Categorization and scaling of distinct gossypol classes with respect to gossypol content in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L).

Gossypols are the pigment glands conferring resistance to insect pests; distributed on the plant body covering the stem, leaf, bract, calyx and carpel walls. The objective of the present study was to quantify the gossypol concentration on the unopened bolls of cotton and to devise a quantitative scaling for categorizing different gossypol classes in different genetic backgrounds through spectrophotometry. There were substantial differences among the P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 generations of the two crosses (HRVO-1 × Acala 63-74 and HRVO-1 × HG-142) for total gossypol and total gossypol (%). The mean total gossypol content in the glandless parent (Acala 63-74) and its F1, in a cross with the normal glanding parent (HRVO-1) was 0.04 mg.g-1 (2%) and 0.140 mg.g-1 (5%) respectively while in the high glanding parent (HG-142) and its F1 produced in a cross with the normal glanding parent it was 1.14 mg.g-1 (46%) and 0.88 mg.g-1 (35%) respectively. The mean total gossypol was estimated as 0.60 mg.g-1 (24%) in the commonly used normal glanding parent. From the data and the analytical procedure used for the quantification of gossypol clearly highlighted the importance of the application of these chemo-metric tools. This method of quantification is accurate and may be used in breeding programs to screen the progeny of cotton genotypes showing segregation for gossypol content.. Keywords: Gossypium hirsutum L; Gossypol glands; Cotton Bolls; Scaling; Quantification; Spectrophotometry

Does an Optimal Working Capital Exist? The Role of Financial Constraints

The aim of the present study is to examine the linkage between working capital management, financial constraints, and profitability of the listed textile firms of Pakistan during 2005-2014. The outcomes of panel models reveal that more (less) financially constrained firms to have smaller (longer) net trade cycle. Moreover, the study found an inverted U-shaped relationship between investment in working capital and firm performance. Based on the empirical results of this study it is suggested that financial managers should try to maintain an optimal level of working capital to optimize the profit performance of the firm, as an investment in working capital above that optimal point will negatively affect the corporate profitability. Keywords: Working Capital, Firm Performance, Financial Constraints, Pakistan

NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION AND ITS SOCIAL VITALITY

Resilient narrative construction confines to the prevalence and function of Ideolog-based conflicts. While robust coordination and substantial enforcement strategies enhance the social vitality of narrative to bring about the desired social change. This article seeks to explore the narrative construction and its social vitality in the context of conflict and societal development. New narrative theoretical discoursereveals that deliberate narrative construction concentrates on individuals and society to redirect them in accordance with the wishes of narrative mentors. The conflict engendering elements like containment, self-identification of the individuals, and social positioning are, thus, subordinated to the narrative. This paper while using the narratological framework is looking at the phenomenon of socio-anthropological change from the perspective of narratology. The study could be of importance to students of low-intensity conflicts and militancy, especially corresponding to terrorism. The paper concludes that this new outlook of narrative has enlarged its scope beyond the corridors of literature into the renewed field of social narratology with an immense bearing on human behavior and attitudes.   Bibliography Entry Shah, Qasim Ali, Bahadar Nawab, and Arifullah Khan. 2020. "Narrative Construction and Its Social Vitality." Margalla Papers 24 (1): 147-157

Identification of Adjustment Issues among Adolescent Girls Studying in Pre-university

Background: Life of adolescent girl is characterized by continual changes, both internal (e.g. physiological, anatomical, and psychological changes) and external (e.g. changes in school, peers, and parenting practices) and therefore this stage is considered to be a very critical transitional stage in a girl’s life with acute crises in which her future is at stake. This study was thus conducted to identify multi-dimensional adjustment issues faced by adolescent girls. Methodology: Total 336 Pre-university girls between the age of 15 to 19 years were selected through purposive sampling from various Girl’s colleges of Mysuru. Results: The results revealed that general personal problems were more apparent in adolescent girls. It was found that 40.77% adolescent girls had problems in concentration, 33% girls had problems of forgetfulness, 32.5 % of girls had problems of anxiety, tension & worries and 23% of girls had reported mood fluctuations. Problems related to academic, society, family, infrastructure and interpersonal relations were also seen, but they were not very high. Thirteen percent of girls had reported the problem of time management and 9% of girls had reported problems related to the infrastructure of the college hostel. Conclusion: The results thus reflect the need to cater to the needs of adolescent girls which are going through excessive biological, social and psychological issues. Keywords: Personal issues, academic problems, adolescent gir

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES IN TELECOM INDUSTRY IN SAUDI ARABIA: A CASE STUDY OF PRIVATE SECTOR

The telecom sector of Saudi Arabia holds the largest position in the entire Middle East. After staying dormant until 2000, the telecom sector recorded supernormal growth in the past decade, thanks largely to liberalization of the sector since 2003. Today, the sector is highly competitive, with private players vying for market share by aggressively cutting tariffs—in fact, this has been the trend for five years now.The reason for which Saudi Arabia is so attractive to all the telecom operators is the combination of its population size and wealth. The growing importance of this sector has attracted the attention of the Researchers in the present research paper is to make an empirical study of private sector telecom industry regarding the HRD practices. The case study selected by the Researchers is of Mobily Telecom Company. A survey questionnaire has been constructed and administered among the employees of Mobily at managerial and non-managerial level from the selected districts of regions of Saudi Arabia. The Sample of the study has been undertaken of 85 employees. The study brings out the existing picture of HRD practices in Private Sector Telecom Company and offers suggestions to improve the pace of such practices wherever they need improvement

Prevention of corruption practices in Malaysia: "suitability of deterrent sentence" / Mohd Shahrullah Khan Nawab Zadah Khan, Noorselizabte Mat Ghani, Normadiah Mohamad

Almost every country globally has made corruption as a criminal offence. This act has become more serious especially in today's state of high division of labour. Corruption can be generally defined as a dishonest act of giving and taking of a sum of money or other favours in return of help to the other party1. Morally, it is a good attitude to give others gifts. Hence, there must be a grave reason why it is made an offence. This is best viewed with an example. A custom officer has duty to prohibit any illegal items from entering the state. If a drug smuggler was caught and later bribed the officer, the drugs will be in the circulation of the society. One of the consequences is that the quality of social institution will be downgraded. According to the Parliamentary debate on draft of Anti-Corruption Act on 28th of July 1997, it stated that corruption retards the development of nation and will destroy the structure of the society and a law governing. Should this act be sanctioned with deterrent type of punishment? If the consequence of the act is so destructive, the best solution is to deter the society but if it is not, deterrent punishment will deprive them of their rights. China for example takes the approach of punishing with death penalty while Vietnam punishes offender with life imprisonment and other parts of the world punishes offender with either imprisonment or fine or both2. Different act should be punished differently according to the degree of seriousness it caused. receive gifts because of the respect, love and services that they have rendered to the people, then of course it cannot be regarded as bribery. The Holy Prophet himself used to accept gifts of various forms from the head of the states in his time and also used to give similar gifts to others. This is surely not bribery because it is customary3. If we accept this perspective, the important test is would you get the gifts if you are not holding that position. So, if someone receives a reasonable gift like a hamper of goods during feast, this should not be made an offence, as it is customary to do so

TransEdge: Supporting Efficient Read Queries Across Untrusted Edge Nodes

We propose Transactional Edge (TransEdge), a distributed transaction processing system for untrusted environments such as edge computing systems. What distinguishes TransEdge is its focus on efficient support for read-only transactions. TransEdge allows reading from different partitions consistently using one round in most cases and no more than two rounds in the worst case. TransEdge design is centered around this dependency tracking scheme including the consensus and transaction processing protocols. Our performance evaluation shows that TransEdge's snapshot read-only transactions achieve an 9-24x speedup compared to current byzantine systems

Possibilities of Regional Trade Expansion: A Link Model for Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Econometric models are generally constructed for a specific country on the assumption that national economies are independent. In reality, this is not the case. In this paper, we have constructed prototype linkage econometric models for Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, These models are linked to each other through foreign-trade equations to explore possibilities of fruitful economic cooperation among these four countries Policy simulations, carried out to highlight the pay-off of specific policies in terms of the stated objective, show that, given the resolve of these countries to extend the area of collaboration, the prospects are by no means dim. There is also the extra bonus that the growth of GNP in the region will also be helped by mutual economic co-operation. The need for conscious policy decisions to this effect has been underscored

The role of mosquito predators in the ecosystem in reducing the incidence of dengue

The aim of this study was to show that the presence of mosquito predators in the ecosystem decreased the incidence of dengue cases. Data was obtained by daily inspection of 85 Aedes mosquito potential breeding point at 15 dengue outbreak hotspot localities with at least one mosquito predator present at the locality and the VEKPRO programme used in the monitoring of dengue cases in Malaysia. The mosquito predators identified were dragonfly, dragonfly nymph, gambushia fish, tadpole and frog. The study was done at the district of Petaling from 4th January, 2015 to 4th July 2015. The results show that the presence of mosquito predators hinder the breeding of Aedes mosquito in the ecosystem which is related to a decrease in dengue cases