Optical and morphological characterization of BaSe thin films synthesized via chemical bath deposition

Barium selinide (BaSe) thin films were deposited onto glass substrate via chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The effect of deposition time on the thin film formation mechanism has been studied to understand the optimum conditions for synthesis process. The phase identification and surface morphology of thin coated films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively while the optical characterizations were conducted by means of ultraviolet visible (UV- Vis) spectroscopy. XRD study confirms the polycrystalline hexagonal structure of the thin films. The XRD peaks at 2θ =23.84° and 2θ = 23.86o showed the preferential orientation along the (021) and (201) plane with deposition time 20 hours and 22 hours respectively, whereas the major peak at (111) was obtained with a deposition time of 24 hours. With the increase in deposition time up to 24 hours, the film gradually grew thicker along with the fine increase in the grain size. The direct optical band gap of the films was measured to be varied from 1.33 to 3.37 eV

Microsatellite and minisatellite markers based DNA fingerprinting and genetic diversity of blast and ufra resistant genotypes.

A total of 78 alleles and 29 loci were detected from nine microsatellite and three minisatellite markers, respectively across 26 blast and ufra disease resistant genotypes. For blast resistant genotypes, the Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values ranged from 0.280 to 0.726 and RM21 was considered as the best marker. PIC values ranged from 0.5953 to 0.8296 for ufra resistant genotypes and RM23 was the best marker for characterization of ufra resistant genotypes. The genetic similarity analysis using UPGMA clustering generated nine clusters with coefficient of 0.66 for blast resistant genotypes while five genetic clusters with similarity coefficient of 0.42 for ufra resistant genotypes. In order to develop resistant varieties of two major diseases of rice, hybridisation should be made using the parents, BR29 and NJ70507, BR36 and NJ70507 for blast, while BR11 and Aokazi, BR3 and Aokazi, Rayda and BR3 and Rayda and BR11 for ufra

Composition, temperature and frequency dependent magnetic, dielectric and electrical properties of magnesium-zinc ferrites

Polycrystalline spinel MgxZn0.3Cu0.7-2xFe2+xO4, where x = 0.10, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30 and 0.35 ferrites (hereafter abbreviated as Mg-Zn) have been prepared by conventional double sintering technique. The samples were sintered at 1250°C in air for 6 hours. Measurements have been done at temperature and frequency ranges of 0 - 350°C and 0 - 500 kHz, respectively. In this work, some extrinsic magnetic properties such as Curie temperature, initial permeability, loss factor, quality factor, dielectric constant and resistivity of the samples have been studied. The Curie temperature and loss tangent of the samples decreased with increase in Cu-content whereas permeability, Qfactor, resistivity and dielectric constant have been noticed to be increased with the increase in Cucontent. The decrease in Curie temperature related to fact of weakening the strength of exchange AB interaction. Maxwell-Wagner type of interfacial polarization might have found correlated with the normal dielectric behavior of the samples, however no relaxation peaks were observed in the dielectric dispersion curves of the Mg-Zn samples in virgin state or doped state

Extraction, optical properties, and aging studies of natural pigments of various flower plants

In this paper, we reported the extraction process of five different flowering plants utilizing different dye extraction methods and solvents (ethanol and water) to choose the best dye removal process. The FTIR spectra revealed the presence of several clear functional groups for all five natural dyes. The analytical studies such as UV spectroscopy, column chromatography, and vacuum evaporation were performed to isolate the dyes from their solutions. The UV-Vis studies on the pigments of flower extracts indicated broad absorption peaks in the visible region including clear bandgaps. Among the studied pigments, Alternanthera ficoidea showed the lowest direct bandgap of 1.69 eV and an Urbach energy value of 6.33 meV. The dye extraction yield rate improvement was extended from 11.7 to 24.7% (water solvent) and 11.3–32.4% (ethanol solvent). Throughout the studies, it was observed that ethanol produced a better extraction for organic dyes than water as a solvent. Aging studies revealed that all the dyes at the room temperature showed better stability with minor changes in the observed optical parameters in oxygen-rich conditions; however, these parameters have shown significant variations at a 60 °C temperature

Supernova neutrino detection in NOvA

The NOvA long-baseline neutrino experiment uses a pair of large, segmented, liquid-scintillator calorimeters to study neutrino oscillations, using GeV-scale neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. These detectors are also sensitive to the flux of neutrinos which are emitted during a core-collapse supernova through inverse beta decay interactions on carbon at energies of O(10 MeV). This signature provides a means to study the dominant mode of energy release for a core-collapse supernova occurring in our galaxy. We describe the data-driven software trigger system developed and employed by the NOvA experiment to identify and record neutrino data from nearby galactic supernovae. This technique has been used by NOvA to self-trigger on potential core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, with an estimated sensitivity reaching out to 10 kpc distance while achieving a detection efficiency of 23% to 49% for supernovae from progenitor stars with masses of 9.6 M☉ to 27 M☉, respectively

Assessment of the livelihood status of the fish farmers in some selected areas of Bagmara upazilla under Rajshahi district

The present investigation was carried out to assess the livelihood status of the fish farmers in Hamirkutsha and Kamarbari Unions of Bagmara upazilla under Rajshahi district during June to December 2006. Data were collected through the use of well structured questionnaire. Fifty farmers were included in this study who were directly involved in fish farming. Average pond size was 0.13 ha with single (64%) and multiple ownerships (36%). Most of the fishers were belonged to the age category of 31 to 40 years and average education level of 9.86 years of schooling, represented by 94% Muslims and 6% Hindus. About 54% of the farmers have tinshed house while 26, 14 and 6% of the farmers have half-building, building and kacha house, respectively. Average annual incomes of majority of fish farmers were above Tk. 75,000 per annum and 62% of the farmers used semi-pucca sanitary, 28% used pucca sanitary while only 10% used katcha sanitary. About 62% of the farmers had electricity facilities while 38% did not have and 88% of the farmers used own tube-well, while 12% of the farmers used neighbor’s tube-well. Forty six percent of the farmers received health service from village doctor or kobiraj, 18% have access to upazila health complex, 14% went to district hospital, 20% consulted with MBBS doctor and 2% of the farmers do not take any treatment due to lack of money. Lack of scientific knowledge, multiple ownerships and lack of capital for fish culture were the major constraints

Cross-sectional study of cattle Babesiosis and associated risk factors in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan

A cross-sectional was performed in Nyala, South Darfur State, Sudan, over the time from November to December 2016, to determine the prevalence of bovine babesiosis and the potential risk factors associated with the infection. A total of 300 blood samples were randomly collected from three different areas, slaughterhouse, animal fauna, and dairy farms. Data on the risk factors, such as area, breed, age, sex, body condition, and tick infestation were recorded using questionnaires. The overall prevalence was 59.3% (178/300) using the microscopic examination of Giemsa stained slides. A significant variation in the prevalence of bovine babesiosis was observed among the three areas, whereas dairy farms (74%) having a significantly higher (p = 0.001) prevalence than the other areas. A factor found to be significantly associated with the infection with Babesia was the breed of cattle (p = 0.000), where the prevalence was higher in the crossbreed cattle (74%) than local breed cattle (52%). Other risk factors, like body condition, sex, age, and tick infestation were not found to be significantly associated with bovine babesiosis. However, the highest prevalence rate was recorded in males (65.3%) than females (58.1%), in young animals (62.5%) than adult (58.6%), in animals with poor body condition (64.3%) than the other, and in the animal non-infested with ticks (60.5%) than animal infested with ticks (55.8%). The present study revealed that the number of cattle suffering from babesiosis in Nyala was great. Therefore, sampling during different seasons and using molecular diagnostic methods are recommended for accurate prevalence estimate.Keywords: Babesia, risk factors, cattle, Nyala, Suda

Effects of addition of tilapia on the abundance of periphyton in freshwater prawn culture ponds with periphyton substrates

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of addition of tilapia on abundance of periphyton in freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) in periphyton based culture system for a period of 120 days at Fisheries Field Laboratory Complex, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. A large pond (83×8.9 m) was drained completely and partitioned by galvanized iron sheet into 18 small ponds of 40 m2 each; of which 6 ponds were used for this experiment. The experimental ponds were divided into 2 treatments each with 3 randomly selected ponds. The absence and presence (0 and 0.5 individual m-2) of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were investigated in 40 m2 ponds stocked with 3 prawn juveniles (5±0.05 g) m-2 with added substrates for periphyton development. A locally formulated and prepared feed containing 30% protein was supplied considering the body weight of prawn only. Addition of periphyton substrates significantly reduced the inorganic N-compounds (TAN, NO2-N, and NO3-N) in water column. Forty six genera of periphyton were identified belonging to the Bacillariophyceae (10), Chlorophyceae (21), Cyanophyceae (7), Euglenophyceae (2), Crustacea (1) and Rotifera (5) with significant difference (P<0.05) of phyto-periphyton except Euglenophyceae and without significant difference (P>0.05) of zoo-periphyton between the treatments. The abundance of periphyton biomass in terms of dry matter, ash, ash free dry matter and chlorophyll-a were significantly higher in tilapia-free ponds comparing to tilapia added ponds. Benthic organisms had no significant difference (p>0.05) between the treatments. Addition of tilapia in periphyton-based system benefited the freshwater prawn culture through (i) reducing toxic inorganic nitrogenous compounds in water (ii) reducing demand for supplemental feed (iii) using periphyton as additional natural feed and, (iv)improving survival and production of prawn and tilapia

Effect of Community Based Organization microcredit on livelihood improvement

The study was conducted to examine the effects of Community Based Organization (CBO) micro-credit program of Concern Worldwide on the livelihood improvement of beneficiaries in a selected area of Mymensingh district. In the study, 50 respondents were purposively selected of which 30, 12 and 8 were engaged in small trading, saloon and rickshaw pulling respectively. Tabular and statistical analyses were applied for achieving the objectives. All of the factors to measure the socio-economic condition such as awareness, family income, assets, clothing, etc has been changed. It was also found that the women participation in the household decision making increases. Repayment performance of CBO micro-credit program was highly satisfactory. Respondent’s income and loan receipt amount were positively contributed to loan repayment, whereas respondent’s age, education, family size and forced saving negatively affected the same. Ninety four per cent of the respondents mainly repaid their loan on time with the hope of getting loan in future. Overall, the CBO micro-credit program was found to have significant positive effects on livelihood improvement