Applied Research Journal

182-185

Authors: Jitendra Sharma , Monika Soni

cute encephalitis syndrome (AES)/Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading viral cause of disability in India. Our study was carried out to comprehend the prevalence of AES/JE cases in 2011-12 at Lakhimpur district of Assam and to find out their association with environmental factors (particularly rainfall). Among the suspected AES cases، 25.92% & 24.39% cases were found JE IgM positive in 2011 and 2012 respectively. A positive correlation was observed between AES/JE cases and monthly rainfall data. In 2012، upto some extent decreasing trend of JE cases were observed due to the vaccination campaign held on February، 2012 at Lakhimpur district.

197-200

Authors: Mohsin Ayoub Mir , Manoj Kumar , Vikas Vohra

Bovine genetic resources of India constitute an important component of animal genetic resource and they substantially contribute in the GDP as well as towards the food security of our country. The purpose of the present report is to divulge the population dynamics of breeding bulls and its consequences thereof in animal breed improvement and conservation programs. Steps that could be taken to monitor and multiply the breeding bulls of cattle and buffalo species in India are delineated in the present article.

101-107

Authors: *Osita-Njoku, Agnes and Chikere, Princewill

This paper explores a very crucial aspect of Boko haram terrorism in Nigeria- the consequence of Boko Haram terrorism on women in Northern Nigeria. This paper goes to memory lane to trace the origin of the insurgency and also the causes of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. Analysis and discussion of this paper predicated on secondary sources [mostly scholarly and empirical research findings] posits that Boko Haram terrorism has resulted in the abduction of women and girls, arbitrary arrest of women by government security agents, use of women as pawns by the terrorist group, infliction of collective terror on women, use of women as wartime labour force, demoralization of women education and livelihood crisis. For the policy recommendations, this paper recommends among other things that government should make education of youths a priority as this is one major tool to break the cycle of poverty in the region, government security agents should provide security in communities especially to vulnerable women and girls, the Nigeria government should collaborate with international communities especially with the Nigerian neighbours on a concerted fight against Boko Haram terrorism.

118-120

Authors: *Edem, I. Dennis, M.E.Nkereuwem and P.I. Udounang

Indiscriminate use of fertilizers has created a great menace because these products find their ways into the food chain therefore having direct implication on human health. The pollution of the lithosphere due to fertilizers is so widespread in rural areas that in an agricultural country like Nigeria, is almost impossible to control it. It has other ramification than other kinds of pollution. Therefore, attention needs to be paid considerable to mitigate this soil pollution, in the quest to increase the yield of crops and food production. Understanding the effect of modern agricultural technologies on the increase yield of crops and food production is important because it belies the primary justification of these technologies. Under natural conditions, low levels of nitrogen limit aquatic algae growth, especially in salty and blackish water, which inhibits N- fixation algae. Increase human input of nitrogen can remove this constraint. The resulting degradation of the aquatic ecosystem; particularly estuaries and coastal waters is undoubtedly the most widespread water quality problem induced by nitrogen pollution.

127-136

Authors: M. A. Rahman, M. M. Hossain, M. S. Islam, *M. A. R. Sarker

The oxides with spinel structure are interesting materials responsible for useful device applications due to their promising chemical and physical properties achievable in accommodation of foreign citations. Partial substitution of iron with transition metals like Zn, Zr, Cd in CoFe2O4 might change their structural, electronic, optical and thermal properties that influence various applications. The first principle ab initio study of on the doping effect of such transition metal elements in cobalt ferrite has been performed in this work. The bulk modulus and ductility of CoFe2O4 are 233 GPa and 0.21 where as that of CoFe1.8Cd0.2O4 are reported to be 251 GPa and 0.14 respectively. The Debye temperature of CoFe2O4 increase with pressure but that of CoFe1.8Zn0.2O4 is reported to be almost constant with pressure. The pressure dependence Cv and Cp of CoFe1.8Zn0.2O4 also shows anomalous behavior.

141-144

Authors: Harkanwal Singh

External male and female genitalia of Ctenoplusia fracta Walker have been studied in detail to update the diagnosis of this species. This species has been reported for the first time from North-east India.

153-159

Authors: *Okorafor, U. P, Obebe, O. O, Unigwe, C. R, Atoyebi, T. J and Ogunleye, O. K

This study investigated the prevalence of gut parasites of small ruminants in four farms (2 sheep farms; A and B and 2 goat farms; C and D) in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo state, Nigeria over a period of 4 months (March, 2014 - June, 2014). Faecal samples were obtained from 76 apparently healthy animals (33 sheep and 43 goats) using standard field and laboratory techniques. 64 animals representing a prevalence of 84.21% were infested with gut parasites. The prevalence rates according to the farms were 18.42%, 21.05%, 23.68% and 21.05% for farms A, B, C and D respectively. Five genera of gut parasites were encountered in the study area with Strongyle spp having the highest prevalence of 39.47%. Eimeria spp, Paramphistomum spp, Stongyloides spp and Trichuris spp had prevalence rates of 19.74%, 13.16%, 10.53% and 1.32% respectively. Sex prevalence in male and female sheep were 22.37% and 17.11% respectively, while in goats they were 25.0% and 19.74% for males and females respectively. These were statistically significant (P<0.05). Age prevalence was highest in sheep aged 2-3 years (23.68%) and least in sheep above 3 years old (2.63%). However, goats above 3 years had the highest prevalence (21.05%) while goats less than 2 years old had the least prevalence (3.95%). The breed prevalence of infestation in sheep showed 26.32%, 9.21% and 3.94% for OUDA, Yankasa and WAD respectively, while breed prevalence in goats showed 38.16%, 2.63% and 3.94% for Red Sokoto, WAD and OUDA respectively. There was no significant difference however (P>0.05) in age and breed prevalence of infestation in both sheep and goat in this study. Gut parasite infestations seem to be a problem in small ruminants since egg per gram (EPG) counts was found to range from 0 - 700. This study has shown that more and prompt attention is needed in the control of gut parasitic infestations in the study area. Small ruminant farmers are encouraged to control gut parasite infestations in their sheep and goats by anthelmintic treatment.

164-168

Authors: *Caleb Melenya, Mensah Bonsu, Vincent Logah, Charles Quansah, Thomas Adjei-Gyapong, I. Boateng Yeboah, Henry Oppong Tuffour and Awudu Abubakari

The study was carried out to assess soil organic carbon storage (SOC) under different land use systems within the same locality and interpret the results with reference to CO2 emissions and soil degradation processes. The soils were taken from a depth of 0-20 from a cocoa plantation (cocoa under deep litter, cocoa under shallow litter and cocoa under weed), oil palm plantation, uprooted oil palm plantation and an arable land under cultivation (cassava + plantain). The SOC stored (Mg ha-1) was determined by multiplying the fraction of the percent SOC (divided by hundred) to the bulk density and the volume of the soil. The CO2 equivalent was determined by multiplying SOC stored by a factor, 3.67 (Molar ratio of 44/12). The land use systems that sequestered more organic carbon and less CO2 emission was ranked as: uprooted oil palm plantation followed by maize> oil palm plantation> cocoa under deep litter> cocoa under shallow litter> arable land> cocoa under weed. The CO2 emission ranged between 17.4 to 65.9 % depending on the type of land use. The study showed that, the magnitude of carbon sequestration is more under oil palm plantation than cocoa plantation. The CO2 emission was significantly greater under cocoa plantation than oil palm plantation and even more where the cocoa plantation was not well managed (i.e. under shallow litter fall and weeds). It was observed that plantation agriculture increases the SOC storage than arable agriculture. The study indicated that, the conversion of land into different uses resulted in variable magnitudes of the carbon sequestered. Appropriate land management practices that reduce carbon emissions are therefore required to reduce global warming.

176-181

Authors: *A. Kaur Minakshi Vinod, S. Mishra, V. Pahal and D. Singh

Research and analysis of nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis with plant extracts and their biological activities has been expanded significantly in the recent years. Among the agents used for synthesis, silver (Ag) is the most preferred due to its reported use in medical field as best topical bactericides from ancient times. In the present study, crude bark extracts of Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. were used for nanoparticles synthesis and comparison of antimicrobial activity of crude extract with NPs and commercial antibiotics was also assessed against Bacillus subtilis (B1) and Escherchia coli (B2). Also the synthesized NPs and crude extracts were compared for their antioxidant potential.

41-45

Authors: *Mohammed M. Aji, Babagana Gutti, Bitrus K. Highina and Shettima Abba Kyari

The fruits of canarium schweinfurthii are good source of oil, which can be extracted for various purposes. Extraction and characterization of oil from canarium schweinfurthii (Black date) fruits was achieved using solvent extraction method. The use of soxhlet extraction (Solvent extraction) gave a reasonable percentage of oil (51.2%) by weight in grams. Black date fruits contain high quality of oil. It contains fatty acid composed of oleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid and others. The extracted and characterized oil has: density of 0.87g/cm3, specific gravity of 0.87g/cm3, flash point of 111⁰C , viscosity of 36cp at 29⁰C, saponification value of 125.4 mg/KOH/gram of oil, iodine value of 88.I2/100g of oil, peroxide value of 0.72ml/g of oil and free fatty acid content of 1.26%. These values are very close to those of the recommended codex standard for vegetable oil. Furthermore, the studied characteristics of the oil extracted shows that it may be used for many domestic and industrial purposes.

51-54

Authors: Deepika Srivastava and *Asheesh Shanker

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs), also known as microsatellites, are found in DNA sequences and consist of short repeating motifs of 1-6 nucleotides. These repeats are ubiquitous and play an important role in the development of molecular markers. Therefore, the present analysis was conducted to mine SSRs in chloroplast genome of Cocos nucifera. A total of 44 SSRs were identified in 154.731 kb sequence mined with an average length of 18.57 bp. Depending upon the repeat unit SSRs varied in length from 12 to 132 bp. The identified SSRs showed a density of 1SSR/3.52 kb. Mononucleotides (16, 36.36%) were found to be the most abundant repeat, followed by di and tetra nucleotide repeats with same frequency (9, 20.45%), tri and penta nucleotide repeats (4, 9.09%) and hexa nucleotide repeats (2, 4.55%). Compound SSRs were completely absent in the chloroplast genome of Cocos nucifera. Most of the perfect SSRs were confined in the non-coding region of the chloroplast genome.

59-66

Authors: Anubha Shukla, Adarsh Lalit, Vinay Sharma, Sharad Vats and *Afroz Alam

Millets are grown expansively in different areas of India as a staple crop to feed a huge section of the inhabitants. In India, its production holds the sixth position after wheat, rice, maize, sorghum and bajra. The most important cultivated species of millets in India are foxtail millet (Setaria italic), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), pearl or cattail millet (Pennisetum glaucum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), Japanese / barnyard millet (Echinochola crusgalli), brown top millet (Panicum ramosum) and kodo or ditch millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum). Among these, finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) and pearl or cattail millet (Pennisetum glaucum) offers high nutritional, anti-diabetic and antioxidant properties. India is a socioeconomic meager country needs a large amount food grain to fulfill the requirement of its ever increasing population with good nutrients value. To facilitate an improved and healthy food supply, these easy growing vigorous crops would be a good option for the farmers in semiarid regions of India. The planned cultivation of these millets will provide a very nutritious and economical food for a large proportion of poor people.

71-79

Authors: * Omorogiuwa Eseosa, Oboma S.O

Due to huge number of power transformers yearly consumed and installed in the utility networks, it is always required and targeted to build transformers with the most reasonable cost. Achieving the guaranteed characteristics of transformers is an important factor that should be considered knowing that transformer design task is time consuming. In this work, a successful attempt for designing large size power transformer using non-linear programming (NLP) technique was presented. The mathematical transformer design formulation is explained in a systematic way for a typical power transformer. Optimization methodologies and implementation of results were also presented. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical formulation of transformer design problem and the reduction of total cost when compared to conventional designs.

91-96

Authors: M. A. Hakim, * Shahida Akhter, D. P. Paul and S. M. Hoque

Polycrystalline Cu1-xMgxFe2O4 (x=0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) ferrites have been synthesized using solid-state reaction technique. Phase identification, morphology and magnetization measurements have been done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), VSM and SQUID magnetometer. Formation of the cubic spinel structure was observed by XRD studies. Grain size is found to decrease with increasing Mg content and increase with increasing sintering temperature. Field dependence of magnetization was measured at 300 K and 5 K using VSM and SQUID magnetometer. Saturation magnetization (Ms) decreases with Mg content. The observed variation in Ms can be explained in terms of the cation redistribution between A and B sublattices. The substitution of Mg ions and effect of sintering temperature plays decisive role in changing structural and magnetic properties of Cu-Mg ferrites.