Archives-November 2011

The present study focuses on the role of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) in assessment of changes in vegetation cover, between 1973 and 2010, in the Salem revenue division, Salem district of Tamilnadu, India. The trend of vegetal cover changes over the time span of 37 years, was precisely analysed using Satellite images. The study revealed that the vegetal cover was 1325.99 and 1199.04 sqkm in 1973 and 2010 respectively. It was noticed that vegetal cover has decreased in 2010, because of the urban expansion led deforestation. It also revealed that the vegetal cover loss is due to expansion of cultivation and human interference. It is envisaged that the study would prove the usefulness of Remote Sensing and GIS in forest restoration planning.

Benzotriazole has been prepared as a corrosion inhibitor to control the rate of corrosion. This compound has been investigated as corrosion inhibitor at room temperature for preventing mild steel corrosion in Sulphuric acid medium at different concentration at two hour time interval by weight loss method. The result showed that the corrosion inhibition efficiency of these compounds was found to vary with Sulphuric acid concentration. Also, it was found that the corrosion inhibition behavior of Benzotriazole is greater in 1M H2SO4 when compared to 2M H2SO4 at two hour time interval. So Benzotriazole can be used has a good inhibitor for preventing mild steel material for many construction purpose.

Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb. (Elaeocarpaceae) is a large evergreen broad-leaved tree and found in Himalayan range in India and Nepal. Fruits and leaves are known for various medicinal properties and used in traditional medication system for the treatment of diseases. In this study, antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract of leaves of E. ganitrus was tested against clinical isolates of bacteria and fungi. In vitro antimicrobial activity was performed by agar well diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar and Sabouraud Dextrose agar for bacterial and fungal cultures respectively. The extract exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity as it inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Penicillium sp, Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans and C. tropicalis. The extract showed maximum relative percentage inhibition against B. cereus (124.16%). Minimum inhibitory concentration test was performed by modified agar well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration values of the extract varied from 125-2000 µg/ml; however minimum value was reported against B. cereus and A. flavus (125 µg/ml). The results indicate the potential use of E. ganitrus leaves for the development of antimicrobial compounds.

The portunidae crab Charybdis natator were collected from the offshore region of Nagapattinam (Lat. 10⁰ 46’ NS and Long. 79⁰ 51’ EW) on south east coast of Bay of Bengal. A random collection of specimens were made and sex ratio of male and female crabs were thoroughly studies in a period of two year January – 2009 to December – 2010. The result it clearly indicates that there was slight variation in both sex numbers. Among the total crabs 1748, the males were 864 and females were 884. The overall sex ratio of male and female was found to 1:1.01 ratio. The chi-square (?2) test analysis indicated that the ratio was not significantly differ from the expected 1:1 ratio. Hence it is suggested that the variation in sex ratio mainly depends on migration of crab for feeding, breeding, types of gear and craft used in that season.

In this article, the problem of optimal control of time-invariant linear singular systems with quadratic performance index has been studied using Runge-Kutta (RK) method based on various means. The obtained discrete solutions are compared with the exact solutions of the time-invariant optimal control of linear singular systems. It is observed that the result obtained using Runge-Kutta arithmetic mean (RKAM) and RKCeM (Runge-Kutta Centroidal Mean) are closer to the true solutions of the problem. Error graphs for the simulated results and exact solutions are presented in a graphical form to highlight the efficiency of this RKAM and RKCeM. This RKAM and RKCeM can be easily implemented in a digital computer and the solution can be obtained for any length of time for this type of optimal control of time-invariant linear singular systems and it is an added advantage of this method.

The ultrasonic velocity and density are measured in binary mixture of ethyl ethanoate and sesame oil at 298.15K, 303.15K, 308.15K and 313.15K. Acoustical parameters such as isentropic compressibility, intermolecular free length, specific acoustic impedance, molar volume, available volume, volume at absolute zero, Van der waal’s constant, Rao’s Constant and Wada’s Constant have been evaluated.  Except isentropic compressibility all the other calculated parameters shows decreasing trend with the increase in concentration of solvent and increase in temperature. The variation of these parameters with temperature and concentration are used to study the intermolecular interaction existing between the components of the mixture.

Environment is a very wide term which includes everything in all its manifest forms, on the earth, beneath the earth and above the earth. The natural resources of a nation affect the business activity of every enterprise. Similarly, the functioning of an enterprise has some favorable and some adverse effects on the environment. Hence, there is a need for maintaining accounts of the effects of the activities of a business entity on the environment and on natural resources. Environmental accounting is a faithful attempt to identify and bring to light the resources exhausted and cost rendered reciprocally to the environment by a business corporation. It is henceforth concerned with recording environmental elements. Environmental accounting is still at an early stage of evolution and it is being groomed under the voluntary leadership of a variety of enterprises around the world. During the period of 1981-1990, the emphasis in the accounting literature shifted from ‘social responsibility accounting’ to ‘environmental accounting’, reflecting the strong interest in the latter. From 1990-todate, the emphasis on environmental accounting continues unabated and engages the interest of both academic and practicing accountants, hence accounting and disclosure of environmental matters have been rapidly emerging as an important dimension of corporate reporting. This paper describes the evolution, nature, significance, areas and methodology of environmental accounting and also examines general issues concerned with it. This paper throws light on how corporate are responding to pressures to keep accounting records of the impact that their productive process have on the environment.

The aim of the research is to assess the level of awareness of indoor radon gas and its deleterious health effects to the population when accumulated over long periods. 100 questionnaires were distributed among subjects in the study area (Sakumono) out of which 87 were returned. These questionnaires were randomly distributed without recourse to any particular pattern, as the study area was composed of majority elite. The questionnaires sought to elicit information such as; type of house, type of ventilation system practiced, familiarity with radon gas, response to health threats, type of flooring, etc which subjects responded to. 42 out of the 87 respondents were males and 45 were females, which accounted for 48.3% and 51.7% respectively. 82.8% of the respondents had no knowledge of radon gas whereas only about 17.2% responded to having some knowledge of radon gas. By projection, it could be inferred that radon gas awareness in the entire country is shallow, thus this initial survey was intended to extend to cover other parts of the country. Focus group discussions also indicated that, most respondents were concerned about common preventive health behaviours (not smoking, excessive alcohol abuse, cleanliness etc) rather that radon gas preventive attitudes and behaviours. It was therefore concluded that the survey has in a way engendered more concern about health-specific information seeking attitudes among the subjects, not only about radon gas.

This paper reviews the newly developed statistical analysis technique: classification and regression trees (CART), which is one of the most frequently used methods for complex and multi dimensional data sets. CART is a non parametric approach and can easily be used. A most popular and commonly used Gini index method for node impurity in classification trees and the concept of standard error for the measurement of accuracy in regression trees has been discussed. Important features and uses of CART in different fields especially in medical research have also been discussed with examples.

The challenge to feed the increasing world’s population with nutritionally balanced food is enormous hence determining the nutritional value of food is highly valuable in order to ensure the status of food. In our study, we determined the carbohydrate, protein, lipid, ash, fibre, energy and moisture content of Colocynthis citrullus and Sesanum indicum consumed in Nigeria, particularly in Nasarawa State. The Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cd, Pb and Cu contents of the two samples were also determined. High contents of carbohydrate, proteins and fat of 11.89, 27.67, and 52.48%; and 12.58, 24.92 and 49.44% were found in Colocynthis citrullus and Sesanum indicum respectively. The mineral contents of the two seeds showed a relatively high content of some of the minerals.