storage ring

At the ANKA synchrotron radiation facility measure- ments in the microwave range (10 to 12 GHz) employing a LNB (Low Noise Block), which is the receiving part of a Satellite-TV system, have been carried out. Experiments showedthattheobservedsignaldependsonthelengthofthe electron bunches. Furthermore the temporal shape of the microwave signal depends on the detector’s position along the accelerator. Due the LNB antenna’s sensitivity to po- larisation it was also possible to measure the polarisation along the several ns long signal, revealing polarised and non-polarised regions. This paper describes the experimen - tal setup and summarises the observations of the systematic studies performed with the LNB system