Numerical Study on The Out-of-Plane Behaviour of Brick Masonry Walls Strengthened with Cement Sand Mortar

Masonry, as a building material, has a long history of usage in construction. The utilization of brick masonry in conjunction with mortar has been widely adopted due to its ease of implementation and structural durability. However, it has been observed that masonry structures exhibit significant vulnerabilities in the face of lateral loads, particularly regarding bending and shear. As seismic activity continues to pose a growing threat, the need for effective methods of strengthening masonry structures against earthquakes is becoming increasingly imperative. In this research, the Finite Element method is employed to assess the influence of the thickness of cement-sand (CS) mortar on the flexural capacity of cement-clay interlocking brick (CCIB) masonry walls through numerical modeling. In this study, three models of CCIB masonry walls with varying thicknesses of cement-sand (CS) mortar are analyzed. The models comprised of CCIB masonry walls with a one-sided application of CS mortar layers of 10mm and 20mm thickness. The findings indicate that the flexural capacity of the CCIB masonry walls can be improved by increasing the thickness of the CS mortar layer

Humic Acid Coated Phosphatic Fertilizers Enhance Growth, Yield and Phosphorus Uptake of Maize Crop in Alkaline Soil

Phosphorus availability to crop is one of the major causes of poor crop production worldwide. Effect of inorganic phosphorus (P) fertiliser sources, i.e., nitro phosphate (NP), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and single superphosphate (SSP) coated with different humic acid levels on crop production and P utilization efficiency (PUE) of maize was studied

Source of Bleeding and Per-Operative Findings in Extradural Hematoma (Edh): A Three-Year Experience in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to analyze the main source of bleeding and operative findings in an extradural hematoma (EDH).   METHODOLOGY: This study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. The sample size of the study was analyzed through WHO sample size calculator and 300 diagnosed patients were recruited by purposive sampling technique. Ethical approval was taken from the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) and the hospital’s ethical committee. By using the SPSS version 23.0, all the collected data were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of enrolled patients was 27.96±12.71 years. There were 65.7% male and 34.3% female. The most common age group was 21–30 years followed by 31 to 40 years and 11 to 20 years with the most common source of bleeding was middle meningeal artery, 39.7% of patients fall in the temporal parietal category. CONCLUSION: Middle meningeal artery is the most common source of bleeding in EDH. Therefore, proper management of this vessel is significant to avoid the chances of re-bleed and re-do surgeries.

Monitoring Service Level Workload of Highly Available Applications

Elasticity is a key feature of cloud computation and is a major contributor to its popularity. Elasticity is defined as automatic provisioning/de-provisioning of resources to match workload changes over time. Service High Availability (HA) is among one of cloud computing’s big challenges. High Availability (HA) is defined as providing a minimum of 99.999% service availability. Maintaining service HA while scaling in/out is even more challenging. Recently, an architecture has been proposed for managing HA. Following the proposed architecture, an Elasticity Engine has been introduced that is capable of managing resources based on application level provisioning or de-provisioning alerts while preserving HA. In contrast to the prevailing monitoring solutions where Virtual Machine (VM) level workload is provided, the Elasticity Engine requires a monitoring solution that monitors service-level workload and triggers alerts accordingly. In this thesis, we propose an approach and an architecture for the monitoring of HA applications at the service level. Accordingly, the monitoring approach starts with monitoring the application components in traditional manner. Workload of the components are mapped to each component’s respective service assignment. The resource usages of all the components providing services is aggregated and mapped to the service level workload using a distributed client-server architecture. This approach allows for distinguishing between the different HA states, active or standby that a component can be assigned at runtime and it (the approach) adapts to the situations where switchovers happen under the control of the SA Forum middleware due to failures for example. The proposed monitoring architecture has been implemented and integrated with the Elasticity Engine to test its effectiveness and overhead. It has been shown that the implemented and integrated prototypes achieve elasticity in a cluster based on service level workload while keeping the monitoring overhead within 5% of its total resource

Outcome Comparison of Endoscopic (Endonasal Trans-Sphenoidal) Repairs of CSF Leak vs. Transcranial Approach

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of Endoscopic (endonasal transsphenoidal) repair of CSF leak with transcranial approach in terms of post-operative complications.  METHODOLOGY:   This study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Total of 40 patients diagnosed according to inclusion criteria were enrolled and were divided into two groups. One group was treated with endonasal trans-sphenoidal repair, and another was treated with a trans-cranial approach. All patients were followed for 1 year.  RESULTS:  The mean age of enrolled patients was 35.4±11.6 years. There were 62.5% male and 37.5% female. In the endoscopic group the recurrence rate was observed in 3 (15%) of the patients while in the trans-cranial group the recurrence rate was observed in 2 (10%) of the patients. The overall recurrence and success rate was 8% and 92% respectively. About 4 patients developed an infection, which was treated successfully.  CONCLUSION:  It is concluded that the endoscopic approach is safe and effective. The endoscopic approach should be considered as standard procedure for treatment

Comparative Evaluation of the LAMP Assay and PCR-Based Assays for the Rapid Detection of Alternaria solani

Early blight (EB), caused by the pathogen Alternaria solani, is a major threat to global potato and tomato production. Early and accurate diagnosis of this disease is therefore important. In this study, we conducted a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, as well as conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nested PCR, and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) assays to determine which of these techniques was less time consuming, more sensitive, and more accurate. We based our assays on sequence-characterized amplified regions of the histidine kinase gene with an accession number (FJ424058). The LAMP assay provided more rapid and accurate results, amplifying the target pathogen in less than 60 min at 63°C, with 10-fold greater sensitivity than conventional PCR. Nested PCR was 100-fold more sensitive than the LAMP assay and 1000-fold more sensitive than conventional PCR. qPCR was the most sensitive among the assays evaluated, being 10-fold more sensitive than nested PCR for the least detectable genomic DNA concentration (100 fg). The LAMP assay was more sensitive than conventional PCR, but less sensitive than nested PCR and qPCR; however, it was simpler and faster than the other assays evaluated. Despite of the sensitivity, LAMP assay provided higher specificity than qPCR. The LAMP assay amplified A. solani artificially, allowing us to detect naturally infect young potato leaves, which produced early symptoms of EB. The LAMP assay also achieved positive amplification using diluted pure A. solani culture instead of genomic DNA. Hence, this technique has greater potential for developing quick and sensitive visual detection methods than do other conventional PCR strategies for detecting A. solani in infected plants and culture, permitting early prediction of disease and reducing the risk of epidemics

VIEWS OF NIGERIAN SCIENCE TEACHER EDUCATORS ON THE AMERICAN MINIMUM PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE STANDARDS FOR SCIENCE TEACHER EDUCATORS

Efforts were made in this study to find out the views of science teacher educators in Nigerian Universities and Colleges of Education on the American minimum professional knowledge standards for science teacher educators. Ninety-three teacher educators participated in the study. Thirty three came from the Universities while 60 were from the Colleges of Education. The instrument was a questionnaire, comprising 27 statements. Findings from the study showed that respondents agreed with the inclusion of the cognitive aspects, and skills on moderation of higher degree science teacher education programme to be imparted to science teacher educators. Specific recommendations were made to address the implications of the views of the science teacher educators