Archives-December 

Strategy development in higher educational institution ensures quality and improvement of efficiency in functioning. This paper discusses the development and deployment of strategies in higher educational institutions with specific reference to Srinivas Institute of Management Studies. This paper also include the strategies to be deployed by the institution to ensure adequate information and feedback to be made available to the top management and the stake holders, review the activities of the institution and encourage and support involvement of the staff in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the institutional processes.

Detailed structural interpretation was carried out on the three fields within Block-X with the aim of better understanding the structural evolution, trapping styles and the influence of the fault system on the facies distribution within the Block. Well correlation was carried out on six wells to map potential reservoir intervals, which in turn were tied with seismic for horizon and structural interpretation. Structures interpreted include listric growth faults, roll-overs, synthetic and antithetic faults. The faults showed a dominant NW-SE trend, and the variance attribute also validated the interpreted fault trend. Impact of a mobile clay substratum was more noticeable around ‘FLO’ and ‘A’ Fields around the Upper Eocene to Lower Oligocene strata of the Agbada Formation. Four-way closures dominate ‘OGEY’ Field, the traps on ‘FLO’ Field are fault assisted while ‘A’ Field at best have some good leads which given some more control on the seismic acreage and possibility of good prospects. The facies model showed minor shale content localised at the western part of the Block with good reservoirs and and some silty sand making up the remaining Block. The fault system of the Block was not observed to have any significant effect on the facies and property distribution. The fluid contact model revealed communication across the fields and that the reservoir is not compartmentalised. This integrated approach in determining the hydrocarbon potential of Block – X, Northern Depobelt of Niger Delta reduces the effect of under estimation and over estimation of hydrocarbon –in – place volume, thus assisting in well planning and input into running Petroleum economics.

The configuration, the storage and the operations form the important aspects in the management of a laboratory and workshop. These three aspects plays a vital role in the management of all activities and work schedules in the anticipation to simplify and move smoothly and optimized the work force and the time spent to resolve and produce an effective service output. To achieve all of these three aspects and form them as a regular activity to all staff in the aspects of the configuration of The Storage General Rules, the Equipments Concept, Retention of Merchandise Based on their Date of Expiry, Retention of Special Services Maintenance Tools (Sst), Stock Master Maintenance system, First in first out system (Fifo) , the 5S Principles And Kaizen are being practiced whereas for the purpose of storage and handling, the principles and work steps such as Customer Request Order (CRO) and Dead Stock are used as a work activity guide.

The present study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of HIV subjects in Dindigul District, Tamilnadu, India. Samples for the study comprised 100 subjects in the age group of 20 to 55 years. The nutritional status of the selected subjects was assessed by anthropometric measurements, biochemical, clinical examination and diet survey. The results revealed that fifty three percent of the subjects had low level of CD 4 cell count and all the subjects had below the normal levels of hemoglobin and their dietary intake was very low in micronutrients.

A series of novel Schiff’s bases of 2-Quinolones have been synthesized using Coumarin 4 aldehydes and different substituted amines as starting materials under conventional heating method and were obtained in good yields. The synthesized compounds were screened for their anti-oxidant activity by DPPH method and were also tested for their antiproliferative activity against Lung cancer cell lines by MTT assay method. The details of the present work is presented here.

The rapidly depleting fossil fuels have simulated the worldwide search for the renewable alternative fuels. Our country is an agriculture based one and the production of sugar cane is more. In the production of sugar from sugar cane, alcohol will be produced as a byproduct. This made alcohol as a perfect replacement because these are derived from indigenous sources and are renewable. But with the low cetane number and high self ignition temperatures, the burning of alcohols in the existing diesel engines is difficult because for the vaporization it absorbs more heat from the engine and makes the engine cool and further more ignition delays. This made the ignition of alcohol in the high temperature combustion chambers. So in our work an insulated diesel engine is developed which retains higher temperatures in the combustion chambers and aids for the combustion. This reduces the ignition delays and leads for the complete combustion and further improves the thermal efficiency and reduces the emissions. The complete experimentation has done on a single cylinder 4-stroke water cooled 3.68 KW Kirloskar diesel engine with alcohol as a fuel. Due to lower viscosity of alcohol the fuel injection pressure is reduced to165 bar for the experimentation. In the experimentation it is observed that maximum heat lost through the piston. So three different piston crowns made up of Nimonic alloy, Copper and Brass are tried on the test engine with an objective to find the best one in terms of performance and emissions with alcohol as fuel and the same is compared with aluminum piston. Among all the pistons the brass piston performed well. Further the efficiency of the engine can be improved by providing turbulence in the combustion chamber. So for the experimentation maximum number of nine grooves is made on the brass piston and is tested. For the comparison the engine is also operated with aluminum piston. Out of all these pistons tested, brass Piston with nine grooves is found to be the best in terms of efficiency and emissions.

The functional responses of Hippodamia (Adonia) variegata, one of the species of coccinellids found in association with aphids in cotton, were investigated by exposing it to increasing densities of cotton aphids in the laboratory. The aim was to determine how Hippodamia variegata’s feeding rate changes with increasing prey density and therefore to evaluate its potential as a biological control agent for Aphis gossypii. Leaves infested with of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 individuals of A. gossypii were placed in pillboxes measuring 2cm high and 5cm in diameter. A single adult of H. variegata was placed into each pillbox and the treatments were replicated four times. These treatments were repeated using the third instar larvae of H. variegata instead of the adults. Observations were made after 3 and 6 hours of feeding. A plot of the numbers of aphids consumed against the initial numbers of aphids placed in the pillboxes showed that an increase in aphid population resulted in an exponential increase in the feeding rate of coccinellids, before the prey density of 35 aphids was reached. Above 35 aphids, further increases in prey density did not result in further increases in the number of aphids consumed by H. variegata. H. variegata therefore displayed a Type 3 functional response and this implies that this coccinellid has potential as a biological control agent for Aphis gossypii.

The impacts of waste-stream from aluminium plant on the Inyishi River was investigated by analyzing the physical and chemical contents of the river using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) and digital meters. The results shows that the pH of the river varies from 5.80 to 6.10 while the total dissolved solids (TDS) varies from 13.50 to 20.50mg/l. The electrical conductivity varies from 22.50 to 34.17µS/cm while total alkalinity range from 9.80 to 12.50mg/l. The concentrations of Ca2+ varies from 2.80 to 3.10mg/l while Mg2+ range from 2.60 to 2.86mg/l. Na+ concentrations varies from 5.85 to 7.10mg/l while K+ varies from 9.00 to 11.00mg/l. The concentrations of HCO3- varies from 20.50 to 21.90mg/l while that of SO42- range from 3.29 to 4.90mg/l. Al3+ concentrations varies from 0.22 to 0.29mg/l while total iron concentrations range from 0.50 to 0.64mg/l. F- concentrations varies from 0.30 to 0.80mg/l while that of BOD range from 3.60 to 5.40mg/l. Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations varies from 6.50 to 7.10mg/l while the total coli form range from 50 to 80 cfu/100ml. The results also show that the Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) of the river varies from 0.58 to 0.74 while the Pollution Index (PI) varies from 0.68 to 0.72. Except for the pH, total coli form and Al3+ , the concentrations of other measured parameters conformed to World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 and Nigerian Water (2008) safe standards f0r drinking water. The acidic nature of the river, high concentrations of Al3+ and significant concentrations of total iron, F- and BOD are attributed to the waste-stream which is discharged into it from the Aluminium Extrusion plants in the study area. The impacts of the waste-stream on the river and its watershed include damage of coconut (cocos nucifera) trees and raffia palms (raphia ruffia) resulting in the decline of coconut, rope, local gin and palm wine production as well as decline in the cultivation of certain varieties of vegetables such as fluted pumpkin (telfairia occidentalis), water leaf (talonum tiangulare), garden eggs (salomum macrocarpum) and green (amarantus hybridias) near the river; it has also resulted in the decline in fishing activities and use of the water for drinking purposes. About 1,000 persons who live at a distance of 0.5km away from the river were observed to be at very high risk to the impacts of the waste-stream on the river. Pre-disposal treatment of the waste-stream and well programmed monitoring of the physical and bio-chemical characteristics of the Inyishi River is the best approach to maintain is resource status and usefulness.

Nanocrystalline zinc sulphide (ZnS) thin films have been successfully deposited on silica glass substrates from acidic chemical baths containing tartaric acid and hydrazine as complexing agents, thioacetamide as a sulphur source and zinc acetate as the source of zinc ions. The influence of temperature on the structural-, optical-, morphological properties and elemental composition of the films were investigated by a variety of techniques. Powder x-ray diffraction patterns of the films exhibited the cubic structure. The deposition temperature had a significant influence on the lattice parameter and crystallite size. Scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray investigations have shown an improvement in morphology and stoichiometry of the films with increasing deposition temperature. The band gap of the thin films obtained by optical absorption spectroscopy showed a decrease from 3.88 eV to 3.75 eV as the deposition temperature increased. Transmittance of the films increased with decreasing deposition temperature.

In this paper we have studied the range of Hankel type and extended Hankel type transforms on some spaces of functions. Further the Paley-Wiener type theorem for the Hankel type transforms is also established.