Extent of diurnal cycle of rainfall and its intra seasonal variation over coastal Tamil Nadu during north east monsoon season

The diurnal variation of north east monsoon rainfall of coastal Tamil Nadu represented by four coastal stations Chennai Nungambakkam (Nbk), Chennai Meenambakkam (Mbk), Nagapattinam (Npt) and Pamban (Pbn) was studied in detail based on hourly rainfall data of rainy days only, for the period 1 Oct-31 Dec for the 47/48 year period 1969-2016/2017. Mean Octet rainfall and its anomaly were computed for the 8 octets 00-03,…., 21-24 hrs of the day and the anomaly was tested for statistical significance. Various analysis for the individual months of Oct, Nov, Dec and the entire period Oct-Dec were separately conducted. The basic technique of evolutionary histogram analysis supplemented by harmonic analysis of octet mean rainfall anomaly was used to detect the diurnal cycle signal. Two indices named as diurnal variation of rainfall index and coefficient of mean absolute octet rainfall anomaly representing the intensity of diurnal variation in dimensionless numbers were defined, computed and interpreted. The analysis based on the above techniques revealed that the diurnal signal which shows an early morning maximum and late afternoon minimum of octet rainfall is well defined in Oct, decreases in Nov and further decreases in Dec for all the 4 stations. Though the diurnal variation manifests a well defined pattern in Dec the signal is not statistically significant in most cases. For Nbk and Mbk there is a weak secondary peak of octet rainfall anomaly occurring in the forenoon and afternoon respectively in Oct and Dec suggesting the presence of semi-diurnal variation of rainfall. Stationwise, the diurnal signal is most well defined for each month/season in Pbn followed by Npt, Nbk and then Mbk. The physical causes behind the diurnal signal and its decrease as the north east monsoon season advances from Oct to Dec have been deliberated. The well known feature of nocturnal maximum of oceanic convection influencing a coastal station with maritime climate and the higher saturation at the lower levels of the upper atmosphere in the early morning hours have been advanced as some of the causes. For the much more complex feature of decrease of diurnal signal with the advancement of the season, the decrease of minimum surface temperature over coastal Tamil Nadu from Oct to Dec causing an early morning conceptual land breeze has been shown as one of the plausible causes based on analysis of temperature and wind. Scope for further work based on data from automatic weather stations, weather satellites and Doppler Weather Radars has been discussed.

CHARACTERIZATION OF PARTIALLY PURIFIED TYROSINASE ISOLATED FROM BITTER KOLA (GARCINIA KOLA)

Objective: Tyrosinase is a glycosylated, copper-containing oxidase that catalyzes the first two steps of mammalian melanogenesis as well as enzymatic browning events in damaged fruits during post-harvest handling and processing. Human skin hyperpigmentation and enzymatic browning in fruits are both undesirable. In this study, the properties and inhibitory effect of some compounds on bitter kola tyrosinase were investigated. Methods: Bitter kola tyrosinase was isolated and characterized using standard protocols. Partial purification was carried out on Sephadex G-100 loaded column chromatography. Results: Bitter kola tyrosinase was purified with a specific activity of 3.5 U/mg protein, purification fold of 2.4 and a yield of 34%. The optimum pH value was found to be 6.0 while the optimum temperature value for maximum enzyme activity was observed at 60°C. The enzyme was stable at 40oC for 20 minutes. Metals such as NaCl, KCl, MgCl2 and CaCl2 had inhibitory effect on the activity; though MgCl2 and CaCl2 had minimal effect. Also, EDTA, β-marcaptoethanol and glutathione greatly inhibited the enzyme activity at all the tested concentration. Conclusion: The properties of bitter kola tyrosinase compare very well with the tyrosinase from other sources. Also, the study was able to establish the inhibitory effect of some compounds and this could be applied in food processing industries. Peer Review History: Received: 2 November 2021; Revised: 11 December; Accepted: 25 December, Available online: 15 January 2022 Academic Editor: Dr. A.A. Mgbahurike, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file: Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewers: Dr. Nazim Hussain, North East Frontier Technical University, Arunachal pradesh, India, [email protected] Ahmad Najib, Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Makassar, Indonesia, [email protected] Prof. Dr. Ali Gamal Ahmed Al-kaf, Sana'a university, Yemen, [email protected] Similar Articles: PHYTOCHEMICAL PURIFICATION OF ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS ISOLATED FROM ROOT OF THE MEDICINAL HERB, CARALLUMA QUADRANGULA

SMEs Sustainability in Times of Crisis

The global crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic among the population and at the level of companies, state institutions, etc., underlined the importance of analysing its impact at different levels (intern, national and international level). The concepts of sustainability, development and growth must be aware, adapted and implemented more and more frequently, even constantly, in order to cope with the current evolution of the economy (and not only). The paper is an empirical research conducted in the North-East Region of Romania, aiming to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on local companies (especially SME’s), in the context of existing correlation between the COVID-19 impact on resizing, restricting, changing the number of active employees, changing revenue, changing turnover and changing profit, based on the Spearman correlation coefficients. In this sense, it was important to implement sustainability strategies and ensure the activity and resources of companies in the long term, because the effects of an economic crisis (natural resources, human resources, not only financial) are felt in 2021 and will be felt in the future 10 years. The paper concludes with two practical solutions to ensure the sustainability of the companies involved in the study, solutions that can be applied by all companies that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estimating Bycatch From Non-representative Samples (II): A Case Study of Pair Trawlers and Common Dolphins in the Bay of Biscay

Marine megafauna plays an important functional role in marine ecosystems as top predators but are threatened by a wide range of anthropogenic activities. Bycatch, the incidental capture of non-targeted species in commercial and recreational fisheries, is of particular concern for small cetacean species, such as dolphins and porpoises. In the North-East Atlantic, common dolphin (Delphinus delphis, Linné 1758) bycatch has been increasing and associated with large numbers of animals stranding during winter on the French Atlantic seashore since at least 2017. However, uncertainties around the true magnitude of common dolphin bycatch and the fisheries involved have led to delays in the implementation of mitigation measures. Current data collection on dolphin bycatch in France is with non-dedicated observers deployed on vessels for the purpose of national fisheries sampling programmes. These data cannot be assumed representative of the whole fisheries' bycatch events. This feature makes it difficult to use classic ratio estimators since they require a truly randomised sample of the fishery by dedicated observers. We applied a newly developed approach, regularised multilevel regression with post-stratification, to estimate total bycatch from unrepresentative samples and total fishing effort. The latter is needed for post-stratification and the former is analysed in a Bayesian framework with multilevel regression to regularise and better predict bycatch risk. We estimated the number of bycaught dolphins for each week and 10 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) divisions from 2004 to 2020 by estimating jointly bycatch risk, haul duration, and the number of hauls per days at sea (DaS). Bycatch risk in pair trawlers flying the French flag was the highest in winter 2017 and 2019 and was associated with the longest haul durations. ICES divisions 8.a and 8.b (shelf part of the Bay of Biscay) were estimated to have the highest common dolphin bycatch. Our results were consistent with independent estimates of common dolphin bycatch from strandings. Our method show cases how non-representative observer data can nevertheless be analysed to estimate fishing duration, bycatch risk and, ultimately, the number of bycaught dolphins. These weekly-estimates improve upon current knowledge of the nature of common dolphin bycatch and can be used to inform management and policy decisions at a finer spatio-temporal scale than has been possible to date. Our results suggest that limiting haul duration, especially in winter, could serve as an effective mitigation strategy.

Heat Flow Data And Thermal Structure In North East Japan

New heat flow data corrected for climate change over the entire northeastern region of Japan were obtained using the temperature profile of the borehole of NIED High Sensitivity Seismograph Network (Hi-net). In addition, the crustal temperature structure was obtained by using a crustal structure model that takes into account the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and the difference in heat generation due to lithology, using a crustal structure model that takes into account sedimentary layers rather than a uniform structure model with exposed bedrock at the surface. The results show that the crustal temperature structure in areas with thick sedimentary layers is improved compared to the previous model.

Trust building in science-based SMEs in the North East of England: an ecosystem perspective

PurposeThis paper identifies exigent factors that enable and constrain trust building in a science-based innovation ecosystem.Design/methodology/approachSet in the Northeast England, this study adopts a processual sensemaking approach to thematically analyse interviews with a diverse range of participants in six science-based SMEs.FindingsThe findings provide a unique exposition of trust building in an innovation ecosystem across geographic and platform relationships. In doing so, the findings highlight factors outside of contractual agreements that enable or constrain trust building in an innovation ecosystem.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations centred on subjectivity in the use of thematic analysis, sample bias and size. Sampling limitations were mitigated through the research design and analysis.Practical implicationsThe findings provide unique insights into understanding the exigent factors that enable or constrain trust building in a science-based innovation ecosystem.Originality/valueThe study identifies five exigent factors that constrain or enable trust building in science-based SMEs' innovation ecosystem at a micro-level – building network relationships, degree of novelty, protection of innovations, propensity for adding value, propensity for risk.