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Time-series observations were conducted off Visakhapatnam, central west coast of Bay of Bengal, from October 2007 to April 2009 to examine the influence of physical and atmospheric processes on water column nutrients biogeochemistry. The thermal structure displayed inversions of 0.5 to 1.0° C during winter and were weaker in summer. The water column was vertically stratified during the entire study period and was stronger during October–November 2007 and August–December 2008 compared to other study periods. High concentrations of chlorophyll-a and nutrients were associated with the extreme atmospheric events. The strong relationship of nutrients with salinity indicates that physical processes, such as circulation, mixing and river discharge, have a significant control on phytoplankton blooms in the coastal Bay of Bengal. Phosphate seems to be a controlling nutrient during winter whereas availability of light and suspended matter limits production in summer. Formation of low oxygen conditions were observed in the bottom waters due to enhanced primary production by extreme atmospheric events; however, re-oxygenation of bottom waters through sinking of oxygen-rich surface waters by a warm core (anticyclonic) eddy led to its near recovery. This study reveals that atmospheric and physical processes have significant impacts on the water column biogeochemistry in the coastal Bay of Bengal.

Purpose The paper presents the pros and cons of crowdsourcing competitions and highlights the importance of strategy and collaborative efforts. The study identifies the key stakeholders of crowdsourcing and its critical elements (7Ps) that need to be mapped and managed efficiently for obtaining innovative solutions. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws its insights from the explorative research conducted over a two-year period (2016-18). Qualitative interviews held with competition organizers, participants and innovation intermediaries (Innocentive, Nine Sigma, Skild) provided the primary data. Secondary data came from literature survey and the study of archival documents and competition websites. The study was conducted as a part of doctoral research. Findings Crowdsourcing competitions can help organizations to discover innovative solutions by tapping the power of collective intelligence. However, they need to envision and execute these collaborative initiatives strategically and synergistically. Proper design, managerial buy-in and orchestrated efforts by the triumvirate ‘Seekers, solvers and supporters’ are critical to derive the desired outcomes. Research limitations/implications These findings are the resultant outcomes of an exploratory research. Further investigation can help companies to identify the relative importance of the critical elements identified in the study. Future research on the best practices can amplify the prospects of finding innovative solutions through crowdsourcing competitions. Practical implications Crowdsourcing competitions cannot be used impulsively and indiscriminately. Managers have to carefully align the motive and incentive of different actors. Attention to design and the critical factors identified in the study can enhance the prospects of getting qualitative and innovative submissions from the crowd. Social implications Crowdsourcing competitions have great potential to find innovative solutions for many stubborn global problems. When designed and driven rightly, it can expand the solution mix and accelerate the discovery process. Originality/value The paper highlights the need to converge the efforts for diverse stakeholder in crowdsourcing competitions. There are actionable insights for managers in form of 7 Ps- Purpose, Problem, Prize, Platform, Promotion and Partners. When aligned effectively, it can yield innovation dividends to all. By focusing on these vital factors, companies can fine-tune their crowdsourcing strategy and make the initiative more engaging and create value for all the actors.

Climate change and variability are increasingly affecting agriculture and livelihoods in developing countries, with India being particularly vulnerable. Drought is one of the major climatic constraints impacting large parts of the world. We examined the effects of drought on crop productivity, evaluated the effectiveness of technologies in mitigating these impacts and quantified the resilience gained due to technology adoption. Resilience score and resilience gain are the two indicators used to quantify resilience. The study utilized data gathered from two villages situated in Karnataka, southern India, which have implemented the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) program, along with data from one control village. Drought has significantly impacted the yields, and the extent of reduction ranged from 23 to 62% compared to the normal year. Adoption of climate-resilient technologies, including improved varieties, water management and livestock practices proved beneficial in increasing yield and income during drought years. The resilience score of various technologies ranged from 71 to 122%, indicating that the technologies had realized an increase in yields in the drought year in comparison to the normal year. The extent of resilience gain ranged from 7 to 68%, indicating that the adoption of technologies contributed to the yield advantage over the farmers’ practice during drought. Water harvesting and critical irrigation have the highest resilience scores and gains, and in situ moisture conservation practices such as trench cum bunding (TCB) have comparable resilience scores and gains. The diversification of enterprises at the farm has a higher resilience score and gain. There is a need to identify climate-resilient technologies that can achieve higher resilience, as the solutions are context-specific. Further, promising technologies need to be scaled by adopting multiple approaches and by creating an enabling environment so as to increase resilience in agricultural systems.

Solder paste used in electronics for interconnects in micro circuitry is the most important component, being seen as the governing factor for miniaturisation. As a result, the quality levels of solder paste are being constantly upgraded. Solder balling is a type of prominent defect generated during soldering operation encountered mostly due to the presence of oxide film on the solder powder surface. This phenomenon becomes particularly conspicuous when a fine solder powder is used in order to enhance the printability. This paper encompasses the results of studies carried out on oxygen pick up in Pb-Sn solder powders during melting, atomisation and powder storage stages for fine pitch solders. Hydrogen annealing has been conducted on the inert gas atomised solder powders before storage to avert oxygen pickup and the results have been compared with as atomised powders. It was found that, hydrogen annealing is a mandatory process to overcome problems arising out of oxides.

Facial talon cusp (Dens evaginatus) is a very rare developmental anomaly of unclear etiology and significance can also be seen associated with some syndromes. Here the present report describes a 10-year-old female with facial talon cusp on mandibular permanent right central incisors. This rare anomaly requires careful dental and physical examination of the affected patient since its finding can be of clinical and genetic significance.

A simple, precise and accurate RP-HPLC method was developed and validated for simultaneous estimation of olmesartan (OLM) and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) in tablet dosage form. Separation was achieved on a reversed-phase C-18 column (250x4.6 mm i.d., 5µm) using a mobile phase consisting of methanol/acetonitrile (pH 2.6, 70:30, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 254 nm. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines for linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness. The developed method shows good linearity over the concentration range of 20-80 µg/mL (r2=0.999) for both olmesartan and hydrochlorothiazide. The average percentage recoveries were in the range of 100.0-100.04% and 100.0-100.06% for olmesartan and hydrochlorothiazide, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.04 µg/mL and 0.13 µg/mL for olmesartan and hydrochlorothiazide, and limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.01 µg/mL and 0.05 µg/mL, respectively. Therefore, the proposed method can be applied for routine analysis of the bulk drugs as well as combined pharmaceutical dosage forms of olmesartan and hydrochlorothiazide.

An experiment was carried out involving twenty three advanced breeding lines along with two checks M 35-1 and Muguthi during rabi season 2012-13 at four locations. Observations were recorded on 10 different characters viz., plant height (cm), stem diameter (cm), ear head length (cm), ear head diameter (cm), days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, 100 seed weight (g), fodder yield per plot (kg), seed yield per plot (kg), and lodging percentage. The pooled analysis of variance revealed that mean sum of squares due to genotypes was significant for ear head diameter, days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity and fodder yield, indicating presence of considerable amount of variability in the genotypes. The mean sum of square due to environment + (genotypes x environment) was significant for plant height, ear head length (cm), ear head diameter (cm), days to 50 per cent flowering, fodder yield per plot (kg), seed yield per plot (kg), and lodging percentage characters except stem diameter, days to maturity and 100 seed yield. On the basis of stability parameters a four genotypes viz., GS-6 (2364 kg/ha), GS-16 (2454 kg/ha), GS-22(2775 kg/ha) and GS-23(2978 kg/ha) were found most stable over Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary and Malnoor environments of Hyderabad Karnataka region.

The field experiment was carried out using advanced breeding lines of rabi sorghum to study association among the yield and its component traits, direct and indirect effects of traits on the yield. Association studies indicated that seed yield per plot showed significant positive correlation with traits viz., plant height (rp=+0.7243, rg=+0.7409), ear head length (rp=+0.6002, rg=+0.6021), 100 seed weight (rp=+0.1593, rg=+0.1880), fodder yield (rp=+0.9434, rg=+0.9476) and lodging percentage (rp=+0.5263, rg=+0.5646) at both phenotypic and genotypic level.Genotypic correlation was higher magnitude than phenotypic correlation. Revealed increase in ear head length will increase the seed yield. Partitioning of yield and yield components both at phenotypic and genotypic levels into direct and indirect effects revealed that positive direct effects of ear head length (Ppi=+0.2533, Pgi=+0.5241), ear head diameter (Ppi=+0.0669, Pgi=+0.2580), days to maturity (Ppi=+0.0338, Pgi=+0.1193), fodder yield (Ppi=+0.6484, Pgi=+0.7461) were relatively high and followed by less lodging percentage (Ppi=+0.1751, Pgi=+0.2263). Residual effects were Pr=0.1303 and Gr=0.0624 at phenotypic and genotypic levels. Indicating importance of these characters and can be strategically used to improve the seed yield of sorghum.

Gas hydrates are the indispensable materials in curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, particularly given their larger volumetric compressibility. However, sluggish and inefficient conversions are notable hindrances, which can be surpassed by using certain additives. In this study, the authors used aqueous solutions with 0.5 wt% amino acids (l-phe, l-met, l-cys, l-val, and l-leu) as additives. Individually all are suitable promoters for CH4 hydrates, while the same is true for CO2 hydrates also except l-phe. However, a small amount of l-met or l-cys can assist the l-phe rich solution as a better promoter for CO2 hydrates. The solution mixture synergistically enhances the gas uptake by a factor of 10. The addition of l-val or l-leu shows an antagonistic effect, and the CO2 hydrate conversion is insignificant until the solution mixture became rich in l-val or l-leu. Ex situ micro-Raman studies unambiguously confirm the solid phase as clathrate hydrate. The perturbations in the OH-stretching mode due to synergistic or antagonistic effects in amino acid mixed solutions are small but subtle. (7 Figures, 1 Table, 43 References)

Conclusion: Diabetic patients showed significantly increased auditory thresholds in all the frequencies and a sensorineural type of hearing loss on pure tone audiometric evaluation. Fasting Blood Sugar; Glycated Hemoglobin; Pure Tone Audiometry; Post-prandial Blood Sugar; Sensorineural Hearing Loss; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus INTRODUCTION The sensation of sound is produced when vibrating air molecules strike the ear. [6] Diabetes-related hearing loss may be sensorineural, where a cochlear or VIII cranial nerve lesion delays or prevents the transmission of auditory signals to the cortical centers. [...]there is a need to study the audiometric changes in this set of population.