Food and Waste in Urban Kabul: The Role of the Informal Waste Sector and Climate Change

This thesis is a case study and policy proposal that focuses on implementing composting in urban Kabul, Afghanistan. The project is inspired by the desire to make the city more environmentally and economically sustainable, and to improve the living conditions and provide income opportunities for people working in the informal sector. The research explores the food and garbage locations in Kabul to find the intersections between the two and implement compost systems to prevent food waste being dumped in landfills. Through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses, potential localized compost systems to mitigate the problem of food waste in Kabul city are identified. The goal of the project is to decrease the amount of food waste ending up in the waste system, and therefore decrease air pollution, water contamination, and public health risks in Kabul. Solid waste management system in Kabul also contribute to climate change by producing greenhouse gases. Therefore, the reduction of food waste will also help mitigate climate change. Finally, the project aims to create data necessary to help solve the problems that exist within the food and waste systems in the developing city of Kabul

Effect of hybrid immunity on the neutralizing antibody response to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants including in people living with HIV.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This work focused on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 variants and co-infection with HIV on the neutralizing antibody response elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. The first study described the effect of HIV status and suppression on antibody neutralization capacity against the Delta variant elicited by previous infection, the Janssen adeno vectored Ad26.CoV2.S vaccine, or hybrid immunity from infection followed by Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination. It was determined that while neutralizing immunity elicited by infection decreased in people living with HIV (PLWH) and particularly in those with unsuppressed HIV viremia, this effect was counteracted with hybrid immunity from infection and Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination, where with hybrid immunity neutralization levels increased and differences between PLWH and HIV negative individuals became non-significant. With the emergence of the Omicron variant, we investigated whether Omicron infection boosts cross-neutralizing antibody levels against other variants. It was determined that this cross-protection does occur but is considerably stronger in people with hybrid immunity consisting of Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA or the Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination followed by breakthrough infection, implying that hybrid immunity from Omicron variant infection and vaccination may prevent infection with other, more pathogenic variants. Lastly, we demonstrated the escape of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants from Omicron BA.1 subvariant elicited immunity. It was found that BA.4 and BA.5 showed substantial escape from BA.1 elicited immunity in the absence of vaccination, but the escape was more moderate in individuals with hybrid immunity from BA.1 infection combined with vaccination. Overall, these studies show the capacity of hybrid immunity, consisting of vaccination and infection, to reduce the negative effects of HIV viremia and emerging variants on the ability of the pre-existing immunity to neutralize SARS-CoV-2

The Effect of Variable Magnetic Field on Viscous Fluid between 3-D Rotatory Vertical Squeezing Plates: A Computational Investigation

In this paper, the 3-D squeezing flow of viscous incompressible fluid between two parallel plates rotating at the same rate is investigated. The flow is observed under the influence of the varying magnetic field. The flow phenomena are modeled by utilizing the basic governing equations, i.e., equation of continuity, coupled Navier Stokes, and Magnetic Field equations. Using appropriate similarity transformations, the resultant partial differential equations are then transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations. The computational technique is developed via the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) to obtain the solution of transformed systems of ordinary differential equations. The influence of several engineering fluid parameters, such as squeeze Reynolds number, magnetic field strength parameter, and magnetic Reynolds number, on velocity and magnetic field components, are observed from different graphs. It has been investigated that by increasing the squeeze Reynolds number, fluid velocity in the y and z directions will be increased as well. On the magnetic field component along the y-axis, an increasing influence of squeezing Reynolds number is also noticed. Similarly, raising the magnetic Reynolds number increases the velocity along the y-axis, whereas the inverse relationship is found for magnetic field components. Furthermore, for each flow phenomenon, an error analysis is also presented.The work of U.F.-G. was supported by the government of the Basque Country for the ELKARTEK21/10 KK-2021/00014 and ELKARTEK20/78 KK-2020/00114 research programs, respectively

Occupational Health Hazard among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore

Background: Occupational health is a neglected public health issue among healthcare workers in developing countries and they may expose them to various forms of hazards. Objectives: The study aims at exploring the forms of occupational health hazards among nurses in a tertiary care hospital, Lahore Methods: Total 151 staff nurses were enrolled for cross-sectional descriptive study to explore the occupational health hazard.  This study was conducted at Lahore General Hospital, Lahore for the duration of 02, 2021, to January 01, 2022. Only charge nurses working in medical and surgical units on permanent basis having experience more than six months were included. Results: The findings of this study showed that the mean age of the nurse was 25.87 ± 3.138 years (age range 21-32 year), the female nurse was  127(84.1%)while 24(15.9%) were male nurse. The participants faced occupational health hazards 51.8%, biological hazards73.5%, and physical hazards 59.2% and mechanical and psychology Hazards among Nurse 48.8% and 52.0% respectively. Conclusion:Occupational risks (biological hazards) are very common among the nurses in Lahore General Hospital, Lahore. To protect patients and medical staff, hospitals should implement preventative, infection control, and patient safety initiatives. Keywords: Occupational hazards;  Health workers;  Lahore General Hospital DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/104-05 Publication date: November 30th 202

Population Reference Ranges of Urinary Endogenous Sulfate Steroids Concentrations and Ratios as Complement to the Steroid Profile in Sports Antidoping

The population based Steroid Profile (SP) ratio of testosterone (T) and epitestosterone (E) has been considered as a biomarker approach to detect testosterone abuse in '80s. The contemporary Antidoping Laboratories apply the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) Technical Document (TD) for Endogenous Androgenic Anabolic Steroids (EAAS) in the analysis of SP during their screening. The SP Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) adaptive model uses the concentrations of the total of free and glucuronide conjugated forms of six EAASs concentrations and ratios measured by GC/MS. In the Antidoping Lab Qatar (ADLQ), the routine LC/MS screening method was used to quantitatively estimate the sulfate conjugated EAAS in the same analytical run as for the rest qualitative analytes. Seven sulfate EAAS were quantified for a number of routine antidoping male and female urine samples during screening. Concentrations, statistical parameters and selected ratios for the 6 EAAS, the 6 sulfate EAAS and 29 proposed ratios of concentrations from both EAAS and sulfate EAAS, which potentially used as SP ABP biomarkers, population reference limits and distributions have been estimated after the GC/MSMS analysis for EAAS and LC/Orbitrap/MS analysis for sulfate EAAS

Exploring the influence of the behaviour-management approaches of a school on students\u27 social behavioural issues : An institutional ethnography from a private higher secondary school in Chitral

There is growing anxiety amongst parents and teachers about social behavioural issues of higher secondary school children in Pakistan. This study focused on these issues and explored the influence the behaviour-management approaches of a school on students\u27 social behavioural issues in a private higher secondary school setting in rural part of Pakistan. It followed qualitative research methodology and utilized institutional ethnographic design to explore the research question. Various data collection methods were employed including observations of school activities, interviews of principal and hostel warden, focused group discussions with parents, teachers and students and document analysis. The findings of the study showed that context plays a key role in defining the social behavioural issues (SBI). If the behaviour of students deviates from the set norms and values of the school and community, they are considered problematic. The common students\u27 SBI identified in the research included disciplinary issues such as absenteeism, uniform violation, late arrival at school, roaming aimlessly and disregard to social manners such as not paying salam and less usage of polite words. The stakeholders consider school primarily responsible for building students\u27 social behaviour, therefore, display of SBI by the students reflects negatively on the school. It was also found that students show more SBI with teachers who are professionally less developed. The research concluded that school uses three approaches to manage SBI, which are preventive, interventionist and reactive approaches. These approaches have either positive or negative influences towards students\u27 SBI. It was found that actual influence depends more on the process through which these approaches are applied than the approach itself. The school dominantly uses reactive strategies, which have a negative influence on students\u27 SBI. They also apply preventive and interventionist approaches but at a sub-optimal level and in a way that makes them less effective to attain desirable outcomes. It is recommended that the principal should attempt to reduce communication gap between stakeholders by involving teachers, parents and students in decision making and policy implementation. School should also engage teachers in continuous professional development. These attempts will strengthen the culture of whole school positive approaches

Moving beyond Cultural Trauma of 9/11: A Comparative Study of the Reluctant Fundamentalist and The Submission

The incident of 9/11 on account of its projection in media and political agents attempted to register the incident of 9/11 as cultural trauma. They (media and political leaders) have had been successful in this attempt as well. But later on, both American and Pakistani fiction writers focused on the theme of unburdening the cultural trauma. For this research project, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and The Submission by Amy Waldman had been analyzed in the light of J.C.Alexander’s model of cultural trauma (2013). In the light of the analyzed data we are able to establish that both the novels attempted to unburden the cultural trauma of 9/11. Apparently, the major characters of the both of the novels seem the victim of the prevailing situation of cultural trauma. Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Mo in The Submission had to suffer the situation of social discrimination and hatred on account of their Muslim identity. But interestingly, Mo and Changez both forget what they had to suffer. They long for a world which should be more civic and unprejudiced. The character of both Mo and Changez develop as ambassador of humanity rather as agents of nationalism. Both the novels suggest universal nationalism and unburdening of the cultural trauma of 9/11. Characters of the both novels suggest America to look the humanity beyond Americans sense of nationalism