Understanding Green Food Consumption Behavior: A Literature Review

Food consumption is one of the most significant contributors to global environmental problems being responsible for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity, and soil pollution, among others. The demand for unsustainable food contributes to the food sector's environmental burden. Consequently, there has been a surge in research on green food consumption in the last ten years. Still, our understanding of green food purchase behavior is rather rudimentary and needs a comprehensive view. For this reason, the current study aims to understand green food purchase behavior through a literature review approach. The study explored and analyzed relevant theories and determinants in explaining green food purchase behavior. Additionally, the study also investigated the literature to identify research suggestions given by authors to improve future studies. The current review applied key term searches on the "Web of Science" database to find related literature. The search results found 69 articles published between 2015 and 2021 in peer-reviewed English-language journals. The findings include important descriptive bibliographical analysis and patterns and trends in green food consumption. Additionally, the research identified categories of determinants explaining green food purchase behavior. The review summarized the suggestions given by scholars in the literature to help future researchers for improvement

A Study of Pakistan-China Defense Relations (2000-2012)

Pakistan and China have cordial bilateral relations right from the very beginning. Pakistan being the most significant Muslim country located at a geo-strategically important geological juncture and equipped with nuclear deterrent while China being the most emergent economic and technological giant have remained the focus of attention for regional and international political actors. Owing to the strategically complex regional location and the obvious involvement of major political actors of international community herein, both countries have to strengthen the mutual defense ties. Both countries are currently working jointly in all fields related to defense including nuclear cooperation and development of conventional and non-conventional weaponries.Gawadar Port is a geo-strategically important project which is being developed jointly by both countries. The said port and the respective region are constantly under attack by the countries which do not want Pak-China collaboration to flourish. In the context of War Against Terrorism, it is quite significant to examine the quantum of defense collaboration between both countries to conclude that whether Pakistan-China defense relations have been affected by the said war positively or negatively. The present study finds that in spite of various hurdles being present between both countries to improve their geostrategic relationship; both are still managing to strengthen their bilateral defense collaboration. Keywords: Pakistan, China, defense, geostrategic, relationship, War Against Terrorism

A Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based detection of foot and mouth disease in District Faisalabad, Pakistan during the Year 2016

Foot and mouth disease is an economically devastating disease of livestock that mainly effect cloven-hoofed animals i.e. sheep, goat, cattle, pig, buffalo, deer etc. The aim of this study was to determine the serotypes circulating in the region during 2016. Sampling was done from different outbreaks initially on the basis of clinical signs and later reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed for the confirmation of FMDV genome. Out of total 72 samples, 65 were found positive which were then serotyped into type O (n=30), Asia1 (n=19) and A (n=5). Some samples (n=5) were found positive for more than one serotype that were subjected to reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay (RT-LAMP) for serotype determination

COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF ONE-STEP REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE-POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (RT-PCR) AND REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE LOOP-MEDIATED ISOTHERMAL AMPLIFICATION ASSAY(RT-LAMP) FOR RAPID DETECTION OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE VIRUS (FMDV)

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Pakistan and cause severe economic losses. Serotype O, A and Asia 1 is prevalent and their rapid detection for Pakistaniisolates is needed to determine the serotype prevalence in different areas of the country. One step reversetranscriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT- LAMP) was compared for the rapid and sensitive detection of FMDV genome. FMDV genome was confirmed in 19/25clinically affected animals by sequencing. These positive samples (n=19) were also confirmed in both RT-PCR and RT-LAMP consensus assay.In theserotyping assay, RT-PCR detection rate was16.67%, 80%, and 50% and RT-LAMP detection rate was 50%, 60% and 50%for serotype Asia 1, O and type A respectively. In general detection of FMDV, RT-PCR assay and the RT-LAMP assay showed high concordance (k = 1.0). However, in serotype detection, RT-LAMP was found more sensitive as compared to RT-PCR for the detection of the FMDV serotype Asia1 and Vice Versa in the detection of serotype O. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is thefirst document on thecomparison of RT-LAMP and one-step RT- PCR for FMDV using ESE-Quant Tube Scanner in Pakistan.The RT-LAMP assay has the potential for early and rapid clinical diagnosis, surveillance and serotyping of FMDV infection in endemic countries

METAL EMBEDDED ARTIFICIAL GRID DIELECTRIC RESONATOR ANTENNA ARRAYS AND SIW FEEDING MECHANISMS FOR MM-WAVE APPLICATIONS

The abstract of this item is unavailable due to an embargo

MEMS Vibrating Ring Gyroscope with Worm-Shaped Support Springs for Space Applications

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices have gained tremendous attention in the field of smart electronics applications. A MEMS vibrating gyroscope is a rotational inertial sensor that is exhaustively used in many applications, from GPS, household, smart appliances, and space applications. The reliability of MEMS devices for space applications is a big concern. The devices need to be robust in harsh environments. This paper reports a double-ring MEMS vibrating ring gyroscope with sixteen worm-shaped support springs. The inclusion of the two rings with sixteen worm-shaped springs enhances the sensitivity of the gyroscope. The design symmetry and the worm-shaped springs increase the robustness, mode matching, and gyroscopic sensitivity against harsh environments. The design modeling of the gyroscope is investigated using the ANSYSTM software. The design of the vibrating ring gyroscope incorporates two 10 µm thick rings with an outer ring radius of 1000 µm and an inner ring radius of 750 µm. Both rings are attached with sixteen worm-shaped springs, and a centrally placed anchor supports the whole structure with a radius of 260 µm. The proposed gyroscope operates in two identical wine glass modes. The first targeted resonant mode was recorded at 29.07 kHz, and the second mode of the same shape was recorded at 29.35 kHz. There is a low-mode mismatch of 0.38 kHz observed between the two resonant frequencies, which can be resolved with tuning electrodes. The initial modeling results show a good prospect for the design of a vibrating gyroscope for space applications

MEMS Vibrating Ring Gyroscope with Worm-Shaped Support Springs for Space Applications

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices have gained tremendous attention in the field of smart electronics applications. A MEMS vibrating gyroscope is a rotational inertial sensor that is exhaustively used in many applications, from GPS, household, smart appliances, and space applications. The reliability of MEMS devices for space applications is a big concern. The devices need to be robust in harsh environments. This paper reports a double-ring MEMS vibrating ring gyroscope with sixteen worm-shaped support springs. The inclusion of the two rings with sixteen worm-shaped springs enhances the sensitivity of the gyroscope. The design symmetry and the worm-shaped springs increase the robustness, mode matching, and gyroscopic sensitivity against harsh environments. The design modeling of the gyroscope is investigated using the ANSYSTM software. The design of the vibrating ring gyroscope incorporates two 10 µm thick rings with an outer ring radius of 1000 µm and an inner ring radius of 750 µm. Both rings are attached with sixteen worm-shaped springs, and a centrally placed anchor supports the whole structure with a radius of 260 µm. The proposed gyroscope operates in two identical wine glass modes. The first targeted resonant mode was recorded at 29.07 kHz, and the second mode of the same shape was recorded at 29.35 kHz. There is a low-mode mismatch of 0.38 kHz observed between the two resonant frequencies, which can be resolved with tuning electrodes. The initial modeling results show a good prospect for the design of a vibrating gyroscope for space applications

A Review of MEMS Vibrating Gyroscopes and Their Reliability Issues in Harsh Environments

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) vibrating gyroscopes have gained a lot of attention over the last two decades because of their low power consumption, easy integration, and low fabrication cost. The usage of the gyroscope equipped with an inertial measurement unit has increased tremendously, with applications ranging from household devices to smart electronics to military equipment. However, reliability issues are still a concern when operating this inertial sensor in harsh environments, such as to control the movement and alignment of mini-satellites in space, tracking firefighters at an elevated temperature, and assisting aircraft navigation in gusty turbulent air. This review paper focuses on the key fundamentals of the MEMS vibrating gyroscopes, first discussing popular designs including the tuning fork, gimbal, vibrating ring, and multi-axis gyroscopes. It further investigates how bias stability, angle random walk, scale factor, and other performance parameters are affected in harsh environments and then discusses the reliability issues of the gyroscopes