Tamil culture has recognized the potential use of plant herbs for prevention and treatment of different diseases. These folk remedies have been practiced by Sri Lankan Tamils even after modernization. This review focu...Tamil culture has recognized the potential use of plant herbs for prevention and treatment of different diseases. These folk remedies have been practiced by Sri Lankan Tamils even after modernization. This review focuses on frequently used medicinal plants among Sri Lankan Tamil communities, such as Cuminum cyminum, Azadirechta indica, Coriandrum sativum, Sesamum indicum, Zingiber officinale, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Moringa oleifera, Plectranthus amboinicus, Allium sativum and Curcuma Ionga, for their documented medicinal properties, which include antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, antidiabetic and diuretic effects.展开更多
The Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis),a near threatened bird and one of eight pelican species in the world,can be found only in South and Southeast Asia over an area between 129000 and 181000 km 2 with stron...The Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis),a near threatened bird and one of eight pelican species in the world,can be found only in South and Southeast Asia over an area between 129000 and 181000 km 2 with strongholds in India,Sri Lanka,southern Cambodia and coastal areas of Sumatra.In India,it is presently distributed in southern and northeastern India with concentrations in Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Assam states.An ethogram of the Spot-billed Pelican was presented and as many as 25 individual behaviors grouped under nine different categories were described:resting,alert,comfort/maintenance,locomotion,foraging,antagonistic,sexual,chick care and foraging,and vocalizations.Descriptions of behaviors of the Spot-billed Pelican in this paper would be immensely useful while preparing conservation and management plan for the species present both in the captive and wild condition.展开更多
Government of India has come out with an ambitious target of 100 GW of using solar energy alone by the year 2022. To reach this target, innovative ideas are required to use the solar energy more effectively. For solar...Government of India has come out with an ambitious target of 100 GW of using solar energy alone by the year 2022. To reach this target, innovative ideas are required to use the solar energy more effectively. For solar electricity generation, mainly two types of technologies are presently in use, namely, solar PV and solar thermal. Being a tropical country, India has large solar PV and solar thermal energy. More research is required on economic aspects to make the solar thermal competitive to solar PV. Towards this direction, in our present study we have simulated a solar thermal power plant using Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) technology and normalized with 1 MW solar thermal power plant at Gurgaon near New Delhi. Through simulation, we have extended our study and computed the electricity generation possible at different locations of India. For this purpose with 1? × 1?spacing, computations have been carried out at 296 locations. The work is further extended for more detailed study at two representative states, namely, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In these two states, closer data points with 0.25? × 0.25? spacing have been considered at 273 locations for Gujarat and 197 locations for Tamil Nadu. Our results indicate a large potential of electricity generation using solar thermal energy in southern states of India, namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, southern and western part of Andhra Pradesh and eastern part of Maharashtra. Good potential has also been observed in eastern parts of Gujarat and parts of Madhya Pradesh and eastern part of Rajasthan. The annual potential ranges from 1800 MWh to as much as 2600 MWh. Major parts of northern states, for example Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir have medium range potential. Here, the annual potential ranges from 1000 to 1500 MWh. Poor range of potential is observed towards eastern parts of India and north eastern states. Here, the electricity generation potential ranges from 600 to 1200 MWh. Our results are useful to solar thermal developer and decision managers.展开更多
In this paper,Modified Multi-scale Segmentation Network(MMU-SNet)method is proposed for Tamil text recognition.Handwritten texts from digi-tal writing pad notes are used for text recognition.Handwritten words recognit...In this paper,Modified Multi-scale Segmentation Network(MMU-SNet)method is proposed for Tamil text recognition.Handwritten texts from digi-tal writing pad notes are used for text recognition.Handwritten words recognition for texts written from digital writing pad through text file conversion are challen-ging due to stylus pressure,writing on glass frictionless surfaces,and being less skilled in short writing,alphabet size,style,carved symbols,and orientation angle variations.Stylus pressure on the pad changes the words in the Tamil language alphabet because the Tamil alphabets have a smaller number of lines,angles,curves,and bends.The small change in dots,curves,and bends in the Tamil alphabet leads to error in recognition and changes the meaning of the words because of wrong alphabet conversion.However,handwritten English word recognition and conversion of text files from a digital writing pad are performed through various algorithms such as Support Vector Machine(SVM),Kohonen Neural Network(KNN),and Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)for offline and online alphabet recognition.The proposed algorithms are compared with above algorithms for Tamil word recognition.The proposed MMU-SNet method has achieved good accuracy in predicting text,about 96.8%compared to other traditional CNN algorithms.展开更多
The objective of this study is to explore the psychic, moral, ethical and logical significances in the spectatorship of Bollywood and Tamil film in the Sri Lanka. Bollywood and Tamil film has been taking a very popula...The objective of this study is to explore the psychic, moral, ethical and logical significances in the spectatorship of Bollywood and Tamil film in the Sri Lanka. Bollywood and Tamil film has been taking a very popular cultural performance in Sri Lanka. The original Indian spectatorship of these film traditions has been diverted by the cultural and political psychology of Sri Lanka. Hence, this local orientation of the Indian cinema remains a quite metamorphosis and deconstruction in its appreciation and screening in terms of the social, cultural and political features that deeply-rooted in Sri Lankan history, culture and geographical limitations. For this study, several film texts, which include typical Bollywood and Tamil film characteristic features were used and observed on how they have been absorbed in the Sri Lankan cultural society. And on the other hand, some audience surveys specific to different film appreciation contexts were conducted. They included urban slums, semi-rural Muslim societies, north and east areas of Tamil villages, Colombo urban society, Tamil state areas and Kandyan Sinhala rural villages. In the textual analysis of the film content, implicit psychological narrations and their social and aesthetic interpretations were revealed in the analytical explanations. Using the audience surveys, many different opinions that can be traditionally filtered in the screening and appreciation of these film traditions specific to their living cultural settings were also identified. In conclusion, perception in Sinhala film has been considerably designed by the experience of Bollywood and Tamil film spectatorship is deducted by this study. Hence, not only this social trend affected to the appreciation of film in local general audience but also in all the facets of film production （script writing, shooting, acting, dialoguing, music and choreography and screening） has also significantly being influenced by the Bollywood and Tamil film. As a result of this evolution of local film culture, most recent trend in Sinhala film noir is also being followed by the early subjective consequences of Bollywood and Tamil film culture in Sri Lanka.展开更多
The breeding biology of the Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis)was investigated from September 2007 to September 2010 in Karaivetti Lake,Tamil Nadu,India.The Spot-billed Pelican breeds between November and Apr...The breeding biology of the Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis)was investigated from September 2007 to September 2010 in Karaivetti Lake,Tamil Nadu,India.The Spot-billed Pelican breeds between November and April at the Karaivetti Lake.It also breeds roughly during the same period at other breeding sites in Tamil Nadu,except for the Vedanthangal and Karikili bird sanctuaries,where pelicans arrives much earlier and their breeding activities start and end to some extent ahead of the other sites,i.e.,from September to March.In essence,the breeding season starts after the onset of the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu.A few days after their arrival,pelicans perform courtship display,form pairs,start nest construction and lay eggs.Courtship display is not as attractive and impressive as in other waterbirds.The clutch size varies from two to three eggs and the incubation period from 25 to 36 days.The fledging period varies from a minimum of 90 to a maximum of 102 days.The nest success rate of the Spot-billed Pelican at Karaivetti was 90.28% during the study period.展开更多
The paper presents an analysis of the selected stanzas of Siva Satakam （One Hundred Verses on Siva）--the most important hymn devoted to Siva composed in Malayalam by Narayana Guru. The analysis shows that there is a...The paper presents an analysis of the selected stanzas of Siva Satakam （One Hundred Verses on Siva）--the most important hymn devoted to Siva composed in Malayalam by Narayana Guru. The analysis shows that there is a tendency in the hymn to emphasise the equal status of Sanskrit and Dravidian literary tradition. Several stanzas are constructed on the basis of Sanskrit stories or myths; however, this ＂classical＂ scheme is filled with Tamil or Malayalam concepts, ideas, and key words. What is more, Narayana Guru employs so called twilight language used by authors of Tamil philosophical works in order to provide a receiver of the poem with the opportunity to interpret some stanzas in accordance with Sanskrit as well as Dravidian tradition. The introduction of a person belonging to lower caste of South India as the one who is able to attain liberation, as well as presentation of the welt-known philosophical concepts as equal or even subordinated to the Dravidian ideas could become a significant contribution to the social activity of Guru comprising among others the concern for spiritual and social uplift of the lower caste people of Kerala.展开更多
Lichens of Sirumalai hills are reported here for the first time.Lichen biota comprised of 95 species.The genus Japewiella is reported for the first time in India and is represented by J.tavaresiana(H.Magn.)Printzen.Fu...Lichens of Sirumalai hills are reported here for the first time.Lichen biota comprised of 95 species.The genus Japewiella is reported for the first time in India and is represented by J.tavaresiana(H.Magn.)Printzen.Furthermore,the following six taxa including one variety are new to India viz.Arthonia atra(Pers.)A.Schneid.,Graphis brevicarpa M.Nakan.,Kashiw.&K.H.Moon,Micarea erratica(Körb.)Hertel,Rambold&Pietschm.,Pertusaria cicatricosa var.deficiens A.W.Archer,Elix&Streimam,Porina subargillacea Müll Arg.,and Pyxine schmidtii Vain.Brief accounts for all the new records to India are provided to facilitate their identification.Arthonia redingeri Grube and Lepraria caesiella R.C.Harris are reported for the first time from south India.Besides all above,29 species are recorded for the first time from the state of Tamil Nadu.The lichen biota of the area is primarily corticolous in habitats and dominated by crustose form.展开更多
Objective:To study the spatial and temporal variations of the distribution and diversity pattern of coral reef associated gastropods assemblages in Gulf of Mannar Island and to clarify the relationship between gastrop...Objective:To study the spatial and temporal variations of the distribution and diversity pattern of coral reef associated gastropods assemblages in Gulf of Mannar Island and to clarify the relationship between gastropods and surrounding coral reef ecosystem.Methods:Gastropods were collected from three islands-Hare(Picnic spot),Vaan(Church Island)and Koswari(Karsuvar Island).The samples were taxonomically identified according to external structure of typical shells and classified according to their feeding habits.Statistical tool Primer(Ver.6.1.11)was employed to find the species diversity,richness and evenness.Results:A total of forty species of gastropods from 19 families were identified.The gastropods population density varied differently at stations,479 species from Vaan islands,390 species from Koswari islands and 254 species from Hare island were recorded.The gastropods species diversity,richness and evenness indices also varied differently at stations.The highest species diversity indice was recorded at Vaan Island(2.968),while both the highest richness and evenness indices were recorded at Hare Island with 0.937 and 0.942 respectively.Conclusions:The results of present study provides useful informtation for biodiversity conservation as well as the management of coral reef habitat in India.展开更多
Following tips from a touist guide 15 years ago,Zhao Jiang went to Mahabalipuram,a town,that despite its architectural splendors,golden beach and performing arts,was strictly off the map for Chinese holiday-goers at t...Following tips from a touist guide 15 years ago,Zhao Jiang went to Mahabalipuram,a town,that despite its architectural splendors,golden beach and performing arts,was strictly off the map for Chinese holiday-goers at the time.Then in October,came the news that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have an in formal summit at the same seaside resort in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.展开更多
文摘Tamil culture has recognized the potential use of plant herbs for prevention and treatment of different diseases. These folk remedies have been practiced by Sri Lankan Tamils even after modernization. This review focuses on frequently used medicinal plants among Sri Lankan Tamil communities, such as Cuminum cyminum, Azadirechta indica, Coriandrum sativum, Sesamum indicum, Zingiber officinale, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Moringa oleifera, Plectranthus amboinicus, Allium sativum and Curcuma Ionga, for their documented medicinal properties, which include antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, antidiabetic and diuretic effects.
基金Trichy-1 for academic support throughout the studythe Department of Science and Technology (SERCFasttrack Young scientist Scheme),India for fundingthe Tamil Nadu Forest Department for granting me the required permission.
文摘The Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis),a near threatened bird and one of eight pelican species in the world,can be found only in South and Southeast Asia over an area between 129000 and 181000 km 2 with strongholds in India,Sri Lanka,southern Cambodia and coastal areas of Sumatra.In India,it is presently distributed in southern and northeastern India with concentrations in Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Assam states.An ethogram of the Spot-billed Pelican was presented and as many as 25 individual behaviors grouped under nine different categories were described:resting,alert,comfort/maintenance,locomotion,foraging,antagonistic,sexual,chick care and foraging,and vocalizations.Descriptions of behaviors of the Spot-billed Pelican in this paper would be immensely useful while preparing conservation and management plan for the species present both in the captive and wild condition.
文摘Government of India has come out with an ambitious target of 100 GW of using solar energy alone by the year 2022. To reach this target, innovative ideas are required to use the solar energy more effectively. For solar electricity generation, mainly two types of technologies are presently in use, namely, solar PV and solar thermal. Being a tropical country, India has large solar PV and solar thermal energy. More research is required on economic aspects to make the solar thermal competitive to solar PV. Towards this direction, in our present study we have simulated a solar thermal power plant using Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) technology and normalized with 1 MW solar thermal power plant at Gurgaon near New Delhi. Through simulation, we have extended our study and computed the electricity generation possible at different locations of India. For this purpose with 1? × 1?spacing, computations have been carried out at 296 locations. The work is further extended for more detailed study at two representative states, namely, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In these two states, closer data points with 0.25? × 0.25? spacing have been considered at 273 locations for Gujarat and 197 locations for Tamil Nadu. Our results indicate a large potential of electricity generation using solar thermal energy in southern states of India, namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, southern and western part of Andhra Pradesh and eastern part of Maharashtra. Good potential has also been observed in eastern parts of Gujarat and parts of Madhya Pradesh and eastern part of Rajasthan. The annual potential ranges from 1800 MWh to as much as 2600 MWh. Major parts of northern states, for example Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir have medium range potential. Here, the annual potential ranges from 1000 to 1500 MWh. Poor range of potential is observed towards eastern parts of India and north eastern states. Here, the electricity generation potential ranges from 600 to 1200 MWh. Our results are useful to solar thermal developer and decision managers.
文摘In this paper,Modified Multi-scale Segmentation Network(MMU-SNet)method is proposed for Tamil text recognition.Handwritten texts from digi-tal writing pad notes are used for text recognition.Handwritten words recognition for texts written from digital writing pad through text file conversion are challen-ging due to stylus pressure,writing on glass frictionless surfaces,and being less skilled in short writing,alphabet size,style,carved symbols,and orientation angle variations.Stylus pressure on the pad changes the words in the Tamil language alphabet because the Tamil alphabets have a smaller number of lines,angles,curves,and bends.The small change in dots,curves,and bends in the Tamil alphabet leads to error in recognition and changes the meaning of the words because of wrong alphabet conversion.However,handwritten English word recognition and conversion of text files from a digital writing pad are performed through various algorithms such as Support Vector Machine(SVM),Kohonen Neural Network(KNN),and Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)for offline and online alphabet recognition.The proposed algorithms are compared with above algorithms for Tamil word recognition.The proposed MMU-SNet method has achieved good accuracy in predicting text,about 96.8%compared to other traditional CNN algorithms.
文摘The objective of this study is to explore the psychic, moral, ethical and logical significances in the spectatorship of Bollywood and Tamil film in the Sri Lanka. Bollywood and Tamil film has been taking a very popular cultural performance in Sri Lanka. The original Indian spectatorship of these film traditions has been diverted by the cultural and political psychology of Sri Lanka. Hence, this local orientation of the Indian cinema remains a quite metamorphosis and deconstruction in its appreciation and screening in terms of the social, cultural and political features that deeply-rooted in Sri Lankan history, culture and geographical limitations. For this study, several film texts, which include typical Bollywood and Tamil film characteristic features were used and observed on how they have been absorbed in the Sri Lankan cultural society. And on the other hand, some audience surveys specific to different film appreciation contexts were conducted. They included urban slums, semi-rural Muslim societies, north and east areas of Tamil villages, Colombo urban society, Tamil state areas and Kandyan Sinhala rural villages. In the textual analysis of the film content, implicit psychological narrations and their social and aesthetic interpretations were revealed in the analytical explanations. Using the audience surveys, many different opinions that can be traditionally filtered in the screening and appreciation of these film traditions specific to their living cultural settings were also identified. In conclusion, perception in Sinhala film has been considerably designed by the experience of Bollywood and Tamil film spectatorship is deducted by this study. Hence, not only this social trend affected to the appreciation of film in local general audience but also in all the facets of film production （script writing, shooting, acting, dialoguing, music and choreography and screening） has also significantly being influenced by the Bollywood and Tamil film. As a result of this evolution of local film culture, most recent trend in Sinhala film noir is also being followed by the early subjective consequences of Bollywood and Tamil film culture in Sri Lanka.
基金India for funding the studythe Tamil Nadu Forest Department for granting me the required permission
文摘The breeding biology of the Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis)was investigated from September 2007 to September 2010 in Karaivetti Lake,Tamil Nadu,India.The Spot-billed Pelican breeds between November and April at the Karaivetti Lake.It also breeds roughly during the same period at other breeding sites in Tamil Nadu,except for the Vedanthangal and Karikili bird sanctuaries,where pelicans arrives much earlier and their breeding activities start and end to some extent ahead of the other sites,i.e.,from September to March.In essence,the breeding season starts after the onset of the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu.A few days after their arrival,pelicans perform courtship display,form pairs,start nest construction and lay eggs.Courtship display is not as attractive and impressive as in other waterbirds.The clutch size varies from two to three eggs and the incubation period from 25 to 36 days.The fledging period varies from a minimum of 90 to a maximum of 102 days.The nest success rate of the Spot-billed Pelican at Karaivetti was 90.28% during the study period.
文摘The paper presents an analysis of the selected stanzas of Siva Satakam （One Hundred Verses on Siva）--the most important hymn devoted to Siva composed in Malayalam by Narayana Guru. The analysis shows that there is a tendency in the hymn to emphasise the equal status of Sanskrit and Dravidian literary tradition. Several stanzas are constructed on the basis of Sanskrit stories or myths; however, this ＂classical＂ scheme is filled with Tamil or Malayalam concepts, ideas, and key words. What is more, Narayana Guru employs so called twilight language used by authors of Tamil philosophical works in order to provide a receiver of the poem with the opportunity to interpret some stanzas in accordance with Sanskrit as well as Dravidian tradition. The introduction of a person belonging to lower caste of South India as the one who is able to attain liberation, as well as presentation of the welt-known philosophical concepts as equal or even subordinated to the Dravidian ideas could become a significant contribution to the social activity of Guru comprising among others the concern for spiritual and social uplift of the lower caste people of Kerala.
基金The authors are thankful to the Director of CSIR-NBRI for providing laboratory facilities and to the Principal of Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology,Head of Biotechnology Department and members of the organizing committee for the LBB2017 workshop.One of the authors(SJ)is thankful to DST,New Delhi for the financial assistance under INSPIRE Faculty scheme(IFA18-LSPA 124)The authors are also grateful to Sirumalai Reserve Forest authorities for their permission to study the lichens of the area.(CSIR-NBRI manuscript numberCSIR-NBRI_MS/2019/12/04).
文摘Lichens of Sirumalai hills are reported here for the first time.Lichen biota comprised of 95 species.The genus Japewiella is reported for the first time in India and is represented by J.tavaresiana(H.Magn.)Printzen.Furthermore,the following six taxa including one variety are new to India viz.Arthonia atra(Pers.)A.Schneid.,Graphis brevicarpa M.Nakan.,Kashiw.&K.H.Moon,Micarea erratica(Körb.)Hertel,Rambold&Pietschm.,Pertusaria cicatricosa var.deficiens A.W.Archer,Elix&Streimam,Porina subargillacea Müll Arg.,and Pyxine schmidtii Vain.Brief accounts for all the new records to India are provided to facilitate their identification.Arthonia redingeri Grube and Lepraria caesiella R.C.Harris are reported for the first time from south India.Besides all above,29 species are recorded for the first time from the state of Tamil Nadu.The lichen biota of the area is primarily corticolous in habitats and dominated by crustose form.
基金Supported by CMLRE-Project(Grant No.MoES/10-MLR/01/12)INCOIS-OSF-Project(INCOIS:F&A:OSF:A2:XII:014.Dt.06/06/2014)Ministry of Earth Sciences(MoEs),Government of India,Hyderabad
文摘Objective:To study the spatial and temporal variations of the distribution and diversity pattern of coral reef associated gastropods assemblages in Gulf of Mannar Island and to clarify the relationship between gastropods and surrounding coral reef ecosystem.Methods:Gastropods were collected from three islands-Hare(Picnic spot),Vaan(Church Island)and Koswari(Karsuvar Island).The samples were taxonomically identified according to external structure of typical shells and classified according to their feeding habits.Statistical tool Primer(Ver.6.1.11)was employed to find the species diversity,richness and evenness.Results:A total of forty species of gastropods from 19 families were identified.The gastropods population density varied differently at stations,479 species from Vaan islands,390 species from Koswari islands and 254 species from Hare island were recorded.The gastropods species diversity,richness and evenness indices also varied differently at stations.The highest species diversity indice was recorded at Vaan Island(2.968),while both the highest richness and evenness indices were recorded at Hare Island with 0.937 and 0.942 respectively.Conclusions:The results of present study provides useful informtation for biodiversity conservation as well as the management of coral reef habitat in India.
文摘Following tips from a touist guide 15 years ago,Zhao Jiang went to Mahabalipuram,a town,that despite its architectural splendors,golden beach and performing arts,was strictly off the map for Chinese holiday-goers at the time.Then in October,came the news that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have an in formal summit at the same seaside resort in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
