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In recent literature, several alternative conditions for the existence of solutions to active networks are given. In this paper, yet another condition is given which is both necessary and sufficient for the existence of a unique solution to the network. Based on this new condition a precise upper bound for the order of complexity of an active network is established which differs from published results. A Fortran coded program is also available.

REGISTRATION of trade unions has been a dormant topic of discussion in Britain for many reasons. It is well known that registration is voluntary 1; it does not confer any " privileges "2 (but only some administrative advantages) to registered unions as against those remaining unregistered, i.e., registration provisions seen in the Trade Union Acts 1871-1964 do not relate to or have any impact on collective bargaining; and it is not a source of great power to any administrative agency which would necessitate judicial control. But with the establishment of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations in 1965, registration has leapt into attention and assumed interesting dimensions about its use in future. The Commission has received evidence from many quarters and an important one among them is the evidence given by the Confederation of British Industries.

SYSTEM is a program which is developed for the analysis of lumped nonlinear systems. This package consists of about 700 Fortran IV statements and requires approximately 50 kbytes of memory on an IBM 360/75 computer. The low memory requirements of this versatile program compared to other well known programs makes it especially useful for student use. Its highly modular structure enables the users to experiment with several formulation and solution procedures. SYSTEM also provides sensitivity response for parameter variations, a feature highly desirable for automated design of systems.

Dynamic stress corrosion experiments have been carried out, in 1 N NaCl solutions, on an Al-8 w/o Mg alloy, with trace additions of boron and beryllium, in the as-rolled and aged conditions. Crack initiation, crack turning, crack stoppage, and secondary cracking have been examined and explained on the basis of an electromechanical model. The conditions for crack branching have been analyzed and a model proposed.

A new method for the synthesis of rotenoids has been developed and this has been used for the synthesis of dehydromunduserone and dehydroelliptone.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira that affects human and a wide range of animals. The direct method of diagnosis of leptospirosis, has been so far by culture isolation but it is time consuming and potentially biohazardous. Another traditional method is the detection of antibodies (Serological tests) which is also a time consuming method and fails to identify the infecting serovar. To overcome these limitations associated with the cultivation and serology, we developed PCR assay targeting partial lipL21 gene and lipL41 gene of Leptospires using in-house designed P28/29 and P30/31 primers, with a product size of 385bp and 427bp. The amplicons were subjected to restriction enzyme digestion using RsaI, Pvu II and HindIII for product of P28/29 and ClaI, TaqI and RsaI were used for product of P30/31. The protocols were standardized and the assay targeting the partial lipL21 and lipL41 gene was found to be specific for eight pathogenic Leptospires out of nine leptospires tested. The products were then cloned in pGEMT Easy vector and sequenced to facilitate further studies. PCR could detect the target bacterial gene without any ambiguity and showed good efficiency in detection of targeted species in the sample. This simple, rapid and cost-effective method can be applicable in a prediction system to prevent disease outbreak by these Leptospira species and can be considered as an effective tool for disease diagnosis of Leptospira species. Key words: PCR; lipL21; lipL41; Molecular Diagnostics; Transformation. Nepal Journal of Biotechnology. Jan. 2011, Vol. 1, No. 1 : 22-30

As the cities grow and their population increase, there is an intensifying claim for primary components such as housing, transportation, utility services, water supply, etc. Integrated and inclusive urban transportation infrastructure addresses dual purposes - mobility and access to various urban facilities. Urban mobility is no longer only about movement of people in urban areas. In the current milieu of increased preferences for personal motorised transport over public transport, there is a need to redefine and restructure urban mobility through planned integrated Rapid Mass Transit (RMT) hubs while harnessing the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) enabled services to unambiguously offer diverse mobility choices for providing inclusive and accessible (spatially and socio-economically) urban spaces. Against this background, this research paper through a case example attempts to understand and analyse the major trends that are deciding the modes of urban mobility with a focus on micro-mobility infrastructure which is a vital component in addressing the first and last mile connectivity for the efficient usage of rapid mass transit system. Further, key strategies are proposed to augment the planning and implementation of micro-mobility options to improve and redefine the urban mobility.

By measuring excreted radioactivity the retention of 14C-labeled tetrahydropterins (biopterin, d-erythro- and l-erythro-nepterin, 6-hydroxymethylpterin) and of 7,8-dihydro-6-hydroxymethylpterin has been followed after intraperitoneal injection into rats, given at a concentration of 10 mg/kg. More than 70% of the reduced 6-polyhydroxyalkylpterins are retained. In the urine 6-hydroxylumazine and xanthopterin are found as the main degradation products of all the reduced pterins. No radioactivity was incorporated into biopterin, isolated from the urine after injection of either tetrahydroneopterin, 7,8-dihydro- or tetrahydro-6-hydroxymethylpterin.

Tests have been carried out to determine the stress corrosion susceptibility of Al‐4.4 a/o Xn alloy in the aged condition. Flat ribbon specimens were tested in aqueous solutions containing 3.5% NaCl at a constant stress of 5.76 kg/mm2 (32% of UTS). Polarisation studies carried out on the stressed and unstressed specimens reveal that the Tafel slopes have a much lower value in the stressed condition. The susceptibility to stress corrosion increases with the test temperature. An equation of the type Z=K. exp (—E/RT) with reciprocal life Z and test temperature T, is found to fit the data from which the value of the activation energy is found to be ca. 20 kcal.mol−1.

It was recently shown that by simple matrix operation on the system equations, it is possible to obtain "row sensitivity" and "column sensitivity" in the steady state and the frequency domain. These results are given in more general time-domain form. Also, a network interpretation for adjoint sensitivity network is discussed.

The C form of La2O3 has been prepared and its transformation to the A form is found to take place at ∼590°C. The C→A transformation of Nd2O3 takes place at 550°C. The temperatures as well as the energies of activation of the phase transformations of the rare earth sesquioxides vary with the size of the cation. Y2O3 undergoes a reversible phase transformation in the temperature range 400–900°C. The phase transformation of La2O3, Nd2O3 and Pr2O3 have been followed by electrical conductivity measurements. Presence of water vapour lowers the activation energy for the conduction process as well as the temperature of transformation.