Why Forest Plantations Are Disputed? An Assessment of Locally Important Ecosystem Services from the Cryptomeria japonica Plantations in the Darjeeling Hills, India

This study explored locally important forest products generated from different plantation forests. A comparison was made between monoculture and mixed stands in terms of understory plant species richness and number of forest products collected by local communities in the Darjeeling Hills of India. The results showed that forest-dependent communities collect an array of forest products from mixed stands compared to the monoculture stands but understory plant species richness was not significantly different between these two types of forest plantations. This study suggests that a single management strategy alone (e.g., mixed species plantations), could not produce an array of forest products expected by local communities, which requires a mixture of different types of strategies. Limited plantation management activities that were confined during the first 3 years after plantation were the major determinants of such homogeneity in the Darjeeling hills

Does Education Leads to Contraceptive Use? A Study of Sexually Experienced Unmarried Men in India

The consequences of pre-marital sex have been the subject of common concern for the public health professionals and policy makers. In India, despite strict societal sanctions, the prevalence of pre-marital sex has been repeatedly documented across literatures. It is believed that existing education system could afford the responsibility to develop protective sexual behavior among unmarried youths. Using National Family Health Survey (2005-06) data, this study examines the effect of education on contraceptive and condom use among sexually experienced unmarried men. Results indicate that education has a positive effect on contraceptive as well as condom use. However the interaction effect of education and awareness on contraceptive and condom use provides the key explanations for safe sexual practices. The findings could help policy makers to focus on both education and awareness which might lead to improvement in safe sexual practices in India where introducing sex education is still a controversial issue. Keywords: Education, awareness, unmarried men, contraceptive and condom use, Indi

Physiological and behavioral risk factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural India

BACKGROUND: The dynamics of physiological and behavioral risk factors of diabetes in rural India is poorly understood. Using data from a health and demographic surveillance site of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, this study aims to assess the risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 7674 individuals aged ≥18 years participated in a cross-sectional study. Venous plasma glucose method was used for measuring and reporting glucose concentrations in blood, categorized as individuals with diabetes, pre-diabetes or impaired, and normoglycemic. Aside from a set of physiological and behavioral risk factors, a range of socioeconomic confounders of diabetes was computed. Bivariate analysis with χ(2) test, and multivariate ordered logit regression methods were deployed to attain the study's objective. RESULTS: Overall 2.95% and 3.34% of study participants were diagnosed as individuals with diabetes and pre-diabetes or impaired, respectively. Compared to the poorest, the richest have higher probability (β: 0.730; 95% CI 0.378 to 1.083) of being diagnosed with diabetes. As compared to people with normal body mass index, overweight/obese people are more prone to being diagnosed with diabetes (β: 0.388; 95% CI 0.147 to 0.628). With a decreasing level of physical activity, people are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: To curb the level of diabetes, this study recommends a culturally sensitive, focused intervention for the adoption of physical activity with more traditional dietary practices, to control the level of overweight/obesity. Attention should be paid to relatively older patients with diabetes or adults with pre-diabetes

Stability prediction of Himalayan residual soil slope using artificial neural network

In the past decade, advances in machine learning (ML) techniques have resulted in developing sophisticated models that are capable of modelling extremely complex multi-factorial problems like slope stability analysis. The literature review indicates that considerable works have been done in slope stability using ML, but none of them covers the analysis of residual soil slope. The present study aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model that can be employed for evaluating the factor of safety of Shiwalik Slopes in the Himalayan Region. Data obtained from numerical analysis of a residual soil slope were used to develop two ANN models (ANN1 and ANN2 utilising eleven input parameters, and scaled-down number of parameters based on correlation coefficient, respectively). A four-layer, feed-forward back-propagation neural network having the optimum number of hidden neurons is developed based on trial-and-error method. The results derived from ANN models were compared with those achieved from numerical analysis. Additionally, several performance indices such as coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error, variance account for, and residual error were employed to evaluate the predictive performance of the developed ANN models. Both the ANN models have shown good prediction performance; however, the overall performance of the ANN2 model is better than the ANN1 model. It is concluded that the ANN models are reliable, valid, and straightforward computational tools that can be employed for slope stability analysis during the preliminary stage of designing infrastructure projects in residual soil slope. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V

Pleiotropic morphological and abiotic stress resistance phenotypes of the hyper-abscisic acid producing Abo<SUP>&#8722;</SUP> mutant in the periwinkle Catharanthus roseus

The pleiotropic properties of aabo abo (Abo&#8722;) &#947;-ray induced mutant ofCatharanthus roseuscv. Nirmal, selected among the M2 generation seeds for ability to germinate at 45&#176;C, are described. The mutant produced seeds possessing tricotyledonous embryos, unlike the typically dicotyledonous embryos present in the wild type Abo+ seeds. In comparison to Abo+ adults, the mutant plants had short stature and lanceolate leaves. The vascular bundles in the leaves and stem were poorly developed. Leaf surfaces were highly trichomatous, epidermal, cortex and mesophyll cells were small sized and a large majority of stomata were closed. Besides high temperature, the mutant was salinity and water-stress tolerant. The abscisic acid (ABA) content in the leaves was about 500-fold higher. The genetic lesionabo responsible for the above pleiotropy was recessive and inherited in Mendelian fashion. The seedlings and adult plants of the mutant accumulated higher proline than Abo+ plants. The phenotypes ofabo abo mutants permitted the conclusions that (i) the mutant synthesizes ABA constitutively, (ii) both ABA-dependent and ABA independent pathways for proline and betaine accumulation are functional in the mutant, and (iii) cell division, elongation and differentiation processes in embryo and adult plant stages are affected in the mutant