Petrographic and Physiomechanical Investigation of Late Cretaceous Kawagarh Formation Kahi Section, Nizampur Basin

The late Cretaceous Kawagarh Formation has been investigated in terms of field observation, and petrographic analysis, to understand the petrography and its impact on the geotechnical properties. The Kawagarh Formation is well exposed among the upper Indus Basin, and has been studied by various workers in different aspects. Kawagarh Formationexposed in Kahi section of Nizampur Basin has been selected in this study to know the behavior of carbonate rocks for engineering purposes. Lithologically, this formation is composed of thick to medium bedded, highly fractured limestone, marls, and dolomitic limestone which has undertaken diagenetic alteration including dolomite, calcite veins, and stylolites. Followed by petrographic analysis which reveals that the Kawagarh limestone is mostly fossiliferouscomprised of a large number of planktonic foraminifera fossils like Globotruncana Hilli and Globotruncana Linneana fossils. Furthermore, to know the impact of petrographic minerals on engineering behavior, mechanical properties in terms of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and uniaxial tensile strength (UTS) were also computed by using a universal testing machine (UTM). The resultant mechanical values lie in the strong compressive strength and suggest their usage for various construction purposes. Aggregate degradation tests including water absorption, specific gravity, aggregate impact value, Los angles abrasion, and soundness was also computed according to the International standard organization, ASTM (American Society for testing materials) and British standard. The aggregate values of the Cretaceous Kawagarh Formation are within the defined standard limits and can be used as an aggregate source for different construction engineering projects

ISTRAŽIVANJE MEĐUSOBNE VARIJABILNOSTI I MEĐUSOBNIH ODNOSA RAZLIČITIH SVOJSTAVA PŠENICE (Triticum aestivum L.)

Correlation, path analysis, heritability and genetic advance were studied between grain yield and yield contributing traits in twenty genotypes. The positive and significant genotypic correlation of grain yield was found with spike length, plant height, flag leaf area and 1000-grain weight. Among these traits, spikelets per spike also showed the highest direct effect towards grain yield; while negative direct effect was exhibited by spike length. Heritability coupled with genetic advance was highest for plant height, flag leaf area, grain yield and 1000 -grain weight. So, these characters are more useful in wheat breeding program for high yield.U dvadeset genotipova istraživani su korelacija, analiza putanje, hereditarnost i genetski napredak između prinosa zrna i svojstava koja pridonose prinosu. Nađena je pozitivna i značajna genotipska korelacija prinosa zrna s duljinom klasa, visinom biljke, područjem snijeti i težinom 1000 zrna. Među ovim svojstvima klasići po klasu također su pokazali najveći izravan učinak prema prinosu zrna, dok je negativan izravan učinak očitovala duljina klasa. Hereditarnost zajedno s genetskim napretkom bila je najviša za visinu biljke, područje snijeti, prinos zrna i težinu 1000 zrna. Prema tome, ova su svojstva korisnija u programu uzgoja pšenice za visoki prinos

Actinobacteria: Potential Candidate as Plant Growth Promoters

Plant growth enhancement using plant beneficial bacteria has been viewed in the sustainable agriculture as an alternative to chemical fertilizers. Actinobacteria, among the group of important plant-associated bacteria, have been widely studied for its plant growth promotion activities. Actinobacteria are considered as a limelight among agriculturists for their beneficial aspects toward plants. They are naturally occurring spore-forming bacteria inhabiting the soil and known for their plant growth-promoting and biocontrol properties. The mechanisms behind these activities include nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, siderophore production, and other attributes such as antifungal production of metabolites, phytohormones, and volatile organic compound. All these activities not only enhance the plant growth but also provide resistance in plants to withstand unfavorable conditions of the environment. Hence, this chapter emphasizes on the plant growth traits of actinobacteria and how far it was studied for enhanced growth and bio-fortification

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Acoustical Properties of Electrospun Nanofibers for Aircraft Interior Noise Reduction

This is the author's copy of the conference paper published in the proceedings of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Lake Buena Vista, Florida - November 13-19, 2009, pp.1-7Electrospun micro and nanofibers produced via electrospinning method were used for the sound absorption purposes. Polymers were initially dissolved in dimethyleformamide (DMF) or ethanol with a ratio of 80:20 and electrospun at 20 kV, 20 cm separation distance and 3 ml/hrs pump speed. The two-microphone transfer function method of the B&K impedance tube was used to determine the acoustical properties of the manufactured nanofibers at various frequencies. The test results showed that the absorption coefficients of nanofibers (~500 nm) drastically increased. The reason behind this phenomenon may be attributed to the higher surface area of nanofibers and their interactions with more sound waves/air molecules. This result may open up new possibilities for the sound absorption problems in many fields, such as aircrafts, other transportation vehicles and infrastructures

Demographic Factors and Herding Behaviour of Investors: Moderating Role of Islamic Religiosity

Investors indulge in biases while making investment decision because investment decision making in stock market is a difficult process. One of the factors that affect risk taking behaviour of individual investors is Demographic factor. However, little work has been done to investigate the effect of demographic factors on herding behaviour of individual investors of Pakistan stock exchange. Therefore, the ultimate aim of this study is to highlight the role of the effect of demographic factors on herding behavior of investors with moderating role of Islamic religiosity. Quantitative research method was employed and data collected was collected from 166 individual investors by using survey questionnaires. Convenience sampling method was used to collect the data. Partial Least Squares analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study directed that Islamic religiosity moderate the relationship of demographic factors with herding behaviour. This study is contributed a new empirical insights on behaviour of Pakistan stock market’s investors, therefore the results of this study have implications for policy makers of Pakistan stock exchange (PSX) while they making the strategies related to investment

Analysis of the convective heat transfer through straight fin by using the Riemann-Liouville type fractional derivative: Probed by machine learning

This work aims to analyze the transfer of heat through new fractional-order convective straight fins by using the Riemann-Liouville type fractional derivatives. The convection through the fins is considered in such a way that the thermal conductivity depends on the temperature. The transformed fractional-order problems are constituted through an optimization problem in such a way that the L2 norm remains minimal. The objective functions are further analyzed with the hybrid Cuckoo search (HCS) algorithm that use the artificial neural network (ANN) mechanism. The impacts of the fractional parameter β, the thermo-geometric parameter of fin ψ, and dimensionless thermal conductivity α are explained through figures and tables. The fin efficiency during the whole process is explained with larger values of ψ. It is found that the larger values of ψ decline the fin efficacy. The fractional parameter declines the thermal profile as we approach the integer order. The convergence of HCS algorithm is performed in each case study. The residual error touches E−14 for the integer order of α. The present results are validated through Table 6 by comparing with HPM, VIM and LHPM, while the error for HCS-ANN touches E−13. This proves that the proposed HCS is efficient

The Influence of behavioural biases on Investment Decision Making: A Moderating Role of Religiosity among Pakistani Investors: Waseem-Ul-Hameed, Saeed Ahmad Sabir, Shazma Razzaq, Dr. Asad Afzaal Humanyon

This research study evaluated the extent to which psychological factors (overconfidence, confirmation bias) effect on investor’s decision-making process. The ultimate objective of the current study is to investigate the effect of psychological factors on investor investment decision making. To achieve this objective, this study used quantitative approach and cross-sectional research design. Survey was used to collect the data. Questionnaires were distributed among the individual investors and brokers of stock exchange in Pakistan. Smart PLS 3 was used to analyse the data. It was found that overconfidence and confirmation bias have significant effect on investors investment decision making. Moreover, it is found that religiosity has moderating effect between the psychological factors and investors’ investment decision making. Majorly, the current study contributed by investigating the moderating role of religiosity between psychological factors and investor investment decision making

Aphid dynamics in relation to meteorological factors and various management practices in bread wheat

The infestation of aphids in wheat is becoming a serious problem nowadays and it might become a threat to the future wheat crop in Pakistan. With this problem in mind we did a study pertaining to aphid dynamics in relation to meteorological factors and various management practices in bread wheat. The study was carried out at the Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The aim of this study was to investigate how meteorological factors play a role in the fluctuating aphid population and how different management practices could be effective in combating aphids. The results revealed that a peak aphid population was recorded during the beginning of the third week of March for both of the study year periods of 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. Aphid density was positively associated with maximum as well as minimum temperature while it showed a negative correlation with relative humidity. However aphid population was positively but not significantly affected by rainfall. Early sowing on 1st November produced the least aphid infestation hence early sowing was encouraged as a cultural practice for keeping aphids below damaging levels. The recently developed wheat varieties like: SHAFAQ-06, SEHER-06, FSD-08 and LASANI-08, revealed aphid resistance and performed better against aphids. On the other hand the genotypes V-05003, BARS-09 and 0BT006, revealed maximum vulnerability to aphids. Number of aphids per tiller was positive correlated with loss in grain yield. Application of insecticide significantly controlled the aphid population which suggested that a combination of host plant resistance with chemical control could restrain the aphid infestation in wheat