Characterization of Halophilic/Halotolerant Bacteria Isolated from the Hypersaline Environment of Khewra, District Jhelum

Background: Khewra salt mine is an extremely saline habitat of Pakistan that provides a suitable environment for salt loving microorganisms, halophiles. Halophiles grow in high salt concentration and are excellent sources of enzymes that perform catalytic reactions competently under extreme conditions.Methods: A total of twenty-five samples (rocks, soil, water, and salt drippings), collected from Khewra salt mine and its vicinity, were checked for growth. Isolates were purified and characterized by Biochemical and Molecular Tests. The isolates were also screened for biotechnological potential.Results: Samples (n=12) did not show growth, while samples (n=13) showed growth on high salt media. Isolates showed growth on 1-29% NaCl concentration, 15oC-40oC temperature and pH 6.5-9.0. Molecular analysis showed that isolate AJS-21y was closely related (98% similarity) to Salinicoccus roseus while isolate AJS-22 belonged to Bacillaceae family and was closely related (99% similarity) to Piscibacillus sp. Both isolates gave extracellular production of amylase.Conclusion: Current study showed the presence of Salinicoccus sp. and Piscibacillus sp. in Khewra salt mine, Pakistan. The ability of isolates AJS-21y and AJS-22 to survive at high salt concentrations and production of extracellular amylase made them highly attractive for industrial applications and synthesizing transgenic crops tolerating high salinity.Keywords: Khewra; Characterization; Halophilic; Halotolerant; Salinicoccus; Piscibacillus   

Analyzing Cost Estimation Model to Optimize COCOMO II for Enterprise Level Software

The stimulus to carry out this research is to find out the best ERP cost estimation model while implementing ERP in the context of Pakistan. For this purpose study has utilized qualitative and quantitative approach. Initially the comparison of existing several cost estimation model has been done through literature review. On the basis of substantive literature review, one ERP cost estimation mode has been chosen i.e. COCOMO. In second phase, in order to validate this model in the context of Pakistan, the study has adapted a questionnaire from relevant study and survey has been done of the IT companies operating in Pakistan which are also involved in ERP implementation. Sample has been collected from 27 companies and data analysis is done in a statistical software (SPSS). On the basis of results obtained from the SPSS and with the support of literature findings has been extracted. Findings indicate that COCOMO II is the best model to estimate the ERP implementation cost in the context of Pakistan. Moreover it is recommended to validate his model in the other countries. Findings would be beneficial for the future studies and contributes in the knowledge of scientific community. Moreover, results of this study can be helpful for other companies in Pakistan who are involved in ERP implementation process and looking for best model to estimate cost of ERP implementation

Application of Gene Expression Programming (GEP) for the prediction of compressive strength of geopolymer concrete

For the production of geopolymer concrete (GPC), fly-ash (FA) like waste material has been effectively utilized by various researchers. In this paper, the soft computing techniques known as gene expression programming (GEP) are executed to deliver an empirical equation to estimate the compressive strength of GPC made by employing FA. To build a model, a consistent, extensive and reliable data base is compiled through a detailed review of the published research. The compiled data set is comprised of 298 experimental results. The utmost dominant parameters are counted as explanatory variables, in other words, the extra water added as percent FA (), the percentage of plasticizer (), the initial curing temperature (), the age of the specimen (), the curing duration (), the fine aggregate to total aggregate ratio (), the percentage of total aggregate by volume (), the percent SiO2 solids to water ratio () in sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution, the NaOH solution molarity (), the activator or alkali to FA ratio (), the sodium oxide (Na2O) to water ratio () for preparing Na2SiO3 solution, and the Na2SiO3 to NaOH ratio (). A GEP empirical equation is proposed to estimate the of GPC made with FA. The accuracy, generalization, and prediction capability of the proposed model was evaluated by performing parametric analysis, applying statistical checks, and then compared with non-linear and linear regression equations

Brain Abscesses in Children: A Study of Microbiological Spectrum and Outcome of 80 Cases

Objective:  Brain abscess is a focus of pus in the brain due to infection somewhere else in the body. It is common in males than females and the average age in children ranges from 4 to 7 years. It develops by skull trauma or contiguous or hematogenous spread of infection. The study aimed to identify the pattern of microbiological involvement in the etiology of pediatric brain abscesses and the outcome so as to enable us to ensure definitive treatment with the appropriate and specific antimicrobial regimen. Materials and Methods:  A prospective study was conducted in 80 pediatric patients of brain abscess admitted to the Pediatric Neurosurgery Department, Children Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Results:  The median age was 5.2 years with a predominance of males (60%). The most common presentation was fever (72.5%) and then fits (35%). Congenital heart disease was the commonest factor in 32% of cases. Streptococcus was a commonly isolated pathogen in 17% cases out of 70% of culture positive cases. Recovery was seen in 70% of cases and the mortality was 7.5%. Conclusion:  Congenital heart disease is the most common causative factor in pediatric brain abscesses and most of the abscesses were found culture negative. There is a pressing need to carry out multicenter studies over a large sample size over extended study duration in developing countries to help establish guidelines in treating pediatric brain abscesses

Guidelines for the technical sustainability evaluation of the urban drinking water systems based on analytic hierarchy process

The challenge of achieving and measuring urban water sustainability is hard because of its complex nature. The sustainability of urban drinking water system (UDWS) is no exception, as integration of technical, environmental, social, economic, and institutional elements of sustainability is defying and perplexing in terms of its application and evaluation. This paper deals with the technical aspects related to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance factors of a UDWS. Measurement of the status of such factors is almost impossible in generic formats. Therefore, a list of measurable sub factors was developed through an extensive literature survey and refined by involving appropriate stakeholders. This led to the development of a hierarchy from criteria to factors and from factors to sub factors, making a case for the utilization of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for multicriteria analysis (MCA). Appropriate stakeholders were included in this research to address the issues for which there were major gaps in the literature. A set of guidelines were developed for the evaluation of the status of various sub factors in a quantitative format. It is concluded that a trans disciplinary framework, the involvement of stakeholders, and guidelines for adopting appropriate processes and techniques may improve the sustainability of stressed urban water systems.Web of Science121art. no.

In vitro potential of some aqueous plant extracts for the management of brown spot of Rice.

The use of plant extracts is gaining importance in plant disease management as injudicious application of chemical fungicides has led to environmental concerns. There is dire need to explore potential alternatives to minimize the harmful effects of chemical pesticides. Therefore, the present work was designed to investigate the effect of different botanicals viz. ginger (Zingiber officinale), neem (Azadirachta indica), calotropis (Calotropis gigantean), garlic (Allium sativum), and datura (Datura stramonium) against Helminthosporium oryzae, the pathogen of brown spot of rice under lab conditions. Four concentrations (2, 5, 10, and 20 mL L-1) of each extract were used in three replications along with an untreated control. A 5 mm piece of actively growing fungal culture was placed aseptically on the treated and untreated potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. These Petri plates were incubated at 27 ºC for 15 days. The results revealed significant inhibition of fungal growth due to different extracts over control. Ginger extracts showed 94.11% reduction in mycelial growth followed by 82.13% inhibition produced by the neem extracts. Similarly, the extracts of calotropis, garlic, and datura were found effective over control with 78.86%, 76.25%, and 63.61% inhibition, respectively. These results suggest the antifungal potential of these extracts against H. oryzae. Their use can assist the ecofriendly management of brown spot disease of rice

Instance-Based Lossless Summarization of Knowledge Graph With Optimized Triples and Corrections (IBA-OTC)

Knowledge graph (KG) summarization facilitates efficient information retrieval for exploring complex structural data. For fast information retrieval, it requires processing on redundant data. However, it necessitates the completion of information in a summary graph. It also saves computational time during data retrieval, storage space, in-memory visualization, and preserving structure after summarization. State-of-the-art approaches summarize a given KG by preserving its structure at the cost of information loss. Additionally, the approaches not preserving the underlying structure, compromise the summarization ratio by focusing only on the compression of specific regions. In this way, these approaches either miss preserving the original facts or the wrong prediction of inferred information. To solve these problems, we present a novel framework for generating a lossless summary by preserving the structure through super signatures and their corresponding corrections. The proposed approach summarizes only the naturally overlapped instances while maintaining its information and preserving the underlying Resource Description Framework RDF graph. The resultant summary is composed of triples with positive, negative, and star corrections that are optimized by the smart calling of two novel functions namely merge and disperse . To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed approach, we perform experiments on nine publicly available real-world knowledge graphs and obtain a better summarization ratio than state-of-the-art approaches by a margin of 10% to 30% with achieving its completeness, correctness, and compactness. In this way, the retrieval of common events and groups by queries is accelerated in the resultant graph

Anti-Helicobacter pylori activity and inhibition of Helicobacter pylori-induced release of IL-8 in AGS cells by plant extracts

Plants used in popular diet were studied for anti-Helicobacter pylori activity and their effect on the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8) from H. pylori infected gastric epithelial cells. Extracts were prepared of Allium sativum (A. sativum), Cuminum cyminum (C. cyminum),Piper nigrum (P. nigrum) and their mix in two different dilutions. AGS cell line and H. pyloristrains were used for co-culture experiments. Extracts bactericidal activity was determined by a viable colony count. ELISA (Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) was used to determine IL-8 expression. DNA extracted from bacterial cells was used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of cytotoxin-associated gene (cagA) and E (cagE). Results revealedH. pylori strains sensitivity to A. sativum (5.5 mg/ml) was 57% (39/69) (p=0.06), and to 11 mg/ml was 65% (45/69) (p=0.02) compared to amoxicillin, respectively. CagE positive H. pylori, 37% (11/30) (p=0.02) were sensitive to plant mixture (23.5 mg/ml), 60% (18/30) (pC. cyminum (PP. nigrum (P=0.0046) and A. sativum(P=0.0021), respectively compared to positive and negative controls. Thus, dietary plants demonstrated an anti-H. pylori effect. They reduced IL-8 expression from the H. pyloriinfected AGS cells. Key words: Helicobacter pylori; Allium sativum, Cuminum cyminum, Piper nigrum, gastric epithelial cells, interleukin-8, ELISA, cagA, cagE

Model farm services centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Evaluation and the way forward

The sub-national Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan enacted Farm Services Centers Act, 2014, to establish Model Farm Services Centers (MFSCs) and Farm Services Centers as “one stop-shop” based on public-private partnership principle to strengthen extension system. The aim of these Centers is to empower small farmers at a platform to enhance their knowledge and skills and availability of quality agricultural inputs as stipulated in Section 4(g) of the Act, 2014, that each FSC shall “purchase certified seed, fertilizers, animal husbandry services, quality veterinary heath care services and medicines, farm machinery, expertise and technology for provision to the members who are registered with the Centre on affordable rates in comparison to open market rates”. The objective is to improve rural livelihoods, and development of the rural economy