Effect of simultaneous application of field and pressure on magnetic transitions in La0.5{_{0.5}}Ca0.5{_{0.5}}MnO3{_{3}}

We study combined effect of hydrostatic pressure and magnetic field on the magnetization of La${_{0.5}}$Ca${_{0.5}}$MnO${_{3}}$. We do not observe any significant effect of pressure on the paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. However, pressure asymmetrically affects the thermal hysteresis across the ferro-antiferromagnetic first-order transition, which has strong field dependence. Though the supercooling (T*) and superheating (T**) temperatures decrease and the value of magnetization at 5K (M$_{5K}$) increases with pressure, T* and M$_{5K}$ shows abrupt changes in tiny pressure of 0.68kbar. These anomalies enhance with field. In 7Tesla field, transition to antiferromagnetic phase disappears in 0.68kbar and M$_{5K}$ show significant increase. Thereafter, increase in pressure up to $\sim$10kbar has no noticeable effect on the magnetization

Commercially Important Rays and Skates of Gujarat

Commercially Important Rays and Skates of Gujara

Diet composition and feeding dynamics of Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758 off Gujarat, north-west coast of India

The largehead ribbonfish, Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758 forms a major fishery along north-west coast of India comprising the two coastal states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Diet composition was analysed for five years (2010-2014) to understand shifts if any in the prey items. Seasonal changes in the prey items were studied for three years (2012-2014) to explore the temporal dynamics of prey availability in the ecosystem and in largehead ribbonfish guts. Feeding indices viz., Stomach fullness index (SFI), empty stomach ratio (ESR), gastrosomatic index (GaSI) and relative gut length (RLG) explained the feeding behaviour, seasonal dynamics and ontogenetic shifts in prey items. The Vacuity Index (VI) was estimated as 37.56%, indicating that T. lepturus is a carnivore and relatively edacious. Diet of T. lepturus comprised of fishes (47.16%), crustaceans (45.22%), molluscs (4.33%) and miscellaneous items (3.28%). Acetes sp. was the most dominant prey item during the study period. Feeding intensity was found to be high during the post-monsoon months which coincided with the period of gonadal maturation of the fish. Significant variations (p<0.05) were seen in the feeding indices during different months, different sizes and between sexes due to the availability of prey items, physiological changes and ontogenetic shifts. A detailed knowledge on diet composition, temporal dynamics in diet patterns and feeding indices can reveal the trophic interaction of prey-predator, resource abundance and fluctuations which are important inputs in ecology-based fishery management models/tools

Developing textile entrepreneurial inclination model by integrating experts mining and ISM-MICMAC

The Indian textile industry is lacking in an entrepreneurial inclination of a skilled young generation; because of this, the industry is facing a challenge to achieve sustainable development and growth. To overcome this problem, the goal of this work is to build an entrepreneurial inclination model in the context of the textile industry. For achieving this goal, a combined approach of an extensive literature review and experts mining has been used to establish the entrepreneurial inclination factors in phased of the study. In the second phase, an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) with Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliqués à un Classement (MICMAC) has been applied to build a structural model and to find the driving force factors and dependence power. The results show that effective entrepreneurship courses, institutional policy, training and internship, institutional corporation and the involvement of institutional heads play a very significant role in encouraging youth towards entrepreneurship. The outcomes of the study can help both the government and academic institutes to draw up effective policy and develop an entrepreneurial culture which can help to create more entrepreneurs in the textile field.N

Extrapolation of Multiplicity distribution in p+p(\bar(p)) collisions to LHC energies

The multiplicity (N_ch) and pseudorapidity distribution (dN_ch/d\eta) of primary charged particles in p+p collisions at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies of \sqrt(s) = 10 and 14 TeV are obtained from extrapolation of existing measurements at lower \sqrt(s). These distributions are then compared to calculations from PYTHIA and PHOJET models. The existing \sqrt(s) measurements are unable to distinguish between a logarithmic and power law dependence of the average charged particle multiplicity () on \sqrt(s), and their extrapolation to energies accessible at LHC give very different values. Assuming a reasonably good description of inclusive charged particle multiplicity distributions by Negative Binomial Distributions (NBD) at lower \sqrt(s) to hold for LHC energies, we observe that the logarithmic \sqrt(s) dependence of are favored by the models at midrapidity. The dN_ch/d\eta versus \eta for the existing measurements are found to be reasonably well described by a function with three parameters which accounts for the basic features of the distribution, height at midrapidity, central rapidity plateau and the higher rapidity fall-off. Extrapolation of these parameters as a function of \sqrt(s) is used to predict the pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles at LHC energies. dN_ch/d\eta calculations from PYTHIA and PHOJET models are found to be lower compared to those obtained from the extrapolated dN_ch/d\eta versus \eta distributions for a broad \eta range.Comment: 11 pages and 13 figures. Substantially revised and accepted for publication in Journal of Physics

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic

Charged-Particle Multiplicity in Proton-Proton Collisions

This article summarizes and critically reviews measurements of charged-particle multiplicity distributions and pseudorapidity densities in p+p(pbar) collisions between sqrt(s) = 23.6 GeV and sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. Related theoretical concepts are briefly introduced. Moments of multiplicity distributions are presented as a function of sqrt(s). Feynman scaling, KNO scaling, as well as the description of multiplicity distributions with a single negative binomial distribution and with combinations of two or more negative binomial distributions are discussed. Moreover, similarities between the energy dependence of charged-particle multiplicities in p+p(pbar) and e+e- collisions are studied. Finally, various predictions for pseudorapidity densities, average multiplicities in full phase space, and multiplicity distributions of charged particles in p+p(pbar) collisions at the LHC energies of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, 10 TeV, and 14 TeV are summarized and compared.Comment: Invited review for Journal of Physics G -- version 2: version after referee's comment

Plasmodium vivax lineages: geographical distribution, tandem repeat polymorphism, and phylogenetic relationship

Background: Multi-drug resistance and severe/ complicated cases are the emerging phenotypes of vivax malaria, which may deteriorate current anti-malarial control measures. The emergence of these phenotypes could be associated with either of the two Plasmodium vivax lineages. The two lineages had been categorized as Old World and New World, based on geographical sub-division and genetic and phenotypical markers. This study revisited the lineage hypothesis of P. vivax by typing the distribution of lineages among global isolates and evaluated their genetic relatedness using a panel of new mini-satellite markers. Methods: 18S SSU rRNA S-type gene was amplified from 420 Plasmodium vivax field isolates collected from different geographical regions of India, Thailand and Colombia as well as four strains each of P. vivax originating from Nicaragua, Panama, Thailand (Pak Chang), and Vietnam (ONG). A mini-satellite marker panel was then developed to understand the population genetic parameters and tested on a sample subset of both lineages. Results: 18S SSU rRNA S-type gene typing revealed the distribution of both lineages (Old World and New World) in all geographical regions. However, distribution of Plasmodium vivax lineages was highly variable in every geographical region. The lack of geographical sub-division between lineages suggests that both lineages are globally distributed. Ten mini-satellites were scanned from the P. vivax genome sequence; these tandem repeats were located in eight of the chromosomes. Mini-satellites revealed substantial allelic diversity (7-21, AE = 14.6 +/- 2.0) and heterozygosity (He = 0.697-0.924, AE = 0.857 +/- 0.033) per locus. Mini-satellite comparison between the two lineages revealed high but similar pattern of genetic diversity, allele frequency, and high degree of allele sharing. A Neighbour-Joining phylogenetic tree derived from genetic distance data obtained from ten mini-satellites also placed both lineages together in every cluster. Conclusions: The global lineage distribution, lack of genetic distance, similar pattern of genetic diversity, and allele sharing strongly suggested that both lineages are a single species and thus new emerging phenotypes associated with vivax malaria could not be clearly classified as belonging to a particular lineage on basis of their geographical origin

Dynamics of plasma expansion in the pulsed laser material interaction

A pulse Nd: YAG laser with pulse duration 5-10 ns, beam radius at focal point 0.2-0.4 mm, wavelengths 1064 nm, 532 nm and 238 nm with linearly polarized radiation and Gaussian beam profile, was impacted on a thin foil of titanium metal for generating plasma plume. Numerically, the above parameters were linked with average kinetic energy of the electrons and ions in the laser-induced plasma. In the present model, electrons having higher velocities are assumed to escape from plasma, that forms a negatively charged sheath around the plasma. It is seen from present computations that the forward directed nature of the laser evaporation process results from the anisotropic expansion velocities associated with different species. These velocities are mainly controlled by the initial dimension of the expanding plasma. An attempt was undertaken to estimate the length of the plume at different ambient gas pressures using an adiabatic expansion model. The rate of the plasma expansion for various Ar ion energies was derived from numerical calculations. A numerical definition of this plasma includes events like collisional/radiative, excitation/de-excitation and ionization/recombination processes involving multiples of energy levels with several ionization stages. Finally, based on a kinetic model, the plasma expansion rate across the laser beam axis was investigated