Misplaced IUCD: a case report

Contraception is a national emergency, essential in a developing country like India. Intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCDs) are amongst the most frequently used methods of contraception. The patients with misplaced IUCDs may present with pregnancies or ‘lost strings’ or they may remain asymptomatic and/ or may have recurrent pregnancy losses and may become pregnant as in our case

CHARACTERIZATION AND SOURCE IDENTIFICATION OF POLY CYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAHS) FOR COASTAL INDUSTRIAL CITY MANGALORE, INDIA

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants generated primarily during the incomplete combustion of organic materials. These compounds are contributed to the atmosphere due to various anthropogenic activities in the form of particulate matter. In this study Particulate matter, PM10 samples were collected from a Traffic site (Town hall) and Industrial site (KSPCB) of a coastal city Mangalore in India during post the monsoon period between October to December 2014. The samples were analysed for PAHs namely seven Fluorene (Flu), Acenaphthene (Ace), Chrysene (Chr), Benz(a)anthracene (B(a)A), Benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P), Benzo(b)fluoranthene (B(b)F), Indeno (1,2,3-c,d) and pyerene (Ind) using fluorescence spectrophotometer. The quarterly average of TPAHs concentration of the industrial site varied from 12 ng/m3 to 109 ng/m3 with an average of about 70.2 ng/m3 whereas TPAHs concentration of traffic site varied from 39 ng/m3 to 252 ng/m3 with an average of 109 ng/m3. Further it was observed that the TPAH concentrations showed increasing trend TPAHoct < TPAHNov < TPAHDec due to meteorological factors. Concurrently TPAH concentrations at traffic site was 1.8 times higher than that of the industrial site. The source apportionment study carried out using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) assisted by varimax rotation revealed that there were only two types of principal components PC1 and PC2. Both the PCs were observed to have variances of 66.21% and 14.38% respectively and classified to originate from fossil fuel burning predominantly diesel/petrol combustion in vehicles for traffic site and the rest from other type of fuels for the industrial site

Carbon sequestration in tea soil through burial of pruning and its impact on biomass production and soil characteristics

Global warming and climate change issues force the scientists to focus their attention on carbon sequestration by the terrestrial vegetation. Tea being a perennial crop, its pruned litters contribute to the organic carbon addition to the soils. In this context, randomized block design experiment was conducted to quantify the addition of organic carbon in tea plantations with respect to burial of pruning. Soils of the experimental plots were sampled regularly and subjected to nutrient analysis and population density of soil micro flora. On recovery, economically important crop shoots harvested at regular interval were recorded. There was a significant variation in the biomass produced over a period of one pruning cycle. Complete removal of pruned litter from the tea field registered lower quantum of biomass; however, it supported favourable compartmentalization in terms of economic yield which reflected upon the productivity index (54.86) at the cost of reduction in carbohydrate reserves in the roots. In other words about 55% of organic carbon was harvested as economic yield in burial of pruning. In terms of carbon sequestration, ~3.0 tons of organic carbon was removed as biomass in pruned year (in control blocks) while as high as 4.8 tons organic carbon/ha sequestrated where the burial of pruned litters was adopted. Organic carbon content of both the surface and bottom soils were significantly higher when the pruned litters were buried in the trenches. Post treatment results confirmed an increase in the populations of total bacteria, fungi, Trichoderma spp., Actinomycetes, Azosprillum spp, Phosphate solubilising bacteria and Pseudomonas spp. Even though burial of pruning is a laborious process, when considering the issues on global warming, this could be adopted in tea plantations as a measure of carbon sequestration, which in turn improved the soil fertility, soil micro flora and the economic yield besides the total biomass production. Data generated on enhanced economic yield and total biomass production are presented and discussed in terms of carbon sequestration and clean development mechanism

FABRICATION OF MANUALLY OPERATED SEED DRILL FOR ARACHIS HYPOGEAE AND ZEA MAYS

Oil seeds plays vital role in furthering sustainable agriculture as they are the major source of nutrients. Groundnut is a major oil seed crop grown in the areas receiving 50-120cm of well distributed rainfall. So pulses and cereals have been a choice for the farmers for cultivation due to soil management techniques. The farming sector in India primarily of small scale farmers, the inability of small farmers to purchase and adopt improved technology of reduces the yield of production. The main objective of sowing operation is to place seed at proper position as well as reduce the cost of labors. Thus this paper, design and develop a manually operated seed drill for groundnut and maize which is suitable for marginal land holdings and plant the seed at specific distance with specific quantity and reduce the drudgery involved in manual planting method and increases the efficiency and also reduce the cost of sowing the seed by using the machine. The seed counting machine is used to count the seed and the revolution of the seed drill. The field trials reveal that the seed drill was performed well and found suitable for the small and marginal farmers. View Article DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2022.v09i06.00

Auditors’ Negligence and Professional Misconduct in India: A Struggle for a Consistent Legal Standard

Gross negligence is a severe form of negligence. Its severity has been characterized using the presence of a mental element or mens rea accompanying the negligent act. Within the context of professional negligence, gross negligence is important as it constitutes professional misconduct. For auditors, a finding of professional misconduct through disciplinary proceedings can result in suspension or expulsion from the profession. In India, gross negligence is regularly used in disciplinary proceedings against auditors and also by the Securities and Exchange Board to determine whether an auditor has violated any securities regulations. Given the implications of a finding of gross negligence on the practice of an auditor, this paper seeks to discuss this Indian legal standard in detail. Using the statutory framework that governs auditors as a backdrop, this paper examines all reported High Court decisions from the 1950s till 2019 along with decisions of the Securities and Exchange Board with regards to an auditor’s duties. We find that the approach used to discern the existence of gross negligence across these decisions has been inconsistent. In the absence of any precedent from the Supreme Court of India that details what comprises gross negligence in the context of auditors, this inconsistent approach poses a problem. This paper offers a starting point for a discussion to minimize the uncertainty currently associated with auditors’ liability for professional misconduct, especially hoping to assist the newly established National Financial Reporting Authority in its decision-making process