The yields of extracted leaf protein from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.)

The effects of fertilisers, frequency of cutting, row spacing and simazine on the yields of dry matter and extractable protein from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) were studied using the laboratory-scale pulper and press. Between 40 and 65% protein nitrogen was extractable; extractability was not affected by the various treatments but altered with season. Lucerne responded with increased yields of dry matter and extractable protein to fertilisers, simazine (35 g/ha) and rows spaced at 30.5 cm. Six or 8 harvests were found to give greater yields than 5 harvests in 180 days. The annual yields of extractable protein reached 3100 kg/ha and it is felt that better control of pests could lead to even greater yields.     

Evaluation and selection of hedging policies using stochastic reservoir simulation

A hedging policy is characterized by three parameters, namely, starting water availability (SWA), ending water availability (EWA) and hedging factor (HF). The effects of these three parameters on the reservoir performance indicators have been evaluated and discussed for a southwest monsoon-dependent within-year reservoir system in southern India. For the performance evaluation, synthetically generated periodic inflow sequences from a periodic autoregressive model have been used. Quite a number of the 1800 hedging policies considered for the reservoir system, yield a better overall performance compared to the standard operating policy (SOP). Reliability, Resilience and vulnerability are found to increase with SWA for a specified EWA. On the other hand, all these performance indicators are found to decrease with EWA for a specified SWA. Hence, it is desirable to start the hedging at reasonably high SWA. All performance indicators remain practically constant at higher ranges of EWA for a given SWA. If hedging is started when there is enough water in storage, reliability, resilience and average deficit increase with degree of hedging, whereas vulnerability decreases significantly up to a hedging factor of 0.3. An interactive computer program has been developed for the selection of compromising hedging policies, and its usefulness has been discussed.     

The pressure-volume relation of ytterbium up to 9 GPa

The pressure-volume relation of ytterbium has been determined up to 9 Gpa using tungsten carbide opposed anvil high pressure x-ray camera. The fcc phase of ytterbium is observed between one atmosphere and 4 GPa and the bcc phase above 3·5 GPa. The bcc phase can be metastably retained down to 1 GPa by gradually decreasing the pressure from a region where only bcc phase alone is observed. The bulk modulus,B ₀, at zero pressure and the pressure derivative of the bulk modulus,B’ ₀, are determined by fitting Murnaghan equation to the pressure-volume data. The following values were obtained:B ₀=16·3 GPa andB’ ₀=3·6 for the fcc phase, andB ₀=14·7 GPa andB’ ₀=1·5 for the bcc phase. Based on the present data it is suggested that the thermodynamic equilibrium pressure for fcc ⇆ bcc transformation in ytterbium is below 3·5 GPa. The valence change under pressure has been discussed.     

Theoretical evaluation of viscosity of binary molten electrolytes

Significant structure theory (SST) of Eyring has been employed to calculate theoretically the viscosity of binary molten electrolytes on the basis of rigid sphere model. For KClNaCl and KClKBr systems the agreement between theoretical and experimental values is found to be satisfactory.     

Evaluation of oxidative stress biomarkers in hepatocytes of grey mullet inhabiting natural and polluted estuaries

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of environmental contaminants on oxidative stress biomarkers in hepatocytes of Indian estuarine water grey mullet, Mugil cephalus collected from unpolluted Kovalam and polluted Ennore estuaries. Initially, a comparison was made between the general water chemistry and environmental pollutants like heavy metals to identify the ecotype of the estuaries. Biomarker responses and bioaccumulation of metals were determined along with histological studies of fish hepatocytes to assess contamination impact. Water chemistry data with higher temperature, salinity, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and low dissolved oxygen and environmental pollutants with higher metal concentration (p < 0.05) were observed at Ennore than Kovalam indicating its polluted environment. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in lipid and protein oxidation markers, decrease (p < 0.05) in thiol status and antioxidant enzyme activities were observed in the Ennore fish hepatocytes compared to Kovalam counterpart. Bioaccumulation of heavy metals was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in fish from Ennore. Hepatocytes from Ennore also featured extensive lipid-type vacuolation, increased size and membrane disruption. All the findings highlighted the value of oxidative stress biomarkers and membrane disruption as the sensitive parameters of environmental pollutant contamination and their importance in biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems. This is also the first such attempt reported at the cellular level from South India stressing the importance of biomarkers in biomonitoring programmes using fish hepatocytes as the model system.     

An Enhanced MPR OLSR Protocol for Efficient Node Selection Process in Cognitive Radio Based VANET

Wireless Personal Communications - A VANET is an excellent instance of a wireless sensor network. The mobile vehicles are the nodes and communication happens between the vehicular nodes. This...     

Synchronisation analysis for stochastic T–S fuzzy complex networks with coupling delay

In this paper, we investigated synchronisation problem for stochastic Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy complex networks model with discrete and distributed time delays. By constructing a new Lyapunov functional and employing Kronecker product, we developed delay-dependent synchronisation criterions. By applying stochastic analysis techniques, we derive starting conditions for synchronisation complex networks of the addressed with mixed time-varying delays and stochastic disturbances are achieved. A numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed results.     

Interstellar‐based topology control scheme for optimal clustering performance in WSN

Clustering is one of the essential operations in wireless sensor network (WSN) to ensure organized data aggregation followed by energy efficiency. However, obtaining optimal clustering performance is yet an unsolved problem in WSN. Review of existing approaches towards cluster optimization shows that effective balance between energy efficiency and topology control is still missing. Therefore, the proposed system presents a unique topology control mechanism using a novel concept of interstellar orientation toward optimizing the clustering performance in WSN. Adopting an analytical research methodology, the proposed system introduces two interstellar‐based topology control system, which targets the maximum saving of resource consumption of the cluster head. The simulated outcome of the study shows that the proposed topology control system offers significant energy conservation performance in comparison to the existing hierarchical clustering scheme in WSN.