Heavy Metals Uptake By Chilli Plants (Capsicum Annuum L.) Planted In Rice Husk Char And Coco Peat Media

The current study investigated the uptake of Cadmium (Cd2+) and Lead (Pb2+) by chilli plant and their effect on the plant growth and fruit quality. Kajian ini mengkaji pengambilan Kadmium (Cd2+) dan Plumbum (Pb2+) oleh pokok cili merah dan kesannya terhadap pertumbuhan tanaman dan kualiti buah-buahan

The Financial Feasibility of Retaining Walls and Winbreaks as Measures of Oil Conservation in Wadi Zabid, Yemen

Wadi Zabid is one of the major agricultural areas of Yemen that faces serious soil erosion (SE) problem caused by water and wind. Some of the farmers in the area have constructed retaining walls (RW) and windbreak (WB) to conserve their farmland soil but many do not. As the SE is becoming serious and soil conservation activity is not progressing, there is a need to reveal the feasibility of soil conservation investment, obstructions to soil conservation and farmers SE perception. Data for this study were collected through questionnaires during the agricultural season of 199912000. The total sample was 264 comprising four groups; i.e., "with" and "without" RW and "with" and "without" WB. The financial benefit cost analysis was the analytical technique and the decision criteria used were the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (LRR) and benefit cost ratio (BCR). Order logit and logistic models have been applied to reveal farmers characteristics related to the perception of the soil erosion and to the decision of soil conservation, respectively. The study found that the farmer age, number of family working force and number of permanent labourers all have positive relations with the serious perception of soil erosion by water. However, the family size, RW length and farmer experience all have shown negative relations. The model of RW adoption showed that farm-home distance, neighbours complaints and the minor perception of soil erosion by water have positive relation. On the contrary, the size of rented area and farm-market distance both have shown negative relations with RW adoption. In the perception of wind erosion model, the farming period, numbers of WB, presence of demoplots and awareness of soil conservation programmes all have shown positive relations. However, the farmer experience, WB age and neighbours complaints all have shown negative relations with the perception. Nonetheless, the farmer will not plant WB unless he is aged, literate, has more family working force, asked by neighbours and has attended the extension night gatherings. The size of the family and the size of rented farm area have shown negative relations with the adoption of WB measure. In addition, the study found that the investments in RW and WB have been financially feasible. The farmer who has invested in RW has got Yemen Riyals (YRs) 33,652 as NPV (US$l= YRs 150). In term of BCR and IRR the farmer returns are 1.14 and 14 percent, respectively. The farmer who has invested in WB has got YRs 54,190 as NPV and 1.8 and 27 percent as BCR and IRR, respectively. Therefore, as RW and WB proved to be financially feasible then government subsidies are justified and will attract more farmers to conserve their farmland soil. In addition, as the determinants of the perceptions of water and wind erosion are not identical then separate strategies and extension programmes are justified

Electro-generated Chemiluminescent Determination of Methotrexate in Pharmaceutical Preparations by Tris (2,2-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) Using Flow Injection

A novel electro-generated chemiluminescence method for the determination of methotrexate (2,4-diamino-N10-methyl pteroyl glutamic acid) in pharmaceutical formulations is proposed. The method was based on the chemiluminescence (CL) emission intensity produced as a result of the electrochemical oxidation of the nbspinto the active nbspform, which then reacts with the methotrexate and produces light.nbspReaction variables were thoroughly investigated. The optimum conditions were incorporated in the procedure. Linear calibration curve were obtained for signal in mV versus concentration in mol L1 in the range 0-21times107 M with percentage relative standard deviation of less than 2% (n = 6) and correlation coefficient of r = 0.99986. The method described here proved to be very convenient and easy to use for the assay of methotrexate in drug formulations. This method was tested by the determination of methotrexate in different drugs containing known concentration

The continuous p-centre problem: An investigation into variable neighbourhood search with memory

A VNS-based heuristic using both a facility as well as a customer type neighbourhood structure is proposed to solve the p-centre problem in the continuous space. Simple but effective enhancements to the original Elzinga-Hearn algorithm as well as a powerful ‘locate-allocate’ local search used within VNS are proposed. In addition, efficient implementations in both neighbourhood structures are presented. A learning scheme is also embedded into the search to produce a new variant of VNS that uses memory. The effect of incorporating strong intensification within the local search via a VND type structure is also explored with interesting results. Empirical results, based on several existing data set (TSP-Lib) with various values of p, show that the proposed VNS implementations outperform both a multi-start heuristic and the discrete-based optimal approach that use the same local search

Prevalence and behavioral risk factors for STIs/HIV among attendees of the Ministry of Health hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections (STI) are a major public health, social, and economic problem leading to morbidity, mortality, and stigma. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of STIs, investigate behavioral risk factors and the relationship between the STIs/HIV and demographic factors. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between 2013 and 2014 among attendees of the Ministry of Health hospitals. Results: The total number of participants was 3,994 (2,441 males and 1,553 females), with a mean age of 31.95 ± 9.45 years (range 12 to 77 years). The prevalence of STIs and HIV was 6.2% and 0.05% respectively. The mean age for infected people with STIs was 29.42 ± 7.51, vs. 32.12 ± 9.55 for non infected (p < 0.05). There was no diffference between infected and non infected people regarding gender, occupation and marital status. The prevalence of STIs was more commonly reported among non-Saudi (10.9%). Drug use (OR = 4.74; 95%; CI: 3.47–6.48), intravenous drug use (OR = 4.51; 95% CI: 1.45–13.12), illegal sex (OR = 10.7; 95% CI: 7.62–13.32), sex for money (OR = 6.36; 95% CI: 4.52–8.93), sex for pleasure (OR=9.76; 95% CI: 7.29–13.07) were significantly associated with STIs. Conclusion: The prevalence of STIs including HIV in Saudi Arabia is low compared to other countries in the region and globally

The prevalence of blinding trachoma in northern states of Sudan.

BACKGROUND: Despite historical evidence of blinding trachoma, there have been no widespread contemporary surveys of trachoma prevalence in the northern states of Sudan. We aimed to conduct district-level surveys in this vast region in order to map the extent of the problem and estimate the need for trachoma control interventions to eliminate blinding trachoma. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Separate, population based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 88 localities (districts) in 12 northern states of Sudan between 2006 and 2010. Two-stage cluster random sampling with probability proportional to size was used to select the sample. Trachoma grading was done using the WHO simplified grading system. Key prevalence indicators were trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years and trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults aged 15 years and above. The sample comprised 1,260 clusters from which 25,624 households were surveyed. A total of 106,697 participants (81.6% response rate) were examined for trachoma signs. TF prevalence was above 10% in three districts and between 5% and 9% in 11 districts. TT prevalence among adults was above 1% in 20 districts (which included the three districts with TF prevalence >10%). The overall number of people with TT in the population was estimated to be 31,072 (lower and upper bounds = 26,125-36,955). CONCLUSION: Trachoma mapping is complete in the northern states of Sudan except for the Darfur States. The survey findings will facilitate programme planning and inform deployment of resources for elimination of trachoma from the northern states of Sudan by 2015, in accordance with the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) objectives

The Influential Factors of TQM and TPM Implementation on Manufacturing Industry Performance (MIP)

The demand for quality is the one crucial factor for businesses in today's highly competitive market, to thrive in this ever expanding global market. As a result of intense global competition, Total quality management (TQM) has been created. Most of the previous papers show that TQM is very related to business success. However, the analysis of the Total productive maintenance (TPM) as mediator between TQM and MIP not widely found and previous researches were commonly regarded as general instruments and techniques without particular emphasis on improvement styles. This paper aims to suggest the relationship between TQM and MIP through mediating impact of TPM. The methodology adopted for this research was to use a review of existing literature, this paper explores the theories of TQM and TPM to provide useful information to ensure effective management of manufacturing industry. The key contribution of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to describe the cause- effect relationship between TQM, TPM activities and MIP. The implication of the proposed conceptual model would help academics and policy makers in the industry to better understand the relationship between activities