Improvement of Soil Health through Residue Management and Conservation Tillage in Rice-Wheat Cropping System of Punjab, Pakistan

In South Asia, soil health degradation is affecting the sustainability of the rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS). Indeed, for the sustainability of the soil quality, new adaptive technologies, i.e., conservation tillage and straw management resource conservation, are promising options. This investigation was focused on the interaction of tillage and straw management practices and their effects on Aridisols, Yermosols soil quality, and nutrients dynamics with different soil profiles within RWCS. The long-term field experiment was started in 2014 with the scenarios (i) conventional tillage (SC1), (ii) residue incorporation (SC2), (iii) straw management practices (SC3 and SC4) and conservation tillage (SC5). Conservation tillage practice (SC5) showed significant impact on properties of soil and availability of nutrients in comparison with that of conventional farmers practice (SC1) at the studied soil depths. The SC5 showed significant results of gravitational water contents (25.34%), moderate pH (7.4), soil organic-matter (7.6 g kg(-1)), total nitrogen (0.38 g kg(-1)), available phosphate (7.4 mg kg(-1)), available potassium (208 mg kg(-1)) compared to SC1 treatment at 0 to 15 cm soil depth. Whereas, DTPA-extractable-Cu, Mn, and Zn concentration were significantly higher, i.e., 1.12 mg kg(-1), 2.14 mg kg(-1), and 4.35 mg kg(-1), respectively under SC5 than conventional farmer's practices, while DTPA (diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid) extractable Fe (6.15 mg kg(-1)) was more in straw management practices (SC4) than conventional and conservation tillage. Therefore, conservation tillage (SC5) can surge the sustainability of the region by improving soil assets and nutrients accessibility and has the potential to minimize inorganic fertilizers input in the long run

Extending Transit Facility to India: Implications for Pakistan’s Bilateral Trade with Afghanistan

The paper examines patterns of bilateral trade between Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and CARs. It also investigates whether providing India transit route to Afghanistan has opportunity costs for Pakistan’s trade potential with Afghanistan and CARs. In 2009, Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan amount to US$ 1.3 billion which make up for 7.8 % of Pakistan’s total exports. For the same year, India’s exports to Afghanistan stand at 471 million dollars which make 0.3 % of India’s total exports. Looking at the product wise composition of Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan, mineral fuels, oils, distillation products are on the top with share of around 29%. Salt, sulpher, earth, plaster, lime and cement and cereals have a share of around 11 %. While animal, vegetable fats and oils, cleavage products and articles of iron and steel have the share of around 7%. On the other hand, the top five exports of India to Afghanistan are man-made filaments with 42 % share, pharmaceutical products with 11 % share, electric and electronic equipment with 7% share and rubber and articles with 6% share. Clearly there is no overlap between exports of Pakistan and India to Afghanistan. Nonetheless Pakistan has already lost its market share to India in pharmaceuticals. The tariff applied to Pakistan by Afghanistan on pharmaceuticals is 2.50 % while India which enjoys Preferential Trade Agreement with Afghanistan only faces an average tariff of 0.60% on pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals are Pakistan’s top performing exports to CARs with 42.5 % share of total exports to CARs. India also exports pharmaceuticals to CARs but its share in total exports to CARs is only 25.5 %. In Afghanistan, Pakistan has clearly lost its market share to India due to presence of preferential tariffs for India in Afghanistan. If Pakistan provides transit route to India for its exports to Afghanistan, cheaper pharmaceuticals of Indian origin can then be re-exported to CARs capturing Pakistan’s market share in CARs. Much like pharmaceuticals there are other Pakistani products which are likely to lose out to India in Afghanistan and CARs if India is provided transit route to Afghanistan. The Wagah-Peshawar-Torkham route which roughly extends up to 800 km is probably the shortest possible one between India and Afghanistan; which would greatly reduce the logistics cost of shipping goods from India to Afghanistan and beyond. In addition to that, the preferential treatment currently enjoyed by Indian products in Afghanistan under the PTA would further cost Pakistani goods by eroding their competitiveness in the Afghan market. In the absence of a robust mechanism to contain the informal trade, allowing Indian goods a passage through Pakistan’s territory would, in all likelihood, worsen the smuggling situation, something Pakistan can ill afford to accept. Therefore, under the circumstances, there are clear economic disadvantages to Pakistan in extending the transit facility to India without adequate safeguards and preferably a quid pro quo, be it political or economic.International Trade, Transit Trade Agreements, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Sectoral Analysis

Review of Trademark and Its Enforcement Provisions under TRIPS

Trademark and its enforcement provisions are imbedded in Agreement on Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for promotion and protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights in member countries of World Trade Organization (WTO). Compliance with trademark and its enforcement provisions (15-21, 41-61) of TRIPS and implementation are two different things, e.g., enactment of law and its implementation hence more efforts are required for smooth implementation of IP rights in member counties. TRIPS is the only International Treaty containing exhaustive enforcement provisions for enforcement of IP rights in member countries. This article is a qualitative method of research reviewing provisions of TRIPS dealing with trademark (15-21) and its enforcement procedures (41-61) in member countries. Trademark enforcement procedures of member countries must be adequate, expedient and must not be complicated, costly and time consuming. Trademark enforcement procedures must be based upon due process of law and fair trial so that aggrieved party may (i) attain damages and compensation for loss due to trademark infringement, (ii) obtain injunctions to prevent trademark infringement in future, and (iii) punish counterfeiter/infringer with imprisonment and fine. Trademark and its enforcement provisions of TRIPS are required to be complied by member countries as there are hurdles in implementation of enforcement provisions, e.g., lack of IP knowledge, IP experts, long borders, deficiency in man power etc. which are required to be sorted out to promote and protect legitimate trade activities in member countries which is a long process needs to be achieved by positive steps under the light of trademark and its enforcement provisions of TRIPS

Courses beyond borders: A case study of MOOC platform Coursera

Purpose: The study assesses the participation of different institutions in online learning environment of Coursera. Collaborative efforts, involvement of instructors and the mode of course instruction were also looked at. Design/Methodology: Data were harvested from the official website of Coursera. Through its various features, information pertaining to courses being offered, subject categorization, institutions and instructors involved was collected, tabulated and analyzed. Findings: As of February 2016, 138 institutions from 28 countries offered 1765 coursers through Coursera with the aid of 1903 instructors. Institutions were mainly from high economic zone countries. Nearly 59 percent courses were from USA based institutions and at institutional level University of Pennsylvania (USA) offered a maximum of 84 courses. Collaboration at institutional level was observed in 32 courses with instructors from different institutions, within & outside the same country. 25 percent courses were related to Business and 33 percent courses provided flexibility (on-demand) to people to learn and enrich their skills at their own pace. Implications: Further research needs to be done to evaluate the efficacy of such platforms and explore best practices to reframe the position of traditional universities. Originality/Value: The study is first of its kind to assess online learning environment with respect to participation of institutions to offer various courses and involvement of instructors from all over the globe to make such a courseware a success

Surgical Management of Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Background: To study the management patternof soft tissue sarcomas in a tertiary care settingMethods: In this descriptive study patients whowere operated for soft tissue masses were included.Intra-operative findings, procedure details andpostoperative orders were recorded. Postoperativechemo-radiotherapy records were reviewed andrecorded. Depth of the tumour was grouped asdeeper or superficial than 5 cm. The follow uprecords were accessed from the outpatientdepartment and any surgical complications wererecorded up to three years.Staging was done usingclinical and radiological criteria taking into accountthe histological grade,tumour size , depth, locallymph node invasion and metastasis.Surgicalprocedure for removal of STS are wide local excision(WLE), intralesional excision (IE) or tumordebulking, marginal excision (ME) and radicalexcision (RE).Results: Sixty eight patients with mean age of 43.0± 17.258 SD were diagnosed as cases of soft tissuesarcomas. Male to female ratio was 3.25:1.The mostcommon histopathological variety was malignantfibrous histiocytoma (35.3%) , followed byRhabdomyosarcoma(30%). Most common involvedsite was lower limbs (35.3%).Wide local excision wasperformed in majority (82.4%) . Most commonpostop complication was wound infection (10.3%)Conclusion: Clinicians must be agile about thenature of these tumours and their referral to aspecialist surgeon for further management. Promptdiagnosis, accurate investigations and earlyintervention will benefit the patients and help usunderstand this disease entity

Expression of a full length Arabidopsis vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase (AVP1) gene in tobacco (Nicotiana tabbacum) to increase tolerance to drought and salt stresses

Among various abiotic stresses salinity and drought are the two major factors limiting the crop productivity. Genetically engineered salt and drought tolerant plants could provide an avenue to the reclamation of farmlands lost to agriculture because of salinity and a lack of rainfall. The Arabidopsis gene AVP1 encodes a vacuolar pyrophosphatase that functions as a proton pump and generates an electrochemical gradient in vacuole, thereby activating vacuolar membrane-antiporters including Na+/H+ antiporter, which helps in sequestration of Na+ into vacuole. In addition, over-expression of AVP1 gene increase vegetative growth by auxin transport and enhances auxin mediated root development, consequently achieving higher water absorption and retention capacities. The goal of present work is amplification of full length AVP1 (3.2kb) gene, from Arabidopsis thaliana genomic DNA through PCR, its cloning into a suitable plant expression vector and transformation in tobacco through Agrobacterium mediated transformation method for its characterization. PCR analysis showed the successful transformation of this gene in Nicotiana tabaccum. Screening of these putative transgenic plants against different salinity levels (50-250mM NaCl) showed that transgenic plants were tolerant to 250mM NaCl whereas the control plants showed wilting within 36-48 hours of salt treatment. Under periodic drought stress treatment transgenic (AVP1) plants were significantly more tolerant than wild type plants. Similarly the results of salinity and drought tolerance experiment in sand under saline and water regime conditions confirmed that introns play a key role in gene expression and regulations and improve the growth of plants. These resistant phenotypes are associated with increased internal stores of solutes

Mixed noise removal using adaptive median based non-local rank minimization

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Physiological responses induced by phospholipase C isoform 5 upon heat stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant’s perception of heat stress involves several pathways and signaling molecules, such as phosphoinositide, which is derived from structural membrane lipids phosphatidylinositol. Phospholipase C (PLC) is a well-known signaling enzyme containing many isoforms in different organisms. In the present study, Phospholipase C Isoform 5 (PLC5) was investigated for its role in thermotolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Two over-expressing lines and one knock-down mutant of PLC5 were first treated at a moderate temperature (37 °C) and left for recovery. Then again exposed to a high temperature (45 °C) to check the seedling viability and chlorophyll contents. Root behavior and changes in 32Pi labeled phospholipids were investigated after their exposure to high temperatures. Over-expression of PLC5 (PLC5 OE) exhibited quick and better phenotypic recovery with bigger and greener leaves followed by chlorophyll contents as compared to wild-type (Col-0) and PLC5 knock-down mutant in which seedling recovery was compromised. PLC5 knock-down mutant illustrated well-developed root architecture under controlled conditions but stunted secondary roots under heat stress as compared to over-expressing PLC5 lines. Around 2.3-fold increase in phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate level was observed in PLC5 OE lines upon heat stress compared to wild-type and PLC5 knock-down mutant lines. A significant increase in phosphatidylglycerol was also observed in PLC5 OE lines as compared to Col-0 and PLC5 knock-down mutant lines. The results of the present study demonstrated that PLC5 over-expression contributes to heat stress tolerance while maintaining its photosynthetic activity and is also observed to be associated with primary and secondary root growth in Arabidopsis thaliana

Screening of marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cultivars for drought stress based on vegetative and physiological characteristics

Drought tolerance is an important genotypic character to be exploited for the plant cultivar selection under water deficit conditions. In the recent study, we examined the response of two marigold cultivars (Inca and Bonanza) under different regimes of drought stress. The aim was to determine the best performing cultivar under water/drought stress. Three irrigation treatments include; 4 days (T1), 6 days (T2) and 8 days (T3) in comparison to control 1 day (T0) interval were imposed. Response characters under study were morphological, physiological and anatomical. Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications in two factorial arrangements was followed for experiment layout. The results revealed that increasing water stress adversely affect plant height, in both cultivars. Both cultivars showed a decreasing trend to the number of flowers under water stress. Total chlorophyll contents including a, b were also showed reduction under prolonged drought treatment in both cultivars from (2.7 mg g-1 FW) to (1 mg g-1 FW). Overall, the performance of cultivar (cv.) Inca was satisfactory under water stress regimes. These results are helpful for selecting drought tolerant marigold cultivars in water scarce areas.  Â

Assessment of Parents’ Perceptions of Childhood Immunization: a Cross-Sectional Study from Pakistan

Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, with considerable impacts on people’s health. Parents’ perception of their knowledge, attitude, and satisfaction is an important factor, as they may be targeted by interventions for better immunization coverage. Therefore, this study aimed to assess parents’ perceptions in terms of their knowledge, attitude, and satisfaction of the immunization of their children aged less than two years of age, in two cities of Pakistan. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the vicinity of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from March to August 2019. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for the data collection on a convenient sample of parents. The questionnaire was hand-delivered to the parents by data collectors. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis via SPSS version 22. A total of n = 382 respondents were included in the data analysis. Statistically significant differences were found between the parents’ knowledge scores and their education levels and monthly incomes (p < 0.05). Parents with master’s education degrees and low monthly incomes had significantly better knowledge (p < 0.05). Additionally, 96.85% of the respondents believed that child immunization was important. In addition, more than half of the respondents (57.58%) thought that the affordability of vaccines was a principal factor for delays in immunization. Although the parents’ knowledge regarding the immunization of their children was not adequate, they had positive perceptions toward it