Road development in the Brazilian Amazon and its ecological implications

Roads are a distinctive feature in any landscape, with many countries giving 1-2% of their land surface over to roads and roadsides (Forman 1998). However, the ecological effects of roads spread beyond the physical footprint of the network and may impact 15-20% of the land or more (Forman & Alexander 1998). The Brazilian Amazon contains approximately one third of the world’s remaining rainforest, covering an area of 4.1 million km2. The region is highly biodiverse with 10-20 percent of the planet’s known species, it is also one of the three most bioculturally diverse areas in the world (Loh & Harmon 2005), and it provides many valuable ecosystem services. However, the Brazilian Amazon is rapidly undergoing extensive development with widespread land-use conversion. Road development is often perceived as the initial stage of development, opening access to remote areas for colonisation, agriculture development, resource extraction, and linked with these; deforestation (Chomitz & Gray 1996, Laurance et al. 2001, Perz et al. 2007, Laurance et al. 2009, Caldas et al. 2010). As such roads are a key spatial determinant of land use conversion in the Amazon region, dictating the spatial pattern of deforestation and biodiversity loss (Fearnside 2005, Kirby et al. 2006, Perz et al. 2008). Given that roads are a key spatial determinant of land use conversion and that they have extensive impacts on rates and patterns of habitat loss, it is important that we know how much, how fast and where road networks are developing in this globally important ecosystem. In this thesis, I aim to construct models of road network development to help better understand and predict the impacts of economic development in the Brazilian Amazon.Open Acces

Genomics of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is a clonal, malignant disease of hematopoietic tissue that is characterized by accumulation of abnormal (leukemic) blast cells, principally in the bone marrow. Representation of these genetic mutations and the involvement patterns seems to follow specific and temporally ordered fluctuating manners. Somatic mutations in these genes are represented as a variety of recurrent chromosomal abnormalities, e.g., t (8;21), t(15;17), etc., or by the presence of prognostic markers, e.g., FLT3, MLL, NPM1 and CEBPA as well as encoding epigenetic modifiers, such as DNMT3A, ASXL1, TET2, IDH1, and IDH2, are commonly acquired early and are present in the founding clone. The same genes are frequently found to be mutated in elderly individuals along with clonal expansion of hematopoiesis that confers an increased risk for the development of hematologic cancers. Furthermore, such genomic changes may persist after therapy, lead to clonal expansion during hematologic remission, and eventually lead to relapsed disease. Majority of genetic data are now being used to classification, risk stratification, and clinical care of patients. The unprecedented molecular characterization provided by advanced and deeply sensitized molecular assays like next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers the potential for an individualized approach to treatment in AML, bringing us one step closer to personalized medicine

A Review on the Economic Instability and Derivative Market of Pakistan

This study covers the different problems of derivative market in Pakistan. Economic instability is the main constraint of derivative market in Pakistan. Due to instable economic conditions and restricted environment, corporate sector has not reflected significant participation in derivative market of Pakistan. Lack of infrastructure, political instability, ineffective governance, inexperience and unaware market participants are the other problems of Pakistan derivative market. Hence, literature is reviewed and analyzed due to unavailability of appropriate data for this study. Findings of the study have suggested that derivatives are an effective risk mitigating tool on one hand whereas on the other side, highly speculative activities in derivative market may be harmful for the financial markets and economic growth. In Pakistan perspective, all the players of financial market have adopted adequate risk mitigating strategies to avoid any adverse market scenario. Speculative activities are highly restricted due to economic instability as Pakistan is not in a position to absorb any financial shocks or crisis. The main regulatory authorities of this particular market are State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). These regulators are keenly observing market and taking necessary actions to prevent any adverse conditions. However, in developing economies these complex instruments create new risks which are badly affecting the whole economy

Archaeological and Historical Tourism: An Emerging Dimension for the Tourism Industry of Bangladesh

Bangladesh emerges as a popular tourist destination for her natural heritage, beautiful coasts and beaches, archeological remains, historical and religious places, hills and islands, forests and jungles and attractive countryside with inestimable water bodies and green fields of agriculture. These valuable natural and cultural heritages are major parts of our tourism industry. Every year, many nature loving people visit here and contribute a major part in our national economy. So, Bangladesh has many things to offer to our precious visitors, but Archaeological and historical tourism in Bangladesh, as a fragment of the larger tourism industry, can be the major contributor to total tourism earnings. “Foreign tourists who come to Bangladesh, like to enjoy archaeological and historical places first, while their second choice is scenic beauty” (Ali & Parvin, 2010). Keywords: Archaeology, Bangladesh, History and Tourism

Capacity of local communities in pre and post disasters situation in coastal area of Pakistan

The present study attempted to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas of Pakistan that cashed in one's chips in the monsoon flood, 2010. This assessment helps to recognize the vulnerability of local people of coastal communities for planning better developmental work. The study conducted through field work in two districts “Thatta and Badin” of coastal area of Sindh Province of Pakistan. Multistage cluster sampling technique has used to select the sample size of 360 households from the area. Data was collected through well-structured questionnaire. Most of population in the study area is illiterate i.e. about 61% of population. This is not only due to lack of awareness and lack of passion to seek education, but, government also ignores these areas in the provision of educational facilities. Considering the disaster vulnerability of coastal areas, these health facilities are very few and it leads to make them more vulnerable towards various diseases caused by frequent disasters. Depending on the disaster vulnerability of the target area, disaster management arrangement had analyzed through the availability of emergency camp along with its distance from the villages. Vulnerability of coastal communities assessed using various indicators and in the end suggestions and recommendations put forward in the light of local vulnerability to have minimum loss in upcoming disasters.Disaster, Disaster Management, Vulnerability, Hazards, Global Warming, Rehabilitation, Awareness, Local Community

Identifying Academic Writing Problems Faced by Undergraduate Students at Shah Abdul Latif University Ghotki Campus

It has always been a challenging task for the students at undergraduate level to have mastery in English academic writing. The researcher being a teacher, at the locale of the study had particularly observed that at undergraduate level at Shah Abdul Latif university Ghotki campus, the students are not even able to produce a well coherent and cohesive write-up, when it come to their academic writing in English. This observation persuaded the researcher to investigate and to identify the problems that hinder them in English academic writing. Thus, the study was conducted with an aim to identify the problems that students at Shah Abdul University Ghotki campus face in English Academic writing. The population of this study was the undergraduate students of Shah Abdul Latif University Ghotki Campus. In this connection, purposive sampling technique was employed to select a representative sample from the above mentioned population. The sample for the data was twenty enrolled undergraduate students of Shah Abdul Latif University Ghotki Campus. The design of the study was purely quantitative. The students were asked to write/type an essay on a topic of their choice by using a computer. Their write-ups were analyzed with the help of Markin 4.Ink software. Moreover, the analysis was cross-checked by two (03) other experts in order to establish the reliability of the study. The results showed that most of the students were facing the problems like, sentence formation, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, lack of ideas and vocabulary etc. As a future implication the researcher shall try to design a study to study the causes of the academic writing problems that these students face. Key words: Academic writing, English language, Error Analysis, Content Analysis, writing problems. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-2-07 Publication date: January 31st 202

The crisis, disasters and catastrophes afflicting Yemen and its people

It would be inaccurate to state that Yemen’s difficulties began with the current civil war in September of 2014. While the war brought about its own list of insurmountable tribulations, it also exacerbated already present disasters. This article explores the many dynamics that have led to what has been referred to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis (1). These include war, internal displacement, economic disaster, healthcare collapse, outbreaks in refugee camps, vaccination concerns, malnutrition, food insecurity, water sparsity, and infectious disease catastrophes. Along with accurate depictions of what is happening on the ground, this article suggests a few potential solutions worth investigating further, ranging from national and international efforts. With an ever-changing climate, this article serves to provide the most up to date impression of the current crisis and disasters

Anti-mullerian hormone: Above and beyond conventional ovarian reserve markers

Management of ovarian dysfunctions requires accurate estimation of ovarian reserve (OR). Therefore, reproductive hormones and antral follicle count (AFC) are assessed to indicate OR. Serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a unique biomarker that has a critical role in folliculogenesis as well as steroidogenesis within ovaries. Secretion from preantral and early antral follicles renders AMH as the earliest marker to show OR decline. In this review we discuss the dynamics of circulating AMH that remarkably vary with sex and age. As it emerges as a marker of gonadal development and reproductive disorders, here we summarize the role of AMH in female reproductive physiology and provide evidence of higher accuracy in predicting ovarian response to stimulation. Further, we attempt to compile potential clinical applications in children and adults. We propose that AMH evaluation has a potential role in effectively monitoring chemotherapy and pelvic radiation induced ovarian toxicity. Furthermore, AMH guided ovarian stimulation can lead to individualization of therapeutic strategies for infertility treatment. However future research on AMH levels within follicular fluid may pave the way to establish it as a marker of quality besides quantity of the growing follicles