Challenges Faced by Farmers in Crop Management Practices under Environmental and Soil Degradation

Crop farming is the key source of revenue (12%) as well as livelihood (45%) generation in Pakistan. Although it is the mainstay of national rural economy, there are certain factors impede its actual potential. Environment and soil degradation are the most significant among these factors. Therefore, it is dire need to mitigate their adverse impact on crop management to combat the food insecurity. The present study was conducted in mix cropping zone of Punjab. Through multistage sampling technique 120 farmers were selected and data were collected through interview schedule and focus group discussion. Psychoanalysis of data revealed that among environmental factors the rain variation has the most adverse effect on crop management followed by flood, temperature variation and hailstorm respectively. Qualitative data illustrated that from last few year’s variation in time & frequency of rainfall become fashion of the day due to usage of huge amount of ammunition in successive operations against terrorism and deforestation. The data showed that soil is degraded mainly by loss of fertility followed by water logging, erosion and salinity. The focus group discussions concluded that due to bulging of population, the cropping intensity increases which deplete the needed nutrients in the soil. Although farmers apply the fertilizers, application without soil testing is all in vain in-spite of increasing the cost of production. Therefore, it is recommended that strengthen the weather forecasting department and use all kinds of media to update the farmers about upcoming weather conditions

Understanding Flood Risk Management in Asia: Concepts and Challenges

In this chapter, an attempt is made to review the behavior of flood in Asian region and mechanism of flood risk management adopted among Asian nations. Flood is the most frequent natural disaster at present and vulnerability is widespread across the globe. Though, Asian region is on a knife-edge. Distribution of natural disasters in Asia followed by economic damage and human killing is illustrated in this chapter. In addition, discourse of China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka on flood risk management is examined. Flood risk management policies framed by these nations over the period of time are synthesized. Research and investment on forecasting, planning, preparedness, assessment, evaluation, and mitigation of flood risk are explained. This synthesis can present a pathway for better response and flood management for debated Asian countries through filling the identified policy gaps. This chapter also urges a need of holistic and inter-countries research and cross country analysis followed by increased funding for sustainable management of risk

Role of Academic Leadership in Change Management for Quality in Higher Education in Pakistan

Currently, higher education is performing multi tasks for the development of a nation. It prepares and trains the work force for the 21st century. Higher education has broaden the fields of knowledge due to which different changes are occurring in every field of life as well as in the field of higher education and invites the academic leaders to integrate these changes and innovations for effective working in the global age. These changes have created many challenges to academic leaders, now academic leaders are responsible to trace these changes and add them for excellence in higher education. In some situations, academic leaders feel pressure as change management is necessary for advancement, while on the other hand local and cultural norms create some hurdles for them. It is up to academic leaders to motivate faculty members to accept these changes for the improvement of the standards of higher education and also prepare the faculty members to integrate these changes for fitness in the globalization. The objectives of the present study were to know the opinion of the faculty members about the change management and role of academic leaders to accept this change and implement for the betterment of higher education. The sample for the study was the faculty members of higher education institutions taken from Islamabad and Lahore. It is found that Integration of change is necessary for improvement in quality of higher education and it is the responsibility of the academic leaders to play their role for working in change management

Remote Sensing of the Glacial Environment Influenced by Climate Change

Remote sensing-based observations prove to be critical for the monitoring and assessment of cryosphere in the Himalayan region, where routine data collection in mountainous regions is often hampered by highly inaccessible terrain and harsh climatic conditions. The glacierized region of High Asia is also facing the effects of climate change in the form of rapid melting of glacial ice, creation of new lakes, and expansion of the existing ones, which eventually result in hazardous glacial floods downstream. Multisensor remote sensing (RS) data, e.g., MODIS, Landsat-7 & 8, and SPOT-5 XS, coupled with Google Earth and digital elevation model (DEM) data were used to investigate the snow/glacier resources and their dynamics in the Karakoram–Himalaya basins adopting variable image interpretation and modeling techniques. Minimum numbers of large-sized glaciers were identified in the Himalaya range, which points toward higher rates of glacial ice melting in this range. On the contrary, the presence of relatively higher numbers of medium- to large-sized glaciers in the Karakoram range provides an evidence of favorable climate conditions for the glaciers\u27 existence at higher altitudes. A significant gain in snow cover was observed in Hunza basin during the 2001–2011 period, which may feed high-altitude zone resulting in net expansion of the snow cover and ice mass gain in the Karakoram. The integrated use of RS and geographical information systems (GIS) techniques with sparse in situ data is found to be helpful in analyzing the glacial environment in the context of changing climate in the high-altitude Himalayan region

Efecto de la salinidad en la producción y calidad del aceite de semilla de Moringa oleifera

Variation in the yield and composition of Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) seed oil from two differently adopted (non-saline and saline) provinces of Pakistan was examined. Hexaneextracted M. oleifera seeds from saline and non-saline areas contained 33.50% and 32.79% oil yield, respectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant differences in the physical (refractive index (40 oC), color and specific gravity (24 °C) or chemical (iodine value, free fatty acid value, peroxide value, unsaponifiable matter, saponification value, conjugated diene and triene values and  p-anisidine value) characteristics of the oils obtained from both areas. The concentration of C18:1 and C16:0 was significantly (P < 0.001) higher whereas, that of C14:0 was lower in M. oleifera seed oils from the saline area. A tocopherol analysis demonstrated the concentration of α- and δ-tocopherol of Moringa seed oils to be significantly (P < 0.001) higher from the saline area. Whereas, the contents of γ-tocopherol was found to be significantly (P < 0.001) higher in the Moringa seed oils native to the non-saline area. Results from the present study revealed that salinity did not affect the oil content of M. oleifera seeds. Nevertheless, it might affect the tocopherol and fatty acid profiles of M. oleifera seed oil.Ha sido examinada la variación en la producción y composición del aceite de semilla de Moringa oleifera extraído a partir de semillas cultivadas en Pakistan con diferente concentración salina en el cultivo. La producción obtenida por extracción con hexano fue de 33.50% y 32.79% respectivamente para las semillas cultivadas en áreas con alto y bajo contenido salino. El análisis de la varianza (ANOVA) reveló la inexistencia de diferencias significativas entre las características físicas (índice de refracción a 40 °C, color y gravedad específica) y las químicas (índice de yodo, acidez libre, índice de peróxidos, materia insaponificable, índice de saponificación, valores de dienos y trienos conjugados e índice de p-anisidina) de los aceites procedentes de ambas áreas. En el área de mayor salinidad las concentraciones de C18:1 y C16:0 de los aceites de semilla de Moringa oleifera fueron significativamente mayores (P< 0.001), mientras que el de C14:0 fue significativamente menor. El análisis de tocoferoles demostró que las concentraciones de α- y δ-tocoferol eran superiores significativamente (P< 0.001) en los aceites procedentes de las áreas con alta salinidad, mientras que el contenido en γ-tocoferol fue superior significativamente (P< 0.001) en los procedentes del área de baja salinidad. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que la salinidad no afecta sobre el contenido en aceite de estas semillas. Sin embargo, puede afectar al contenido en tocoferoles y el perfil de ácidos grasos

Pair production of heavy charged gauge bosons in pppp collisions at LHC

Two opposite charged new heavy gauge boson pair production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented in this paper. These bosons are known as $W^{'}$ boson due to the reason that it is the heavy version of Standard Model's weak force carrier, the $W$ boson. The production cross section and decay width in proton-proton ($pp$) collision at \sqrts~= 8 TeV are calculated for different masses and coupling strengths of $W^{'}$. Efficiencies for different signal regions and branching ratios for different decay channels are computed. In this study, the pair production ($W^{'^{+}}W^{'^{-}}$) is considered in emerging new physics as a result of $pp$ collision at \sqrts~= 8 TeV at the LHC with final state containing two tau ($\tau$) leptons and two neutrinos (each $W^{'}$ decay to $\tau$ and its neutrino). The event selection efficiency similar to the CMS experiment is used for the mass of $W^{'}$ to set lower limits for different coupling strengths of $W^{'}$ and results are presented in this work. For heavy gauge bosons, when coupling strength is similar to that of Standard Model's $W$ boson, the mass of $W^{'}$ below 305 GeV are excluded at confidence level of $95\%$.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figure

Effect of decentralization on linkage among research, extension and farming community.

Research, extension and farmers are three main pillars of agriculture system and their effectiveness largely depends on strong linkage among each other. However, the existing research-extension-farmer relationship has not been effective in many parts of the developing world. The linkage problems thus cause disruptions in technology flow and lead to low adoption rates, increased time lags between development and adoption of new technology, reduced efficiency in the use of resources, unnecessary competition and duplication of efforts, and increased cost of agricultural research and extension activities. The present paper aims to asses the effect of decentralization on linkage among research, extension and farming community. The population of the study consisted of change agents and their supervisory staff working in Faisalabad district. The data were collected by using &quot;survey&quot; method. Majority (66.86%) of the respondents perceived the linkages between research and extension between average and strong categories. Majority (58.89%) of the respondents indicated under decentralized system that the extension had strong linkage with farming community. About one-fourth respondents were of the view that decentralized extension had no effect while 17.17% indicated negative effect of decentralization on linkage between research and extension. A good number (37.42%) of the respondents indicated no effect of decentralization on linkages between research and farming community. A majority (76.07%) of the respondents pointed out that the flow of information from extension to farming community has improved due to decentralization

DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF PESTICIDES ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

Pesticides are toxic chemicals used for controlling of insects and pests which caused harms to plants or animals. Pesticides also effect the environment as well as human health. They play a vital role in securing of food but they require a number of risks and problems. Therefore, present study is designed to know the pesticide usage and its harmful effects on environment and health of cotton growers. There are 19 rural union councils out of which 4 were selected through simple random sampling. From each selected union council, 2 villages were selected at random and from each selected village, 20 cotton growers were selected randomly thus making a sample size of 160 respondents. A well planned pre-tested and validated interview schedule was prepared for the collection of data from the selected respondents. The collected data were examined by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for illustration conclusions and making recommendations. A vast majority (90%) of the respondents selected the pesticides on better results, (83.1%) on behalf of multinational company and majority (76.3%) selected pesticides of national company and a significant of majority (70%) of respondents used the gloves whereas a huge majority (85.6%) of respondents weared the mask during pesticide application. It was found that a huge majority (81.9%) of respondents had headache effect, 67.1% had fatigue, and majority (68.8%) had dizziness while 68.1% had skin disorders. Govt. should promote the first aid training program for safety measurement regarding pesticide usage and enhance the protection techniques for environment and health of organisms regarding pesticides effect

Acetone-Gasoline Blend as an Alternative Fuel in SI Engines: A Novel Comparison of Performance, Emission, and Lube Oil Degradation

The disproportionate use of petroleum products and stringent exhaust emissions has emphasized the need for alternative green fuels. Although several studies have been conducted to ascertain the performance of acetone-gasoline blends in spark-ignition (SI) engines, limited work has been done to determine the influence of fuel on lubricant oil deterioration. The current study fills the gap through lubricant oil testing by running the engine for 120 h on pure gasoline (G) and gasoline with 10% by volume acetone (A10). Compared to gasoline, A10 produced better results in 11.74 and 12.05% higher brake power (BP) and brake thermal efficiency (BTE), respectively, at a 6.72% lower brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC). The blended fuel A10 produced 56.54, 33.67, and 50% lower CO, CO2, and HC emissions. However, gasoline remained competitive due to lower oil deterioration than A10. The flash-point and kinematic viscosity, compared to fresh oil, decreased by 19.63 and 27.43% for G and 15.73 and 20.57% for A10, respectively. Similarly, G and A10 showed a decrease in total base number (TBN) by 17.98 and 31.46%, respectively. However, A10 is more detrimental to lubricating oil due to a 12, 5, 15, and 30% increase in metallic particles like aluminum, chromium, copper, and iron, respectively, compared to fresh oil. Performance additives like calcium and phosphorous in lubricant oil for A10 decreased by 10.04 and 4.04% in comparison to gasoline, respectively. The concentration of zinc was found to be 18.78% higher in A10 when compared with gasoline. A higher proportion of water molecules and metal particles were found in lubricant oil for A10