Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology最新文献

{"title":"Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) and Blue Pine (P. wallichiana) Forests in West Nepal: Comparing Associated Plant Species","authors":"C. K. Subedi, M. Rokaya, J. Gurung, Binu Timsina, P. Bhandari, R. P. Chaudhary","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i2.51214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i2.51214","url":null,"abstract":"Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) and blue pine (P. wallichiana) are two dominant tree species in the mid-hill forests of Nepal that also contribute significantly to the country’s total forest area. The associated vegetation pattern in pine forests is influenced by environmental and edaphic factors. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between soil chemical properties and the composition of associated plant species of two pine forests in the Kailash Sacred Landscape, Nepal. We used the quadrat sampling method to collect vegetation and soil data. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the relationship between soil chemical properties. Generalized Linear model (GLM) to assess the effect of soil properties on species richness, and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) for species composition. Our analysis showed that soil pH was negatively correlated with soil chemical properties and species richness of associated species. There was a high number of associated plant species in the blue pine forest than in chir pine forest. Associated plant species generally prefer high nitrogen and phosphorus content. Between the two pine forest types, there was a higher number of associated plant species in the blue pine forest than in chir pine forest. The study showed that two closely related pine forests differ in associated plant species diversity and richness. Soil nutrients play an important role in determining the species richness and composition but may not be the only factors affecting these patterns. Pine forests play an important role in the socio-economy from the national to community levels while the associated plant species have more significant functions in the livelihoods of local communities.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75849699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Human-Leopard Panthera pardus (Linnaeus, 1758) Conflict in Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur, Nepal","authors":"A. Maharjan, B. Bhattarai","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i2.51171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i2.51171","url":null,"abstract":"Leopard (Panthera pardus) is a globally vulnerable large cat, widely distributed in Nepal. It occurs in different protected and outside protected areas in the human-dominated landscape. We used semi-structured questionnaires to know the Human-Leopard Conflict (HLC) and people’s perception towards Leopard conservation in the conflict-prone areas of Godawari, Lalitpur. The signs survey was conducted to know the presence of Leopards in the study area. Households were sampled using the snowball sampling technique. The presence of signs such as scats, pugmarks, and scents marks in the forest and nearby settlement areas indicated that there was a frequent occurrence of leopards in the study area. The Leopard frequently attacked livestock and pets and sometimes humans. Local people believed that the major reasons behind HLC were insufficient prey species and human disturbances in the habitat of Leopards. The majority of the respondents were against the conservation of Leopards because of the frequent depredation of domestic animals in the study area. The research findings will be useful in making a conservation action plan for Leopards and conflict mitigation strategies in such human-dominated semi-urban and urban landscapes.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84641485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First-principles Study of Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Two-dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Doped with Germanium and Tin Atoms","authors":"D. Adhikari, Jeewan Panthee, Saurabh Lamsal, K. Adhikari, N. Adhikari, Nurapathi Pantha","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.46717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.46717","url":null,"abstract":"For the study of geometrical structure, stability, and electronic and magnetic properties of Germanium and tin-doped two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), First-principles calculations have been carried out. Plane-wave pseudo-potential method in association with the density functional theory (DFT) framework used in Quantum ESPRESSO codes has been implemented to perform the calculations. A 3X3 supercell size substitutional doping of a single Boron or Nitrogen atom was carried out for the study. Pristine h-BN showed non-magnetic behavior with comprehensive gap material having an indirect band gap of 4.64eV. The doping effect of Ge and Sn atoms at the B-site was energetically more favorable than N-site. The defected h-BN sheet was found to be severely distorted with remarkable alteration in bond length and angles around the defected sites. Ge doped h-BN showed semiconducting properties with a reduced band gap in comparison to the insulating nature of pristine h-BN, whereas half metallicity was noticed in Sn doped h-BN system. Both the systems showed a magnetic moment of 1.0 µB.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"160 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74194606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Essential Oil, Estimation of Phenolic and Flavonod Content and Biological Activities of Ephedra pachyclada BOISS","authors":"Lekhanath Khanal, K. Sharma, Yuba Raj Pokharel, S. K. Kalauni","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.40590","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.40590","url":null,"abstract":"The northern areas of Nepal are rich in biodiversity and contain a large number of medicinal plant species including the Genus Ephedra of evergreen gymnosperm, belonging to the family Ephedraceae. The plants have been used by the peoples of the Himalayan region for the treatment of asthma, blood pressure, and gastritis for many years. This study was aimed for the evaluation of phytochemical, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of methanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, and n-hexane extracts, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) profiling of the essential oil of the aerial parts of Ephedra pachyclada Boiss from Mustang district of Nepal. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by 2,2-dipheny-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and antimicrobial activity by the agar well diffusion method. Total phenolics and total flavonoid content were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride colorimetric method, respectively. The methanol extract contained the highest total phenolic content of 54.42 ± 1.40 mg GAE/g followed by the ethyl acetate (46.84 ± 0.62 mg GAE/g), DCM extract (19.58 ± 0.24 mg GAE/g), and the lowest TPC was shown for n-hexane extract (5.21 ± 1.40 mg GAE/g) of the dry weight. The methanol extract showed the maximum TFC of 33.28 ± 0.48 mg QE/g, followed by ethyl acetate extract (31.73 ± 0.52 mg QE/g), DCM extract (31.64 ± 0.56 mg QE/g), and the least value was obtained for the n-hexane extract (21.44 ± 2.91 mg QE/g). The methanol extract showed the highest antioxidant activity with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 37.81 ± 2.24 μg/mL. The methanol extract showed potent activity against Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) with zones of inhibition of 13 mm and 12 mm respectively. Ethyl acetate extract showed a slight potency against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) with a zone of inhibition of 9 mm. The essential oil contained diisooctyl phthalate (46.90%), dodecane, 2,6,11-trimethyl-(16.35%), dodecane, 4,6-dimethyl- (11.59%), tetrapentacontane (11.56%), and myrtenol (4.37) as the major compounds. The plant exhibited significant antioxidant and antimicrobial activities which could be used as the source to isolate the active natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agent as the drug candidate in the future drug discovery process.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91082082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mass Transfer Effects on Mixed Convective MHD Flow of Second Grade Fluid Past a Vertical Infinite Plate with Viscous Dissipation and Joule Heating","authors":"B. Swain, R. Barik","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.45510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.45510","url":null,"abstract":"An attempt is made to study an unsteady, two-dimensional, laminar, mixed convective Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of an incompressible visco-elastic fluid (Waltersfluid model) past an infinite vertical plate. The reduced governing equations are solved analytically using two-term harmonic and non-harmonic functions. The effects of different pertinent parameters are discussed with the help of graphs and tables. The novelty of the present study is to account for the effects of viscous and joules dissipative heat and a linear first-order chemical reaction of diffusive species and mixed convective flow phenomena on an infinite vertical plate subjected to time-dependent suction velocity and a transverse magnetic field acting at a distance. The important findings reported herein are: increasing values of chemical reaction parameter cause low velocity and concentration, a decline in concentration profile is seen for the higher values of Schmidt number, Prandtl number contributes to more active convection. The application of the present study may be seen in combustion systems, nuclear reactors, and chemical processes. Before concluding the considered problem, our results are validated with previous results and are found to be in good agreement.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88557764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foraging Variation of Bombus species with Plant Families and Floral Colors in Chitwan Annapurna Landscape, Nepal","authors":"K. Ghimire, Anjeela Pandey, G. D. Joshi, D. R. Bhusal","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.43789","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.43789","url":null,"abstract":"Little is known about the effect of the type of vegetation and floral color on the foraging behavior of Bombus species.  In this work, we have investigated the differential foraging association of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) with the specific flower color and the plant families in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL). The specimens were collected between April to October 2019 and field visits were carried out by following accessible walking transects between 600 to 3500 m asl covering different habitats of the study area. The bumblebees were collected by opportunistic methods using a sweeping net. We found that the relative frequency of Bombus spp. varied significantly with the families of local flowering plants and the particular colors of flowers. Some of the bumblebees visited at the specific plant family for nectar and pollen indicating the specific association with particular flower morphology and color. This study, therefore, gives an insight into the differential foraging preference of Bombus spp. to certain plant families with selected specific colors in CHAL.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87240145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Brief Survey on the Inverse Galois Problem","authors":"Bigyan Adhikari, T. Nepal","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.40543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.40543","url":null,"abstract":"Inverse Galois problem (IGP) states whether any finite group is realizable as a Galois group over the field K. It is the question of the structure and representation of the Galois group and also questions its epimorphic images. So, it is called an inverse Galois problem. For K=ℚ (the field of rational number), it is called a classical inverse Galois problem (CIGP). This paper reviews the positive answer to the classical inverse Galois problem (CIGP) for all finite abelian groups and some finite non-abelian solvable groups. We also discuss this problem (CIGP) for some finite non-solvable groups in this paper. This problem still remains to solve, but if we find the true value of the statement ‘All subgroups of order m of the symmetric group (Sm) for all m are realizable as Galois group over ℚ’ then its truth value gives the answer of CIGP. We check this statement for m=1,2,3,4 and 5 in this paper, where we get that this statement is true. If this statement is true, then CIGP has a positive answer. But if this statement is false then CIGP has a negative answer.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89882528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Law of the Iterated Logarithm","authors":"Santosh Ghimire, Hari Thapa","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.45505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.45505","url":null,"abstract":"The article begins first with the history and the development of the law of the iterated logarithm, abbreviated LIL. We then discuss the LIL in the context of independent random variables, dyadic martingales, lacunary trigonometric series, and harmonic functions. Finally, we derive a LIL for a sequence of dyadic martingales.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"304 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74387083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Initial Spatiotemporal Assessment of COVID-19 Clusters in Nepal","authors":"B. Acharya, S. K. Adhikari, Shreejana Pandit, B. Neupane, B. Paudel, L. Khanal","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.42652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.42652","url":null,"abstract":"Nepal has been strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and struggling to contain it with multiple interventions. We assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of COVID-19 in the context of various restrictions imposed to contain the disease transmission by employing prospective spatiotemporal analysis with SaTScan statistics. We explored active and emerging disease clusters using the prospective space-time scanning with the Discrete Poisson model for two time periods using COVID-19 cases reported to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Government of Nepal during 23 January – 21 July, and 23 January – 29 November 2020 taking the cutoff date of 21 July (end date of nationwide lockdown). The results revealed that COVID-19 dynamics in the early transmission stage were slower and confined to a few districts. However, since the third week of April, transmission spread rapidly across the districts of Madhesh and Sudurpaschim Provinces. Despite nationwide lockdown, nine statistically significant active and emerging clusters were detected between 23 January and 21 July 2020, whereas seven emerging clusters were observed for an extended period to 29 November. After lifting the nationwide lockdown, COVID-19 clusters developed had a many-fold higher relative risk than during the lockdown period. The most likely cluster was located in the capital city, the Kathmandu valley, making it the highest-risk active cluster since August. Movement restriction appears to be the most effective non-pharmaceutical intervention against the COVID-19 in countries with limited health care facilities. Our findings could be valuable to the health authorities within Nepal and beyond to better allocate resources and improve interventions on the pandemic for containing it efficiently.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80738684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review on the Different Processes of Urea Production for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal","authors":"Yuvraj Chaudhary, Saswat Gautam, Axit Raj Poudyal, Rajendra Joshi, Bibek Uprety","doi":"10.3126/jist.v27i1.45515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v27i1.45515","url":null,"abstract":"Infrastructural development in agriculture will directly help achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the least developed countries (LDCs) as the majority of the population in these regions depend on agriculture. This study presents the case of Nepal, one of the LDCs and suggests the establishment of a urea manufacturing plant for improving agriculture productivity and fulfilling the SDGs of zero hunger, no poverty and decent work, and economic growth. Herein, in the context of Nepal, we have reviewed: (i) the status of SDGs of Nepal, (ii) agricultural productivity associated with usage and supply of urea, (iii) technologies associated with urea production, (iv) the feasibility of establishing a urea plant based on the raw material availability and sustainability and (v) the opportunity for economic and technological development. The hydropower-powered electrolysis and CO2 capture from cement industry flue gas were determined to be the strategically feasible and sustainable pathway for urea production and consequently, the fulfillment of SDGs in the context of Nepal. A detailed project study on the economics of the electrolysis-based urea manufacturing process is recommended to foster a sustainable development national plan for Nepal. Although this report highlights the various aspects of urea production in Nepal, this study can be useful for other LDCs dependent on agriculture to achieve SDGs.","PeriodicalId":16072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90761798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}