East Central State Research Articles

Biology, distribution and control of Anopheles (Cellia) minimus in the context of malaria transmission in northeastern India.

Among six dominant mosquito vector species involved in malaria transmission in India, Anopheles minimus is a major species in northeast India and held responsible for focal disease outbreaks characterized by high-rise of Plasmodium falciparum infections and attributable death cases. It has been now genetically characterized that among the three-member species of the Minimus Complex spread in Asia, An. minimus (former species A) is prevalent in India including northeastern states and east-central state of Odisha. It is recorded in all seasons and accounts for perennial transmission evidenced by records of sporozoite infections. This species is highly anthropophilic, and largely endophilic and endophagic, recorded breeding throughout the year in slow flowing seepage water streams. The populations of An. minimus in India are reported to be highly diverse indicating population expansion with obvious implications for judicious application of vector control interventions. Given the rapid ecological changes due to deforestation, population migration and expansion and developmental activities, there is scope for further research on the existence of potential additional sibling species within the An. minimus complex and bionomics studies on a large geographical scale for species sanitation. For control of vector populations, DDT continues to be applied on account of retaining susceptibility status even after decades of residual spraying. Anopheles minimus is a highly adaptive species and requires continuous and sustained efforts for its effective control to check transmission and spread of drug-resistant malaria. Anopheles minimus populations are reportedly diminishing in northeastern India whereas it has staged comeback in east-central State of Odisha after decades of disappearance with its eco-biological characteristics intact. It is the high time to siege the opportunity for strengthening interventions against this species for its population diminution to sub-optimal levels for reducing transmission in achieving malaria elimination by target date of 2030.

Negotiating the Imagined Geography of Europeanness in Polish State Bureaucracies

This article explores how the fluctuating cartography of East and West and the varying degrees of perceptive Europeanness influence everyday practices of the people working in Polish state bureaucracies, who professionally advance European integration within a national framework. While an important part of their self-image is formed through the dissociation from cultural 'Eastness' and the backwardness they ascribe to fellow citizens, they still experience negative stereotyping and mistrust from the part of the EU-15 'Westerners'. Consequently, East-Central European state officials oscillate on the continuum between cultural 'East' and 'West' and constantly negotiate distance, relatedness and thus their own liminal position. By scrutinising how Polish state officials aim at positioning themselves on the mental map of Europe, this article shows that they attempt to escape the cultural pattern of negative stereotyping and mistrust by using a functionalist narrative of efficiency. This is a rhetorical strategy employed to cope with existing asymmetries.

Excess Female Infant Mortality And The Gender Gap In Infant Care In Bihar, India

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes excess female infant mortality and the gender gap in infant care in the East-Central state of Bihar, India. Using pooled data from three waves of the National Family Health Surveys (1992–3; 1998–9; 2005–6) in a panel analysis, it compares female infant mortality rates in Bihar to those in thirteen major Indian states. These comparisons suggest that females in Bihar experience a statistically significant excess infant mortality when compared to female infants in less gender-biased states in eastern, western, and southern regions, but not when compared to more gender-biased states in northern and central regions. An estimated 23 percent of female infant deaths in Bihar are excess. Examination of infant care demonstrates that a gender gap in Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination is the single most important driver of excess female infant mortality, followed by gaps in vaccination for polio; diphtheria, pertussis, tuberculosis (DPT); and measles.

Divergence in Avian Communities Following Woody Plant Invasions in a Pine Barrens Ecosystem

We compared avian communities and vegetation characteristics in invaded and uninvaded pine barren ecosystems to test whether invasive woody plants were altering native bird communities. We hypothesized that structural changes in vegetation caused by the invasion of fire-intolerant deciduous trees were altering bird communities in the Albany Pine Bush, east central New York State. We recorded bird calls at 55 stations during breeding season to estimate abundances of breeding birds in areas dominated by fire-dependent pine-shrub savanna and areas dominated by invasive hardwoods (black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, and aspens, Populus tremuloides and P. grandidentata). Vegetation surveys were conducted surrounding each station to quantify woody plant composition and structure. Sites characterized as invaded had more vegetation layers, twice as much closed canopy, and higher tree stem densities in all but the largest (> 25 cm dia) size classes. Forty-seven bird species were recorded; thirty-three at both invaded and uninvaded sites. Grassland/shrubland birds, such as prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor), field sparrow (Spizella pusilla), red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), and eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), were twice as frequent and three times as abundant at uninvaded sites. Native bird species characteristic of closed-canopy forest were more frequent and abundant at stations in invaded sites. Multivariate analyses indicate distinct associations of particular birds with unique combinations of vegetation characteristics that differed between invaded and uninvaded points. A campaign of adaptive fire management holds promise to restore critical avian habitat in protected areas of this threatened barrens ecosystem.

Registro de paleoniscóides na base do Membro Taquaral, Formação Irati, Permiano da Bacia do Paraná

Uma camada de arenito conglomerático localizada na base da Formação Irati (Grupo Passa Dois) no município de Rio Claro, centro-leste do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, exibe diversas espécies de vertebrados fósseis. Ocorrem formas de Chondrichthyes representadas por dentes e espinhos de diversas ordens, mas são os Osteichthyes os fósseis mais abundantes, caracterizados por escamas, dentes e fragmentos ósseos indeterminados de Actinopterygii. São descritos aqui dentes e escamas deste grupo encontrados na base do Membro Taquaral da Formação Irati.

Studies on plasmids of enteropathogenic escherichia coll isolated from diarrhoea children of the former East Central State of Nigeria

A total of 92 clinical isolates of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli from the children of the former East Central State of Nigeria were evaluated for drug resistance and for the ability to transfer antimicrobial resistance. Most of the isolates demonstrated multiple drug resistance and multiple plasmid binding. Plasmids of varied molecular weights ranging from 1.2 × 106 to 105 × 106 daltons were isolated. Resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, kanamycin and streptomycin was transferred en block from a strain of enteropathogenic E. coli (E3) to a strain of Salmonella isangi. Resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, kanamycin and streptomycin was borne on two plasmids of molecular weights of 4.8 × 106 and 58 × 106 daltons.

The aetiologic agents of bacterial diarrhoea in the children of the former East Central State of Nigeria

A total of 1015 single stool specimens were collected from under 5-year-old children suffering from diarrhoea, who were seen as out-patients or admitted into some of the hospitals in the former East Central State of Nigeria. These stools were investigated to determine the bacterial aetiology of their diseases. During the same period, 401 single stool specimens were collected from children under 5 years old, who were seen as out-patients or admitted into these hospitals with diagnosis other than diarrhoea, and also investigated for the presence of these bacteria. From the diarrhoea patients, enteropathogenic E. coli were detected in 12.0% (122/1015) of the children; Salmonella sp. in 3.1% (31/1015), Shigella sp. in 2.1% (21/1015), Campylobacter jejuni in 2.5% (25/1015), Y ersinia enterocolitica in 0.4% (4/1015), Vibrio parahaemolyticus in 1.0% (10/1015) and Vibrio cholerae in 0.0% (0/1015). Thus, aetiologic agents were identified in 21.0% (213/1015) of all the diarrhoea cases enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni were detected in 2.7% and 1.2% respectively of the control stools and swabs. All the Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates were Kanagawa positive.

Approaches to post-war reconstruction and development: Lessons from Africa

Between 6 July 1967 and 15 January 1970, Nigerians fought a bitter Civil War. The economic and social life in the main theatres of war was totally disarticulated. Damage to physical assets and the infrastructure of the economy was considerable. With the end of the war came the need for urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Federal and States' economy. This need led to the establishment of five different Four-year (1970–1974) Reconstruction and Development Plans. These were: the Second National Development Plan; East-Central State Programme of Post-war Reconstruction; Mid-Western State Development Plan; Rivers State Development Plan; and the South-Eastern State Development Plan. Essentialy, the objectives and priorities of these Plans were similar. The aim of this paper is to review these post-war rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction programmes as expressed in the various Development Plans for the period 1970–1974. An attempt will be made to determine the degree of success achieved in programme implementation and the extent to which people were considered as the central focus of the reconstruction efforts.

The co‐ordination of developmental activities at the local level

AbstractLocal developmental activities involve the participation of a multiplicity of functionaries, bodies and agencies. This demands both intra‐authority and inter‐authority co‐ordination if programme formulation and implementation are to be effective. This paper reviews the performance of the Divisional Administration system operationalized in the former East Central State of Nigeria up to 1976, from the viewpoint of interjurisdictional co‐ordination. The paper identifies factors like lack of specific local development programmes, poor information flow and a de‐emphasis of the human factor in the organizational setting as being responsible for the ineffectiveness of the Divisional Administration system to co‐ordinate the activities of the different participating actors in local development. It is suggested that, in addition to the setting up of structures for decision‐making networks like committees, attention should equally be paid to the process that would energize and sustain the structures if problems of co‐ordination are to be obviated.

Carbonate to Siliciclastic Transitional Facies in Tectonic Delta Complex--Basal Upper Devonian of East-Central New York State: ABSTRACT

In an early stage of building of the Devonian Catskill delta complex of New York state, a submarine topographic high developed 100 km offshore. On the landward side of the high, in an intermittently subsiding trough, sediment from an eastern source terrane accumulated as a landward-thickening and coarsening lithosome (Gilboa Formation) of interlensing gray siltstone and shale and very fine-grained sandstone with subordinate coquinite lenses. Locally abundant in the lithosome are ball-and-pillow structures, thin conglomerates, trace fossils, fossil seed ferns, sole markings, shallow cross-bedding, laminations, and ripple marks. The high was a barrier to clastic influx. On its seaward side, a carbonate lithosome (Tully Formation) formed. This formation has been subdivided i to facies including: abraded calcarenite, chamoside oolite, skeletal calcilutite, barren shaly calcilutite, mound calcilutite, back-mound calcilutite, and encrinite. The effect of combined intermittent subsidence in the basin-margin trough and variation in rate of terrigenous influx is well expressed in the seaward part of the siliciclastic lithosome. Rapid subsidence and low terrigenous influx finally resulted in a short-lived carbonate transgression across the barrier prior to overwhelming of the shelf by terrigenous influx. End_of_Article - Last_Page 270------------

Recent Seismicity In North- And East-Central New York State

Between June 1981 and July 1983, 28 microearthquakes were recorded in north- and east-central New York State by a new network of seismic stations. These events ranged in size from about magnitude 1 to 3. Calculated focal depths are generally less than 9 km except in the vicinity of East Berne, New York, where depths of 13 to 19 km are determined. Of the 28 located earthquakes, 18 are associated with six sequences in which multiple events cluster in space and time. Fault plane solutions for three events in east-central New York indicate thrust faulting on northerly to northwesterly striking planes. A solution for one event in north-central New York exhibits a combination of dip-slip and strike-slip faulting. The horizontal projection of the P-axis for all four events is oriented in an east-northeast to northeast direction, although for the northcentral event it has a moderate plunge. The direction of maximum compressive stress inferred from these new solutions is consistent with the results of others for northern and western New York State, and suggests a uniform stress domain exists over much of the state.

Assessing the vocational maturity of students in the East Central State of Nigeria

This study surveyed the vocational developmental pattern of Nigerian students using the Career Maturity Inventory (Crites). The results and their applicability to the Nigerian situation were discussed.

Effect of N, P, K Fertilizers on Cassava Bacterial Blight and Root Yield of Cassava

Abstract Cassava bacterial blight, first observed in Nigeria ih 1971, caused an estimated loss of 25 million naira in cassava production in East Central State of Nigeria in 1976. Results in the present study showed that yield was reduced from 10.61 million t/ha at severity class 1.77 to 6.22 million t/ha at severity 2.01. Increasing K content of the leaves by K-fertilization from 0 kg K2O/ha to 180 kg K2O/ha in a soil with 0.25% N, 20.08 ppm P, 2.85 m.e. Ca/100 g, 1.17 m.e. Mg/100 g and 0.20 m.e. K/100 g tended to reduce the severity and enhance the yield. The main effects of N- and P-fertilization at rates up to 60 and 30 kg/ha respectively were not significant with respect to root yield. Highest root yields were obtained with the fertilizer level of 30 kg N/ha, 15 kg P2Os/ha and 180 kg K2O/ha.

Rural-Urban Fertility Differentials in Southern Nigeria: An Assessment of Some Available Evidence

In spite of her population size and relative wealth, Nigeria still faces a dearth of demographic survey studies in general, and fertility studies in particular. Nor have cencuses provided any substantially reliable and/or adequate source of demographic information.! Thus, many of the fertility analyses in Nigeria are based on surveys conducted by individual researchers and by a few institutions. However, these surveys were disproportionately located in South-western Nigeria, with very few carried out in the Eastern and Mid-western regions. Also, whilst the bulk of the available evidence in South-western Nigeria related to towns and urban places, the reverse was the case in the other two regions. As a result, no consistent conclusions have so far emerged regarding the pattern of rural-urban fertility differentials in Nigeria. The two specific studies in which an attempt was made to investigate rural-urban fertility differentials are those by Olusanya (in Western Nigeria) and Ekanem (in the former East Central State).2 The results of both studies are basically similar in that both suggest higher urban than rural fertility. Recent evidence from a relatively wider range of urban and rural surveys in both Western and Eastern Nigeria conducted within the past six years tends to suggest the contrary view. In the present paper, therefore, we examine some of the available (though not necessarily adequate) statistics in an attempt to discern some consistent pattern of rural-urban fertility differential in Southern Nigeria. We must, however, mention at the outset that in order to maintain consistency, we shall confine the analysis to statistics on the number of children ever born a fertility measure common to all the surveys that will be cited in this paper.

Intrapes, A New Genus of Fungi Imperfecti (Uredinales) from Brazilian Cerrado

The great cerrado vegetation of Brazil has a rich flora of small to dwarf trees and shrubs that have thick bark, twisted and bent stems and sclerophyllous leaves. Viegas (5) states that the cerrado has one of the richest plant-parasitic fungus floras in Brazil. Our recent survey for rusts of a small remnant cerrado of east central Sao Paulo state at Forest Park of Mogi-Mirim supported Viegas' statement and revealed among a number of new taxa the following peculiar new genus and species.

Public Education Edict, 1970: Educational Transition in East Central State, Nigeria

The introduction of the Public Education Edict, 1970, in East Central State,* is an important episode in the history of education of that State and possibly in the whole of Nigeria. Its potential impact was not only educational but also political and social. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and examine briefly the edict in relation to the society. Emphasis will be placed on the background leading to the edict, its implications and implementation in a post civil war East Central State of Nigeria, and the variables that affected it.

Family size preferences of spouses in rural Eastern Nigeria

A single demographic inquiry was taken in August and September 1974 in 16 randomly selected Ngwa Igbo villages in the East Central State of Nigeria. A total of 1672 currently married women of all ages were interviewed on matters relating to marriage past and current fertility cultural practices associated with child-bearing family size preferences and practices and attitudes toward birth limitation. Supplementary questions on attitudes toward marriage population growth preferences for sons and birth limitations were asked of 213 purposively selected husbands. The reported mean ideal number of children is 6.8 for all women but the husbands prefer at least 2 more children than their wives. This is highest family size preferences among the pronatalist developing countries. The preferences of spouses tend to be biased upwards if their children or other persons outside the nuclear family are present during the interview. Even when the sociocultural variables of education and duration of marriage are considered the preferences are still high. However the results make it clear that irrespective of age over 9 children would be considered too many or undesirable while 3 children or less would be considered too small or undesirable. The ideas of the Ngwa Igbo wives about what constitutes an undesirable family size is largely a consequence of their very high fertility. Also it is found that Ngwa Igbo women are very reluctant to cease childbearing even when they have reached the end of their reproductive age. This is partly due to the high incidence of child mortality. It is found however that some women would accept a moderate family size of 4-6 children. It is concluded that to motivate a moderate family size it is necessary to reduce the incidence of infant and child mortality and have action programmes to motivate women to want a moderate family size of 4 5 or 6 children.

Analysis and mapping of geomorphological processes in environmental management

The paper explains some detailed geomorphological maps of Italy that offer a global vision of the relief forms of actual morphogenetic processes and of traces of those which have been followed in the past and give indications about the evolution of the landscape. The documents are rigorously scientific, but nevertheless for an applied scope they may not be of immediate and easy practical use, in fact the quantity and density of the data can make the reading quite difficult. For this reason geomorphological stability maps were created, deriving from the detailed geomorphological maps, with a selection and simplification of data which make the final document much more useful. The paper also explains the legend of the geomorphological stability maps, where the unstable areas are classified on the grounds of the cause of degradation. This degradation is dependant on the morphogenetic processes operating and rock type, both elements being essential for the choice of the most suitable and effective remedy against instability. The unstable areas are marked by different symbols, while firm and stable territories have no markings on the topographic background. The geomorphological stability maps are presented, compiled according to the legend described, and derived from the geomorphological maps explained previously; the importance of this type of document as a base for environmental management is emphasized. Finally the author describes also two geomorphological stability maps on a medium scale (respectively on the scale of 1:150,000 and 1:250,000) with regard to the District of Lake Garda in Italy and the East Central State in Nigeria. These two documents have been elaborated in the description of interdisciplinary studies of environmental management, for which geomorphology in the dynamic sense constitutes the basic science.

Does “Professionalism” in Teaching Imply Legitimate Neglect of Student Needs?

Does professionalism in academic teaching mean that no teacher may legitimately offer his instruc tional assistance to a student not his own ? Is the college or university professor's province so sacrosanct that stu dents under his assignment may not seek, or accept, in structional assistance from another faculty member of the same field? No reasonable educator wou1d ever, I believe, consider such a thesis as justified; but there are regrettable educators who operate precisely upon this argument. As a professional instructor in the field of Public Address, I recently found myself academically confronted with such limited thinking on the point, and I believe a dialog of the encounter worth relating. I am certain the condition infuses every field of the profes sion in some degree, and where paramount, affects the students' learning c1imate detrimentally. In December 1967 I was accorded the responsibility of accompanying, as Speech Faculty chaperon, a large group of students from my college to a Forensics at East Central State College in Ada, Okla homa. While there, I was assigned as a judge to evalu ate six or seven students in a competition in extempor aneous speaking. The student entrants were ushered into the com petition room, one at a time, where I presided as sole evaluator. As the first contestant, a young lady, stepped before me, I observed that she was all nerves as she clutched her brace of we1l-fingered 3x5 index cards on which her notes had been set down. Immediately familiar with this common pattern of behavior among many student speakers, I endeavored to relax her by suggesting that before she commence her speech, she take a moment to study her audience (me), look into my eyes, and get acquainted visually with her target. It was clear to my observation that she had never been made aware of the significance of this vital essential to effective public speaking, so I said gently: Remember, Miss ., public speaking is, in essence, the skill of getting the content of your mind into my mind, your ideas into my reasoning processes. You accomplish this by looking into my eyes as you speak those ideas to me. I don't mean a stare, of course, but simply that your eye contact with me is a way of measuring how well and effectively I am receiving and digesting your material. But, Sir, the girl replied, My instructor never told me I had to do that before. Try it. I said assuringly. But if I look at you, I can't read my notes. I smiled, for this, too, was a familiar worry of the neophyte speaker. Do you really require those cards, Miss.? I said to her.

Family Planning Attitudes and Practices in Rural Eastern Nigeria

A survey was conducted in August 1974 in 16 Ngwa Igbo villages in the East Central State of Nigeria to determine the attitudes and practices of currently married women with regard to fertility and contraception. The results revealed that 50-60 percent of wives had ever used traditional contraceptives (abstinence, prolonged lactation, and rhythm), although data suggest that some of these methods may have been used for purposes other than contraception. Ever-use of modern contraceptives (pill, IUD, and tubal ligation) was shown to be very low and the desire for many children very strong. Nearly 80 percent of the women interviewed, however, expressed a willingness to attend a family planning clinic if one were accessible to them. This finding suggests that a significant interest in family planning services exists in Ngwa Igbo.