Archives-October 2014

This study represents the largest of its kind to evaluate the Rural Road Pavement Performance (RRPPS) in Andhra Pradesh in co-operation with the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), for sponsoring the research project. Rural roads not only account for a major portion of national road networks, but also play a very vital role in the socio-economic growth of a country. Realizing this fact, in the present study an attempt has been made to assess the condition of rural road under varied climatic and environment conditions to assess their performance. To fulfill the objectives three districts namely Warangal, Guntur and Kurnool were selected for pavement evaluation study purpose. Based on the extensive field study and analysis it is concluded that rutting values over a season increases. This is due to the ingress of moisture content in base sub base and sub-grade layers. A correlation between the allowable number of Load repetitions to limit permanent deformation and compressive vertical strain on the top of the sub-grade was developed. Further it is observed that most of the roads have Pavement Serviceability Index (PSI) values below two indicating the need for immediate maintenance. Finally a model to predict the distress and condition ratings of the pavement was proposed.

Dredged sediments cause serious problems for managers of the port of Oran due to lack of storage areas on land, so the solution chosen is a dumping at sea. The present study is based on the characterization of sediments collected from different docks of the port of Oran. Results obtained have allowed delineating two areas of contamination. Contaminated sediments are dangerous wastes. For sediments contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants, the chemical treatment with a phosphate is proposed for a reuse as sand in mortars. The results led to the conclusion of the technical feasibility of this solution.

The established vector for Kala-azar (VL) Phlebotomus argentipes is developing tolerance/resistance against the common insecticide (DDT). However, the insecticidal effect of wild plant i.e. Clerodendron infortunatum leaf (Hexane extract) was found effective in killing 63% sand flies that can be enhanced with formulation of lead molecules. Hence, its toxicity evaluation to humans is pre-requisite. Percentage Hemolytic Inhibition activity of the extract was observed with IC50 value of 25.80 mg/L, 18.68 mg/L & 15.90 mg/L at 450 nm, 490 nm & 655 nm wavelengths respectively. The extract was found non-toxic and safer to use as a new insecticide against Sand fly.

Effect of Black tea extract (BTE) as green inhibitor on the corrosion behavior of mild steel in 1.0M HCl, 1.0M H2SO4 and 35g/l NaCl was studied by potentiodynamic polarization techniques open–circuit potential, linear polarization resistance and Tafel plots polarization, its clear BTE gives inhibition in both anodic and cathodic slopes in Tafel polarization, that indicate this inhibitor used as mixed-type inhibitor, the thermodynamic adsorption isotherm was studied and falls into Langmiur isotherm, and it is physisorption isotherm. Also the surface morphology of MS samples without and with the inhibitor was examined using scanning electron microscopy.

A selective and simple method has been developed for preconcentration of Ni on C18 disks nano graphene with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). Simple chemical bonding method to synthesize nano graphene with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was reported. The adsorption behaviors of Ni (II) in aqueous solution on APTES were systematically investigated. The procedure is based on the selective formation of Ni (II) at optimum pH by elution with organic eluents and determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The method is based on complex formation on the surface of the ENVI-18 DISKTM disks nano graphene with amino propyltriethoxysilane (APTES) followed by stripping of the retained species by minimum amounts of appropriate organic solvents. The elution is efficient and quantitative. The effect of potential interfering ions, pH, APTES amount, stripping solvent, and sample flow rate were also investigated. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the break-through volume was found to about 1000mL providing a preconcentration factor of 600. The maximum capacity of the disk nano graphene with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was found to be 398± 3 µg for Ni 2+.The limit of detection of the proposed method is 5ng per 1000mL.The method was applied to the extraction and recovery of Ni in different water samples.

Groundwater chemical behaviors in various locations are one of the most dynamic fields of research in the present world. In the present study, groundwater sampling was conducted with an aim to assess the groundwater chemistry and to compare the water types using piper and Chadha´s plots. Groundwater chemistry was assessed and natural processes are identified as the controlling factors of hydrochemistry. Piper and Chadha´s diagram was created for comparing the results of water types. Majority of the samples were behaved in more or less same way except few samples. The prominent type was Ca-Mg-Cl type of water in both methods. However, a slight variation was observed in the Na-Cl type of water. Easily accessible software’s to plot is the Chadha´s diagram major advantage observed

Plastics have become an important part of modern life and are used in different sectors of applications like packaging, building materials, consumer products and much more. Each year about 100 million tons of plastics are produced worldwide. Demand for plastics in India reached about 4.3 million tons in the year 2001-02 and would increase to about 8 million tons in the year 2006-07. Degradation is defined as reduction in the molecular weight of the polymer. The Degradation types are (a).Chain end degradation/de-polymerization (b).Random degradation/reverse of the poly condensation process. Biodegradation is defined as reduction in the molecular weight by naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. That is involved in the degradation of both natural and synthetic plastics.  Examples of Standard Testing for Polymer Biodegradability in Various Environments. ASTM D5338: Standard Test Method for Determining the Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials under Controlled Composting Conditions, ASTM D5210: Standard Test Method for Determining the Anaerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials in the Presence of Municipal Sewage Sludge, ASTM D5526: Standard Test Method for Determining Anaerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials under Accelerated Landfill Conditions, ASTM D5437: Standard Practice for Weathering of Plastics under Marine Floating Exposure. Plastics are biodegraded, (1).In wild nature by aerobic conditions CO₂, water are produced,(2).In sediments & landfills by anaerobic conditions CO₂, water, methane are produced, (3).In composts and soil by partial aerobic & anaerobic conditions.

Work-family role conflict has become an important issue in the determination of organizational commitment among female bankers in Nigeria. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of women engaged in the workforce and increase in the time demands on the part of the workforce, leaving less time available for them to be with their families. This study centered on striking a balance between work and family responsibilities among women in the banking industry in Nigeria with a view to promoting gender equality and women empowerment which is one of the core goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Subjects for this study were three hundred and sixty –one female bankers aged between 23 and 52. Three hypotheses were tested and the findings of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between work-family role conflict and organizational commitment. The result also revealed that married women will significantly experience more work-family role conflict than single women. Furthermore, the result also showed that women who have spent a long duration will experience work-family role conflict than women who have spent a short duration. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that there is a need for the government, the regulatory authorities of the banking sector, and the professional bodies to review the status, power and responsibilities of these women.

Present study deals with the isolation of lipolytic lactic acid bacteria from camel milk. Bacterial lipase is secreted extracellular and hydrolyses acyl glycerides into free fatty acid. Thus, the intake of bacterial lipase directly in food sample or as probiotic formulation can be helpful for those people suffering from health implications related to high serum triglyceride level. For this purpose, a lipolytic bacterial strain Enterococcus durans purified from camel milk employing enrichment and selective culture technique. Identification was done by sequencing of 16S rDNA/D1/D2 domain of LSU rDNA or ITS region and BLAST analysis. Strain showed significant lipase activity of 3988 U/ml. Physicochemical characterization showed that optimum lipase activity was observed between 7.2-7.5 pH, 30o C – 40 o C temperature, 3.5 %- 4.5 % salinity and 4 % (v/v) inoculum’s size whereas presence of peptone, calcium and tributyrin in media enhanced the lipase production. Optimization of lipase production was done using RSM model. Further purification via DEAE anion exchange leads 1.9 fold purification of lipase with retention of 81 % lipase activity. Quality assurance of this bacterial strain as a probiotic and subsequent formulation development can be useful achievement in the field of medical microbiology.

Three reliable, rapid and selective methods have been developed and validated for the determination of mebeverine hydrochloride and chlordiazepoxide in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The first method is first order derivative spectrophotometric method All variables affecting the reaction have been investigated and the conditions were optimized. The second method is based on separation of the cited drugs (mebeverine hydrochloride Rf =0.72 ± 0.02 and chlordiazepoxide Rf = 0.43 ± 0.04) followed by densitometric measurement of the intact drug spots at 220 nm by HPTLC. The separation was carried on silica gel plates using chloroform: methanol: ammonia (9.5: 0.5: 0.1, (v/v/v) as a mobile phase. The linearity range was 200-1200 ng/spot for mebeverine hydrochloride and 100-600 for chlordiazepoxide. The third method is accurate and sensitive HPLC method based on separation of mebeverine hydrochloride and chlordiazepoxide on a reversed phase C18 column, using a mobile phase of potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (0.05 M, pH 4.0 adjusted with 0.5% orthophosphoric acid)-methanol- water (30:50:20, v/v/v) and UV detection at 260 nm in an overall analysis time of about 5 min., based on peak area. The accuracy and precision of the methods were confirmed when the standard addition technique was applied. The validation was performed according to ICH guidelines. The results obtained by applying the proposed methods were statistically analyzed.