Archives-January 2011

Pteropus giganteus is a largest fruit bat in India, belongs to the order suborder Megachiroptera and it is widely distributed in Indian subcontinent. Four different day roost sites of P. giganteus were surveyed in Madurai district. One single tree roost camp and three multiple trees roost camps were observed in the surveyed roost sites. Among the four roost sites, totally 21 species of plant saplings were identified under the day roost camps. Seed dispersal by this fruit bat shows that they disperse variety of seeds of different plants species in the vicinity of the roosting trees apart from the foraging trees. Borassus flabellifer, Anacardium occidentale, Nerium indicum, Phoenix dactylifera, Prosopis juliflora and Madhuca indica were dominated in the surveyed roost sites and that species saplings were recorded as maximum in the roosting vicinity confirming that P. giganteus indeed helps in seed dispersal to maintain the heterogeneity in the Madurai region.

As India changes and reinvents itself at a remarkably accelerated pace, the retail patterns of its population have been transformed. What is new about these changes in retail patterns is not only the change in consumer behaviour of 1.15 billion individuals but also changes in the outlook of retailers in India. Historically, change has been a gradual and largely predictable process, allowing industry experts to reasonably forecast consumption patterns and consumer behaviour in the near future based on the current and immediate past. Those days are history. The fundamental shifts in consumer spending patterns have far-reaching implications not only for manufacturers, marketers and retailers of consumer products and services, but for all of India and Indian society as a whole.This paper highlights and analyses these shifts in the retail sector and the implications for manufacturers, marketers and brand owners, and retailers. The key lies in understanding the nature of these changes in the retail landscape and thereby the changes in the wallet-share of Indian consumers. Today’s reality consists of many new, unique and disparate factors that have come into play simultaneously

The paper aims to analyze the need of adept governance for best corporate practice in India, and therefore, the significance of corporate audit that must maintain ample physical transparency with due accountability. Corporate audit is generally a multi-stage process, and therefore, it is widely believed to be the most powerful tool for best corporate disclosure. However, in most public enterprises in general and state owned enterprises in particular, the reality is opposite to the myth. Here, the boards of directors and the management have direct interference in the internal audit task with the prime motive being a personal gain. Then, the external audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and his office is merely supervisory in nature that too comes with major limitations like multi-tasking, autocracy and unethical influences from the political peers. In this context, the degree of accuracy and acceptability of all such audit reports has invariably come under greater suspicion. The paper, therefore, suggest for an integrated effort from the sides of owners, management, employees, auditor and Government to achieve best corporate governance of most state owned enterprises. In addition, a self audit and edit at each level and every step of corporate work culture is expected to induce more stimuli for a better transparency and functional autonomy in public sector organizations.

Friction Stir Welding, a relatively new welding process, was developed in 1991 at The Welding Institute near Cambridge, England. In this process parts are mated together, rigidly fixtured, and joined in solid-state by forcing a rotating tool into the joint, and traversing that tool along the joint. This process creates weldments with properties comparable to the base metal and in most cases superior to traditional fusion welding techniques. During the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process, the forging forces under the tool plastically deform the material, “stirring” the material around the tool pin and against the tool shoulder, thus joining the mated parts together. This process induces large shear forces in the plastically deforming material, raising the temperature of the material to approximately 80% of the melting temperature. The FSW process parameters such as tool rotational speed, welding speed, axial force, etc. play a major role in deciding the weld quality. In present investigation, the effect of processing parameters on mechanical properties of AA6082-O joints produced by friction stir welding was analyzed. Different welded specimens were produced by varying rotating speeds of the tool as 900 & 1200 rpm and by varying welding speeds as 50 & 63 mm/min. The FSW joints mechanical properties of the material such as yield strength, tensile strength and percentage of elongation were evaluated by means of tensile tests.

This paper deals with series connection of stator windings and with decoupled dynamic control, it has been introduced recently. The two-motor drive system is supplied from a single five-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) and the machines are controlled using vector control scheme. In literature this drive configuration utilizes current control in the stationary reference frame so current fed machine models are employed and the current regulated PWM multi-phase inverter replicates the current references. If current control is to be implemented in the rotating reference frame, a PWM method for the five-phase VSI is needed to generate required reference voltages. This paper proposes voltage modulation scheme to generate five-phase inverter output signals using a simple approach, in such a way that independent and decoupled control of two five-phase series-connected machines is achieved with minimum interaction between the two machines. The proposed method offers significant advantages over the existing space vector PWM. The suggested method generates output voltages that contain two fundamentals at operating frequencies required by the two machines with reduced computational burden on digital signal processor (DSP). The concept is verified by simulation and experimental approach.

The world economy collapsed into steep recession in the final quarter of 2008 with global real GDP dropping at a 6 percent annual rate. This was undoubtedly the sharpest decline in world output and especially in world industrial production and world trade of the postwar era, with virtually all countries participating in the downturn and many registering record quarterly declines in real GDP .the global economic contraction continued through the first quarter of 2009, although perhaps at a somewhat slower pace than the preceding quarter. This recession in world economy has also initiated a discussion among economist regarding synchronization of various economies of the world and recession in one country bringing effects in other. In economics Decoupling Hypothesis rejects linkage between world economy and economy of a particular country . The present paper aims to find tenability of decoupling Hypothesis in India and finds correlation between recession in world economies and Indian Economy

Uromyces fabae (Uromyces viciae-fabae) the pea rust was first reported by D. C. H. Persoon in 1801. Later DeBary (1862) changed the genus and renamed it as Uromyces fabae (Pers) deBary. There after, Kispatic (1949) described f. sp. viciae-fabae by including host vicia fabae. The pathogen Uromyces fabae described as autoecious rust with aeciospores, urediospores and teliospores found on the surface of host plant (Arthur and Cummins, 1962; Gaumann, 1998). Gaumann proposed that the fungus be classified into nine forma speciales each with a host range limited to two or there species. Later it was observed that the isolates of Uromyces viciae-fabae share so many hosts in common that it was impossible to classify them into forma speciales (Conner and Bernier, 1982). Based on the distinctive shape and dimensions of substomatal vesicle, Uromyces viciae fabae has been described as a species complex (Emeran et al., 2005). It revealed that host specialized isolates of Uromyces viciae fabae were morphologically distinct, differing in both spore dimensions and infection structure.

The correlation and path coefficient analysis among seed yield and its components in pigeonpea were worked out in 25 erect and 25 semi spreading genotypes separately during 2007-08. Results of the correlation coefficient analysis revealed that seed yield plant^-1 was positively correlated with seeds plant^-1 in erect group whereas, pod clusters plant^-1, pods plant^-1 and 100 seed weight in semi-spreading group. Path coefficient analysis of various characters towards seed yield indicated that the maximum positive direct effect on seed yield was exhibited by seeds plant^-1 in erect group and days to 50% flowering in semi-spreading group. Whereas, path coefficients for 100 seed weight revealed the maximum positive direct effect due to days to 50% flowering in erect group and days to flower initiation in semi-spreading group.

The Kinetics of oxidation of ethyl 2-chloropropionate was carried out with oxidising agent KMnO4 in acidic medium the reaction was found in first order with respectto the concentration of substrate and its pseudo first order with respect to concentration of oxidant. Temperature also affect the rate of reaction as the temperature increase rate of reaction increase as well as concentration of acid affect the rate of reaction as the concentration of acid increases rate of reaction also increases and the study of mechanism show the formation of compound weather it is slow or fast.

Implementation of straight and stringent legislation of Nox emission requires the new technological development for Nox abatement from exhaust gases. This paper summarizes the current status of Nox abatement strategy. The main focus is put forward on Nox control methods applied in combustion of diesel fuel in CI Engines furthermore the various methods of Nox abatement techniques emphasized.