Institutional reforms in irrigation sector of Punjab, Pakistan: Proceedings of Workshop held at Faisalabad Serena on 10-11 February 2000

Institution building / Irrigated farming / Irrigation management / Participatory management / Farmer participation / Farmers' associations / Pakistan / Punjab / Hakra

Institutional reforms in irrigation sector of Punjab, Pakistan: Proceedings of Workshop held at Faisalabad Serena on 10-11 February 2000

Institution building / Irrigated farming / Irrigation management / Participatory management / Farmer participation / Farmers' associations / Pakistan / Punjab / Hakra

Triage as a core sorting strategy in extreme core arrival scenarios

Surveys have indicated that the remanufacturing industry is concerned about the necessity of agile and prioritized core sorting due to its potential benefits to optimal core inventory and condition assessment, both at equipment and component levels. As such, core sorting holds a pivotal role in remanufacturing operations, however, extreme core arrivals, its stochastic nature and resulting sorting issues, warrant targeted modelling and analysis. This paper is devoted to triage as an agile sorting strategy in extreme arrival scenarios that can be utilized as a complementary core sorting strategy. A statistical model of extreme core arrivals is developed based on Extreme Value (EV) theory and related Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) and Fréchet (Fisher-Tippett type-II) distributions. The model is applied to extreme arrivals of valves in an industrial valve repair shop. Using a large sample size, distribution parameters are estimated and the stochastic behaviour of the extreme valve arrivals is evaluated and verified. An analogy between medical triage and remanufacturing triage is discussed, the results and applicability of extreme value analysis in remanufactured valve arrivals is presented, and a generic framework for prioritization of triage strategies is introduced

Oxfendazole Resistance in Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Beetal Goats at Livestock Farms of Punjab (Pakistan)

This study was carried out to screen goat farms for anthelmintic resistance (AR) against oxfendazole (OXF) and to determine contributory factors for its development. For this purpose, Beetal goat farms (n = 18) were randomly selected, with natural mixed gastrointestinal nematodosis infection. In vivo (faecal egg count reduction test) and in vitro (egg hatch assay) tests were used to ascertain the presence of AR while a scorecard was used to determine the role of possible contributory factors for oxfendazole resistance. For in vivo test, the experimental animals were divided into two groups of 10 animals each; one group received OXF treatment, while the other served as control. Pre- and post-treatment coproculture was performed to identify the species and genera of nematodes. Egg hatch assay (EHA) was used to confirm the results of FECRT. Fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) revealed the development of resistance on six farms and post-treatment larval cultures indicated Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Cooperia curticei, Teladorsagia circumcincta and Oesophagostomum spp. as dominant species with resistance. Furthermore, EHA confirmed the results of FECRT. Among the presumptive factors for AR, the highest composite score was for rotation of anthelmintics followed by treatment frequency, dose rate and nature of medication. The scorecard for the development of AR, used in this study, may be helpful for the assessment of contributory factors of AR

Addressing the discrepancy of finding equilibrium melting point of silicon using MD simulations

We performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the equilibrium melting point of silicon using (i) the solid–liquid coexistence method and (ii) the Gibbs free energy technique, and compared our novel results with the previously published results obtained from the Monte Carlo (MC) void-nucleated melting method based on the Tersoff-ARK interatomic potential (Agrawal et al. Phys. Rev. B 72, 125206. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.72.125206)). Considerable discrepancy was observed (approx. 20%) between the former two methods and the MC void-nucleated melting result, leading us to question the applicability of the empirical MC void-nucleated melting method to study a wide range of atomic and molecular systems. A wider impact of the study is that it highlights the bottleneck of the Tersoff-ARK potential in correctly estimating the melting point of silicon

Addressing the discrepancy of finding equilibrium melting point of silicon using MD simulations

We performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the equilibrium melting point of silicon using (i) the solid–liquid coexistence method and (ii) the Gibbs free energy technique, and compared our novel results with the previously published results obtained from the Monte Carlo (MC) void-nucleated melting method based on the Tersoff-ARK interatomic potential (Agrawal et al. Phys. Rev. B 72, 125206. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.72.125206)). Considerable discrepancy was observed (approx. 20%) between the former two methods and the MC void-nucleated melting result, leading us to question the applicability of the empirical MC void-nucleated melting method to study a wide range of atomic and molecular systems. A wider impact of the study is that it highlights the bottleneck of the Tersoff-ARK potential in correctly estimating the melting point of silicon

The Plasmodium LAP complex affects crystalloid biogenesis and oocyst cell division.

Malaria parasite oocysts located on the mosquito midgut generate sporozoites by a process called sporogony. Plasmodium berghei parasites express six LCCL lectin domain adhesive-like proteins (LAPs), which operate as a complex and share a localisation in the crystalloid - an organelle found in the ookinete and young oocyst. Depletion of LAPs prevents crystalloid formation, increases oocyst growth, and blocks sporogony. Here, we describe a LAP4 mutant that has abnormal crystalloid biogenesis and produces oocysts that display reduced growth and premature sporogony. These findings provide evidence for a role of the LAP complex in regulating oocyst cell division via the crystalloid