Salinity, livelihood and agricultural productivity: A case of Hafizabad District

Background: Soil salinity; concentration and or accumulation of salts may pose severe risk on soil productivity and in turn concerned population and farmers. Salt-influenced lands in Pakistan were spread over 6.63 million hectare which is diminishing the agrarian profitability. This study will explore the impact of salinity on livelihood of farmers in district Hafizabad.Methods: Data of 192 small, medium and large farmers was collected from four randomly selected villages of salinity affected area of Hafizabad district of Punjab province of Pakistan using multistage probability sampling technique. SPSS version 21.0 was utilized to analyze the data for generating logical results.Results: Farmers belonging to saline area communities were characterized on the basis of their education, experience, cultivated area, and method of irrigation and technological adoption for analyzing their livelihood typologies. Average yield of wheat was found to be 26mnds/acre, while marketable surplus was high for large farmers due to ownership of more area. Livelihood typologies were derived mainly from on-farm and off-farm income activities of the farmers. Agriculture farm earning in the saline area was estimated as Rs. 10 to 12 thousand per acre. Contribution of off-farm income in household cash flows was estimated in 79% of small, medium and large farmer as less than 15000 indicating the dependency status of the households.Conclusion: Major livelihood source in Salt-affected soils was still agricultural cash inflows beside their contribution to the food basket of consumers. Farmers were in favour of provision of farming inputs on subsidized rates i.e. lime and gypsum as a poverty alleviation strategy in the area for positive promotion of sharing culture with public sector.    Keywords: Salinity; Livelihood; Productivity; Farming experience; Farm size

An exploratory study of primary school teachers’ perceptions of group work as a way of teaching English in public sector primary schools of Punjab

This study was designed to explore primary teachers’ perceptions of group work as a way of teaching English in public sector primary schools of Punjab. In particular, the study attempted to ascertain how primary teachers view group work, whether they think it may have benefits and/or drawbacks if implemented as a way of teaching English in the primary classroom and what are their perceived impediments to implementing it in public sector primary schools of Punjab To explore the aspects stated above, I adopted a mixed methods qualitative approach for the research. Twenty participants from eight primary schools of District Jhang were selected for data collection. The participants were given questionnaires and data collected from questionnaires provided a baseline to decide what to further investigate in the interviews. The questionnaire responses guided me to further investigate participants’ understanding of group work in terms of it as (1) a way of teaching English (2) the perceived benefits and/or drawbacks of implementing group work in primary English classroom, and (3) factors that may impede the implementation of group work as a way of teaching English. To analyse the data obtained by questionnaires and interviews, I adopted a hybrid deductive/inductive thematic analysis. The initial analysis of participants’ responses suggested that participants had a flawed understanding of group work. Participants’ responses further suggested that physical layout and teaching practices as perceived by the participants were traditional or teacher-centred and that current settings in primary schools were unlikely to support group work as a teaching methodology. The analysis also informed that participants perceived a number of factors in the current primary school settings which may not support group work as a way of teaching English in public sector primary schools of Punjab. These factors included conditions in primary school, poor supply of teaching resources, flawed teacher training, lack of teacher autonomy among others. Moreover, the analysis of participants’ responses suggested that primary teachers work in difficult conditions which do not encourage them to reflect on their teaching and adopt different ways of activity-based learning. During the later stages of thematic analysis, an underlying theme of professional identity began to unfold, which was found compelling due to its relationship with teachers’ apparent lack of interest in initiatives to try to change the current status of classroom layout and use various methodologies of teaching English in primary classroom. The emergence of this theme changed the focus of the thesis, as it was clear that lack of agency, confidence and autonomy were the key to the teachers’ reluctance to engage with new pedagogical practices. It is clear from the findings that for participants to feel enabled to adopt more activity-based methodologies such as group work, changes to their working conditions, better training opportunities and greater teacher autonomy in decision making, both collegiately and regarding pedagogy, are necessary. In addition, teachers’ poor perception of their professional roles and responsibilities needs to be enhanced through purposeful teacher training. If these changes are put in place, teachers may become more motivated and willing to try new approaches in their classrooms. However, after conducting this research, I consider that introducing such changes in the primary school settings in Pakistan would be a laborious, time-consuming and expensive process. In the present scenario, it would be necessary for the head teachers to provide teachers greater opportunities to reflect on their classroom practices and discuss issues with colleagues. In addition, primary schools could engage researchers and student-teachers from local universities and training colleges to work together with primary teachers to ensure that teachers have the chance to have a a broader sense of a variety of teaching approaches and how they may be implemented with support

Heat Transfer Applications of TiO2 Nanofluids

To achieve acme heat transfer is our main disquiet in many heat transfer applications such as radiators, heat sinks and heat exchangers. Due to furtherance in technology, requirement for efficient systems have increased. Usually cooling medium used in these applications is liquid which carries away heat from system. Liquids have poor thermal conductivity as compared to solids. In order to improve the efficiency of system, cooling medium with high thermal conductivity should be used. Quest to improve thermal conductivity leads to usage of different methods, and one of them is addition of nanoparticles to base liquid. Application of nanofluids (a mixture of nanoparticles and base fluid) showed enhancement in heat transfer rate, which is not possible to achieve by using simple liquids. Different researchers used TiO2 nanoparticles in different heat transfer applications to observe the effects. Addition of titanium oxide nanoparticles into base fluid showed improvement in the thermal conductivity of fluid. This chapter will give an overview of usage of titanium oxide nanoparticles in numerous heat transfer applications

Central Pattern Generator In Bio-Inspired Robot: Simulation Using MATLAB

Central pattern generator (CPG) is defined here as a neural network responsible for the production of the timing cues of a rhythmic motor output pattern. In biological system, the CPG is a network of neurons that generate the rhythmic movements such as locomotion of animals

An Insight into Different Strategies for Control and Prophylaxis of Fasciolosis: A Review

Fasciolosis is one of the important diseases of livestock and has zoonotic importance. Fasciolosis can cause huge economic losses due to decrease in milk and meat production, decreased feed conversion ratio, and cost of treatment. Treatment and prophylaxis strategies for Fasciola infection are formed based on epidemiological data. The control of Fasciola infection can be attained by treating the animals with active anthelmintics. The use of different combinations of anthelmintics with a possible rotation is more effective against immature as well as adult flukes. Control of the intermediate host (snail) is vital for the reduction of fasciolosis. Due to the rapid growth of snails, the eradication is quite difficult in waterlogged and marshy areas. The use of different grazing methods and treatment of grazing areas can also help to control fasciolosis. A variety of antigens generated by Fasciola spp. have been shown to protect against liver fluke infection. The crude antigens, excretory/secretory, and refined antigens and their combination can be used as prophylactic treatment for the control of fasciolosis. The use of any of the single or combination of these methods can be very effective for the control of fasciolosis

Catalogues of Efficient Minimal Weakly Balanced RMDs in Circular Periods of Three Different Sizes

In this article, efficient minimal circular weakly balanced RMDs are constructed for the situations where these designs cannot be constructed through generators. Catalogues of these efficient designs are compiled in periods of three different sizes. In the proposed designs, v/2 ordered pairs of distinct treatments do not appear as their preceded value while the remaining ones appear once, where v is number of treatments to be compared

Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance: Evidence from Sugar Mills of Pakistan

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms (Board Size, Board Composition, and CEO/Chairman Duality) on firm performance (Return on Asset) in sugar industry of Pakistan. The data of corporate governance mechanisms (Board Size, Board Composition, and CEO/Chairman Duality) collected from 12 listed sugar mills of Pakistan from 2005 to 2010. Using panel data methodology as a method of estimation Arithmetic mean, ANOVA and t-test applied on data by using SPSS. The results raveled that there is a significant impact of corporate governance on firm performance. Results further reveal that there is a significant impact of board size, CEO/Chairman Duality on ROA, and there is insignificant impact of Board Composition on ROA. Keywords: Corporate governance, Board of director, firm performanc

4-Benzene­sulfonamido­benzoic acid

In the mol­ecule of the title sulfonamide compound, C13H11NO4S, the dihedral angle between the planes of the benzene ring and the carboxyl substituent group is 6.7 (4)°. The two aromatic rings are inclined at 45.36 (15)° to one another. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked via classical inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O, and non-classical C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which stabilize the crystal structure

Energy and exergy analysis of fuel cells: a review

In this paper, the fundamental overview of theoretical and practical aspects of thermodynamics analysis for mainly used fuel cells (FCs) are presented. The FC converts the chemical energy of fuel (normally hydrogen) directly into electrical energy resulting heat and liquid water as a waste products. In first part, governing equation of mass, energy, entropy and exergy are presented according to first law of thermodynamics (FLT) and second law of thermodynamics (SLT), more specifically energy and exergy analysis are covered for fuel cell system. Basic criteria of energy and exergy analysis of flowing and non-flowing system, energy and exergy efficiencies, analysis procedure and models of reference environment are discussed in detail. In the second part, electrochemical reactions and thermodynamics modeling of proton exchange membrane or polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) are presented

Passive cooling analysis of an electronic chipset using nanoparticles and metal-foam composite PCM: An experimental study

Thermal management of electronic components is critical for long-term reliability and continuous operation, as the over-heating of electronic equipment leads to decrement in performance. The novelty of the current experimental study is to investigate the passive cooling of electronic equipment, by using nano-enriched phase change material (NEPCM) with copper foam having porosity of 97 %. The phase change material of PT-58 was used with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs), having concentrations of 0.01 wt. % and 0.02 wt. %. Three power levels of 8 W, 16 W, and 24 W, with corresponding heating inputs of 0.77 kW/ m2, 1.54 kW/ m2 and 2.3 kW/ m2, respectively, were used to simulate the heating input to heat sink for thermal characterization. According to results, at 0.77 kW/ m2 heating input the maximum base temperature declined by 13.03 % in 0.02 wt. % GNPs-NEPCM/copper foam case. At heating input of 1.54 kW/ m2, the maximum base temperature reduction of 16 % was observed in case of 0.02 wt. % GNPs-NEPCM/copper foam and 13.1 % in case of 0.02 wt. % MgO-NEPCM/copper foam. Similarly, at heating input of 2.3 kW/ m2, the maximum temperature of base lessened by 12.58 % in case of 0.02 wt. % GNPs-NEPCM/copper foam. The highest time to reach the set point temperature of 50 ⁰ C, 60 ⁰ C, and 70 ⁰ C was in case of GNPs-NEPCM/copper foam composites, while at all power levels MgO-NEPCM/copper foam gave comparable performance to GNPs based composite. Similar trend was observed in the study of enhancement ratio in operation time. From the results, it is concluded that the copper foam incorporation in NEPCM is an effective measure to mitigate the heat sink base temperature and can provide best cooling efficiency at low and higher heating loads