University of Burdwan

About: University of Burdwan is a education organization based out in Barddhamān, West Bengal, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nanocrystalline material. The organization has 2492 authors who have published 5389 publications receiving 74865 citations. The organization is also known as: BU & Burdwan University.

Influence of Captan on some microorganisms and microbial processes related to the nitrogen cycle

Abstract: Captan was applied to laboratory-incubated agricultural soil and to bacterial cultures to determine its effects on total counts of soil microorganisms, nitrification, ammonification of urea and asymbiotic dinitrogen fixation.

Antioxidant properties of the carotenoid extracts of three Deinococcus–Thermus phylum bacteria, Meiothermus sp. strains RP and TP and Thermus sp. strain YY from Paniphala hot spring, India

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to extract carotenoids from thermophilic bacteria which show efficient antioxidant and protein oxidation inhibition properties, characterize and identify those isolates, extract the carotenoids in different solvents, quantify the carotenoids and perform concentration-dependent and solvent-dependent quantitative assays validated and analysed by appropriate statistical tests. Three pigment-forming thermophilic strains were isolated from water sample of Paniphala hot spring, India, and tentatively identified by 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) homology. Different concentrations of the carotenoid extracts (100, 80, 40 and 20 μg) in three solvents, methanol, DMSO and water, were used to determine the antioxidant activity through five methods: the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay, the ABTS (2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenz-thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) assay, the hydrogen peroxide assay, TOC (total antioxidant capacity) assay and inhibition of protein oxidation assay. Statistical analysis of mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient was performed in Microsoft Excel statistical package. The isolates were tentatively identified as Meiothermus sp. strain RP, Meiothermus sp. strain TP and Thermus strain YY. Meiothermus sp. formed red coloured pigment, whereas Thermus sp. formed yellow coloured pigment. All of the extracts showed positive results in DPPH assay, ABTS assay and hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay with best results obtained when the extracts were dissolved in water. Total antioxidant capacity assay was also high in all the extracts. Protein oxidation inhibition activity was only seen in extracts of strain YY. One-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) clearly showed that choice of solvent influenced the antioxidant capacity of all of the extracts. Newer and efficient antioxidative compounds are constantly being searched for, and the carotenoid extracts of RP, TP and YY have been shown to catalyze various types of antioxidative reactions, including protein oxidation inhibition by YY. Thus, all these extracts have huge potential to be industrially and pharmaceutically useful.

Potentiality of a fruit peel (banana peel) toward abatement of fluoride from synthetic and underground water samples collected from fluoride affected villages of Birbhum district

Abstract: Contamination of underground water with fluoride (F) is a tremendous health hazard. Excessive F (> 1.5 mg/L) in drinking water can cause both dental and skeletal fluorosis. A fixed-bed column experiments were carried out with the operating variables such as different initial F concentrations, bed depths, pH and flow rates. Results revealed that the breakthrough time and exhaustion time decrease with increasing flow rate, decreasing bed depth and increasing influent fluoride concentration. The optimized conditions are: 10 mg/L initial fluoride concentration; flow rate 3.4 mL/min, bed depth 3.5 and pH 5. The bed depth service time model and the Thomas model were applied to the experimental results. Both the models were in good agreement with the experimental data for all the process parameters studied except flow rate, indicating that the models were appropriate for removal of F by natural banana peel dust in fix-bed design. Moreover, column adsorption was reversible and the regeneration was accomplished by pumping of 0.1 M NaOH through the loaded banana peel dust column. On the other hand, field water sample analysis data revealed that 86.5% fluoride can be removed under such optimized conditions. From the experimental results, it may be inferred that natural banana peel dust is an effective adsorbent for defluoridation of water.

Comparative evaluation of various approaches for landslide hazard zoning: a critical review in Indian perspectives

Abstract: The progress of geospatial technique can help to minimise the losses as it emerges as a powerful technique for mapping landslide hazard zonation. Different researchers use different methods for landslide hazard assessment. But, there is not a single method which has been universally accepted for effective assessment of landslide hazard. In Indian subcontinent, 12.6% of land area is susceptible to landslide hazard and the estimated total economic damage due to landslide hazard is 4,500,000US$. This review article represents the temporal development of different methodologies towards landslide hazard zonation up to a recent year and their advantages and disadvantages. The review indicates that mostly three methods i.e., knowledge driven, data driven and physical based method are followed among which, knowledge driven and bivariate analysis are mostly used during last decade but from the twenty-first century onwards multivariate statistical modelling is mostly popularised as it gives the most accurate result of landslide hazard zonation in comparison to other methods. Geospatial modelling of landslide susceptibility is useful for monitoring, mapping and formulating proper management plans that will be helpful for future landslide mitigation measures.