Effective bioconversion of locally obtained apple waste into citric acid using aspergillus niger (NRRL 567)

A viable and sustainable method was used to produce citric acid. Apple waste (pomace) was used as a substrate and displayed a good efficiency for citric acid yield. The fermentation process was carried out using Aspergillus Niger (NRRL 567) strain. This fungal strain showed a competent performance in fermenting apple waste to produce citric acid. Various key parameters were analyzed and optimized such as incubation temperature, amount of substrate, ph, moisture content, nitrogen source, metal ions, methanol inducer and inoculum density. Among such parameters, the highest citric acid yield of 158 g/kg of apple pomace was achieved with the use of methanol inducer. Methanol inducer, moisture content, amount of substrate and nitrogen source were found to have significant impact on CA production. The fungal strain used in the present study is known to possess an impressive biomass fermentation capacity, as also demonstrated by the present work. In Pakistan, this strain has not been analyzed for its efficiency to produce citric acid using pomace of locally cultivated apple, hence the novelty of the present work. All the experimental work, analysis and optimization was accomplished on laboratory scale at Advanced Research Laboratory, Zoology Department, GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Mobile Ad hoc Networks Challenges

Now adays Mobile Ad Hoc Networks are becoming a major immerging technology in mobile computing. In this paper we focus on the evolution of the MANET, the challenges in it and a wide area of its applications. In the first section we provide a brief information about the history and evolution of MANET , next to it we discuss the major challenges in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks and towards the end we mentioned some of the application of MANET

Adolescent transport and unintentional injuries: a systematic analysis using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Globally, transport and unintentional injuries persist as leading preventable causes of mortality and morbidity for adolescents. We sought to report comprehensive trends in injury-related mortality and morbidity for adolescents aged 10–24 years during the past three decades. Methods: Using the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2019 Study, we analysed mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributed to transport and unintentional injuries for adolescents in 204 countries. Burden is reported in absolute numbers and age-standardised rates per 100 000 population by sex, age group (10–14, 15–19, and 20–24 years), and sociodemographic index (SDI) with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We report percentage changes in deaths and DALYs between 1990 and 2019. Findings: In 2019, 369 061 deaths (of which 214 337 [58%] were transport related) and 31·1 million DALYs (of which 16·2 million [52%] were transport related) among adolescents aged 10–24 years were caused by transport and unintentional injuries combined. If compared with other causes, transport and unintentional injuries combined accounted for 25% of deaths and 14% of DALYs in 2019, and showed little improvement from 1990 when such injuries accounted for 26% of adolescent deaths and 17% of adolescent DALYs. Throughout adolescence, transport and unintentional injury fatality rates increased by age group. The unintentional injury burden was higher among males than females for all injury types, except for injuries related to fire, heat, and hot substances, or to adverse effects of medical treatment. From 1990 to 2019, global mortality rates declined by 34·4% (from 17·5 to 11·5 per 100 000) for transport injuries, and by 47·7% (from 15·9 to 8·3 per 100 000) for unintentional injuries. However, in low-SDI nations the absolute number of deaths increased (by 80·5% to 42 774 for transport injuries and by 39·4% to 31 961 for unintentional injuries). In the high-SDI quintile in 2010–19, the rate per 100 000 of transport injury DALYs was reduced by 16·7%, from 838 in 2010 to 699 in 2019. This was a substantially slower pace of reduction compared with the 48·5% reduction between 1990 and 2010, from 1626 per 100 000 in 1990 to 838 per 100 000 in 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, the rate of unintentional injury DALYs per 100 000 also remained largely unchanged in high-SDI countries (555 in 2010 vs 554 in 2019; 0·2% reduction). The number and rate of adolescent deaths and DALYs owing to environmental heat and cold exposure increased for the high-SDI quintile during 2010–19. Interpretation: As other causes of mortality are addressed, inadequate progress in reducing transport and unintentional injury mortality as a proportion of adolescent deaths becomes apparent. The relative shift in the burden of injury from high-SDI countries to low and low–middle-SDI countries necessitates focused action, including global donor, government, and industry investment in injury prevention. The persisting burden of DALYs related to transport and unintentional injuries indicates a need to prioritise innovative measures for the primary prevention of adolescent injury. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Global, regional, and national mortality among young people aged 10-24 years, 1950-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex and age group in people aged 10-24 years in 204 countries and territories from 1950 to 2019 by use of estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. Methods We report trends in estimated total numbers of deaths and mortality rate per 100 000 population in young people aged 10-24 years by age group (10-14 years, 15-19 years, and 20-24 years) and sex in 204 countries and territories between 1950 and 2019 for all causes, and between 1980 and 2019 by cause of death. We analyse variation in outcomes by region, age group, and sex, and compare annual rate of change in mortality in young people aged 10-24 years with that in children aged 0-9 years from 1990 to 2019. We then analyse the association between mortality in people aged 10-24 years and socioeconomic development using the GBD Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite measure based on average national educational attainment in people older than 15 years, total fertility rate in people younger than 25 years, and income per capita. We assess the association between SDI and all-cause mortality in 2019, and analyse the ratio of observed to expected mortality by SDI using the most recent available data release (2017). Findings In 2019 there were 1.49 million deaths (95% uncertainty interval 1.39-1.59) worldwide in people aged 10-24 years, of which 61% occurred in males. 32.7% of all adolescent deaths were due to transport injuries, unintentional injuries, or interpersonal violence and conflict; 32.1% were due to communicable, nutritional, or maternal causes; 27.0% were due to non-communicable diseases; and 8.2% were due to self-harm. Since 1950, deaths in this age group decreased by 30.0% in females and 15.3% in males, and sex-based differences in mortality rate have widened in most regions of the world. Geographical variation has also increased, particularly in people aged 10-14 years. Since 1980, communicable and maternal causes of death have decreased sharply as a proportion of total deaths in most GBD super-regions, but remain some of the most common causes in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, where more than half of all adolescent deaths occur. Annual percentage decrease in all-cause mortality rate since 1990 in adolescents aged 15-19 years was 1.3% in males and 1.6% in females, almost half that of males aged 1-4 years (2.4%), and around a third less than in females aged 1-4 years (2.5%). The proportion of global deaths in people aged 0-24 years that occurred in people aged 10-24 years more than doubled between 1950 and 2019, from 9.5% to 21.6%. Interpretation Variation in adolescent mortality between countries and by sex is widening, driven by poor progress in reducing deaths in males and older adolescents. Improving global adolescent mortality will require action to address the specific vulnerabilities of this age group, which are being overlooked. Furthermore, indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to jeopardise efforts to improve health outcomes including mortality in young people aged 10-24 years. There is an urgent need to respond to the changing global burden of adolescent mortality, address inequities where they occur, and improve the availability and quality of primary mortality data in this age group. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Factors Influencing the Selection of Kids’ Preliminary School in Pakistan: A Qualitative Approach

Purpose: The study aimed at exploring those factors by following the procedures of qualitative research as well as exploration of rich sources of information contemplated by parents in order to get a better idea of schooling institutions. Methodology: The data was collected by interviewing the parents who had lately admitted their kids to the schools and had the selection process fresh in their memory. To provide more valuable insights to the readers and by keeping in view the importance of parents’ mindfulness in the decision making, only those participants were considered who had at least 14 years of education themselves; about half of them are working as faculty members in the education sector in Pakistan. An in-depth qualitative analysis was done using NVIVO 20 software by utilizing the thematic analysis technique. Findings: The findings revealed that numerous factors were considered by the parents such as the affordability of the educational expenses, the cultural values, the transportation issues, involvement of school in extra-curricular activities, the distance from home, the environment, the infrastructure of the school, the faculty and education level as well as the skills and creativity enhancement of kids. Although the educated participants talked about affordability issue but most of them were of the view that quality education of children should not be compromised because of this issue and other expenses could be lessened accordingly. The participants mostly relied on personal visits and consultation with educated people in their access for the collection of information about the institutes. Implications: The readers of the paper could benefit from these decision-making insights of educated citizens as well as of those involved with education sector professionally

Antecedents and Precedents of On-Job Bullying: A Qualitative Approach

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents and precedents of on-job bullying regardless of the gender. Lower the Job stress and on-job bullying, higher the effectiveness and productivity of the employees. Employee engagement has also been identified as a mediator in some studies between on-job bullying and job performance of employees. Somewhere there is a lack of information stating the antecedents and precedents of on-job bullying in a comprehensive manner covering the versatile combination of both manufacturing and service sector. Methodology: This face-to-face interview based qualitative study is conducted on employees of manufacturing firms and banks of Faisalabad and Lahore. Interview Protocol was designed, consisting of four main questions along with multiple probing questions. It has been observed after five interviews that the saturation of data floated among all. The data was thus observed using NVivo 10 software to analyze the data deeply. Multiple techniques like Nodes, Word Tag Clouds, and Word Trees validate the collected data. Findings: This study is vital as it acts as a beacon of light to deprive the concept of this harmful norm of our society. Although this is significant to uproot the belief that women are bullied on job only. This study also provided the general recommendations based upon the suggestions of both the respondents and researcher. Implications: This study paves a path for its audience to identify and mitigate the factors that unbalances their job environment

Role of Financial Literacy in Investment Decisions: Exploring the Individual Investors’ Perspective through a Qualitative Approach

Purpose: This study aims to explore phenomenal role of financial literacy on investment decisions. Financial literacy enables the individuals to manage their financial resources through pursuing alternative investment opportunities and portfolio diversification. Individual investors tried to balance their income-expenditures by availing latest investment opportunities in stocks, bonds, shares and financial instruments of the companies through stock exchanges, conventional and non-conventional investment channels. In current economic situations low stock prices, capital gains, financial interest, stock market rumors induce individual investors to trade in stock markets. As these indices, provide fair opportunities of investment as compared to bank deposits and other modes of investments. However, financial literacy (FL) offers a bridge to investors for making sound investment decisions through the best utilization of resources. Methodology: This study is based on the exploration of the role of financial literacy from individual investor’s perspective. Therefore, research method for this study is ‘Grounded theory’ under the qualitative approach. For the purpose of data collection, researcher conducted in-depth personal interviews. NVIVO software has been used for qualitative analysis of the data gathered through interviews. Different techniques such as, Word Tag Cloud, Word Tree and Tree Map were used to elaborate the themes of the study. Findings: This study found that financial literacy, economic, political and market factors influence the quality of investment decisions of the individuals. Moreover, rumors in financial markets also affect the investment decisions of the individuals. Implications: This study provide better outlook about the FL and investment decisions made by people based on knowledge about finance. Generally, financial activities are performed in financial markets divided into two categories; primary and secondary markets

An overview of recent advances and novel synthetic approaches for lignocellulosic derived biofuels

One of the most important challenges to overcome at present is to reduce the dependability on the fossil fuels and replace them with green and environmental friendly substitutes. In this respect, biofuel conversion from lignocellulosic materials could prove to be an efficient process. The current review presents the most recent advances and novel synthetic approaches in utilizing lignocellulosic substrates for biofuel production, such as scheming of new/enhanced catalysts, waste valorization, using genetic modifications to improve organism traits, development and/improving the new or step integration processes, etc. Such new strategies can prove to be important tools and augment the use of renewable fuels globally. The present review summarizes the most recent strategies, advances and novel synthetic approaches offered pertaining to catalytic/non-catalytic pretreatments/transformations of lignocellulosic materials, carbohydrates based carbohydrates and technical lignin into biofuels