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

1-12

Authors: AMARESH DAS & S. S. ZAMBARE

An investigation was carried out with an objective to assess the seasonal variation in the salinity / sodicity development in soils of five talukas of Navsari district (Gujarat) as influenced by varying quality of irrigation water sources in this district. Fifty seven numbers of irrigated soil samples under varying crops from five talukas i.e. Jalalpor, Navsari, Gandevi, Chikhli and Vansda of Navsari district were collected from 10/12 randomly selected villages of each talukas during pre- (May) and post-monsoon (October-November) seasons of 2010. Soil pH, EC, exchangeable cations, Organic Carbon, available N, P2O5 and K2O were determined from these samples. ESP of these irrigated soils was computed. The overall results of Navsari district revealed that during pre-monsoon season about 23 per cent irrigated soils belonged to slightly saline (EC 1.0 to 2.0 dS m-1) to highly saline (EC >3.0 dS m-1) class and rest (77%) came under normal class while, in post monsoon season percentage under normal class increased to about 88 per cent and the rest 12 per cent soils belonged to slightly to highly saline class. With regard to ESP, about 40 and 12 per cent soils depicted high ESP (>15) in pre and post-monsoon period, respectively.

21-28

Authors: PREETI YADAV, SHASHI SETH, KIRANCHUGH3, S.N.CHUGH & P.K.SEHGAL

Objective To study endogenous sex hormones serum levels and their effects in Indian men and women having Type 2 Diabetes Research Design and Methods For the analyses, (n=200) subjects including (n=94) males and (n=106) females, out of which 100 diagnosed cases and 100 age and sex matched healthy controls were studied. Only diagnosed cases of diabetes type 2 (50 men and 50 women) aged 45–75 years undergoing glucose profile testing in outdoor clinics in the hospital PGIMS, Rohtak (2011- 2013) were included following a detailed protocol. Patients with acute complications like coma and acidosis, pregnant women, postmenopausal women on hormone replacement therapy, use of steroids since past six months, type 1 diabetes were excluded. Early morning fasting samples were collected and serum analysed for testosterone, estrogen, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c. Serum testosterone levels [normal= males 20-39 years: 241–827 ng/dL, 40-89 years: 141-703 ng/dL; Adult Females:>19 years:<77ng/dL] were measured using direct chemiluminescent technology on ADVIA Centaur autoanalyser. Serum estrogen (normal in males- 10-36 pg/ml, females-Premenopausal:13-191 pg/ml, Postmenopausal:11- 65 pg/ml) and HbA1c levels (normal=4-5.6% in normal people, <6.5% -target for control in diabetics) were measured on Autoanalyser via Immunoassay Kits. The results were analysed and compared. Results Overall analysis showed that diabetic men had low testosterone values (287.50±61.09) ng/dL as compared to controls (409.38 ±113.23) ng/dL (p<0.001) and raised HbA1c, whereas diabetic women had raised testosterone (52.35 ± 41.09) ng/dL values (p<0.001) and raised HbA1c as compared to controls (25.00±16.99) ng/dL (p<0.001). Diabetic Women had mean estradiol levels (47.00 ±53.36) pg/ml lower as compared to control females (69.31±57.51) pg/ml, (p <0.05), also they negatively correlated with HbA1c. Men showed no significant difference in estradiol levels in diseased and controls and showed no correlation between estradiol and HbA1c levels. Conclusion In North India -Diabetes type 2 is associated with Low Testosterone levels in Males, low estradiol and HighTestosterone levels in Females, which in turn is associated with poor glycemic control in Diabetes type 2. Such associations suggest possible clinical applications of sex hormone biomarkers in potentially adding prospective risk information. More prospective studies are needed to better define risk levels

33-42

Authors: HUDA SHAWKY MAHMUD, SOHEIR ABD ELHAMID DABASH, ELHAM MOHAMED AHMED, RAGIA MOHAMED KAMEL & SAFAA SALAH ISMAIL

Admission of low birth weight (LBW) neonates in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) causes their deprivation of tactile and sensory stimulation. The exciting benefits of Oil massage therapy (OMT) encourage the researcher to conduct it as an essential and integrated part of the daily nursing care for the medically stable neonates therefore, the study aimed to investigate the effect of oil massage therapy on anthropometric parameters and behavioral state of stable LBW neonates. Oil massage therapy (OMT) is a natural way for the caregivers to improve neonatal health, anthropometric parameters, and sleep patterns. A quasi- experimental design was selected for this study, a purposive sample composed of sixty LBW neonates their weight less than 2500 grams selected from the NICU of El Manial University Hospital - Cairo University- Egypt. LBW neonates in the control group received routine nursing care, while LBW neonates in the intervention group received OMT for one session, 15 minute per day for 10 consecutive days, in addition to routine care. Anthropometric parameters, behavioral state, and hospital stay were compared between the two groups. The intervention group gained significantly more total mean weight gain (254.70± 29.16g) compared with the control group (110.20± 50.98g) after the study period. Neonatal OMT might be used as an effective, natural, and safe non-medical intervention for increasing anthropometric parameters and improving behavioral state of LBW neonates

51-58

Authors: GEETANJLI DHAWAN

Chemical industry today is dependent on fossil raw material like coal, oil and natural gas although they are depleting and irreplaceable. By 2040, they would become so expensive that bio feed stocks will be an economically competitive alternative. The limitation in today scenario for transition to a more bio based production system is hampered by a variety of obstacles including the cost and technology to transform bio based raw material into product with industrial application profile. Compared to coal, oil and natural gas, terrestrial biomass is considerably more complex constituting sugar hydroxyl and amino acid, lipid and biopolymer such as cellulose, hemi cellulose, chitin, starch, lignin and protein. Among these, the most important class of organic compounds in terms of volume produce i.e. carbohydrates are worked out in the present study as they represent roughly 75% of annually renewable biomass of about 200 billion tonnes but only a minor fraction (4%) is used by man, the rest decay and recycle along natural pathways. Thus, carbohydrates are the industrially and economically viable organic chemical that would replace those derived from petrochemical sources and would constitute the major bio feed stocks aside from there traditional use for food, lumber, paper and heat.

63-74

Authors: EZEKIEL A. A.

The study assessed the effects of irrigation system on maize production in the study area. Multistage sampling was used to select the respondents for this study. The data for this research work was collected through administration of a wellstructured questionnaire. Descriptive statistic was used to describe the socio economic characteristics of the respondents while multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis for the study. The mean age was 52 years, most of them were married, most of them had formal education, with an average of 10 years of experience in primary occupation while more of male engaged in irrigated maize production in the study area. The mean farm size under cultivation was 11.5 hectares while the mean farm size under maize production was found to be 6.21hectares. Most of them engaged in surface irrigation system. The fact that irrigation provides the means for maximize production with multiple cropping was the most widely identified benefits associated with irrigation system while insufficient water resources was the most widely identified problems associated with utilization of irrigation system. The total cost of N31305.71 was spent on all the production inputs while the total was found to be N181113.57. Based on the finding, it was concluded that maize production under irrigation system is highly profitable despite some constraints such as poor access to water resources. More effort should be made by all stakeholders in agriculture and water resources management through adequate water management practices so as to allow for year round availability of water for irrigation purposes to increase yield especially during the dry season

83-88

Authors: DAWN C.P AMBROSE & RAVINDRA NAIK

Banana centre core, a biological waste in banana plantations could be effectively utilized as a source of food material by converting them into flour which could be used as a food product in bakery preparations and soup mix. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a process for the value addition of banana central core, by drying and powdering. Cleaned and sliced banana centre core was dried in a cabinet dryer at 50, 60 & 70°C temperature. The dried samples were ground to flour in a pulveriser. The drying characteristics and the quality of the dried material and flour obtained were analysed. The sample dried at 60°C temperature, was found to be better in terms of colour and quality of the flour

99-108

Authors: N. KRISHNAPRABU, C. SWAMINATHAN, V. SWAMINATHAN, K. BALAKRISHNAN & K. BASKAR

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2015 - 2016 at Dry land Agricultural Research Station, TNAU, Chettinad, Tamil Nadu. There were 45 combinations comprising of different cropping system, nutrient management and stress management practices with 2 replications. Results indicated that Pigeon pea + foxtail millet + Groundnut (1:2:1) + 100% RDF for base crop + foliar spray of 2% DAP +1% KCl + foliar spray of PPFM @500 ml ha-1 were significantly higher proline content in pigeon pea (52.85 and 64.85 mg g-1 FW), small millets (12.05 and 12.65 mg g-1 FW) and peanut (3.15, 3.45 mg g-1 FW) for both pre flowering and flowering stage of the crops.

117-124

Authors: NARCISA T. MORALLO

Clean air is essential for being healthy. Data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) revealed the Total Suspended Particles (TSP) in Metro Manila during the first quarter of 2015 reached 130 micrograms per normal cubic meter (ug/Ncm). The maximum safe level is 90 ug/Ncm. Since 80% of pollution load is contributed by vehicles, the study determined the amount of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) during the smoke emission testing of motorcycles in Dumaguete City, Philippines. Random sampling and simple average formula were utilized in the study. Using the smoke test results from January to February 2015, it was found out that the average amount of CO is 1.45 ug/cm which is very low compared to DENR standard exposure value of 35 ug/cm for one hour and 10 ug/cm for 8-hour exposure. Also, the average amount of HC is 600.26 ppm as hexane which is low compared to DENR’s maximum set value of 4500 ppm to 6500 ppm as hexane. Current findings indicate that the amount of CO of motorcycle emissions are insignificant while HC are low as compared to the standard value

135-146

Authors: SHAIMAA HASSSAN MEKAWY& MAGDA AMIN EL-MOLA

Patient handoff between nurses at shift change has been a crucial process in clinical nursing practice, allowing nurses to exchange necessary patient information to ensure continuity of care and promote patient safety. The aim of the current study was to assess the relation between nursing handoff quality and the continuity of care, in intensive care unit at private Hospital. Descriptive correlational design was utilized to achieve the aim of the study. Data were collected from July to November 2015. The researcher developed the following two tools to collect the data, Nurses handoff checklist & continuity of care checklist. Convenience sample of all available (21) nursing staff. Results revealed that, the majority of observed practices of all handoff procedure were very inadequate, while less than half of them demonstrated adequate practices in all continuity of care. Regarding relationship between quality of nursing handoff and continuity of care, there was negative insignificant correlation between total nursing handoff practice and total continuity of care (p0.28).The study recommended that, the hospital should be: utilize standardized handoff tool prefer to be fully integrated with current hospital electronic health record to ensure completeness and integrity of documentation; set strict policy and procedure to control nurses' negligence to handoff; institute regular training about documentation including handoff; strict monitoring staff compliance to standardized handoff after training.

159-170

Authors: KHALIL IBRAHIM AL-SAMARRAI, BAHIA M. BEN GHAWAR, HANEEN ABDULRRAZIQ ALFIRJANI, FATMA NASR ARAHOUMA& AKRAAM NAJEEB SAQAR

Production of oil and gas is usually accompanied by the production of water. This produced water consists of formation water, or flood water previously injected into the formation. As exploited reservoirs mature, the quantity of water produced increases. Consequently, the management of produced water requires a structured and integral approach of technologies and strategies. To assist building strategies for enhancing oil production, two successful supplementary methods are in use at this time: water injection and steam injection. So, the need for hydraulic properties as well as petrophysical characteristics of the oil reservoir is a must for evaluating the locations of the injection system. An attempt in this work is made to study hydraulic and petrophysical properties of Hawaz reservoir of the O-Oil Field located in south eastern part of the concession NC-115 of Murzuq Basin in Sharara Oil Field in south western of Libya. The approach uses geophysical well logs of five selected oil wells in the study area. These logs include, resistivity, gamma ray, sonic, neutron and density. With the aids of simple spreadsheets, reservoir properties such as porosity, hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity and storage coefficient were calculated.

175-180

Authors: JAYSHREE A. KHUSPURE & S. K. RAY

The mineralogical and chemical properties of a profile in Nimone series of Ahmadnagar district in Maharashtra was studied. Soil reaction was strongly alkaline (pH 8.4 to 8.5) and electrical conductivity ranged from 0.10 to 0.53 dSm-1. The organic carbon content was low to moderate and it decreased with depth whereas calcium carbonate increased with depth. Among the exchangeable cations, calcium is the dominant one followed by magnesium, sodium and potassium with increase in ESP with depth. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the fine clay fractions are mostly composed of smectite with small amounts of vermiculite, chlorite, and feldspar whereas mica and kaoline content in fine clays are in traces.

191-196

Authors: JITENDRA SHARMA, SHAILESH GODIKA, RAM PHOOL GHASOLIA, SHASHI KANT GOYAL & SURESH MEENA

Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.), Czern & Coss] is the second important oilseed crop of India. Sclerotinia rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, is a major disease of mustard. The present research work aimed to study the inoculation techniques, morphological and cultural characters of S. sclerotiorum. Isolations were made and culture was purified by adopting hyphal tip method from Sclerotinia rot infected plants. Small mycelia tufts and black semi spherical to round or irregular shape sclerotia observed in the culture growth and which measured 2-10 mm × 13-15 mm in size. Highest per cent disease incidence (82.00 %) was observed in seed + soil inoculation technique followed by soil inoculation (70.00%). Among liquid media tested, maximum dry mycelia weight 75.10 mg and excellent sclerotial formation was recorded on Potato Dextrose broth. It was followed by Richard’s medium resulted 68.60 mg dry mycelia weight and good sclerotia formation.