Computers are the pervasive technology of our time. As computer become critically tied to human life, it also becomes more important that interactions with them are under control. They are no longer a novelty, but are integrated into the fabric of our world, performing both high and low-level tasks. That is, computers may be used to eliminate heavy, redundant work and more. Sophisticated machines have been deployed to perform remote surgery or detect subterranean landmines in repopulated civilian areas. The increasing importance of computers in our lives means that it is essential that the design of computer systems incorporates techniques that can ensure reliability, safety and security. This paper will examine technological mishaps involving the use of computers. This review will include notorious software bugs that have affected finance, communication, transit, defense, health and medicine and others systems or industries. The sequence and etiology of these accidents will be discusses as well as how catastrophes may be avoided in the future through lessons and practices based on research.

Baculoviruses were isolated from three major lepidopteran pests, Helicoverpa armigera , Spodoptera litura and Amsacta albistriga in the semi-arid tropics during natural epizootic conditions at ICRISAT fields, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India. Biological, morphological and biochemical analysis identified these isolates as Nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs). Scanning electron microscopy of the occlusion bodies (OBs) purified from diseased larvae revealed polyhedral particles of size approximately 0.5–2.5 μm [ Helicoverpa armigera Nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV)], 0.9–2.92 μm [ Spodoptera litura Nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV)] and 1.0–2.0 μm [ Amsacta albistriga Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AmalNPV)] in diameter. Transmission electron microscopy of thin sections of OBs of the three isolates revealed up to 5–8 multiple bacilliform shaped particles packaged within a single viral envelope. The dimensions of these particles were 277.7 × 41.6 nm for HearNPV, 285.7 × 34.2 nm for SpltNPV and 228.5 × 22.8 nm for AmalNPV. Each of HearNPV and AmalNPV contained up to 6 nucleocapsids and SpltNPV contained up to 7 nucleocapsids per envelope. The estimated molecular weights of the purified OB (polyhedrin) protein of the three NPVs were 31.29–31.67 kDa. Virus yield (OBs/larva) was 5.18 ± 0.45 × 10 9 for HearNPV, 5.73 ± 0.17 × 10 9 for SpltNPV and 7.90 ± 0.54 × 10 9 for AmalNPV. The LC 50 values of various NPVs against 2nd and 3rd instar larvae indicated 2.30 × 10 4 and 1.5 × 10 5 OBs/ml for HearNPV, 3.5 × 10 4 and 2.4 × 10 5 OBs/ml for SpltNPV and 5.6 × 10 4 and 3.96 × 10 5 OBs/ml for AmalNPV. The lethal time required to cause 50% mortality (LT 50 ) for these three species were also defined. This study has shown that the NPVs infecting three major lepidopteran pests in India are multiple NPVs, and they have good potential to use as biocontrol agents against these important pests.

The increasing need for food can be met through an increase in crop productivity and reduction in pest associated losses. Recombinant DNA technology has created new avenues for genetic enhancement of crops through the development of transgenic plants with resistance to insects. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes have been widely used as candidate genes for genetic transformation of crop plants for resistance to insect pests (Hilder and Boulter 1999, Sharma et al. 2004). In addition, non-Bt genes such as soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI), cowpea trypsin inhibitor (CpTI) and lectin genes have also been exploited to produce insect-resistant plants. Soybean trypsin inhibitor and plant lectins have been found to reduce larval growth and disrupt normal development of H. armigera in artificial diet (Johnston et al. 1993, Shukla et al. 2005). Transgenic pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) plants with Bt and SBTI genes have been recently developed to reduce the losses due to H. armigera (Sharma et al. 2006). There is a need to develop standardized protocols for evaluation of transgenic plants for resistance to insect pests, and their interaction with other non-target herbivores, and the natural enemies of crop pests. The present studies were therefore conducted to assess the usefulness of indices based on consumption and utilization of food and diet incorporation assay to assess the usefulness of putative transgenic plants of pigeonpea for resistance to H. armigera.

Cadmium chloride is potent hepatotoxic agents. The present study was undertaken to examine the inhibitory effect of the green tea (Camellia si ne is) on cadmium chloride induced hepatoprotective activity in liver. In rats inject d with cadmium chloride, the activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum g l tamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) was significantly (p < 0.05) increased when compared to those values in control rats. The rats administrated with green tea extract and cadmium chloride showed a significantly (p < 0.05) decreased levels of serum SGOT, SGPT, LDH and GGT. The results of this tudy indicate that the green tea extract is a potent hepatoprotectant agent for therapeutic purposes

Studies on the effect of different storage conditions on the virulence of NPV revealed that samples stored in earthen pot and at room temperature maintained efficacy up to four months and after that virulence started decreasing. This decreased efficacy of samples stored under room temperature may be due to increased bacterial activity. When the NPV samples were tested for the bacterial load, it was 3.47 times more in the samples stored at room temperatures after six months of storage.

Bacterial contamination is an important setback in large scale production of nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV). Hence, attempts were made to decrease the bacterial contamination in storage using different commonly used laboratory disinfectants. The studies revealed that all the preservatives tried could effectively reduce the bacterial contamination and the associated bad odour problem in storage. HelicoverpaNPV samples with all the preservatives studied gave 90% mortality under Laboratory bio-assays after a period of two months of storage. The samples, which were stored in acetone and ethyl alcohol, gave 73.3 and 70% mortality, respectively after 10 months storage. Cost of different preservatives ranged from Rs.3.0–12.5 ha−1, which is affordable.

In an effort to minimize the Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) damage, transgenic pigeonpea plants with Bacillus thuringiensis (cry1Ab) and soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) genes have been developed recently. An experiment was conducted to understand the influence of prolonged exposure of H. armigera larvae to transgenic pigeonpea plants. There were no significant toxic effects of transgenic pigeonpea plants on growth and development of H. armigera, although the larvae fed on transgenic plants showed prolongation of larval period, formation of larval-pupal intermediates and malformed adults. The results indicated adaptation of H. armigera larvae to the transgenic plants, particularly under low levels of toxin expression.

Introduction of transgenic insect-resistant pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.), is expected to be useful in minimizing Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) damage, which is the major constraint for its production. In this context, it is important to develop techniques to evaluate effectiveness of transgenic plants for resistance to H. armigera. Therefore, we evaluated the usefulness of detached leaf assay to assess the efficacy of transgenic pigeonpea (var; ICPL 88039 and ICPL 87) plants carrying Btcry1Ab and SBTI genes for resistance to H. armigera. The levels of Cry1Ab or SBTI proteins in the transgenic pigeonpea plants were not sufficient to cause significant deterrent effects on leaf feeding, larval survival, and larval weight of H. armigera. However, detached leaf assay was found to be quite useful for evaluation of transgenic pigeonpea plants for resistance to H. armigera.

Polyclonal antibodies were raised against purified polyhedrin [(polyocclusion body (POB)] protein preparations of Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaNPV) and were used to develop a direct antigen coating enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (DAC-ELISA) to detect HaNPV. The sensitivity of the DAC-ELISA was 15 ng/ml of partially purified viral protein or 30 ng/ml POBs from the HaNPV infected larval extracts. The antibodies were highly specific to polyhedrin protein of HaNPV and were useful to diagnose NPV at early stages of larval infection and also for the quantification of the NPVs during production of viral insecticides.

Two Kimberlite pipes in Bommaganapalli area, Kalyandurg, Anantapur District are reported based on stream sediment sampling yielding HIM's viz., garnets ('G 9' lherzolitic, 'G 10' harzburgitic and eclogitic with Na 2 O (>0.07 wt%), Cr-diopsides (from garnet peridotites), spinels and ilmenites. Ground magnetic survey indicated magnetic anomaly of about 280 nT in KL-5 and an anomaly of100 n T over KL-6.The anomaly over KL-5 was dipolar. The 'Maturation Index' (MI) of 9.8 and MgO content 8.08 of the calcrete over this area indicate their kimberlitic nature. Analysis indicates that the chrome spinels fall in the diamond stability field. Garnets suggest they are of the nature of G 10 harzburgitic garnets.

Multi-disciplinary approach involving remote sensing, stream-sediment-sampling coupled with geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys have paved way for identification of kimberlitic calcrete (with inclusions of garnet and ilmenite). Its distribution on the basis of abundance in a stream conveniently led to discovery of a new kimberlite body in the Kalyandurg Taluk (N lc1°33'41.6" and E 76"59'41.3"). Recovery of deep-seated mantle xenoliths, petrography and major oxide analysis further substantiate the kimberlitic nature. This find, in addition to the three earlier reported kimberlites, makes the Kalyandurg Kimberlite Field (KKF) a promising one from the view point of diamond exploration.

This paper reports the design of a compact, inexpensive, and ultrahigh vacuum compatible reed-type Kelvin probe for work function and surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) studies. A simple method of controlling the vibration amplitude of the probe is proposed which reduces mechanical instabilities of the vibrating capacitor, leading to an autonomous and reliable probe for monitoring work function changes over a prolonged period of time. A boss-type reference gold electrode is used to simultaneously study the work function changes with adsorbents and SPS on real surfaces of semiconductors. A current preamplifier used in the measuring circuit reduces the effect of parasitic input capacitance and facilitates the application of a biasing voltage. A feedback loop system and off-null technique are used for obtaining the contact potential difference. With this improved design of the probe setup a sensitivity of better than 0.1 mV has been achieved. Some experimental results are presented to show the performance of the setup.

Cheirostylis seidenfadeniana is described from Kerala in India. The new species appears to be related to C. parvifolia and shares some characteristics with C. thailandica and C. montana , but differs in floral characters.

SummaryA new name, Habenaria indica Sathish Kumar et Manilal, and a new combination, Eria chandrasekharanii (Bhargavan & Mohanan) Sathish Kumar et Manila!, are proposed for two Indian orchids.