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The management problem of allocating limited resources for conflicting habitat needs of 2 endangered species, (the wolf (<i>Canis lupus pallipes</i>) and the blackbuck (<i>Antelope cervicapra</i>)) at Velavadar National Park, Gujarat, India, was addressed with the aid of mathematical optimization models. Critical biological data essential for model formulation and management decisions were collected by field research from February 1988 to December 1990. The semi-arid grassland habitat was dominated by perennial grasses like <i>Dichanthium annulatum</I> and <i>Sporobolus virginicus</i>. The grassland system seems quite resilient to droughts and grazing. Above-ground production is primarily dependent on precipitation. Two-year rainfall sequence explained 960/0 of the variability in the peak above-ground plant biomass. Food habits of blackbuck were determined by lead animal studies and observations on wild blackbuck. Blackbuck relied primarily on grasslands to obtain food. The pods of the exotic shrub, <i>Prosopis juliflora</i>, comprised 10% of the diet and were considered to be important during the summers and drought years. Dry matter intake, as estimated from captive blackbuck feeding on natural forage, was cyclical, dropping in the summers and increasing during the monsoons and winters. Apparent digestibility and forage quality were extremely low in summers. Average annual dry matter intake was estimated at 86 gms/<i>kg</i> ^.075 of blackbuck per day. Relationships were developed for predicting forage quality from fecal ether extract and fecal nitrogen. The blackbuck population seemed to be in a dynamic equilibrium at about 1850 animals. Periodic droughts and floods cause major population declines. The population takes 4-5 years to recover from such catastrophic mortality. Life-table analysis done by aging jaws of dead blackbuck revealed a bimodal mortality pattern for males. Males between the ages of 7 to 9 years were at high risk of wolf predation during the rutting season. A population simulation model using a modified Leslie matrix approach estimated the probability of extinction during the next 50 years to be close to zero. The population was predicted to fluctuate between 1100 and 2800 individuals. / Ph. D.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes a pioneering effort to introduce tobacco cessation into India's undergraduate medical college curriculum. This is the first ever attempt to fully integrate tobacco control across all years of medical college in any low and middle income country. The development, pretesting, and piloting of an innovative modular tobacco curriculum are discussed as well as challenges that face implementation and steps taken to address them and to advocate for adoption by the Medical Council of India. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with administrators and faculty in five medical colleges to determine interest in and willingness to fully integrate smoking cessation into the college curriculum. Current curriculum was reviewed for present exposure to information about tobacco and cessation skill training. A modular tobacco curriculum was developed, pretested, modified, piloted, and evaluated by faculty and students. Qualitative research was conducted to identify challenges to future curriculum implementation. RESULTS: Fifteen modules were successfully developed focusing on the public health importance of tobacco control, the relationship between tobacco and specific organ systems, diseases related to smoking and chewing tobacco, and the impact of tobacco on medication effectiveness. Culturally sensitive illness specific cessation training videos were developed. Faculty and students positively evaluated the curriculum as increasing their competency to support cessation during illness as a teachable moment. Students conducted illness centered cessation interviews with patients as a mandated part of their coursework. Systemic challenges to implementing the curriculum were identified and addressed. CONCLUSIONS: A fully integrated tobacco curriculum for medical colleges was piloted in 5 colleges and is now freely available online. The curriculum has been adopted by the state of Kerala as a first step to gaining Medical Council of India review and possible recognition.

There is no congruence in diversity of the three groups of organisms studied. It is inferred that their differences in biological and ecological characteristics as well as their ranges of dispersal are responsible for the distinct patterns of distribution in the landscape. It is proposed that the strategy for biodiversity conservation should consider landscape-level conservation in order to capture the range of biodiversity that exists outside the formal reserve network in Kodagu. While maintaining the integrity of the strictly protected forest reserve; of traditionally conserved sacred forests; and of privately owned coffee plantations is essential, conservation practice should emphasise the involvement of local communities in management of landscape rather than imposing biodiversity conservation by force.

The Archaean craton of southern India has four main components. The multi-phase Peninsular gneiss, with ages from 3360-2900 Ma, is spatially dominant and grades from granulite facies in the south to greenschist facies in the north. Ages for the Peninsular gneiss range from 3360-2900 Ma. Within the craton are two suites of Greenstone Belts and supracrustal rocks. The older, high-grade Sargur type occur as enclaves in the Peninsular gneiss and are in places older than 3360 Ma. The younger, lower-grade type occur occasionally have unconformable bases with the Peninsular gneiss and have been dated from 3100-2605 Ma. Granitoids form the last major component with the Closepet granite being the largest, ages for the emplacement of the Closepet granite and many of the other granitoids cluster around 2500 Ma. The Closepet granite outcrops from Kabbal Durge in the south to the Deccan Plateau in the north, a distance of some 450 km. A 320 km section from Kabbal Durga to Hospet in the north exposes a linear trending granite. The granite outcrop varies from one of essentially partial melting and melt extraction in the south to a zone of melt accumulation in the central zone to a zone of high level intrusion of large granite bodies. Related to these changes in primary processes are changes in the granite phases, size, shape and intrusive style. The petrography of the granite phases is described. These studies help to constrain phase relationships. The petrography also provides evidence to suggest that the K-feldspar megacrysts are in fact phenocrysts. Analyses of major and trace elements utilised standard X.R.F. methods. However, the analyses of REE on selected samples involved the setting up of the department's "ICP for routine operation. This procedure is outlined. The geochemistry of the granite's is described melting and crystallization models being used to explain their petrogenesis. Harker diagrams indicate that plagioclase, sphene and apatite have strong controls on major element composition and that biotite was a residual or fractionating phase. The removal of restite biotite as granite magmas intrude is thought to be a significant process.Evidence from the petrography agrees with the equilibrium phase diagram at PH2 0 ~ 5 kbar. Plots of Peninsular gneiss in the granite phase diagram have a range of compositions which could provide minimum and non-minimum melts capable of producing the Closepet granite trend. Predicted fractional crystallization would produce a sequence of magma compositions comparable to those of the Closepet granite with an order of phase crystallization that agrees with petrographic evidence. The phase relationships further constrain subsequent melting and crystallization models utilising trace elements and REE.

The dynamics and changes in the pattern of the interstate migration system in India during the post-Independence period are explored. Three major perspectives, namely (i) the demographic effectiveness of net migration in changing the regional and ethnic balance of population distribution, (ii) the principal components or regional subsystems of in- and out-migration based on similarities in the origin and destination areas of migrants, and (iii) the shift-share components of the change in net migration are adopted to provide insight into the changing structure of interstate population movements in India. The major findings are compared with those of other similar studies done in the context of developed countries. The post-Independence development policies have had a significant impact in diffusing the highly polarized pre-Independence pattern of interstate migration in India.