Negotiating Borders: Cultural Communication in Abu-Jaber`s Literary Works

Diana Abu-Jaber is one of the prominent Arab American women writers. The article aims at discussing the literary works of Diana Abu Jaber focusing on the theme of border crossing. In writing novels, Abu-Jaber is curious to write about Arab American life and about characters that belong to the Arab world, mainly from Jordan and Iraq. In her novel, Arabian Jazz Abu-Jaber navigates a terrain fraught with overlapping cultural mores and tackles subjects that have long been taboo in both American and Arab society. She confronts us with racism, abject poverty, female infanticide, and incest, all set against the backdrop of one immigrant family’s struggle to carve out an identity in upstate New York. Using multiple narrators and continually blurring the lines between past and present, the novel provides a potent material critique of America, while casting an equally skeptical eye on the patriarchal vestiges of the Arab world. &nbsp

Genetic diversity analysis of traditional and improved cultivars of Pakistani rice ( Oryza sativa L.) using RAPD markers

The molecular marker is a useful tool for assessing genetic variations and resolving cultivar identities. Information on genetic diversity and relationships among rice genotypes from Pakistan is currently very limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic polymorphisms and identities of 10 traditional, 28 improved and 2 Japanese cultivars of rice using the random amplified polymorphic DNA technique. Twenty-five decamer-primers could generate a total of 208 RAPD fragments, of which 186 or 89.4% were polymorphic. The number of amplification products produced by each primer varied from 4 to 16 with an average of 8.3 bands primer-1. The size of amplified fragments were ranged from 200 to 4000 bp. Pair-wise Nei and Li's similarity had estimated the range of 0.50 to 0.96 between rice cultivars. Based on analysis performed on a similarity matrix using UPGMA, 40 cultivars were grouped into 3 main clusters corresponding to aromatic, non-aromatic and japonica group. There were a few of independent cultivars. The cluster analysis had placed most of the aromatic cultivars into a close relation showing a high level of genetic relatedness. However, the clusters formed by the aromatic cultivars were distinct from those of non-aromatic and japonica types. Interestingly, a number of improved and traditional cultivars originating from diverse sources did not form well defined groups and were interspersed, indicating no association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the cultivars. The information generated from this study can be used to maximize selection of diverse parents and broaden the germplasm base in the future of rice breeding programs

The Prevalence of Parasites in the Domestic Pigeons (Columba livia domestica) in Zakho City, Kurdistan-Iraq

لقد اقترن تواجد الحمام الأليف منذ الأزل مع الإنسان, حيث تم استخدامه كمصدر للطعام وكحيوان داجن وكهواية ورمز ديني.في هذه الدراسة وجدت نسبه مرتفعه من الإصابة بالطفيليات الخارجية ونسبه اقل بالديدان الشريطية  فقط في الطيور المستخدمة.أجريت هذه الدراسة لتقييم مدى انتشار الطفيليات التي تصيب الحمام المنزلي (Columba livia) من تشرين الاول2017 إلى نيسان2018 ،الذي تم شرائه من سوق الطيور في مدينة زاخو ، إقليم كردستان. تم أخذ العينات من 50 حمام بالغ (28 ذكر و 22انثى).  تم نقل الطيور إلى مختبر علم الطفيليات ، فاكولتي العلوم ، جامعة زاخو. في المختبر تم فحص الريش لكل طير ثم تم تشريحها وعلى الفور تم فحص الريش والجلد تحت الأجنحة ، الصدر، للبحث عن الطفيليات الخارجية. ثم جمعت الطفيليات الخارجية و حفظت في70 ٪ من الكحول لإجراء المزيد من الدراسة. تم تشريح الطيور التي تم ذبحها و فحصت الأمعاء للبحث عن وجود الطفيليات الداخلية. أظهرت النتائج عن معدل إجمالي قدره 76٪ (38/50) من العدوى بالطفيليات الخارجية ، والتي تضمنت 3 أنواع من القمل ، وهي: Columbicola columbae (56٪)، Companulotes compar (36 ٪) وHohorstiella lata(10%). فيما يتعلق بالديدان الطفيلية ، كانت الديدان الشريطية هي الديدان الوحيدة الموجودة في هذه الدراسة ، بمعدل 16 ٪ (8/50). تم تسجيل ثلاثة أنواع منالديدان الشريطية وهي:Raillietina cesticillus (14%)،R. echinobothrida (4%) و .(2%) Choanotaenia infundibulumهناك الحاجة إلى المزيد من الدراسات في هذا المجال لتقيم التأثير المرضي للطفيليات التي يتم عزلها من هذا الحيوان الداجن و امكانية انتقالها إلي بقية الطيور أو الإنسان. الكلمات الداله: حمام, الطفيليات الخارجية, الديدان الشريطية, مدى انتشارPigeons have accompanied humans since ancient time because they are used as a source of food, pets, hobby, and religious symbols. Pigeons have shown high prevalence rate of infection with gastrointestinal helminths and protozoan. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of parasitic infections in the domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) from October, 2017 to April, 2018, purchased from bird market of Zakho City, Kurdistan region. The samples were taken from 50 adult pigeons (28 males and 22 females). The birds were transferred to Parasitology Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Zakho University. In the laboratory, each bird was sacrificed and immediately the feather and skin of under wings, chest and the rest of the body was examined for ectoparasites. The collected ectoparasites were preserved in 70% alcohol for further study. The sacrificed birds were dissected and their intestine and contained were examined for the presence of parasites. The results revealed a total rate of 76% of infection with ectoparasites, which included three species of lice, namely: Columbicola columbae (56%), Companulotes compar (36%) and Hohorstiella lata (10%). Regarding helminths, cestodes were the only helminths found in this study with a rate of 16% (8/50). Three species of cestodes were recorded, they included: Raillietina cesticillus(14%), Raillietina echinobothrida(4%) and Choanotaenia infundibulum (2%). Further studies are required to evaluate the effect of the recovered parasites on this host and their transmission to other poultry flocks and human. Keywords: Pigeon, Ectoparasites, Cestodes, Prevalence

Establishment of an efficient callus induction and plant regeneration system in Pakistani wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) cultivars

Four commercially grown wheat varieties of Pakistan, namely Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97, Tatara and Manthar were used for this investigation. For callus induction different concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyaceticacid (2,4-D) along with 0.1 mg/L of Kinetin were evaluated. For regeneration initially different concentrations of Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) and 6-BenzylAminoPurine (BAP) were tested. Best hormone combinations were further subjected to Kinetin and 6-\u3b3-\u3b3-dimethylallylaminopurine (2iP). For Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97 and Manthar, 3 mg/L of 2,4-D was found optimum, which induced 83.25%, 77.75% and 95.20% of embryogenic calli, respectively. Maximum callus induction (97.18%) was observed in Tatara when 2 mg/L of 2,4-D was used. As regard to regeneration, Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97 and Manthar showed maximum regeneration on media containing 0.1 mg/L IAA, 0.4 mg/L Kinetin and 0.5 mg/L 2iP, regenerating 87.25%, 81.75% and 68.75% respectively. For Tatara maximum regeneration of 12.25% was obtained on 0.1 mg/L IAA and 2 mg/L of BAP. Presently optimized regeneration method holds promise for facilitating the deployment of agronomical important trait through genetic transformation for the improvement of this important food crop

Análise dialélica parcial em gerações avançadas para seleção de populações segregantes de trigo

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar, em gerações avançadas, os efeitos da capacidade geral e específica de combinação de genitores de trigo, bem como selecionar populações segregantes superiores. Doze genitores e suas 36 populações nas gerações F2 e F3, obtidas em arranjo de dialelo parcial, foram avaliados quanto à produtividade de grãos. Utilizou-se o delineamento em látice 7x7, com duas repetições, mais um tratamento para completar o látice. O efeito de capacidade geral de combinação foi significativo, nas duas gerações. Observou-se alta correlação (0,83) dos efeitos de capacidade geral de combinação entre gerações, mas inexpressiva influência dos efeitos de gerações e de anos na classificação dos cruzamentos. As populações provenientes do cruzamento entre os genitores BRS 254, BRS 264 e IAC 364 (Tucuruí III) e os genitores MGS 1 Aliança, VI 98053 e UFVT 1 Pioneiro apresentam maior potencial para obtenção de linhagens superiores, quanto à produtividade de grãos. O uso da análise dialélica parcial em gerações avançadas é promissor para programas de melhoramento de trigo por hibridação

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Genetic diversity analysis of traditional and improved cultivars of Pakistani rice ( Oryza sativa L.) using RAPD markers

The molecular marker is a useful tool for assessing genetic variations and resolving cultivar identities. Information on genetic diversity and relationships among rice genotypes from Pakistan is currently very limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic polymorphisms and identities of 10 traditional, 28 improved and 2 Japanese cultivars of rice using the random amplified polymorphic DNA technique. Twenty-five decamer-primers could generate a total of 208 RAPD fragments, of which 186 or 89.4% were polymorphic. The number of amplification products produced by each primer varied from 4 to 16 with an average of 8.3 bands primer-1. The size of amplified fragments were ranged from 200 to 4000 bp. Pair-wise Nei and Li's similarity had estimated the range of 0.50 to 0.96 between rice cultivars. Based on analysis performed on a similarity matrix using UPGMA, 40 cultivars were grouped into 3 main clusters corresponding to aromatic, non-aromatic and japonica group. There were a few of independent cultivars. The cluster analysis had placed most of the aromatic cultivars into a close relation showing a high level of genetic relatedness. However, the clusters formed by the aromatic cultivars were distinct from those of non-aromatic and japonica types. Interestingly, a number of improved and traditional cultivars originating from diverse sources did not form well defined groups and were interspersed, indicating no association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the cultivars. The information generated from this study can be used to maximize selection of diverse parents and broaden the germplasm base in the future of rice breeding programs