Economic Analysis of Rice-wheat Farming Systems of Pakistani Punjab:a Case Study

Agricultural 'Economic

Antioxidant, biofilm inhibition and mutagenic activities of newly substituted fibrates

Purpose: A series of benzylidene-2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl propane hydrazides (1-10) were synthesized and assay them for their biofilm inhibition, antioxidant and mutagenic. Methods: All derivatives were prepared by condensation of various substituted benzaldehyde and acetophenones with 2-(4-bromorophenoxy)-2-methyl propane hydrazide, which was itself prepared by hydrazinolysis of ethyl-2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl propanoate and were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR 13C NMR, mass spectrometry. They were screened for their in-vitro anti-oxidant, biofilm inhibition and mutagenicity by established methods. Results: Anti-oxidant results revealed that the electron donating group enhanced the scavenging ability of the compounds as seen in compounds 4b, 4h and 4i. In biofilm inhibition studies, all compounds were more active against Gram –ive bacterial strain when compared to gram +ive strain. The mutagenicity assay results indicate that the compound having chloro group substitution is mutagenic. Conclusion: The benzylidine compounds of 2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl hydrazide possessing electron donating substituents exhibit superior activities to the electron withdrawing group substituents

One dimensional equivalent linear ground response analysis - A case study of collapsed Margalla Tower in Islamabad during 2005 Muzaffarabad Earthquake

One dimensional equivalent linear ground response analysis was conducted in the Margalla Tower building in Islamabad, which collapsed during 2005 Muzaffarabad Earthquake. The analyses were conducted in DEEPSOIL software, without considering the effect of ground water table. The input subsoil data were selected from laboratory and field tests conducted for the site with bedrock at a depth of 21 m as per site condition. The field and laboratory testing data showed that the subsoil beneath the Tower site was silty clay to lean clay according to the unified soil classification system

DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF PESTICIDES ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

Pesticides are toxic chemicals used for controlling of insects and pests which caused harms to plants or animals. Pesticides also effect the environment as well as human health. They play a vital role in securing of food but they require a number of risks and problems. Therefore, present study is designed to know the pesticide usage and its harmful effects on environment and health of cotton growers. There are 19 rural union councils out of which 4 were selected through simple random sampling. From each selected union council, 2 villages were selected at random and from each selected village, 20 cotton growers were selected randomly thus making a sample size of 160 respondents. A well planned pre-tested and validated interview schedule was prepared for the collection of data from the selected respondents. The collected data were examined by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for illustration conclusions and making recommendations. A vast majority (90%) of the respondents selected the pesticides on better results, (83.1%) on behalf of multinational company and majority (76.3%) selected pesticides of national company and a significant of majority (70%) of respondents used the gloves whereas a huge majority (85.6%) of respondents weared the mask during pesticide application. It was found that a huge majority (81.9%) of respondents had headache effect, 67.1% had fatigue, and majority (68.8%) had dizziness while 68.1% had skin disorders. Govt. should promote the first aid training program for safety measurement regarding pesticide usage and enhance the protection techniques for environment and health of organisms regarding pesticides effect

Preparing Delicate Cellulose Fabric by Utilizing Polyacrylamide Softener to Enhance Surface Smoothness and Quality Properties

Series dilutions of polyacrylamide softeners were made, applied at surfaces of cotton fabrics and cotton/polyester fabrics respectively. Surface adsorption of polyacrylamide based softeners enhanced all smoothness/softness properties of end substrate. Various formulations and concentration of acrylamide functional based softeners were studied by post treatment on cotton/polyester fabrics. Polyacrylamide functional softener fixation onto cotton/polyester fabrics was due to acrylamide groups, to improve reactivity with cellulose substrate thereby increasing cross linking and group formation by providing quality softness. The experimental data stipulate better substantives and networking of acrylamide functional group that can reveal formation of hydrophobic ?lm on surface of cotton fabrics and cotton/polyester fabrics. A tiny layer of applied polyacrylamide softeners also enhanced reduction of the surface roughness by increasing strength of polyacrylamide softener

An energy efficient interference-aware routing protocol for underwater WSNs

Interference-aware routing protocol design for underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is one of the key strategies in reducing packet loss in the highly hostile underwater environment. The reduced interference causes efficient utilization of the limited battery power of the sensor nodes that, in consequence, prolongs the entire network lifetime. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient interference-aware routing (EEIAR) protocol for UWSNs. A sender node selects the best relay node in its neighborhood with the lowest depth and the least number of neighbors. Combination of the two routing metrics ensures that data packets are forwarded along the least interference paths to reach the final destination. The proposed work is unique in that it does not require the full dimensional localization information of sensor nodes and the network total depth is segmented to identify source, relay and neighbor nodes. Simulation results reveal better performance of the scheme than the counterparts DBR and EEDBR techniques in terms of energy efficiency, packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay

First Step with R for Life Sciences: Learning Basics of this Tool for NGS Data Analysis

Background: R is one of the renowned programming language which is an open source software developed by the scientific community to compute, analyze and visualize big data of any field including biomedical research for bioinformatics applications.Methods: Here, we outlined R allied packages and affiliated bioinformatics infrastructures e.g. Bioconductor and CRAN. Moreover, basic concepts of factor, vector, data matrix and whole transcriptome RNA-Seq data was analyzed and discussed. Particularly, differential expression workflow on simulated prostate cancer RNA-Seq data was performed through experimental design, data normalization, hypothesis testing and downstream investigations using EdgeR package. A few genes with ectopic expression were retrieved and knowhow to gene enrichment pathway analysis is highlighted using available online tools.Results: Data matrix of (4×3) was constructed, and a complex data matrix of Golub et al., was analyzed through χ2 statistics by generating a frequency table of 15 true positive, 4 false positive, 15 true negative and 4 false negative on gene expression cut-off values, and a test statistics value of 10.52 with 1 df and p= 0.001 was obtained, which reject the null hypothesis and supported the alternative hypothesis of “predicted state of a person by gene expression cut-off values is dependent on the disease state of patient” in our data. Similarly, sequence data of human Zyxingene was selected and a null hypothesis of equal frequencies was rejected.Conclusion: Machine-learning approaches using R statistical package is a supportive tool which can provide systematic prediction of putative causes, present state, future consequences and possible remedies of any problem of modern biology.Keywords: NGS data; R language; Zyxin gen

Sustainability as a “new normal” for modern businesses: Are smes of pakistan ready to adopt it?

While in developed countries, the concept of sustainability is being recognized as a “new normal” for modern businesses, the situation is entirely different in the context of developing and underdeveloped regions of the world. Shockingly, most of the developing nations do not consider the environmental dimension of CSR as their priority, and this is one of the reasons that the issue of climate change is a hot topic of debate among contemporary researchers and policymakers from developing economies. The present study aims to explore the type and level of CSR engagement among different organizations of the SME sector in Pakistan. Further, the study also intends to uncover any potential difference between medium-sized enterprises and small-sized enterprises in terms of their CSR preferences and engagements. The study uses a qualitative approach in order to get deeper insights to meet study objectives through in-depth semi-structured interviews. In this regard, the data were collected from nine SMEs belonging to different sectors in Lahore city of Pakistan. The authors used thematic analysis in order to analyze in-depth interviews, and three main themes were extracted, including social CSR, economic CSR, and environmental CSR. The results revealed that most of the medium-sized enterprises prefer the social dimension of CSR, whereas small-sized enterprises are largely concerned with the economic dimension of CSR. It has also been revealed that the environmental dimension of CSR is non-existent in the case of small-sized enterprises. The results of the present study will help policymakers to better understand the phenomenon of CSR and to rethink their CSR policies for a better and sustainable future

Experimental determination of heat capacities and their correlation with quantum predictions

This article demonstrates an undergraduate experiment for the determination of specific heat capacities of various solids based on a calorimetric approach, where the solid vaporizes a measurable mass of liquid nitrogen. We demonstrate our technique for the metals copper and aluminum, the semi-metal graphite and also present the data in relation with Einstein's model of independent harmonic oscillators and the more accurate Debye model based on vibrational modes of a continuous crystal. Furthermore, we elucidate an interesting material property, the Verwey transition in magnetite occurring around 120-140 K. We also demonstrate that the use of computer based data acquisition and subsequent statistical averaging helps reduce measurement uncertainties.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Partially accepted in American Journal of Physics (2011

Chitin based polyurethanes using hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene, part III: surface characteristics.

Hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)-chitin based polyurethanes (PUs) with controlled hydrophobicity were synthesized using HTPB and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). The prepolymer was extended with different mass ratios of chitin and 1,4-butane diol (BDO). The effect of chitin contents in chain extender (CE) proportions on surface properties was studied and investigated. Incorporation of chitin contents into the final PU showed decrease in contact angle value of water drop, water absorption (%) and swelling behavior. The antibacterial activity of the prepared samples was affected by varying the chitin contents in the chemical composition of the final PU. The results demonstrated that the use of prepared material can be suggested as non-absorbable suture