Effect of Feed Cycling on Specific Growth Rate, Condition Factor, Body Composition And Rna/Dna Ratio Of Cirrhinus mrigala.

A randomly selected 60 samples of Cirrhinus mrigala, fingerling sized, were collected from Qadria fish hatchery and farm, Matital road, Multan. Fish were divided into three groups namely, control, 5 and 10 days cyclic feeding group. Specific growth rate (% g day-1), condition factor (K), body composition andRNA/DNA ratio of individual specimen and of each group were calculated. It was found that there was highly significant effect of feed cycling on specific growth rate (P0.05) suggesting a compensatory growth which was independent of length of starvation. Feed cycling had marked effect (

Barriers and perceptions regarding code status discussion with families of critically ill patients in a tertiary care hospital of a developing country: A cross-sectional study

Background: In Asian societies including Pakistan, a complex background of illiteracy, different familial dynamics, lack of patient’s autonomy, religious beliefs, and financial constraints give new dimensions to code status discussion. Barriers faced by physicians during code status discussion in these societies are largely unknown.Aim: To determine the barriers and perceptions in discussion of code status by physicians.Design: Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study.Setting and participants: This study was conducted in the Department of Medicine of The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 134 physicians who had discussed at least five code statuses in their lifetime were included.Results: A total of 77 (57.4%) physicians responded. Family-related barriers were found to be the most common barriers. They include family denial (74.0%), level of education of family (66.2%), and conflict between individual family members (66.2%). Regarding personal barriers, lack of knowledge regarding prognosis (44.1%), personal discomfort in discussing death (29.8%), and fear of legal consequences (28.5%) were the top most barriers. In hospital-related barriers, time constraint (57.1%), lack of hospital administration support (48.0%), and suboptimal nursing care after do not resuscitate (48.0%) were the most frequent. There were significant differences among opinions of trainees when compared to those of attending physicians.Conclusion: Family-related barriers are the most frequent roadblocks in the end-of-life care discussions for physicians in Pakistan. Strengthening communication skills of physicians and family education are the potential strategies to improve end-of-life care. Large multi-center studies are needed to better understand the barriers of code status discussion in developing countries

Ordering of droplets and light scattering in polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

We study the effects of droplet ordering in initial optical transmittance through polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films prepared in the presence of an electrical field. The experimental data are interpreted by using a theoretical approach to light scattering in PDLC films that explicitly relates optical transmittance and the order parameters characterizing both the orientational structures inside bipolar droplets and orientational distribution of the droplets. The theory relies on the Rayleigh-Gans approximation and uses the Percus-Yevick approximation to take into account the effects due to droplet positional correlations.Comment: revtex4, 18 pages, 8 figure

Benchmarking of Client’s Financial management practices in the construction sector of Pakistan

The objective of this study is to describe financial management practices of Clients operating in Pakistan by means of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A total of 30 organizations were targeted as respondents. The research results refer to mean percentage of the frequency of the estimation of cost on the projects, methods used to determine whether the project is over or under billed, methods of recording cash flows, methods of checking financial status of projects, methods used for external financing, documents needed when applying for financing, methods used for financial decisions in different organizations and different causes of failure due to which any construction project could be unsuccessful. The research is undertaken to discuss: The financial management practices which prevail in the local construction sector Financial management problems that causes the failure of projects in the construction sector of Pakistan and The mechanism to mitigate the present failure causes in local environment. The findings of this study can be used for improving overall financial management practices of clients in local construction sector through awareness campaigns, training workshops and skill development programs. This should then presumably result in competitive performance of various firms, thereby improving the effectiveness of financial management of projects to avoid construction project failure

Effect of various nutrient combinations on growth and body composition of rohu (Labeo rohita)

A total of 80 Labeo rohita fingerlings (mean body weight, 14.7 ± 0.08 g and length, 11.0 ± 0.16 cm) were randomly distributed into four treatments with 20 replicates each, for 60 days, to determine the effect of different feed compositions on the growth and body composition of L. rohita. Four isoenergetic (17.05 ± 0.24 kJ g-1) experimental diet viz., control (C), protein rich (PR), fat rich (FR) and carbohydrate rich (CR) were formulated. The proximate composition protein/fat/carbohydrate (P/F/C) of formulated feed were C: P35/F8/C2, PR: P40/F8/C2, FR: P35/F10/C2 and CR: P35/F8/C5. The daily ration size was 5% of fish body weight. The result reveals a highly significant (P≤0.001) difference in specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain (WG) and protein efficiency (PE) among four feeding groups, while differences were significant for feed conversion ratio (FCR). FR showed maximum growth together with high body fat, CR showed low body fat and high proteins. Results indicate that increasing fat up to 9% in diet showed better growth as compared to increasing dietary protein and carbohydratesKey words: Labeo rohita, diet composition, specific growth rate, protein efficiency, body composition

Wind Farms and Flexible Loads Contribution in Automatic Generation Control: An Extensive Review and Simulation

With the increasing integration of wind energy sources into conventional power systems, the demand for reserve power has risen due to associated forecasting errors. Consequently, developing innovative operating strategies for automatic generation control (AGC) has become crucial. These strategies ensure a real-time balance between load and generation while minimizing the reliance on operating reserves from conventional power plant units. Wind farms exhibit a strong interest in participating in AGC operations, especially when AGC is organized into different regulation areas encompassing various generation units. Further, the integration of flexible loads, such as electric vehicles and thermostatically controlled loads, is considered indispensable in modern power systems, which can have the capability to offer ancillary services to the grid through the AGC systems. This study initially presents the fundamental concepts of wind power plants and flexible load units, highlighting their significant contribution to load frequency control (LFC) as an important aspect of AGC. Subsequently, a real-time dynamic dispatch strategy for the AGC model is proposed, integrating reserve power from wind farms and flexible load units. For simulations, a future Pakistan power system model is developed using Dig SILENT Power Factory software (2020 SP3), and the obtained results are presented. The results demonstrate that wind farms and flexible loads can effectively contribute to power-balancing operations. However, given its cost-effectiveness, wind power should be operated at maximum capacity and only be utilized when there is a need to reduce power generation. Additionally, integrating reserves from these sources ensures power system security, reduces dependence on conventional sources, and enhances economic efficiency

EFFECT OF SINTERING TEMPERATURE ON MICROSTRUCTURE AND IN-VITRO BEHAVIOR OF BIOACTIVE GLASS-CERAMICS

In this work, powders of the composition (CaO 46- SiO2 34- P2O5 14.5- MgO 4- CaF2 1- MgF2 0.5) (wt. %) were thoroughly mixed and melted in a muffle furnace. The melt was quenched in water to form glass. Three glass-ceramics were prepared by sintering glass samples at three different temperatures 850, 900 and 950°C according to the exothermal peaks of DTA. The DTA peaks correspond to the bioactive crystalline phases hydroxyapatite (HA) and wollastonite as confirmed by the XRD data. Study of diameter-shrinkage co-efficient and bulk-density of samples revealed higher densification rate for the range 900 - 950°C than that for the range 850 - 900°C.SEM and optical microscope results illustrated a tendency towards closely packed structure and increasing grain size with the increase of sintering temperature. The samples were immersed in SBF for 30 days at room temperature for in-vitro evaluation.EDS analysis, showing the presence of carbon (C) along with calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) suggests the formation of hydroxycarbonate-apatite (HCA) phase that indicates the bioactivity of the material which increases with the increase of sintering temperature

Measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in transverse momentum and rapidity in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV

We present a measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in rapidity and transverse momentum using a data sample of pp collision events at a centre-of-mass energy View the MathML sources=8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb 121. The Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of muons. The measurement provides a precision test of quantum chromodynamics over a large region of phase space. In addition, due to the small experimental uncertainties in the measurement the data has the potential to constrain the gluon parton distribution function in the kinematic regime important for Higgs boson production via gluon fusion. The results agree with the next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions computed with the fewz program. The results are also compared to the commonly used leading-order MadGraph and next-to-leading-order powheg generators

Measurement of the W+W- cross section in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV and limits on anomalous gauge couplings

A measurement of the W boson pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV is presented. The data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.4$\,\text {fb}^\text {-1}$. The ${{\mathrm{W} }^{+} }\mathrm{W}^{-}$ candidates are selected from events with two charged leptons, electrons or muons, and large missing transverse energy. The measured ${{\mathrm{W} }^{+} }\mathrm{W}^{-}$ cross section is $60.1\pm 0.9\,\text {(stat)} \pm 3.2\,\text {(exp)} \pm 3.1\,\text {(theo)} \pm 1.6\,\text {(lumi)} \text {\,pb} = 60.1\pm 4.8\text {\,pb}$, consistent with the standard model prediction. The ${{\mathrm{W} }^{+} }\mathrm{W}^{-}$ cross sections are also measured in two different fiducial phase space regions. The normalized differential cross section is measured as a function of kinematic variables of the final-state charged leptons and compared with several perturbative QCD predictions. Limits on anomalous gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are also given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95 % confidence level intervals are $-5.7< c_{\mathrm {WWW}}/\Lambda ^2 < 5.9\,\mathrm{TeV}^{-2}$, $-11.4< c_{\mathrm {W}}/\Lambda ^2 < 5.4\,\mathrm{TeV}^{-2}$, $-29.2< c_{\mathrm {B}}/\Lambda ^2 < 23.9\,\mathrm{TeV}^{-2}$, in the HISZ basis