Oil Spill Occurrences along Indian Exclusive Economic Zone

Oil Spill Occurrences along Indian Exclusive Economic Zon

Stranding of whale shark off Madhavpur, Gujarat

A dead male whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was found off Madhavpur coast, near the fish landing centre on morning of 28th September, 2017. The investigations were covered at the joint team of ICAR-CMFRI and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Veraval, Gujarat. The carcass showed an injury below the first dorsal fin but cause of its death could not be ascertained. Some measurements of the stranded whale shark were recorded before it was burie

Tensile responses of treated Cissus populnea fibers

Improvement and effectiveness of polymers through reinforced materials coupled with environmental nuisance of the Cissus populnea fiber remains an area of concern. Tensile responses of chemically treated C. populnea fibers were investigated. Gravimetric analysis was used to determine the composition of C. populnea fibers. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), acetic anhydride(AC) and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), respectively, were used for fiber treatment and optimi zed with variable parameters (concentration and time) using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were studied. At optimum treatment conditions, NaOH, AC and EDTA, respectively, increased the tensile strength of C. populnea fiber by 33.49, 274 and 194.52% as well as tensile modulus by 793.43, 20799.43 and 855%. Hence acetic anhydride treatment gave the best tensile properties of C. populnea fibers as cor roborated by SEM with EDS. Thus, the effective use of C. populnea fiber in composite applications can be improved by chemical surface modifications. Keywords: Cissus populnea fiber; RSM; tensile properties; SEM; EDS

Dead Bryde's whale washed ashore at Veraval, Gujarat

Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879) measuring 10.4 m in length and weighing about 7 tons was found washed ashore on the beach of Veraval on 4th august 2017. Locally called as “Machchh” it was found in dead condition with small injuries in the caudal peduncle and genital region. With the intervention and supervision of forest officials, it was towed ashore and a veterinary officer conducted post-mortem after which it was buried on the shore. Occurrenc

S-curve characterisation of contractors' cash flow in Nigerian tertiary institutions TETFUND Projects

It was empirically established that 82% of businesses fail due to poor management of cash flow; and that just over half of businesses prepare cash flow projections and compare them with actual figure. The paper established the characteristics of contractors' cash flow handling TETFUND projects in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions with a view to improving financial control in construction using the S-Curve as a tool. The research was exploratory in which cash flow characteristics of three selected projects were established. Project records comprising of project profiles and cash flows were used to generate data for the study. The characteristics of the S-Curves of two of the projects depicted rapid initial start-up indicating engagement of many activities at the beginning, while the third project depicted slow start-up due to unavailability of results of soil test. Subsequently, all the projects recorded average progressions and toward the end, progress of all the projects became slow. All the projects were largely executed under negative net cash flows with one at loss. It is therefore recommended that S-Curve be employed in financial planning and management in executing TETFUND projects in order to project ahead financial commitments and implications required in executing projects. The major limitation of the research was restricted case studies due to confidentiality on financial data.Keywords: Cash Flows, Infrastructural Projects, S-Curve, Tertiary Institutions,TETFUN

Do migrant remittances promote human capital formation? Evidence from 89 developing countries

The few published empirical studies on the effect of migrant remittances on educational attainments are roughly based on cross-sectional microdata from household surveys. This paper applies the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator on aggregate level data from 1970 to 2010 in five-year intervals to examine the impact of migrant remittances on human capital formation in 89 developing countries. The estimation results show that, on average, an increase in migrant remittance inflows by 1% is associated with a 2% rise in years of schooling at both the secondary and tertiary levels. This suggests that migrant remittances have the potential to relax liquidity constraints and generate spillover effects that facilitate more schooling opportunities in remittance-receiving countries

International Trade and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of international trade on economic growth in Nigeria with the objective of identifying the major factors influencing economic growth through international trade and make policy suggestions This study made use of time series secondary data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics and International Financial Statistics for a period between 1981 and 2014 Augmented Dickey-Fuller ADF test together with Phillip-Perron PP test of Unit Root Tests were employed to ascertain the stationarity properties of the variables The Ordinary Least Square OLS technique was used to test for the significant relationship between the level of economic growth proxied by GDP as dependent variable and exchange rate government expenditure interest rate foreign direct investment import and export as independent variables The result revealed that government expenditures interest rate import and export are all positively significant while exchange rate and foreign direct investment are negatively insignificant to the growth process of the Nigerian Economy The econometric results suggest that Nigerian government should give more emphasis to specialization on agriculture so as to diversify her production and export base in order to enable the country benefit all the gains of trade including economic growth The country s trade should not only be on primary and oil exports but also the promotion of non-primary exports and non-oil exports i e manufactured goods Promotion of exports within the context of sub-regional and regional economic integration should be vigorously pursued to expand Nigerian international market and the importation policy of the government should be strictly adhered to in order to control dumping and to encourage the local investor

Novel <i>GREM1 </i>Variations in Sub-Saharan African Patients With Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate

Objective: Cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) are congenital anomalies of the face and have multifactorial etiology, with both environmental and genetic risk factors playing crucial roles. Though at least 40 loci have attained genomewide significant association with nonsyndromic CL/P, these loci largely reside in noncoding regions of the human genome, and subsequent resequencing studies of neighboring candidate genes have revealed only a limited number of etiologic coding variants. The present study was conducted to identify etiologic coding variants in GREM1, a locus that has been shown to be largely associated with cleft of both lip and soft palate. Patients and Method: We resequenced DNA from 397 sub-Saharan Africans with CL/P and 192 controls using Sanger sequencing. Following analyses of the sequence data, we observed 2 novel coding variants in GREM1. These variants were not found in the 192 African controls and have never been previously reported in any public genetic variant database that includes more than 5000 combined African and African American controls or from the CL/P literature. Results: The novel variants include p.Pro164Ser in an individual with soft palate cleft only and p.Gly61Asp in an individual with bilateral cleft lip and palate. The proband with the p.Gly61Asp GREM1 variant is a van der Woude (VWS) case who also has an etiologic variant in IRF6 gene. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that there is low number of etiologic coding variants in GREM1, confirming earlier suggestions that variants in regulatory elements may largely account for the association between this locus and CL/P. </jats:sec

Identification of Paternal Uniparental Disomy on Chromosome 22 and a De-novo Deletion on Chromosome 18 in Individuals with Orofacial Clefts

Background: Orofacial clefts are the most common malformations of the head and neck region. Genetic and environmental factors have been implicated in the etiology of these traits.Methods: We recently conducted genotyping of individuals from the African population using the multiethnic genotyping array (MEGA) to identify common genetic variation associated with nonsyndromic orofacial clefts. The data cleaning of this dataset allowed for screening of annotated sex versus genetic sex, confirmation of identify by descent and identification of large chromosomal anomalies.Results: We identified the first reported orofacial cleft case associated with paternal uniparental disomy (patUPD) on chromosome 22. We also identified a de novo deletion on chromosome 18. In addition to chromosomal anomalies, we identified cases with molecular karyotypes suggesting Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome and Triple X syndrome.Conclusion: Observations from our study support the need for genetic testing when clinically indicated in order to exclude chromosomal anomalies associated with clefting. The identification of these chromosomal anomalies and sex aneuploidies is important in genetic counseling for families that are at risk. Clinicians should share any identified genetic findings and place them in context for the families during routine clinical visits and evaluations.</p

Alkylating efficiency of sodium azide on pod yield, nut size and nutrition composition of Samnut 10 and Samnut 20 varieties of groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.)

Mutation has been utilised to improve growth and yield of many food crops, but only little effort has been made to ascertain the nutritional advantages in such improved crops. The present study evaluates the alkylating efficiency of sodium azide of different concentrations on pod yield, nut size and nutritional composition of two groundnut varieties. Dry seeds of groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.); Samnut 10 and Samnut 20 varieties obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ilorin, Kwara State of Nigeria were treated with different sodium azide concentrations (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50mM) for 12 hours. Seeds soaked in distilled water for 12 hours were used as control for each variety. The treated seeds and control were sown in planting bags in randomized complete block design with three replicates. Alkylating effects of the treatments were studied on pod parameters and nut size while proximate analysis was carried out on the nuts to determine their nutritional composition. The results showed that sodium azide treatment of 50 mM produced significantly taller plants with more branches and leaves. Analysis of collected data revealed that sodium azide is effective in achieving significantly earlier- maturing plants with higher pod yield, bigger nut size and heavier nuts. All concentrations of Sodium azide applied induced significant higher crude protein and fat with respect to control in samnut 10 while 50 mM yielded highest protein and fat in samnut 20 variety. Generally, nutritional values of the studied groundnut were improved by sodium azide treatments with respect to protein and fat content which are the most important constituents in groundnut utilization as food or raw material for edible oil. The study concluded that the alkylating effect of sodium azide was effective on pod yield, nut size and other nut characteristics of groundnut and could be employed to improve protein, crude fat and other nutrition contents of the nuts for human and animal consumption as well as industrial applications.Key words: Alkylating effect, nutrition composition, sodium-azid