An Economic Analysis of MGNREG Programme in Mysore District of Karnataka

An economic analysis of MGNREG programme has been made in the Mysore district of Karnataka during the year 2009-10. The women participation among total registered workers in MGNREGS has been found significant at 47.8 per cent. Among the total number of works executed under MGNREGS in the sample villages, 96.8 per cent have been natural resource management works and 74.2 per cent community works. More number of natural resource management works are needed to be taken up on individual farmers’ fields to make MGNREGS complementary to agriculture. Among the total participants and non-participants of MGNREGS, 70 per cent in each case were agricultural labourers. In the total income earned by participants and non participants, a major proportion was from agricultural labour work (60.55% and 52.59%, respectively), followed by crop cultivation (24.95% and 47.41%, respectively) and MGNREGS (14.50% in case of participants). Average annual person-days of employment generated from MGNREGS works was 57. About 68 per cent of landless participants derived 28 per cent of their household income from MGNREGS compared to only 6 per cent in case of participants with land. The study has found that, there has been reduction in the supply of labour to agriculture to the extent of 40.67 person-days per year on an average after the implementation of MGNREGS. Hence, MGNREGS works need to be executed only during offseason.MGNREGA, Economic analysis, Women in MGNREGS, Economics of MGNREGS, Agricultural and Food Policy, I38, H53,

Economic Analysis of MGNREGA in the Drought–prone States of Karnataka, Rajasthan and Irrigation–dominated State of Andhra Pradesh

Using macro level data on MGNREGA performance in drought-prone states of Karnataka and Rajasthan as well as in irrigation-dominated state of Andhra Pradesh, this study has revealed that the impact of MGNREGA wage on the economic scarcity of labour is relatively modest when compared with the impact of hike in non-farm wages. Even though the provision of food security through public distribution system has contributed to the economic scarcity of labour, the relative hike in non-farm wages is contributing to higher economic scarcity of labour rather than PDS and MGNREGA wages. The study has suggested subsidies for farm mechanization should be provided in order to sustain food and livelihood security in the droughtprone as well as irrigation-dominant states of India.MGNREGA, Economic analysis, MGNREGA impact on labour supply, Economic scarcity of labour, Agricultural and Food Policy, I38, H53,

Purification, characterization and properties of carboxylesterase from the midgut of the silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

A carboxylesterase has been purified from the midgut of the silkworm Bombyx mon L. by a combination of ammonium sulphate fractionation, DEAE-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography, Sephacryl S-200 gel-filtration and preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The homogeneity of the enzyme was established by PAGE, isoelectricfocusing (IEF) and SDS-PAGE. The enzyme consists of two identical subunits with a subunit molecular weight of 72,000. The two subunits are held by non-covalent bonds. Amino acid analysis of the purified enzyme revealed a high content of hydrophobic amino acid residues. It lacks proline and tryptophan residues and free thiol groups. The data from substrate specificity study in conjunction with kinetic parameters indicate the hydrophobic nature of the active site. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Effect of malathion on biochemical and physiological parameters in Glossogobius giuris (HAM)

The effect of sub-lethal concentrations (0.05 and 0.5ppm) of the organophosphorous pesticide, malathion on biochemical and enzyme activities in muscles of the freshwater gobiid fish, Glossogobius giuris, was studied for 24 and 96 hours of exposure. The following effects were examined; 1. Changes in the levels of protein and glycogen in cardiac muscle. The protein and glycogen contents were altered and decreased significantly in cardiac muscle after exposure to malathion. 2. Changes in the activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) in cardiac muscle. The results indicated that the LDH level was significantly elevated and SDH activity was suppressed in the muscle tissues after exposure to pesticide. The alterations produced were more significant at 96 hours of exposure than 24 hours. The decreased SDH activity indicated inhibition of SDH at mitochondrial level and LDH activity enhanced may be due to sub-lethal effect of malathion. © Enviromedia Printed in India. All rights reserved

Impacts and Implications of MGNREGA on Labour Supply and Income Generation for Agriculture in Central Dry Zone of Karnataka

This study has evaluated the impact of MGNREGA on income generation and labour supply in agriculture in one of the districts in central dry zone of Karnataka. Results have shown that the number of days worked in a year with the implementation of MGNREGA programme has significantly increased to 201 days, reflecting 16 per cent increase. Regression analysis has revealed that gender, education and family size of the workers are the significant factors influencing the worker’s employment under the Program. The increase in income is to the tune of 9.04 per cent due to additional employment generated from MGNERGA. In the total income, the contribution of agriculture is the highest (63%), followed by non-agricultural income (29%) and MGNREGA income (8%). Implementation of MGNERGA works has led to labour scarcity to the tune of 53 per cent and 30 per cent for agriculture operations like weeding and sowing, respectively. There has been a decline in area for labour-intensive crops like tomato and ragi to the extent of 30 per cent due to MGNERGA implementation.MGNREGA, Labour supply, Labour scarcity, Income generation, Employment, Agricultural and Food Policy, J21, J22, J31,

STM conductance of Kondo impurities on open and structured surfaces

We study the scanning tunneling microscopy response for magnetic atoms on open and structured surfaces using Wilson's renormalization group. We observe Fano resonances associated with Kondo resonances and interference effects. For a magnetic atom in a quantum corral coupled to the confined surface states, and experimentally relevant parameters, we observe a large confinement induced effect not present in the experiments. These results suggest that the Kondo screening is dominated by the bulk electrons rather than the surface ones.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

A Solvable Regime of Disorder and Interactions in Ballistic Nanostructures, Part I: Consequences for Coulomb Blockade

We provide a framework for analyzing the problem of interacting electrons in a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions within an energy $E_T$ (the Thouless energy) of the Fermi energy. Within this window we show that the interactions can be characterized by Landau Fermi liquid parameters. When $g$, the dimensionless conductance of the dot, is large, we find that the disordered interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes exact as $g\to\infty$ (as in a large-N theory). The infinite $g$ theory shows a transition to a strong-coupling phase characterized by the same order parameter as in the Pomeranchuk transition in clean systems (a spontaneous interaction-induced Fermi surface distortion), but smeared and pinned by disorder. At finite $g$, the two phases and critical point evolve into three regimes in the $u_m-1/g$ plane -- weak- and strong-coupling regimes separated by crossover lines from a quantum-critical regime controlled by the quantum critical point. In the strong-coupling and quantum-critical regions, the quasiparticle acquires a width of the same order as the level spacing $\Delta$ within a few $\Delta$'s of the Fermi energy due to coupling to collective excitations. In the strong coupling regime if $m$ is odd, the dot will (if isolated) cross over from the orthogonal to unitary ensemble for an exponentially small external flux, or will (if strongly coupled to leads) break time-reversal symmetry spontaneously.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Very minor changes. We have clarified that we are treating charge-channel instabilities in spinful systems, leaving spin-channel instabilities for future work. No substantive results are change

Adsorption of mono- and multivalent cat- and anions on DNA molecules

Adsorption of monovalent and multivalent cat- and anions on a deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) molecule from a salt solution is investigated by computer simulation. The ions are modelled as charged hard spheres, the DNA molecule as a point charge pattern following the double-helical phosphate strands. The geometrical shape of the DNA molecules is modelled on different levels ranging from a simple cylindrical shape to structured models which include the major and minor grooves between the phosphate strands. The densities of the ions adsorbed on the phosphate strands, in the major and in the minor grooves are calculated. First, we find that the adsorption pattern on the DNA surface depends strongly on its geometrical shape: counterions adsorb preferentially along the phosphate strands for a cylindrical model shape, but in the minor groove for a geometrically structured model. Second, we find that an addition of monovalent salt ions results in an increase of the charge density in the minor groove while the total charge density of ions adsorbed in the major groove stays unchanged. The adsorbed ion densities are highly structured along the minor groove while they are almost smeared along the major groove. Furthermore, for a fixed amount of added salt, the major groove cationic charge is independent on the counterion valency. For increasing salt concentration the major groove is neutralized while the total charge adsorbed in the minor groove is constant. DNA overcharging is detected for multivalent salt. Simulations for a larger ion radii, which mimic the effect of the ion hydration, indicate an increased adsorbtion of cations in the major groove.Comment: 34 pages with 14 figure

Nail lacquer films’ surface energies and in vitro water-resistance and adhesion do not predict their in vivo residence

The in vivo residence of nail lacquers (which are ideal topical drug carriers for the treatment of nail diseases) determines their frequency of application, and is thereby expected to influence patient adherence and success of treatment. Thus in vitro measurements to indicate lacquers’ in vivo residence are routinely conducted during formulation development. However the literature on in vitro-in vivo correlations is severely limited. Thus, the aim of the work discussed in this paper was to investigate correlations between in vivo residence and in vitro film resistance to water, in vitro film adhesion and surface energy of lacquer films. In vivo measurements were conducted on fingernails in six volunteers. Seven commercially available nail lacquers were tested in commonly-used measurements. Correlations between in vivo residence and in vitro water resistance and adhesion were found to be extremely poor. The surface energies of the lacquer films (which were between 33 and 39 mJ/m2) were also not predictive of in vivo residence. High density polyethylene (HDPE) sheet – whose surface energy was determined to be similar to that of the human nailplate – was found to be a suitable model for the nailplate (when investigating surface energy) and was used in a number of experiments