Enhancing soil health and fruit yield through Tephrosia biomass mulching in rainfed guava (Psidium guajava L.) orchards.

Leguminous crop Tephrosia candida has high biomass production and contains a substantial quantity of nutrients within its biomass. Starting in 2019, a long-term study was done to find the best Tephrosia candida dose for mulching in guava orchards. The study had four treatments: T1 = 3.0 kg dry biomass m-2 of the plant basin, T2 = 2.0 kg, T3 = 1.0 kg, and T4 = control (no mulch). Every year, the treatments imposed in the month of August. The third year (2021-2022) results indicated that mulching with 3 kg of biomass m-2 increased trunk diameter, fruit yield, fruit weight, specific leaf area, total leaf chlorophyll, and leaf macro- and micro-nutrients. At 3.0 kg m-2, mulching improved soil properties such as EC, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, DTPA extractable micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn), total organic carbon (Ctoc), soil organic carbon (Csoc), organic carbon fractions, and microbial biomass carbon between 0-0.15 m and 0.15-0.30 m. There was an increasing trend in dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and fluorescein diacetate (FDA). The Tephrosia leaf litter exhibited decay constants of 1.27 year-1, and the carbon content was 40.11%. Therefore, applying Tephrosia biomass mulching at a rate of 3.0 kg m-2 is a viable long-term solution for enhancing soil fertility and sequestering carbon.

Low Cardiac Output Syndrome: Incidence after Mitral Valve Replacement with or without Preservation of Mitral Valve Apparatus.

Standard mitral valve replacement in patients with chronic mitral valve regurgitation and mitral valve stenosis consistently results in a decrease in early postoperative left ventricular ejection performance. Some studies showed that preservation of mitral valve leaflet and subvalvular apparatus can reduce postoperative left ventricular dysfunction. On the basis of the concept, this randomized clinical trial comparing mitral valve replacement with preservation of mitral subvalvular apparatus and conventional mitral valve replacement performed in National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Dhaka, Bangladesh, in the period of July 2010 to December 2011. We included 60 patients of mitral regurgitation and mitral stenosis, among them 30 patients underwent mitral valve replacement with preservation of mitral subvalvular apparatus (Group A) and 30 patients underwent conventional mitral valve replacement (Group B). There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of peri-operative variables. But there was significant higher incidence of Low cardiac output (LOS) syndrome [36.7% vs. 6.9% (p<0.05)] and congestive heart failure in Group B than Group A. The duration of ICU stay was also significantly higher in conventional mitral valve replacement group [113.23±11.30 hours vs. 96.23±20.02 (p=0.001)]. Additionally, there was significantly less fall of left ventricular ejection fraction in preservation of mitral subvalvular apparatus group [preop 65.27±5.45, at discharge 54.31±3.78, after 3 months 58.28±5.20 (p<0.0001)] than conventional group [preop 66.43±4.58, at discharge 46.43±3.87, after 3 months 46.55±3.63 (p<0.0001)]. In this study left ventricular ejection fraction was used as measure of left ventricular function. We postulate that, this relative preservation of left ventricular ejection fraction was likely the result of preservation of mitral subvalvular apparatus.

Photo-peak area ratios for estimation of elemental concentration in aqueous solutions using prompt gamma measurements.

The use of photo-peak area ratios are investigated for quantitative estimation of elements, particularly chlorine, in aqueous solutions using neutron induced prompt gamma measurements. A ratio of prompt gamma intensities avoids the need for estimating the incident total neutron fluence and is demonstrated for chlorine concentration estimation in NaCl solutions. Monte Carlo simulation results validated with experimental measurements support the present analysis. Use of several prompt gamma intensities instead of a single one improves the accuracy of the estimated results.

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis in a Young Female.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a liver disease characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of both intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts resulting in cholestasis. Due to nonspecific symptoms it is difficult to diagnose until complication arises. It is common in male and usually associated with other autoimmune diseases. Here, we report a case of PSC in a young female which was initially thought to be drug induced cholestasis without presence of any other autoimmunity.

Multilevel programming in Cu/NiO y /NiO x /Pt unipolar resistive switching devices.

The application of a NiO y /NiO x bilayer in resistive switching (RS) devices with x > y was studied for its ability to achieve reliable multilevel cell (MLC) characteristics. A sharp change in resistance brought about by sweeping the voltage, along with an improved on/off ratio (>10(3)) and endurance (10(4)) were achieved in the bilayer structure as compared to the single NiO x layer devices. Moreover, it was found that nonvolatile and stable resistance levels, especially the multiple low-resistance states of Cu/NiO y /NiO x /Pt memory devices, could be controlled by varying the compliance current. All the multilevel resistance states of the Cu/NiO y /NiO x /Pt bilayer devices were stable for up to 500 consecutive dc switching cycles, as compared to the Cu/NiO x /Pt single layer devices. The temperature-dependent variation of the high and low resistance states of both the bilayer and single layer devices was further investigated to elucidate the charge conduction mechanism. Finally, based on a detailed analysis of the experimental results, comparisons of the possible models for RS in bilayer and single layer memory devices have also been discussed.

Neutron emission and dose distribution from natural carbon irradiated with a 12 MeV amu-1 12C5+ ion beam.

Measured neutron energy distribution emitted from a thick stopping target of natural carbon at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° from nuclear reactions caused by 12 MeV amu-1 incident 12C5+ ions were converted to energy differential and total neutron absorbed dose as well as ambient dose equivalent H *(10) using the fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients provided by the ICRP. Theoretical estimates were obtained using the Monte Carlo nuclear reaction model code PACE and a few existing empirical formulations for comparison. Results from the PACE code showed an underestimation of the high-energy part of energy differential dose distributions at forward angles whereas the empirical formulation by Clapier and Zaidins (1983 Nucl. Instrum. Methods 217 489-94) approximated the energy integrated angular distribution of H *(10) satisfactorily. Using the measured data, the neutron doses received by some vital human organs were estimated for anterior-posterior exposure. The estimated energy-averaged quality factors were found to vary for different organs from about 7 to about 13. Emitted neutrons having energies above 20 MeV were found to contribute about 20% of the total dose at 0° while at 90° the contribution was reduced to about 2%.

Optimization of soybean processing into kinema, a Bacillus-fermented alkaline food, with respect to a minimum level of antinutrients.

AIMS: Optimization of traditional processing of soybeans using response surface methodology (RSM) to achieve a minimum level of antinutritional factors (ANFs) in kinema. METHODS AND RESULTS: Central composite rotatable designs were used to optimize the processing stages of kinema preparation. In each stage, the linear or quadratic effects of independent variables were significant in minimizing ANF levels. The predicted optimum condition for soaking was when the raw beans-water ratio was 1 : 10, and the soaking temperature, time and pH were 10°C, 20 h and 8·0 respectively. Here, tannins content (TC), phytic acid content (PAC) and trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) decreased (P < 0·05). While haemagglutinating activity (HA) level remained unchanged (P < 0·05), total biogenic amines content (TBAC) increased. The optimum condition for cooking was optimally soaked beans-water ratio of 1 : 5, and cooking pressure and time were 1·10 kg cm(-2) and 20 min respectively. Here, TC, PAC, TIA and HA decreased (P < 0·05), but TBAC remained unchanged compared to optimally soaked beans. TC and HA went below the level of detection. The optimum condition for fermentation was obtained when inoculum load was 10(3) total cells g(-1) grits, and fermentation temperature and time were 37°C and 48 h respectively. Fermentation of optimally cooked beans caused a reduction (P < 0·05) of PAC. While TIA remained unchanged (P < 0·05), TBAC increased. In kinema, TC, PAC, TIA and HA decreased (P < 0·05) over raw beans by 100, 61, 71 and 100% respectively. Good agreement was observed between predicted values and experimental values. CONCLUSIONS: The processing treatments significantly minimized the level of ANFs in soybeans. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: RSM was successfully deployed to obtain the optimum condition for kinema-making with a minimum level of ANFs without impairing sensory attributes of the product. The results are useful for commercial production of kinema.

Selection of neutron-absorbing materials to improve the low-energy response of a Zr-based extended neutron monitor using Monte Carlo simulations.

Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out using the FLUKA code to improve the neutron ambient dose equivalent [H*(10)] response of the ZReC (zirconium-lined portable neutron counter responding satisfactorily to neutrons up to 1 GeV) by introducing various neutron absorbers in the system such as cadmium, gadolinium, natural boron, enriched (10)B and borated polythene. It was found that ZReC can be effectively used as a portable neutron monitor by introducing any one of the following perforated layers: 5 mm thick natural boron, 0.5 mm thick enriched (10)B or 1 cm high-density polythene mixed with 50 % boron by weight. The integral response of the instrument was also calculated for some typical reference neutron fields. The relative ambient dose equivalent response of the said system is also found comparable with that of the existing LINUS neutron monitor.

Use of Bacillus subtilis isolates from Tua-nao towards nutritional improvement of soya bean hull for monogastric feed application.

UNLABELLED: Soya bean hull (SBH) is a cheap and high-fibre content feed ingredient that obtained after soya bean oil extraction. Microbial fermentation was expected to improve SBH qualities before applying to animals, especially monogastric animals. Two bacterial strains, Bacillus subtilis MR10 and TK8 that were isolated from Tua-nao, a traditional fermented soya bean in northern Thailand, were used for fermented soya bean hull (FSBH) production. Both could easily grow at 37°C in SBH as the sole substrate. MR10 produced the highest ß-mannanase activity (400 U g(-1) SBH) on day 2, while TK8 produced the highest cellulase activity (14·5 U g(-1) SBH) on day 3. After fermentation, the nutritional quality of SBH was obviously improved by an increase in soluble sugars, soluble proteins, crude protein and crude lipid, and a decrease in the content of raffinose family oligosaccharides. Scavenging activity (%) of SBH against ABTS radical cation was also increased from 14 to 27 and 20% by MR10 and TK8 fermentation, respectively. According to the GRAS property of these both strains and various improvements of nutritional values, the fermented SBH proved to be a potential feed ingredient, especially for the monogastric animals. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Normally, soya bean hull has been recognized as only a worthless by-product from soya bean oil production process because of its low utilizable nutrients. Our study introduced an alternative way to utilize this worthless residue using biotechnological knowledge. The nutritional quality of soya bean hull was improved by microbial fermentation. Fermented soya bean hull can be used as a cheap, safe and high-nutrient feed ingredient for livestock production, especially monogastric animals, to promote their growth performances, instead of using antibiotics in some regions of the world.

Estimation of (41)Ar production in 0.1-1.1.0-GeV proton accelerator vaults using FLUKA Monte Carlo code.

The FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to estimate the (41)Ar concentration inside accelerator vaults of various sizes when proton beams of energy 0.1-1.0 GeV are incident on thick copper and lead targets. Generally (41)Ar concentration is estimated using an empirical formula suggested in the NCRP 144, which assumes the activation is caused only by thermal neutrons alone. It is found that while the analytical and Monte Carlo techniques give similar results for the thermal neutron fluence inside the vault, the (41)Ar concentration is under-predicted by the empirical formula. It is also found that the thermal neutrons contribute ∼41 % to the total (41)Ar production while 56 % production is caused by neutrons between 0.025 and 1 eV. A modified factor is suggested for the use in the empirical expression to estimate the (41)Ar activity 0.1-1.0-GeV proton accelerator enclosures.

Analysis of hydrological trend for radioactivity content in bore-hole water samples using wavelet based denoising.

A wavelet transform based denoising methodology has been applied to detect the presence of any discernable trend in (137)Cs and (90)Sr activity levels in bore-hole water samples collected four times a year over a period of eight years, from 2002 to 2009, in the vicinity of typical nuclear facilities inside the restricted access zones. The conventional non-parametric methods viz., Mann-Kendall and Spearman rho, along with linear regression when applied for detecting the linear trend in the time series data do not yield results conclusive for trend detection with a confidence of 95% for most of the samples. The stationary wavelet based hard thresholding data pruning method with Haar as the analyzing wavelet was applied to remove the noise present in the same data. Results indicate that confidence interval of the established trend has significantly improved after pre-processing to more than 98% compared to the conventional non-parametric methods when applied to direct measurements.

Study of the transfer of 137Cs from fodder to cow milk in the region around Narora Atomic Power Station NPP Site, India.

Site-specific transfer coefficient from feed to cow's milk, for (137)Cs in the villages around Narora, a nuclear power station site in India, determined over a period of 17 y, is presented in this paper. In the transport model for the prediction of the concentration of (137)Cs in milk, the transfer coefficient from feed to milk, Fm, is an important parameter. The transfer coefficient value is determined from (137)Cs concentration in milk and grass samples of the Narora region, and the result ranged from 4.28E-03 to 3.30E-02 d l(-1) with a geometric mean value of 1.15E-03 d l(-1). The highest and the lowest values were only below one order of magnitude different from the mean, regardless of the type of diet, milk yield and age of the cow. The result is compared with that for (40)K, determined concurrently at the same region and ranged from 6.92E-03 to 8.01E-03 d l(-1) with a geometric mean value of 7.45E-03 d l(-1). This parameter is quite useful in decision-making for implementing countermeasures during a large-area contamination with (137)Cs in tropical areas like Narora. The ingestion dose from fallout (137)Cs through milk intake for adult and child is also estimated.

Monte Carlo simulation of embedded 241Am activity in injured palm.

This paper describes a methodology to estimate embedded activity of (241)Am and Pu isotopes in a wound at an unknown depth. Theoretical calibration of an array of high-purity germanium detectors is carried out using the Monte Carlo code 'FLUKA' for a (241)Am source embedded at different depths in a soft tissue phantom of dimension 10 × 10 × 4 cm(3) simulating the palm of a worker. It is observed that, in the case of contamination due to pure (241)Am, the ratio of counts in 59.5 and 17.8 keV (Ratio 1) should be used to evaluate the depth, whereas the ratio of counts in 59.5 and 26.3 keV (Ratio 2) should be used when the contamination is due to a mixture of Pu and (241)Am compounds. Variations in the calibration factors (CFs) as well as in the Ratio 1 and Ratio 2 values are insignificant when source dimensions are varied from a point source to a 15-mm diameter circle. It is observed that tissue-equivalent polymethyl methacrylate material can be used in the phantom to estimate the embedded activity, when the activity is located at a depth of <1 cm, as the corresponding CFs do not show much variation with respect to those estimated using the phantom containing soft tissue material. In all other cases, an appropriate soft tissue-equivalent material should be used in the phantom for the estimation of CFs and ratios. The CFs thus obtained will be helpful in an accurate estimation of the depth of the wound and the activity embedded therein in the palm of a radiation worker.

Evaluation of internal dose to members of the public at the Kaiga site, India, due to the ingestion of primordial radionuclide 40K.

Four 220 MWe pressurised heavy water reactors are under operation at Kaiga in the state of Karnataka in India. Environmental radiological survey of the surrounding areas of the Kaiga site is carried out by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. The estimated dose to the members of the public due to ingestion of radioactive isotope of potassium, a natural radionuclide, in the surroundings of the Kaiga site is 136 µSv (13.6 mrem) per year. The value indicates that the dose to the public due to operation of the nuclear reactors in Kaiga is insignificant in comparison with the dose due to unavoidable natural radioactivity.

Estimation of specific absorbed fractions for selected organs due to photons emitted by activity deposited in the human respiratory tract using ICRP/ICRU male voxel phantom in FLUKA.

The ICRP/ICRU adult male reference voxel phantom incorporated in Monte Carlo code FLUKA is used for estimating specific absorbed fractions (SAFs) for photons due to the presence of internal radioactive contamination in the human respiratory tract (RT). The compartments of the RT, i.e. extrathoracic (ET1 and ET2) and thoracic (bronchi, bronchioles, alveolar interstitial) regions, lymph nodes of both regions and lungs are considered as the source organs. The nine organs having high tissue weighting factors such as colon, lungs, stomach wall, breast, testis, urinary bladder, oesophagus, liver and thyroid and the compartments of the RT are considered as target organs. Eleven photon energies in the range of 15 keV to 4 MeV are considered for each source organ and the computed SAF values are presented in the form of tables. For the target organs in the proximity of the source organ including the source organ itself, the SAF values are relatively higher and decrease with increase in energy. As the distance between source and target organ increases, SAF values increase with energy and reach maxima depending on the position of the target organ with respect to the source organ. The SAF values are relatively higher for the target organs with smaller masses. Large deviations are seen in computed SAF values from the existing MIRD phantom data for most of the organs. These estimated SAF values play an important role in the estimation of equivalent dose to various target organs of a worker due to intake by inhalation pathway.

Spectral information enhancement using wavelet-based iterative filtering for in vivo gamma spectrometry.

Use of wavelet transformation in stationary signal processing has been demonstrated for denoising the measured spectra and characterisation of radionuclides in the in vivo monitoring analysis, where difficulties arise due to very low activity level to be estimated in biological systems. The large statistical fluctuations often make the identification of characteristic gammas from radionuclides highly uncertain, particularly when interferences from progenies are also present. A new wavelet-based noise filtering methodology has been developed for better detection of gamma peaks in noisy data. This sequential, iterative filtering method uses the wavelet multi-resolution approach for noise rejection and an inverse transform after soft 'thresholding' over the generated coefficients. Analyses of in vivo monitoring data of (235)U and (238)U were carried out using this method without disturbing the peak position and amplitude while achieving a 3-fold improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio, compared with the original measured spectrum. When compared with other data-filtering techniques, the wavelet-based method shows the best results.

Detection of low level gaseous releases and dose evaluation from continuous gamma dose measurements using a wavelet transformation technique.

Measurement of environmental dose in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant site (Tarapur, India) is carried out continuously for the years 2007-2010 and attempts have been made to quantify the additional contributions from nuclear power plants over natural background by segregating the background fluctuations from the events due to plume passage using a non-decimated wavelet approach. A conservative estimate obtained using wavelet based analysis has shown a maximum annual dose of 38 µSv in a year at 1.6 km and 4.8 µSv at 10 km from the installation. The detected events within a year are in good agreement with the month wise wind-rose profile indicating reliability of the algorithm for proper detection of an event from the continuous dose rate measurements. The results were validated with the dispersion model dose predictions using the source term from routine monitoring data and meteorological parameters.

Effect of shodhana treatment on chronic toxicity and recovery of aconite.

Aconite is one of the poisonous plants used therapeutically in practice of Ayurveda after proper treatment called as 'Shodhana'. To determine the effect of Shodhana treatment on chronic toxicity and to assess the effect of recovery period after chronic toxicity of aconite. Raw aconite (RV), urine treated aconite (SM), and milk treated aconite (SD) were administered in 6.25 mg/kg dose in Charles Foster strain albino rats for 90 days for chronic toxicity. Six rats from each were kept for another 30 days without test drugs treatment to observe recovery from chronic toxicity. RV was found to be highly toxic in chronic exposure, SM had no apparent toxicity, but SD had mild toxicity in kidney. The toxicities of RV and SD were reversible, but sudden withdrawal of SM caused adverse effects, suggestive of tapering withdrawal. Shodhana treatments remove toxic effects from raw aconite. Chronic toxicity of aconite is reversible. Confirmed the arrangement of abstract.

Optimization of parameters of alpha spectrometry with silicon detector for low level measurements of actinides in environmental samples.

Determination of actinides in environmental and biological samples is an important activity of radiation protection program at nuclear energy facilities. High resolution alpha spectrometry with passivated ion implanted Silicon detectors is widely used for the determination of actinides concentration. Low levels of activity concentrations in these samples often require long counting duration of a few days to obtain accurate and statistically significant data for further impact assessment. In alpha spectrometry, the chamber in which Si detector operated is a critical component and maintained at a desired vacuum for minimizing the alpha particle attenuation. Experimental evaluation of variations in energy resolution and tailing of alpha spectra was investigated under different chamber air pressures from about 6.7 Pa to more than 2700 Pa under the chamber hold mode and pump electrically switched off conditions. As part of validation, data collected on an IAEA inter-comparison exercise sample are presented under short and long counting durations with pump operating and switched off conditions respectively. It has been observed that the FWHM values do not significantly degrade, to impact the low and medium level concentration alpha spectra, for variations in vacuum chamber pressures from about 6.7 Pa to 2700 Pa.

Environmental transportation of tritium and estimation of site-specific model parameters for Kaiga site, India.

Tritium content in air moisture, soil water, rain water and plant water samples collected around the Kaiga site, India was estimated and the scavenging ratio, wet deposition velocity and ratio of specific activities of tritium between soil water and air moisture were calculated and the results are interpreted. Scavenging ratio was found to vary from 0.06 to 1.04 with a mean of 0.46. The wet deposition velocity of tritium observed in the present study was in the range of 3.3E-03 to 1.1E-02 m s(-1) with a mean of 6.6E-03 m s(-1). The ratio of specific activity of tritium in soil moisture to that in air moisture ranged from 0.17 to 0.95 with a mean of 0.49. The specific activity of tritium in plant water in this study varied from 73 to 310 Bq l(-1). The present study is very useful for understanding the process and modelling of transfer of tritium through air/soil/plant system at the Kaiga site.