Evaluating the Effects of Textural Properties on the Strength Parameters of Marbles from North-Western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Marble is globally used as a natural stone for decorative and architectural purposes. Primary utilization of marble is as building and dimension stones. Mechanical properties and aesthetic aspects are major characteristics of marble and decisive factors for its selection and utilization. It is therefore imperative to evaluate the key strength properties i.e. Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) and Uniaxial Tensile Strength (UTS) of marble before its utilization. These key strength parameters are dependent on textural features of marble. Present study investigates the effect of two key textural features i.e. grain size and grain shape on two key strength parameters i.e. UCS and UTS of marble samples taken from three different regions i.e. Buner, Chitral and Swat in the north western part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Correlation and regression analysis between these textural properties and strength parameters revealed that prominent textural features of grain size and shape can be used as a quick indicator for assessment of strength parameters and as guideline for appropriate utilization of marble

Phosphorus and potassium application improves fodder yield and quality of sorghum in Aridisol under diverse climatic conditions

Fodder yield and quality must be improved for sustainable livestock production. A lack of or low application of phosphorus (P) and potassium (P) are among the leading constraints of lower fodder yield and quality of sorghum [most cultivated fodder crop during kharif season (crop cultivation in summer and harvesting during winter] in Aridisol of Pakistan. Therefore, this two-year field study evaluated the role of different P and K levels on fodder yield and quality of sorghum cultivar ‘Ijar-2002’ planted in Multan and Okara districts, Punjab, Pakistan. Seven P-K (kg ha−1) levels, i.e., T1 (40–0), T2 (80–0), T3 (0–40), T4 (0–60), T5 (40–40), T6 (80–40), T7 (60–80) and an untreated T0 (control) were included in the study. Results indicated that individual effects of years, locations and P-K levels had a significant effect on fodder yield and quality. All treatments received an equal amount of nitrogen (i.e., 120 kg ha−1). Application of P-K in Aridisols at both locations significantly improved fodder yield, dry matter yield, and ether contents during both years. The T6 (80–40 kg ha−1) significantly improved yield and quality traits of sorghum fodder except for crude fiber (CF) and acid and neutral detergent fiber (ADF and NDF) at both locations during both years of study. Moreover, fodder harvested from Multan observed significantly higher CF, ADF, NDF, cellulose and hemicellulose contents than Okara. However, sorghum grown in Okara harvested more fodder yield due to more plant height and ether contents. In conclusion, planting sorghum in Aridisols, fertilized with 80–40 kg ha−1 P-K seemed a viable option to harvest more fodder yield of better quality

DNA and Plaintext Dependent Chaotic Visual Selective Image Encryption

Visual selective image encryption can both improve the efficiency of the image encryption algorithm and reduce the frequency and severity of attacks against data. In this article, a new form of encryption is proposed based on keys derived from Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and plaintext image. The proposed scheme results in chaotic visual selective encryption of image data. In order to make and ensure that this new scheme is robust and secure against various kinds of attacks, the initial conditions of the chaotic maps utilized are generated from a random DNA sequence as well as plaintext image via an SHA-512 hash function. To increase the key space, three different single dimension chaotic maps are used. In the proposed scheme, these maps introduce diffusion in a plain image by selecting a block that have greater correlation and then it is bitwise XORed with the random matrix. The other two chaotic maps break the correlation among adjacent pixels via confusion (row and column shuffling). Once the ciphertext image has been divided into the respective units of Most Significant Bits (MSBs) and Least Significant Bit (LSBs), the host image is passed through lifting wavelet transformation, which replaces the low-frequency blocks of the host image (i.e., HL and HH) with the aforementioned MSBs and LSBs of ciphertext. This produces a final visual selective encrypted image and all security measures proves the robustness of the proposed scheme

Exogenous application of gibberellic acid improves the maize crop productivity under scarce and sufficient soil moisture condition

Drought stress creates imbalance or deficiency of some growth regulators in plants, which leads toward reduced crop yield. Gibberellic acid is one of the most important growth regulators in plants, which improve drought tolerance in plants under optimum concentration. A field experiment was conducted under exogenous application of gibberellic acid under normal or drought condition and with or without gibberellic acid application. Crop growth and yield parameters were assesses during the experimentation. Study revealed that crop reduced growth in term of leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and total dry matter (TDM) under drought condition, while these parameters were improved with gibberellic acid application. Similary, improved growth rate resulted in better performance of yield attributes (cob length, cob diameter, grains per cob, grain weight and yield). Gibberellic acid application improved the crop performance at optimum irrigation, as well as under reduced irrigation. Although highest crop yield was recorded with gibberellic acid application under optimum irrigation level, while its application under drought stress improved crop tolerance and resulted in better crop yield, similar to optimum irrigation level. Exogenous application of gibberellic acid not only improved the drought tolerance in maize, but also increased the crop yield under normal condition

Teamwork in a government girls higher secondary school in Karachi

This qualitative study investigates and develops an in-depth understanding of teamwork in a Government Girls Higher Secondary School Karachi. The study was conducted to gain a qualitative insight into teamwork process. Exploring how team(s) work in the school, and what consequences they yield to. This dissertation argues that teamwork is an effective dimension, which bridges the gaps between teachers and management. The study focuses on the Management Team, how it works, and how it influences other teams. The Management Team work described in four areas: origin of teamwork, the Management Teams activities, teachers\u27 and students\u27 perceptions about teamwork and its sequences. The study was contextual, which required the qualitative case study paradigm. Interviews and observations were the main methods of data collection. It has analyzed the data using grounded theory development approach. The study was conducted in a Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Karachi. The primary research participants were three members of the Management Team (headmistress and teachers), while secondary research participants were two teachers, and two students who were not involved in the Management Team. The major findings of the study are: Teamwork leads to collectivism, develops a caring relationship, enhances commitment to school, and tends to lead to distributed leadership. The study offers insights for school headteachers/headmistress, educational manager and teachers. It points out the importance of working together in improving school collaborative culture, building teams, and distributing task. The dissertation also highlights teamwork effectiveness in terms of teachers\u27 involvement in the school management

Soft Sensor Modeling Method Based on SPA-GWO-SVR for Marine Protease Fermentation Process

The marine protease fermentation process is a highly nonlinear, time-varying, multivariable, and strongly coupled complex biochemical reaction process. Due to the growth and reproduction of living organisms, the internal mechanism is very complicated. Some key variables (such as cell concentration, substrate concentration, and enzyme activity) that directly reflect the fermentation process's quality are difficult to measure in real-time by traditional measurement methods. A soft sensor model based on a support vector regression (SVR) is proposed in this paper to resolve this problem. To further improve the model's prediction accuracy, the grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm is used to optimize the critical parameters (kernel function width σ, penalty factor c, and insensitivity coefficient ε) of the SVR model. To study the influence of selecting auxiliary variables on soft sensor modeling, the successive projection algorithm (SPA) is used to determine the characteristic variables and compare them with grey relation analysis (GRA) algorithm. Finally, the Excel spreadsheet data was called by MATLAB programming, and the established SPA-GWO-SVR soft sensor model predicted crucial biological variables. The simulation results show that the SPA-GWO-SVR model has higher prediction accuracy and generalization ability than the traditional SPA-SVR model. The real-time monitoring was processed by MATLAB software for the marine protease fermentation process, which met the requirements of optimal control of the marine protease fermentation process

A New Image Encryption Scheme Based on Dynamic S-Boxes and Chaotic Maps

Substitution box is a unique and nonlinear core component of block ciphers. A better designing technique of substitution box can boost up the quality of ciphertexts. In this paper, a new encryption method based on dynamic substitution boxes is proposed via using two chaotic maps. To break the correlation in an original image, pixels values of the original plaintext image are permuted row- and column-wise through random sequences. The aforementioned random sequences are generated by 2-D Burgers chaotic map. For the generation of dynamic substitution boxes, Logistic chaotic map is employed. In the process of diffusion, the permuted image is divided into blocks and each block is substituted via different dynamic substitution boxes. In contrast to conventional encryption schemes, the proposed scheme does not undergo the fixed block cipher and hence the security level can be enhanced. Extensive security analysis including histogram test is applied on the proposed image encryption technique. All experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme has a high level of security and robustness for transmission of digital images on insecure communication channels