Physiological and Agronomic Responses of Four Rice Varieties to Drought in the Rainforest.

The present investigation tested the hypothesis that there would be variation in physiological responses to water deficit among rice varieties from different production ecologies, with contrasting tolerance to water deficit under repeated cycle of soil moisture deficit, at reproductive growth stage. A screen house and a field trial were conducted at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan and Ikenne (Latitude 6° 52' N, Longitude 3° 43' E) respectively. Both experiments had rice varieties ('IR 64', 'WAB 56-104', 'IR 77298-1-2-B-10' and 'NERICA 4') and stress status (stress and control) as treatment factor's, arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replicates. In both trials, the physiological mechanism that underpins varietal differences with repeated cycles of water deficit at the reproductive growth stage was more balanced water status, improved foliar characters, efficient photosynthetic capacity and higher grain yield in comparatively drought tolerant upland rice varieties ('NERICA 4' and 'WAB 56-104'), as opposed with the results for the drought susceptible cultivar 'IR 64'. A converse pattern was observed on water stressed rice, despite fewer cycles of water deficit on the field. The results could have suggested that the initiation of water deficit is the rate limiting step rather than its intensity at the reproductive growth stage

Reproductive biology, diet and feeding pattern of longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol (Bleeker, 1851) in the north-eastern Arabian Sea off Gujarat, India

Longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol (Bleeker, 1851) is the major tuna resource in the neritic realms of the northern Arabian Sea and forms considerable fishery in the coastal nations in the region. Gujarat, on the north-west coast is the major province landing longtail tuna in India. The paper attempts to add to the hitherto sparse knowledge base on biology of the longtail tuna fished along the north-west coast of India, through a study spanning from 2011 to 2015. Reproductive biology, spawning, food and feeding dynamisms of the species were investigated. Sex ratio of the species was estimated as 1:2.1 and depicted an increase in male preponderance as the size increased. The fish attains maturity at 607 mm and it spawns during summer months starting from May. The fish is typically a non-selective feeder and over 22 taxa comprising of fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans formed the diet at varying rates over the year. Variation in feeding intensity at different reproductive stages is discussed besides the constraint posed by the large presence of unidentifiable, partially digested gut content

Peer-to-Peer Computing and Grid Computing: towards a better understanding

Currently, both Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P) and Grid Computing have remained the most vibrant and useful forms of distributed computing all over the world. Their applications are such that they cut across both academia and industry. It has come to the notice of researchers that there are great misunderstanding and misinterpretation on what these forms of distributed computing actually portend and stand for. In this paper therefore, we take a critical look at comparative study of both computing technologies with aim of making readers understand in a clear cut what each really stands for. To have a good comparison, we start by giving a well referenced definition of Grid Computing as well as Peer-to-Peer Computing. Also, we used technical issues and general features in our comparison vis-à-vis the architecture, security issue, data movement, application deployment, and operating system requirement. We also considered the strength of both distributed computing system and finally we considered what could be the future of both technologies

Assessment of Vegetable Lubricants On Microstructural Analysis of Alluminum Produced By Ecae

Micro-structural evaluation of aluminum 6063 extruded by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) method is the purpose of this research. Aluminum alloy (AA6063) bar was annealed at 3500C for 1hr, machined and cut to billets size of 14mm x 14mm x 44mm. these specimens for extrusions were machined to the specified dimension to a visibly good finish. The billets were extruded through ECAE die of 14 x 14mm2 channel cross-section areas, the channel angle was 1200 and the extrusion pressures at which samples with different lubricants extruded were noted and recorded. The punch and container used for the experiment were made of tool steel alloy AISI D2. Four lubricants used in this study include; palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil and groundnut oil. The micro structural analysis of the material extruded with palm oil as lubricant, which gave the least extrusion pressure, produced best grain structures followed by groundnut oil and coconut oil while olive oil was the least. However, palm oil and olive oil has better load reduction than other lubricants. All the lubricants tested greatly enhanced microstructures of A1 6063 and can effectively replace the chemical based lubricants used in forging operations

Dead Bryde's whale washed ashore at Veraval, Gujarat

Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879) measuring 10.4 m in length and weighing about 7 tons was found washed ashore on the beach of Veraval on 4th august 2017. Locally called as “Machchh” it was found in dead condition with small injuries in the caudal peduncle and genital region. With the intervention and supervision of forest officials, it was towed ashore and a veterinary officer conducted post-mortem after which it was buried on the shore. Occurrenc

Do migrant remittances promote human capital formation? Evidence from 89 developing countries

The few published empirical studies on the effect of migrant remittances on educational attainments are roughly based on cross-sectional microdata from household surveys. This paper applies the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator on aggregate level data from 1970 to 2010 in five-year intervals to examine the impact of migrant remittances on human capital formation in 89 developing countries. The estimation results show that, on average, an increase in migrant remittance inflows by 1% is associated with a 2% rise in years of schooling at both the secondary and tertiary levels. This suggests that migrant remittances have the potential to relax liquidity constraints and generate spillover effects that facilitate more schooling opportunities in remittance-receiving countries

Symptomatic, radiological profile of patients with endobronchial aspergilosis: a descriptive study

Background: Aspergillosis is a common presentation, involving respiratory system and is usually seen as a fungus ball that colonizes and grows into a pre-existing lung cavity, in the majority of cases secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis (PT). An endobronchial aspergilloma (EBA) is a rare disease, and another, but unusual, presentation of aspergillosis, characterized by the growth of Aspergillus species into the bronchial lumen. These two different presentations of aspergillosis can co-exist in the same patient. endobronchial aspergillosis, a variant of invasive aspergillus tracheobronchitis, a rare manifestation, where disease is limited to tracheobronchial tree without invasion of lung parenchyma and in many cases incidentally diagnosed, in a patient who had undergone a bronchoscopy to investigate haemoptysis, or for another reason.Methods: Patients who were attending respiratory OPD with symptoms of cough with expectoration with immune compromised status or previous history of tuberculosis with abnormal chest X-ray were subjected to chest CT scan, with abnormal endobronchial mass in CT scan were further investigated with fibreoptic bronchoscopy and histopathological examination.Results: 16 patients were diagnosed as endobronchial aspergilloma of which 11 patients were having past history of tuberculosis, 9 patients were having type 2 diabetes mellitus on treatment, 2 were having cardiac disease.Conclusions: IATB is a rare manifestation caused by Aspergillus species affecting people with immunocompromised status or previous respiratory pathology like tuberculosis leading to formation of mass like growth obstructing the airway lead to respiratory distress and it should be taken as differential diagnosis in patients with previous respiratory pathology presented with mass like growth in bronchi