Inquiry-based teaching in mathematics classroom in a lower secondary school of Karachi, Pakistan

There is greater demand on schools to provide autonomy to the learners in the learning process. Diverse strategies are suggested by academicians to achieve the desired autonomy. One such strategy is inquiry-based teaching which provides students with enhanced autonomy in the learning process. This study explores how inquiry-based teaching could be introduced in mathematics classroom in a lower secondary school of Pakistan through an action research process? Analytic memos, sample of students work, reflections from critical friend, observations, field notes and interviews were the main tools of data generation during the study. The results of the study report that inquiry-based teaching in mathematics classroom in lower secondary school of Pakistan could be initiated through change in physical setting of the classroom, changing role of students and teachers in the learning process, focusing autonomy rather than efficiency of the students in the learning and modifying the current examination system

Genetic and physiological characterization of traits related to salinity tolerance in an advanced backcross population of wheat

In large areas of the world wheat production is highly affected by soil salinity. Increasing the genetic variability of currently used wheat varieties is an efficient approach to overcome production losses and prevent food insecurity. Synthetic hexaploid wheat is widely regarded as donor of favorable exotic alleles with respect to tolerance against biotic and abiotic stress factors such as salinity stress. The objective of the present study was to identify genomic regions, which contribute to salinity tolerance at various growth stages in wheat. Therefore, the 151 advanced backcross lines (AB-lines) of the winter wheat population “Z86” (BC2F3:7), containing introgressions of the synthetic hexaploid wheat Syn86L in the background of the German elite cultivar Zentos, were employed in this study. Salt stress experiments were conducted at germination and seedling stage as well as under field conditions with natural salinization in Uzbekistan in three consecutive years. At various growth stages, the AB-lines of the Z86 population and their parents were differently affected by salt stress. At the same molar concentration of salts, the impact of sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) on plants growth was higher than of sodium chloride (NaCl). Notably, for most studied parameters the recurrent elite parent Zentos was performing better than the synthetic parent Syn86, the donor of exotic alleles. In respect to root and shoot length Syn86 surpassed the elite cultivar. In this study, several non-destructive sensor technologies were used which allow accurate and continuous monitoring of morpho-physiological parameters of plants exposed to salinity stress. These data present the first report of a dual-mode microwave resonator which was allowing accurate estimation of water content as well as the ionic conductivity in leaves of mono- and dicotyledonous plants. Additionally, measurement of the photosynthetic rate of plants exposed to salt shock revealed highly significant genotype by treatment interaction effect 20 minutes after initiation of salt stress, where Zentos was performing better than Syn86. In order to detect genomic regions associated with the measured traits under salinity stress the Z86 population was genotyped using the iSelect 90K chip. After data cleaning 11,050 polymorphic SNP marker remained which were applied for quantitative trait loci analysis (QTL) for the 48 studied traits. Using SAS 9.4 the multi-locus approach incorporated in the hierarchical QTL model was able to reduce the number of false-positive putative QTL and hence endorsed the power of detected true QTL. In summary, 116 QTL main effects (including QTL with epistatic effects) and 165 QTL for marker by treatment interaction (including QTL with epistatic by treatment interaction) were detected. One of the major QTL showing pleiotropic effects, among them on shoot dry weight under salinity stress, was found on the short arm of chromosome 7D at 29.97 cM. In-silico analysis of the QTL chromosome region revealed a gene coding for TaGSTu3, an enzyme belonging to the tau-class of the glutathione S-transferase family (GST). GSTs are well known for their role in detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants, which is highly increased under salinity stress. Gene expression analysis at three time-points during the seedling stage (10, 16 and 30 days after salt application) revealed higher expression of TaGSTu3 in Zentos under salinity stress and decreased expression in the comparing parent Syn86. This is the first report of atau-class GST found to contribute significantly to salinity tolerance in wheat. The present study successfully identified QTL from elite cultivar Zentos as well as from the donor germplasm Syn86.The detected favorable alleles introgressed in the AB-lines of the Z86 population can be directly employed in breeding programs via marker-assisted selection for efficiently breeding cultivars with improved salinity tolerance and desired agronomic traits.Genetische und physiologische Charakterisierung von Merkmalen im Bezug auf Salztoleranz in einer Rückkreuzungspopulation von Weizen Die Versalzung der Böden beeinträchtigt in weiten Teilen der Welt die Weizenproduktion. Zum Ausgleich von hohen Ertragseinbussen, bzw. zur Sicherung der Ernährung der Bevölkerung, könnte eine zunehmende genetische Variabilität von aktuell genutzten Weizensorten einen effizienten Lösungsansatz bieten. Synthetischer hexaploider Weizen wird als Quelle von nützlichen exotischen Allelen im Hinblick auf Toleranzen gegenüber biotischen und abiotischen Stressfaktoren, wie etwa Salzstress angesehen. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Lokalisation von genomischen Regionen, die zur Salztoleranz von Weizen in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien beitragen. Dazu wurden 151 AB-Linien (Advanced Backcross) der Winterweizenpopulation "Z86" (BC2F3:7) untersucht, welche vorteilhafte Gene des synthetischen hexaploiden Weizens Syn86L im Hintergrund der deutschen Eliteweizensorte Zentos beinhaltet. Experimente unter Salzstress wurden sowohl im Keimungs- und Jungpflanzenstadium, als auch unter natürlichen Bedingungen in Usbekistan in drei aufeinanderfolgenden Jahren auf Feldern mit hoher Salinität durchgeführt. Die AB-Linien als auch ihre Eltern waren zu unterschiedlichen Entwicklungsstadien verschieden stark vom Salzstress betroffen. Bei Natriumsulfat (Na2SO4) führte die gleiche molare Salzkonzentration zu einer stärkeren Schädigung der Pflanzen als bei Natriumchlorid (NaCl). Bei den meisten untersuchten Parametern schnitt der rekurrente Eliteelter Zentos besser ab als der synthetische Elter Syn86. Nur im Hinblick auf Wurzel- und Sprosslänge übertraf Syn86 den Kulturweizen. Für dieses Projekt kamen verschiedene nicht-invasive Sensortechnologien zum Einsatz, welche ein akkurates und kontinuierliches Beobachten der morphophysiologischen Parameter bei den gestreßten Pflanzen erlaubten. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein Dual-Mode Mikrowellensensor präsentiert, der zerstörungsfrei sowohl den Wassergehalt, als auch die Ionenleitfähigkeit von mono- und dikotylen Pflanzen erfasst. Außerdem wurden in dieser Arbeit erstmalig Daten von Weizenpflanzen präsentiert, die einem plötzlichen Salzschock zugeführt wurden. Hierbei konnte festgestellt werden, dass genotypisch signifikante Unterschiede 20 Minuten nach der Initiation von Salzstress feststellbar waren, wobei Zentos höhere Photosyntheseraten aufzuweisen hatte als Syn86. Um genomische Regionen zu detektieren, die mit den untersuchten Merkmalen unter Salzstress assoziieren, wurde die Z86-Population mit dem iSelect 90K Chip genotypisiert. Die nach der Datenreinigung verbliebenen 11.050 polymorphen Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Marker wurden im Rahmen der Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) Analyse für die 48 untersuchten Merkmale verwendet. Durch Verwendung von SAS (Version 9.4) wurde das Multi-Locus-Verfahren in das hierarchische QTL-Model eingebunden, um die Zahl der Falsch-positiven QTL zu reduzieren und dadurch die Aussagekraft der echten QTL zu verstärken. Hierbei wurden insgesamt 116 QTL für Haupteffekte (inklusive QTL mit epistatischen Effekten) und 165 QTL für die Interaktion mit der Behandlung (inklusive QTL mit epistatischen Effekten in Interaktion mit der Behandlung) detektiert. Ein bedeutendes QTL mit pleiotropischen Effekten (u.a. für das Sprosstrockengewicht unter Salzstress) wurde auf dem kurzen Arm des Chromosoms 7D mit der Position 29,87 cM gefunden. In-silico-Analyse der QTL-Region des Chromosoms ergab ein Gen, das für TaGSTu3, ein Enzym der tau-Klasse aus der Familie Glutathion-S-Transferasen (GST), kodiert. Die GSTs sind bekannt für ihre Rolle bei der Detoxifikation von reaktiven Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) in Pflanzen, die unter Salzstress vermehrt produziert werden. Die Gen-Expressions-Analysen an drei Zeitpunkten (10, 16 und 30 Tage nach der Applikation von Salzstress) des Jungpflanzenstadiums von Weizenpflanzen zeigte eine höhere Expression von TaGSTu3 in Zentos im Vergleich zu Syn86, bei der die Expression von TaGSTu3 unter Stressbedingungen sank. In dieser Arbeit wurde erstmalig der signifikante Beitrag der GST aus der tau-Klasse zur Salztoleranz von Weizen nachgewiesen. Die vorliegende Studie hat erfolgreich QTL identifiziert, wobei die günstigen Allele sowohl von der Eliteweizensorte Zentos als auch von dem synthetischen Weizen Syn86 stammen. Die detektierten nützlichen und exotischen Allele, die in den AB-Linien der Z86-Population vorhanden sind, können direkt in Züchtungsprogrammen über Marker-Aßisted Selection eingebunden werden. Dadurch kann zur effizienteren Züchtung von Sorten mit salztoleranten als auch weiteren bevorzugten agromischen Merkmalen beigetragen werden

Congenital heart disease in children with Down syndrome in Afghanistan

Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is frequently cited as the main cause of death in the pediatric Down syndrome (DS) population. The prevalence and spectrum of CHD patterns in DS varies widely worldwide; this variation could be due to sociodemographic, genetic, and/or geographic factors. Objective To verify the prevalence, pattern, and frequency distribution of CHD in children with Down syndrome. Methods A three-year retrospective study was conducted in children aged 0-14 years with Down syndrome who underwent echocardiography for possible CHD from January 2014 to December 2016, based on the Pediatric Unit CHD Registry of the Cardiac Research Institute, Kabul Medical University. Clinical, echocardiographic, and outcome data were collected and sorted according to confirmation of the syndrome and echocardiography result.  Results During the three-year study period, 420 DS patients were identified, 286 (68%) of whom had CHDs. The prevalence of isolated and multiple CHD in the 420 children with DS were 38% (160 patients) and 30% (126 patients), respectively. Ventricular septal defect (23%) and atrial septal defect (16.4%) were the most common isolated defects. The combination of VSD and ASD (19.9%) were the most frequent multiple CHDs. The most common associations of CHD were VSD + ASD (19.9%) and VSD + PDA (9%).    Conclusion A high prevalence of CHDs was noted in children with Down syndrome. VSD and ASD are the most commonly diagnosed isolated CHDs in our study. ASD + VSD is the most common multiple CHD pairing.  To our knowledge, this is the first extensive study in Afghanistan to demonstrate the pattern and prevalence of CHD associated with Down syndrome

الأفعال المزيدة ووظائفها في كتاب فيض العلام للسيد صالح بن أحمد بن سالم العيدروس (دراسة صرفية)

Ilmu shorof merupakan salah satu komponen penting dalam mempelajari bahasa arab, yang mana Kalimat dalam bahasa arab ada tiga bagian yaitu Isim (kata benda), Fi’il (kata kerja), dan Huruf (kata sambung). Fi’il adalah salah satu bagian yang membentuk suatu kalimat (الجملة). Oleh sebab itu dalam penelitian ini akan membahas ruang lingkup Fi’il mazid atau fi’il yang ditambahi satu huruf, dua huruf, dan tiga huruf dan fungsinya. Dan subjek yang dikaji oleh penulis yaitu kitab Faidil ‘alam karya Sayyid Sholih bin Ahmad bin Salim al-aydrus. Untuk menjawab dari permasalahan yang dialami oleh pelajar pemula penulis membahas dalam penelitian ini yaitu: pertama: apa saja bentuk-bentuk Fi’il mazid yang ada dalam kitab faidil ‘alam? Kedua, apa fungsi fi’il mazid yang ada dalam kitab faidil ‘alam?. Dan dalam penelitan ini penulis menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif yaitu mengumpulkan data dan mengelompokkan data kemudian menganalisisnya selanjutnya penulis mendeskripsikan data-data tersebut. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa data yang ada dalam kitab faidil ‘alam terdapat 157 fi’il Mazid dari keseluruhan hadits yang terdiri dari 40 hadits yang ada dalam kitab faidil ‘alam, diataranya fi’il mazid satu huruf ada 147 kata, fi’il mazid dua huruf ada 7 kata, dan fi’il mazid tiga huruf ada 3 kata

Atlas Simulation Based Performance Study of Fully-Depleted Dual-Material-Gate Silicon on Insulator MOSFETs

In this project the characteristics of fully depleted dual metal gate silicon on insulator is studied and presented, the result is compared with that of single material gate MOSFET the result indicates that short channel effect reduces in dual material gate MOSFET.Moreover the electrical characteristics of MOSFET can be controlled by gate length and work function engineering. So this work shows better performance of dual material gate with compare to that of single material gate silicon on insulato

Investigating the solid waste recycling management

Abstract Objective: Garbage is waste solid materials that are left over from the use of people and production and service institutions and are unusable. These seemingly inefficient sources are the most important urban pollutant in different amounts and in liquid and solid form and cause harm. and the citizens' interest, but in the case of optimal management and use of these valuable resources as raw materials in addition to protecting the environment, reducing the level of pollution, reducing the amount of diseases and deaths, it can be considered the best driver of production activities, recycling management Household solid waste in Kabul city is handled according to municipal standards and regulations (collection, transfer, burial and reuse), which is the main goal of this research to investigate the effects of household solid waste management and recycling in Kabul city. Method and tools: Since the nature of this research is descriptive-applicative, in order to collect information from two sources, the library and a questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale from 384 citizens of the 15th district of Kabul city were randomly sampled and analyzed using spss software. First, the confidence level of the questionnaire of both variables was determined by Cronbach's alpha method with the output coefficient (waste management 0.86 and recycling rate 0.82) and then its correlation intensity was determined by the Pearson method and also to predict the dependent variable from the linear regression function of the information received and investigated. And the dispute has been placed. Finding: Pearson's correlation analysis with 95% confidence level of the number placement (p=0.004, N=384, R=0.86) with a coefficient of determination of 0.73 and a statistical value (t) of 4.76, which is greater than the critical value of table t 2.3, shows the relationship There is a strong positive among the variables and it states that the increase in the amount of recycling and the decrease in the consumption of family solid waste depends on the improvement of waste management, in the same way, the beta coefficient of 0.59 and t=7.31>1.96 and sig<0.05 of linear regression were obtained. It shows that improving family solid waste management will reduce the amount of waste consumption and recycling by 59%, also the extracted information shows that about 97% of household waste is bought and collected by informal garbage collectors

From training to improving classroom practices: Learning from school improvement program intervention in a mountainous public secondary school in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

This study reports learning from a professional development (PD) session and classroom action research from an English class conducted in the mountainous northern part of Pakistan. The researcher got training from Professional Development Centre North (PDCN) as a member of the Quality Assurance Team and then conducted a five-day workshop for teachers on various general teaching techniques, lesson planning, writing reflections/portfolios and classroom management. After the sessions, the teachers applied these knowledge and skills in their respective classes, and English teachers did action research with the researcher to improve the language skills of grade 7 students for three cycles. Pre- and post-intervention tests, teachers’ reflective diaries, lesson plans, portfolio books and discussions with teachers were sources of data collection. The present study shows that there is a thirst amongst teachers for professional grooming. Also, students gradually benefit from new teaching techniques. This study suggests including various PD models in the school development plan to improve teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, which will result in improved learning outcomes for students. The sustainability of these initiatives is a challenge due to the lack of proper mechanisms and policies in the government schools of Gilgit-Baltistan. Therefore, there is a need for a school policy for English teachers’ PD at the classroom level to improve teaching practices and students’ learning

School-based teachers’ professional development policies: learning from the practices of English classroom at public secondary school in northern Pakistan

Professional development (PD) is critically important for the professional survival of classroom-level teachers across the globe and Pakistan is no exception. Mentoring and action research are one of the various forms of PD. Conducting PD sessions help teachers improve pedagogy, classroom practices and to become self-directed learners (Slepkov 2008; McNif, 2016). This study reports learning from a PD session and classroom action research from English class in a mountainous northern part of Pakistan. Techers were exposed to various techniques of general teaching, lesson planning, writing reflections/ portfolios and classroom management through a 5-day workshop. After the sessions, the teachers taught English to grade 7 students for three cycles. Pre- and post- intervention tests, teachers’ reflective diaries, lesson plans and portfolio books were sources of data collection. The study shows that there is a thirst amongst teachers for professional grooming. Also, students gradually benefitted from new teaching techniques. The study suggests mentoring and action research to be integral part of school professional development plan, so as to improve learning outcomes of students and teachers’ professional growth. Sustainability of these initiatives is a challenge due to lack of proper mechanism and policies. There is a need for a school policy on classroom level research to improve teaching practices and learning