Orange waste, an available biomass, was immobilized with zirconium(IV) to investigate its feasibility for phosphate removal from an aquatic environment. Kinetics, effects of pH and foreign anions, ...and the adsorption isotherm for phosphate have been examined. The adsorption capacity has been compared to that of two commercially available adsorbents such as zirconium ferrite and MUROMAC XMC 3614. The prepared gel was an effective adsorption gel for phosphate removal with a reasonably high sorption capacity of 57
mg-P/g, which was four times higher than that of zirconium ferrite. The highest removal of phosphate was observed at low pH, whereas higher pH suppressed phosphate removal, but even up to pH 9 more than 85% phosphate removal was observed. Adsorbed phosphate was eluted by NaOH solution. Fixed bed column-mode experiments confirmed the complete adsorption of phosphate in continuous-mode operation. Throughout the operating conditions, zirconium was not leaked.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Background Wheat is the third important cereal after rice and maize in Nepal. Its yield suffers from several factors such as lack of reliable irrigation, inclement weather, incidence of disease and ...lack of improved technology. New virulence race Ug99 (Uganda-99) has threatened all available commercial wheat varieties around the world and Asia. Some of the popular varieties of wheat in Nepal are also getting susceptible to different diseases. Vijay is one of the recently released first Ug99-resistant improved wheat varieties for Terai region in Nepal. Nepal has put special emphasis on the seed production and diffusion of this variety to promote rapidly in the farmers’ fields to mitigate the potential epidemics of newly emerging pathotype of stem rust (Ug99). This variety is being promoted by several organizations and seed companies’ before and after its release. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know the seed supply of Vijay and identify the factors that are contributing for its commercialization. Methods Sunsari, Morang, Rupandehi, Banke and Kailali districts were selected purposely representing Eastern, Western, Mid-western and Far-Western Terai regions of Nepal, respectively. Seed companies, agro-vets (input dealers) and cooperatives involved in Vijay seed multiplication and distribution in the respective districts were selected for the purpose of the study. From the list of agro-vets in respective study sites, a total of 87 wheat seed selling agro-vets were selected randomly as a sample. The sample survey covered 44% of the target population in both categories (dealers and non-dealers of national seed company). Out of total samples, 40% were national seed company dealer agro-vets, while 60% were non-dealers. Multivariate regression analysis was used to find out different factors responsible for commercialization of Vijay seed. Results Results indicate that about 67% of the agro-vets were involved in Vijay seed trading and their average time of involvement was 2.65 years. Majority of the agro-vets perceived this variety performed better than other existing popular varieties such as Gautam, Bhrikuti, Aditya and Nepal 297. However, there was still gap in timely supply of the seed. Based on the estimated Certified-1 seed production in 2015/16, Vijay must cover 56.88% (11,943 ha) of total wheat area in Terai, but share of Vijay seed was about 22% of the total wheat seed sold by agro-vets in 2015/16. Nevertheless, it seems that this variety is getting popular in the study area compared to other improved wheat varieties in short time period. The factors influencing commercialization of Vijay were: agro-vets having dealership of national seed company, perception on comparative better performance of Vijay with Nepal 297, total quantity of wheat seed sold by agro-vets and total business transaction of the agro-vets. Moreover, other factors such as pre-release multiplication of Vijay variety by private seed companies and participation on seed related training have found positive contribution on its commercialization. Conclusion It seems that the current production of Vijay’s breeder seed is more than enough to cultivate in total wheat area in Terai of Nepal if proper seed cycle is maintained. But this is not in reality. NARC should decentralized foundation seed to private actors such as private seed companies, national seed companies and community-based organizations to maximize the resource use efficiency in the seed cycle through introducing effective monitoring and technical backstopping mechanism from public sector. Therefore, the close coordination and commitment of the public and private seed companies, community seed groups, cooperatives and public extension agencies to multiply seeds in subsequent cycles is required. Moreover, awareness program about superiority of Vijay with other improved wheat varieties should be emphasized for the rapid commercialization of the Vijay seed which would be an instrumental to mitigate the potential epidemics of newly emerging pathotype of stem rust (Ug99) in the future.
The sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.), is a major target of transgenic maize expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins in South America and the mid-Southern region of the United ...States. During 2007–2009, a total of 986 feral individuals of D. saccharalis were collected from maize fields in six locations of Louisiana and Mississippi and examined for resistance to Cry1Ab maize using F1/F2 screens. Major resistance alleles to Cry1Ab maize in the populations sampled from non-Bt maize plants during 2007 and 2008 in Louisiana and 2009 in Mississippi were rare. From a total of 487 individuals collected from three locations in Louisiana in 2007 and 2008, only one individual was identified with major resistance alleles. In addition, no major resistance alleles were detected in 242 individuals collected from three locations in Mississippi in 2009. The frequency of major resistance alleles was estimated to be 0.002 with a 95% CI of 0.00025–0.0057 for the Louisiana populations and < 0.0061, with 95% probability, for the Mississippi populations. The resistance frequency estimated for the Louisiana populations in 2007 and 2008 was not significantly different from those reported previously for populations sampled in 2004–2006. However, among 200 individuals sampled from non-Bt maize plants in 2009 in Louisiana, six individuals were identified to possess major resistance alleles. The estimated major resistance allele frequency for the populations sampled from non-Bt maize plants in 2009 in Louisiana was 0.0176 with a 95% CI of 0.0072 to 0.0328, which was significantly greater than those estimated for the populations collected in 2004–2008. Similarly, the frequency of minor resistance alleles to Cry1Ab maize for the Louisiana populations collected in 2009 was also significantly greater than those estimated for the populations sampled before. In addition, two out of 57 feral individuals collected from Bt maize plants in Louisiana in 2009 were identified to carry major resistance alleles to Cry1Ab maize. Since 2010, transgenic maize expressing pyramided Bt genes has been planted in the US mid-Southern region and by 2011, pyramided Bt maize has replaced Cry1Ab maize as the dominant Bt maize for managing lepidopteran pests including D. saccharalis. The timely switching from single-gene Cry1Ab maize to the pyramided Bt maize should prevent further increases in Cry1Ab resistance allele frequency and thus ensure the continued success of Bt maize for managing D. saccharalis in the region.
An antiferromagnetic (AFM) Kondo lattice compound CeRhAl4Si2, which exhibits successive AFM transitions at TN1=14 K and TN2=9 K in zero external field, has been microscopically investigated by means ...of 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. In the high temperature range, magnetic excitations of 4f electrons can be well explained by isotropic localized spin fluctuations. Below ∼50 K, it begins to show a characteristic anisotropy of spin fluctuations, which suggests a competition between spin fluctuations and nesting instability in this system.
Climate change has received significant attention lately as it has adverse environmental impacts. Among them, rising water levels in the reservoirs are of key concern for infrastructures such as ...dams. Dam officials are compelled to reconsider dam safety with the increment in catastrophic floods and accelerated dam failure issues. Relatedly, there are numerous earthen dams in the US that may not be up to the current design standards as these dams are aging. They possess a higher risk of failure due to various factors such as defects in design geometry, geologic materials, and hydrologic deficiency due to extreme storms associated with changing climate. Hence, this study focuses on evaluating the impacts of climate change on earthen dams and spillways by conducting a post-failure analysis of the two cascading dams, Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam, located in Michigan, USA, that failed in series in May 2020. The study aims to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to identify the role of climate change on recent dam failures of Edenville and Sanford, 2) to perform a Windows Dam Analysis Modules (WinDAM) C simulation for the failure analysis of the two dams, and 3) to perform Hydrologic Engineering Center - River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) simulation for the failure analysis of both dams by observing downstream propagation of flood with the detailed evaluation of depth and velocity. The overall results show that extreme storms and flooding are associated with the increase in temperature and precipitation rates, impacting overall dam safety. Careful precautions should be undertaken before any of these catastrophic dam events occur. The analysis is useful for the dam agencies as they reconsider their guidelines and policies for future updates.
The Government of Nepal promulgated health as a human right via Interim constitution and implemented Free Health Service Program in 2008 as a commitment to universalize basic health care services. ...So, the aim of this study was to understand reported access to medicine and health care services received by outpatients in public primary facilities.
The study followed cross sectional study design. Two hundred and thirty-four For data 234 out patients were interviewed on the day of the field visit in March and October 2014 across 28 primary health facilities of seven purposively selected districts representing three ecological belts and five development regions of the country.
Our study revealed that the average number of medicines prescribed per patient was 2.65 per case in primary public health facilities, of which 91.2% were dispensed. Around 86.6% dispensed medicines were appropriately labeled and 84% of outpatients had proper knowledge of dosage and timing of medicine use. Around 55.6% of outpatients purchased some or all prescribed medicines from nearby private facilities which were not available in public facilities. Around 40% of them travelled more than half an hour to reach the facility.
The gap in medicines prescribed and dispensed, Out of Pocket expenditure coupled with opportunity cost of travelling, appear as hurdles in access to basic health care services. So increasing free medicines list in public primary facilities with all round the year availability might answer major part of the problem.
The adsorption behavior of lead (II), zinc (II) and copper (II) on crosslinked pectic and alginic acids, and their amide derivatives form has been investigated. The selectivity order for metal ion ...uptake is lead (II) > copper (II) > zinc (II). The nature of such acidic polysaccharides for the removal of lead (II) ion was examined through batch wise tests and column tests and compared with that for the commercially available weakly acidic cation exchange DIAION WK resins. The experimental results revealed that chemically modified acidic polysaccharides exhibit much better separation performance compared to the latter, which suggests a high possibility of their applications in the practical separation and purification of lead (II) ion.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium, is an important quarantine pest of stored-products. While it is not established in the North America, frequent interceptions highlight the need for treatments ...to eradicate isolated populations if they occur. Methyl bromide has long been the standard fumigant used for this purpose; however, increasing restrictions on its use necessitate the development of new treatment options. Here we evaluate a treatment for khapra beetle using a combination of sulfuryl fluoride (SF) and propylene oxide (PPO). Experiments were conducted to determine the most tolerant stages and the effective rates for each compound. Combination treatments using both products were then evaluated at several temperatures to determine effective doses for quarantine level control. The egg stage was by far the most tolerant to SF, requiring concentration × time (CT) products roughly 10-fold greater than the next most tolerant stage, diapausing larvae. Diapausing larvae were significantly more tolerant to SF than non-diapausing larvae in a recently collected ‘field' strain, but not in a more than 30-yr-old ‘laboratory’ culture. PPO treatments were shown to completely control the egg stage at CTs greater than 155 hr-mgL-1 at both 10 and 20°C. Resulting combination treatments with initial dose rates of 96 and 40 mgL-1 at 10°C and 80 and 40 mgL-1 at 20°C are proposed for SF and PPO, respectively.These combination treatments utilize SF's efficacy against the larval stage along with PPO's superior ovicidal properties to provide enhanced treatment efficacy over each product alone against all life stages of khapra beetle.
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