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

Spectrophotometric Indirect Determination of Captopril through Redox Reaction with n-bromosuccinimide and RB dye in Pharmaceutical Products

A simple, accurate, and sensitive method for the spectrophotometric determination of captopril in bulk and dosage forms is reported. The method is based on the bromination of captopril with excess solution of n-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in HCl acid medium. The excess NBS is pursued by the assessment of the residual NBS based on its ability to bleach the rhodamine B dye and measuring the absorbance at 555 nm. The amount of NBS reacted coincides to the drug content. The different experimental parameters influencing the development and stability of the color are precisely studied and optimized. Beer’s law is valid within a concentration range of 0.3–1.0 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient R2 = 0.991. The limit of detection 0.169 μg/mL is attained and relative standard deviation values for five replicated measurements of 0.3, 0.7, and 1.0 μg/mL captopril were between 0.53% and 2.03%. No interference is detected from prevalent additives found in pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed method is profitably put on to the determination of captopril in the tablet formulations with mean recoveries 98.91–101.27% and the results were statistically confronted with those of a reference method by applying Student’s t-and F-test

On the performance of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) using FPGA

In this paper,  non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is designed and implemented for the fifth generation (5G) of multi-user wireless communication.  Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is considered for the implementation of this technique for two users. NOMA is applied in downlink phase of the base-station (BS) by applying power allocation mechanism for far and near users, in which one signal contains the superposition of two scaled signals depending on the distance of each user from the BS.  We assume an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel for each user in the presence of the interference due to the non-orthogonality between the two users’ signals. Therefore, successive-interference cancellation (SIC) is exploited to remove the undesired signal of the other user. The outage probability and the bit-error rate performance are presented over different signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Furthermore, Monte-Carlo simulations via Matlab are utilized to verify the results obtained by FPGA, which show exact-close match

Litter size, parity and sex effects on weaning and post weaning growth of pigs

Pig breeding has been mostly affected by number of piglets that survived to market age with regards to their productivity and fitness traits. This study investigated the influence of sex, parity and litter size on three growth performance characteristics (weaning weight, total weight gain and average daily gain of piglets) at the weaning and post-weaning period of piglets. The 43 piglets investigated are from the cross of Camborough and Landrace breeds, comprising 25 male and 18 female piglets, from three different parities and five unique litter sizes. Measurements of body weight of the piglets were taken immediately at weaning and consistently for additional 12 weeks on a regular weekly basis. The piglets were tagged with an ID and restrained for the measurement, which was recorded against each piglet ID. All measurements were done with a digital hanging balance sensitive to 0.00g, whereby the piglets were placed in bags and hung for weighing. Data collected were recorded on excel worksheets and validated for precision and accuracy. Preliminary descriptive statistics was done to check the data for normality, and indices (total weight gain and average daily gain) were computed from the measured weekly values. The values ranged between 3.55kg-8.35kg, 6.90kg-18.45kg and 0.08kg-0.22kg respectively for weaning weight, total weight gain and average daily gain. Sex did not exert significant (P>0.05) influence on any of the three characteristics studied, while parity only significantly (P<0.05) impacted weaning weight but did not influence the other two parameters (total weight gain and average daily gain). However, litter size significantly affected the three parameters investigated with the largest influence recorded on weaning weight (61.1%). The relationship between weaning weight and subsequent weekly weights were mostly positive (direct) and significant, with the exception of Week 1 post weaning that was negative. The study revealed that piglets from small to moderate litter sizes tend to have higher post weaning weight

Radium and Uranium Concentrations of Powder Juice in the Iraq Markets Using CR-39 Detector

استخدمت مسحوق العصائر بصورة واسعة بسبب رخص ثمنها مقارنة بالعصائر الطازجة. هذه العصائر ربما تحتوي على بعض المواد المشعة. كان الهدف من الدراسة قياس تراكيز الراديوم واليورانيوم في بعض الانواع المختارة من الاسواق لمسحوق العصائر الاكثر استخداما. قيست تراكيز العناصر المشعة باستخدام تقنية كاشف CR-39  الموضوع في اناء مغلق. تركيز فعالية الرادون في هذه الدراسة كانت ضمن المدى 57.146 -151.129  Bq/m3 وبقيمة متوسطة  107.62 Bq/m3. وهي ضمن الحدود المقبولة 100 Bq/m3 لمنظمة الصحة العالمية (WHO), واقل من  200 Bq/m3 التي هي مستوى لوائح الوقاية الوطنية الاوربية. الجرعة السنوية الفعالة للرادون تغيرت بين 1.441-3.813 mSv/y وهي ضمن المدى 0.2-10 mSv/y المحدد من قبل (UNSCEAR). تركيز الراديوم وجد بانه يتغير بين القيم  0.188-0.498  Bq/kg وبقيمة متوسطة  0.354 Bq/kg. والجرعة السنوية الفعالة للراديوم كانت ضمن المدى  1.050-2.779 μSv/y. تركيز اليورانيوم تغيرت بين 0.150-0.398 ppm وبقيمة متوسطة 0.283 ppm. والجرعة السنوية الفعالة لليورانيوم كانت ضمن المدى 1.669-4.414  μSv/y. هذا البحث يساهم في تعريف وقياس الفعالية المحددة للعناصر المشعة الموجودة في مسحوق العصائر المتناولة بكثرة في العراق وبينت الدراسة ان هذه الانواع من العصائر امنة للاستهلاك.Powder juices are widely used by the people in the study area because its low price compared to fresh juices. These powder juices may contain some radioactive materials. The study aimed to measure radioactivity concentrations of Radium and Uranium in the most used kinds of powder juice samples, selected from Iraq markets.  CR-39 detector with sealed can technique, used to measure the radioactive elements concentrations. The radionuclides observed in the present work are, the estimated radon activity concentration range is between 57.146-151.129 Bq/m3 with a mean value of 107.62 Bq/m3. The radon concentration mean value is within of 100 Bq/m3 the limits of (WHO) World Health Organization reference level, below of (NRPB) UK National Radiation Protection Board, and below of 200 Bq/m3 the European Commission Recommendation Level. The annual effective dose of radon varied between 1.441-3.813 mSv/y, are within the (UNSCEAR) range 0.2-10 mSv/y. Radium contents were found to vary between 0.188-0.498 Bq/kg and a mean value of 0.354 Bq/kg. The radium effective annual dose ranged between 1.050-2.779 μSv/y. The concentrations of uranium are in the range between 0.150-0.398 ppm with men value of 0.283 ppm. The effective annual dose of uranium varied between 1.669-4.414 μSv/y. This work helped in identifying and measuring the specified activity of radionuclide present in powdered fruit juices consuming in Iraq and showed that these kinds of powder juice are safe for consumption

Evaluating Diagnostic Validity of Various Sagittal Cephalometric Parameters (a Comparative Retrospective Study)

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the accuracy and reliability of numerous skeletal analyses for determining the sagittal skeletal pattern. Methods: A total of 105 cephalometric x-rays were used. The Steiner’s ANB angle, anteroposterior dysplasia indicator (APDI), and angle of convexity by Down’s assessed the anteroposterior skeletal pattern. According to the diagnostic results of the majority of the criteria, the samples were divided into three classes: I, II, and III. The analyses' validity and reliability were assessed using Kappa statistics, positive predictive value, and sensitivity. Results: There was a moderate agreement between the ANB angle and the final diagnosis (K= 0.593). The ANB angle demonstrated the highest sensitivity in class II and III groups (1.00). Conclusions: The ANB angle and down's angle of convexity was the most accurate markers for class I and III groups, respectively, while the Down's angle of convexity and APDI were the most accurate indicators for class III group

Evaluation of Cost and Return Analysis and Determinants of Profitability of Sawmill Industry in Ogbomoso Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study examined cost and return analysis and determinants of profitability of saw mill industry in Ogbomoso area of Oyo state, Nigeria.  Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select seventy-six (76) saw millers in the study area. Detailed questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from the respondents. Budgetary analysis was used to calculate the profitability while regression analysis was used to determine factors affecting the profitability of the  sawmill. About thirty-six percent (36%) of the respondents fell within the age range of 51 -60 years, eighty three percent (83%) were males and ninety two percent 92% engaged in saw milling as the only source of livelihood. The result of the budgetary analysis showed that total variable cost was (TVC) ₦1,044,142, Total fixed cost (TFC) was ₦65,774.5 while the total cost (TC) was computed as ₦1,109,917.4 and total revenue (TR) was ₦1,721,573.  The profit realized was ₦611,655.6 and the gross margin was₦ 677430.1 while the BCR was 1.55. The result of the regression analysis showed that number of trained sawyers (P<0.1), source of capital (P<0.1) and quantity of plank sold (P<0.05) and type of conversion machine used (P< 0.05) increased the profitability of sawmill business in the study area. The study recommended that old/obsolete machineries should be replaced and respondents’ proper training is paramount to an efficient saw milling operation