In vitro Evolution and Engineering for Improved Ribozyme Polymerase Production

According to the "RNA World Hypothesis" the first self replicating molecule formed from the prebiotic chemicals is the ribozyme. A model compartmentalized self replicating system for ribozyme polymerases is designed and used to improve activity, fidelity and generality of the enzyme

A Phenomenological Study of Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education of Pakistan

Sustainable development in higher education is still at infancy stagewhile the aim was to train our youth to be sustainable leaders forensuring conservation of the environment, society and economy forfuture. The leading purpose of the paper was to unfold the situation offive universities for the level of embeddedness of education forsustainable development in preparing their students as sustainableleaders. The nature of the study was qualitative and phenomenologicalapproach through semi-structured interviews (validated by four expertsof related field) conducted from department heads of universities presentin Lahore. Three themes (along with sub exclusive functionalities of theuniversity) were noted during qualitative analysis of the collected data.The findings indicated various levels of embeddedness of education forsustainable development i.e. high, medium or low in the form of threepillars of sustainability (economic, social and environmental),in theuniversity education and research, university operations and externalcommunity

An Empirical Examination of Relationship between Pareto Principle and Stages of Leadership at University Level Ayaz Muhammad Khan*

The leading purpose of the current paper was to explore the relationship between Pareto Principle and stages of Leadership Proposed by inordinate leadership expert J.C Maxwell. Through a multistage sampling technique, (N=213) dyads were chosen to support this empirical evidence to the theory. The paradigm of the study was positivism; quantitative method and survey design were used to collect data through two structured questionnaires Leadership level assessment questionnaire (for subordinates) and Pareto Principle questionnaire (for leaders). It was hypothesized that there was no significant relationship between the Pareto Principle and five levels of leadership proposed by Maxwell. The results of the current paper signposted that, “there was a significant relationship between the Pareto Principle and Five levels of leadership” Proposed by J.C. Maxwell. All the five stages were significantly correlated with the coefficient Pinnacle (r=.46), People Development (r=.37), Production (r=.41), Permission (r=.42), and Position (r=.46). Additional findings were reconnoitred that, People development level has literature support having relationship Pareto Principle with five levels of leadership

The Design of Novel Nano-Sized Polyanion-Polycation Complexes for Oral Protein Delivery

Introduction Oral delivery of proteins faces numerous challenges due to their enzymatic susceptibility and instability in the gastrointestinal tract. In recent years, the polyelectrolyte complexes have been explored for their ability to complex protein and protect them against chemical and enzymatic degradation. However, most of the conventional binary polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are formed by polycations which are associated with toxicity and non-specific bio-interactions. The aim of this thesis was to prepare a series of ternary polyelectrolyte complexes (APECs) by introduction of a polyanion in the binary complexes to alleviate the aforementioned limitations. Method Eight non-insulin loaded ternary complexes (NIL APECs) were spontaneously formed upon mixing a polycation [polyallylamine (PAH), palmitoyl grafted-PAH (Pa2.5), dimethylamino-1-naphthalenesulfonyl grafted-PAH (Da10) or quaternised palmitoyl-PAH (QPa2.5)] with a polyanion [dextran sulphate (DS) or polyacrylic acid (PAA)] at 2:1 ratio, in the presence of ZnSO4 (4μM). A model protein i.e., insulin was added to a polycation, prior to addition of a polyanion and ZnSO4 to form eight insulin loaded (IL) APECs. PECs were used as a control to compare APECs. The complexes were characterised by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). In vitro stability of the complexes was investigated at pH (1.2-7.4), temperature (25˚C, 37˚C and 45˚C) and ionic strength (NaCl-68mM, 103mM and 145mM). Insulin complexation efficiency was assessed by using bovine insulin ELISA assay kit. The in vitro cytotoxicity was investigated on CaCo2 and J774 cells by MTT (3-4,5 dimethyl thialzol2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. All complexes were evaluated for their haemocompatibility by using haemolysis assay, oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay and immunotoxicity by in vitro and in vivo cytokine generation assay. The potential of the uptake of complexes across CaCo2 cells was determined by flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy. The underlying mechanism of transport of complexes was determined by TEER measurement, assessment of FITC-Dextran and insulin transport across CaCo2 cells. 15 Results NIL QPa2.5 APECs (except IL QPa2.5-DS) exhibited larger hydrodynamic sizes (228-468nm) than all other APECs, due to the presence of bulky quaternary ammonium moieties. QPa2.5 APECs exhibited lower insulin association efficiency (≤40%) than other APECs (≥55%) due to a competition between the polyanion and insulin for QPa2.5 leading to reduced association of insulin in the complexes. DS based APECs generally offered higher insulin association efficiency (≥75%) than PAA based APECs (≤55%) due to higher molecular weight (6-10kDa) of DS. In comparison to other complexes, Pa2.5 PECs and APECs were more stable at varying temperature, ionic strength and pH due to the presence of long palmitoyl alkyl chain (C16) which reduced the chain flexibility and provided stronger hydrophobic association. The cytotoxicity of polycations on CaCo2 and J774 cells is rated as PAH>Da10=Pa2.5>QPa2.5. The introduction of PAA in Pa2.5 and Da10 brought most significant improvement in IC50 i.e., 14 fold and 16 fold respectively on CaCo2 cells; 9.3 fold and 3.73 fold respectively on J774 cells. In comparison to other complexes, Da10 (8mgml-1) induced higher haemolytic activity (~37%) due to a higher hydrophobic load of 10 percent mole grafting of dansyl pendants. The entire range of APECs displayed ≤12% ROS generation by the CaCo2 cells. The degree of in vitro TNFα production (QPa2.5≥Da10≥Pa2.5=PAH) and in vitro IL-6 generation (QPa2.5≥Pa2.5=PAH≥Da10) by J774 cells established an inverse relationship of cytotoxicity with the cytokine generation. Similar to MTT data, the introduction of PAA in APECs brought more significant reduction in in vitro cytokine secretion than DS based APECs. Pa2.5-PAA brought the most significant reduction in both in vitro and in vivo cytokine generation. All the formulations were able to significantly reduce original TEER, however did not demonstrate appreciable paracellular permeation of a hydrophilic macromolecular tracer of paracellular transport i.e., FITC Dextran. The uptake study revealed internalisation of APECs predominantly by a transcellular route. Transcellular uptake of IL QPa2.5 (≤73%), IL QPa2.5-DS (67%) was higher than their NIL counterparts, whereas the uptake of NIL Pa2.5 (≤89%), NIL Pa2.5-PAA (42%) was higher than their IL counterparts. Conclusion In essence, amphiphilic APECs have shown polyanion dependent ability to reduce polycation associated toxicity and they are able to facilitate transcellular uptake of insulin across CaCo2 cells

Effect of copper on the austempering behaviour of spheroidal graphite iron

Two types of spheroidal graphite cast iron samples, one with Cu and other without Cu were austempered at four different temperatures. The austempering temperatures were 250 ˚C, 300 ˚C, 350˚C, 400˚C. The main objective of the project was to develop the physical properties and morphology of the microstructures by austempering process. The tensile strength, yield strength, ductility, hardness and morphology of microstructure were studied after austempering. The effects of Cu on graphite nodule count, nodularity and pearlite percentage were observed. Samples with Cu showed higher values of tensile strength, yield strength, hardness but lower values of ductility as compared to samples without Cu. The effect of Cu on the formation of nodular graphite is not completely understood and much further work remains to be done. Both the types of irons have good nodular structure. Iron without Cu had a matrix of 95% ferrite and 5% pearlite. Iron with Cu % (0.42%) had about 50% ferrite and 50% pearlite as determined by using image analyzer. Thus offering all the production advantages of a conventional ductile iron casting, subsequently it is subjected to the austempering process to produce mechanical properties that are superior to conventional ductile iron

Performance Evaluation of Flexible Pavement Using Carbon Nanotubes and Plastic Waste as Admixtures

This paper investigates the properties of waste plastic film and carbon nanotubes modified asphalt mixes. The composed asphalt mixes have been evaluated for fatigue cracking and rutting. In this research, a total of 30 numbers of samples were prepared with different percentages of waste plastic films and carbon nanotubes from 0.1 to 0.4% and evaluated for dynamic stability and rutting using the wheel tracking machine. Results show that the addition of carbon nanotubes significantly increases the dynamic stability of asphalt and decreases the rutting up to a sufficient level as compared to plastic and conventional bitumen

Macroeconomic Effects of Global Food and Oil Price Shocks to the Pakistan Economy: A Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) Analysis.

This study examines the transmission channels through which the global food and oil price shocks affects selected macroeconomic variables including inflation rate, output, money balances, interest rate and real effective exchange rate for Pakistan using monthly data over the period 1990M1-2011M7. An empirical analysis is carried out by employing structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) framework. Generalised Impulse Response Functions and Generalised Forecast Variance Decompositions are employed to track the impact of oil and food price shocks to Pakistan‘s economy. Results suggest that oil price shock affects industrial production, appreciates real effective exchange rate negatively and affect inflation and interest rate positively. Whereas, following food price shocks, industrial output increases. Similarly, interest rate and inflation rate responds positively following food price shocks. However, the variation in interest rate due to food price shock is relatively larger than that of oil price shocks. Generalised impulse response functions reveal that real effective exchange rate is most important source of disturbances following either oil price or food price shocks. Generalised forecast variance decompositions analysis also supports the findings based on generalised impulse response functions. The result clearly reveals that oil and food price shocks significantly affect output, short-term interest rate, inflation rate and real effective exchange rate. However, among all, real effective exchange rate has seen a dominant source of variations in Pakistan. This implies that supply-side and demand-side disturbances originated by external shocks are the major sources of inflation (stagflation) in Pakistan. Keywords: Oil and Food Price Shocks, SVAR, GIRFs, GFEVDs, Pakista

Facebook Effect on Enhancement of English Learners’ Writing Approach at University Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Social Media plays a pivotal role in this modern technological era. Facebook is one of the most important tools of Social Media which is used by millions of users and most frequently visited web-site therefore, the present study was conducted to find out the effect of Facebook on enhancement of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing approach at university level. Main objectives of the study were to find out Facebook effect on EFL learners’ writing approach at university level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The second one was that to compare Facebook based English learners with those learners who use traditional methods for writing skills development, and similarly, to compare the learning competencies/ abilities of both Facebook users and those users who use traditional methods for writing skills improvement. The study was guided by the following null hypothesis: Ho1.The first null hypothesis shows that there is no significant difference between the Mean Scores of experimental and control group on pre-test.Ho2: The second null hypothesis shows that there is no significant difference between the  Mean Scores of experimental and control groups on post-test 3: The third one is that there is no significant difference between the Mean scores of those students who use Facebook for writing skill and those who use traditional methods for writing skill development. In order to achieve the desired objectives the researcher randomly selected 20 students for this experimental study as a respondent, and then divided them according to their age, academic achievement and their intellectual level. An equivalent writing test, developed by the researcher was applied on the control and the experimental groups before the study started to ensure their equivalence; and was also used as a post-test. The result of this study showed that Facebook Keywords: (Using Facebook, University level EFL learners, Enhancement of Writing skills

Conceptual Content Analysis: Policy Documentation for the Quality of Higher Education in Pakistan

We are living in the age of quality competition, in marketing term, everything in the time is only alive until sustains its quality.  If something elapsing its quality is meant to ending its existence from the world gradually. The leading aim of the existing paper was to analyses the content related to quality and quality assurance process of higher education in Pakistan. The paradigm of the research was interpretive paradigm and content analysis with its conceptual design was used to conduct the study. Through purposive sampling, three documents were used as a sample of the study. This investigation was conducted under a developmental approach and various policy document along with the concerned bodies ‘were used to support the theme of this paper. Multiple sources were used for data analysis, membership categorization analysis for interviews data and keywords in context analysis for document analysis. It was concluded that quality means meeting the predetermined standards and six themes were noted during qualitative analysis

Effectiveness of bagasse ash for performance improvement of asphalt concrete pavements

AbstractThe performance of asphalt concrete pavements (ACP) is greatly related to the rate of rutting. Stone dust is mostly used as a filler in ACP. Bagasse ash being cementitious in nature, and costless waste can also be used as a filler. The overall aim is to select a suitable filler for better performance of asphalt concrete pavements. The effectiveness of locally available bagasse ash is examined as a filler for asphalt concrete in terms of its effect on job mix formula, stability, rutting depth, the rise in temperature, and cost of asphalt concrete. All tests are performed as per AASHTO standards. The bagasse ash asphalt concrete showed a reduction in rutting depth, temperature rise, and cost as compared to that of the stone dust asphalt concrete without disturbing the job mix formula. Hence, bagasse ash can be helpful for the performance enhancement of asphalt concrete pavements