Advances in Research

The MarkSim climate data generator is designed to have global validity in scales of up to five degrees. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the MarkSim-HadGEM2-ES and MarkSim-MIROC5 models to estimate average rainfall in the last agricultural frontier of the savannah in the north and north-east regions of Brazil. For this purpose, the simulated data were compared with those observed and recorded by the National Institute of Meteorology, being evaluated by statistical measures of correlation, bias and performance. The results revealed high bias and relative error, with unsatisfactory performance in the micro regional and regional scales. Calibration by means of regression improved performance and showed that in order to reproduce the current climate and make reliable projections in these spatial scales possible, there is a need to correct the systemic errors of these models.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging technology, which provides network architecture that decouples the control plane from the data plane. Due to the centralized control, the network becomes more dynamic, and the network resources are managed in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. The centralization of the control plane requires robust and real-time security techniques. The security Techniques will protect it from any sign of vulnerabilities associated with the network such as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The problem of the data-plane is that the attack is hard to be tracked by the SDN controlling plane. This makes the switches to be more susceptible against these types of attacks and hence it is very important to have quick provisional methods in place to prevent the switches from breaking down as soon as first signs of an attack are detected. To resolve this problem, the research developed a mechanism that detects and mitigates flood attacks in IPv6 enabled software to define networks. An experimental testbed was developed using sFlow technique, floodlight controller, and OpenFlow version 1.3. A mitigation algorithm was also developed and was tested with a simulation tool Mininet. The real network traffic was tested on the testbed to investigate the effective mitigation of a DDoS attack. The mitigation time performance for IPv6 was 46.6% while IPv4 was 66.6%. Also, The result gathered from the experiment showed that both the response and detection times were 4 secs while the mitigation time was 7secs respectively. The overall control time being 11 secs. The experimental Testbed result shows that the developed testbed outperformed the previous methods with the ability to detect threats on the network faster. The result from the IPv6 testbed is a probable solution to mitigate the threats posed by DDoS attacks on the IPv6 enabled SDN network resources.

Goat rearing under semi intensive farming conditions is characterized by high kid mortality and low weaning weight percentages. The root cause which needs to be addressed for various diseases and parasites leading to low body weight gain and kid mortality is improper housing practises. The welfare of Black Bengal goats as a source of sustainable livelihood is a burning issue since the beginning thus the researchers for so many years have tried to assess ideal housing system for these goats in context to their geographical climate to optimize their production and welfare, still the reports are scarce in this arena. The experimental platform based goat housing system was constructed for 20 farmers with an average flock size of 16 goats in flood ridden Dasmankula village of Marsaghai block Kendrapara district where various families adopted traditional practises of goat farming for sustainable livelihood. This is the first report from Odisha in context of housing pattern of Black Bengal goats where it was observed that a change in housing practise along with proper vaccination schedule led to significant decrease in mortality percentage of goats. The results showed that the body weight increased linearly as the age advanced and the body weight of adult goats at 10 months of age at platform based housing was 9.82 ± 0.74 and 9.12 ± 0.53 as compared to 8.78 ± 0.68 and 7.82 ± 0.42 in mud and slotted floor in males and females, respectively. The platform raised housing system was effective in decreasing gastrointestinal parasite load and thus early recovery from disease incidence as Contagious Echthyma (ORF). Mortality percentage of goat was significantly reduced after adopting the platform based housing system along with proper vaccination schedule due to establishment of better immune system which was directly proportional to decreased parasitic load in this experimental housing system. However, impact on change in body weight was not significant in kids but somewhat noticeable in case of adults which proved to be a great boon for the goat farmers of Dasmankula village. 

In spite of the effectiveness of most anthelmintic agents in use, there is still need to identify more due to their unwanted side effects. Hence, the need to develop more that can be safe for all, cheap and available even in our localities. In the light of the current need for the use of traditional plants in the treatment of parasitic diseases, we have assessed the anthelmintic effect of Senna italica and aimed to investigate the therapeutic activity on Hymenolepis diminuta infection. We described in vivo studies evaluating the anthelmintic effects of the leaf extract at different concentrations in a murine infection model. Phytochemical analysis of the plant extract has shown the chemical components available in the compound. There was a significant (p<0.05) reduction in mean egg/gram (EPG) in one of the treatment groups which was observed to be similar to that of the treatment using conventional anthelmintic agent (Albendazole). A fluctuating but insignificant faecal worm-egg count was observed in the other experimental groups. The results obtained suggest a likelihood of its future use as an anthelmintic agent. Our next plan is to establish animal experiments with different types of helminth infection in order to have the full anthelmintic coverage by the agent, hopefully, before it will be validated for use as a human therapeutic agent.

As the challenges associated with hydrocarbon exploration rises with upsurge in energy demand, the need to minimize risk associated with hydrocarbon exploration if supply is to keep up with demand.

In this work, high resolution aeromagnetic, 3D seismic and well-logs data were adopted and integrated to aid in exploration and characterization of reservoirs in ''XYZ'' field in offshore Niger Delta. Fast Fourier Transform Filter using Oasis Montaj software was applied to the Total Magnetic Intensity grid in horizon and fault interpretation also used to produce subsurface structural maps for sedimentary layer thickness estimation. Direct hydrocarbon indicators (bright spots) on the seismic section was shown using seismic signal. Petrel software and wireline log signatures were used to identify hydrocarbon-bearing sands and determine petrophysical parameters such as porosity, hydrocarbon saturation and net thickness.

The structural maps generated showed: Three major (synthetic) faults dips south and one minor (antithetic) fault dips north in the field; three identified prospective sands (A, B, C) were delineated. Possible presence of oil accumulation was indicated by the combined Neutron-Density log response. The range of values of effective porosity, hydrocarbon saturation and net thickness were 18-22%, 34-58% and 19.1-28.1 m, respectively. 

This study established that integration of magnetic, 3D seismic and well-log data are desirable innovative techniques to better understand and analyze subsurface for hydrocarbon potential and exploration.

Curry leaf, Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel is mainly propagated through seeds, which have poor storage potential due to recalcitrant in nature. The present study evaluated the suitable storage method for prolonging the viability of the seed. The results showed that the shelf life of curry leaf seed was extended upto 40 days by storing in 300 gauge polythene bags at 10°C. However, the seeds stored under environmental condition maintained the viability upto 10 days only. Also, the seeds stored along with moist media have not better way for extending the shelf life when compared with seed stored at 10°C. The maximum seedling vigour and least electrical conductivity and free sugars were found in the seeds stored at 10°C. Seed chlorophyll, total phenols, protein and α-amylase activity were reduced during seed storage and the reduction was lower when the seeds were stored at 10°C. The damage in cell structures was also found in the desiccated seeds that the results showed that the curry leaf seeds can be stored upto 40 days in 300 gauge polythene bag at 10°C.