Archives-December 

This paper presents a new algorithm called Firefly Algorithm (FA) to solve the well-known power system economic load dispatch (ELD) problem. FA is a novel nature-inspired algorithm inspired by social behavior of fireflies and the phenomenon of bioluminescent communication between them. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been tested with the standard 6-bus, IEEE-14 bus and IEEE-30 bus system with several heuristic load patterns. The result of the proposed algorithm is compared with the results available in the literature. The numerical result reveals that the proposed algorithm can provide appreciably better solutions within reasonable time.

Some aryl chalcones [E-2-Propen-1-ones] have been synthesized using Fly-ash:water catalyzed solvent free Crossed-Aldol reaction between aryl methyl ketones and aryl aldehydes. The yield of chalcones is more than 60%. The purities of these chalcones are checked by their physical constants and spectral data published literature in earlier. The insect antifeedant activities of chalcones have been studied using 4th instar larvae Achoea Janata L.

A Scientometric study was carried out to measure the global research out put on genus Adansonia. This study is based on publications output on Adansonia during 1945-2013 as indexed by SCI-Expanded databases. It reflected that as many as 257 documents have been published with an average output of 3.77 publications per year that collected 2794 total citations, with an average of 10.87 citations per document, and h-index at 29. A total of 500 authors have contributed to this, and collaborative work of four authors accounted for about 56% of the publications. ‘Document’ category had maximum share (85.6%); the most popular subject category was “plant sciences” (76 articles), and the most common source (journal) was Agroforestry Systems (17 articles). The Universitéd'-Abomey-Calavi, Benin was the lead institute and USA, the leading country in number of publications with 22 and 42 publications, respectively. Madagascar, the home of six endemic species of Adansonia, published only 11 articles. Most of the publications were from non-native, developed countries which can be attributed to the availability of resources and access. Major international collaborations were between the technologically advanced countries and native countries of the species, revealing a symbiotic relationship. Though Adansonia is an economically and ecologically important genus, it has not attracted researchers’ attention so far. Out of nine species, Adansonia digitata has been the most studied species.

The levels of heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb, Cu, Co, Ni and Zn) in soil nd plant (cassia occidentalis) of jega town were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The sample area was divided into five units (JE, JC, JW, JN and JS) using stratified random sampling method. Results revealed significant (p<0.05) difference between the samples in terms of Cr, Pb, Cu, Co, Ni and Zn contents in soil with Cd showing no significance at 5% level of significance. Cr, Cd and Zn levels are of no significance (p>0.05) between the samples. However, high significance different (p<0.05) exists between the samples for the remaining metals. Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed that Pb in plant correlated positively with all other metals in the soil; with higher significance correlation at 1% level of significance between Pb in soil. However, Co and Cr in plant showed significant correlation with Pb and Zn in soil at 5% level of significance. However, results indicated that the area is moderately polluted based on the US EPA standard of heavy metals in soils.

To success in work environments and in response to challenges that organizations are facing, it is essential to combine knowledge, skills, experiences, and views of all employees of an organization, Only by doing so organizations could hope to have the ability of solving problems, meanwhile teamwork is one of the cases that has many things to do in order to achieve the goals of an organization, because it is by team working and the use of various expertise to carry out a project that organizations can survive in the present tempestuous world. Also the presence of individuals with knowledge and wisdom who help organizations to achieve their goals is obviously a matter of great importance. This study is carried out with the aim of answering this question: Do the employees character strengths of wisdom affect teamwork? For this purpose, the medical staffs of Zanjan hospitals were chosen as the statistical population. Group-random sampling method was used to take samples from this population and 200 persons were chosen to collect data through questionnaires. Before distributing the questionnaire its validity was confirmed by the content validity and its reliability was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha which was equal to 0.83. In this study inferential statistics were used to analyze data and review questions, also every individual parameters and their importance were evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis. And finally, the proposed questions and model were investigated according to the research objective using factor analysis and Root Mean Square Of Approximation(RMSEA), absolute fit indices and relative indices of model and the results showed that the considered wisdom characteristics, including love to learning, perspective, judgment, originality and curiosity affect teamwork .

The Land Use Charge Law (LUCL) of Lagos state is a form of public intervention in urban land market to generate the needed revenue for government expenditures, and for wealth redistribution. As a property tax, it was meant to correct the perceived distortion in Lagos land market – a situation whereby less than one percent of the population controls more than ninety percent of its land value. Although, the tax policy is laudable, the society is not always aware of the impacts such policies have on real estate market, yet they are not without implications either positive or negative. This paper therefore examined the perspectives of landlords and the Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Lagos, Nigeria on the impact of Land Use Charge (LUC) on volume of property lettings, rent and other letting fees in the study area. Structured questionnaire was randomly administered on 135 Estate surveyors and Valuers and purposively on 135 landlords. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings reveal that the LUC had no effect on volume of property letting, and larger percent of the Valuers (70.8%) and landlords (88.8%) affirmed that rent has increased in Lagos due to LUC. The paper concludes that though LUC has had no noticeable impact on volume of letting transactions probably due to limited land size and high population of Lagos, it has however led to increase rent and other letting fees in the state with its attendant consequences on urban renters

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of worker remittance on economic growth of Pakistan by using annual data for the years 1991 to 2010. The multiple regression analysis and different diagnostic tests are applied in order to confirm the assumptions of multicollinearity, heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation in the data. On the basis of multiple regression researcher conclude that worker remittances received from overseas Pakistani has a positive and significant impact on economic growth of Pakistan after control for other important determinants of economic growth like household finical consumption, financial development, saving and current account balance. This study facilitates the policy makers, economists and Government of Pakistan in analysis regarding increasing inflows of emigrant’s workers of Pakistan.

In the present study, two cotton cultivars viz. LD 694 (Gossypium arboreum L.) and LH 2076 (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were used to investigate the effects of MS (Murashige and Skoog) and DKW (Driver and Kuniyuki) basal media compositions supplemented with different concentrations of BA (6-benzylaminopurine) and Kin (Kinetin) on the sprouting response (development of shoot bud primordia), morphogenetic response, and induction and regeneration of multiple shoots from shoot tip explants excised from 5-7 day-old seedlings cultured in vitro. The mean sprouting response in both cultivars LD 694 (81.66%) and LH 2076 (79.44 %) was higher in MS medium than in DKW medium. The best treatment for the formation of adventitious shoots (73.80%) in LD 694 was MS + 2.00 mg/l BA, while MS + 1.00 mg/l BA + 1.00 mg/l Kin was optimum for the formation of adventitious shoots (74.78%) in LH 2076. LD 694 and LH 2076 produced a maximum number of shoots/explant (3.96 and 3.85, respectively) when cultured on MS supplemented with 2.00 mg/l BA. Highest root development (62.38%) was obtained when shoots were cultured on ½ MS medium supplemented with 0.05 mg/l NAA in both cultivars. Plantlets raised in vitro were placed in water for two weeks and then transferred to small polythene bags filled with a sand : soil mixture in the greenhouse. These plantlets grew into healthy plants and reached maturity. The results of this study will facilitate the application of mass multiplication of elite breeding material including CMS lines or transgenic cotton cultures.

Dye stuff industries produces a bulk quantity of waste which is disposed off into lakes and streams without any prior treatment  and which has a significant negative impact on human being and aquatic habitat . Researchers were employing various treatment methodologies for the removal of the organic and inorganic waste. Research is going on to develop a low cost adsorbent which could be used for removing different sorts of dyes stuff which is discharged from the industrial effluent outlet. In this study, removal of Alizarin Red S Dye by using Ca(OH)₂ treated fly ash powder as an  adsorbent. Operating parameters employed in this study such as adsorbent dosage, pH, and agitation speed. Langmuir Isotherm fits well with the experimental data and Pseudo-Second Order Kinetics is obeyed in this study.

This study was an attempt to investigate the tourism in Deylam coastal city to determine the ability of this city in the field of tourism. In this study, library and documents method have been applied and for obtaining information field studies have been used. After gathering the existing data and statistics, potentials and tourism facilities in Deylam, at the end each of them were analyzes by SWOT model. Findings determined that today’s tourism is the most important economic activity of the world and on the other hand it is one of the most important scientific topics. Therefore policies, strategies and planning of tourism are the most important intellectual challenges of human science society; as a result it is the focused topic of interdisciplinary fields. Iran is a country with high tourist attractions. From the tourist attraction of Iran, beaches and ports are famous. Among the coastal cities, Bushehr has high potential of tourism. Among these cities, Deylam coastal town has the multiple abilities in the field of eco-tourism, history and economics. After the investigation and analysis of its’ tourism ability, following results obtained: Between the influential inner factor on tourism development in Deyla, 18 factors were considered as advantage and 10 factors were considered disadvantage. Between the influential external factor on tourism development in Deylam, 15 factors were considered as external opportunities and 11 factors were named as external threat. Majority of advantages of Deylam refers to the eco-tourism and economics abilities. Residential accommodation and reception centers of Deylam are not suitable and appropriate for catering of tourists. Deylam’s infrastructure needs more development for tourism. Foreign goods markets in Deylam are one of the most important abilities of tourism.