Archives-J 

The production of genetically modified food using Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins (proteins) and Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) is not new; various food crops have been transformed to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses using the lectin (agglutinin) from Galanthus nivalis. The rice samples used in this work were analysed for the presence of the genetically modified material. Two of the rice samples used gave dot fluorescence of 223.513 and 150.032 with calculated GNA amount of 14.02 and 9.19 ng respectively. The samples contained GNA between 0.031 and 0.07 % per 1µg; the values are significant indicating that the samples express significant amount of the lectin, which implies that the rice analysed are genetically modified. Thus this study identified rice that has been genetically modified with the lectin from Galanthus nivalis using the immunoblot method.

Determination of optimum turning parameters in turning operations is one of the important tasks of process planners. The importance of this task is due to the fact that the values of turning parameters affect such objectives as turning time, turning cost and surface roughness. Thus, this problem is a multi-objective decision-making issue meaning that a parameter setting which satisfactorily achieves one of these objectives, it may not be good with respect to other objectives. Therefore, a rational compromise is to be made among these objectives. This paper determines the best cutting parameters considering relevant constraints in turning operations using a genetic algorithm coupled with an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach. The main stages of the proposed approach are two folds: (a) the non-dominated turning parameters being in the Pareto frontier are identified through a genetic algorithm, and (b) the AHP method is used to select the most suitable values for turning parameters from amongst the non-dominated solutions obtained in the first stage. Application of the proposed approach is demonstrated though an illustrative numerical example.

Sensitivity to environmental issues shifts consumer behavior towards supporting the growth and diffusion of green marketing and environmental conscious consumer behavior including consumer preference for greener technology, increase in demand for greener products and greater acceptance of green packaging. Consumers do express strong concerns for the environment, but their attitudes are often not reflected in consumption practices and these attitudes need to be explicitly studied. Results indicate that young consumers concern on green packaging product through the elements of reuse, reduce, recycle and refill. The elements of reuse and refill come most due to economic reasons. This finding emphasizes that the increasing importance environmental dimension in product packaging which consist of ethics, behaviors and attitudes can be blended together with economic advantage. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices and benefits to customers.

Leadership development is a new initiative that has no precedents upon which to draw. While leadership has been recognized for centuries as essential prerequisite to society’s development, there is no “school” for leadership development. Head nurse/ ward- in – charge have been an established part of the nursing structure and are expected to facilitate staff nurses in their roles as patient caregivers. Nurse leaders have a responsibility to create effective properly functioning units to support the work of nurses. This paper presents an initiative in this direction, by developing the leadership practices of head nurses using a leadership development package. A quasi experimental pretest- post test control group design was used. The findings of the study revealed that the leadership development package could bring in significant improvement in the leadership practices of the head nurses.

To develop a sustainable concrete using new supplementary cementitious material (SCM) like Lime sludge which is produced in paper industry while producing paper. It was replaced partially with Ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The properties of concrete investigated include compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength and sorptivity keeping optimum percentage of Lime sludge supposedly supplementary cementitious material (SCM). Also compared the cost of sludge based concrete with conventional concrete. In this work, M25 grade was developed and test results indicate that the use of Lime sludge with cement in the concrete has improved the performance of concrete on mechanical properties and cost economical.

Heavy metals contamination in river is one of the major quality issues in developing countries and metals enter these aquatic systems mainly through natural inputs such as weathering and erosion of rocks and anthropogenic sources including urban, industrial and agricultural activities, terrestrial runoff and sewage disposal. In the month of March CF > 6 in Copper indicated extremely contaminated as 9.333 in the water bodies. In the water bodies the month of March indicated that it is very high extremely polluted emphasized as 10.62 pollution load index. In the water sediments regarding in the month of March pointed out the pollution load index that it is very high extremely polluted as 17.28. The highest copper concentration was noticed in the water bodies during the month of March as 420±2.40 mg/l and the zinc as 260±3.04 mg/l which exceeded the shale value. The highest copper concentration was noticed in the water sediments during the month of March as 750±2.40mg/l and the zinc as 380±3.20 mg/l which exceeded the shale value. The Lead metal concentration was observed as 10 mg/l during all the months.

The diversity of Noctuid moths of the Nilgiri, an important International Biosphere in the Western Ghats of South India, was studied in four different places namely Coonoor, Doddabedda, Kothagiri and Ooty in the Nilgiri Biosphere and Kodaikanal. The data obtained between January 2009 (140 species) and December 2010 revealed the presence of 154 species of Noctuid moths classified under 85 genera and 23 subfamilies. Total number of taxa and individuals of Noctuid moths were found maximum in the year 2010.

Regulation and controllability have been an important aspect of the industrial motor drives. The three-phase induction machine has been the motor of choice in industrial settings for about the past decade due to its easy speed and torque controllability. Its ruggedness and low cost cum other inherent features thus necessitated the quest to study its operating behavior. This work highlighted the mathematical modeling of an induction motor specifically in the stationary reference frame. The induction motor parameters and the generated equations were used to form the embedded MATLAB function which in turn was used to generate graphs that illustrate the performance of a 5HP motor. The torque –speed response among other characteristics were fully simulated thus resulting to a sound study of the performance characteristics of a three phase 5HP induction motor using MATLAB/Simulink.

The process of economic development in an economy results in distinct structural changes. As a country progresses and the gross domestic product (GDP) basket enlarges, a shift in economic activity occurs away from agriculture towards services and manufacturing sectors, owing to higher elasticity of the latter two sectors than that of former sector. The process in turn leads to structural shifts, and consequent diminishing significance of primary activities and growing dominance of secondary and tertiary activities. This process brings with it significant changes in the production process, consumption pattern and various other social indicators. An in-depth understanding of inter-sectoral dynamics becomes all the more important for policy makers so that effective monetary, credit and fiscal policies could be designed in order to be able to achieve the broader objective of inclusive development. In this backdrop, the present paper endeavors to study linkages between agriculture and other Sectors in the Indian economy both through input-output (I-O) approach

In the present study, we tested the possibility of developing an appropriate technical itinerary for the green carpet crop system (ATV) involving pruning of grass hedges, composting of their clippings, direct seeding and fertiliser application that would ensure high overall productivity and major agroecological benefits. Compost with NPK 17- 17- 17 was applied to some plots of degraded soil in the ATV production system, while other plots were either treated with pig manure with NPK 17- 17- 17 on the side of the Slash and Burn production system. All treated plots are then used for maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation. A split-plot design was used with five replications per treatment. The study showed that the large amount of both forage and soil biomass was observed on the plots that received composts and chemical fertilizers in the ATV production system. These different results show that the ATV production system combined with organo-mineral fertilisation is a good source of mineral elements and make it possible to envisage its use in programmes to restore degraded soils.