Archives-December 

We are very happy to announce that from 21st March 2011, Prof.Omeh Yusuf S has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on the Biochemistry. Prof.Omeh Yusuf S is currently working Department of Biochemistry, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, PMB 7267 Umuahia, Abia State Nigeria. The appointment of Prof.Omeh Yusuf S as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links with Iran and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal. Please send any expressions of interest to chiefeditor@elixirjournal.org. Sincerely Editor-in-Chief

Re-use of treated wastewater for aquaculture and irrigation offers a possibility for water conservation and sustainable food production, however, the issue of human health is crucial. We assessed quality of water and catfish carp (Clarias gariepinus) in a fishpond receiving treated effluents from a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania for physico-chemical water quality parameters, bacteria, nitrogen and heavy metals. Concentrations were compared to WHO standards to assess potential health risks. The water quality parameters conformed to WHO standards. Concentrations of measured toxic metals in water and fish exceeded WHO standards. These results indicate that the reared catfish are not suitable for human consumption.

The present study was designed to explore the relationship between occupational stress and perceived organizational support among higher secondary institutions of public and private sector. This study was a descriptive in nature. The study was also focused on the relation of demographic variables with occupational stress and perceived organizational support and these demographic variables were age, gender, marital status, income, nature of job, work experience, qualification and type of institution in which are teaching. The population of this study was higher secondary teachers of public and private sectors. The sample of the study was comprised of 100 male and female teachers from 10 private and 10 public higher secondary institutions. As a research tool Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) and Perceived Organizational Support Inventory were used to collect the data. OSI has 28 items whereas POS Inventory has 9 items, which were filled out by higher secondary school teachers. After the data collection, data was analyzed by using multiple statistical techniques like mean, correlation; Cronbach’s split half Reliability and ANOVA. Results of the study revealed that younger teachers express more occupational stress and low perceived organizational support, female teachers experiences more occupational stress and low perceived organizational support than male teachers, married teachers shows less stress and high perceived organizational support than unmarried ones, teachers having low monthly income expresses more occupational stress and low perceived organizational support than the teachers who have high monthly incomes, contract based teachers have high occupational stress and low perceived organizational support than the permanent based teachers, less work experience is a cause of high occupational stress and low perceived organizational support, whereas teachers those who are working in private sector experience less stress and high perceived organizational support.

In clinical practice, retroperitoneal schwannoma is uncommonly seen. This is a rare benign retroperitoneal tumor. Often unexpected preoperatively, diagnosis is based on post-operative histopathologic examination of surgical specimen. At an incidence estimated at 4%, benign and malignant schwannomas represent about 0.6% and 1.8% respectively of schwannomas in the retroperitoneum region. Both sexes are equally affected and the patient’s age is often between 30 and 60 years. Clinical signs are nonspecific. Patients present unexplained lumbar or abdominal pain due to compression of neighboring organs. Total tumor excision has a therapeutic effect and a good prognosis. The case of a 45-year-old female patient in whom was discovered incidentally at ultrasound a left prerenal tissue mass measuring about 6 cm is reported. Further imaging notably, computed tomography revealed this mass in juxtaposition though non-adherent to the left kidney, aorta and the renal pedicle. She underwent a total excision of the tumor by open surgery. Histopathology of the surgical specimen revealed retroperitoneal schwannoma. The patient was discharged five days after surgery with a good prognosis with a follow-up of 15 months.

Information Technology has achieved rapid changes with high influence in development of mankind. Information and communication technology (ICT) is the major advent in the field of technology which is used for access, process, storage and dissemination of information electronically. In this competitive fast globalized world, Indian banking industry has been consistently working towards the development of technological changes in usage of banking operation for improvement of their efficiency and customer’s satisfaction. The major services like ATMs, on-line banking, Telephone banking, Mobile banking etc are the recent forms ICT enabled services in banking sector. Therefore, taking an advantage of information technologies (IT) is an increasing challenge for developing countries like India, banking operation in India are now offering attractive technology based services & products such as e-banking and core banking. Hence, the present research paper has made an attempt to study the role of Information and communication Technology (ICT) in decision making process of Indian banking domain among customers in Pollachi region.

Positioning of nodes in ad hoc networks of vehicles in recent years is an interesting subject for research, helps to build the topologic map for car. It also provides information about places close to the car. For the open wireless communication and mobility with high -speed for a large number of vehicles, in inter- vehicle communication, authentication message, integrity and privacy of the car have been identified as the main security requirements. In this study, methods for vehicle location privacy is proposed, which include: define a switch pair and a number alias for vehicles, vehicle grouping,, select the leader for groups and finally use of several RSUs. At the end of the study, the proposed method is simulated using NS2 software, and some critical parameters of the network, are examined to see the effect of the proposed method on the network.

Cloud computing has quickly become one of the most prominent buzzwords in the IT world due to its revolutionary model of computing as a utility. It promises increased flexibility, scalability, and reliability, while promising decreased operational and support costs. It is much more than simple internet. It is a construct that allows user to access applications that actually reside at location other than user’s own computer or other Internet-connected devices. In this paper, we have discussed security risks and concerns in cloud computing and enlightened steps that an enterprise can take to reduce security risks and protect their resources. We have also explained cloud computing strengths/benefits, weaknesses, and applicable areas in information risk management. Cloud computing is continuously evolving and there are several major cloud computing providers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and several others who are providing services such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Storage-as-aService and Infastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and this paper has discussed some of the services being provided.

Self compacting self curing concrete is a new type of concrete which have the properties of self compaction as well as self curing. Self compacting concrete requires no external vibration to achieve consolidation and generally results in saving labour and time, improved workability, improved quality, higher durability and better surface finish. The strength and durability of concrete will be fully developed only if it is cured properly. To achieve good cure, excessive evaporation of water from fresh concrete should be avoided. Curing operations should ensure that adequate amount of water is available for cement hydration to occur. Concrete incorporating self-curing agents will represent a new trend in the concrete construction in the new millennium. Better understanding of the self-curing agents and the self compacting nature of concrete will definitely result in a new generation of concrete, which will be stronger, more durable, will have the desired stress-strain behavior and, possibly, with the whole range of newly introduced self curing self compacting properties. Curing compounds can be effectively used with improved strength and sustainability of water. Currently, one of the most active research areas dealing with cement and concrete is the understanding of the hydration of cement particles and achieving the optimum cure of concrete without the need for external curing methods.

Social capital refers to the extent, nature and quality of social ties that individuals or communities can mobilize in conducting their affairs. Social capital is not a new concept but gained prominence in the policy arena in the late 1980s, when it found its way into many policy programmes for social integration and cohesion in North America and Europe. In recent years, social capital has become a key concept in academic theories and research, and influential as a framework for guiding policy-making that seeks to shape everyday practices in relation to building social integration. A range of related reasons have been put forward for this attention. These include a concern with the excesses of current individualism and nostalgia for a lost cohesive past; the desire to reintroduce a normative and social dimension to understandings of how society works; the impulse to control contemporary liberal societies that are increasingly diverse and undergoing rapid social change; and the way that social capital enables governments to leave aside redistributive economic policies in favour of (less expensive) informal, community-based social relations.

In this work, we introduced the novel computational algorithm for solving linear and nonlinear system of partial differential equation by using the projected differential transform method. Several illustrative examples are demonstrated to show the efficiency of the projected differential transform for solving initial value problems .All numerical results compared with those obtained by another analytic and numerical method; such as Adomain decomposition, variational iteration and spline method are found to be the same.