Archives-October 2016

The complexity and size of circuits have been rapidly rising, placing a stressing demand on industry for faster and more competent for VLSI design. If partitioning is not done in valuable manner, ignoring the parameters like firmness, time delay and robustness it may corrupt the overall performance of a design. Optimization is used to make a design particularly efficient, finding the maximum of a function. In the partitioning main objective is to minimize the number of cuts. Investigating the application of the Memetic Algorithm (MA) for solving the codesign partitioning problem can be done.

Pressure relief valves uncertainty and parameter variations are of major significance in the hydraulic system operations. The use of one such valve, a compound pressure relief valve is the subject of this paper. From the deduced differential equations, MATLAB/SIMULINK simulation model developed. The pressure response of a valve with damping spool pilot poppet has been investigated and compared with the experimental results. Also simulated the effects of some critical parameters on the valve dynamic performance.

The survey of the data with respect to giant African land snail Achatina fulica. The infestation communed with the onset of monsoon and remained active throughout the rainy season. It started declines gradually from the middle of September. The preferred host of giant African land snail Achatina fulica was Cabbage, Mulberry, Spinach, and Hibiscus etc. A marked preference for food was observed for snail of different sizes groups. Young snail preferred plant of soft texture and the increases in size. Achatina fulica laid 200-350 eggs in the depression of soil with large amount of mucous. The eggs are oval in shape and yellow in color. The clutch size varied from different eggs clutches .The survival data revealed that 50% young ones survival at the end of hatching period. After hatching, 83.14% survival and 20.27% of unservival was recorded up to 6-7 days.

ZnO is introduced as an alternative to TiO2 in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) due to its band gap similar to TiO2, higher electron mobility, and flexible procedures of preparations. Several samples of ZnO films are prepared with the hydrothermal synthesis method and the sol-gel technique, respectively. These ZnO films were assembled as photo anodes in DSSCs using N3 dye as the sensitizer. The performance of dye sensitized solar cells is mainly based on the dye as a sensitizer. Natural dyes have become a viable alternative to expensive and rare organic sensitizers because of its low cost, easy attainability, abundance in supply of raw materials and no environment threat. The nature of these pigments together with other parameters has resulted in varying performance. This review briefly discusses the emergence, operation and components of dye explained solar cells together with the work done on natural dye based dye sensitized solar cells over the years.

Environmental and Ecological issues call for the reduction in usage of cutting fluids in metal cutting industry. New techniques are being inquired to achieve this objective. Hard turning with minimum quantity lubrication is one such technique which can alleviate the pollution problems associated with cutting fluids. In the present work, vegetable oil based cutting fluids like castor oil, palm oil and ground nut oil is made to drop at tool-work interface using over-head system. The present paper deals with experimental investigation carried out for machinability study of hardened AISI D3 steel in combination with CVD coated cemented carbide inserts of different styles and to obtain optimum process parameters using Deng’s similarity approach. An orthogonal array, overall performance index and analysis of variance ( ANOVA) are applied to study the performance of process parameters such as insert style, cutting fluid cutting speed, feed and depth of cut with consideration of quality characteristics i.e., surface roughness, material removal rate and specific energy. Finally a clear presentation is made for Deng’s approach

A biogeochemical field study was carried out in the outskirts of Mumbai, where agricultural soils were contaminated by potentially toxic elements. Amaranthus cruentus is an important part of the diet in the state of Maharashtra and thus it was selected as a test plant. Environmental pollution is one of the severe problems that are faced by Mumbai and agriculture is also affected due to it. Analysis of lead and cadmium, two of the most hazardous heavy metals was done from the soil samples and its accumulation patterns in the test plant were studied. Lead and cadmium analysis was done using ICP-AAS to determine if these vegetable samples are fit for human consumption

The Nyando River Basin experiences floods nearly every year, which is a key factor contributing to high poverty levels in Nyando District. Prior to this study, none had ever assessed the effect of floods on community livelihood sustainability in the Basin. This study investigated the influence of Floods on Community Livelihood Sustainability and Development in Nyando River Basin, Nyando Sub-county, Kenya on: Household food security and shelter status. A cross-sectional design was applied to source data from 561 household heads and 22 officials of humanitarian agencies operating in the Nyando River Basin. Probability and non-probability sampling procedures were applied to select participants, while the analysis yielded descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation with Chi-square statistic and one-way analysis of variance. The study area was divided into two zones - high-risk (within 2 kilometres) and low-risk (more than 2 kilometres).The results show that the floods increased the fishing potential but reduced the potential of crop farming and livestock production. The damage was most severe for maize crop (63.2%), beans (61.9%), poultry (62.6%) and goats (36.5%). The two zones were significantly different in terms of access to food (?2 = 23.151, df = 3 and a p-value = 0.022); the duration for which pupils stayed out of school due to floods (?2 = 22.861; df = 3 and p-value = 0.000. However, there was no significant difference regarding shelter type. In this regard, the analysis obtained a computed ?2 value of 2.166, with 3 degrees of freedom and a p-value of 0.155, which was not significant. This suggests that the high-risk and low-risk zones were not significantly different in terms of the type of shelter prior to the floods. However, after the floods the proportion dwelling in temporary structures increased from 10.6% to 38.5% in the high-risk zone and from 3.0% to 11.6% in the low-risk zone. Besides, the proportion accessing drinking water from open sources increased significantly during the floods. The study concludes that: appropriate risk reduction interventions are likely to safeguard community livelihoods, while increased investments in education is likely to reduce community vulnerability to floods, in the long-term. The study recommends the need to: develop crop calendars to guide farming activities; construct food stores in higher grounds to support grain banking; establish a housing kitty for vulnerable groups. The study further recommends the need to strengthen the constituency bursary kitty for children affected by floods; sustain health education to improve knowledge about the safety of drinking water and the need to equip households with knowledge and skills of modern fishing technology for household food security.

Education is basic and a basic requirement for every child, as it empowers the society to be self-sustaining and innovative. Water and sanitation determines the health potential of a given community. Environmental safety consciousness is paramount for any healthy community. This study investigated the influence of Floods on the Community Educational attainment and water, sanitation and health services. A cross-sectional design was applied to source data from 561 household heads and 22 officials of humanitarian agencies operating in the Basin. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation with Chi-square statistic and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyse data collected. The study area was divided into two zones - high-risk (within 2 kilometres) and low-risk (more than 2 kilometres).The results show that the floods on educational attainment (?2 = 46.458; df = 6 and p-value = 0.000). Besides, the proportion accessing drinking water from open sources increased significantly during the floods. The study concludes that: appropriate risk reduction interventions are likely to safeguard community livelihoods, while increased investments in education is likely to reduce community vulnerability to floods, in the long-term, the study recommends the need to: establish schools in higher grounds safe from floods, strengthen the constituency bursary kitty for children affected by floods; sustain health education to improve knowledge about the safety of drinking water and the need to equip households with the knowledge and skills of modern fishing technology for household food security.

Abstract Vegetation structure of different strata were analysed in dry deciduous forests of Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary in lateritic zone of West Bengal. 1212 woody stems ? 1cm belonging to 21 species, 19 genera and 12 families were enumerated from 25 randomly placed quadrats of 10m x 10m each. Acacia auriculiformis obtained the highest stem density and Importance value index while dipterocarpaceae had the highest family importance value. Tree density ranged from 4 to 1498 N ha-1 and they occupied total 22.49 m² ha-1 basal area. All the species showed a clumped distribution. Number of species in the tree layer was positively correlated with number of species in the shrub, sapling and seedling layers while herbs showed negative correlation with shrubs and seedlings. Conversion of saplings into trees was satisfactory but success of seedling conversion to sapling was low. This study provides the first report on the vegetation of Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary. Keywords: Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary, distribution pattern, lateritic zone, species diversity, regeneration, vegetation structure.

Somalia is a country that has experienced excessive amounts of political instability during the past decade. Somalia, like most other countries in Africa, was colonized by European nations during the late 1800s (Roth, Somalia a country in turmoil , 2004). According to United nation Development Program (UNDP), the prolonged fighting in Somalia led to massive loss of property, lives and destruction of the society (UNDP 2008). Political instability contributed to massive suffering and poverty in Somalia, there has been massive unemployment and migration of people from the country. The study guided by the following objectives, to find out whether quality education affects economic development of Somalia, to ascertain how the gross domestic product affects economic development of Somalia, to determine the extent to which investments affects economic development. This study was descriptive in nature and it will utilize cross-sectional data collected through a standard questionnaire. This study will be conducted in Mogadishu City, the capital of Somalia. The target populations of this study will be114348 residents of Hodan District (UNFPA, 2014). In order to provide valid estimates, 384 respondents will be selected with Simple random sampling and only those present at that time will be chosen. The findings it shows that quality education plays a significant role in the economic development of the country. The study showed that a large percentage of the respondents in Somalia agree that it through offering quality education to the people of Somalia that productivity of the country will improve and economic development. The correlation analysis between the independent variable indicated strong relationship between the independent variables. This indicates that the independent variables were significant enough to impact the dependent variable. There is a strong relation between higher GDP and good quality education indicated by 57.8 percent. The relationship between Higher GDP and Savings is the only way we can increase economic growth indicated by 51.9 was significant enough to influence the dependent variable. The government of Somalia should strive for education quality improvement through renovating the teacher education and training system, improving teachers' quality and teacher status, reform and adaptation of curriculum at all levels The study established that savings and investment is the only way a country can increase economic growth, for any country to achieve economic growth there must be significant savings first.Investment means an increase in capital spending, e.g. buying new machines, building bigger factories and education. For example, investing in skills and education can increase labor productivity. Investment in new technology and capital can increase the productive capacity of the economy.