Archives-December 

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the realm of gender-bound language. A myriad of studies in this area are devoted to different speech acts. To expand the scope of speech act studies, the present contribution highlights the gender differences in frequency of utilizing five most common gratitude expressions ranging from least affective to most affective in Persian language. To this aim, the data employed includes a corpus of 40 naturally-occurring gratitude exchanges, 20 for men and 20 for women of academic context, collected through giving participants a researcher-made 20 items questionnaire. The results revealed that there is a meaningful difference between men and women in using these gratitude expressions, in the way that, contrary to the men, women tend to use more affective ones.

Antenna arrays are particularly preferred as they provide flexibility in design, excellent gain and high directivity. They allow optimization via the tapering of amplitude, the special distribution, the phase distribution or their combination providing also the option to generate specific sector and cosec beams for advanced radar applications. The narrow beams obtained from parabolic antennas or from an array of radiators are used to achieve high gain, precise direction finding and high degree of resolution of complex targets. But these narrow beams require multi scans which is highly involved and time consuming. These difficulties can be overcome by providing flat beams which are broad basically. The phase only control allows a fast scanning of the beam without moving the antenna structure. In this paper an attempt is made to design an array of antennas to produce shaped beams like sectors by introducing an optimally designed phase distribution. The results of this paper are extremely useful for designers of antenna arrays for scanning and non-scanning radar and communication applications.

Semi-organic nonlinear optical crystal of Glycine Zinc Chloride (GZC) crystals were grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The crystal system and lattice parameters were determined from the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies confirm the various functional groups present in the grown crystal. The transmittance and absorbance of electromagnetic radiation is studied through UV-Visible spectrum. The mechanical property of grown crystals has been analyzed by Vicker’s micro hardness method. The thermal behaviour of the grown crystals has been investigated by DTA and TGA analysis.SHG efficiencies were measured using Kurtz powder technique. GZC has the NLO efficiency of 72% of KDP crystal.

The magnitude of heterosis in fifty crosses (F1s) made by crossing five sudan grass pollinators with ten cytoplasmic male sterile lines in a line x tester mating design in forage sorghum. Based on per se performance and heterotic response eleven crosses for resistance to shoot fly infestation over better parent and six crosses for total soluble solid, SP 55609 A x PC 8 for protein per cent, 2219 A x PC 8, 2219 A x CSV 15, MR 750 A2 x CSV 15 for HCN content and ICSA 469 x PC 5 for IVDMD per cent were appeared best cross combinations for all three kinds of heterosis and could be used for commercial exploitation of good quality forage sorghum after multilocation testing.

Housefly (Musca domestica L.) is considered a key domestic, veterinary and medical pest, causes irritation, spoils food and also an important vector for many pathogenic organisms. A number of social and health problems are caused due to housefly, which emphasize the need to control its population. Hence several control strategies viz., cultural, biological, chemical control and certain technical customs are commonly used. The main purpose of this review is to highlight different house fly control strategies such as ultraviolet machines, through biological control agents, plant sources chemicals (Neem, Wood vinegar and Basel plant). The IPM (integrated pest management) practices, which can offer relatively more reliable field performance, have also been described. However the preservation of the housefly's natural enemies could be an ecologically sustainable method of maintaining the fly populations below threshold level.

The gas solid hydrodynamic studies of a Flat plate, Conical and partitioned concave distributor is reported. The study included hydrodynamic characteristics and moving pattern of particles in the bed. One of the objective of the present work is to investigate the influence of distributor types on the performance of fluidized bed reactors using group B particles as per Geldart D,.1972. Classification Gas - solid hydrodynamic characteristics viz ; Bubble diameter Froude no , Bubble rise velocity of partitioned concave distributor are compared with the conical and flat plate distributors commonly used. The bed void age is used as the parameter for indicating the fluidization quality in selecting the final configuration of the distributor. The bed void age arrived for partitioned concave distributor are compared with the conical and flat plate distributors and results presented.

A fluidized bed reactor with a perforated draft tube was employed to obtain hydrodynamic data for different Geldart’s particle group A, B, C & D by using various operating condition. The stability and hydrodynamics properties of a fluidized bed are determined primarily with respect to minimum fluidization velocity, pressure drop, minimum bubbling velocity, fluidization quality with a perforated draft tube by changing the total gas flow rate through the column. The result of calculation showed that, the pressure drop through the column increases with the increase in gas flow rate. At about 1.7 Ums some bed instability was observed which is characterized by fluctuation in pressure drop, with increase in gas flow rate this phenomenon disappeared. The effects of perforated draft tube on fluidization can be evaluated by comparing the experimental results by using the Geldart’s correlation with the correlation derived. Moreover the various correlations are derived by using the multiple regression analysis method (Polynomial method) for fluidized bed with perforated draft tube.

The persistent roofing problems of the leaking roof, collapse and the ripping off roofing system and the plight of the affected majority in the past few years throughout the country has prompted an undertaking a roof design verification survey of the affected roofing system in the rural areas of the following state Osun State, Ondo State, Sokoto State, Rivers State and Yobe State. The aim of which was to find out the main causes of the roofing problems affecting rural housing stock and National economy as a whole. The studies revealed that environmental degradation, bad roof construction practice, poor roof design and supervision, lack of maintenance, poor social economic situation and ignorance are the main causes of roofing problems. The total homelessness effect from annual roof problems has been enormous and from environmental considerations logs of wood are wasted on the reinstatement of roofs. Bad roof construction practices were identified during the survey and their corresponding recommended procedures have also been indicated to help improve the situation.

Construction industry is under constant pressure to increase the quality and speed of its construction delivery processes. Construction planning plays vital role in the development of construction industry. There is still a huge discrepancy between execution and plan. Therefore, an efficient and effective planning method is intensively needed to enhance the project performance and to minimize the risk of cost overrun and delays. In Engineering and Construction, building construction schedule is prepared by visualizing 2D design documents of a building project. This process is difficult to associate components in the 2D documents with their related construction activities, and then visualize the construction sequence. 4D Planning technologies, visually representing the construction schedule along with the 3D model components, has the potential to aid this process by providing a common visual language for Planners. The research presented an assessment based survey to identify knowledge, features, benefits & barriers in implementation of 4D planning in construction project. Better visualization of works, reducing the conflicts between the design/execution were the key benefits in 4D planning as observed from an assessment.

This study assessed the role of agricultural information dissemination and utilization in sustainable and improved agricultural productivity and development in Nigeria. Agricultural information dissemination and utilization is viewed as a transfer of messages by various media resources, systems and users. This is normally done through four channels; the individual, interpersonal, organization and the social system. This study was carried out by means of quantitative method which involved the design and administration of questionnaires to 480 rural farmers in Nigeria. Findings from the study revealed that major sources of agricultural information to rural farmers was media (radio, television and newspapers) with very rare contact with extension workers who were ordinarily in the best position to exchange agricultural information with rural farmers. The findings further showed that there are acute missing link between agricultural reformative information and sustainable farming in Nigeria. The study recommends the need for government increased efforts in Agricultural information dissemination to transforming the economy through continued investment in agricultural productivity and development.