Grain Yield and Phenology of Maize Cultivars Influenced by Various Phosphorus Sources

Field experiment was conducted to investigated the impact of P sources {DAP (Diammonium phosphate), NP (Nitrophos), TSP (Triple super phosphate) and SSP (Single super phosphate)} on maize penology, yield and yield component at two maize varieties (Pahari and Baber) at Swat during summer 2014. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design having three replications. Phenological parameters yield and yield components were significantly affected by P sources and varieties.  DAP sources was significantly delayed days to maturity while TSP sources was increased plant height (cm), grains ear-1, thousand grains weight, biological yield (kg ha-1) and grain yield (kg ha-1). Plant height and thousand grains weight was significantly increase by Pahari variety while delayed maturity and increase of grains ear-1, biological yield (kg ha-1) and grain yield (kg ha-1) was observed in Baber variety. This study suggested that application of TSP and sowing of Baber variety performed better as compared to other sources and Pahari variety. Keywords: Phosphorus sources, Varieties, Grain yield, phenology, yield and yield components

Cooperative Networks

Non

Investigating the Impact of Resilience on Learners’ Motivated Behavior of L2 and Proficiency in English of University Students at Karachi, Pakistan

This research article investigates the resilience and its various constituting factors and their subsequent relation with Motivated L2 Learning Behavior and English Proficiency among the first year students of two public sector universities of Pakistan. For this quantitative and variables oriented study 260 students were conveniently selected who participated in the study, out of which 152 and 108 were males and females respectively. For data collection of this quantitative study, a five point likert scale Questionnaire ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree was employed. The questionnaire comprised 31 items which were further distributed in five dimensions of Resilience (Perceived Happiness, Empathy, Sociability, Persistence and Self Regulation) and Motivated L2 Learning Behaviour as 26 and 05 respectively in order to determine the students’ resilience and L2 Motivated Behaviour. Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) test was also conducted in order to measure the English proficiency skills of the students. Moreover, the correlation among the independent and dependent variables and the impact of resilience factors on Motivated L2 Behaviour and English Proficiency was analyzed with the help of standard regression analysis.   The results revealed that the four dimensions of resilience significantly influenced Motivated L2 Learning Behaviour whereas; three factors of resilience affected English Proficiency as well. The study can help in understanding the concept of resilience and can be applied to other academic disciplines

Antibacterial activity of honey in north-west Pakistan against select human pathogens

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the antimicrobial activity of commercially available honey and raw honey samples in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, against pathogenic bacterial strains.MethodsWell diffusion assays were performed to screen pure and diluted honey samples for antibacterial activity against six Gram-negative and six Gram-positive bacterial strains. Zones of inhibition were measured and compared with 10 mg Gentamycin.RESULTSWhen honey samples were diluted to 20%-70%, the honey samples showed no activity to mild antibacterial activity. The highest antibacterial activity was recorded when 90% and pure undiluted honey samples were tested and compared with a control Gentamycin disc (10 mg).ConclusionCommercially processed honey and raw honey samples from north-west of Pakistan possess good antimicrobial potential

Towards Efficient, Work-Conserving, and Fair Bandwidth Guarantee in Cloud Datacenters

Bandwidth guarantee is a critical feature to enable performance predictability in cloud datacenters. This process is expected to achieve three requirements: work conservation, fairness, and simplicity. However, the distributed nature of datacenters raises significant challenges to attaining those requirements at the same time. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach that can satisfy the three requirements simultaneously. Our scheme takes advantage of multipath TCP (MPTCP) to generate explicit bandwidth guarantee (BG) traffic and work conservation (WC) traffic.We further prioritize the BG traffic over the WC traffic in the network fabric. Due to the priority setting, WC cannot harm bandwidth guarantees and thus is effectively supported. We show that the MPTCP fits this direction well but presents some new issues when the WC subfows own a low priority. We thus adapt the MPTCP to handle these issues through a customized scheduler (which strictly prioritizes BG subfow during packet scheduling) and adopting a large receive buffer. In addition, we enable tenants to share unused bandwidth fairly by managing the overall aggressiveness of the WC traffic. The proposed system can be easily implemented with commercial off-the-shelf servers and switches.We have implemented with the Linux kernel MPTCP for experiments. The extensive experiments in a small cluster (including one MapReduce experiment) and trace-driven simulations show that our scheme achieves the design goals effectively

LIGHTING – THE WAY TO REDUCING ELECTRICAL ENERGY DEMAND IN UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS IN BANGLADESH

Lighting is one of the dominant electricity demand factors in the building energy sector and has huge potential for demand reduction. However, concerning the efficacy of energy consumption, this potential energy-saving option entails further investigations, particularly for developing countries. This study addresses the issues of an efficient lighting system design for educational institutions with particular attention to classroom and laboratory lighting systems for a university in Bangladesh as a case study. Measurements show that during the daytime, under clear and average sky conditions both rooms received sufficient natural light (>300 lx) for educational activities, whereas under an overcast sky, only 50% space receives sufficient natural light. At night, the installed fluorescent tube lights illuminance level was found insufficient (<300 lx) for educational activities. The inefficient lighting system design was found to be the main reason for this illuminance level. Simulation results reveal that light emitting diode (LED) tube lights with a maintenance factor of 0.8 could save 10,080-15,120 kWh, 91,929-137,894 BDT (1USD=84BDT), and 6,753-10,130 kgCO2-eq, energy, cost, and, greenhouse gas emissions respectively per year for the classrooms

Does the CDC COVID-19 exposure assessment criteria for healthcare personnel work in a healthcare setting in Pakistan?

Objective: To evaluate the real-world performance of the CDC\u27s Interim US guidance for risk assessment and work restriction for healthcare personnel with exposure to COVID-19 at a private healthcare system in Pakistan. Study design: Retrospective observational study. Place and duration of study: The Aga khan University Hospital, Karachi, and its associated healthcare facilities in all four provinces of Pakistan, from February to September 2020. Methodology: Healthcare personnel (HCPs) assessed and tested for exposures to COVID-19 were included in the study. An exposure category was assigned to each HCP presenting with exposure to COVID-19 based on the CDC criteria. Percentage positivity was recorded and compared among the different exposure categories. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables significantly associated with COVID-19 infection. Results: Three thousand Six hundred and forty-seven HCPs were assessed for exposure to COVID-19 of whom 603 (16.5%) tested positive. Percent positivity was highest in high-risk symptomatic HCPs (18.2%), 15.6% in low-risk symptomatic HCPs, and 11% in high-risk asymptomatic HCPs. After controlling for age, gender, area of work, and source of exposure, compared to low-risk asymptomatic HCPs, the odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR were 2.13 (95%CI: 1.49-3.04) for high-risk symptomatic, 1.66 (95% CI: 1.12-2.46) for low-risk symptomatic, and 1.18 (95% CI: 0.83-1.68) for high-risk asymptomatic HCPs. Conclusion: Regardless of exposure category, HCPs with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 have the highest likelihood of testing positive. The CDC exposure risk assessment criteria work best for symptomatic HCPs. Testing asymptomatic HCPs with high-risk exposures may not be necessary in low-resource settings with a limited healthcare workforc