IMPACT : International Journal of Research in Applied, Natural and Social Sciences

1-8

Authors: A. K. M Eamin Ali Akanda & Md. Armanul Haque

Through a questionnaire based survey, newspaper reading habits of the graduate students of Social Science faculty of University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh has been studied.The study demonstrates that majority of the graduate students read Bengali and English newspapers. Moreover, the research reveals that international section of the newspaper is the mostly preferred section. This paper also highlights that a majority portion of respondents prefer hall library to read printed newspaper while a large number of them prefer computer center of the university central library to read online newspapers. The study also highlights the barriers and attempts to provide the suggestions to overcome the hurdles of reading both printed and online newspapers.

19-28

Authors: Nivedita Sharma, Shweta Handa & Anupama Gupta

Himachal Pradesh, a state with diverse culture and tradition is located between 30o22'40'' north latitudes and 75o45'55'' to 79o04'20'' east longitude. The state revealed a wide range of uniqueness and variability in traditional fermented foods made of cereal, pulses and milk. Most of these items are prepared by boiling, smoking, roasting, frying and fermentation. These food items are explored for their biochemical analysis and microbial profile and main nutritional aspects. Biochemical analysis of these food items showed an acidic nature with pH in the range of 3.25-4.20. Total soluble solids were in the range of 8oB-16oB. Microbial examination of these food items, their morphological and biochemical identification and 16S rRNA of some of important microorganisms revealed the presence of Lactobacillus, Bacillus and yeast species predominantly.

37-48

Authors: Muhammad Shakil, Tahir Khan, Hafiz Abdul Wahab & Saira Bhatti

In this paper, approximated solutions for some non linear problems are calculated by the Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) and Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) and then the results are compared. The fact that the Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) solves nonlinear problems without using Adomian’s polynomials is a clear advantage of this technique over the Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM).

49-58

Authors: K. Kalimuthu & R. Prabakaran

Phytochemical constituents are responsible for medicinal activity of plant species. Hence in the present study preliminary phytochemical screening of Ceropegia pusilla a medicinal plant was carried out. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of these plants confirm the presence of various secondary metabolites like saponins, triterpenoids, steroids, tannins, lignins, alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids and phenols. The results suggest that the phytochemical properties for curing various ailments and possess potential anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant and leads to the isolation of new and novel compounds. GC-MS analysis showed the existence of various compounds with different chemical structures. The presence of various bioactive compounds confirms the application of Ceropegia pusilla for various ailments by traditional practitioners. However, isolation of individual phytochemical constituents may proceed to find a novel drug.

63-74

Authors: Sajib Chakrabortty & Zakaria Ahmed

The antimicrobial activity of Ayurvedic medicine (Draksharishta, Kanakasava, Jierbadyarishta) and Unani medicine (Alvasin and Carmina syrup) against different microbes (Staphylococcus sp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus sp., Enterococcus sp., Acinetobacter sp.) were investigated using the agar well method. Ayurvedic medicine were showed more effective antimicrobial activity than unani medicine. In case of Ayurvedic, Jierbadyarishta showed 15mm zone of inhibition against Proteus sp., Enterococcus sp., Acinetobacter sp., Staphylococcus sp., Klebsiella sp. and 10mm zone of inhibition was observed against Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. On the other hand, Draksharishta showed 15mm zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus sp., Klebsiella sp., Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus sp., Acinetobacter sp. whereas 17.5mm and 10mm zone of inhibition were found against Proteus sp., and Escherichia coli respectively. Kanakasava showed 17.5 mm zone of inhibition against Proteus sp., Enterococcus sp. In all the cases, commercial antibiotic showed less antimicrobial activity than Ayurvedic medicine against all the test organisms. All of Ayurvedic medicine showed the MIC values ranged from 1-100 µl/ml while the MBC values ranged from 0.1-10 µl/ml. This study is an indication that the test Ayurvedic medicine is more challengeable than the test Unani medicine.

87-90

Authors: Ashma Gupta, Parvinder Kumar, Subash Gupta & Abhay Singh Yadav

The present study is an account of the karyotypic analysis carried out in a three and half year old male child born to a young, healthy, non-consanguineous couple. Clinically the child had undescended testes (Cryptorchidism) with empty scrotal sac. It was an uneventful, full term delivery with no family history of congenital anomalies. Besides cryptorchidism, the child had developmental delay as well as mental retardation. Chromosome study was carried out to rule out the chromosomal cause, if any in the child having gross phenotypic anomalies. The karyotype of the child was found to be 49, XXXYY.

97-104

Authors: Sapna Ratan Shah

This mathematical model has been presented to study the effect of a stenosis shape on arterial blood flow characteristics with the representation of blood by Bingham plastic fluid model. The governing equations of proposed model are solved and closed form expressions for the blood flow characteristics, namely dimensionless resistance to flow, flow rate and wall shear stress are derived. It has been found that the wall shear stress and resistance to flow increase with increasing tube radius for constant value of the stenosis height, while decreases as stenosis shape parameter increases.

111-124

Authors: Medhi Pallabi & Choudhury Amit

Reneging involves the phenomenon of customers joining a queuing system but departing without completely receiving service. There are situations where customers begin receiving service but disengage before service completion. Emergency patients attended by critical care professionals are of such type. This paper deals with the analysis of Markovian finite buffer queuing system without any waiting space under the assumption that customers may disengage i.e. renege before the completion of service. Explicit results for this model are presented. A few fresh performance measures have been suggested. A numerical example with design implications rounds up the paper.

133-140

Authors: T. M. Ramanappa, K. Chandrashekara & D. Nuthan

Chickpea is the premier pulse crop of India grown on about 8.25 million ha. area with a production of 7.05 million tones, which accounts for 75% of the world chickpea production. In Karnataka, the area under chickpea is around 6.50 lakh ha. with a production of 3.1 lakh tonnes at an average productivity of 620kg/ha. However, the overall production and productivity of the country is much lower than the other countries. The success of chickpea improvement programme largely depends on the wealth of the genetic resources and are the most valuable and essential basic raw material to meet the current and future needs in chickpea crop improvement programme. The present investigation consisted of one hundred and seventy nine chickpea genotypes were evaluated for genetic variability in qualitative and quantitative traits of economic importance in simple lattice design with two replications. Analysis of data revealed that the genotypes exhibited highly significant differences for days to 50 % flowering, plant height (cm), number of primary branches, number of pods per plant, days to maturity, 100 seed weight (g), harvest index and grain yield per plant(g). A considerable variation between genotypes for qualitative traits such as early plant vigour, growth habit, seed colour, seed shape and testa texture was also recorded. The grain yield showed highly significant positive association with number of pods per plant, harvest index, number of primary branches, plant height, and number of seeds per pod at phenotypic level. However, days to maturity was negatively correlated with grain yield. Genetic variability for plant height, number of primary branches, number of pods per plant and 100 seed weight respectively ranged from 23.2–49.6 cm, 1.8–5.6, 12.4–66.4 and 9.0–30.0. Whereas grain yield per plant varied from 1.7–30.0g, and harvest index ranged from 0.02–0.46 while the variation for days to flowering was in the range of 44.0–76.0 and 89.0–114.0 for days to maturity. The variation revealed in this study would be exploited in breeding programs aimed at development of high yielding genotypes.

5-12

Authors: Shweta Bagmar, Sameer Jadhav, Vivek Hegde & Srilatha S

Introduction: To evaluate and compare the efficiency of different acids for removal of smear layer after cavity preparation. Materials: 40 extracted molars stored in normal saline, fine grit straight fissure diamond abrasive(CPC, China), 17% ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid solution, 5% citric acid solution, 17% polyacrylic acid solution, 37% phosphoric acid gel. Methods: 40 Extracted human intact second molar were selected, divided in 4 groups randomly n=10. After that,occlusal surface of human molar were prepared with standardized box of 3mm using diamond abrasive. Then prepared sample were studied under scanning electron microscope. After preoperative scanning electron microscopy, prepared sample in each group were treated with 17% EDTA, 37% phosphoric acid, 17% polyacrylic acid, 5% citric acid respectively for 60 seconds, then irrigated with 5ml of distilled water and after which specimen were dried and studied under scanning electron microscope. Results: Scanning electron microscope evaluation of dentin surface etched with 17% ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid for 60 seconds revealed maximum number of opened dentinal tubules with reduced number of smear plug. However, higher percentage of number of opened dentinal tubules with no smear layer plugs were observed with 17% polyacrylic acid as compared to other acids. But it is found to be very aggressive on dentin surface indicating loss of calcium ions. Conclusions: Within the limitation of the study 17% EDTA and 37% phosphoric acid revealed maximum number opened dentinal tubules with less smear plug and simultaneously less surface deterioration.

31-42

Authors: Menon Rekha Ravindra & T. K. Goswami

Due to the short post harvest life of tropical fruits like mangoes, precooling is an important post harvest unit operationr. There are several techniques commercially employed such as hydrocooling, mechanical cooling augmented by liquid nitrogen, air cooling. The precooling process should be as fast as possible, but the cooling should not result in any chilling injury to the fruit. Liquid nitrogen has high cooling capacity and due to the inertness of the vaporized nitrogen gas, is very much applicable for preccoling purposes. Its boiling point is – 195.6 oC. This severe cold temperature raises concerns on the possibility of chilling injury to the fruit. Hence, the present study was undertaken to establish different cooling systems where liquid nitrogen can be employed to augment the air cooling process. Other common precooling techniques for mangoes are hydrocooling and air cooling with mechanical refrigeration. It has been observed that all the commercial cooling techniques, such as hydrocooling, air cooling have comparable effect on the overall quality as measured through some of the physicochemical parameters such as firmness, aroma. However, it has also been observed that liquid nitrogen augmented air cooling technique has some edge over other conventional commercial cooling in terms of time required for cooling.

53-60

Authors: V. Venkata Rathnamma & B. Nagaraju

Contamination of water by pesticides, either directly or indirectly, can lead to fish kills, reduced fish productivity, or elevated concentrations of undesirable chemicals in edible fish tissue which can affect the health of humans consuming these fish .The objective of the present study to investigate the toxic effect of quinolphos on DNA and RNA levels of Freshwater fish Labeo rohita. The fish were exposed to organophosphorus pesticides Quinolphos pesticide 25% EC to 96 hours LC50 technical lethal ((2.826 mg L-1),) Technical sublethal (1/10 th of 96 hr LC50 value, 0.2826 mg L-1), 25% EC Lethal (2.218 mg L-1) and 25% EC sublethal (1/10 th of 96 hr LC50 value, 0.221 mg L-1) concentrations for 8 days. The results observed in the present study reveals that quinalphos caused variability in the nucleic acid content in different tissues and the degree of variability by the quinalphos technical was less compared to 25% EC and was found to be dose dependent.

69-76

Authors: Sisay Belay Bedeke

Agricultural sectors in Sub-Saharan African, which have economies largely based on weather-sensitive agricultural production, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. This vulnerability has been demonstrated by the devastating effects of recent flooding and the various prolonged droughts of the twenty-first century. Thus, for many Sub Saharan African countries that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, identifying different adaptation options to climatic variation is crucial in designing appropriate coping strategies. Adaptation at the farmer level requires three basic steps: detecting a shift in one’s external environment, determining that it would favor a change in behavior, and undertaking that change. Therefore, understanding these events is important for decision making for climate change adaptation investment priorities which could yield high returns.

81-84

Authors: Rupa Mulchandani, Hans-Olof Nilssson, Torkel Wadstrom & Padma Deshmukh

Helicobacter species is now-a-days found commonly in the liver, stomach and intestine of human beings and animals. It has now been detected in pancreas of the human beings also. It is the cause of cancer as it grows into the tissue and is circulated around the body through blood stream and spreads in many organs. Where-ever it finds the niche it grows. In our study, Helicobacter species were identified in tissue surrounding liver cancer and pancreatic tumours from patients undergoing pancreatectomi. By DNA sequence analysis of two PCR amplified 16Sr DNAs, homologies were found to be Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter pullorum from fresh pancreas tissue, respectively. Also, in one of fresh liver sample Helicobacter spp. was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

93-98

Authors: P. Muthusivam

Historical elements in novels take the readers into a realm of complete conventionality and a writer may choose it for many reasons as a background for his story. Especially, a writer who has conceived characters that are free from the contemporary inhibitions and with social and moral consciousness will certainly want to move away from the known world to unknown. Some create a world of their own to let their characters play attractively with the values and the dignity of their own, with the creation of a strong sense of possibility and probability in the minds of the readers. On the other hand few in its place, find a suitable moment in the past, with which they need not try and toil in the work of creating it and their job becomes very easy as they only call for the memory of their readers. Thus the novelists generally succeed in creating a distinctive ground for their story. The present study discloses the reasons and the advantages of the novelists for luring back the audience with the elements of the past in general and Victorian world in particular with The French Lieutenant’s Woman of John Fowles as an epitome.

111-116

Authors: K. G. Mallikarjuna

Malnutrition is nothing new for many Indians. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s 2011 Global Hunger Index, the upshot of this perennial problem is that about 60 million children in India are underweight and malnourished, while 21 percent of the population as a whole general is malnourished. Unfortunately, this problem is unlikely to change anytime soon, with the recent introduction of the National Food Security Bill threatening to continue market inefficiencies in food supply and extend the problem of malnutrition far into the future. On a more positive note, India is expected to remain self-sufficient in the production of food staples until at least 2025. However, inefficiencies in the downstream segments of the food supply chain are still rampant, and threaten to undermine self-sufficiency and perpetuate malnutrition. For example, inefficiency in the tomato business, according to the editor of the Wall Street 20 percent of tomatoes rotting in transit, while the price for consumers is marked up by as much as 60 percent. Food security both at the national and household levels has been the focus of agricultural development in India ever since the mid-sixties when import dependence for cereals had gone upto 16 per cent and the country faced severe drought continuously for two years. The new approach intended at maximising the production of cereals and involved building a foundation of food security on three key elements, namely, provision of an improved agricultural technology package for the farmers, delivery of modern farm inputs, technical know-how and institutional credit to the farmer. For achieving these objectives, several policy instruments were used that influenced the production potential. Ever since independence in 1947, agricultural development policies in India have aimed at reducing hunger, food insecurity, malnourishment and poverty at a rapid rate. Keeping this overarching goal in mind, the emphasis which was initially on keeping food prices low, shifted to macro food security and subsequently to household and individual food security. Later, the food security of vulnerable, sustainable use of natural resources, and equity between rural and urban or farm and non-farm population became the issues of dominant discourse related to agricultural development. Several new initiatives have been taken during the last few years to tackle the situation and to bring back farmers’ confidence in farming in general and cereal production in particular. Indices for economic and social status are composite indicators of the economic and social well-being at the community, state and national levels. These social indicators are used to monitor the social system and help in the identification of problem areas that need policy planning and require intervention to alter the course of social change. If the existing trends in high population growth, low agricultural development,wide disparities in income, huge environmental degradation, and high incidence poverty continues, India’s food, agriculture, environment, and quality of human life will be seriously threatened in the coming years. Poverty and malnutrition are likely to remain as major problems. Pressure to produce more food from less land, use of more natural resources, enormous growth in the population and unequal distribution of income will harm the environment in the years to come.

125-130

Authors: Saleha Jasmine

This study was carried out in five fish markets of Rajshahi city during December 2006 to November 2007. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the marketing channel, marketing cost and marketing margin associated with indigenous small fish marketing in Rajshahi city, northwestern Bangladesh in order to provide vital information for efficient fish marketing system. Primary data were collected from 50 fish traders and 50 consumers through previously prepared questionnaires and the secondary source of information consist of published material such as journals, textbooks, newspaper etc. A total of 24 indigenous small fish were recorded in the markets during the study. The results of this study revealed 6 fish marketing channels in fresh fish marketing. The highest and lowest average fish prices were recorded as BDT 67.2±9.5 for Amblypharyngodon mola and BDT 352.439.8 for Ompok pabda. In addition, average marketing cost was found as 8.69% of the final retail price. Furthermore, during the present study marketing margins for all intermediaries were found to fluctuate between 3.12% for Glossogobius giuris and 35.78% for Anabas testudineus. This study would provide important information for sustainable and effective marketing system of indigenous small fish species in the study area.

1-8

Authors: Udai Narain Sinha

The question of climate changes globally brought 193 Countries under a flag to think about its solution in 2009 but few stood in favour of it in Copenhagen- summit. Then it was felt that all the challenges American policymakers have to overcome would be a white elephant for the developed Nations and each one of the Country would have to cut down their own projects that would have been the cause of the formation of Carbon in the space. but however, nearly two-thirds of people surveyed were of the opinion the federal government should regulate the release of greenhouse gases from sources like power plants, cars and factories in an effort to curb global warming. The views expressed herein are of true values that all the countries should understand but few stood in favour of it and as such not only the summit of Copenhagen failed but also the recent summit on Doha could not brought a result to this end. Climate change is a common challenge for humanity. We must work in earnest for a better future for present and for the future generations. To this end example of the destruction of Indus Valley Civilization may be taken to the accounts. Dr. Madhusudan Mishra is of the opinion that it is because of the destruction of Indus Valley Civilization by fire, we see the very first Mantra of the Rigveda in appreciation of Agni or fire. This fire would have probably resulted out of imbalances created in that time by developed humanbeings. India recognized this and enacted environmental protection act. This environmental imbalances may also hit to the sound pollution that we are seeing today. Conclusions Now it is our duty to protect these environmental factors and let them not go to decay. To sum up we may say that nature teaches us this through its sources for the importance of sound and environment as the trees give shelter to all irrespective of caste and creed,-- and proclaim that all men are equal. The plants teach us not to be over fond of the body— and the birds that are content with the food they get for the day tell us not to worry about the morrow—for In their death too the birds give us a lesson about the transience of the world. Thus Mother Nature exhorts us to discard attachment to ourselves and our earthly possessions. Verily, Nature is the school where man, taught by the greatest sadguru, God, can acquire divine wisdom through sound of nature like girdling sound of water, gentle breez of the morning and the chirping of the birds, thus all giving the message that human form is the embodiments of Love! As is therefore explained by Vedic Mantra in the following manner:- Om idaa devahoor manuryagya neer bruhaspathi rukthaamadaanishagum sishadhvishvedevaah ssookthavachahf pruthivimaatharmaa maa higumseermadhu manishye madhu janishye madhu vakshyaami madhu vadishyaami madhumatheem devebhyo vaachamudhyaasagumshusrooshenyaam manushyeebhyastham maa devaa avanthu shobhaayai pitharo anumadhanthu It means... Let me think sweet thoughts; let me perform sweet actions which bear sweet fruits; let me bear sweet offerings; let my speech and praise be sweet; let me utter words which sound sweet unto the Gods; let me utter sweet words unto men who would lend their ears. Let the Gods illumine me and render my speech sweet. So in the last I pray that when I am dealing with others... let my speech be pure, steady and peace causing and the other context where words have to be taken superficially is when the other person is speaking to me, either praise or blame, let me not get swayed away, let me not lose sight of the divinity inside him or her, let my love be unconditional. To conclude we would like to say that moral bindings and moral teachings that we are losing day by day needs to be maintain to safe guard our environment of Universe that has been already told by All Merciful Buddha in his discourses and Ashoka the Great in his edicts, otherwise going against the Nature will certainly create destruction.

13-18

Authors: Ogogo A. U, Odigha O & Aya F. A

Forest cover in Cross River State (7,920km2) decreased by 12% from 1991 to 2000 and a further 15% from 2001 to 2008. The State Government then resolved to manage her forest estate for Carbon Concession, removed revenue targets from forest exploitation, placed an indefinite moratorium on logging and set up an Anti-Deforestation Task Force. Climate change caused a land slide disaster at Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in 2012. Ecological restoration and climate change mitigation programmes were undertaken in 2009. Two million polythene bags were distributed to individuals, communities and forest officers to raise tree seedlings. A total of 2,041,000 seedlings of indigenous tree species were raised between 2009 and 2012 and 10% or 204,000 were planted in 30 communities across the state. The mean survival rate after one year was 74%. The wetter southern part had a higher survival rate of seedlings than the drier northern part of the state. Challenges included bush burning, illegal farming, inadequate funds and lack of vehicles. Opportunities included a strong political will of the state government and the conservation culture of the people. It was recommended that awareness raising and sourcing for new funders be embarked upon.

25-28

Authors: Seema Khanna, Shashi Prakash Mishra, Dayanand Gupta, Satendra Kumar, A K Khanna & S K Gupta

Hydatid cyst or Echinococcosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by tapeworm that occurs primarily in sheep grazing areas, but it is common worldwide because dog is a definitive host. It has serious impact on health and economy in the endemic countries. Hydatid disease is most frequently caused by E. granulosus and commonly affected organs are liver and lung. It is a chronic disease and cyst can be localized in different organs. A high index of suspicion is required to diagnose it in the unusual region and non endemic areas. Incidence of hydatid cyst in head and neck region is extremely rare. This case report emphasizes that hydatid cyst can be kept as differential diagnosis of benign swelling in head and neck region.

37-44

Authors: Osai E. O, Akan S. O & Udo S. E

Telfairia occidentalis (Hook f.) widely consumed in South-Eastern Nigeria where it is grown for its young vines, leaves and its oil-rich seeds. Its production is often threatened by insect pests and diseases especially leafspot which reduces the quality, market value leaf and pod yields of the crop. Due to their scarcity, high cost and environmental concerns, the use of synthetic fungicides for its control is not often practiced. The use of ash from readily available agricultural by-product (plantain inflorescence) was investigated as a potential control measure for this disease. Different concentrations of plantain rachis ash were tested in-vitro for this effect on the growth, sporulation and spore germination of the causal fungus (Phoma sorghina). In a repeated green house experiment using artificial spray inoculation and field experiments using natural infection, plantain rachis ash consistently suppressed the growth and sporulation of the pathogen and reduced leaf spot disease. Pumpkin plants tested with 6gml-1 ash after 3HAI had significantly (P<0.05) lowest leafspot incidence and severity than 6 and 12 HAI application and 1.5 and 3gml-1 concentrations. Similarly, 6gml-1 ash applied at symptom expression significantly (P<0.05) suppressed leafspot leafspot incidence and severity and enhanced yield over lower concentration and control; and was statistically (P<0.05) comparable with Carbendazim in this parameters. These results suggest the practical use of plantain inflorescence ash in the control of leafspot disease in the production of fluted pumpkin.

53-58

Authors: Omprakash Madguni & Deep Narayan Singh

Forest is one of the important sources of fuelwood and has been meeting energy requirement of most the rural poor. Due to continued depletion of forest cover and density, the sustainability of fuelwood is questioned. The ever increasing demand and poor return of the forest has to be catered with innovative technology and judicious use of fuelwood. Biomass can be converted into useful energy by way of thermal, chemical and biochemical conversion, depending on the composition of the fuel and the desired energy carrier product. However woody biomass is still in the early stages of energy production. The paper is basically discussing the potential of tropical forest in producing biomass and envisaged technological intervention so that the forests can be managed sustainably.