Ethnomedicinal Plants Used Against Diarrhea and Dysentery in Dir Kohistan Valley (NWFP), Pakistan

This paper enumerates the traditional uses of 34 plant species belonging to 26 families, that are used by the village communities of Dir Kohistan Valley (NWFP, Pakistan) for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery diseases. Some of useful species are under serious threat due to unsustainable activities. Hence, a proper documentation of useful plants with their present status and local traditional knowledge as well as practices is urgently needed. Effort should also be initiated to implement appropriate conservation measures for preservation and sustainable uses of these useful species

Ethnomedicinal Plants Used Against Jaundice in Dir Kohistan Valleys (NWFP), Pakistan

The paper enumerates the traditional uses of 42 plant species belonging to 28 families, which are used by the village communities of Dir Kohistan Valleys, (NWFP, Pakistan) for the treatment jaundice. Asteraceae is the leading family with four species. It is followed by Malvaceae, Solanaceae and Rhamnaceae with three species each. Some of useful species are under serious threat due to unsustainable activities. Hence, a proper documentation of useful plants with their present status and local traditional knowledge as well as practices is urgently needed. Effort should also be initiated to implement appropriate conservation measures for preservation and sustainable uses of these useful species

Traditional Medicinal and Economic Uses of Gymnosperms of Dir Kohistan Valleys, NWFP, Pakistan

The ethnobotanical data of four families of gymnosperms with 11 species were collected from Dir Kohistan Valleys. These are Cupressaceae, Ephedraceae, Pinaceae and Taxaceae. A complete list of the plants is given with their name, family and ethnobotanical use, distribution and occurrence. Indigenous knowledge of local inhabitants about the use of native plants were collected during field trips through questionnaire. The inhabitants of the area have to use the medicinal plants for various purposes and have for a long time been dependent on surrounding plant resources for their food, shelter, fodder’s, health, care and other cultural purposes. Pinus roxburgii, P. wallichiana, Cedrus deodara, Abies pindrow and Taxus wallichiana are prominent gymnosperms of Dir Kohistan Valleys which are not only source of timber but also utilized as fuel wood and for medicinal purposes

Medicinal Value of the Asteraceae of Dir Kohistan Valley, NWFP, Pakistan

The present study deals with the local uses of 25 species belonging to 21 genera of the family Asteraceae. Dir Kohistan valley has diverse habitats for the growth of various medicinal plants. The local medicinal uses include painkiller, diuretic, febrifuges, carminative, anthelmintic, antiinflammatory, aphrodisiac, cardio tonic, tonic, stomachache, dyspepsia, jaundice, leprosy, cough, asthma, ulcers, vomiting etc. People have strong faith in herbal medication by ethnomedicinal plants and women are leading men in applying the recipe for medication by these plants. Some of useful species are under serious threat due to unsustainable activities. Hence, a proper documentation of useful plants with their present status and local traditional knowledge as well as practices is urgently needed. Effort should also be initiated to implement appropriate conservation measures for preservation and sustainable uses of these useful species

Chemical Profiling and Bioactivities of Selective Organic Compounds from Fruits of Olea ferruginea and its Comparison with Olea europaea

This study evaluate the chemical profiling and bioactivities of selective organic compounds from fruits of Olea ferruginea and its comparison with Olea europaea from three unexplored locations of Pakistan. The oil was characterized into fatty acids by GC-MS and FT-IR. Antioxidant activities were detected by DPPH, ABTS and H₂O₂ scavenging bioassays. For cytotoxicity, Brine-Shrimp-Cytotoxicity-Bioassay was tested. The extracted oil was checked against five bacterial strains. Higher quantity of phytochemicals and yields of oil were present in fruit of Olea ferruginea collected from Malakand as compared to other locations. Prominent inhibitory activity against E.coli and S.aureus was observed during antibacterial assay. Good quality oil with antioxidant properties obtained from fruit of Olea ferruginea from Malakand. The comparative studies revealed the same qualitative composition of both species but Olea europaea showed greater oil-yield than Olea ferruginea. In consequence, the wild species Olea ferruginea was found to be economical, wild and drought tolerant. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Development and Assessment of a Hybrid Breakwater-Integrated Wave Energy Converter

Harnessing and using marine renewable energy at seaports is a promising solution to put these energy-intensive infrastructures on the right track to energy self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability, reducing their carbon footprint. This paper presents a summary of the main conclusions and achievements of a recently concluded R&D project that encompassed the experimental study of an innovative hybrid wave energy converter integrated into a case-study rubble-mound breakwater in the Port of Leixões, Portugal. It also describes the prospective studies planned in two ongoing projects, PORTOS – Ports Towards Energy Self-Sufficiency and WEC4Ports – A hybrid Wave Energy Converter for Ports, intended to further develop and assess this promising technology. It has been demonstrated that its wave-to-wire efficiency and annual energy production are 27.3% and 35.0 MWh/m per year, respectively, for the case-study location. Hence, a 240 m long device could provide more than half of the port’s electricity consumption, which vows for the device’s potential. Moreover, the impact of its integration into the case-study breakwater showed that it leads to a 50% reduction of overtopping discharges over the structure, and no significant effects on the structure’s wave reflection, although the stability of the toe berm blocks was negatively impacted. Overall, the conclusions obtained are favourable to the integration of this technology into rubble-mound breakwaters. Notwithstanding, further research is still needed, namely in terms of wave forces acting upon the structure, important for the assessment of the functional performance and lifecycle readiness of the technology, and the use of PTO control strategies. This is being addressed in PORTOS and WEC4Ports projects

Selection of parents for crossing based on genotyping and phenotyping for stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis) resistance and agronomic traits in bread wheat breeding

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm consisting of 45 genotypes were clustered phenotypically using ten morphological traits and Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) as measure of stripe rust resistance. The clustering was ratified by using twenty three molecular markers (SSR, EST and STS) linked to stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) resistant QTLs. The aim was to asses the extent of genetic variability among the genotypes in order to select the parents for crossing between the resistant and susceptible genotypes with respect to stripe rust. The Euclidian dissimilarity values resulted from phenotypic data regarding morphological traits and AUDPC were used to construct a dendrogram for clustering the accessions. Using un-weighted pair group method with arithmetic means, another dendrogram resulted from the similarity coefficient values was used to distinguish the genotypes with respect to stripe rust. Clustering based on phenotypic data produced two major groups and five clusters (with Euclidian dissimilarity ranging from 2.44 to 16.16) whereas genotypic data yielded two major groups and four clusters (with percent similarity coefficient values ranging from 0.1 to 46.0) to separate the gene pool into highly resistant, resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible and susceptible genotypes. With few exceptions, the outcome of both type of clustering was almost similar and resistant as well as susceptible genotypes came in the same clusters of molecular genotyping as yielded by phenotypic clustering. As a result seven genotypes (Bakhtawar-92, Frontana, Saleem 2000, Tatara, Inqilab-91, Fakhre Sarhad and Karwan) of diverse genetic background were selected for pyramiding stripe rust resistant genes as well as some other agronomic traits after hybridization.45 генотипов мягкой пшеницы (Triticum aestivum L.) были фенотипически кластеризованы по десяти морфологическим признакам и Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) как показателя устойчивости к желтой ржавчине. Кластеризация была подтверждена использованием 23 молекулярных маркеров (SSR, EST and STS), связанных с QTL локусами устойчивости к Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici. Целью работы было оценить степень генетической изменчивости, чтобы отобрать родителей для скрещиваний между устойчивыми и чувствительными к желтой ржавчине генотипами. Показатели отклонения, полученные из анализа морфологических признаков и AUDPC, были исполь-зованы для построения дендрограмм для кластеризации образцов. С использованием невзвешенного попарно-группового метода со среднеарифметическими значениями другая дендрограмма, полученная на основе сходства значений коэффициентов, была использована для того, чтобы отличить генотипы по устойчивости к желтой ржавчине. Кластеризация по фенотипическим признакам дала в результате две основные группы и пять кластеров, в то время как генотипические данные дали две основные группы и четыре кластера, что позволило выделить высокоустойчивые, устойчивые, среднеустойчивые, среднечувствительные и чувствительные генотипы. За некоторыми исключениями, результат обоих способов кластеризации был почти одинаков: устойчивые и чувствительные генотипы попали в одни и те же кластеры как в результате молекулярного генотипирования, так и фенотипической кластеризации. В итоге было отобрано семь генотипов (Bakhtawar-92, Frontana, Saleem-2000, Tatara, Inqilab-91, Fakhre Sarhad and Karwan) с разным генетическим фоном для генов устойчивости к желтой ржавчине и некоторых других агрономических признаков после гибридизации

The Changes of Theoretical Wave Power from Offshore to Coast in the South-western Black Sea

This study concentrates on the changes of theoretical wave power from offshore to coastal regions of south-western Black Sea. The investigation also offers a long-term (31-year) wave power quantification analysis between 1979 and 2009 using the SWAN version 41.01AB numerical wave model. The wave resource assessment is performed in terms of its seasonal and monthly variability of wave power, annual wave power directional distributions and the comparison of the maximum and median values of some important wave power parameters in the west of Istanbul a major city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. For this analysis, 10 point locations distributed on two perpendicular lines (KA and KE) to the coastline with five different depths (5, 25, 50, 75, and 100 m) in the areas of interest were selected. The data needed was extracted from the dataset produced by [1, 2] using a calibrated nested layered wave hindcast model SWAN forced with CFSR winds. The results show that the wave energy resource in the study area is high, and the potential locations can be considered for extracting wave electrical power

Dimensionless Normalized Wave Power in the Hot-spot Areas of the Black Sea

The main objective of this study is to identify and compare wave power sources in the high potential areas in nearshore and shallow water regions of the Black Sea. To achieve the goal, 23 locations were selected on two parallel lines around 5 m (10 sites) and around 25 m (13 sites) depth along the shoreline. The data needed to do the required analyzes at these locations were produced by using the calibrated nested layered 31-year wave hindcast SWAN model, which is operated between 1979-2009 with CFSR winds. The wave data were collected at a 2-hour time resolution for the sub-grid domains (SD3, SD2, and SD1) developed for the vicinity of Karaburun, Filyos, and Sinop coasts. HeaveBuoy, Oyster, Seabased AB, WaveDragon, WaveStar, Oyster2, and SSG, the most common known wave energy converters, were evaluated in the analysis. To ensure a more comprehensive analysis of the geographic variation of the predicted electrical power for each considered wave energy converter system, dimensionless normalized wave power and efficiency index were calculated separately for each wave energy converter devices at each location. From the results, it is recognized that generally, all the WEC systems performances are decreasing from Karaburun to Sinop while FB1 (13 m depth) the lowest, and KA2 (25 m depth) has the highest wave power capability. The most and the least energetic years were 1998 and 1989, repectively