Archives-December 

Probing biomolecules by ultrasonic techniques is novel and powerful tool for characterizing their physico-chemical properties. Peptides find wide applications in drug production and as an ingredient in nutritional supplements. Glycyl-L-Glycine is the simplest dipeptide used in biochemical research and in the preparation of biodegradable polymers. Measurement of ultrasonic velocity plays an important role in the study of transport propeties of liquids/solution. In the present work, the acoustic and transport properties such as adiabatic compressibility, specific acoustic impedance, intermolecular free length, internal presure and free volume are computed for various molalities and at various temperatures. The results are analysed on the basis of solute-solvent interactions.

Helwan named one of the important cities of the Sassanian period (652-226 AD) the building is attributed to G. Sasanian. The provincial capital city called "Shazfyrvz" It has been five Tasoojs to "win Quazi" "Mountains," "Symr", "Erbil" and "Khanaqin" has taken on. In this study, some of the specification gay nature and the source of ancient city located at the Bridge drainage analysis and the study of their nature and characteristics of the formation of the bridge, drainage, and religious minorities in the city explains the result religious formation and location of the city is reached.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality that is characterized by fever, lymphadenopathy and hepato-splenomegaly. Hepatic toxicity greatly contributes to VL morbidity. This study aimed to evaluate liver damage in Sudanese patients with VL as evidenced by apoptosis and lipid metabolism derangement. In a prospective analytical, hospital-based and case-controlled study and following informed consent, eighty patients with parasitologically confirmed visceral leishmaniasis and eighty apparently healthy age and sex unmatched volunteers [comparators] were enrolled in the study. Serum cytochrome C was measured by ELISA while serum lipids were measured using BioSystems A15 Chemistry Auto-analyzer. Cytochrome C concentrations in VL patients were significantly higher compared to apparently healthy volunteers with no significant difference between pre and post-treatment samples. Patients with VL showed marked hypo-cholestereamia, very low serum levels of LDL and HDL with most patients showing markedly increased triglycerides levels. Deranged lipid metabolism in VL patients could be due to hepatotoxicity or sequestration and/or degradation of lipoproteins in enlarged livers and spleens. In conclusion, hypocholestereamia, low levels of LDL/HDL, high triglycerides levels and increased serum cytochrome C are important features of hepatotoxicity in VL. Increased serum cytochrome C level is probably an important surrogate marker of hepatocytes apoptosis.

Green building research and construction is getting day by day a place in construction industry worldwide. With augmenting issues of environment and growing concern over climate change, a social sustainable green building research is getting importance. However, construction of green buildings still encounters impediments, as there is a lack of proper framework and research. The present study aims to identify common barriers encountered and social factors which are important for the sustainability of green building research. The findings from this review reveal that, although project cost is the paramount barrier among others, there is no paucity in sustainable knowledge in construction industry. Furthermore, a sustainable green building research (SGBR) framework for green building construction should be developed to overcome the barriers.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an important African cereal crop and is listed among Africa’s lost crops but is now gaining popularity as other cereals are declining in production due to climatic change. To promote food security, many researchers and policy makers are shifting the focus on production of sorghum. In Kenya, sorghum is primarily grown in ASALs whose suitability is climatic factors but the extent is not known. This paper modeled the potential sorghum suitable areas of current and the years 2050 and 2080 climatic periods. The sorghum location data were downloaded from GENESYS and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute while climate data was from world climate database website. Analysis was done using Maxent and DIVA-GIS softwares. The model generated an excellent AUC of 0.97 and the suitable areas in the future are shown to expand in both 2050 and 2080 climatic periods though not in same magnitude. The main variables contributing more than 10 % of change in suitability areas in decreasing order are precipitation of wettest period, temperature seasonality (STD * 100), precipitation of warmest quarter, and precipitation of driest month. The generated information will guide the policy makers and stakeholders in making informed decisions with regard to the efforts of re-introduction and promotion of sorghum production in ASALs.

Cut twigs with fresh leaf of Som plant (PerseabombycinaKost) are used in indoor rearing of Muga Silkworm (Antheraeaassamensis) as food. Through the consumption of leaf the silkworm get required water content and nutrients for their normal metabolic activities for growth and development. A number of chemicals in single and combination were tested as water solutions keeping the twigs lower cut ends dip in solution inside bottles. Sucrose and gibber relic acid solutions are found to keep the leaf fresh for considerable period. Sucrose at a concentration of 40 g per liter of distilled water keep leafs fresh up to 96 hours. This concentration of the solution has a pH value of 3.25. Gibber relic acid solution at the concentration of 0.01 g per liter of distilled water with pH measuring 4.00 keeps leafs fresh for 36 hours. The best concentrations of these two chemicals were also worked out to be 4% for sucrose and 0.015% for gibber relic acid that give a pH value of 4.2 in distilled water. This concentration of gibber relic acid keeps Som plan leafs fresh for 48 hours.

The quest for a versatile standardization method for Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Technique has been the major driving force behind many research works for the past few decades. The key factor is the desire to overcome the limitation of dependence on multi-elemental standards without sacrificing analytical accuracy and experimental simplicity. Appraisal of the different approaches towards standardization of Neutron Activation Analysis has been carried out; re-visiting the strengths and weaknesses of each standardization method. k0-standardization method is proposed to be the most suitable for its robustness and for providing remedy to the drawbacks in other methods. The basic principle of Neutron Activation Analysis and the superior qualities of k0-standardization has been reviewed.

In recent years, preparation of polymer materials either soluble or insoluble in water with various functional groups has been developed, which can absorb metal ions in aqueous and non-aqueous media. In general, functionalized polymers for metal ion complexation can be prepared either by derivation of a basic polymer (precursor) with the desired ligand or by polymerization of the corresponding ligand derivatives. Among functionalized polymers, those containing EDTA have attracted much attention. EDTA with amino carboxylic acid groups can be introduced into or graft onto the backbone of polymer chains. Polymers bearing such groups can form stable complexes with various heavy metal ions. Therefore, we attempted to prepare new complexing polymer materials, which can be used in wastewater treatment. The synthesised random copolyesters were characterized by viscosity measurements, solubility studies, and spectral analysis. Thermal studies were also made on these copolyesters.

4-aminopyridinium oxalate (4APO), an organic nonlinear optical single crystal has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies were carried out to determine the unit cell parameters.4APO crystallizes in monoclinic system. The grown crystal has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared and UV-Visible spectral studies. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) have been carried out to study the thermal behavior of the grown crystal. The mechanical stability of the grown crystal has been studied by using Vickers microhardness test. The Kurtz and Perry powder SHG technique confirms the NLO property of the grown crystal.

Benzotriazole has been prepared as a corrosion inhibitor to control the rate of corrosion. This compound has been investigated as corrosion inhibitor at room temperature for preventing mild steel corrosion in Sulphuric acid medium at different concentration at two hour time interval by weight loss method. The result showed that the corrosion inhibition efficiency of these compounds was found to vary with Sulphuric acid concentration. Also, it was found that the corrosion inhibition behavior of Benzotriazole is greater in 1M H2SO4 when compared to 2M H2SO4 at two hour time interval. So Benzotriazole can be used has a good inhibitor for preventing mild steel material for many construction purpose.