Analysis of clay minerals, other silicate and nonsilicate minerals, and the grading of chrysotile asbestos by attenuated total reflection infrared spectrophotometry (with atlas)

This study of ATR-IR involved taking spectra of various silicate minerals in powder samples, finding similarities and differences in nature, and locating various bands and intensities of absorption bands for identification and classification purposes. This study is limited to 4000-300 cm-1 with major emphasis on absorptions in the 2000-300 cm-1 region

Rationale to understand anthelmintic resistance in parasitic nematodes

With extensive use of the anthelmintic in many tropical and parasite-endemic countries, the graveness of parasite resistance is exaggerating. The trend in the use of excessive medication in animal is also posing threats to public health. The governmental bodies are either lacking understanding or underestimating the regime of this emergingissue. This brief overview highlights the need, rationale and urgency of the matter to establish foundations for unifiedaction plans at the national levels as well as international levels in mitigating the development of resistance

Effect of decentralization on linkage among research, extension and farming community.

Research, extension and farmers are three main pillars of agriculture system and their effectiveness largely depends on strong linkage among each other. However, the existing research-extension-farmer relationship has not been effective in many parts of the developing world. The linkage problems thus cause disruptions in technology flow and lead to low adoption rates, increased time lags between development and adoption of new technology, reduced efficiency in the use of resources, unnecessary competition and duplication of efforts, and increased cost of agricultural research and extension activities. The present paper aims to asses the effect of decentralization on linkage among research, extension and farming community. The population of the study consisted of change agents and their supervisory staff working in Faisalabad district. The data were collected by using "survey" method. Majority (66.86%) of the respondents perceived the linkages between research and extension between average and strong categories. Majority (58.89%) of the respondents indicated under decentralized system that the extension had strong linkage with farming community. About one-fourth respondents were of the view that decentralized extension had no effect while 17.17% indicated negative effect of decentralization on linkage between research and extension. A good number (37.42%) of the respondents indicated no effect of decentralization on linkages between research and farming community. A majority (76.07%) of the respondents pointed out that the flow of information from extension to farming community has improved due to decentralization

An overview of the trichostorngyloidea

Among helminthes, the trichostrongyloidea consists of most significant parasites of ruminants, which are posing significant threats to livestock productivity, health and well-being. This brief commentary provides an overview of this important group of parasite to showcase the crucial roles these play in hosts

Understanding of the molecular genetics of benzimidazole resistance in haemonchus

Parasitic infestations are continuously posing enormous threats to food security and poverty alleviation. While different drugs are proposed to minimize the impact of parasite, these come with established genetic resistance. Understanding markers of genetic resistance will streamline the process of use of alternative medication as well as assessing the affect of currently applied anthelmintic. This review briefly outlines the roles of parasites in diseases and proposes the use of different genetic markers to mitigate the emerging resistance in parasite

Determining the potential scalability of transport interventions for improving maternal, child, and newborn health in Pakistan

Background: Pakistan is far behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals regarding the reduction of child and maternal mortality. Amongst other factors, transport barriers make the requisite obstetric care inaccessible for women during pregnancy and at birth, when complications may become life threatening for mother and child. The significance of efficient transport in maternal and neonatal health calls for identifying which currently implemented transport interventions have potential for scalability. Methods: A qualitative appraisal of data and information about selected transport interventions generated primarily by beneficiaries, coordinators, and heads of organizations working with maternal, child, and newborn health programs was conducted against the CORRECT criteria of Credibility, Observability, Relevance, Relative Advantage, Easy-Transferability, Compatibility and Testability. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) techniques were used to analyse seven interventions against operational indicators. Logical inference was drawn to assess the implications of each intervention. QCA was used to determine simplifying and complicating factors to measure potential for scaling up of the selected transport intervention. Results: Despite challenges like deficient in-journey care and need for greater community involvement, community-based ambulance services were managed with the support of the community and had a relatively simple model, and therefore had high scalability potential. Other interventions, including facility-based services, public-sector emergency services, and transport voucher schemes, had limitations of governance, long-term sustainability, large capital expenditures, and need for management agencies that adversely affected their scalability potential. Conclusion: To reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality and increase accessibility of health facilities, it is important to build effective referral linkages through efficient transport systems. Effective linkages between community-based models, facility-based models, and public sector emergency services should be established to provide comprehensive coverage. Voucher scheme integrated with community-based services may bring improvements in service utilization

Ecological niche model comparison under different climate scenarios: a case study of Olea spp. in Asia

Ecological niche modeling (and the related species distribution modeling) has been used as a tool with which to assess potential impacts of climate change processes on geographic distributions of species. However, the factors introducing variation into niche modeling outcomes are not well understood: To this end, we used seven algorithms to develop models (Maxent, GARP, BIOCLIM, artificial neural networks, support‐vector machines, climate envelope, and environmental distance) to estimate the potential geographic distribution of olives (Olea europaea sensu lato, including Olea ferruginea) under two climatic data sets (current 2000 and future 2050). Five general circulation models and two representative concentration pathway scenarios were used as predictor variables in future projections of the geographic potential of this species; models were fit at global extents (10′ spatial resolution) but transferred and interpreted for a region of particular interest in Central Asia, which largely avoids problems with truncation of niche estimates. We found marked differences among approaches in predicted distributions and model performance, as well as in the future distributional pattern reconstructed, from one algorithm to another. These general approaches, when model‐to‐model variation is managed appropriately, appear promising in predicting the potential geographic distribution of O. europaea sensu lato and thus can be an effective tool in restoration and conservation planning for wild populations, as well as possible commercial plantations of this species