The Role of Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in the Improvement of Medicinal Plants in Afghanistan

Most pharmaceutical products are derived from plants, making plants an essential source for developing and discovering novel therapeutic compounds. The phytochemical components of medicinal plants (MPs), particularly the secondary metabolites (SMs), are linked to the pharmacological effects of MPs. The widespread interest in phytotherapy, consumer preference to use natural resources, the continuous exploitation of natural resources, the economic importance of MPs in the self-sufficiency of developing countries like Afghanistan, difficulties associated with the traditional breeding methods of MPs, and resulting insufficient plant yield have made wild MPs resources unable to meet the current requirements and led researchers to search for alternative solutions. The application of genetic engineering (GE) techniques and biotechnological tools, including combinatorial biosynthesis, CRISPR/Cas9-based systems, and genetically encoded biosensors to select, multiply, improve the bio-production, biodiversity preservation; conservation of the elite and rare genotypes of important MP species in extinction is considered a possible solution. Afghanistan is one of the main exporters of MPs due to its rich flora. Even though it’s uncommon in the country to apply modern biotechnology and GE procedures to improve MPs, they may still be considered promising methods. This paper reviewed the recent successes and developments in the previously/at present use of various biotechnological and GE approaches for the improvement of MPs in Afghanistan and also to identify the main challenges the country’s plant breeders and/or scientists may face during the use of these approaches to improve MPs shortly

Fintech and Islamic Finance: Literature Review and Research Agenda

Fintech revolution started with the introduction of credit cards in 1960 and have been revolutionized with blockchain technologies. Integration of Fintech based solution with Islamic finance has gained interest among academics. However, the lack of literature evidence on this issue has motivated us to conduct a systematic literature review on Islamic Fintech. We have identified fourteen documents relevant to the context of the study and conducted the content and thematic analysis. An extensive review of past literature allows us to identify Shari’ah compliance as one of the major challenges for the growth of Islamic fintech. In addition, we conclude that Islamic fintech might pose challenges for Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) in terms of operational efficiency, customer retention, transparency and accountability. We contribute by providing insights on the challenges faced by the Islamic finance industry toward integrating Fintech based solutions with reference to past studies and indicate areas for future studies that could reduce the gaps in Islamic Fintech literature

A factorization approach for solving the Hamilton-Jacobi equations in nonlinear optimal control

The Hamilton-Jacobi equation (HJE) arose early in the last century in the study of the calculus of variation, classical mechanics and Hamiltonian systems. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in HJEs arising in various analysis and synthesis problems in systems theory. The HJE despite providing a necessary and sufficient condition for an optimal control, is very difficult to solve for general nonlinear systems, and therefore its application remained limited to linear systems. Yet, the HJE has been studied extensively in the literature from diverse areas of science and engineering, varying from mathematical physics, to mechanics, control theory, and to partial differential equations. In this dissertation, some analytical approaches for solving the HJEs arising in H∞, mixed H2/H∞ and H2 control problems for nonlinear systems are developed. Two major approaches are presented. The first approach is essentially an inversion or factorization method, and involves solving the HJE like a scalar quadratic algebraic equation with the gradient of the smooth scalar function as unknown. Since the HJE is a quadratic equation in the gradient of the unknown scalar function, we obtain two parameterized solutions which represent a parameterization of all solutions to the HJE. Thus, the problem is reduced to that of factorization of a scalar algebraic equation which we call the discriminant equation (or inequality). The main difficulties with this approach however are: (i) even after obtaining a solution to the discriminant equation, there is no guarantee that the gradient vector obtained subsequently represents a scalar function (i.e. represents a symmetric solution to the HJE); and (ii) there is no guarantee that the resulting solution is positive-definite. However, these difficulties can still be overcome by some additional constraints to the problem. Computational procedures for determining symmetric elementary solutions are then presented. The second approach involves converting the first-order HJ partial differential equation (PDE) to a second-order PDE. Then using a suitable parameterization, this second-order PDE is converted to a coupled system of higher-order nonlinear PDEs which can be solved using some available SYMBOLIC manipulation packages or by other methods. In general, there are no systematic procedures for solving the resulting system of higher-order PDEs, but various ad-hoc procedures can be used. This presents the most serious limitations of the approach. Both the time-varying and time-invariant systems are considered

A parametrization approach for solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Equation and application to the A2 Toda lattice

Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ)-theory is an extension of Lagrangian mechanics and concerns itself with a directed search for a coordinate transformation in which the equations of motion can be easily integrated. The equations of motion of a given mechanical system can often be simplified considerably by a suitable transformation of variables such that all the new position and momemtum coordinates are constants. A particular type of transformation is chosen in such a way that the new equations of motion retain the same form as in the former coordinates; such a transformation is called canonical or contact and can greatly simplify the solution to the equations of motion. Hamilton (1838) has developed the method for obtaining the desired transformation equations using what is today known as Hamilton\u27s principle. It turns out that the required transformation can be obtained by finding a smooth function S called a generating function or Hamilton\u27s principal function, which satisfies a certain nonlinear first-order partial-differential equation (PDE) also known as the Hamilton-Jacobi equation (HJE). Unfortunately, the HJE being nonlinear, is very difficult to solve; and thus, it might appear that little practical advantage has been gained in the application of the HJ-theory. Nonetheless, under certain conditions, and when the Hamiltonian is independent of time, it is possible to separate the variables in the HJE, and the solution can then always be reduced to quadratures. Thus, the HJE becomes a useful computational tool only when such a separation of variables can be achieved. However, in this thesis we develop another approach for solving the HJE for a large class of Hamiltonian systems in which the variables may not be separable and/or the Hamiltonian is not time-independent. We apply the approach to a class of integrable Hamiltonian sytems known as the Toda lattice. Computational results are presented to show the usefulness of the method

H2 and H∞ Filtering for Nonlinear Singular Systems

RÉSUMÉ Dans les dernières années, les systèmes singuliers des équations différentielles ont carrément explosé puisqu’on les trouve dans plusieurs champs d’applications allant des systèmes électromécaniques en passant par des circuits électroniques, réacteurs chimiques et/ou biologiques ainsi que les systèmes d’écoulement des fluides. Dans cette thèse, deux classes des systèmes singuliers non linéaires seront considérer, en l’occurrence : (i) systèmes singuliers perturbés, (ii) systèmes généralisés ou systèmes algébro-différentielles. Les techniques H2 et H∞ pour l’estimation de l’état de ces classes seront développés ainsi que des conditions suffisantes pour la résolution des problèmes en termes des équations d’Hamilton-Jacobi seront présentés. Deux systèmes, temps-continu et discrets, seront considérés et, pour plus de viabilité des résultats, des exemples pratiques seront présentés et résolus.----------ABSTRACT Singular systems of differential equations arise in many areas of science and technology, including electro-mechanical systems, electronic circuits, chemical and biological reactors, and fluid flow systems. In this thesis, two classes of singular nonlinear systems are considered; namely, (i) singularly perturbed systems, and (ii) generalized systems, or descriptor, or differential-algebraic systems. H2 and H∞ techniques for state estimation of these classes of systems are developed, and sufficient conditions for the solvability of the problems in terms of Hamilton-Jacobi equations are presented. Both continuous-time and discrete-time systems are considered, and examples are presented to show the usefulness of the results

Flood risks factors and their prevalence in some selected local government areas of Jigawa State, Nigeria

Flood in Auyo and Miga local government areas is worrisome. The location of large parts of the study area is lying on the northern bank of Hadejia River, and many communities are at risk of flood hazard. This study is aimed at assessing flood risk factors in the vulnerable communities of Auyo and Miga LGAs, Jigawa State of Nigeria. A sample size of 666 respondents were drawn for self-administered questionnaire, 601 were fully completed. Data collected were analyzed descriptively for Relative importance index (RII). Findings revealed that, the current trend in the frequency of flood was on the increase, and the year 2012 (59%) and 2018 (61%) marked the worst with floods occurring four times. The major causes of flood were heavy rains (with RII of 4.890), overflow of river/stream with RII of 4.866, rainstorm, (with RII of 4.890), long period of rainfall (with RII of 4.805), steep side channels (4.785 of RII) and mystical beliefs (RII of 3.86). Man-made major factors were discovered to include; deforestation (with RII of 4.389) and lack of flood embankment, (RII of 4.316). Others were: poor waste disposal (RII of 3.915), lack of drainage network (with RII of 3.840), and development and infrastructure in flood-prone areas with RII of 3.733. It is recommended that, proper embankment protection and water regulatory outlets should be made available. Delineate flood risk zones before carrying out construction activities, or rather impose resettlement outside the flood prone areas

Prevalence and factors influencing cerebro-spinal meningitis, in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

Meningococcal disease is a contagious disease caused by the meningococcus (Neisseria meningitidis), a Gram-negative bacterium. Today epidemic meningococcal meningitis is a major public health problem affecting tropical countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, it causes considerable morbidity and mortality. Frequent epidemics and control measures have met with limited success. This study analyzes the incidence, and influencing factors of meningitis in Kano metropolis, Nigeria. The study made use of both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using questionnaire while secondary data was obtained from hospital records. The study adopted systematic sampling to select four Local Government Areas. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select houses for the administration of 384 copies of questionnaire. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics as well as GIS-mapping such as: line graph, percentages, kernel density estimation and regression. The result showed that out of the 8724 cases of meningitis recorded from 2008 – 2017, LGA recorded the highest incidences (37.3%), where population is high and estimated density shows very high cluster. Also, incidence of meningitis, though with fluctuating pattern, appeared to be increasing from 2014 to 2017. Factors like overcrowding of people sleeping in the same room (0.0674) and increase in temperature (0.0641) were the most significant factors of meningitis in the study area. Awareness should be made on the need for a ventilated housing especially during the high temperature season (March to April) in the are