Archives-December 

In this paper, the availability and economic importance of some selected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) among rural households in Nigeria were investigated. The National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) data collected by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics were used for the study. A number of forest products activities were found to be of importance to the livelihood of households in the study area. These include hunting, honey processing, palm wine tapping, fruit processing, hides, and mushroom gathering. About 17% of the respondents were engaged in hunting, 17.43% in honey processing, 17.36% in palm wine tapping, and 15.85% mushroom gathering. With respect to income generation, the most important of these activities is palm wine tapping with income share of 87.51%. The results also show that the poor were found to be more dependent on the forest than the non-poor, while households from the Southern zones were more forest dependent than households from the Northern zones. It is recommended that research should be conducted into breeding of early maturing species of these valuable trees that are being cut down at an alarming rate to guarantee future availability for food, medicinal and livelihood purposes.

This physico-chemical study of soil is based on various parameters like pH, conductivity, Total Organic Carbon, Available Nitrogen (N), Available Phosphorus (P2O5) and Available Potassium (K2O). This study lead us to the conclusion of the nutrient’s quantity of soil of Kalol and Godhra Taluka, District- Panchmahal, Gujarat. Results show that average all the villages of both these taluka have medium and high potassium content. The fertility index for available potassium for both this taluka is 2.18. This information will help farmers to decide the problems related to soil nutrients amount of fertilizers to be added to soil to make the production economic.

The flesh, seed, placenta and the whole fruit samples of a variety of tropical chillies (peppers) commonly found in Nigeria Capsicum annum L (bell pepper), were examined in the laboratory for their proximate compositions and some nutritionally valuable minerals on wet weight basis. The results showed that the seeds have the highest concentrations of ash (2.06 g/100 g), protein (14.1 g/100 g) and fibre (32.4 g/100 g), flesh had the highest concentration of crude fat (6.66 g/100 g) while the placenta had the highest concentrations of moisture (88.2 g/100 g) and carbohydrate (3.35 g/100 g). The seeds were also the best sources of most of the nutritionally valuable minerals (Ca, Mg, Zn, P, Fe, K and Na) determined. These parameters were good in the samples: Ca/P, Ca/Mg and [K/(Ca +Mg)] but Na/K was poor. In the mineral safety index (MSI), only Zn results were seriously aggravated. Bell pepper would serve as a good source of the following minerals: Ca, Mg, Zn and Fe which are important components of bones and supporting tissue, enzymes and blood formation respectively.

By around 21st century in public sector in Kenya, the commitment of employees in management of public services had declined drastically. One of the contributing factors was lack of proper training and capacity building among the public servants. The Kenya government responded by formulating Human Resource Development Training Policy that aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness among the employees. The purpose of the study arose from the fact that training and development, is to develop capabilities of an individual to satisfy the current and future manpower needs of the organization. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of training and development in the department of children services. The main purpose of this study was to establish the impact of training and development on employee commitment in the Department of Children Services where the study used correlation research design. Questionnaire was used to collect data from 186 employees. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages and Pearson’s Moment correlation coefficient test. The study concluded that training and development had an effect on employee commitment in the department of children’s services. The study recommends that the government should emphasize frequent training of employees to enhance skill development. In the public service training ensures continued and adequate supply of relevant knowledge and skill to the service. The training provided to the employees should be designed in such a way that it makes Public Service better equipped to meet the increasing challenges for higher standards of service delivery and also commitment to cope with the competitive technological challenges that are taking place today.

The disposal of industrial waste is becoming hassle all over the world. In recent years, industrial effluents have been regarded as common source of pollution due to lack of technical treatment methods and inappropriate disposal modes generated by industries. Water pollution is a major pollution that affects the environment much and one of main source of this pollution is industrial effluent. Industry waste is a major hazard that affects the drinking water and hence it should be treated effectively before release. In this work we have tried a biological treatment to treat alcohol and chemical effluent since it ecofriendly. The present work is done to analyze the effectiveness of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 1934) against alcohol and chemical industry effluent in its possible biological treatment. Results of the above project work showed the level of turbidity (O.D), pH and Physio-chemical parameters found to decreases from high to moderate or optimum level and resulted water can be used for agricultural purpose.

The field of HRM evolved both in India and elsewhere, over a number of years to its present level of sophistication and use of proactive methods. The effective use of people is the critical factor in the successful accomplishment of corporate goals. To this end HR managers need to understand the needs, aspiration of employees proactively, face the challenges head on and resolve issues amicably in the years ahead. As human beings are dynamic and complex, managing the human resources has become a challenging job for any type of organization. Ambitious attitude of people and organizations and the changing dimensions and dynamics of the human resource after the introduction of globalization has brought forth a paradigm shift in management business.

Abstract This paper focuses on admission policies for higher education in Nigeria: achievements and challenges. It was predicated on the determination of the achievements and challenges of the practice of existing admission policies for improved access and equity in higher education in a heterogeneous Nigeria. A lot of achievements as well as challenges were discerned to be associated with the admission policies. It was concluded that these policies are measures to achieve equal higher educational opportunity, which does not mean sameness or uniformity, but equal treatment of a heterogeneous country. Hence, the practice is supported, but should be based on the economic principle of positive discrimination.

This article, through a qualitative and quantitative analysis, focuses on strategies that CEMEX has carried out to determine how they influence their dominance index or market power. The qualitative analysis is based on mergers and acquisitions; meanwhile, quantitative analysis is performed by means of calculations Herfindahl Hirschman Index and the Index of Dominance. Currently Cementos Mexicanos is the industry leader in building's materials with global presence as it produces markets and distributes cement in approximately 50 countries, maintaining business relationships with approximately 108 nations. Its main strategies are based on the expansion and acquisition of companies in the cement industry.

A very well known ancient fruit whose therapeutic qualities have rebounded and echoed throughout the millennia named as Punica granatum (belongs to family Punicaceae) also commonly known as Pomegranate, Anar or Dalim in North India. Plant based formulations have been used since ancient times and playing role as a remedial agent against various human and animal diseases. Therefore, in the systems of Allopathic, Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Unani systems, much energy has been devoted to the treatment of disease and enhancement of physical and mental health. The interest in traditional medicines has increased in various parts of world. Punicalagin is chemically named as 2, 3-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-4, 6-(S,S)-gallagyl-D-glucose and belongs to a category of hydrolysable tannin. In this research, the main aim is to formulate the vesicular formulation of Punicalagin which was extracted, isolated and purified from peels of Punica granatum. Thus, to protect its hydrolysis, it is formulated into a nanocarrier system known as niosomes which is based on the preparation of niosomes by using a non-ionic surfactant in varying amounts and keeping the amount of cholesterol constant. The niosomal formulations were evaluated on the basis of evaluation parameters and thus optimized. The best optimized niosome formulation was then formulated as 1% w/w hydrogel and evaluated on the basis of parameters like homogeneity, rheological behaviour of hydrogel, spreadibility and gel strength, consistency, skin retention studies as well as in vitro and ex vivo drug release study. Comparative drug permeation study in vitro, ex vivo and skin retention study of niosomal gel as well as conventional gel concluded that amount of drug permeated and retained in skin from niosomal gel was much more as compared to conventional gel. The analysis of release pattern by niosomal and conventional gel was done by applying kinetic models to them and concluded that both formulations followed zero order kinetics.

Radiation protection against short wavelength radiation have beeen studied by using Barium sulfate-Epoxy mixture. The outcome of this research showed a good new information about the ability of barium sulfate-Epoxy mixture to protect the humans and environment against short wavelength rays. There is an easy procedure, low cost and available materials to construct the shielding instead of that high cost shielding. Increasing barium sulfate ratios in barium-epoxy mixture leads to increased gamma ray attenuation with decreasing gamma photon energy. The results of high attenuation of gamma ray is due to the prevent of the ray to transimitted through the mixture. A new procedure for radiation protection are used in the labs and work places, which were used the radioactive materials. Short wavelength radiation causes hazards on health of humans and environment, the measurement of gamma photons transmission through barium-epoxy mixture are investigated. The count of CPS is done by maestro software after applying the mixture on cement block. There were two decay energys of gamma ray emitting at 59.5 keV and 26.3 keV. The scattering of gamma ray was studied at various angles.