Genotype and environment interaction and stability analysis for seed yield in yellow mung bean (Vigna radiata L.)

Nine yellow seeded mung (Vigna radiata L.) genotypes were evaluated along with three checks for their yield performance during three years (2007, 2010 and 2011). Pooled analysis of variance and stability analysis were performed. The genotypic (G) × environment (E) interaction and both variance due to genotypes and environment were significant. The portioning of G × E interaction into linear and non-linear components indicated that both predictable and unpredictable components shared the interaction. On the basis of stability parameters, the top yielding genotypes such as BGS-9 (605.444 Kg/Ha), Sel-4 (519.778 Kg/Ha) and China mung (567.000 Kg/Ha) exhibited high mean yield. Based on stability parameters the genotypes YM-5 (459.889 Kg/Ha), YM-8 (451.333 Kg/Ha) exhibited low mean performance along with regression value nearer to unity (bi=1) and non significant deviation from regression (S2 di=0) indicating the high stability and wider adaptability across the three environments. The genotypes BGS-9 (605.444 Kg/Ha) and Sel-4 (519.778 Kg/Ha) exhibited high mean value and bi values (bi>1) and non significant deviation (S2 di < 0) value indicating adapted for high performance environments (These genotypes are sensitive to environments and give maximum yield when inputs are not limited)

Onset of Benard-Marangoni Ferroconvection with Internal Heat Generation

The effect of internal heat generation on the onset of Benard-Marangoni convection in a horizontal ferrofluid layer heated from below in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field is studied. The lower boundary is rigid and the upper free boundary is assumed to be flat and undeformable. Both the boundaries are considered to be perfectly insulated to temperature perturbations and the resulting eigenvalue problem is solved numerically using the Galerkin technique as well as analytically by regular perturbation technique with wave number as a perturbation parameter. It is observed that the analytical results agree well with those obtained numerically. It is noted that the combined effect of magnetic Rayleigh number and dimensionless internal heat source strength is to reinforce together and to hasten the onset of Benard-Marangoni ferroconvection compared to their presence in isolation. In addition, the nonlinearity of fluid magnetization is found to have no influence on the criterion for the onset of ferroconvection. Some existing results are reproduced as particular cases from the present study

Effect of water and air flow on concentric tubular solar water desalting system.

This work reports an innovative design of tubular solar still with a rectangular basin for water desalination with flowing water and air over the cover. The daily distillate output of the system is increased by lowering the temperature of water flowing over it (top cover cooling arrangement). The fresh water production performance of this new still is observed in Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore (11° North, 77° East), India. The water production rate with no cooling flow was 2050ml/day (410ml/trough). However, with cooling air flow, production increased to 3050ml/day, and with cooling water flow, it further increased to 5000ml/day. Despite the increased cost of the water cooling system, the increased output resulted in the cost of distilled water being cut in roughly half. Diurnal variations of a few important parameters are observed during field experiments such as water temperature, cover temperature, air temperature, ambient temperature and distillate output

Buckling Imperfection Sensitivity of Conical Sandwich Composite Structures for Launch-Vehicles

Structural stability can be an important consideration in the design of large composite shell structures and therefore it is important to understand the buckling response of such structures. It is well known that geometric imperfections can significantly influence the buckling response of such structures by causing the buckling loads to be significantly lower than the theoretical buckling load of a geometrically perfect shell structure. Results are presented of an analytical study on the buckling imperfection sensitivity of large-scale conical sandwich structures for launch vehicles. In particular, representative structures from the Space Launch System launch-vehicle development activities will be considered. The study considered composite sandwich conical structures with multiple sandwich core thicknesses and facesheet layups consisting of tape and fabric composite layups. The results of this analytical study indicate that there is conservatism in the NASA current buckling knockdown factor of 0.33 for conical shell structures. Therefore, it is suggested that the buckling response of composite sandwich cones be further investigated through buckling tests and analytical predictions to potentially revise the buckling design recommendations for conical composite structures

Specific identification, biology and symptoms of whitefly species infesting sunflower in South India

Whitefly species related to sunflower was identified as Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius). Further the identified whitefly species was confirmed to be indigenous B. tabaci on molecular basis by using B-biotype specific SCARs and biological silver leaf assay on sensitive pumpkin (cv Big variety). None of the whitefly samples could positive for the presence of B biotype. The results of the study on the pest life cycle under the laboratory conditions showed that, B. tabaci passed through four nymphal instars before the adult stage. The mean duration values of these stages were 5.6, 4.2, 4.4 and 5.6 days respectively. The total duration of the life cycle of B. tabaci ranged from 23- 42 days at the temperature of 29±2°C with a mean of 34.5. The damage to sunflower crop caused by the whitefly species is discussed with a special emphasis on its ability to transmit leaf curl viral disease

De Novo Assembly and Transcriptome Analysis of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Ceratitis capitata Early Embryos

The agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, also known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, belongs to the Tephritidae family, which includes a large number of other damaging pest species. The Medfly has been the first non-drosophilid fly species which has been genetically transformed paving the way for designing genetic-based pest control strategies. Furthermore, it is an experimentally tractable model, in which transient and transgene-mediated RNAi have been successfully used. We applied Illumina sequencing to total RNA preparations of 8-10 hours old embryos of C. capitata, This developmental window corresponds to the blastoderm cellularization stage. In summary, we assembled 42,614 transcripts which cluster in 26,319 unique transcripts of which 11,045 correspond to protein coding genes; we identified several hundreds of long ncRNAs; we found an enrichment of transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins among the highly expressed transcripts, such as CcTRA-2, known to be necessary to establish and, most likely, to maintain female sex of C. capitata. Our study is the first de novo assembly performed for Ceratitis capitata based on Illumina NGS technology during embryogenesis and it adds novel data to the previously published C. capitata EST databases. We expect that it will be useful for a variety of applications such as gene cloning and phylogenetic analyses, as well as to advance genetic research and biotechnological applications in the Medfly and other related Tephritidae

Characterization of noise and design of active noise control technology in longwall mines

Production and safety have always been a prime issue for mining industry and mining engineers, who strive hard to achieve the critical balance between them. Hearing loss and uneasy working environment are few common ones affecting the health statistics of a underground mine. As a result, recent years there have been the focus on to develop an engineering controls to reduce the underground noise. Unique work has been done in this thesis to add additional information on the active noise control technology applied to Longwall mining operations.;Mostly, the survey results indicated that the frequency content of each noise and the number of events decide on the effect on worker. Also, in Stage loader the Lower frequencies showed a significant contribution to the overall sound pressure level (SPL). However, under some combinations the contribution of higher frequencies cannot be denied. Based on these findings, Active Noise Control (ANC) set-up was prepared for canceling the unwanted frequencies and reduces the overall sound pressure level. It was also found that the ANC was more effective for the lower frequencies ranging from 100 Hz to 700 Hz and cancellations were more significant for the low frequencies than for the higher ones. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)