Hydrophobicity — A Green Technique for Enhancing Corrosion Resistance of Alloys

The corrosion phenomenon is as old as the age of the planet. The cost of corrosion has risen alarmingly with industrial progress and it is estimated to be around 300 billion dollars or 3 to 4.5% of the GNP of developed nations. Thousands of alloys have been developed to control corrosion, which is a major consideration in the development of new ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Several corrosion control techniques such as inhibitor treatment, coatings, cathodic protection, alloying additions, and designing for corrosion protection have been developed to combat corrosion. Despite their merits, techniques such as inhibition treatment and coatings are limited by their adverse effect on the environment because of their volatile organic components. Due to an increasingly alarming carbon footprint, there is a growing global concern to keep the environment clean. Hence, a great need exists to replace the current control methods by eco-friendly methods. The potential of the green technology of hydrophobicity has therefore been exploited to control corrosion by fabricating hydrophobic surfaces on alloys and these surfaces have shown highly promising results. This technology offers a novel method to control corrosion of metals, alloys, polymers and composites

Use and Quality of Bottled Water in Bahawalpur City, Pakistan: An Overview

As a basic need of human life, the place of safe potable water cannot be ignored elsewhere. Therefore, themain objective of the current study was to take an overview of the main source of water, expenditure on waterpurchasing and use quality of bottled water in Bahawalpur city. Primary data were gathered through a structuredquestionnaire during a field survey in selected five residential areas as sample sites i.e. Model town A, Model town B,Shahdrah, Satellite town, and Islami colony, while the secondary data were collected from PCRWR and a few websources. Data were gathered from 150 respondents (30 from each study site) and analyzed in SPSS 17 software byapplying descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) to get a generalized picture regarding the main source ofwater, use and quality of bottled water in the study area. Findings make it clear that majority of the respondents werefetching water from government filtration plants following the electric pumps. Moreover, various local watercompanies (e.g. Pineo, Piyas, Aquafina, Kinley, Al-Shiffa, Life Water) were also supplying water in the study area.Particularly, the use and demand for bottled water are increasing day by day as people have serious concerns on qualityrelated issues of water. Bottled water was available in different quantities from 0.5 liters to 19 liters with respectiveprices that were purchased from various departmental and medical stores or via home delivery service. But the qualityof the bottled water was not satisfactory and up to the standards. The PCRWR laboratory analysis of bottled watersamples show significant variations and alarmingly different brands i.e. Blue water, Kalash pure water and Pan Purawere found chemically and microbiologically unfit for drinking purposes. So, it is suggested that regular monitoringand quality control steps by local government in the private sector would ensure the effective and secure potable waterdeliverance

Increase in phenolic compounds of Coriandrum sativum L. after the application of a Bacillus halotolerans biofertilizer

[EN]BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need for a new sustainable way of satisfying the increasing demand for food worldwide. One of the main challenges is replacing chemical fertilizers with biofertilizers, which include plant root-associated beneficial microorganisms. The present study reports, for the first time, the effects of SCCPVE07 bacterial strain with respect to improving not only plant development, but also the nutritional content and bioactive compounds content of Coriandrum sativum L., one of the most economically important crops, even for plant growth under salinity stress. RESULTS: Innoculated coriander plants (C. sativum L.) showed an increase in potassium, carbon, calcium and iron content. A significant improvement in phenolic compounds contents was also observed. The contents of 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, cinnamic acid, 4-methoxy-cinnamic acid hexoside, K-3-O rutinoside, Q-3-O-rutinoside, Q-3-O-glucoside and Q-3-O-glucuronide were significantly enhanced. Moreover, an efficient bacterial root colonization and a noted growth promotion were demonstrated. Bacterial genome was sequenced and analysed. Gene coding related to Plant growth promotion (PGP) mechanisms and proteins involved in plant defence from salinity or in the metabolism of phenolic compounds, such as quercetin 2,3-dioxygenase and phenolic acid decarboxylase, were identified. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the present study show, for the first time, the beneficial effects of the inoculation of a bacterial Bacillus halotolerans biofertilizer on coriander crops with respect to increasing the content in bioactive compounds and plant development

Calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Kajli, Lohi and Thalli sheep breeds

Calpastatin-encoding gene (<i>CAST</i>) is located on the fifth chromosome of sheep and it plays an  important role in the development of muscles and in meat tenderness. The present study was conducted to  investigate a calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Pakistani Thalli, Lohi and Kajli sheep breed. Random blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 samples from each Thalli, Lohi and Kajli breeds).  Genomic DNA was extracted using phenol-chloroform extraction method. A 622 bp CAST gene segment (exon 1C/1D region) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ovine specific primers. Restriction  fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in the amplified fragments were studied using Msp1 restriction  enzyme. Frequencies of MM, MN and NN genotypes were found to be 77, 20 and 3% in Lohi breed and 68, 26 and 6% in Kajli breed respectively. In Thalli sheep, only the MM (80%) and MN (20%) genotypes were  detected. Chi-Square test (p < 0.05) showed that all the three populations used in this study were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. By comparing the results of this study with those of previous studies, it seems that the MM genotype is the dominant genotype and the M allele is the dominant allele in small ruminant breeds belonging to different geographical locations.Key words: Thalli, Lohi, CAST gene, Kajli, polymorphism, Msp1, PCR-RFLP

Intrusion Detection Systems in Cloud Computing: A Contemporary Review of Techniques and Solutions

Rapid growth of resources and escalating cost of infrastructure is leading organizations to adopt cloud computing. Cloud computing provides high performance, efficient utilization, and on-demand availability of resources. However, the cloud environment is vulnerable to different kinds of intrusion attacks which involve installing malicious software and creating backdoors. In a cloud environment, where businesses have hosted important and critical data, the security of underlying technologies becomes crucial. To mitigate the threat to cloud environments, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are a layer of defense. The aim of this survey paper is to review IDS techniques proposed for the cloud. To achieve this objective, the first step is defining the limitations and unique characteristics of each technique. The second step is establishing the criteria to evaluate IDS architectures. In this paper, the criteria used is derived from basic characteristics of cloud. Next step is a comparative analysis of various existing intrusion detection techniques against the criteria. The last step is on the discussion of drawbacks and open issues, comprehended from the evaluation, due to which implementation of IDS in cloud environment face hurdles

Integrated approach for reservoir characterization and field development of Meyal area, Upper Indus basin, Pakistan

678-685Seismic data commonly provides insight into subsurface reservoirs. However, only seismic is not capable to completely evaluate reservoir pore fluid heterogeneities. Therefore, an integrated approach of seismic interpretation, petrophysical analysis and Gassmann fluid substitution is used in Meyal area, for its reservoir depiction and field development. The results of seismic analysis reveal that the study area is in compressional regime and thrust bounded pop-up structure makes it appropriate for hydrocarbon accumulation. A new lead is identified that could be probable hydrocarbon potential zone. Petrophysical investigation depicts that the zone is saturated with hydrocarbon and hold suitable effective porosity. In addition, fluid substitution in desired zone reflects variations in elastic properties (P, S-wave velocity and density) when substituted with brine. The maximum variations are perceived at maximum saturation of brine. This approach can be confidently applied to quantify reservoir potential in any sedimentary basin of the world

Dissecting the mechanism of intracellular Mycobacterium smegmatis growth inhibition by Platelet activating factor C-16

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection results in approximately 1.3 million human deaths each year. M.tb resides primarily inside macrophages, and maintains persistent infection. In response to infection and inflammation, platelet activating factor C-16 (PAF C16), a phospholipid compound, is released by various cells including neutophils and monocytes. We have recently shown that PAF C-16 can directly inhibit the growth of two representative non-pathogenic mycobacteria, Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis), by damaging the bacterial cell membrane. Here, we have examined the effect of PAF C-16 on M. smegmatis residing within macrophages, and identified mechanisms involved in their growth inhibitory function. Our results demonstrated that exogenous PAF C-16 inhibited the growth of M. smegmatis inside phagocytic cells of monocytic cell line, THP1; this effect was partially blocked by PAF receptor antagonists, suggesting the involvement of PAF receptor-mediated signalling pathways. Arachidonic acid, a downstream metabolite of PAF C-16 signalling pathway, directly inhibited the growth of M. smegmatis in vitro. Moreover, the inhibition of phospholipase C and phospholipase A2 activities, involved in PAF C-16 signalling pathway, increased survival of intracellular M. smegmatis. Interestingly, we also observed that inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) enzyme and antibody-mediated neutralization of TNF-α partially mitigated the intracellular growth inhibitory effect of PAF C-16. Use of a number of PAF C-16 structural analogues, including Lyso-PAF, 2-O-methyl PAF, PAF C-18 and Hexanolamino PAF, revealed that the presence of acetyl group (CH3CO) at sn-2 position of the glycerol backbone of PAF is important for the intracellular growth inhibition activity against M. smegmatis. Taken together, these results suggest that exogenous PAF C-16 treatment inhibits intracellular M. smegmatis growth, at least partially, in a nitric oxide and TNF-α dependent manner

Response of Chickpea Lines to Ascochyta rabiei at Two Growing Stages

During winter 2004 and 2005, two field and glasshouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of 471 chickpea genotypes to Ascochyta rabiei, as Ascochyta blight (AB) disease in Chickpea (Cicer aurietimum). Frequent rainfall at flowering and pod formation stages made favorite conditions conducive for the infection and symptoms expression. So, the genotypes with high level of tolerance at seedling stage proved response to the pathogen under field condition. Disease at seedling and adult plant stage exhibited high association, although level of infection was higher at adult plant stage. In glasshouse 65 genotypes at seedling stage and in field experiment 14 genotypes at pod formation stage were resistant to the pathogen. Following green house and field screening methods, six genotypes FLIP98-229C, FLIP82-150C,NCS 950204, NCS 950219, NCS 9903 and PaidarxParbat from NARC and six lines (FLIP 00-20C, FLIP 02-18C, FLIP 02-44C, FLIP 97-120C, FLIP 02-39C and FLIP 97-102C) from ICARDA found resistant for multilocational / agronomic evaluation and use as resistant parent trials for high yielding AB resistance breeding varieties