Dyeing studies with henna and madder: A research on effect of tin (II) chloride mordant

The present paper deals with the application of natural dyes extracted from powdered henna (Lawsonia inermis) leaves and madder (Rubia cordifolia) roots on woolen yarn and assessment of effect of stannous chloride mordant on dyeability, color characteristics, fastness properties and antifungal activity of dyed woolen yarn. Sixteen shades have been developed for the characterization of their color characteristics and fastness properties. The color strength (K/S value) has been found to be very good in all dyed woolen yarn samples. The color fastness with respect to light exposure, washing and rubbing was quite satisfactory for both henna as well as madder dyed samples. Henna leaves extract was found very effective against Candida glabrata both in solution as well as after application on wool substrate but no antifungal activity is reported in case of madder both in solution as well as on wool substrate

Comparison of Hematological and Inflammatory Markers to Predict Outcome in Covid-19 in 1st and 4th Wave

OBJECTIVES: To compare the values of the hematological and inflammatory markers in 1st and 4th waves to predict the outcome of COVID-19 in a hospital-based study. METHODOLOGY: This comparative study was conducted in the Department of Hematology, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, from April 2020 to 20 August 2021. Tests of significance (Independent t-test/Mann Whitney U test) and Chi-square test were used. Relevant information was recorded on a pre-designed proforma prepared following the study's objectives. RESULTS: A total of 178 patients, 71 from (the 1st wave) and 107 from (the 4th wave) with known outcomes, were studied. A statistically significant difference exists between the groups (1st vs 4th wave) regarding hematological markers; neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (p=0.02), Absolute Neutrophilic count (ANC) (p=0.01) and platelet count (p=0.001). Similarly, significantly higher inflammatory markers values were recorded in the 1st  wave compared with the 4th wave regarding inflammatory markers; CRP (p=0.002) and D-dimer (p=0.001). During the 1st wave, Total Leukocyte Count (TLC), ANC and d-dimer were the leading prognostic indicators to predict mortality/worst outcome in COVID-19 with an Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.74, 0.70 and 0.7  on receiver operating characteristics (ROC) respectively. In 4th, the Area under the curve (AUC) of d-dimer was 0.84 to predict mortality.  CONCLUSION: TLC, ANC, NLR, and low platelet count were the worst hematological markers in COVID-19 in the first wave, while d-dimer and CRP were the primary prognostic inflammatory markers. Unlikely in the 4th wave, the prognostic values of hematological markers were merely significant. The d-dimer values in both the waves proved to be reliable for predicting the severity and mortality of COVID-19

An Intelligent Monitoring System of Vehicles on Highway Traffic

Vehicle speed monitoring and management of highways is the critical problem of the road in this modern age of growing technology and population. A poor management results in frequent traffic jam, traffic rules violation and fatal road accidents. Using traditional techniques of RADAR, LIDAR and LASAR to address this problem is time-consuming, expensive and tedious. This paper presents an efficient framework to produce a simple, cost efficient and intelligent system for vehicle speed monitoring. The proposed method uses an HD (High Definition) camera mounted on the road side either on a pole or on a traffic signal for recording video frames. On the basis of these frames, a vehicle can be tracked by using radius growing method, and its speed can be calculated by calculating vehicle mask and its displacement in consecutive frames. The method uses pattern recognition, digital image processing and mathematical techniques for vehicle detection, tracking and speed calculation. The validity of the proposed model is proved by testing it on different highways.Comment: 5 page

Application of Silicon Carbide in Abrasive Water Jet Machining

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a compound consisting of silicon and carbon. It is also known as carborundum. SiC is used as an abrasive material after it was mass produced in 1893. The credit of mass production of SiC goes to Edward Goodrich Acheson. Now SiC is used not only as an abrasive, but it is also extensively used in making cutting tools, structural material, automotive parts, electrical systems, nuclear fuel parts, jewelries, etc. AWJM is a well-established non-traditional machining technique used for cutting difficult-to machine materials. Nowadays, this process is being widely used for machining of hard materials like ceramics, ceramic composites, fiber-reinforced composites and titanium alloys where conventional machining fails to machine economically. The fact is that in AWJM no heat is developed and it has important implications where heat-affected zones are to be avoided. AWJM can cut everything what traditional machining can cut, as well as what traditional machining cannot cut such as too hard material (e.g. carbides), too soft material (e.g. rubber) and brittle material (e.g. glass, ceramics, etc.). The basic cutting tool used in water jet machining is highly pressurized water that is passed through a very small orifice, producing a very powerful tool that can cut almost any material. Depending on the materials, thickness of cut can range up to 25 mm and higher (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2010). A water jet system consists of three components which are the water preparation system, pressure generation system and the cutting head and motion system

An Indirect View of the Fertility Changes in Pakistan

An effort has been made in this paper to arrive at some indirect assessment of the levels of birth rates from the same survey data sources. The basis for this approach is the internal consistency of the relevant data.! Ideally, in a series of repeated surveys the variations ih the estimated yearly rates should be only due to the sampling and non-sampling errors and not due to changes in the numerator or the denominator resulting from variations in the procedures of measurement. In other words, such changes if any, should not result in any erratic variations between the estimates of one series to the other, otherwise they may lead to some erroneous inference about the levels and trends. Let us now have a look at the crude birth and death rates for Pakistan, as reported from different surveys. From Table 1 it is clearly evident that the crude birth rate as reported from yearly repeated surveys (pGE, PGS and PDS series), show erratic up and down movements over the years 1962-65 through 1988, with the level of the rate remaining over 40 [Farooqui and Farooq (1971); Government of Pakistan (1973, 1973a, 1974, 1974a, 1981, 1983, 1983a, 1984, 1984a, 1990)]. The corresponding crude death rates also show year to year variations but in their case a net decline of 4.1 is evident over the same period. Table 1 also shows that the estimates of Crude Birth Rate (CBR) reported by 1975 Pakistan Fertility Survey (PFS), 1984-85 Pakistan Contraceptive Prevalence Survey (PCPS) and 1990-91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) show a declining trend [Government of Pakistan (1976, 1986); NIPS (1992»). Moreover the levels of CBR given by these types of one-time surveys are reported to be lower than the rates reported for the nearest years by the series of yearly repeated surveys. Conducted by Pakistan Federal Bureau of Statistics

Factors Affecting Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior: An Integrated Conceptual Framework

In this modern era of societal marketing business ethics and social responsibility are becoming the guiding themes for marketing strategies and practices. Within the field of ethics and social responsibility environmental and green marketing topics are the central topics, which are closely related to biodiversity and sustainability. This paper suggests a different approach to assessing the variables of consumers’ green purchasing behavior. Based on thoroughly researched secondary data, this conceptual paper suggests a framework integrating the so far incoherent frameworks as proposed by previous authors. Emanating from this eclectic and chronological literature review, the paper will also propose further missing links that need to be included in the proposed integrated framework. Based on this holistic framework, in a future study, the authors will explain a sustainability index of green consumer behavior, which will be tested empirically in the study. In fact, from the proposed integrated framework, in total eight vital factors/aspects of green/environmental issues are likely to have an impact on consumer green purchasing behavior. Demographic variables will play an intervening or mediating role in the framework.pro-environmental consumer behaviour, sustainability, green consumer behavior, green purchasing

Bayesian estimation using Lindley’s approximation of Inverted Kumaraswamy distribution based on lower record values

In this paper, we have considered estimation of unknown parameters based on lower record values for Inverted Kumaraswamy distribution. Maximum likelihood and approximate Bayes estimators based on lower record values for unknown parameters of this distribution are obtained. Lindley’s approximation (L-approximation) is used to obtain approximate Bayes estimators under DeGroot loss function based on lower record values. A Simulation study and a real data analysis are presented to illustrate the results.Publisher's Versio

Localization performance evaluation of extended kalman filter in wireless sensors network

This paper evaluates the positioning and tracking performance of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) in wireless sensors network. The EKF is a linear approximation of statistical Kalman Filter (KF) and has the capability to work efficiently in non-linear systems. The EKF is based on an iterative process of estimating current state information from the previously estimated state. Its working is based on the linearization of observation model around the mean of current state information. The EKF has small computation complexity and requires low memory compared to other Bayesian algorithms which makes it very suitable for low powered mobile devices. This paper evaluates the localization and tracking performance of EKF for (i) Position (P) model, (ii) Position-Velocity (PV) model and (iii) Position-Velocity-Acceleration (PVA) model. The EKF processes distance measurements from cricket sensors that are acquired through time difference of arrival between ultrasound and Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Further, localization performance under varying number of beacons/sensors is also evaluated in this paper. © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Diversity of Mosquitoes Collected from the Southern Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to assess the diversity of mosquitoes in various towns of the southern belt of KPK. METHODOLOGY: This was a descriptive study that was conducted in numerous towns of Western belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study areas were Darra Adam Khel, District Kohat, District Karak, District Banu, District D.I. Khan and newly merged districts Mir Ali and Miranshah. From each study site, the samples were collected randomly. The sample collection was done through survey and area visits whereas; the identification process was done in a parasitology laboratory of Hayatabad-Peshawar. Sampling was done from June 2016 to May 2017. RESULTS: A total of 2150 adult mosquitoes were gathered and collected from 42 different locations of the southern belt of KPK and were identified. Based on their identification, 5 genera of the mosquitoes were recognized which were Culex, Anopheles, Psorophora, Aedes and Uranotenia. Culex was found to be most dominant in all the visited areas with a percentage of 12.65 in Miranshah followed by 11.81 in Mirali, 7.16 in Karak, 6.88 in Darra Adam Khel, 6.69 in D.I.Khan, 6.41 in Kohat and 5.11 in Bannu respectively. The results of our findings also revealed the presence of Culex genera in all the habitats and remained the dominant genera among the others followed by Anopheles and Psorophora. Aedes was found in the habitat of plants and grasses etc. whereas Uranotenia was found in marsh/swampy areas as well as in plants/grasses habitat only. CONCLUSION: The outcomes reveal that a climate shifting and extensive urbanization process is enforcing the diversity of mosquitos’ fauna in the southern belt of KPK