This study evaluates the extent and degree of severity of droughts in the Sudano- Sahelian Ecological Zone of Nigeria using rainfall data spanning a period of 60 years (1949- 2008) for eight meteorological stations in the zone. The Normalized Rainfall Index was used in depicting periods of different drought intensities in the region. The results revealed that the zone was characterized by larger extent of severe drought since the beginning of 1968 through the early 1970s, and then the 1980s in which the drought was so severe than any other decade in the study period. The late 1990s and the 2000s on the other hand have been witnessing a decrease in the number of drought occurrences in the zone. The mean absolute probability of mild, moderate and severe droughts for the zone was 0.13 (recurrence interval of 7.7 years), 0.11 (recurrence interval of 9.1 years), and 0.08 (recurrence interval of 12.5 years) respectively.

Malnutrition in all the forms is highly prevalent in Cameroon. The aim of this study was to evaluate some nutritional parameters of children aged of 6 to 14 years in Douala. The study evaluated nutritional status of 265 children of 6 to 9 years (63.9%) and 10-14 years (36.1%) using anthropometric measures and albuminemia of 99 children, determined by the colorimetric method. Foods habits and practices were assessed using questionnaires. Statistical analyses were performed by Graph Pad prism version 5. Stunting, wasting and overweight were observed at 18.0 %, 5.1 % and 16 % respectively. Stunting was frequent in families of more than 5 persons and in those with illiterate mothers. There was a significant difference (p<0.001) between the average albuminemia of stunted children (38.1 ± 7.7g/l) and that of non stunted children (48.7± 11.1 g/l). The daily energy intake of the boys ranged between 89.5% and 100.6% of their energy requirement, and that of girls ranging between 100.9% and 114.1%. The foods of those children were diversified but minerals intake were low. Nutritionals problems observed may be due to poor knowledge of food practices and poor food habits.

This paper extends the work carried out by Onyeka (2012), by proposing a class of dual to ratio combined estimators of the population mean in post-stratified sampling when using known value of some population parameters. The proposed estimators, under certain conditions, are shown to be more efficient than some existing estimators, including the usual poststratified estimator and the estimators proposed by Onyeka (2012). Properties of the proposed class of estimators, including conditions for optimal efficiency, are obtained up to first order approximation. The results are illustrated using empirical data.

This study aimed at examining the prevalence of under financing in Local Government Authorities of Tanzania, taking Bahi District Council as a case study. Specifically, the study intended to examine the causes, extent of under financing and effects associated with under financing in LGAs. The study adopted cross sectional design. The case study was also used to get an in-depth data on under financing. Questionnaires were used during survey of 115 heads of households. The documentary review and Focus group discussion were used to collect secondary data and primary data related to under financing respectively. The analysis of data was done using SPSS. The findings of this study revealed that, first, under financing in LGA was triggered by fraud, delay in reporting and heavily depending on donors; second, under financing resulted into a number of negative effects such as inability to provide optimal social and economic services. The study concludes that LGAs are not free from under financing. This study therefore recommends that the council and other actors should diversify sources of revenue to be able to absorb the shocks of under financing and reduce donor dependency.

HRA is the process of identifying, measuring data about human resources and communicating this information to interested parties the major objects of the study is to highlight the major characteristics of HRA along with the practical benefits and difficulties in implementations. The study forms mainly the extensive review of related literature based on highly work. The major benefits of such accounting are that it develops effective managerial decision making, quality of management, prevents misuse of human resources, increases human asset productivity, improves morale, job satisfaction and creativity, etc. The constraints involved are that uncertainty of human resources creates uncertainty in valuation of human resources. Nature of amortization is another difficulty, valuation of human resources, their accounting treatments is also difficult as there is no specific IAS/IFRS for such treatment.

Chemical analysis and nutritional assessment of defatted Garcinia mangostana seeds (DGMS) were undertaken to determine its suitability as an additive at 0.00g, 18.00g, 36.00g, 54.00g and 72.00g inclusion levels in diets and performance of Clarias gariepinus post juveniles. Proximate analysis of DGMS showed that the defatted seeds were high in carbohydrate (71.00 ± 0.79%) but low in protein content (8.10 ± 0.22%). The mineral element analysis detected different minerals with potassium as the highest (270.00ppm). All the fish increased in weight and length significantly (p<0.05) above the initial values though no significant differences were observed among treatments at 49days in all growth indices showing that the diets were similar in nutritional qualities and adequate for growth of fish. Hematological analysis showed increments in the final blood parameters at day 49 except MCH, MCV and heterophils and very high levels of leucocytes and platelets (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed in the haemoglobin content, AST, ALT, globulins and albumin in fish on DGMScontaining diets. Histology showed sub mucosal congestion in gill (36.00g DGMS), severe interstitial congestion in kidney (72.00g DGM) and vacuolations in liver in all groups except diet 4 (54.00g DGMS) and control (0.00g DGMS). However higher survival rates were observed in all DGMScontaining diets than the control

The effectiveness of ozone to remove the organic compound, chloropyrifos or cypermethrin from water at the two different levels of 1 and 2 ppm, for each and different contact times was studied. The recovered amounts of chloropyrifos or cypermethrin were extracted based on the solid phase extraction (SPE) method and then analyzed by GC-MS. The results demonstrated that the removal of these organic compounds by ozone increased with increasing the contact time. The removal percentages of chloropyrifos following ozone bubbling for different periods of 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes at room temperature were 10.5, 96.3, 97.4 and 98.5% in case of samples fortified at the level of 1 ppm, while they were 79.6, 93.9, 94.7 and 96.1% at the level of 2 ppm, respectively. In case of cypermethrin, the removal percentages were 68.6, 90.5, 97 and 99.2% at 1 ppm level, whereas they found to be 30.5, 50, 84.7 and 92% at 2 ppm, respectively. Kinetic studies revealed that chloropyrifos and cypermethrin were found to be easily removed from water by ozone treatment.

After forty years of experiments in democratic decentralization, the constitutional directive was taken seriously and by 73rd (Amendment) Constitution Act of the Indian Constitution, the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were accorded constitutional sanction. In order to ensure effective participation of the people in line with the requirements of local democracy as well as to revitalize and reorient the civil society, new institutions in the form of Gram Sabha were brought into being. The state of West Bengal pushed the idea of local democracy a step further by devising another institution below the Gram Sabha, namely, Gram Sansad to ensure more effective and more functional grassroots democracy. Consequently, people’s participation in democratic processes as well as developmental activities assumed new and challenging dimensions. The present study seeks to identify and measure the level of people’s participation in the grassroots democratic institutions particularly in the newly devised institution of Gram Sabha and Gram Sansads of West Bengal.

The integrated inventory policy of single-supplier single-buyer is studied under orderdependent trade credit terms. The demand is assumed to be price-sensitive stock-dependent. Under order-dependent trade credit scenario, the buyer is eligible for settlement of account at a allowable delay period if the order quantity is larger than that of pre-specified order by the supplier. The objective is to maximize joint profit of the supply chain with respect retail price of the unit and order time and number is given to compute optimal decision policy. The numerical example is given to illustrate the mathematical concept. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to deduce managerial insights.

Power factor correction (PFC) is a technique of counteracting the undesirable effects of electric loads that create a power factor that is less than one. Power factor correction may be applied either by an electrical power transmission utility to improve the stability and efficiency of the transmission network or correction may be installed by individual electrical customers to reduce the costs charged to them by their electricity supplier. Many control methods for the Power Factor Correction (PFC) have been proposed. This work describes the design and development of a power factor corrector using PIC (Programmable Interface Controller) microcontroller chip. Measuring of power factor from load is achieved by using PIC Microcontroller-based developed algorithm to determine and trigger sufficient switching of capacitors in order to compensate demand of excessive reactive power locally, thus bringing power factor near to unity.