Participatory rural appraisal approaches: an overview and an exemplary application of focus group discussion in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies

Different tools and techniques of participatory approaches are the basic way of conducting qualitative research especially in the field of applied social science. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is one of the main Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique often used in combination with others to achieve desired goals. Considering this concept, this paper attempts to review the PRA approach and then application of FGD, in combination with matrix scoring and ranking to identify problems and causes of climate change along with possible mitigation and adaptation strategies. A group of 20 students at post graduate level under the faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany those from different corner of the world was considered as target people of the study. The results concluded that unpredictable weather events was ranked as the present outstanding visible climate change problem caused by human activities. However, it was noted that if alternative renewable energy sources are exploited, this could contribute to solving the present climate change problem. This finding might have the good reference for the policy makers in the same line not only for developing countries but also for developed countries. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i2.17848 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (2): 72-78, December, 201

UNDERSTANDING COVID-19 RELATED HEALTH LITERACY SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES AMONG THE WORKING LIS PROFESSIONALS IN DR. ZAKIR HUSAIN CENTRAL LIBRARY, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA: A STUDY

Health literacy has become an integral component of human life, and it plays a significant role in ensuring safety from a variety of deadly diseases. India\u27s health literacy rate is below average when compared to other countries. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors and volunteers from all over the world have been striving to promote health literacy to raise public awareness through various media. Given the foregoing, the main objective of this study is to identify the level of Covid-19 related health literacy among working LIS professionals at Jamia Millia Islamia\u27s Dr.Zakir Husain Central Library. The survey approach is being used in this study\u27s methodology. For ease of understanding, a well-structured questionnaire was created in both Hindi and English. A total of 54 questionnaires were distributed, with 40 completed questionnaires received. The key findings demonstrate that 100% of LIS professionals are aware of health literacy, and that the most common source of health information is family/friends 23(57.5%), followed by doctors 19 (47.5%). Electronic media (short clip videos provided by health organisations) is the most favoured medium for obtaining health-related information, i.e. 38. (95%). Furthermore, respondents are well-versed on COVID-19 transmission mechanisms; yet, respondents\u27 difficulties in obtaining health information are attributed to a lack of understanding of health literacy sources. Another significant finding from the study is that 100% of respondents believe that libraries can play an essential role in improving health literacy among academic community. The entire work is based on original research and serves as a resource for other scholars working in the same field

Chebyshev collocation computation of magneto-bioconvection nanofluid flow over a wedge with multiple slips and magnetic induction

In this paper the steady two dimensional stagnation point flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting bio-nanofluid over a stretching/shrinking wedge in the presence of passively control boundary condition, Stefan blowing and multiple slips is numerically investigated. Magnetic induction is also taken into account. The governing conservation equations are rendered into a system of ordinary differential equations via appropriate similarity transformations. The reduced system is solved using a fast, convergent Chebyshev collocation method. The influence of selected parameters on the dimensionless velocity, induced magnetic field, temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction and density of motile microorganisms as well as on the local skin friction, local Nusselt number, local Sherwood number and density of motile microorganism numbers are discussed and presented graphically. Validation with previously published results is performed and an excellent agreement is found. The study is relevant to electromagnetic manufacturing processes involving bionano-fluids

Numerical solutions for nonlinear gyrotactic bioconvection in nanofluid-saturated porous media with stefan blowing and multiple slip effects

A mathematical model is developed to examine the effects of the Stefan blowing, second order velocity slip, thermal slip and microorganism species slip on nonlinear bioconvection boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a horizontal plate embedded in a porous medium with the presence of passively controlled boundary condition. Scaling group transformations are used to find similarity equations of such nanobioconvection flows. The similarity equations are numerically solved with a Chebyshev collocation method. Validation of solutions is conducted with a Nakamura tri-diagonal finite difference algorithm. The effects of nanofluid characteristics and boundary properties such as the slips, Stefan blowing, Brownian motion and Grashof number on the dimensionless fluid velocity, temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction, motile microorganism, skin friction, the rate of heat transfer and the rate of motile microorganism transfer are investigated. The work is relevant to bio-inspired nanofluid-enhanced fuel cells and nano-materials fabrication processes

Multiple slip and variable transport property effects on magnetohydromagnetic dissipative thermo-solutal convection in porous media

A mathematical study is presented to investigate the influence of variable transport properties and momentum, thermal and mass slip on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) momentum, heat and mass transfer in a porous media. Slip effects are simulated via careful imposition of boundary conditions at the wall. Joule heating and viscous dissipation are also studied. The governing partial differential boundary layer equations are analyzed using Lie group theory and rendered with appropriate transformations into a system of nonlinear, coupled ordinary differential equations. The multi-physical boundary value problem is dictated by twelve thermophysical parameters- concentration diffusivity parameter (Dc), Hartmann magnetic number (M), permeability parameter (omaga), Eckert number (Ec), momentum slip (a), thermal slip (b), mass (species) slip (d), Prandtl number (Pr), Schmidt number (Sc), power law index for non-isothermal and non-iso-solutal effects (m), viscosity variation parameter (A) and thermal conductivity variation parameter (S). A numerical solution is obtained for the effects of selected parameters on transport characteristics using the robust Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth-fifth order numerical quadrature method in Maple16. Excellent correlation is achieved between the present computational results and for the constant transport properties (A=S=Dc=0), nonporous (omega=0), non-thermal slip (b=0), non-solutal slip (d = 0) and non-dissipative solutions without Joule heating (Ec= 0) of Yazdi et al. [35]. Increasing momentum slip enhances temperatures whereas increasing thermal slip reduces them. An increase in thermal conductivity boosts temperatures whereas greater viscosity reduces temperatures. Increasing magnetic parameter suppresses velocity and increasing permeability parameter elevates temperatures. Species concentration is enhanced with increasing concentration diffusivity and permeability parameter but depressed with increasing viscosity. Furthermore concentration is enhanced with momentum slip but reduced with mass slip parameter. Moreover increasing magnetic field is observed to aid species diffusion in the regime. The present study finds applications in trickle-bed reactor hydromagnetics, magnetic polymeric materials processing and MHD energy generator slip flows

Calculation of Diamagnetic Susceptibility Tensors of Organic Crystals: From Coronene to Pharmaceutical Polymorphs

Understanding why crystallization in strong magnetic fields can lead to new polymorphs requires methods to calculate the diamagnetic response of organic molecular crystals. We develop the calculation of the macroscopic diamagnetic susceptibility tensor, χ^{cryst}, for organic molecular crystals using periodic density functional methods. The crystal magnetic susceptibility tensor, χ^{cryst}, for all experimentally known polymorphs, and its molecular counterpart, χ^{mol}, are calculated for flexible pharmaceuticals such as carbamazepine, flufenamic acid, and chalcones, and rigid molecules, such as benzene, pyridine, acridine, anthracene, and coronene, whose molecular magnetic properties have been traditionally studied. A tensor addition method is developed to approximate the crystal diamagnetic susceptibility tensor, χ^{cryst}, from the molecular one, χ^{mol}, giving good agreement with those calculated directly using the more costly periodic density functional method for χ^{cryst}. The response of pharmaceutical molecules and crystals to magnetic fields, as embodied by χ^{cryst}, is largely determined by the packing in the crystal, as well as the molecular conformation. The anisotropy of χ^{cryst} can vary considerably between polymorphs though the isotropic terms are fairly constant. The implications for developing a computational method for predicting whether crystallization in a magnetic field could produce a novel or different polymorph are discussed

Bioefficacy of Plant Extracts to Control Cercospora Leaf Spot of Mungbean (Vigna radiata)

The experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute farm, Joydebpur, Gazipur during March to July 2007 to evaluate the bioefficacy of some plant extracts in controlling Cercospora leaf spot of mungbean. Six indigenous plant species i.e. Neem leaves extract (1:4 w/v), Garlic cloves extract (1:5 w/v), Biskatali leaves extract (1:4 w/v), Alamanda leaves extract (1:6 w/v), Arjun leaves extract (1:4 w/v) and Debdaru leaves extract (1:5 w/v) were used in this experiment. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with seven treatments and four replications. Data on disease incidence, severity, yield contributing characters and yield of mungbean were recorded. Naturally, infection of the disease was considered in this experiment. The lowest disease incidence (7.33%) at 60 DAS was found in T1. Lowest and similar disease severity (PDI= 4.55) was found in T2 and T3 at the same DAS. Neem extract treated plots gave better response in yield (1.26 t ha-1) and all the yield contributing parameters like inflorescences plant-1 (13.45), tallest plant (51.44 cm), the maximum number of pods plant-1 (26.81), length of pod (8.56 cm), number of seeds pod-1 (12.64) and 1000 seeds weight (27.33 g) followed by T2 and T3. The highest disease incidence (26.50%) and disease index (13.65%) were recorded in treatment T7 at 60 DAS. Yield and all yield contributing factors were lowest in same treatment. The results of the experiment suggested that the use of neem leaves extracts are effective for minimizing Cercospora leaf spot incidence, severity and increasing yield of mungbean. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (1): 60-65, June, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i1.1609

Control of Phomopsis Blight of Egg Plant through Fertilizer and Fungicide Management

The experiments were conducted at Laboratory of the Department of Plant Pathology and in the farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh during Rabi season of the year 2007-2008. Four fungicides viz. Bavistin 50 WP (Carbendazim), Tilt 250 EC (Propiconazole), Cupravit 50 WP (Copperoxychloride) and Dithane M-45 (Mancozeb) and micronutrients (Gypsum, ZnO and Boric acid) were evaluated against Phomopsis vexans causing Phomopsis blight and fruit rot of eggplant. The fungicides and micronutrients either applied individually or in combination showed significant effect in terms of per cent leaf infection, fruit infection, leaf area diseased and fruit area diseased in comparison to control. Effect of each fungicide applied in combination with micronutrients always showed better performance in reducing disease incidence and disease severity than the fungicides applied alone. Among the fungicides, Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) proved to be effective arresting the spore germination and mycelia growth of Phomopsis vexans assayed in in vitro test. Reduction of leaf area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 58.17, 67.37, 78.41 and 85.25%, respectively at preflowering, post-flowering, fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 52.22, 58.67, 74.19 and 83.09%, respectively at those stages. Similarly reduction of fruit area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 57.93 and 79.79%, respectively at fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 56.93 and 76.14%, respectively at those stages. Micronutrients had little effect against the disease but significantly better than control.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (1): 66-72, June, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i1.1609

Numerical investigation of Von Karman swirling bioconvective nanofluid transport from a rotating disk in a porous medium with Stefan blowing and anisotropic slip effects

In recent years, significant progress has been made in modern micro- and nanotechnologies related to applications in micro/nano-electronic devices. These technologies are increasingly utilizing sophisticated fluent media to enhance performance. Among the new trends is the simultaneous adoption of nanofluids and biological micro-organisms. Motivated by bio-nanofluid rotating disk oxygenators in medical engineering, in the current work, a mathematical model is developed for steady convective Von Karman swirling flow from an impermeable power-law radially stretched disk rotating in a Darcy porous medium saturated with nanofluid doped with gyrotactic micro-organisms. Anisotropic slip at the wall and blowing effects due to concentration are incorporated. The nano-bio transport model is formulated using non-linear partial differential equations (NPDEs), which are transformed to a set of similarity ordinary differential equations (SODEs) by appropriate transformations. The transformed boundary value problem is solved by a Chebyshev collocation method. The impact of key parameters on dimensionless velocity components, concentration, temperature and motile microorganism density distributions are computed and visualized graphically. Validation with previous studies is included. It is found that that the effects of suction provide a better enhancement of the heat, mass and microorganisms transfer in comparison to blowing. Moreover, physical quantities decrease with higher slip parameters irrespective of the existence of blowing. Temperature is suppressed with increasing thermal slip whereas nanoparticle concentration is suppressed with increasing wall mass slip. Micro-organism density number increases with the greater microorganism slip. Radial skin friction is boosted with positive values of the power law stretching parameter whereas it is decreased with negative values. The converse response is computed for circumferential skin friction, nanoparticle mass transfer rate and motile micro-organism density number gradient. Results from this study are relevant to novel bioreactors, membrane oxygenators, food processing and bio-chromatography

Allelopathic potential of mustard crop residues on weed management and performance of transplant Aman rice

Crop allelopathy may be useful to minimize serious problems in the present agricultural production such as environmental pollution, unsafe production, human health concerns, depletion of crop diversity, soil sickness and reduction of crop productivity. In this phenomenon an experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to evaluate the effect of crop residues of mustard on weed management and crop performance of T. aman rice. The experiment consisted of three cultivars of T. aman rice viz., BR11, BR23 and BRRI dhan49 and five different level of mustard crop residues such as no crop residues, mustard crop residues @ 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t ha–1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Five weed species belonging to three families infested the experimental plots. Weed population, weed dry weight and percent inhibition of weed were significantly influenced by mustard crop residues and cultivar. The maximum weed growth was noticed with the cultivar BR23 and the minimum was found in the cultivar BR11. The grain yield as well as the other yield contributing characters produced by BR11 was the highest among the studied varieties. The highest percent inhibition of 71.17, 69.19, 80.88, 70.48 and 86.97 was in Shama (Echinochlo acrusgalli), Panishapla (Nymphaea nouchali), Panichaise (Scirpus juncoides), Panikachu (Monochoria vaginalis) and Susnishak (Marsilea quadrifolia), respectively which was caused by the application of mustard crop residues @ 2 t ha–1. The highest loss of grain yield was obtained where no crop residues were incorporated. The highest numbers of tillers hill-1, numbers of grains panicle–1, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield were observed where mustard crop residues were incorporated @ 2.0 t ha–1. BR11 cultivar with all treatments produced the highest grain and straw yield among the treatment combination. The results of this study indicate that different amount of mustard crop residues showed potential activity to suppress weed growth