Fuzzy Logic and Singular Value Decomposition based Through Wall Image Enhancement

Singular value decomposition based through wall image enhancement is proposed which is capable of discriminating target, noise and clutter signals. The overlapping boundaries of clutter, noise and target signals are separated using fuzzy logic. Fuzzy inference engine is used to assign weights to different spectral components. K-means clustering is used for suitable selection of fuzzy parameters. Proposed scheme significantly works well for extracting multiple targets in heavy cluttered through wall images. Simulation results are compared on the basis of mean square error, peak signal to noise ratio and visual inspection

Delayed surgical debridement in pediatric open fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Open fractures are considered orthopedic emergencies that are traditionally treated with surgical debridement within 6 h of injury to prevent infection. However, this proclaimed “6-h rule” is arbitrary and not based on rigorous scientific evidence. The aim of our study was to systematically review the literature that compares late (>6 h from the time of injury) to early (<6 h from the time of injury) surgical debridement of pediatric open fractures. Methods: We searched several databases from 1946 to 2013 for any observational or experimental studies that evaluated late and early surgical debridement of pediatric open fractures. We performed a meta-analysis using a random effects model to pool odds ratios for a comparison of infection rates between children undergoing late versus early surgical debridement. We also investigated the infection rates in upper- and lower-limb pediatric open fractures. Descriptive, quantitative, and qualitative data were extracted. Results: Of the 12 articles identified, three studies (retrospective cohort studies) were eligible for the meta-analysis, encompassing a total of 714 open fractures. The pooled odds ratio (OR = 0.79) for infection between late and early surgical debridement was in favor of late surgical debridement but was not statistically significant (95 % CI 0.32, 1.99; p = 0.38, I 2 = 0 %). No significant difference in infection rate was detected between pediatric open fractures in the upper and lower limbs according to the time threshold in the included studies (OR = 0.72, 95 % CI 0.29, 1.82; p = 0.40, I 2 = 0 %). Conclusions: The cumulative evidence does not, at present, indicate an association between late surgical debridement and higher infection rates in pediatric open fractures. However, initial expedient surgical debridement of open fractures in children should always remain the rule. Thus, multi-center randomized controlled trials or prospective cohort studies will be able to answer this question with more certainty and a higher level of evidence

Perspective and Prospects of Commencing New Education Policy (NEP) of Pakistan: A Review of Conference.

This article focuses on four important factors: Assessment, Curriculum and Text Books’ Policy, Teachers for quality education and Education and management, as formulated by Education and Literacy Department of Sindh Government. Open poll discussions and views given by educationists and experts were taken. All the views have been summarized for consideration by all concerned. Chief Minister Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Javed Hussain, Education Minister, Hamida Khoro and Education Secretary to Government of Sindh, Ghulam Ali Pasha also shared their opinions on the new Education Policy and Government’s intention to ensure quality education in Sindh Province. The purpose of this article is to review and summarize the views presented in the Education Conference and reach fruitful conclusions. The implications are also made keeping in mind the targets of New Millennium Development Goals (NMDGs).Assessment, Curriculum and Text Book Policy, Education and Management, Literacy

Response of sunflower hybrids to management practices under irrigated arid-environment

Two field experiments were established at Research Farm, Bahauddin Zakariya University, (BZU) Multan, Pakistan, during the spring season of 2009 to study the interactive effect of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids in terms of growth, fraction of intercepted radiation (Fi), intercepted photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR), yield components and oil contents to planting geometries and nitrogen rates. Experiment 1 comprised nine treatments having combinations of three hybrids (H1 = 19012; H2 = Hysun-33; H3 = DK-4040) and three planting geometries (PG1 = flat sowing; PG2 = ridge sowing; PG3 = bed sowing) while, experiment 2 comprised 16 treatments having combinations of four hybrids (H1 = 00989; H2 = 01087; H3 = 00997; H4 = 010226) and four nitrogen rates (N0 = control; N1 = 75; N2 = 150 and N3 = 225 kg ha-1). The results revealed that, the ontogeny maximum plant height ranged from 32 to 216 cm and from 36 to 299 cm in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The ontogeny maximum number of leaves plant-1 were 21, 32, 28, 21 and 14 in experiment 1 and 20, 33, 29, 20 and 9 in experiment 2, respectively on respective harvest dates. The ontogeny maximum head diameter was 17, 22 and 25 cm and 20, 21 and 29 cm on respective dates for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The ontogeny Fi values for experiments 1 and 2, ranged from 0.11 to 0.99 and from 0.09 to 0.99, respectively. The cumulative intercepted PAR ranged from 492 to 812 MJ m-2 and from 627 to 897 MJ m-2 in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The achene weight ranged from 69.7 to 127.5g and from 65.4 to 93.4g in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The number of achenes head-1 ranged from 919 to 1868 and 925 to 1678 for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The achene oil contents ranged from 38.1 to 43.1% and 34.5 to 47.6% for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. However, average oil contents value was 41% for both experiments. From the results, the use of higher nitrogen rates and ridge or bed sowing techniques are recommended for the management practices for the newly developed sunflower hybrids farmers.Keywords: Sunflower hybrids, planting geometries, nitrogen rates, intercepted PA

Assessment of biodiversity based on morphological characteristics and RAPD markers among genotypes of wild rose species

Conservation and utilization of the native plant resources is essential for long term sustainability of biodiversity. Wild native resources are adapted to specific and diverse environmental conditions and therefore, these adaptive features can be introduced into modern cultivars either through conventional breeding or advanced molecular genetic techniques. Understanding the genetic make up of the wildly growing plant species and of target desirable genes is a prerequisite for this purpose. Five wild rose (Rosa L.) genotypes were collected from different locations in northern hilly areas of Pakistan for this study. Different morphological characteristics and PCR based random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to find out the diversity and relationship among the genotypes. On morphological basis, Rosa webbiana collected from Muree and Nathia gali showed maximum (83%) similarity, whereas on DNA pattern basis, Rosa brunonii collected from Bansra gali and Sunny bank showed maximum (72%) similarity, while R. webbiana showed maximum diversity among all the species.Key words: Genetic diversity, morphological differences, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Rosa

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.

Evaluation of the genetic structure of the urban dwelling species of Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginisnus) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

We used the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to decipher the genetic structure of the Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginisnus) in Pakistan. The samples were collected from four cities namely: Dera Ghazi Khan, Jahanian, Khanewal and Gujranwala. The analysis showed a high genetic diversity at species level (H = 0.318, S = 0.467) but low levels at population levels (H = 0.047, S = 0.069 to H = 0.195, S = 0.283). The four populations analyzed were genetically distant from each other and hinted the effect of urbanization role in isolating the urban dwelling species. The genetic distances between populations ranged from D = 0.2403 to D = 0.3419 and the similarity coefficient showed low range from 0.66 to 0.70. This study will help in future conservation plans and also help the understanding of the role of urbanization on fragmentation of species’ natural distribution and dispersal mechanism.Key words: Acridotheres ginginisnus, Bank Myna, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), genetic structure

Magnetic properties of polyvinyl alcohol and doxorubicine loaded iron oxide nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery applications

The current study emphasizes the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and impact of hydrophilic polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) coating concentration as well as anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) loading on saturation magnetization for target drug delivery applications. Iron oxide nanoparticles particles were synthesized by a reformed version of the co-precipitation method. The coating of polyvinyl alcohol along with doxorubicin loading was carried out by the physical immobilization method. X-ray diffraction confirmed the magnetite (Fe3O4) structure of particles that remained unchanged before and after polyvinyl alcohol coating and drug loading. Microstructure and morphological analysis was carried out by transmission electron microscopy revealing the formation of nanoparticles with an average size of 10 nm with slight variation after coating and drug loading. Transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive, and Fourier transform infrared spectra further confirmed the conjugation of polymer and doxorubicin with iron oxide nanoparticles. The room temperature superparamagnetic behavior of polymer-coated and drug-loaded magnetite nanoparticles were studied by vibrating sample magnetometer. The variation in saturation magnetization after coating evaluated that a sufficient amount of polyvinyl alcohol would be 3 wt. % regarding the externally controlled movement of IONPs in blood under the influence of applied magnetic field for in-vivo target drug delivery

Investigation of single beam near-infrared free space optical communication under different weather anomalies

The Free space optics (FSO) is a wireless optical communication system that connects directly to the atmosphere, where the connection is established between transmitter and receiver within in the line of sight. The FSO poses a high-speed broadband, which is the last mile wireless optical communication, deployed relatively fast. However, there are some weather factors may affect the performance of FSO transmission. In this paper, we analyzed the performance of Non-Return to Zero (NRZ) modulation schemes, which is used in FSO communication under extreme weather conditions over a range of 2Km. The performance has been analyzed under 980nm wavelength, Bit Error Rate (BER), and Q-factor using Opt system. The largest attenuation measured is 340dB/Km, correlate to the visibility of 50m. In addition the visibility exceeding about 50m, The Kruse formula provides a good measurement of optical attenuation over long distances under the clear weather and haze conditions respectively