Endurance or Submission: How Terrorism Frame Households’ Time Allocation?

Terrorism cause psychological injury, placing an unsettling impact on human life. In Pakistan, the continuous stream of terrorism since 2009 induced fear, expectedly influencing households’ behaviour about their economic decisions. In this context, the study empirically investigates the effects of terrorism on households’ time allocation decisions in the pre-2009 and post-2009 periods to track their time allocation for business activities and leisure. For this study, 200 households are interviewed from district Peshawar of the KPK province in Pakistan, one of the worst-hit districts from terrorism. Findings of the study reveal that in general, terrorism has posed a significant impact on households’ time allocation patterns. Analysis explains that in the post-2009 period, increasing incidents of terrorism triggered fear in the people’s minds. Consequently, time for business activities shrunk while the time for leisure increased. To be more exact, households preferred to stay at home and spend time on leisure activities (with no financial yield) rather than engaging in business activities. JEL Classification: D91, R23, R28 Keywords: Terrorism, Fear, Violence, Time Allocation Pattern, Pakista

Pulmonary benign metastasizing leiomyoma: A case report

Uterine leiomyoma is the most common benign gynecological tumor. Rarely, it has benign extra-uterine growth patterns, including benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML), with lungs being the most common metastatic site.We present a case of a 47-year-old female who, 3 years prior to presentation, underwent abdominal supra-cervical hysterectomy for benign leiomyoma. Approximately 6 months prior to presentation, she was seen for shortness of breath and chest pain. A CT of the chest revealed multiple new non-calcified pulmonary nodules bilaterally. PET/CT demonstrated mild FDG uptake in multiple lung nodules, with no significant extra-thoracic sites of abnormal FDG uptake. A CT guided lung biopsy showed a low grade, smooth muscle tumor. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for smooth-muscle actin and desmin, estrogen and progesterone receptor and was negative for CD117, HMB-45, CD34, pan cytokeratin and EMA. She underwent wedge resection of one of the nodules which confirmed the above findings. A cytogenetic analysis was also performed, which was consistent with pulmonary BML. She ultimately underwent left lower lobe resection and was started on a daily aromatase inhibitor.BML is a rare disease usually seen in women of reproductive age. The pathogenesis and treatment remain controversial. BML mostly tends to have an indolent course and a favorable outcome. Keywords: Benign metastasizing leiomyoma, Pulmonary metastasis, Aromatase inhibitor

Combined use of Enterobacter sp. MN17 and zeolite reverts the adverse effects of cadmium on growth, physiology and antioxidant activity of Brassica napus.

The objective of the study was to evaluate role of zeolite and Enterobacter sp. MN17 on Cd uptake, growth, physiological and biochemical responses of Brassica napus on Cd-contaminated soil. A sandy clay loam soil in plastic pots was spiked with Cd (0 and 80 mg kg-1) and amended with zeolite (0 and 10 g kg-1). Seeds of B. napus were inoculated with Enterobacter sp. MN17. Both inoculated and non-inoculated seeds of B. napus were sown and plants were harvested after 60 days of growth and data were collected. Although sole application of zeolite and seed inoculation reverted adverse effects of Cd in B. napus plants, the combined use resulted in even higher growth and physiological responses compared to control plants. The combined use under Cd stress increased plant height, root length, dry biomass of shoot and root up to 32%, 57%, 42% and 64%, respectively compared to control. The different physiological attributes (photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance) of B. napus were improved from 6% to 137%. Moreover, combined use of zeolite and seed inoculation on Cd-contaminated soil reduced the stress to plants as antioxidant activities decreased up to 25-64%, however enzyme activities were still higher than plants grown on normal soil. Root and shoot analysis of B. napus for Cd content depicted that zeolite and bacterium decreased Cd uptake from soil. It is concluded that combined use of zeolite and strain MN17 reduces Cd uptake from soil and improves physiological and biochemical responses of B. napus which is helpful to alleviate Cd toxicity to plants

Preparation and Characterization of a Novel Sulfonated Titanium Oxide Incorporated Chitosan Nanocomposite Membranes for Fuel Cell Application

In this study, nano-TiO2 sulfonated with 1,3-propane sultone (STiO2) was incorporated into the chitosan (CS) matrix for the preparation of CS/STiO2 nanocomposite membranes for fuel cell applications. The grafting of sulfonic acid (–SO3H) groups was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The physicochemical properties of these prepared membranes, such as water uptake, swelling ratio, thermal and mechanical stability, ion exchange capacity and proton conductivity, were determined. The proton conducting groups on the surface of nano-TiO2 can form continuous proton conducting pathways along the CS/STiO2 interface and thus improve the proton conductivity of CS/STiO2 nanocomposite membranes. The CS/STiO2 nanocomposite membrane with 5 wt% of sulfonated TiO2 showed a proton conductivity (0.035 S·cm−1) equal to that of commercial Nafion 117 membrane (0.033 S·cm−1). The thermal and mechanical stability of the nanocomposite membranes were improved because the interfacial interaction between the -SO3H group of TiO2 and the –NH2 group of CS can restrict the mobility of CS chains to enhance the thermal and mechanical stability of the nanocomposite membranes. These CS/STiO2 nanocomposite membranes have promising applications in proton exchange membrane fuel cells