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Water deficits reduce plant growth. Moisture stress affects the development of plant organs, which in turn can have very profound effects on plant growth. Initiation and differentiation of vegetative and reproductive organs, as well as cell division and cell enlargement, are very sensitive to water stress. The size of the vegetative organs in part determines the yield of grain crops, and therefore the yield is often determined before heading or flowering. Factors that determine the size of plant vegetative organs are many, and they are interrelated in a complex manner. Environmental factors rank high among those that determine vegetative growth, and among these environmental factors, nitrogen, soil temperature, and soil water play key roles. In this paper, we present a sensor-cloud based precision agriculture for intelligent water management for effective productivity in agriculture.

Water is a valuable natural resource with very high importance, specifically in areas with water shortage. During the previous years, the limitations in water availability in various areas make the solution of water problems actually crucial and significant. The objective and the aims of the present work are: 1) to make a short review of the operations research methods that are used to solve water resources management problems; 2) proposed a new mathematical approach for solving allocation problem; 3) to examine the basic ideas and proposed solution with the help of the real life problem in the water resource management. More exactly, the basic idea of the project is the development and implementation of an optimisation model that selects the quantities of water to be supplied from various sources and the quantities of water to be allocated to various users with the condition that each water capacity allocated to each user in order to optimise the total water availability, taking into account priorities in the demand and use of the resource, as well as sustainability considerations.

We aimed at evaluating the predictive value of amniotic fluid index ≤5 on perinatal outcome in terms of effect on cardiotocography, mode of delivery, meconium in liquor, birth weight, fetal distress, APGAR score at birth and neonatal admission to ICU. This is a prospective study of 308 antenatal women admitted to labor ward of MIMS during February 2014–December 2015 with gestational ages between 34 and 41 weeks. All women enrolled were subjected to history taking, examination, AFI estimation and compared between those with AFI ≤5 from rest. The non-reactive CTG, cesarean section rate due to fetal distress, low birth weight, APGAR score <7 and NICU admission were significantly high among those with oligoamnios than the control group. Oligoamnios has a significant correlation with adverse perinatal outcome.

ZnO nanostructures such as nanowires and nanorods are beneficial in solar energy harvesting because they provide a structure with a large surface area. Also, they provide a direct pathway to electron transportation, eliminating the scope for grain boundary scattering. In this investigation, thin ZnO films were prepared by thermal evaporation of the Zn metal, which was followed by oxidation. Evaporation parameters and oxidation temperatures were fixed. The oxidation duration was the variable. The effect of oxidation time, on the morphology and structural properties were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The study shows that with increase in oxidation time, the morphology changed to nanorods from initial flake morphology. As a function of oxidation time, the crystallinity and texture became more dominant. By using, I-V characteristic curves, it was found that the morphology changes alter the surface electrical conductivity of the prepared ZnO films.

To compare the clinical results of three techniques of hysterectomy- abdominal hysterectomy (AH), non-descent vaginal hysterectomy (NDVH), and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH). A simple prospective randomized study was performed in a tertiary care centre between June 2011 and Dec 2012, among 150 consecutive women indicated to undergo hysterectomy for benign and mobile uterine conditions. They were randomly assigned 50 each to three routes of hysterectomy; (abdominal, vaginal, and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal). Outcome measures including operating time, blood loss, rate of complications, consumption of analgesics, and length of hospital stay were assessed and compared between groups. As far as duration of operation, mean blood loss, analgesic requirement, length of hospital stay, P value was significant. Incidence of complications is least among VH group. Vaginal hysterectomy is the gold standard in the era of minimal access surgery. Some of the contraindications to VH can be overcome by assistance of laparoscope and a potential abdominal hysterectomy can be converted to a vaginal procedure.

AbstractBoth culturally and biologically, India is one of the mega diversity countries of the world. This pertains to Human Genome Diversity as well. Although little explored so far, HLA is no exception to this. HLA profile varies based on regional, linguistic and caste profiles. HLA alleles identified as common in HIV non progressors in other parts of the world are the commonest in the Vellala related communities of southern India. Migration and selection might be responsible for this. In the context of the well established MHC restriction phenomenon and the role of CTL in controlling HIV viral replication, it has become essential to revisit these areas and better understand the underlying phenomena so that better experiments are designed in future research. The article highlights these aspects in the context of HIV pandemic in India.

Lithium manganate (LiMn2O4) was synthesized by a very simple low-temperature solution combustion technique. The product was characterized for its phase formation and composition by X-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. The electrochemical behavior of this material in aqueous neutral electrolyte solutions was investigated in an effort to find a means of making it a usable electrode material for rechargeable battery systems in aqueous electrolytes. Cyclic voltammetric and chronopotentiometric studies of solid LiMn2O4 immobilized on a paraffin-impregnated graphite electrode were carried out in various aqueous neutral electrolyte solutions. LiMn2O4 was shown to undergo reversible insertion of K⁺, Li⁺, and NH4⁺ ions from neutral electrolyte solutions. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) detection of electrochemically treated LiMn2O4 proved the presence of the intercalated K⁺ ion. The intercalation of the K⁺ ion was partial, as is shown by the weight percent analysis of EDX detection results.

Lithium nickelate (Li0.88Ni1.12O2), lithium cobaltate (LiCoO2) and lithium manganate (LiMn2O4) were synthesized by fast self-propagating high-temperature combustion and their phase purity and composition were characterized by X-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. The electrochemical behaviour of these oxides was investigated with regard to potential use as cathode materials in lithium-ion secondary batteries. The cyclic voltammograms of these cathode materials recorded in 1 M LiClO4in propylene carbonate at scan rates of 0.1 and 0.01 mV s–1showed a single set of redox peaks. Charge-discharge capacities of these materials were calculated from the cyclic voltammograms at different scan rates. The highest discharge capacity was observed in the case of Li0.88Ni1.12O2. In all the cases, at a very slow scan rate (0.01 mV s–1) the capacity of the charging (oxidation) process was higher than the discharging (reduction) process. A strong influence of current density on the charge-discharge capacity was observed during galvanostatic cycling of Li0.88Ni1.12O2and LiMn2O4cathode materials. LiMn2O4can be used as cathode material even at higher current densities (1.0 mA cm–2), whereas in the case of Li0.88Ni1.12O2a useful capacity was found only at lower current density (0.2 mA cm–2). For the fast estimation of the cycling behaviour of LiMn2O4, a screening method was used employing a simple technique for immobilizing microparticles on an electrode surface.

Abstract: Lithium cobaltate (LiCoO2) and lithium manganate (LiMn2O4) were synthesized by self-propagating high-temperature combustion and their phase purity and composition were characterized by X-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. These transition metal oxides were mechanically immobilized on the surface of paraffin-impregnated graphite electrodes and their cyclic voltammetric behaviour in aqueous alkali electrolytes was examined. It was shown that both the oxides undergo proton insertion upon the reduction of Co3+ to Co2+ in LiCoO2 and Mn4+ to Mn3+ in LiMn2O4, while they deintercalate protons on the reverse oxidation. Scanning electron microscopy reveals spherical LiCoO2 particles with a very narrow size distribution. Energy dispersive X-ray detection proved the absence of metal cation intercalation.

Abstract: Lithium nickelate was synthesized by self-propagating high-temperature combustion. The electrochemical behaviour of the product was studied by cyclic voltammetry of microparticles immobilized on the surface of graphite electrodes. Whereas numerous previous studies have dealt with non-aqueous electrolyte solutions, here the behaviour of lithium nickelate in contact with aqueous electrolyte solutions was investigated. It could be shown that protons are intercalating upon reduction of the Ni(III) to Ni(II) and deintercalating upon oxidation. This insertion electrochemistry is chemically reversible. Within 1600 oxidation-reduction cycles, the response diminished only by about 10%. Scanning electron microscopy reveals a considerable recrystallization during the electrochemical cycles. Energy dispersive X-ray detection proved that no metal cations are intercalating. The electrochemical system is accessible only in very alkaline solutions as it shifts to more positive values with decreasing pH.

Activated iron electrodes have been prepared by electrochemical impregnation with both mercury and sulfur. The performance of such electrodes in 10 A h nickel/iron cells has revealed that the activation exerts only a marginal influence on the discharge capacity. By contrast, ageing of the activated electrodes is harmful to discharge performance.

Porous iron electrodes containing metal additives have been used in nickel-iron cells. The impedances of these electrodes were measured over a wide range of frequency 104Hz to 10−2Hz in 6 M KOH + 0·63 M LiOH solutions. Using a cylindrical pore model, porosity and its related parameters were calculated. It is found that Hg and S provide favourable porosity and thus enhance the discharge capacity.

Hb-Alberta has been found in a 51 year old Caucasian male with erythrocytosis. The substitution in this variant involves the glutamyl residue in position lOl(G3) of the β chain which is replaced by a glycyl residue. Hb-Alberta accounts for about 45% in the heterozygote, and readily forms hybrid tetramers with other hemoglobins. The oxygen affinity of Hb-Alberta is greatly increased, its Bohr effect reduced, and its subunit interaction greatly diminished.

Iron oxide development is necessary as the Iron electrodes exhibit high self discharge and poor charging efficiency in alkaline batteries. Pressed electrodes containing electrolytic iron powder with varying amounts of Fe3O4have been used. The variation of open circuit potential and self discharge currents with alkali concentration is followed. For better understanding of these variations, cyclic polarisation (−1.3 V to + 0.4 VvsHg/HgO) and hydrogen evolution studies are carried out. Beyond −0.5 VvsHg/HgO, the surface is covered by hydrolysed layer and the protons diffuse away from this layer. The hydrogen evolution takes place with the discharge of K+ions as the rate determining step.

A new method namely, center point method is proposed to find an optimal interval assignment solution for fully interval assignment problems (FIAP). In the proposed method, the given FIAP is decomposed into a crisp assignment problem (AP) with the help of midpoint technique, solving it with the existing technique and by using its optimal solutions; an optimal interval assignment solution to the given FIAP is obtained. Comparison of intervals and partial ordering techniques were not used and there is no restriction on the elements of coefficient interval matrix in the proposed method. The proposed method is easier and also, simply because of the CA techniques. Using numerical examples the above method is illustrated.

SnS nanorods and nanoparticles were synthesized by thiourea hydrolysis in an autoclave at 180 °C within a time window of 2 and 8 h, respectively. In the absence of added structure-directing agent, the nanorods formation was attributed to templating characteristic of ammonium ion produced in situ during hydrolysis.