An analytical study of the power distribution pattterns of silica waveguides with high paraboloic cylindrical deformation

An attempt is made to determine the relative power distribution in a step-index parabolic cylindrical waveguide (PCW) with high deformation across the direction of propagation. The guide is assumed to be made of silica. The scalar field approximation is employed for the analysis under which a vanishing refractive-index (RI) difference in the waveguide materials is considered. Further, no approximation for folds- is used in the analytical treatment. Due to the geometry of such waceguides, PCWs lose the well-defined modal discreteness, and a kind of mode bunching is observed instead, which becomes much more prominent in PCWs with high bends. However, with the increase in cross-sectional size, the mode-bunching tendency is slightly reduced. The general expressions for power in the guiding and nonguiding sections are obtained, and the fractional power patterns in all of the sections are presented for PCWs of various cross-sectional dimensions. It is observed that the confinement of power in the core section is increased for PCWs of larger cross-sectional size. Moreover, a fairly uniform distribution of power is seen over the modes having intermediate values of propagation constants

The Systematics, Distribution and Bionomics of Deep sea fishes beyond depth 200m along the South west coast of India

Reducing fishing pressure in coastal waters is the need of the day in the Indian marine fisheries sector of the country which is fast changing from a mere vocational activity to a capital intensive industry. It requires continuous monitoring of the resource exploitation through a scientifically acceptable methodology, data on production of each species stock, the number and characteristics of the fishing gears of the fleet, various biological characteristics of each stock, the impact of fishing on the environment and the role of fishery—independent on availability and abundance. Besides this, there are issues relating to capabilities in stock assessment, taxonomy research, biodiversity, conservation and fisheries management. Generation of reliable data base over a fixed time frame, their analysis and interpretation are necessary before drawing conclusions on the stock size, maximum sustainable yield, maximum economic yield and to further implement various fishing regulatory measures. India being a signatory to several treaties and conventions, is obliged to carry out assessments of the exploited stocks and manage them at sustainable levels. Besides, the nation is bound by its obligation of protein food security to people and livelihood security to those engaged in marine fishing related activities. Also, there are regional variabilities in fishing technology and fishery resources. All these make it mandatory for India to continue and strengthen its marine capture fisheries research in general and deep sea fisheries in particular. Against this background, an attempt is made to strengthen the deep sea fish biodiversity and also to generate data on the distribution, abundance, catch per unit effort of fishery resources available beyond 200 m in the EEZ of southwest coast ofIndia and also unravel some of the aspects of life history traits of potentially important non conventional fish species inhabiting in the depth beyond 200 m. This study was carried out as part of the Project on Stock Assessment and Biology of Deep Sea Fishes of Indian EEZ (MoES, Govt. of India).

Spatial and time resolved analysis of CN bands in the laser induced plasma from graphite

Analysis of the emission bands of the CN molecules in the plasma generated from a graphite target irradiated with 1-06/~m radiation pulses from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser has been done. Depending on the position of the sampled volume of the plasma plume, the intensity distribution in the emission spectra is found to change drastically. The vibrational temperature and population distribution in the different vibrational levels have been studied as function of distance from the target for different time delays with respect to the incidence of the laser pulse. The translational temperature calculated from time of flight is found to be higher than the observed vibrational temperature for CN molecules and the reason for this is explained.

Targeted Public Distribution System in Food Grains:Extent of Utlization by the Tribal Population in Kerala

In India, Food Security meant supply of food grains and the medium was Public Distribution System. Public Distribution System (PDS) is a rationing mechanism that entitles households to specified quantities of selected commodities at subsidized prices. The Objectives of PDS are maintaining Price Stability, rationing during times of scarcity, welfare of the poor, and keeping a check on private trade. Kerala has registered remarkable improvement in poverty reduction in general over the years among all social sections, including scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population. As part of the structural adjustment intended to reduce public expenditure, PDS has been modified as Revamped PDS (RPDS) during 1992 and later on as Targeted PDS (TPDS) in 1997, intended to target households on the basis of income criterion, classifying people as Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL). TPDS provides 25Kg. of food gra.ins through the Fair Price Shops per month @ Rs.3/- per Kg. of rice/ wheat to the BPL category and @Rs.8.90 and Rs.6.7O for rice and wheat respectively to the APL category of people. Since TPDS is intended to target the poor people, the subsidy spent by the government for the scheme should be beneficial to the poor people and naturally they should utilize the benefits by purchasing the food grains allotted under the scheme. Several studies have shown that there is underutilization of the allotments under TPDS. Therefore, the extent of utilization of TPDS in food grains, how and why remains as a major hurdle, in improving the structure and system of PDS. Livelihood of the tribal population being under threat due to increasing degradation of the resources, the targeting system ought to be effective among the tribal population. Therefore, performance of the TPDS in food grains, in terms of the utilization by the tribal population in Kerala, impact thereof and the factors, if any, affecting proper utilization were considered as the research problem in this study. The study concentrated on the pattern of consumption of food grains by the tribal people, whether their hunger needs are met by distribution of food grains through the TPDS, extent to which TPDS in food grains reduce their share of expenditure on food in the total household expenditure, and the factors affecting the utilization of the TPDS in food grains by the tribal population. Going through the literature, it has been noted that only few studies concentrated on the utilization of TPDS in food grains among the tribal population in Kerala.The Research Design used in this study is descriptive in nature, but exploratory in some aspects. Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad have more than 60% of the population of the tribals in the state. Within the three districts mentioned above, 14 villages with scheduled tribe concentration were selected for the study. 95 tribal colonies were selected from among the various tribal settlements. Collection of primary data was made from 1231 households with in the above tribal colonies. Analysis of data on the socio-economic factors of the tribal people, pattern of food consumption, extent of reduction in the share of expenditure on food among the household expenditure of the tribal people and the impact of TPDS on the tribal families etc. and testing of hypotheses to find out the relation/association of each of the six variables, using the data on BPL and APL categories of households separately have resulted in findings such as six percent of the tribal families do not have Ration Cards, average per capita consumption of food grains by the tribal people utilizing TPDS meets 62% of their minimum requirement, whereas the per capita consumption of food grains by the tribal people is higher than the national average per capita consumption, 63% deficiency in food grains may be felt by tribal people in general, if TPDS is withdrawn, and the deficit for BPL tribal people may be 82%, TPDS facilitates a reduction of 9.71% in the food expenditure among the total household expenditure of the tribal people in general, share of food to non-food among BPL category of tribals is 55:45 and 40:60 among the APL, Variables, viz. household income, number of members in the family and distance of FPS from tribal settlements etc. have influence on the quantity of rice being purchased by the tribal people from the Fair Price Shops, and there is influence of household income and distance of FPS from tribal settlements on the quantity of rice being purchased by the tribal people from the open market. Rationing with differential pricing on phased allotments, rectification of errors in targeting, anomalies in norms and procedures for classifying tribal people as BPL/APL, exclusive Income Generation for tribal population, paddy cultivation in the landholdings possessed by the tribal people, special drive for allotment of Ration Cards to the tribal people, especially those belonging to the BPL category, Mobile Fair Price Shops in tribal settlements, ensure quality of the food grains distributed through the TPDS, distribution of wheat flour in packed condition instead of wheat through the Fair Price Shops are recommended to address the shortcomings and weaknesses of the TPDS vis-avis the tribal population in Kerala.