December 2011

In the whole of Africa and Nigeria in particular, a larger proportion of the forest and plant genetic resources are being depleted at a grossly uncomfortable rate, a consequence of increasing population pressure, agricultural land degradation, urbanization and neglect. It is no gainsaying therefore that in this present dispensation, conservation and sustainable utilization and also proper management of germplasm are pressing priorities the world over. Many conservation methods and techniques exist that could be deployed to safeguard the threatened/endangered population of most of these valuable germplasm. This paper reviews the various techniques inherent in the ex situ and in situ strategies of conservation and also bring to the fore how these techniques could be harnessed in promoting conservation through the various types of genebanks towards ensuring the sustainable use of the accessible germplasm.

An ethnobotanical uses of plants were examined at two hilly area of sylhet in Bangladesh. The study identified 26 species belonging 18 families that are being used in traditional health care. The research reveals that the use of these plants was confined mostly less educated and poor people of tea state and they depend on the treatment of native healers. This result also demonstrated that the plants are uses either whole parts or different parts like leaves, stem, bark, root, flower, seed, etc. Plant are used for quick recovery from long time sickness like preventing Asthma, Dirreahae, Dysentery, sexual disease, urinary tract disease. There is a big diversity of indigenous plant of hilly area at sylhet and their traditional medicinal practice by native healers.

Electrophoretic SDS-PAGE and RAPD analysis were performed to established genetic diversity for five accessions (IPL-406, IPL-81,DPL-62, DPL-15, & Sehore-74-3) and to elucidate their genetic relationships. The resulted protein banding pattern showed high level of polymorphism( i.e., 95.6% and could be used to discriminate completely among the five accessions under study. However, the protein profile could be considered as general biochemical finger print of the lentil.During present study the polymorphism was high at protein level. One decamer primer(OPA-17) having sequence CACCGCTTGT was used to estimate genetic diversity in Lens culinaris accessions.Atotal of 43 bands were scored , 39 bands showed polymorphism( 90.6%) and the rest 4 bads showed 9.30% monomorphism during RAPD analysis. Number of bands produced in each accession varied during RAPD and SDS-PAGE analysis .Similarity index reveals maximum similarity between accessions IPL-406(L-1) and DPL-15(L-4) , DPL-15(L-4) and Sehore-74-3(L-5) i.e., 35.71% and 35.29% respectively while distantly related accessions were IPL-81(L-2) and DPL-62(L-3) with similarity index 23.8% when RAPD profile was observed but when protein profile of five accessions of lentil was observed, show highest similarity index value between accessions IPL-406(L-1) and Sehore-74-3(L-5) i.e., 36.6% while distantly related accessions show lowest similarity index were IPL-406(L-1) and DPL-15(L-4) i.e., 15%. Two dendrograms constructed based on Jaccard’s method and UPGMA using oth SDS-PAGE and RAPD profiles. The resulting dendrogram for protein profile revealed two main seperate genetic clusters ; the first comprises the accession IPL-81(L-2), The first cluster was further subdivided into IPL-406 and Sehore-74-3 while second cluster comprises accessions DPL-62 and DPL-15.The dendrogram constructed for RAPD profile revealed main separate genetic clusters ; the first cluster comprises the accession DPL-62, the first cluster was further subdivided IPL-406 and DPL-15 while as second cluster comprises accession IPL-81 and Sehore-74-3.

The present paper describes in vivo and in silico studies on hepatoprotective potency of aqueous and ethanol fruit pulp extracts of Aegle mermelos (Rutaceae). in vivo study was done using CCl4 induced hepatic damage model. Various biochemical parameters like serum total bilirubin, total protein, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase and alkaline phosphatase activities were studied. Results indicated significant decrease in the levels of serum markers and increase in total protein indicating the recovery of hepatic cells in the animal group treated with test drug. Histological study of ethanol extract treated animals revealed normal hepatic cords without any cellular necrosis and fatty infiltration. Among the two extracts tested, ethanol fruit pulp extract at the dose of 100 mg/ml could afford significant protection against CCl4 induced hepatocellular injury. For in silico studies, lamivudin and tenofovir were used as standard to procure the targets. It was found that Gag-pol polyprotein was a target of paramount importance in the cure of hepatitis. Its structure was retrieved from PDB (ID: 1VRU). Thirty three compounds occurring in Aegle mermelos were studied, out of which only fifteen satisfied Lipenski’s criteria. These fifteen molecules were docked with the PDB ID: 1VRU in Hex docking tool. Alloimperatorin showed the best docking score with the binding energy -224.76 kcal/mol. Furthermore, the active site analysis of PDB ID: 1VRU was done using Q-site finder and the active site sequence was retrieved. Molecular property evaluation of the Alloimperatorin was done using Osiris property explorer which gave a positive drug score. From the present study, it can be concluded that, Aegle mermelos could offer a promising herbal drug for the cure of hepatitis.

The Kesses-Cheptiret road was upgraded mainly to link Moi University and the surrounding rich agricultural region to the outside world. The road is 13 km long and can be divided into two sections. Section one is class D road which links Kesses to Cheptiret and section B is the access road from Moi University to Kesses market. The latter section is generally in a good condition, but the former has 56 % and 44 % respectively; of it classified as poor and completely failed respectively. This section of the road has become a major challenge to the Road Authority in terms of its cost of rehabilitation and maintenance. This paper examines the main factors that have contributed to continued deterioration of section one of this road in spite of past attempts at annual routine and periodic maintenance. A number of data collection methods were used, ranging from the use of topographic maps, climatic and hydrological data and site inspection to in-depth interviews with selected groups of local road users. This paper proposes mitigation measures to be taken to restore the road to its intended condition and hence to improve economic welfare of the surrounding community.

Maturation describes impulses to growth which supplemented by Education usually and other environmental factors. Environment is a source of Education. Emotional maturity is a process in which the personality is continuously striving for greater sense of emotional health, both intra-psychically and intra-personally. In this study researcher studied emotional maturity of literate and illiterate women with relation to categories of emotional maturity. The emotional maturity scale developed by Dr. Yashvir Singh and Dr. Mahesh Bhargava was used. Literate women were found emotionally mature and illiterate women emotionally unstable. There was significant difference in emotional maturity of literate and illiterate women.

In longitudinal studies, the Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods are commonly used to estimate the parameters of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM). Power and sample size estimation constitutes an important component for longitudinal study design and planning of modern clinical trials. In this paper, the power of the Wald Test for two different estimation methods of parameters in GLMM was compared. The data employed in this study were diabetes mellitus data with three consecutive follow ups. A pattern was found in which the power values were better under ML approach than GEE approach for the GLMM.

The medical diagnosis process can be interpreted as a decision making process, during which the physician includes the diagnosis of a new and unknown case from an available set of clinical data and from clinical experience which can be computerized. A method that enhances the performance of a model that is based on Rough set theory for feature selection and classification is proposed. For this purpose, the PIMA dataset is used. The proposed system provides the solution to a feature subset selection problem which is nothing but a task of identifying and analysing an optimal subset from a larger set of features. It is concluded that the method certainly helps in cost reduction associated with the diagnosis.

The effects of water and temperature on the polymorphic transition of crystalline mannitol were investigated. Mannitol has different polymorphic forms, and was classified as alpha, beta, and delta form, respectively, by Walter-Le´vy (C.R. Acad. Sc. Paris Ser. C (1968) 267, 1779). The behavior of representative crystalline form was studied using water granulation and temperature induced mechanism. The different powder X-ray diffraction patterns obtained before and after water granulation confirmed that water induced polymorphic transition had occurred. Morphological changes were observed with increase in the specific surface area of the sample from 1.044 to 1.206m2/g, It was also found that decrease the particle size upon water granulation. At the same time temperature induced polymorphic transformation observed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), were reported glass transition temperature of Mannitol is determined from inferences. The glass transition temperature denotes the stability of amorphous Mannitol, which is necessary to be stored only below this grass transition temperature else it may easily re-crystallize in to a thermodynamically stable crystalline form. When considering the mechanism of these polymorphic transitions, the results from PXRD, DSC, TGA, BET SSA, PSD and Sorption analysis indicates that water granulation process leads to the polymorphic transformation and increases the specific surface area with decrease in particle size initially, but later it gets agglomerated over a period of time resulting increase in particle size . Where as temperature induces polymorphic transformation from crystalline to amorphous, which needs to be stored below its glass transition temperature.

At the point, which it becomes more expensive to extend the service life of vehicle than owning and operating a new one, it becomes economic to replace it by a new one, present less operating costs, less out of working periods and more income. However the procedure of replacement vehicles, after determining the optimal economic lifetime, are very useful, where decision makers are facing with complex tradeoffs involving economic, environmental, or policy impacts of fleet management decisions or regulations. This paper reports a scientific concept, for replacing or choosing vehicles. Several widely microbus vehicles run in ministry of health, ambulance sector, Egypt, are used in this study. The results indicated that each vehicle has its own history, so the best time to get rid of one vehicle is not necessarily the best time to get rid of other vehicles of the same age and type. In addition, the decision of replacement is part of a wider problem involving many factors other than depreciation and maintenance costs.

Murraya koenigii is a spicy ancient Indian medicinal plant native to Indo-China but grown mostly in the tropics for the medicinal and flavourant properties of the leaves. Wound-healing activity of ethanolic extract of M. koenigii was studied by excision and incision wound models in male Albino rats (in vivo). In excision model, compared to the control group, percent concentration of wound was significantly higher in M. koenigii (5% w/w ointment)-treated group. In incision model, tensile strength of the healing tissue after treatment with M. koenigii was found to be significantly higher compared to the control group, indicating better wound-healing activity of the test plant. These results suggest that ethanolic extract of M. koenigii possesses significant wound-healing potential in normal wound.

Murraya koenigii is a ancient Indian medicinal plant. This native is Indo-China but grown mostly in the tropics for the medicinal and flavourant properties of the leaves. Wound-healing activity of ethanolic extract of M. koenigii was studied by excision and incision wound models in male Albino rats (in vivo). In excision model, compared to the control group, percent concentration of wound was significantly higher in M. koenigii (5% w/w ointment)-treated group. In incision model, tensile strength of the healing tissue after treatment with M. koenigii was found to be significantly higher compared to the control group, indicating better wound-healing activity of the test plant. These results suggest that ethanolic extract of M. koenigii possesses significant wound-healing potential in normal wound.

Twenty-first century technology has changed the way tools are used to support and enhance learning and instruction. Teaching in today’s classroom is technology driven. To be a successful learner, students need to develop skills in self-directed learning. To transform the students from being passive receivers to active investigators of knowledge, multiple web tools such as wikis, podcast, virtual world tools etc are presented to learners for interaction and exchanging ideas. The educational affordances of blogs offer opportunities for students to become self-directed learners. The term blogging is the use of a blog on the internet, which has undeniable educational benefits that enable dynamic activities, creativity, enriching and innovative tasks and communicative learning. Blogs are widely popular in education, as evidenced by 400 thousand educational blogs hosted by Edublogs. The benefit of the use of blogs in education has certainly made a radical change in the learning community. Thus, this paper discusses on the importance of blogging and how it supports the learning community.

Social uprising may be defined as violent action against an established government or ruler or to refuse to acknowledge someone or something as having authority. It may also be difined as an attempt to end the authority of a person or body by rebelling or a refusal to continue to obey or conform the authority. Social uprising may be of different types eg. in National, Regional Local. Local uprising is generally a community oriented one. The uprising may be against social-economic exploitation and oppression*. In the mid of 20th century, in Tripura, such an uprising took place among the Reang community which shattered their traditional socio-political and economic structure of the society. To understand the causes of the Reang uprising, one is to study their traditional socio-economic and political structure of the society.

The current study is skillful to detect of the mutations of the H-RAS oncogene in patient of uterine cancer. Thirty specimens of blood and tissue were collected for DNA extraction, H-RAS oncogene amplification and histopathology examination. The results revealed to the present of mutations in H-RAS oncogene represented by homozygous wild type Leu / Leu was 20%, mutant translocation genotype Val / Val was 48%, mutant deletion genotype Val / Leu was 22% and heterozygous genotype Leu / Val was 10%. The histopathological results of this study reveal to many types of uterine cancer. The major types of uterine cancer that appear in this study represented by endometrial adenosquamous carcinoma that associated with endometrial lieomyosarcoma, the other cases were represented as endometrial spheriodal cell carcinoma and as endometrial intra epithelial carcinoma.

Most of the multicultural nations are federal by polity and character though there are cultural linguistic and customatic differences. Generally the mono culture in the people of a particular territory leads to the emergence of federal character. it is not just the diversities which ensures federal character, but in spite of socio cultural differences the groups are whole heartedly unified for a Nobel collective purpose. We find two under-currents namely a force to keep the society united and to keep the society informed about the diversity. Thus, a federal nation needs to balance unity and diversity on a oscillating slippery plane. Here a national government that consists of regional government need to be co-ordinated for smooth run. The interdependence between national and regional governments facilitates fully empowered central ruling setup. Federal government is defined and discussed from the back drop of centralizing and non-centralizing forces. Whether it is classical or contemporary type, the federal concept revolves around division of power between national and regional governments. Federalism specifies three important issues like perfect demarcation of powers, need of autonomy for both central and regional government, co-ordination between central and regional government. In spite of perfect and non-over-lapping division of powers, national concern and maintenance of uniform standards automatically makes the national government a dominant force naturally. Federal government is a pre-requisite to achieve socio-economic development which necessitates planned and well co-ordinated interventions. Hence, third world countries have pragmatically different shades of federal government. The concept of welfare state made it obligatory for national government to ensure balanced regional development and maintenance of uniform standards simultaneously. This in turn necessitates sufficient and judicious legislative and financial powers to direct and monitor regional governments. Strong federalism constituted by dominant empowered national government and autonomous regional governments. The classical federalism is the route of many third world countries that are federal in character. From the analysis it is crystal clear that, the two tier government system and judicious autonomy of these two governments are the essential characteristics of any federal government. A careful management of autonomy of regional government and the realization of interdependence between national and regional government by both is the main essence of classical federalism.

The study has been designed for the evaluation of powder extract of Salacia Oblanga for hypolipidemic activity, biochemical changes in normal and Aluminium toxicity induced White Albino Wistar Female Rats. Oral administration of Salacia extract and Aluminium chloride for two weeks significantly lowered the serum alkaline Phosphatase, Serum Aspartate aminotransferase, urea, bilirubin and cratinine at 14th day.

Five selected herbs, betel vine (Piper betle), betel leaves (Piper sarmentosum roxb), turmeric (Curcuma longa), Indian pennywort (Centella asiatica) and kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) were examined for their antibacterial properties against Gram positive bacteria namely, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus aginosus and Gram negative bacteria namely, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Citrobacter freundii, Escherichia coli, Edwardsiella tarda and Aeromonas hydrophila. Among all herb extracts, only betel vine, turmeric and kaffir lime possessed antibacterial activities against fish pathogenic bacteria. Extracts of betel vine showed highest antibacterial activity in both form of methanol and aqueous extracts. The broadest antibacterial activity was methanol extracts which inhibited almost all bacterial species such as V. parahaemolyticus, E. coli, E. tarda, A. hydrophila, S. aureus and S. aginosus at 200 mg/ml. In determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), methanol extracts of piper betle required 1.56 mg/ml to inhibit the growth of both V. parahaemolyticus and A. hydrophila. The effect of temperature on antibacterial activity indicated the herbs tested were heat stable ranging from 37˚C to 105˚C.

The present study the perception of parents and Grandparents about schooling of young children in the following areas: Physical infrastructure, Administrative set up, Teaching material, and teaching method were assessed. Analysis of the perception will indicate the generation gap if any between. The study was conducted in leh block with a sample size consisting of 100 parents and 100 grandparents. Random sample technique was used to select the sample. Interview schedule was used to elicit information from the respondents. The results of the study reveals that majority of parents were (literate minimum matriculate) they think that there is a still need to upgrade the education system of children at elementary level. While on the other hand majority of grandparents were illiterate and minimum percent of them attended school during there childhood, they were less aware about the importance of school infrastructure, administrative setup, curricular activities, teaching aid and teaching method and school curriculum in child’s life. All these leads to inability in finding any loopholes in the education system of there grandchildren and feel satisfied with that .However the differences were found in there perception about the schooling of young children which may be due to generation gap.

The antioxidant and hepatoprotective effect of Andrographis paniculata on Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) induced hepatotoxicity inalbino rats was investigated. Oral administration Acetaminophen (Paracetamol)of (250mg/kg body wt.) for 8 days resulted in a significant elevation of SGOT, SGPT,ALP and bilirubin and the levels of lipid peroxidation in liver. Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) also caused a significant reduction in the activities of Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and reduced the Glutathione level in liver. Administration of A. Paniculata extract ( 250 mg /kg body weight and 500 mg/kg body weight.) significantly decreased the serum hepatic marker enzymes viz SGOT,SGPT,ALP and level of bilirubin along with the significant decrease in the levels of lipid peroxidation in the liver. In addition the A.paniculata extract significantly increased the activities of SOD, CAT and reduced GSH level in the liver of Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) intoxicated albino rats. Our results demonstrated that the ethanolic extract of A. Paniculata exhibited antioxidant and the hepatoprotective property. The results of the hepatoprotective activity of Andrographis paniculata extract is comparable to that of the commercially available silymarin preparations

The main objective of the present paper is to get a vivid idea about the methods and techniques of the previous work related to ‘Impact of Changes in Landuse on Environment in Southwest Birbhum Distrct, West Bengal’ on international, national and regional level. Finally based on previous literature research gaps have been identified and an attempt has been taken to fill up the voids. The present work has been divided into three parts. The first part tries to analyze the conceptual aspect by explaining the term environment, landuse/land cover, changing landuse/land cover,and environmental impact. The second part deals with previous literature and the concluding part identifies the research gaps and provides probable solutions to fill up the voids.

This paper is based on a study to identify the type of media resources used in instruction and to examine the factors influencing the use of media resources in the School of Public Health at Moi University. Survey research design was employed in order to cover the study population of all the lecturers and students. Therefore, 24 lecturers and 213 students were chosen, making a total of 237 respondents. Convenient sampling technique was used to select key informants. Data were collected using questionnaire, interview schedule and observation checklist. The data collected was coded accordingly and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS v. 12). The results were presented using descriptive statistics. The findings showed that technological factors, individual factors and organizational factors influenced the use of media resources. Based on these findings, the study recommended that the School formulates sound procedures which would guide the procurement, use, maintenance of Media resources, as well as establish an instructional Media Centre. Further research should also be done before adoption of media resources and on e-learning, plus streaming the Media in the School of Public health.

The purpose of the foregoing study was to investigate on issues related to clothing satisfaction of the pre-adolescents and how they influence their perception of self-worth. This paper discusses how the pre-adolescents acquired and factors considered in the selection of their clothing. The study adopted a survey design and was conducted in six primary schools in Kasarani Division Nairobi Province, using an interview schedule and an essay. A sample of 144 pre-adolescents was selected and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. The majority of the respondents had their clothing mainly bought for by their parents; open-air markets selling second-hand clothes being where most clothes were mainly bought. Most pre-adolescents were mainly involved in their clothing selection. What was accepted by parents and peers were the socio-cultural factors that always influenced pre-adolescent's clothing selection while size and colour were the most influential among the factors related to clothing characteristics. It was recommended that parents should involve their children in clothing selection, school policy makers who deal with school uniforms and designers of children's clothing should always seek the children's opinion when dealing with their designs.

An intensive study has been conducted for last three years since 2009-11, to estimate the Gender in coastal fisheries of West Bengal, India to assess their socio-economic status, literacy, income, health hazards, recreation, sanitation & medical facilities, family size, types of fishermen, child labour, crafts & gears used and total annual landings. Total 0.215 million fishermen of different categories engaged in coastal fisheries of which 51.35% male and 48.65 % are female. And out of 0.215 million fishermen the present study has been conducted on 16254 (Male – 8346, Female- 7908) of which 112 are child labour. Prime fishing season is during October to March every year and produce about 17.6% of total West Bengal production and 6.2% of total annual marine production of India. Four different types of fishermen participated in fishing activities are ‘Laya’((active fishermen – 1080), ‘Saudagar’(people who buy the fish from ‘Layas’ – 396), ‘Aratdar’ (the stockiest – 196) and ‘Shramik’ ( help in sorting, cleaning, drying and subsequently sale the product – 14186). Rate of literacy has been observed to be very frustrating among the fishing families, sex wise literacy percentage recorded as male – 19%, female – 15% and up to 4th standard – 25%, 10th standard – 4% and above – 2% only although average literacy rate in the two coastal districts East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas is about 80.17%. Fisher folk also undertake various subsidiary activities like waged labour in agriculture, construction work, poultry raising etc. for additional income. The income group level assessed through questioner and interrogation are categories in three different levels of Rs. < 10000 (88%), Rs. >10000 (9%) and Rs. > 25000 (3%). As xAB (10.64) is not equal to zero (0), so, income and education in not independent. Child labours are paid only Rs. 40-50 per day, equivalent to one (1) USD. Most of the fishermen, particularly ‘Sramik’(labour group) accompanying the fishing units with or without nets suffering from Asthma, Dysentery, Diarrhea, Gastrointestinal disorder, Malaria, Helminthesis, Typhoid, Scabies etc. as they do not provided proper sanitation, tube well for drinking water, drainage system, medical facilities. Only three community centres are available for recreation. They take loan from ‘moneylenders’ to meet the running expenses when they are away for fishing which is never adequate to meet their domestic requirements and again they compelled to conface further loan from the ‘money lenders’. Majority of the fishermen houses (labour group) are closely constructed and they lived in temporary hut with ‘Hoogla’ thatches. The average family size of the study area are found to consist of 6 -7 members and from this study it is indicated that large numbers of families were unable to provide two major meals to their children thorough out the year while some other lived under debt throughout their life as very large number of fisher folk did not have more than 3 months employment in a year. The result of the correlation analysis clearly reveals that income and family size is positively correlated (r = 0.489) to each other. So, gender, family size and income of a family is the most important index of the socio economic condition of the fishermen.

In disaster management, the individual and/or the family are a vital unit of observation. Targeting the individual and the family in disaster scenario is seen as an effective way of zeroing in on functional units by which disaster relief and management can be well targeted. The main focus of this is basically in the buildings by which human beings interact. This paper discusses the need for protective actions and subsequent evacuation actions in case of any disaster. In disaster prevention, having and creating an emergency plan is crucial. This paper further discusses the basics of preparing an emergency plan. Additionally, the paper discusses the specific activities done before and after any disaster. In this context, having a disaster supplies kit is considered a very valuable idea.

The Nigerian Insurance Industry is struggling with knowledge loss resulting from employee turnover like other public or private sector organizations. Especially when older hands are retired or downsizing of qualified and trained staff during a period of re-engineering of the organization. Costs of recruiting, of lost productivity and training to replace employees can reach huge amount. Capturing knowledge inside an organization seems to be one of the main purposes of studying knowledge management professional. In the insurance industry, trade secrets, confidential information and valuable ideas are part of the workforce knowledge. Recruiting, selecting, training and managing insurance agents constitute a real challenge for insurance companies all over the world, and a sensitive ethics-related issue is the case of insurance agents leaving the employer, in order to transfer to a competitor insurance company, while trying to take along as many clients as possible from the old employer. This paper looks at how to prevent or minimize the loss of expertise, customer contracts and product knowledge when key employees leave for another company within the industry.

The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of violent conflict on secondary school students’ wastage in Mt Elgon District. It was guided by the production function model. The study adopted ex-post facto research design and its universe included 4873 secondary school students, 206 teachers, 28 B.OG Chairmen, 28 PTA Chairmen and 1 DEO, totaling to 5136 people. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were employed to pick a sample of 358 respondents drawn from 15 out of the 28 secondary schools in the district. Various instruments: questionnaires, interview schedules, and document analysis schedules were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially while thematic approach was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings were merged for presentation. The study established that violent conflict adversely impacted on secondary school students’ wastage which was manifested by very high nature and increasing trends of grade dropout rates, grade repeater rates, cohort wastage rates, and very low completer rates between the years 2005 and 2008. It emerged that Kopsiro Division which was the epicenter of violent conflict was the worst hit. It is recommended that the Government and other development partners should offer more sponsorship opportunities to surviving students from families impoverished by violent conflict in the district who risk dropping out of school. Most importantly, the government and community leaders should resolve the land dispute in Mt. Elgon District once and for all in order to avoid perennial disruptions to educational development of the people of Mt. Elgon District.

The present study aims to find out the land use/land cover features of Tambaram Suburban region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The total area of the region is 75.25 sq.km. The study has made use of high resolution IRS LISS IV pan merged satellite imagery for identifying the land use/land cover classes. ERDAS and ArcGIS software were used to demarcate the land use/land cover features of Tambaram Suburban region. Remote sensing and GIS provide consistent and accurate base line information than many of the conventional surveys employed for such a task. The land use and land cover analysis on Tambaram Suburban region has been attempted based on thematic mapping of the area consisting of built-up land, agriculture land, water bodies, forest and waste land using the satellite image. The research concludes that there is a rapid expansion of built-up area. Land use and land cover information, when used along with information on other natural resources, like water, soil, hydro-geomorphology, etc. will help in the optimal land use planning at the macro and micro level.

The harmonic excitation is taken imperfect, i.e., with a random phase modulation due to Gaussian white noise, accounting for both chaotic and stochastic behavior. Simulated turbulence is represented using the potential theory line vortex approach. Simulations are conducted for long range propagation, 1000km, containing internal wave fields with added deterministic effects and are compared to those fields with non-deterministic properties. These results show that long range acoustic propagation has a very strong dependence on the intensity of deterministic fluctuations. Numerical analysis for short range propagation, 10km, was constructed for sound passage through the following perturbation scenarios: simulated turbulence, an internal wave field, and a field of internal waves and simulated turbulence combined.

Planetary gears are effective power transmission elements in wind turbine where high torque to weight ratios, large speed increase in compact volumes, co-axial shaft arrangements, high reliability and superior efficiency are required. The present work examines the complex dynamic behavior of planetary gearbox gear carrier using finite element models. The finite element model (FEM) is developed from a unique finite element-contact analysis solver specialized for gear dynamics. The natural frequencies are the most important parameter in the design of planet gears carrier for dynamic loading conditions, so that the modal analysis had been utilized to determine the natural frequencies of the planet gears carrier system. The simulated results show that the planet gears are taking responsibility of the instability depending on the mode thus unfitting the different approaches to planet gears carrier dynamic and enabling the most appropriate component to be targeted dynamic behavior control. The natural frequencies and of the wind turbine gearbox planetary gear carrier are classified as rotational and translational or out-of-phase modes. A confirmation was made with the experimental results taken from a lab-scale wind turbine gearbox and found to be good. The gained information can be used for diagnosis and prognosis planet gears carrier.

A paperless society is a dream come true. Paper – an essential resource but a paradoxical material -is not considered environment friendly and increase in use has contributed to global deforestation, contamination of water, soil and air. All activity economic or human can come to a halt if this resource become absent in the world. World consumption of paper has gone up 400 per cent in the last forty years for which nearly four billion trees or 35 per cent of the total trees cut around the world have been used by paper industries in all the continents. The most efficient way to conserve any resource is to recover the ‘resources out of waste’. Paper recycling refers to converting waste paper back into usable paper products. India being an agrarian economy, agro wastes (wasted resources) also mount high and contribute their mite to spoil the environment. An attempt was made through a micro level study to utilize both these wasted resources to produce paper – a ‘recovered resource’, which will benefit both the society and environment. Value addition of such ‘recovered resource’ was also tried. This article delineates the procedure adopted and salient findings of the study.

The development of many alternative building materials as possible will be of immense benefit to minimize the impact on the environment. Earth can be used for construction of walls in many ways. However, there are few undesirable properties such as loss of strength when saturated with water, erosion due to wind or driving rain and poor dimensional stability. Hence a study was conducted to determine the characteristics of stabilized compressed earth blocks (CEB). The new technology focuses on stabilized earth masonry brick development incorporating an industrial by-product material, which is vital for the future of construction. The stabilized earth masonry brick technology relies on the use of an activated industrial by-product (like fly ash) and natural earth. Due to the use of a by-product material in the formulation, it is anticipated that the final pricing of the stabilized earth masonry building brick will be reduced. The added environmental advantage of utilizing industrial by-products available in the country will further improve the sustainability profile of masonry brick production. Properties of compressed stabilized earth blocks like Clay brick water absorption and durability, Clay brick density; Compressive strength and thermal properties versus other walling materials were measured. Based on the results it was found the performance of the stabilized compressed earth blocks was comparable with others in terms of their strength characteristics. Meanwhile the reduction of transportation time, cost and attendant pollution can also make CEB more environmentally friendly than other materials.

A baseline study involving analyses of surface and bore well water samples from the vaippar river basin was carried out in order to assess their suitability for drinking domestic and agricultural purposes. The data obtained are used to determine important quality parameters and ratio’s. High TDS found in groundwater of gneissic and granitic aquifers. Based on the salinity and sodium hazard for irrigation quality, C2S1, C3S1, C3S2 and C4S1 are quality classes found not suitable for even salt tolerant crops in the study area. The quality parameters of the groundwater samples has been matched with ISI standards (1991).

In this article numerical investigation of an interesting heat flow problem is discussed using Rayleigh Ritz, single-term Walsh series (STWS) method and Runge-Kutta (RK) method based on various means. The results (approximate solutions) obtained very accurate using the above said methods are compared with the exact solution of that problem. It is found that the solution obtained using RKCeM (Runge-Kutta Centroidal Mean) is closer to the exact solution of the heat flow problem. The high accuracy and the wide applicability of RKCeM approach will be demonstrated with numerical example. Solution graphs for discrete exact solutions are presented in a graphical form to show the efficiency of the RKCeM. The results obtained show that RKCeM is more useful for solving the heat flow problem and the solution can be obtained for any length of time.

Osmotic dehydration is a water removal technique, which is applied to fruits and vegetables, to reduce the content of the moisture, while increasing soluble solid content. The treated product has to be further processed by other drying techniques to obtain a shelf stable product. The osmotic dehydration technique not only enables the storage of the vegetables for a longer period, but also preserves flavor, nutritional characteristics and prevents microbial spoilage. Apart from this, problems of marketing, handling and transport becomes much simpler and all the horticultural produce could be made available throughout the year. A study was conducted on osmotic dehydration of drumstick which was treated in a osmotic solution of sodium chloride and citric acid followed by three methods of drying viz., sun drying, tray drying and vacuum drying. The quality of the product was determined by evaluating the physico–chemical characteristics such as color, texture, taste, flavor, ascorbic acid, calcium content and overall acceptability of drumsticks. The organoleptic analysis of the dehydrated drumstick showed that the best sample was that blanched in solution of 3% calcium chloride at 60°C for 2 minutes and sulphited to 3000 ppm with potassium metabisulphite and followed by osmotic treatment and drying in vacuum drier at 5mm Hg for 6 hours.

This paper focuses on nutrition knowledge and its impact on consumer behaviour of tertiary students living and studying in Nairobi, Kenya. This survey was carried out in Nairobi, Kenya to find out the impact of nutrition knowledge on the consumption behaviour of tertiary students living and studying there. Consumer behaviour, with regard to nutrition knowledge, has been made a bit easier by people targeting seasonal foods while they are still cheap and easily available. The data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire. The study involved 395 participants. The data was analysed using SPSS for descriptive statistics, including frequencies, cross-tabulations and correlations. The results showed that the students had some basic nutrition knowledge of food and they used their knowledge when buying food for consumption. The results showed that many of the students do not mind spending money on a balanced meal. The amount of pocket money per term was the main determinant of what food they purchased and whether they bought ready-made food or prepared it. Recommendations were made for the food industry to address the factors influencing food purchase and consumption when strategising on how to attract new and maintain old customers from the student body.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers’ attitude to implement inclusive education in Kenyan public primary schools with specific reference to Kajiado central district. This study was based on the systems theory. The study adopted ex post facto research design. The study targeted teachers in the 82 public primary schools in Kajiado Central district. Stratified sampling was employed to divide the district into five strata’s according to the number of zones in the district. The strata were: Kajiado, Enkorika, Elang’ata Wuas, Bissel and Namanga zones. 30% of the targeted schools were sampled. The main respondents in each school were the head teacher, deputy head teacher and four other teachers. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling were used to selec n t 150 respondents. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules to collect data. Data was analyzed descriptively using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Frequencies and percentages were used in interpreting the findings. It was found that teachers have a positive attitude towards the implementation of inclusive education in primary schools. Lack of facilities such as teaching aids and lack of trained teachers pose a big challenge to the implementation of inclusive education. The government and other stakeholders are expected to act on the findings of this study so as to streamline the implementation of inclusive education in public primary schools in Kenya.

The study examines the current research areas in Library and Information Science among Research Scholars who are currently pursuing M.Phil and Ph.D programmes under fulltime and part-time schemes in various Universities/Colleges in Tamil Nadu. A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed among Research Scholars to collect the data for the research. It is found that the majority of respondents are doing research on “Bibliometrics/ Scientometrics/ Webometrics, followed by “Electronic Resources/Digital Libraries” and “User Studies/ Information Literacy”. It is further found that little attention was given for the areas such as “Library Management” and “Public Libraries”. It is observed that majority of respondents are doing Ph.D programme under part-time scheme. The study recommended that LIS Research Scholars should prefer to carry out research on “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT) in order to create awareness and also to implement ICT in libraries.

This paper is based on a study that investigated the use of ICTs by women in public universities in Kenya with a focus on Moi University. It discusses the ICT resources available in Moi University, the level of development and use by the general university population and the extent to which women use them. The study adopted survey design and focused on the staff, both teaching and non-teaching, and students. Out of 2,200 participants, 160 respondents were randomly sampled for the study. Data collection was by face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. The data obtained was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. It was found that various ICT resources existed in the University and most of the women in the University have access to these resources despite various challenges. However, it was found that women, especially the younger generation are proactive towards ICT. The study recommended to the University authorities to provide training opportunities for women to better equip them in the use of ICT resources; more ICT resources be availed to increase opportunities for use by women while also designing and implementing complementary institutional changes to facilitate women’s access to and use of ICT resources.

The main objective of the present paper is to identify and fill up the voids in terms of concepts and methods of research work on ‘Riverine Morphology and Socio-economic Environment in the southern part of Nadia District in West Bengal, India’. This work will make suggestion relating to the research work to be conducted by research scholars on almost similar type of problems and methods. For achieving the target, the authors have reviewed the previous literature thoroughly. The literature survey has been attempted on almost all the main aspects of the research topic. The previous works related to Riverine morphology, land use, land use model, socio-economic environment, regional development disparity etc. have enriched the present study.

Attending sustainability in waste management require an option that employs environmental friendliness. The generation of municipal solid waste is increasing year by year and there are many options for handing and disposing of these wastes. Composting is the natural biological process in which degradable part of waste is transformed to a stable material with excellent characteristics for application on soils. Thus it requires a pretreatment such as removal of big fractions and other contaminants that could affect the composting process and final quality of compost. Such type of technique must be effective efficient and less costly Agricultural application of composted Municipal Solid Waste, as nutrient source for plants and as soil conditioner, is the most cost effective option of MSW management. Municipal solid waste (MSW) compost is increasingly used in agriculture as a soil conditioner but also as a fertilizer. Proponents of this practice consider it an important recycling tool since MSW would otherwise be land filled and critics are concerned with its often elevated metal concentrations. In this review, we show the state of art about the composting of Municipal solid waste (viz. Kitchen waste) and its application in agriculture.