Economic competencies needed and possessed by farmers in Hyuderabad District, Sind, Pakistan

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the economic competencies needed and possessed by farmers in Hyderabad District, Sind, Pakistan;The target population for this study consisted of 97 randomly selected farmers and 26 agriculture officers in Hyderabad District, Sind, Pakistan. Thirty-seven competency statements constituted the economic competence portion of the questionnaire. Sections on demographic variables and sources of information used by farmers were also included. A 1-5 point response scale was used to assess the degree of competence needed and the degree of competence possessed by the farmers included in the study. The data were collected through personal interviews with the respondents. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistical procedures were used;The findings show that farmers possess low economic competence, whereas they need high competence as identified by themselves and agriculture officers. As perceived by respondents, a significant difference at the 0.01 level existed between the level of competence needed and possessed by farmers for all economic competencies included in the study. There was no significant difference in the overall mean for the economic competencies needed and possessed as perceived by farmers when grouped by years of farming experience. When farmers were grouped by educational level, significant differences were observed for several competencies. Farmers with a high school education or more tended to rate competencies significantly higher than farmers with lower levels of education;The level needed and the level possessed for most of the economic competencies were significantly different at the 0.01 level when farmers were grouped by tenancy status. The owner-landlord group rated most competencies significantly higher than the owner-operator, tenant and owner-tenant groups;It was recommended that all economic competencies should be incorporated in the Baccalaureate and M.S. programs of Sind Agriculture University. The university should organize short courses for the farmers and emphasize the identified economic competences. In-service training should be provided for extension personnel to enable them to help farmers develop economic competencies needed

Three Dimensional Structure of 2A Protenaise from Enterovirus 71

肠道病毒71型（Enterovirus-71，EV-71)属于小核糖核酸病毒科。EV-71是手足口病（Hand，footandmouthdisease，HFMD)的主要病因，也能导致干细胞脑炎和其他中枢神经系统并发症（centralnervoussystemcomplications，CNS)，最终可能在儿童中引起致命的结果。目前还没有能有效预防和治疗EV-71感染的疫苗或抗病毒药物。EV-71的基因组只有一个大的开放阅读框，编码一个多聚蛋白前体。对这个多聚蛋白前体进行切割产生的功能性蛋白对病毒的复制有重要作用。这些切割是由两个病毒蛋白酶介导的，这两个酶分别叫做2A蛋白酶（2Apro）和3C蛋...Enterovirus-71 (EV-71) belongs to Picornavirus family. EV-71 is a major cause of Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and can lead to stem cells encephalitis and other central nervous system complications (CNS) with fatal outcomes in children. There is no vaccine or antiviral agent to effectively prevent and treat EV-71 infection. The genome of EV-71 encodes a single large open reading frame for a ...学位：理学博士院系专业：生命科学学院生物学系_化学生物学学号：2172007015414

Bayesian reference analysis for proportional hazards model of random censorship with Weibull distribution

summary:This article deals with the objective Bayesian analysis of random censorship model with informative censoring using Weibull distribution. The objective Bayesian analysis has a long history from Bayes and Laplace through Jeffreys and is reaching the level of sophistication gradually. The reference prior method of Bernardo is a nice attempt in this direction. The reference prior method is based on the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the prior and the corresponding posterior distribution and easy to implement when the information matrix exists in closed-form. We apply this method to Weibull random censorship model and compare it with Jeffreys and maximum likelihood methods. It is observed that the closed-form expressions for the Bayes estimators are not possible; we use importance sampling technique to obtain the approximate Bayes estimates. The behaviour of maximum likelihood and Bayes estimators is observed via extensive numerical simulation. The proposed methodology is used for the analysis of a real-life data for illustration and appropriateness of the model is tested by Henze goodness-of-fit test

Monolithic integrated ceramic waveguide filters

Design techniques for a new class of monolithic integrated high permittivity ceramic rectangular waveguide microwave filters are presented in this thesis. These filters enable a size reduction of 50 % as compared to air filled coaxial resonator filters with the same unloaded Q-factor. Initially, an integrated ceramic rectangular waveguide resonator structure is investigated. It consists of a metal plated high permittivity ceramic rectangular block with Q-factor comparable to transverse electromagnetic (TEM) coaxial resonator but in a much miniaturised volume with good out of band spurious performance. The three dimensional finite element method (FEM) electromagnetic solver HFSSTM is used to analyse the resonant modes, Q-factor and field patterns of the ceramic waveguide resonator. High performance Chebyshev and generalised Chebyshev monolithic integrated ceramic rectangular waveguide filters are designed to meet the stringent electrical requirement for cellular radio base station. Inter-resonator couplings are achieved by placing various through and blind holes in the broad dimension of the waveguide. In the generalised chebyshev filter, both negative and positive cross couplings are introduced to achieve transmission zeros on both sides of the passband. Metal tuning screws are added to the generalised chebyshev design to correct any practical imperfections. The ceramic waveguide filters are excited through coaxial probes placed at the centre of the broad wall of the external resonators. An integrated ceramic rectangular waveguide diplexer design is also presented to be used at mobile base station front end to replace an existing TEM diplexer without degrading electrical performance in a much miniaturised volume. The both filters and the common junction of the diplexer consist of single metal coated ceramic block with various blind and through holes to realize a complex coupling scheme. Finally a low pass ceramic corrugated waveguide filter design is presented to be used along with diplexer at cellular base station to achieve very wide spurious free out of band bandwidth. The miniaturisation techniques discussed in this thesis will provide overall cost reduction for cellular communication systems requiring low loss narrowband bandpass filters

Influential Role of Culture on Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the influential role of culture on leadership effectiveness and organizational performance in Pakistan. Culture is discussed with its two dimensions, national and organizational culture. In this competitive and globalized arena, culture plays a significane role in the organizational performance and leadership effectiveness. It was also found that supportive leadership style is frequent in most of the orgnaizations in Pakistan. Participative leadership style has also a positive impact on organizational performane and leadership effectiveness but to some extent, but instrumental leadership style has a negative impact. This research paper is exploratory in nature which explains the importance of leadership styles and its impact on decision making which influence the overall performance of the organization. Our study is limited regarding the national culture and organizational culture as a mediating role. Practically there is some diversity among cultures of the Pakistani organizations which leades to the diversity in the leadership behavior

Association of Folic Acid Deficiency with Ischemic Heart Disease

Background: To assess the association between folic acid deficiency and ischemic heart diseaseMethods: In this observational study patients of 25-65 years of age with newly diagnosed ischemic heart disease were included. All the patients on folic acid or vitamin B12 therapy, pregnant females, patients with any type of malignancy or patients with the history of megaloblastic anemia were excluded from the study. A 3-5ml serum sample for the estimation of folic acid levels was obtained. Tests were performed using chemiluminescent Microparticle Immunoassay (CMIA). Odds ratio was determined to measure the association between folic acid deficiency and ischemic heart disease.Results: Folic acid level was assessed both in cases and controls, with a mean folic acid level of 4.19±2.11ng/mL among patients and in controls mean folic acid level was 5.05±1.67ng/mL (p-value=0.015). The folic acid deficiency was found in 41.7% in cases. Odds ratio was 2.347 (95% CI; 1.067, 5.162, p<0.05).Conclusion: Folic acid deficiency was found high significantly in patients with ischemic heart disease as compared to that of controls and risk of ischemic heart disease is higher in patients with folic acid deficiency

Lignin as Natural Antioxidant Capacity

Cell wall of various plants contains an organic polymer lignin. Lignin makes significant structural constituents that support of vascular plants tissues, some types of algae and makes plants stiff and woody. Chemically lignin composed of cross-linked phenolic polymers and Kraft lignin dissolved in the unsaturated resin system. Lignin is a vastly available and well-studied antioxidant. They work as antioxidant against the biological, chemical and mechanical stress on plants. The substance that removes potentially damaged oxidizing agents in a living organism is regarded as antioxidant. Lignin contains a huge amount of phenolic constructions that enable it to act as an effectual antioxidant. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) observed decreases in some oxidative aging products and maintained the idea that lignin play role as an effective antioxidant. It was discovered that antioxidant action of lignin varies with the molecular characteristics, isolation method and genetic origin. Capacity of lignin to scavenge the radicals that are involved in the oxidation is affected by partial dispersion into polymer matrix. Antioxidant activities of various technical lignins are determined. Chemical changes in lignin could result in products with characteristics that can be used in special industrial divisions

Comparative efficacy of different adjuvant containing inactivated vaccines against low-pathogenicity Avian Influenza H9N2 virus

Background: Outbreaks of low-pathogenic Avian Influenza virus H9N2 (AIV-H9N2) occurred in poultry industry in Pakistan in 1998 and caused serious economic losses. Since then, many of the AIV-H9N2 vaccines have been introduced to Pakistani market to control the virus, however, it is still circulating all over the country. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to prepare and evaluate different adjuvant containing vaccines using local isolate of AIV-H9N2 in broiler birds.Methods: Three vaccines; Alum precipitated (AP-AIV), Aluminum hydroxide gel (AH-AIV) and Oil based (OB-AIV) were prepared in the laboratory and injected into broiler birds at 7th and 14th day of age. There were four groups of birds including one control group. To evaluate the serological response of the birds to vaccines, serum antibody titers were measured using haemagglutination inhibition test (HI). Vaccinated and control birds were challenged with AIV-H9N2 and virus shedding was determined from trachea and cloacal swabs by HI.Results: Out of the three prepared OB-AIV with hydrophile lypophile balance (HLB) values 5.37, 8.01 and 9.01, the vaccine with HLB value of 8.01 was the most stable. Each of the adjuvant containing vaccine was effective in inducing high HI antibody titers. However, OB-AIV was found to be the most effective in inducing a significantly higher (P<0.05) HI titer as compared to that of AP-AIV and AH-AIV each. No significant difference was observed between the HI titers induced by AP-AIV and AH-AIV. All the vaccines also showed effective protection against AIV-H9N2 challenge in vaccinated birds.Conclusion: In conclusion, this study reports the successful preparation and evaluation of adjuvant containing inactivated AIV-H9N2 vaccines. OB-AIV formulation was found to be most effective to control the H9N2 virus infections in broiler birds.

Adsorption studies of non-ionic surfactants at different vegetable oil-water interfaces

The adsorption studies of non-ionic surfactants (tween 20, tween 40 and tween 80) were conducted at olive oil-water, sunflower oil-water and corn oil-water interfaces by ring detachment method with a du Nouy Tensiometer at 20 °C. A decrease in interfacial tension with an increase in surfactant concentration was observed at all the oil-water interfaces under investigation. Surface excess was calculated from Gibb’s equation while area per molecule was computed from surface excess. Surface pressure-area curves were plotted to study the states of films formed. On close examination of π-A graphs, it was indicated that all the graphs have three distinct parts. The extreme left portion (a) of the graphs represents condensed state, called solid film region, the curved region (b) of the π-A graphs corresponds to liquid film region, while the gaseous film region (c) is indicated by the shallow right hand part of the curves. The solid film region was more prominent in corn oil-water system while a more distinct gaseous film region was observed in olive oil-water system than in other oil-water systems studied. However, liquid film region was observed in all the systems investigated. The observed difference in the behaviour of surfactants at different vegetable oil-water interfaces could be attributed to the difference in types of interacting forces between the surfactant molecules and various vegetable oil phasesColegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire