Growth, fruit set and yield of Santa Rosa plum as affected by nitrogen and boron under rainfed conditions of Kashmir Valley

Present experiment was carried out in a seven year old private plum orchard near SKUAST-Kashmir, Shalimar Campus, Srinagar during 2012 and 2013, to examine the response to nitrogenous fertilizer and boron on growth, fruit set and yield of plum var. Santa Rosa. Urea @ 500 g (N1), CaNO3 @ 1450 g (N2), N1 + 50 g boron (N3) and N2 + 50 g boron (N4) were applied at T1 = Full dose in spring, T2 = Full dose after harvest and T3 = 3/4 dose in spring and 1/4 dose after harvest. Observations were recorded on parameters viz. incremental tree girth, shoot extension growth, plant height, plant spread, leaf area, fruit set, fruit drop, yield, yield efficiency. All the growth parameters were high in treatment combination N1T1. Maximum fruit set (19.68 % and 20.90 %) was recorded in N3T2, yield (20.60 kg/tree and 22.88 kg/tree) was recorded in N4T2, yield efficiency (0.45 and 0.46 kg/cm2) was recorded in N4T2 and minimum fruit drop (4.25 % and 4.55 %) were recorded under the treatment combination N4T2 and N4T3, respectively in the both the years. Both sources of nitrogen and boron can be considered as best fertilizer in plum orchards for improving the growth, fruit set, fruit yield, yield efficiency

High-Spin Doublet Band Structures in odd-odd 194−200^{194-200}Tl isotopes

The basis space in the triaxial projected shell model (TPSM) approach is generalized for odd-odd nuclei to include two-neutron and two-proton configurations on the basic one-neutron coupled to one-proton quasiparticle state. The generalization allows to investigate odd-odd nuclei beyond the band crossing region and as a first application of this development, high-spin band structures recently observed in odd-odd $^{194-200}$Tl isotopes are investigated. In some of these isotopes, the doublet band structures observed after the band crossing have been conjectured to arise from the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry. The driving configuration of the chiral symmetry in these odd-odd isotopes is one-proton and three-neutrons rather than the basic one-proton and one-neutron as already observed in many other nuclei. It is demonstrated using the TPSM approach that energy differences of the doublet bands in $^{194}$Tl and $^{198}$Tl are, indeed, small. However, the differences in the calculated transition probabilities are somewhat larger than what is expected in the chiral symmetry limit. Experimental data on the transition probabilities is needed to shed light on the chiral nature of the doublet bands.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures, to appear in EPJ

Triaxial projected shell model approach for negative parity states in even-even nuclei

The triaxial projected shell model (TPSM) approach is generalized to investigate the negative parity band structures in even-even systems. In the earlier version of the TPSM approach, the quasiparticle excitations were restricted to one major oscillator shell and it was possible to study only positive parity states in even-even systems. In the present extension, the excited quasiparticles are allowed to occupy two major oscillator shells, which makes it possible to generate the negative parity states. As a major application of this development, the extended approach is applied to elucidate the negative parity high-spin band structures in $^{102-112}$Ru and it is shown that energies obtained with neutron excitation are slightly lower than the energies calculated with proton excitation. However, the calculated aligned angular momentum ($i_x$) clearly separates the two spectra with neutron $i_x$ in reasonable agreement with the empirically evaluated $i_x$ from the experimental data, whereas proton $i_x$ shows large deviations. Furthermore, we have also deduced the transition quadrupole moments from the TPSM wavefunctions along the negative-parity yrast- and yrare- bands and it is shown that these quantities exhibit rapid changes in the bandcrossing region.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figure

Triaxial projected shell model study of γ\gamma-bands in atomic nuclei

A systematic study of $\gamma$-bands observed in atomic nuclei is performed using the triaxial projected shell model (TPSM) approach. The staggering phase between the even and odd spin members of the $\gamma$-band for most the nuclei investigated in the present work is found to have even-I-below-odd-I, which in the framework of the collective model is considered as a signature of $\gamma$-softness. It is observed that out of twenty-three systems studied, only four nuclei, namely, $^{76}$Ge, $^{112}$Ru, $^{170}$Er and $^{232}$Th depict staggering phase with odd-I-below-even-I, which is regarded as an indication of the static $\gamma$-deformation in the collective model picture. The inclusion of the quasiparticle excitations in the framework of configuration mixing is shown to reverse the staggering phase from odd-I-down to the even-I-down for all the studied nuclei, except for the aforementioned four nuclei. Furthermore, by fitting a collective Bohr Hamiltonian to the TPSM energies, the differences between the two models are delineated through a comparison of the transition probabilities.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure

Simultaneous Surface Plasmon Resonance and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

We present here an experimental set-up to perform simultaneously measurements of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in a synchrotron beamline. The system allows measuring in situ and in real time the effect of X-ray irradiation on the SPR curves to explore the interaction of X-rays with matter. It is also possible to record XAS spectra while exciting SPR in order to detect the changes in the electronic configuration of thin films induced by the excitation of surface plasmons. Combined experiments recording simultaneously SPR and XAS curves while scanning different parameters can be carried out. The relative variations in the SPR and XAS spectra that can be detected with this set-up ranges from 10-3 to 10-5, depending on the particular experiment

Systematic investigation of quadrupole properties in deformed and transitional nuclei

In the present work, we address a long-standing problem in nuclear physics on how to decipher the nature of collective motion from electromagnetic transition probabilities. A systematic analysis of the $B(E2)$ transitions is performed for thirty nuclei using the triaxial projected shell model (TPSM) approach. It is shown that $I \rightarrow (I-2)$ transitions for the $\gamma$-bands depict a staggering phase and this phase reverses with the inclusion of the quasiparticle excitations for all the nuclei, except for the six nuclei of $^{76}$Ge, $^{112}$Ru, $^{170}$Er, $^{182}$Os, $^{192}$Pt and $^{232}$Th. This feature is analogous to the energy staggering phase obtained for these nuclei. It is noted that the energy staggering phase with even-spin-down (odd-spin-down), which is considered as a signature of $\gamma$-softness ($\gamma$-rigidity), corresponds to even-spin-up (odd-spin-up) staggering phase of the $B(E2)$ transitions. Further, TPSM predicted values for both energies and transition are shown to be in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values.Comment: 24 pages, 28 figure

Helicobacter pylori Infection in Various ABO Blood Groups of Kashmiri Population

Aim: This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in various ABO blood groups of people of Kashmir

Trace elements and human health in the foot hill settlements of Pir Panjal range in Kashmir.

Geomedical study of essential trace elements and human health involves analysis of cause and effect relationship of human health and geographic environment by analyzing the geo-chemical status of soil, water, food items and air, assessing the dependence of people on local food items and their nutrient content, the prevalence of food preparation and cooking methodologies, incidence and prevalence of related disorders in the community, and mapping and modeling the spatial distribution and correlation of the human health with the physico-chemical and socio-economic factors. Both the physico-chemical (as nutrients in soil, water or food) and socioeconomic (as income levels, type of diet, cooking styles, and the like) determinants have a close relationship with the human health.Digital copy of Ph.D thesis.University of Kashmir