Exploring Indus crop processing: combining phytolith and macrobotanical analyses to consider the organisation of agriculture in northwest India c. 3200-1500 bc.

This paper presents a preliminary study combining macrobotanical and phytolith analyses to explore crop processing at archaeological sites in Haryana and Rajasthan, northwest India. Current understanding of the agricultural strategies in use by populations associated with South Asia's Indus Civilisation (3200-1900 bc) has been derived from a small number of systematic macrobotanical studies focusing on a small number of sites, with little use of multi-proxy analysis. In this study both phytolith and macrobotanical analyses are used to explore the organisation of crop processing at five small Indus settlements with a view to understanding the impact of urban development and decline on village agriculture.

Copper-iron-molybdenum mixed oxides as efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysts.

Ternary Cu, Fe and Mo mixed oxides having a nominal compositional formula, CuxFe2-x(MoO4)3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5), have been prepared by a co-precipitation method at pH ≈ 2 and characterized by FT-IR, XRD, XPS, TEM and anodic polarization techniques for use as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline solutions. The crystallites of oxides with x ≤ 1 have the monoclinic crystal structure.

Graphene-cobaltite-Pd hybrid materials for use as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells.

Hybrid materials comprising of Pd, MCo2O4 (where M = Mn, Co or Ni) and graphene have been prepared for use as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells. Structural and electrochemical characterizations were carried out using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, chronoamperometry and cyclic, CO stripping, and linear sweep voltammetries. The study revealed that all the three hybrid materials are active for both methanol oxidation (MOR) and oxygen reduction (ORR) reactions in 1 M KOH.

Morphology and histology of Lyonet's gland of the tropical tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta.

The morphology and histology of Lyonet's gland in the second to fifth instar larvae of Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are described. Each of the paired silk glands of this silk worm were associated with a Lyonet's gland. The paired Lyonet's glands were located on the ventrolateral sides of the esophagus, close to the subesophageal ganglion.