Length-weight relationships and condition factor of the sea urchin Echinometra mathaei (Echinoidea: Echinodermata) on Buleji rocky shore of Karachi, Pakistan

The length frequency, length-weight relationships and variation in condition factor was studied in the population of Echinometra mathaei (Blainville, 1825) found on the rocky shore of Buleji, Karachi, Pakistan during the period from April 2011 to November 2012. The test diameter (length) in E. mathaei ranged from 19.0 and 77.2 mm with mean test diameter of 46.6 ± 6.3 mm. The modal size-class in the population of this species was 41-50 mm. The total wet weight ranged from 13.3 to 121.6 g with a mean of 50.1 ± 18.3 g and showed the modal size class of weight to be 31–40 g. Sex-wise and season-wise length weight relationship (LWR) showed negative allometric growth trend (b not equal to 3, P 0.05). However, analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the Kn values in different seasons at Buleji (ANOVA, F = 59.57; P < 0.05)

Length-weight relationship and condition factor in Holothuria arenicola (Holothuroidea : Echinodermata) found on two rocky coasts of Karachi, Pakistan

The length-weight relationship and condition factor is determined for Holothuria arenicola collected between April 2011 to November 2012 from rocky shores of Manora and Buleji. The maximum total length recorded for this species was 416.0 mm at Manora and 376.0 mm at Buleji. Sex-wise and season wise LWR and slope (b) values revealed the negative allometric growth (b not equal to 3, P < 0.001) at both sites. The length-weight relationship in H. arenicola during different seasons showed the b value to range between 1.850 to 2.384 at Manora and 2.124 to 2.401 at Buleji. Correlation coefficient were noticed highly significant for sex and season wise with a good correlation between length and weight. The condition factor (Kn) for H. arenicola ranged between1.04 to 1.96 at Manora and 0.87 to 1.8 at Buleji. Analysis of variance showed that there is statistically significant difference between the means of the Kn values in 19 months at Manora (ANOVA, F = 10.96; P < 0.05) and Buleji (ANOVA, F = 13.42; P < 0.05) and in various seasons at Manora (ANOVA, F = 86.529; P < 0.05) and Buleji (F = 56.285; P < 0.05)

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Optimization Strategies: Cusp Overlap, Commissural Alignment, Sizing, and Positioning

As transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) rapidly expands to younger patients and those at low surgical risk, there is a compelling need to identify patients at increased risk of post-procedural complications, such as paravalvular leak, prosthesis–patient mismatch, and conduction abnormalities. This review highlights the incidence and risk factors of these procedural complications, and focuses on novel methods to reduce them by using newer generation transcatheter heart valves and the innovative cusp-overlap technique, which provides optimal fluoroscopic imaging projection to allow for precise implantation depth which minimizes interaction with the conduction system. Preserving coronary access after TAVR is another important consideration in younger patients. This paper reviews the significance of commissural alignment to allow coronary cannulation after TAVR and discusses recently published data on modified delivery techniques to improve commissural alignment

Impact of Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Urbanization on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed unprecedented economic growth in recent decades, propelling it onto the global stage. However, this rapid growth is often associated with a notable increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which carry significant environmental ramifications. In light of this pressing concern, this research undertakes a comprehensive examination of the intricate relationships between economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, and carbon dioxide emissions within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1980 to 2020. This study employs autoregressive distributed lag approach to uncover the multifaceted dynamics at play. The empirical findings of the study reveal a compelling narrative about the Kingdom's natural landscape. Particularly noteworthy is the revelation that economic growth, urbanization, and energy consumption emerge as pivotal long-term drivers of escalating pollution. These findings underscore the critical necessity for policies that strike a balance between economic development and environmental preservation. Furthermore, the study disentangles the intricate web of causation among these factors. It becomes evident that economic growth and pollution exhibit bidirectional causality, illuminating the intricate connection between economic prosperity and environmental consequences. Additionally, commercial activities have been empirically shown to exert a substantial influence on pollution levels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To address these challenges, a pivotal shift towards a low-carbon technological revolution is proposed as a means of achieving sustained economic development. This transition towards environmentally friendly technologies holds the potential to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, paving the way for a greener and more prosperous future for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Impact of Innovation on CO2 Emissions in South Asian Countries

Across the globe, human lifestyles are accelerating carbon emissions, and this phenomenon is especially pronounced in developing nations. As the world grapples with the compelling imperative to address severe environmental challenges, technology has emerged as a steadfast ally. Over recent decades, the advancement of cutting-edge technology and the granting of patent rights have ignited a profound discourse on novel approaches to mitigating environmental threats. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in investigating how innovations might assist in reducing carbon emissions. The current study looks at how innovation affects carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian nations. The goal of this study is to use panel OLS and fixed effects methodologies to examine the influence of innovation on CO2 emissions in five South Asian nations from 1980 to 2019. The study's findings show that carbon dioxide emissions are negatively impacting environmental quality, while technological developments help to lower these carbon emissions. The findings argue for the development of initiatives to foster and expand technical innovation, particularly in South Asian countries. This research underscores the imperative of harnessing innovation to confront the immediate environmental challenges that loom large in the twenty-first century, as we strive for a more sustainable and environmentally responsible future

Scientific papers citation analysis using textual features and SMOTE resampling techniques

Abstract Ascertaining the impact of research is significant for the research community and academia of all disciplines. The only prevalent measure associated with the quantification of research quality is the citation-count. Although a number of citations play a significant role in academic research, sometimes citations can be biased or made to discuss only the weaknesses and shortcomings of the research. By considering the sentiment of citations and recognizing patterns in text can aid in understanding the opinion of the peer research community and will also help in quantifying the quality of research articles. Efficient feature representation combined with machine learning classifiers has yielded significant improvement in text classification. However, the effectiveness of such combinations has not been analyzed for citation sentiment analysis. This study aims to investigate pattern recognition using machine learning models in combination with frequency-based and prediction-based feature representation techniques with and without using Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) on publicly available citation sentiment dataset. Sentiment of citation instances are classified into positive, negative or neutral. Results indicate that the Extra tree classifier in combination with Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency achieved 98.26% accuracy on the SMOTE-balanced dataset

Community structure and seasonal distribution of intertidal macrofauna from two rocky shores of Karachi coast

Rocky shores are considered heterogeneous environments due to their composition and structure. Therefore, they support numerous habitats for flora and fauna. Organisms found on rocky shores are facing intense physicochemical conditions during tidal changes from upper to lower intertidal zones. Total (N=1888) specimens were collected on seasonal basis from intertidal zone during low tide from two rocky sites of Karachi coast, Buleji and Sunehri during January 2017 to December 2017. The highest number of individuals (N=1041), were recorded from Buleji than Sunehri (N= 847). The seasonal abundance in Mollusca were measured as (36.84%), (63.67%), (25.08) and (40.38%) from Buleji while from Sunehri (45.16 %), (46.01%), (48.65) and (42.79 %) during pre-monsoon, south-west monsoon, post monsoon and north-east monsoon season respectively. Group Arthropoda, Mollusca and Echinodermata were shows the highest abundance of the species at both sites as compare to other groups. The highest diversity index from Sunehri (H'=0.64) was measured in north-east monsoon season meanwhile, (H'=0.61) was measured in post monsoon season from Buleji coast. Evenness index (J'=0.25) in pre-monsoon season from Buleji and (J'=0.28) in south-west monsoon season from Sunehri coast. Season shows the great abundance of species as compare to other seasons. No significant correlation was observed in between seasons, water temperature and salinity with macrofauna groups at both sites

Exploration of Two Cucurbitaceae Fruit (Muskmelon and Watermelon) Seeds for Presence of Phytochemicals, and Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities

Cucurbitaceae family fruits, especially melons, offers significant quantities of minerals carotenoids and phenolic compounds, contributing to their antioxidant activity. However, seeds of these fruits are usually discarded as waste by products. In current study, seeds of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and muskmelon (Cucumis melo) were separated, dried, grounded and extracted, with 70% ethanol, to investigate total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoid content (TFC), carotenoid content (TC) content, and total antioxidant activity (TAA). Further, antimicrobial activities of these extracts were tested against selected bacterial and fungus strains. Results showed that extracts of both cucurbits presented significant amounts of phytochemicals, with higher quantities presented by watermelon seeds. In watermelon seeds, TPC were found 156.50 mg/GAE 100 g, TFC 56.78 mg CE/100 g, TC 36.65 mg/100 g, and TAA 71%, and these amounts were significantly higher than those found in muskmelon seeds. Antimicrobial study results showed that extracts of both seeds exhibited significant zone of inhibitions against three bacterial and three fungal species, and these values were very comparable to the reference antimicrobial drug used, Ciprofloxacin. Findings of current research work provided significant grounds for presence of phytochemical bioactives in two melon fruits seeds, providing the basis for extraction and utilization of these bioactives, through processing and fortification different pharma foods