Layered metal hydroxides exhibit non-uniform broadening of lines in their X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) patterns, which cannot always be explained on the basis of crystallite size effects. In the case of hexagonal solids such as nickel hydroxide, DIFFaX simulations of the XRPD patterns show that: (1) stacking faults and turbostratic disorder at low (<30%) incidence selectively broaden the h0l reflections; (2) turbostratic disorder at high (>40%) incidence causes asymmetric broadening of the hk0 reflections and a complete extinction of the hkl reflections while leaving 00l unchanged; (3) interstratification selectively broadens the non-hk0 reflections; and (4) cation vacancies reduce the relative intensity of the 100 reflection. In contrast, a reduction in the thickness of the crystallites along the stacking direction of the layers selectively broadens the 00l reflections while a reduction in the disc diameter causes the progressive broadening and extinction of the hk0 reflections. Comparison with experimental data shows that several kinds of disorders have to be invoked to account for the observed broadening. DIFFaX simulations enable the quantification of the different kinds of disorder.

The fossil record of treeshrews, hedgehogs, and other micromammals from the Lower Siwaliks of India is sparse. Here, we report on a new genus and species of fossil treeshrew, specimens of the hedgehog Galerix, and other micromammals from the middle Miocene (Lower Siwalik) deposits surrounding Ramnagar (Udhampur District, Jammu and Kashmir), at a fossil locality known as Dehari. The treeshrew from Dehari (Sivatupaia ramnagarensis n. gen. n. sp.) currently represents the oldest record of fossil tupaiids in the Siwaliks, extending their time range by ca. 2.5–4.0 Myr in the region. Dietary analyses suggest that the new tupaiid was likely adapted for a less mechanically challenging or more frugivorous diet compared to other extant and fossil tupaiids. The occurrence of Galerix has only been recently documented from the Indian Siwaliks and the Dehari specimens help establish the likely presence of a relatively large Siwalik Galerix species in the Ramnagar region. In addition to the new treeshrew and hedgehogs, new specimens of the rodents Kanisamys indicus, Sayimys sivalensis, and Murinae indet. from Dehari help confirm that age estimates for the Ramnagar region are equivalent to the Chinji Formation in Pakistan, most likely corresponding to the middle to upper part of the Chinji Formation.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/56fb160c-2df8-4cd3-be91-af4dc02d0979

Early elimination of poor crosses based on an objective criterion allows increased allocation of resources only to a few promising crosses for identifying superior recombinant inbred lines (RILs) for use as pure-line cultivars in self-pollinated crops. Early generation (F2:3) prediction of frequency of superior RILs that could be derived from advanced generations of crosses is one such criterion. We predicted the frequency of transgressive RILs from two horse gram crosses (namely HPKM 320 × CRIDA18-R and IC 361290 × Palem 1) for primary branches per plant, pods per plant, pod weight per plant and grain weight per plant based on mid parental value, additive genetic effects and additive genetic variance estimated from trait means of parents, and their F2 and F2:3 generations. The predicted frequency of RILs that transgressed better parent/two checks varied with the cross and the trait within a cross. The frequencies of transgressive RILs predicted from IC 361290 × Palem 1 were higher than those predicted from HPKM 320 × CRIDA 18-R for three of the four traits. As expected, the minimum population size required to recover the transgressive RILs predicted from IC 361290 × Palem 1 was relatively smaller than that from IC 361290 × Palem 1. Increased allocation of resources for handling segregating populations derived from IC 361290 × Palem 1 is expected to result in superior RILs for use as cultivars. We believe that the objective criterion used in our study is handy in identifying superior RILs in early segregating populations derived from a few promising crosses.

The Nilgiri tahr Nilgiritragus hylocrius is an Endangered species of mountain ungulate endemic to the Western Ghats of India, a biodiversity hotspot. Habitat fragmentation, hunting and a restricted range are the major threats to this species. Although several surveys have assessed the species’ status, a population estimate based on a scientifically robust method is needed. We used the double-observer method to estimate the population of the Nilgiri tahr in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, a protected area in the Western Ghats. We walked 257 km of transects across the Reserve, covering 36 grassland blocks (i.e. clusters of montane grasslands that were relatively separate from each other). We counted a minimum of 422 individuals in 28 groups, and estimated the tahr population in the study area to be 510 individuals (95% CI 300–858) in 35 groups. The male:female ratio was 0.71 and the young:female ratio was 0.56. Comparing our estimate with previous surveys suggests that the Nilgiri tahr population in Anamalai Tiger Reserve is stable. We found the double-observer survey method to be appropriate for population estimation and long-term monitoring of this species, and make recommendations for improved field protocols to facilitate the implementation of the method in the tropical mountains of the Western Ghats. Our findings suggest that the Reserve harbours 20–25% of the global population of the Nilgiri tahr, highlighting the area's importance for the conservation of this species.

Mycetoma is a chronic granulomatous, suppurative and progressive inflammatory disease that usually involves the subcutaneous tissue and bones after traumatic inoculation of the causative organism. In India, actinomycotic mycetoma is prevalent in south India, south-east Rajasthan and Chandigarh, while eumycetoma, which constitutes one third of the total cases, is mainly reported from north India and central Rajasthan. The objective was to determine the epidemiological profile and spectrum of eumycetoma from a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, North India. Thirty cases of eumycetoma were diagnosed by conventional methods of direct microscopy, culture and species-specific sequencing as per standard protocol. The spectrum of fungal pathogens included Exophiala jeanselmei, Madurella mycetomatis, Fusarium solani, Sarocladium kiliense, Acremonium blochii, Aspergillus nidulans, Fusarium incarnatum, Scedosporium apiospermum complex, Curvularia lunata and Medicopsis romeroi. Eumycetoma can be treated with antifungal therapy and needs to be combined with surgery. It has good prognosis if it is timely diagnosed and the correct species identified by culture for targeted therapy of these patients. Black moulds required prolonged therapy. Its low reporting and lack of familiarity may predispose patients to misdiagnosis and consequently delayed treatment. Hence health education and awareness campaign on the national and international level in the mycetoma belt is crucial.

Over the past three years, my colleagues and I have embarked on an exciting journey into electric-field control of magnetism, parts of which we describe in this article. What we present to you is something that we believe is extremely exciting from both a fundamental science and applications perspective, and has the potential to revolutionize our world. Needless to say, this will require a lot of new innovations, both in the fundamental science arena as well as translating scientific discoveries into real applications. We hope this article will help spur more research in electric-field control of magnetism within the broad materials community.

The coronal field typically reorganizes itself to attain a force-free field configuration. We have evaluated the power law index of the energy distribution f(E) = f0E−α by using a model of relaxation incorporating different profile functions of winding number distribution f(w) based on braided topologies. We study the radio signatures that occur in the solar corona using the radio data obtained from the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory (IIA) and extract the power law index by using the Statistic-sensitive nonlinear iterative peak clipping (SNIP) algorithm. We see that the power law index obtained from the model is in good agreement with the calculated value from the radio data observation.

The flora of Laos remains one of the least known within the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. A floristic inventory was carried out in Phou Hin Poun National Biodiversity Conservation Area, an under-explored area of the Khammouane Limestone. This study provides a list of 27 taxa that are additions to the most recent country checklists. The Ebenaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Myrtaceae are the families with the highest species number. In this list, four species are endemic to Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam): Cynometra dongnaiensis Pierre, Jasminum vidalii P.S.Green, Memecylon chevalieri Guillaumin and Pothos gigantipes Buchet ex P.C.Boyce. These results illustrate the paucity of our knowledge of the region surveyed and of the flora of Laos in general.

Multifunctional, complex oxides capable of exhibiting highly-coupled electrical, mechanical, thermal, and magnetic susceptibilities have been pursued to address a range of salient technological challenges. Today, efforts are focused on addressing the pressing needs of a range of applications and identifying, understanding, and controlling materials with the potential for enhanced or novel responses. In this prospective, we highlight important developments in theoretical and computational techniques, materials synthesis, and characterization techniques. We explore how these new approaches could revolutionize our ability to discover, probe, and engineer these materials and provide a context for new arenas where these materials might make an impact.

Control surface effectiveness is an important parameter for any aeroplane. For a hypersonic aircraft, though the power required to operate the flaps is determined by low speed flying conditions, it is imperative to know the effect of flaps at hypersonic speeds. Hence, studies have been done on this topic by aerodynamicists for over 40 years. In spite of this, only a limited data is available in the literature on this subject.

This paper discusses the experimental study of the effect of sweep on the aerodynamic characteristics of thin slab delta wings with flaps at hypersonic speeds. For the purpose of this investigation, a novel special thin six-component balance, which has a thickness of 4mm and can be housed inside wings with 8mm thickness, has been designed. The wings had a sweep of 76°, 70° and 65°, t/c of 0.053 and flaps with 12% of wing area and 12% of wing chord. Testing were done at Mach 8.2, Re number of 2.13 x 106 (based on chord), from α = –12° to 12° and flap angle of 20°, 30° and 40°. Separation lengths, measured from Schlieren pictures, clearly show that there is ‘no appreciable’ effect of sweep on them. Also, using a simple local flow field calculation, the separation has been identified to be transitional in nature. These features of separation reflect in the force data. Because of the small separation length, the flaps (inspite of their small size) were very effective in generating additional CN, CM and Cl, which increased with increase in flap angle. In general, the CN, CM and XCP were unaffected by sweep for symmetric flap deflection at positive incidences and asymmetric flap case. For symmetric flap case at negative incidences, only CN was not influenced by the sweep but CM decreased and XCP moved upstream as the sweep is decreased. The wing with lower sweep produces higher CA and lower (L/D)max for both symmetric and asymmetric flaps. The rolling moment and adverse yaw increased with decrease in sweep for asymmetric flap deflection. Newtonian theory is shown to be incapable of predicting the effect of sweep on Cl, Cn and on the incremental values of CN, CM and CA.

In conclusion, it can be said that a small flap is generally adequate for hypersonic aeroplanes provided they operate at altitudes where transitional and turbulent separation can be expected to occur. This would make the flaps effective and thus enable ample control authority.

An experimental investigation on the interference effect of lee-side balance housing bodies on the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of thin slab delta wings has been made using a special and novel thin three-component balance. This study has been conducted using wings with a t/c of 0.053 and sweep of 76°, 70° and 65° for three different lee-side bodies viz:Body (A), Body (B) and Body (C) of which Body (C) is the smallest. The testing was carried out at Mach number of 8·2, Reynolds number of 2·13 ˘ 106 and incidence of –4° to 12°. For the smallest body (Body (C)) tested, at the incidence at which this body first goes into the aerodynamic shadow of the wing (α = 6·5°), the difference in CN, CA, CM and L/D between the wing-body and the plain wing is around by 22%, 12%, 75% and 35% respectively. This difference decreases with increase in incidence and at the highest angle-of-attack up to which testing was done (α = 12°), the. corresponding values of CN, CA, CM and L/D are around 9%, 12%, 15% and 4% respectively. Contrary to the assumption in the literature pertinent to force measurements on thin slab delta wings, the interference of the lee-side bodies are found to be appreciable even after they come into the aerodynamic shadow of the wing.

We report our findings on the aerodynamic characteristics of thin slab delta wings at hypersonic speeds. We have tested wings with three sweeps (76°,70° and 65°) and four t/c ratios (0·04, 0·053, 0·066 and 0·10) using a special thin three-component balance. To date, the wing with tic of 0·040 is the thinnest wing ever tested without lee-side body at any hypersonic Mach number. The study was carried out at Mach number of 8·2, Reynolds number of 2·13 x 106 and incidence of -4° to 12°. In general, for any given t/c ratio, the increase in sweep decreased the CN whereas increased CM and CA. A possible explanation, for the effect of sweep, is given using the pressure data available in the literature. We also observed that for the sweeps considered, the t/c does not have any effect on CN and CL but increasing t/c increased CM and CA, reduced (L/D)max and moved the Xcp upstream. Blunt slab delta wings are shown to possess a unique property, wherein the CD increases with increase in sweep at higher sweep angles. This property also reflects in the (L/D) characteristics. Furthermore, the slab delta wings does not exhibit the classical CLα behaviour of sharp delta wings given in the literature. An empirical correlation has been developed to correlate CAo over a wide range of Mach number, t/c and sweep. Linearised theory has been shown to be useful in predicting the (L/D)max at Mach numbers as high as 20, for a wide range of t/c and sweep back angle.

Underwater position data is a key requirement for the navigation and control of unmanned underwater vehicles. The proposed navigation scheme can be used in any vessel or boat for any shallow water vehicle. This paper presents the position estimation algorithm developed for shallow water Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) using attitude data and Doppler Velocity Log data with the initial position from the Global Positioning System (GPS). The navigational sensors are identified using the in-house developed simulation tool in MATLAB, based on the requirement of a position accuracy of less than 5%. The navigation system is built using the identified sensors, Kalman filter and navigation algorithm, developed in LabVIEW software. The developed system is tested and validated for position estimation, with an emulator consisting of a GPS-aided fibre optic gyro-based inertial navigation system as a reference, and it is found that the developed navigation system has a position error of less than 5%.

Zero Valent Iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were synthesized and immobilized on electrospun carbon nanofibers (ECNFs) surface in a controllable manner through redox reaction. The novel nanomaterial, ECNFs-supported nZVI (nZVI@ECNFs), were evaluated for Cr(VI) ions removal from water for the first time. nZVI@ECNFs outperformed stand-alone nZVI as well as state-of-the-art nZVI research for Cr(VI) remediation in water. nZVI@ECNFs with 0.4 g/L nZVI loading could remove 100% Cr(VI) from 50 mg/L Cr(VI) aqueous solution in as little as 5 min at pH = 4. This is enabled by coupling nanofibrous form ECNFs with dispersed distribution of individual and/or cluster nZVI on surface of ECNFs. It is envisioned that nZVI@CNFs is going to serve as a novel supported nZVI nanomaterial for super-fast heavy metal remediation in ground water and waste water treatment with adjustable high capacity as well as straightforward and energy-saving heavy metal recovery.