Effectiveness of breakpoint chlorination and rechlorination on nitrified chloraminated water

Chloramine is used as a secondary disinfectant in water distributions system (WDS). However, nitrification is a major concern involved in the chloraminated WDS as it leads to the accelerated decay of chloramines. After the onset of nitrification, breakpoint chlorination followed by rechlorination is generally practiced in WDS to reinstate chloramine residuals in the WDS. In this study, two different control strategies re-chlorination and breakpoint chlorination followed rechloramination were applied on the severely nitrified water collected from the laboratory-scale reactor system. Results showed that breakpoint chlorination followed by rechloramination is highly stable as the chloramine residual was maintained up to 300 hours and is highly effective than rechlorination alone as it could maintain residue only up to 50 hours even with repeated re-dosing

Intellectual Property Right on Basmati Rice: Current Scenario and Evidences of Origin, Diversity, Cultivation and Use Values of Basmati Rice in Nepal

Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese society as well as in other countries of Indian Subcontinent. With the objectives of collecting, analyzing and documenting Basmati related information in Nepal, we visited different sites; carried out key informant surveys; organized focus group discussions, online interaction and discussion meetings; requested all relevant offices/ persons/ stakeholders through phone, website, and letter to share information; organized high level official meeting, and Basmati rice expert meeting; documented video documentary and did online as well as library search. Because of its high market value at global level, many countries and organizations have been attempting to get intellectual property rights (mainly patent and geographical indication tag) on Basmati rice. India applied for GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU) in July 2018, and Nepal submitted opposition letter along with proofs and evidences of origin, diversity, cultivation and use values of Basmati rice on 9 December 2020. A total 133 Basmati type rice landraces are grown in 60 districts of Nepal. Basmati rice is traditionally grown, sold, and consumed in geographically localized areas of Nepal since ancient time. International and national scientists have defined lower altitude of Nepal as one of the centers of origin of Basmati rice. Many Nepalese basmati rice landraces have been characterized and evaluated using morphological traits, isozymes and DNA markers. Four basmati type of rice landraces have been registered in National Seed Board. Many community seed banks have maintained different types of Basmati rice landraces. National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center and International genebanks have collected more than 80 and conserved 68 basmati landraces. Basmati rice landraces have geo-linked traits. The historical culture of production, consumption and marketing of native basmati rice in Nepal should always be favored by both national and international rules and regulations. Nepal has ample and valid evidences to get geographical indication (GI) right on Basmati rice

Himalayan ecosystem services and climate change driven agricultural frontiers: a scoping review

Climate change, rising temperatures, snow melts and more frequent droughts and floods are disproportionately affecting food and water security, habitat health, and agricultural productivity in the Himalayan region. These climatic changes are negatively impacting productivity of staple crops including wheat, maize, and rice at lower altitudes, but may provide opportunities to utilize Climate Change Driven Agricultural Frontiers [CCDAFs] at higher altitudes. Agricultural expansion into CCDAFs paired with behavioural shifts such as replacing traditional crop systems with commercial crops will predominantly affect forests, water resources, and soil health, which are already negatively affected by climate change unless adaptation options are directed to just and sustainable agroecological transitions. By trading regulating, supporting, and cultural services for food and water provisioning services, as are evident in land sparing strategy, the utilization of CCDAFs will have long-term implications for the sustainability of mountain farming systems. Climate change is affecting Himalayan agriculture, food security, and ecosystem services, and scientific literature predominantly focus on one of these topics in isolation, occasionally connecting results to another topic. By classifying literature as predominantly agriculture, food security, or ecosystem service themed, this scoping review identifies sources with multiple dominant themes and explores how the relationships between these topics are represented in literature to provide research based evidence to promote the future expansion of agriculture that is low-carbon, just and sustainable. Gaps in the literature reveal that research is needed on the extent of CCDAFs in the Himalayas and the potential trade-offs on utilizing the frontier areas

Agrobiodiversity and Its Conservation in Nepal

Nepal is a part of the world\u27s biodiversity hotspot and ranks the 49th in the world for biodiversity. Agrobiodiversity and its conservation status were studied through literature review, field survey, key informant survey and focus group discussion. Results of field implementation of some good practices and action research were also documented. Among 24,300 total species in the country, 28% are agricultural genetic resources (AGRs), termed as agrobiodiversity. Agrobiodiversity has six components (crops, forages, livestock, aquatic, insects and microorganisms) and four sub-components (domesticated, semi-domesticated, wild relatives and wild edible) in Nepal. Agrobiodiversity on each component exists at agroecosystem, species, variety/breed/biotype/race/strain, genotype and allele levels, within an altitude range from 60 to 5,000 masl. There are 12 agroecosystems supporting 1026 species under crop component, 510 under forage, 35 under livestock, 250 under the aquatic animal, 17 under aquatic plant, 3,500 under insect and 800 under microorganism. An estimated loss of agrobiodiversity is 40%, however, farmers have reported up to 100% loss of AGRs in some areas for a particular species. Conservation of agrobiodiversity has been initiated since 1986. Four strategies namely ex-situ, on-farm, in-situ and breeding have been adopted for conservation and sustainable utilization of AGRs. Eighty good practices including process, methods and actions for managing agrobiodiversity have been in practice and these practices come under five conservation components (sensitization, method and approach, accelerator, value and enabling environment). Within the country, 18,765 accessions of AGRs have been conserved in different kinds of banks. A total of 24,683 accessions of Nepalese crops, forages and microbes have been conserved in different International and foreign genebanks. Some collections are conserved as safety duplication and safety backup in different CGIARs\u27 banks and World Seed Vault, Korea. Two global databases (GENESYS and EURISCO) have maintained 19,200 Nepalese accessions. Geographical Information System, Climate Analog Tool and biotechnological tools have been applied for better managing AGRs. Many stakeholders need to further concentrate on the conservation and utilization of AGRs. Global marketing of some native AGRs is necessary for sustaining agriculture and attracting young generations as well as conserving them through use

Fermentation process for alcoholic beverage production from mahua (Madhuca indica J. F. Mel.) flowers

Mahua flowers are rich in sugar (68-72%), in addition to a number of minerals and one of the most important raw materials for alcohol fermentation. The present investigation was for the development of a non-distilled alcoholic beverage from Mahua flowers. Eighteen (18) treatment combinations consisting of two temperatures (25 and 30°C), three pH (4.0, 4.5 and 5.0) and three period of fermentation (7, 14 and 21 days) were used in the fermentation conditions. The maximum yield of ethanol (9.51 %) occurred at 25°C with pH 4.5 after 14 days of  fermentation of Mahua flower juice. The fermented non-distilled alcoholic beverage contained total sugar (8.83 mg/ml), reducing sugar (0.82 mg/ml), total soluble solids (6.37°Brix) titrable acidity (0.65 %), and volatile acidity (0.086%). Methanol was not detected at any stage of fermentation. The developed fermented alcoholic beverage had characteristic flavor and aroma of Mahua flowers with about 7 to 9% alcohol.Keywords: Madhuca indica, ethanol, reducing sugar, fermentation.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(39), pp. 5771-577

On the elastic anisotropy of the entropy-stabilized oxide (Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn)O compound

In this paper, we study the elastic properties of the entropy-stabilized oxide (Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn)O using experimental and first principles techniques. Our measurements of the indentation modulus on grains with a wide range of crystallographic orientations of the entropy-stabilized oxide revealed a high degree of elastic isotropy at ambient conditions. First principles calculations predict mild elastic anisotropy for the paramagnetic structure, which decreases when the system is considered to be non-magnetic. When the antiferromagnetic state of CoO, CuO, and NiO is accounted for in the calculations, a slight increase in elastic anisotropy is observed, suggesting a coupling between magnetic ordering and the orientation dependent elastic properties. Furthermore, an examination of the local structure reveals that the isotropy is favored through local ionic distortions of Cu and Zn - due to their tendencies to form tenorite and wurtzite phases. The relationships between the elastic properties of the multicomponent oxide and those of its constituent binary oxides are reviewed. These insights open up new avenues for controlling isotropy for technological applications through tuning composition and structure in the entropy-stabilized oxide or the high-entropy compounds in general

A Ten-year Retrospective Study of Nasal Bone Fractures at a Tertiary Care Hospital of Nepal

 Introduction: Nasal bone fracture occurs due to its vulnerable position and reduced biomechanical resistance to traumas. If not timely treated, it can result in permanent functional and esthetic damage. Methods: A retrospective and cross-sectional study conducted on 91 patients above 17 years of age with nasal bone fractures in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck surgery of a tertiary care hospital in Kavre. Results: Road traffic accident was the most common cause of fracture (45.1%) followed by fall (36.3%), violence (13.2%), sports-related accidents (4.4%) and occupational accidents (1.1%). Class I fracture was seen in 70 (76.9%), Class II in 17 (18.7%), and Class III in 4 (4.4%). A closed reduction procedure was performed in 74 (81.30%) of the cases, closed reduction with septoplasty was done in 10 (11%), closed reduction with augmentation rhinoplasty was performed for 3 (3.3%), closed reduction with inferior turbinoplasty was required in 3 (3.3%) whereas closed reduction with debridement was done in 1(1.1%). Conclusion: Nasal bone fracture is a complex clinical issue which needs to be addressed early. Violence prevention programs along with drinking and driving campaigns need to be more strengthened to decrease the alarmingly high frequency of nasal bone fracture in the current scenario

EN-BIRTH Data Collector Training - Handbook and Manual

The EN-BIRTH study aims to validate selected newborn and maternal indicators for routine facility-based tracking of coverage and quality of care for use at district, national and global levels. The item contains the EN-BIRTH_Trainer's Manual (14 June 2017) and EN-BIRTH_Training Handbook (23 May 2017)