Studies on solution-grown pure and doped Sodium Potassium tartrate crystals.

A systematic analysis of the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectra of pure and Cu(NO(3))(2)3H(2)O doped Rochelle salt (NaKC(4)H(4)O(6)4H(2)O) in terms of the standard frequency correlations, deuteration shift and typical nature (with respect to intensity and width) of bands due to different modes is reported. The bands due to the internal modes (excluding some skeletal modes) of the C(4)H(4)O(6)(2-) ion appear as doublets. For certain modes (e.g. ß(CH), γ(C(OH)) and δ(COO)) doublets arise owing to interaction between two identical oscillations of two identical groups in COO(HO)HCCH(OH)COO(2-), while for other modes (e.g. γ(CH), γ(CO)(a), γ(CO)(s), δ(COH) and τ(COO)) they arise owing to crystallographically distinguishable sites for two identical oscillators. The effect of dopant in the pure Rochelle salt crystals is found out by using Elemental analysis. The unit cell volume of pure and Cu(NO(3))(2)3H(2)O doped Rochelle salt crystals is found out from powder X-ray diffraction studies.

Analysis of Metals Concentration in the Soils of SIPCOT Industrial Complex, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu.

Phytoremediation is a promising area of new research, both for its low cost and great benefit to society in the clean retrieval of contaminated sites. Phytoremediation is the use of living green plants for in situ risk reduction and/or removal of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments, and air. Specially selected or engineered plants are used in the process. The soil samples were taken from Cuddalore Old Town (OT) and the samples from SIPCOT industrial complex, which was the study area and analyzed for various metals concentrations. Fifteen metals have been analyzed by adopting standard procedure. The detection limits of metal concentration are drawn as control. The various (15) metal concentrations in the soil samples were found higher in soil taken from SIPCOT industrial complex, compared with samples taken from Cuddalore OT. In all the observations, it was found that most of the metals like calcium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, and zinc showed maximum concentrations, whereas arsenic, antimony, lead, magnesium, sodium have shown minimum concentrations, both when compared with control. From the present study, it was found that the soil collected from SIPCOT complex area were more polluted due to the presence of various industrial effluents, municipal wastes, and sewages when compared with the soil collected from Cuddalore OT.

Effects of Pygidial Secretion (Zoopesticide) on Histopathological Changes in the Male Accessory Reproductive Glands of Adult Male Insect Odontopus varicornis in Relation to Reproduction.

Indiscriminate use of pesticides for the eradication of pests causes tremendous changes to the environment and also to other nontarget organisms. To prevent such contamination of the environment and save nontarget species, zoopesticides are increasingly used as they are cost effective, eco-friendly, safe, and sustainable in the field of agriculture. The present study was undertaken to find out the effect of pygidial secretion (zoopesticide) on Odontopus varicornis. The insects were exposed to pygidial secretion for 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours and its sublethal concentration was found to be about 2.8% for 48 hours. When the insects were injected with sublethal concentration 2.8% for 48 hours, the study revealed certain remarkable changes in the histopathology of the male accessory reproductive glands (MARGs) such as disintegration of epithelial cell wall, swollen nucleus, vacuolization of cytoplasm, highly pycnotic and necrotic epithelium, enlargement of epithelial cells, and disorganized tissues. It is suggested that zoopesticide causes several histopathological damages in the MARGs of O. varicornis and affects the reproductive potentiality of O. varicornis.

An assessment of plankton population of Cauvery river with reference to pollution.

Studies on plankton of river Cauvery water, Mettur, Salem District, Tamil Nadu was made to assess the pollution of water from January 2003 to December 2003. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the variation in river water showed high quantity of phytoplankton and zooplankton population throughout the study period and rotifers formed dominated group over other groups of organisms. The present study revealed that the water of river Cauvery is highly polluted by direct contamination of sewage and other industrial effluents.

Effect of pH, thermal, electrical and thermomechanical properties of nonlinear optical L-threonine single crystals.

Nonlinear optical L-threonine single crystals have been grown at various pH values. The crystals were subjected to dielectric and thermomechanical measurements at various temperatures. The thermal strength of the grown crystal was also determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The results have been discussed in detail.