Spectroscopic studies of hydrophobic association of merocyanine dyes in cationic and anionic micelles

Merocyanine dyes exhibit interesting changes in absorption spectra with changes in solvent polarity. For example solutions of 1-methyl-4- (oxocyclohexadienylidene) ethylidene -1,4-dihydropyridine (MOED) are yellow, red, violet, or blue, in water, ethanol, acetone or pyridine respectively.1 More striking effects are observed when aqueous solutions are diluted with various proportions of the organic co-solvents such as pyridine. The color varies across the whole spectrum from golden yellow to blue.These characteristic properties of merocyanine dyes in various organic solvents have been extensively studied and correlations between [see PDF file for formula]max and solvent polarity have been determined. In this work the visible absorption have been determined. In this work the visible absorption properties of merocyanine dyes were studied in cationic and anionic surfactants in order to investigate the behaviour of these dyes in micellar system and to use their electronic spectra as probes of the micellar environment. Since the description of the literature and discussion of the experimental results will involve certain terms and concepts from surfactant chemistry, it is necessary to introduce the subject

Karo Kari : the murder of honour in Sindh Pakistan : an ethnographic study

This paper aims to discuss the wider context, in which honour murders occur, the social structures which contribute to the occurrence and perpetuation of the practice of honour murders. An ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in Jacobabad Sindh, Pakistan. The study found that honour murders were not solely driven by customs and traditions, but also by a feudal culture, male-dominated social structures, the complicit role of state institutions and law enforcement agencies and a web of vested interests. Therefore, honour murders may be prevented by reducing the influence and interference of feudal lords on state institutions, in particular law enforcement agencies, and by promoting education that challenges a patriarchal and feudal mind-set in the community

Minimizing information asymmetry interference using optimal channel assignment strategy in wireless mesh networks

Multi-radio multi-channel wireless mesh networks (MRMC-WMNs) in recent years are considered as the prioritized choice for users due to its low cost and reliability. MRMCWMNs is recently been deployed widely across the world but still these kinds of networks face interference problems among WMN links. One of the well-known interference issue is information asymmetry (IA). In case of information asymmetry interference the source mesh nodes of different mesh links cannot sense each other before transmitting data on the same frequency channel. This non-coordination leads to data collision and packet loss of data flow and hence degrades the network capacity. To maximize the MRMC-WMN capacity and minimize IA interference, various schemes for optimal channel assignment have been proposed already. In this research a novel and near-optimal channel assignment model called Information Asymmetry Minimization (IAM) model is proposed based on integer linear programming. The proposed IAM model optimally assigns orthogonal or non-overlapping channels from IEEE 802.11b technology to various MRMC-WMN links. Through extensive simulations we show that our proposed model gives 28.31% network aggregate network capacity improvement over the existing channel assignment model

Study of Nursery Business in Harbin Region

A project on study of nursery business in Harbin region, Heilongjiang (china) was initiated during the 2013. About 64 % of the nurseries deals with the plants of mix categories, 28 % of them recorded that flowering plants species were in high demand and ornamental plants, 80 % of them obtained seed from Beijing, Wuhan and Xian , 52 % of them used plastic tubes and pots for growing of seed, 48 % of them used garden soil, manures and silt as a major component of plant growing media, 64 % of them recorded no application of any fertilizer, 72 % of the respondents recorded that there is only insect attack in their nurseries, 92 % of them apply insecticide at their nurseries, 64 % of them reported that there is great demand for imported plants, 100 % of the respondents reported that there is no availability of green house facility in the majority of nurseries, 60 % of them recorded high sale in spring season, 68 % of them reported that they used green cloth and plant shed as a type of shed at their nurseries, 76 % of them recorded that they pay rent to the government, 76 % of them used both type of propagation methods, 84 % of the respondents reported that they have nursery grower association, Furthermore most of them demanded training about recent research/mythology, certified seed and stuff, easy water availability, low priced fertilizers, pesticides and Bank loans with easy installments and procedure from the Government

Effect of Potash Levels and Row Spacings on Onion Yield

The research study the effect of potassium and row spacing on yield of onion was conducted at Dargai Malakand during summer 2012. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement having three replications. Potassium levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1) were applied to main plot while row spacing (15, 20 and 25 cm) were kept in sub plot. Recommended doses of nitrogen were applied at two split doses and phosphorus and potassium were applied at time of planting. The studied perimeters were plant height, number of leaves plant-1, bulb diameter, average bulb weight, numbers of bulb kg-1 and yield (t ha-1). The maximum plant height (51.6 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (9.89), bulb diameter (5.93), average bulb weight (64.89 g), leaf width (1.33 cm) and yield (22.91 t ha-1) were observed with the application of 120 kg K2O ha-1. The maximum number of bulb kg-1 (15.78) was observed in control. On the other hand the maximum plant height (47.1 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (8.67), bulb diameter (5.64 cm) and average blub weight (54.92 g) were recorded at 25 cm row spacing. And maximum leaf width (1.26 cm) and yield (22.45 t ha-1) was observed at 20 cm row spacing. The maximum bulb kg-1 (16.92) was observed at 15 cm row spacing. The highest yield were observed with the application of 120 kg ha- 1potash application and at 20 cm row spacing. Based on the above result it is recommended that 20 cm row spacing with 120 kg K2O ha-1 should be used for best growth and maximum yield of onion under the agro climatic condition of Dargai at Malakand

A novel driver emotion recognition system based on deep ensemble classification

Driver emotion classification is an important topic that can raise awareness of driving habits because many drivers are overconfident and unaware of their bad driving habits. Drivers will acquire insight into their poor driving behaviors and be better able to avoid future accidents if their behavior is automatically identified. In this paper, we use different models such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and multi-layer perceptron classification models to construct an ensemble convolutional neural network-based enhanced driver facial expression recognition model. First, the faces of the drivers are discovered using the faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) model, which can recognize faces in real-time and offline video reliably and effectively. The feature-fusing technique is utilized to integrate the features extracted from three CNN models, and the fused features are then used to train the suggested ensemble classification model. To increase the accuracy and efficiency of face detection, a new convolutional neural network block (InceptionV3) replaces the improved Faster R-CNN feature-learning block. To evaluate the proposed face detection and driver facial expression recognition (DFER) datasets, we achieved an accuracy of 98.01%, 99.53%, 99.27%, 96.81%, and 99.90% on the JAFFE, CK+, FER-2013, AffectNet, and custom-developed datasets, respectively. The custom-developed dataset has been recorded as the best among all under the simulation environment

Extraction of saponins and toxicological profile of Teucrium stocksianum boiss extracts collected from District Swat, Pakistan

BACKGROUND: The current era is facing challenges in the management of neoplasia and weeds control. The currently available anti-cancer and herbicidal drugs are associated with some serious side effects. Therefore numerous researchers are trying to discover and develop plant based alternative particularly for the rational management of cancer and weed control. Teucrium stocksianum possess antioxidant and analgesic activities. The current study was designed to evaluate crude saponins (CS), methanolic extract and sub-fractions of T. stocksianum for cytotoxic and phytotoxic potentials. CS, methanolic extract and sub-fractions were extracted from powdered plant material using different solvents. Cytotoxic potential of the extracts at a dose of 10, 100 and 1000 μg/ml were evaluated against Brine shrimp's nauplii. Phytotoxic assay also performed at the same concentration against Lemna minor. Etoposide and Paraquat were used as positive controls in cytotoxic and phytotoxic assays respectively. RESULTS: The percent yield of crude saponins was (5%). CS demonstrated tremendous brine shrimp lethality showing < 10 μg/ml LC50. The n-hexane (HF) and chloroform fractions (CF) demonstrated excellent cytotoxicity with 80 and 55 μg/ml LC50 respectively. Whereas the methanolic extract (TSME), ethyl acetate (EAF) and aqueous fractions (AF) revealed moderate cytotoxicity showing 620, 860 and 1000 μg/ml LC50 values respectively. In phytotoxic assay profound inhibition was displayed by HF (96.67%) and TSME (95.56%, 30 μg/ml LC50) against the growth of Lemna minor at 1000 μg/ml respectively. Both CF and EAF demonstrated profound phytoxicity (93.33%) respectively at highest concentration (1000 μg/ml), while AF and CS demonstrated weak phytotoxicity with 1350 and 710 μg/ml LC50 values respectively. CONCLUSION: Cytotoxicity and phytotoxicity assays indicated that the crude saponins, n-hexane and chloroform fractions of T. stocksianum could play a vital role in the treatment of neoplasia and as potential natural herbicides. Therefore these sub-fractions are recommended for further investigation with the aim to isolate novel anti-cancer and herbicidal compounds

Phytotoxic characterization of crude methanolic extract of Periploca aphylla

Periploca aphylla is traditionally used in the treatment of various ailments. Phytotoxic activity of crude methanolic extract of P. aphylla was tested on the germination of wheat seeds and on the growth of the germinated seedlings. In both the field and plate studies, the extract showed inhibitory effect on the germination of the growth of root and shoot of the seedlings. The inhibition was found to be dose dependent. The higher concentration of 1000 μg/ml showed maximum inhibitory effect on the growth of root and shoots in the studies of plate as well as on fresh and dry weight of wheat plant. Similarly, the herbicidal activity is also dependent on the concentration of extract. In this study, it was found that inhibitory potential of methanolic extract of P. aphylla increased as 1000 &gt;100 &gt;10 μg/ml.Keywords: Phytotoxic activity, herbicidal activity, germination, plates and field studies, Perifloca aphyll

An Investigation of the Major Wheat Weeds in Different Zones of Dera Ismail Khan

On account of huge yield losses, weed infestation is a serious threat in wheat crops throughout the country. A comprehensive survey to find out the major weeds in wheat in Dera Ismail Khan was carried out during the crop season of 2012-13. Wheat fields at seed farms of Rakhmanghan, RakhZandani, Rata Kulachi and adjacent farmer’s fields to each seed farm were investigated. Data was collected at the peak growth stage of weeds and the quadratic method was used to record relative density (RD), relative frequency (RF), relative crowding coefficient (RCC) and importance value index (IVI). The results revealed that the major and most problematic weed of wheat at all the locations was Avena fatua (wild oat) on account of having maximum IVI at Rakh Manghan (78.51 & 77.44), Rata Kulachi (77.82 & 77.54) and Rakh Zandani (77.51 & 77.53) seed Farms and Farmer’s fields respectively. Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (Lehli) were the second and third abundantly occurring weeds at almost all the seed farms and farmer fields on account of having the second and third highest IVI values at all the locations. Therefore Avena fatua (wildoat), Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (lehli) seed were collected to find out the yield losses through further experimentation

Factors Predicting the Recurrence of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in Patients with Cirrhosis

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of recurrence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in patients with end stage liver disease and the factors responsible for it. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from November 2008 till November 2009. Methodology: Patients with cirrhosis who were admitted at AKUH with diagnosis of SBP during the study period were included. Any episode of SBP after resolution of the first index case of SBP within one year was considered as recurrence. Results: Out of 238 cirrhotic patients, 157 (66%) had single, while 81 (34%) had recurrent episodes of SBP. History of using proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and diuretics was found in 113 (47.5%) and 139 (58.4%) patients respectively. Only 58 (24.4%) patients were on prophylactic antibiotic therapy. Univariate analysis revealed that the female gender (52%), and presence of porto-systemic encephalopathy (PSE, 31%) were statistically significant (p=0.03) among those who had recurrent SBP. On multivariate analysis bilirubin level of \u3e 1.0 mg (OR=7.03; 95%CI=1.55-32), protective factor of hepatitis B (OR 0.31; 95%CI=0.13-0.70) and presence of urinary tract infection (UTI) (OR=2.24; 95%CI=0.99-5.09) were significant in patients with recurrent SBP. Conclusion: Recurrent SBP was noticed in 34% patients. Serum bilirubin level of \u3e 1.0 mg, protective factor of HBV and presence of UTI were significant factors present in patients with recurrent SBP