Archives-February 2015

The present investigation was carried out in the Purna valley of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra to study the effect of sodium adsorption ratio with total electrolyte concentration and on physical properties of salt affected soils in Purna valley of Maharashtra. The sampling was done in the month of October, 2013. The soil samples were taken from two sites; at the depth of 0-20 cm (surface soil) and 20- 40 cm (sub-surface soil) respectively. For equilibration of soil samples the synthetic waters were prepared with 4 levels of total electrolyte concentrations (TEC) i.e.10, 20,40,80 meL-1 with three levels of SAR viz., 5, 10 and 15 mmol1/2L-1/2. With SAR, MWD decreases due to the increase in dispersion. In case of COLE and VSP with increasing SAR they used to increase but with TEC they inversely related. Total electrolyte concentration and SAR significantly affect the MWD.

A field trial was carried out for two years to ascertain performance of marigold (var. Pusa Narangi) planted at three spacings and on six different dates at bimonthly interval i.e. on first day of March, May, July, September, November and January. The crop planted on 1st March showed early flowering compared to other planting dates. The best performance with respect to flower size, weight and number of flowers per plant was recorded with 1st September planting. The highest number of branches and plant canopy spread were attained with May and July plantings. In both the years wider spacing of 40 cm x 40 cm produced best results with respect to maximum flower diameter, weight of individual flower, and number of flower per plant. However, the total best yield per unit area was higher when the crop was planted on 1st September at 40cm x 20 cm spacing.

Studies on synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of some metal(II) complexes of the mixed ligands, Vitamins B2 (Riboflavin, HL) and Benzoic acid (HL2), where M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn were carried out. The conductivity measurements and percentage metal analysis confirmed that the metal complexes were covalent in DMS with the formulations [M(HL)(HL1)Cl2] and [M(HL)(HL1)SO4]. The room temperature magnetic moments and electronic spectra measurements were corroborative of 6-coordinate, octahedral geometry for all the metal complexes. In addition, the Fe(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes exhibited spin-crossover, the Mn(II) and Cu(II) complexes were dimeric and the Zn(II) complex was mononuclear. The infrared spectra data showed that the coordination in the metal complexes occurred through the hydroxy oxygen atoms in Riboflavin, and the carboxylate oxygen atoms in Benzoic acid. The antimicrobial screening of the metal complexes against Escherichia coli, Proteus spp, Streptococcus pyogenes, Candida albicans, Salmonella sp, Streptococcus sp, Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus sp and Pseudomonas spp revealed that the Co(II) complex had the best activity with inhibitory zones range of 7.0-20.0 mm. The antioxidant screening of the metal complexes showed that [Cu(HL)(HL2)Cl2] had the best activity with percentage inhibition of about 50.0 which was about twice that of the standards, Ascorbic acid and ?-tocopherol, proving its potentials as an anticancer agent.

Some metal(II) complexes of mixed ligands-dimethydithiocarbamic and p-aminobenzoic acids were synthesized (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) and characterized by solubility, percentage metal, conductivity, infrared and electronic spectra measurements. Infrared data showed that the dimethydithiocarbamic and p-aminobenzoic acids coordinated through the sulphur atoms, and the carboxylate oxygen atoms to the metal atoms respectively. Electronic spectra and room temperature magnetic moments corroborated equilibrium between high spin and low spin octahedral geometry (spin-crossover) for the Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes, while the Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes were octahedral and mononuclear. The antimicrobial activities of the metal complexes against Escherichia spp, Streptococcus spp, Proteus sp, Candida sp, Salmonella sp, Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus sp and Pseudomonas spp showed that the Mn(II), Fe(II) and Zn(II) complexes had very good antimicrobial activities against these microbes with inhibitory zones range of 7.0-20.0, 7.0-20.0 and 9.0-27.0 mm respectively, just like Streptomycin (7.0-29.0 mm) proving their potentials as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents in-vitro.

The term, "non-governmental organization" or NGO, came into use in 1945 because of the need for the UN to differentiate in its Charter between participation rights for intergovernmental specialized agencies and those for international private organizations. At the UN, virtually all types of private bodies can be recognized as NGOs. They only have to be independent from government control, not seeking to challenge governments either as a political party or by a narrow focus on human rights, non-profit-making and non-criminal. The structures of NGOs vary considerably. With the improvement in communications, more locally-based groups, referred to as grass-roots organizations or community based organizations, have become active at the national or even the global level. t is thus important for the NGO to have transparency in its operations and goals so that its relationship. Human Resources (HR) is the function that deals with managing an organization’s most important asset—the people who do its work. Ideally, HR policies and rules are designed to level the playing field; to help guide and protect staff and volunteers so they can contribute to the best of their abilities. Effective HR policies and procedures also help attract and retain the right people for each job and support the team who will accomplish the organization’s goals.

With the advancement of technology in the banking industry in recent years has led to the fulfillment of customer satisfaction with better online facilities and tracking system. Customers are able to enjoy rapid speed and service, better delivery channels and faster response rate dealing with queries and account transactions. In Malaysia, customers expect higher quality services from banks which, if fulfilled could result in significant improvement in customer satisfaction levels. This study mainly focuses on investigating to identify the major factors that influence online customers’ satisfaction with the services provided by their respective banks. This study will also assess the online transactions (internet banking) and would therefore help the banks management to improve and better service their customers and strengthen the bond between banks and their valued customers. A total of 227 customers were surveyed via online structured questionnaire for this study. This study identified core services, problem resolution, cost saved, convenience and risk and privacy concerns as the major factors affecting overall customer satisfaction in Malaysia.

This paper investigates the efficacy of Newmark’s semantic and communicative translation methods in teaching vocabulary to elementary Iranian EFL learners. To do so, based on the true experimental method, a pretest posttest procedure was administered. Analysis of the results in the posttest revealed significant differences between communicative group and semantic group, on the one hand, and between these groups and the control group, on the other hand. The results showed that though both communicative and semantic translation methods enhanced vocabulary development of the learners, communicative translation method seemed to be more effective than the semantic one. That is, communicative group outperformed the other two groups significantly. Hence, it was concluded that the contribution of communicative translation method in teaching vocabulary items to elementary Iranian EFL students led to a higher level of vocabulary improvement. The study can also be helpful in establishment of Persian equivalents in teaching vocabulary in EFL settings.

Not many studies have so far quantitatively investigated the role of multiple intelligences (MI) in language teaching and almost research has explored the role of MI in listening proficiency. In this study we worked on them too. The purpose of this research study were to investigate whether there was a relationship between each component of multiple intelligences and listening proficiency among Iranian Damavand university students to find those components of multiple intelligences which act as the predictor of listening proficiency among Damavand university students. In so doing, 30 juniors and 20 sophomores took part. Listening test was used for the purpose of homogenization and organization of the participants. After wards, the participants received the multiple intelligence inventory questionnaire then. All necessary instruction were given to the participants and the data were analyzed and coded in spss. Quantitative results indicated that there was no significant correlation between multiple intelligences and listening proficiency in this study.

The double diffusive convection in a horizontal layer of a porous medium saturated with a Maxwell nanofluid is studied using linear and non-linear stability analyses. The modified Darcy-Maxwell model is used for the momentum equation. The model used for the Maxwell nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The thermal energy equations include the diffusion and cross diffusion terms. The linear theory depends on normal mode technique and the onset criterion for stationary and oscillatory convection is derived analytically. The non-linear theory based on the representation of Fourier series method is used to find the transient behavior of heat and mass transports. We observe that the transient Nusselt numbers show oscillatory motion when time is small. However, when time becomes very large all the three transient Nusselt values approaches to their steady-state values.

Weight-Length relationships (WLRs) and Relative condition factors (Kn) were estimated for 9 freshwater fish species namely Brycinus leuciscus (Günther, 1867), Hydrocynus forskali (Cuvier, 1819 ), Odaxothrissa mento (Regan, 1917), Labeo coubie (Rüppell, 1832), Labeo parvus (Boulenger, 1902), Labeo senegalensis (Valenciennes, 1842), Distichodus engycephalus (Günther, 1864), Parailia pellucida (Boulenger, 1901)and Schilbe mystus(Linnaeus, 1758)from the lower reaches of the White Volta. Samples were collected from the catches of the artisanal fishermen from October 2011 to March 2012. Using W=aTLb, the weight-length relationships of the species were calculated. Relative condition factors of the species were obtained using the formula: Wo/Wc. The WLRs of all the 9 fish species were highly significant (P<0.001). The determination coefficients (r2) ranged between 0.5764 for Parailia pellucida to 0.9784 for Hydrocynus forskali. The slopes(bvalues) of the WLR regression models of the nine (9) species ranged from 2.0045 to 3.1614 with 95% confidence interval of b for all the nine fish species within 1.386 to 3.352. In terms of growth pattern, 4 out of the 9 species exhibited isometric growth (b=3). Three (3) were observed to have negative allometric growth (b<3) and 2 fish species had positive allometric growth (b>3) patterns. Mean relative condition factors of the species ranged from 1. 00 to 1.09. A T-test of the observed weight (Wo) versus the calculated (Wc) on all the nine (9) species produced no significant difference (P>0.05) between the observed weight and the calculated weight. The models are thus good proxies for approximating the weights of the species.Even though, not all the species exhibited isometric growth, the general wellbeing of the fish specieswas suitable during the study period as inferred from relative condition factors (Kn). This is a contribution of information to support researchers in future and fishery managers for reliable growth estimation and health status of freshwater fishes.