Tertiary sub-system management: proceedings of one-day workshop held on June 18, 1995 in Lahore, Pakistan

Irrigation management / Watercourses / Institution building / Water conveyance / Water distribution / Irrigation practices / Economic aspects / Pakistan

Effect of mental training on short-term psychomotor skill acquisition in laparoscopic surgery - a pilot study

Aim: The mental demands of laparoscopic surgery create a steep learning curve for surgical trainees. Experienced surgeons informally conduct mental training prior to starting a complex laparoscopic procedure. Reconstructing haptic feedback to mentally observe surgeon-instrument-tissue interaction is considered to be acquired only with experience. An experiment was devised to implement mental training for the haptic feedback reconstruction and its effect on laparoscopic task performance was observed.Methods: Twenty laparoscopy novice medical students with normal/corrected visual acuity and normal hearing were randomised into two groups. Both groups were asked to apply a pre-established consistent force by means of retracting a laparoscopic grasper fixed to an electronic weight scale. Studied group underwent mental training while control group conducted a laparoscopic task as a distraction exercise. Accuracy of the task performance was measured as primary outcome. Performance between dominant and non-dominant hands was the secondary outcome.Results: Baseline assessment of both dominant and non-dominant hands between groups were similar (P > 0.05). Mental training group improved their performance (0.66 ± 0.04) vs. (1.06 ± 0.14) with dominant hand (P < 0.01) and (0.73 ± 0.04) vs. (1.10 ± 0.20) with non-dominant hand (P < 0.05), when compared with control group.Conclusion: In a laparoscopic task performance, skill transfer is significantly accurate if mental haptic feedback reconstruction is achieved through mental training

Determinant factors of deprassion: a survey among university students

We compared the determinant factors of depression; among faculties in university, among junior and senior students, and gender differences among representative samples of faculties in university. Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) consisting for 20 questions was used to assess the status of well-being of students. A total of 240 students participated and completed the assessment forms. The results were then compared and analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 21. There was no effect of faculty on depression (p=0.854). The association between year of study and depression was not statistically significant (p≥0.05). Likewise, the association between gender and depression was statistically not significant (p≥0.05). The study revealed absence of statistically significant effect of faculty on depression. It was also found that gender and depression as well as year of study and depression were not statistically significant. Keyword

Development and characterization of a large set of microsatellite markers for grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch)

This study describes novel simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers from a genomic DNA sequence of the grape phylloxera. A total of 130 SSR primers were designed from 145 unique sequences with di, tri, tetra and penta simple sequence repeats. The SSR primers were tested on DNA from 10 grape phylloxera strains chosen for their behavioral and geographic diversity. Eightynine primers generated easy to score alleles with standardized  conditions of amplification. Twenty-eight new and four previously published markers were selected to genotype 32 root and leaf phylloxera samples in order to identify reliable markers for future genetic diversity and phylloxera population studies. SSR data from these samples was also used to determine the frequency of null alleles, and locus specific estimates of population differentiation and clustering. Up to six alleles were detected with a mean expected heterozygosity (He) of 0.51. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.73 and the majority of markers had higher Ho values. Null allees for four markers were considered to be the result of homozygous genotypes. The 89 SSR loci developed in this study represent a new and informative set of markers that are easy to combine for multi-loading and suitable for large-scale genetic analyses of population structure, genetic diversity, and the origin of host specific strains in grape phylloxera.

Light emission, light detection and strain sensing with nanocrystalline graphene

Graphene is of increasing interest for optoelectronic applications exploiting light detection, light emission and light modulation. Intrinsically light matter interaction in graphene is of a broadband type. However by integrating graphene into optical micro cavities also narrow band light emitters and detectors have been demonstrated. The devices benefit from the transparency, conductivity and processability of the atomically thin material. To this end we explore in this work the feasibility of replacing graphene by nanocrystalline graphene, a material which can be grown on dielectric surfaces without catalyst by graphitization of polymeric films. We have studied the formation of nanocrystalline graphene on various substrates and under different graphitization conditions. The samples were characterized by resistance, optical transmission, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy measurements. The conducting and transparent wafer-scale material with nanometer grain size was also patterned and integrated into devices for studying light-matter interaction. The measurements show that nanocrystalline graphene can be exploited as an incandescent emitter and bolometric detector similar to crystalline graphene. Moreover the material exhibits piezoresistive behavior which makes nanocrystalline graphene interesting for transparent strain sensors

Adaptive response to low dose of EMS or MMS in human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated in vitro for 6 hr were exposed to a low (conditioning) dose of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS; 1.5 x 10(-4) M) or methyl methanesulfonate (MMS; 1.5 x 10(-5) M). After 6 hr, the cells were treated with a high (challenging) concentration of the same agent (1.5 x 10(-3) M EMS or 1.5 x 10(-4) M MMS). The cells that received both conditioning and challenging doses became less sensitive to the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) than those which did not receive the pretreatment with EMS or MMS. They responded with lower frequencies of SCEs. This suggests that conditioning dose of EMS or MMS has offered the lymphocytes to have decreased SCEs. This led to the realization that pre-exposure of lymphocytes to low dose can cause the induction of repair activity. This is a clear indication of the existence of adaptive response induced by alkylating agents whether it is ethylating or methylating in human lymphocytes in vitro

Extraction of Cerium (IV) Using Di–n-butylsulfoxide in Chloroform from Nitric Acid and Determination with Arsenazo (III) as Chromogenic Reagent

A new and advantageous extraction procedure was developed for extraction of cerium (IV) from nitric acid with di-n-butylsulfoxide (DBSO) in perchloric acid. The extracted Ce (IV) was determined spectrophotometrically using 0.01 % solution of arsenazo-III in 3Mper-chloric acid. Various parameters such as equilibration time, metal ion concentration, effect of temperature and diverse ions on the extraction of the Ce (IV) were established. U (VI), Th (IV) and Pb (II) interfere whereas only phosphate and fluoride suppress the extraction among anions. The stoichiometric composition of the cerium complex withDBSO was determined by slope analysis and found to be 1:4. The process of extraction was found to be exothermic. Deionized water was the most appropriate solvent for back extraction of cerium. This method is easier and more sensitive than many of the reported procedures.KEYWORDS Cerium, extraction, DBSO, perchloric acid, arsenazo-II