Impacts of Microphysics Schemes and Topography on the Prediction of the Heavy Rainfall in Western Myanmar Associated with Tropical Cyclone ROANU (2016)

The impacts of different microphysics and boundary schemes and terrain settings on the heavy rainfall over western Myanmar associated with the tropical cyclone (TC) ROANU (2016) are investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The results show that the microphysics scheme of Purdue Lin (LIN) scheme produces the strongest cyclone. Six experiments with various combinations of microphysics and boundary schemes indicated that a combination of WRF Single-Moment 6-class (WSM6) scheme and Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) best fits to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) data. WSM6-MYJ also performs the best for the track and intensity of rainfall and obtains the best statistics skill scores in the range of maximum rainfall intensity for 48-h. Sensitivity experiments on different terrain settings with Normal Rakhine Mountain (NRM), with Half of Rakhine Mountain (HRM), and Without Rakhine Mountain (WoRM) are designed with the use of WSM6-MYJ scheme. The track of TC ROANU moved northwestward in WoRM and HRM. Due to the presence of Rakhine Mountain, TC track moved into Myanmar and the peak rainfall occurred on the leeward side of the Mountain. In the absence of Rakhine Mountain, a shift in peak rainfall was observed in north side of the Mountain

Effect of dietary garlic and thyme seed supplementation on the production performance, carcass yield and gut microbial population of broiler chickens

A total of 200 Cobb 500 male broilers were randomly allocated to 4 treatments consisting of 5 replications with 10 chicks each in order to evaluate the effect of dietary garlic and thyme seed supplementation on the production performance, carcass yield and gut microbial population. Treatments were control diet (T1), control diet with 1% thyme seed powder (T2), control diet with 1% garlic powder (T3) and control diet with 0.5% thyme seed and 0.5% garlic powder (T4). Feed intake, body weight, weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass yield was not significantly (p>0.05) improved by dietary treatments compared to control. Escherichia coli (E. coli) count in the gut of broilers did not show significant difference among dietary treatments. However, Lactobacilli count in the gut of broilers significantly (p<0.05) increased in T2 compared to that of T1. Lactobacilli count in the gut of broilers received T1, T3 and T4 did not differ significantly (p>0.05) with each other. It was concluded that thyme seed was reliable as feed additive in the broiler diet and could provide positive advantages to the colonization and proliferation of Lactobacilli

The Study on Annual Effective Dose of Different Kinds of Soil in Yangon University of Education Using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (LR115)

Samples of soil from different University hostels have been analyzed for radon concentrations and annual effective dose. For the measurement, alpha sensitive LR115 Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNDT) were used. In this research, the calculated value of radon concentration emanated from the soil samples varied from 28 ± 24.665 Bqm-3 to 314 ± 41.589Bqm-3 and the average annual effective dose is varied from 0.48 ± 0.424 m Svy-1 to 5.40 ± 0.715 m Svy-1 . According to these results, it was not found the higher level of radon concentration and the annual effective dose which are lower than 14m Svy-1 , the ICRP recommended level

Rice Straw and Potassium Fertilization Practices on Yield of Rice (Oryza sativa L. ) in Rakhine State

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the yield response of Theehtutyin rice variety to applica-tion of rice straw and potassium fertilizer and to determine the appropriate rate of potassium for rice in Mrauk U and Kyauktaw townships, Rakhine State. Two levels of rice straw (0 and 5 t ha-1) in main plot and four levels of potassium fertilizer (0, 38, 76 and 114 kg K2O ha-1) in sub plot were laid out in split-plot design with four replications. The experimental results showed that rice straw incorporation (5 t ha-1) gave the higher grain yield and yield components than without rice straw. According to potassium fertilizer effects, maximum grain yield and yield components were observed from application of 114 kg K2O ha-1 in Mrauk U and Kyauktaw townships. Potassium use efficiency (KUE) was not significantly affected by rice straw and different rates of potassium fertilizer. The highest potassium uptake was resulted from application of 114 kg K2O ha-1. Applied K2O was positively correlated with grain yield and K uptake in both townships, so grain yield and K uptake were increased by progressive rates of K. Therefore the result highlighted that potassium fertilizer with rice straw should be applied at the rate of 114 kg K2O ha-1 for Theehtutyin rice variety

Study on Segment Routing in Software Defined Networking

Segment Routing (SR) is an emergingtechnology to enforce the effective routing strategieswithout relying on signaling protocols. SR only needsto define the path information through the network atthe ingress device and this mechanism make SoftwareDefined Networking (SDN) routing managementmore simple and efficient. In this paper, we intend toinvolve as a small part of SDN-SR evolution bystudying the architecture of SR and use-cases of SRin SDN environment. Moreover, we highlight theadvantages of SR by comparing SR and other routecomputing methods applied in some use cases

Health promoting behaviours of the elderly in Myanmar

Aging is a lifelong and inevitable process. As a human being, every person wants to have a long life. With the aim to promote active and healthy ageing, the Ministry of Health implemented the elderly health care project in Myanmar since 1992-1993. This programme is based on comprehensive health care; promotion, preventive, curative and rehabilitative care. Elderly health care programme has been implemented in 161 townships by the end of year 2013 but nationwide is not yet. Nurses in Myanmar involve in the elderly health care project as a significant contribution to the health of elderly population. There is a little research that demonstrates effectiveness in quantifiable measuring health promotion practices in the elderly. There is a definite need for the elderly population to practice health promotion to improve the quality of life as their life span lengthens. This study will also encourage the nurses to better help the elderly to move to increase health promotion practices. That is why it is needed to investigate the health promoting behaviors of elderly people. This cross sectional descriptive study was done to assess health promoting behaviors of the elderly in the community. 69 elderly people aged 60 years and above including males and females who live in Chan Mya Thar Si Township, Mandalay was conducted. The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) developed by Walker, Sechrist, and Pender (1995) was used as a research instrument and analyzed manually. The findings of this study revealed that there were 62% (n = 43) of the elderly had healthy behavior in nutrition and 38% (n = 26) of the elderly had unhealthy behavior in nutrition. Regarding physical activity, 33% (n = 23) of the elderly had healthy behavior and 67% (n = 46) had unhealthy behavior. In managing stress, the majority of participants 93% (n = 64) had healthy behavior and only 7% (n=5) were unhealthy in stress management. Concerning interpersonal relations, 59% (n = 64) were healthy and 41% (n = 28) were unhealthy. 38% (n = 25) of healthy behavior of the elderly and 64% (n = 44) of unhealthy behavior of the elderly in health responsibility, 78% (n = 54) of healthy behavior of the elderly and 22% (n = 15) of unhealthy behavior of the elderly in spiritual growth. Overall, there were 55% (n = 38) in healthy behavior and 45% (n = 31) in unhealthy behavior in this community. This quantitative study showed that the overall behavior in their community was healthier. According to this study, the areas which needed to investigate and improve in their physical activities and their taking health responsibility

Investigation of the Bioactive Principles and α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Effect of some Myanmar Traditional Medicinal Plants

This research is focused on the evaluation of a-glucosidase inhibitors from eight Myanmar traditional medicinal plants such as Ammomum xanthoides Wall., Commelina communis Linn., Crataeva religiosa Forst., Eupatorium odoratum Linn., Gynura procumbens (Lour.) Merr., Momordica charantia Linn., Spirulina and Syzygium grande (WI) Walp.. All of these medicinal plants have been reported to possess the antidiabetic potential. In the present work, watery and ethanolic extracts, and some isolated compounds such as lupeol, lupeol acetate, friedelin, betulinic acid, gallic acid, stigmasterol, taraxasterol, B-sitosterol-B-D-glucoside, stearic acid, B-sitosterol, vitamin C, charatin and A. xanthoides essential oil were used to investigate their inhibitory effect on a- glucosidase enzyme activity. All of the selected medicinal plant extracts (IC50 = 0.14 ~ 2.07 µg/ml) as well as the isolated compounds (IC50 = 0.47 ~ 1.91 µg/ml) were found to show the a-glucosidase inhibitory activity. These values were found to be comparable with Voglibose (IC50 = 0.32 µg/ml), which was used as a reference in this study. Therefore these plants may be used as sources of natural a-glucosidase inhibitors in control or management of the postprandial hyperglycemia, Type 2 diabetes

Spatial Variation of Socio-economic Activities and Settlement Relocation in Pandaw Model Village, Kyauktan Township

Socio-economic study is not a new topic in the discipline of social sciences including geography. However, most studies focus on the variation of socio-economic conditions at regional and district levels. This is because census data are readily available at this level. In this paper, intra-village level variation of social economic conditions is analysed with the aim to assess the benefit and cost of settlement relocation with reference to Pandaw Model Village. Pandaw Model Village includes two settlement areas: clustered and dispersed. Socio-economic data of the study area were derived from official statistics and two intensive field surveys and structured interviews. The results found that there show great socio-economic variations between two settlement areas. From the point of socioeconomic variation and physical environment, if dispersed settlements are relocated in clustered areas, the village will benefit from the scale of economic and social welfare. On the other hand, fuel and water supply problems will be encountered

Prevalence and Genetic Characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus argenteus Isolates Harboring Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, Enterotoxins, and TSST-1 Genes from Food Handlers in Myanmar

Asymptomatic carriers of toxigenic Staphylococcus aureus are potential source of diseases, including food poisoning. Toxigenic potential and genetic traits of colonizing S. aureus were investigated for 563 healthy food handlers in Myanmar. Carriage of S. aureus was found in 110 individuals (19.5%), and a total of 144 S. aureus isolates were recovered from nasal cavities (110 isolates) and hands (34 isolates). Panton-Valentine leucocidin genes (pvl) were detected in 18 isolates (12.5%), among which 11 isolates were classified into coa-VIa, agr type III, and ST1930 (CC96) that had been also detected in pvl-positive clinical isolates in Myanmar. A pvl-positive, ST2250 nasal isolate was identified as S. argenteus, a novel coagulase-positive staphylococcus species. Toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) gene was detected in five pvl-negative isolates. All of the 144 isolates harbored at least one of the 21 enterotoxin(-like) gene(s). The most prevalent enterotoxin(-like) gene was selw (98%), followed by selx (97%), sei (28%), sely (28%), sem (26%), sel (24%), and sea and sec (22% each). Considerable genetic diversity with five groups was detected for selw. The present study revealed the relatively high rate of pvl, as well as the wide distribution of enterotoxin(-like) genes among colonizing S. aureus in Myanmar