Yield and Yield Components of Maize Response Tocompost and Fertilizer-Nitrogen

An experiment on yield and yield components of maize response to compost and fertilizer nitrogen rate as well as timing of application was conducted at New Developmental Farm Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar during Kharif 2011. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement. Compost (0) and 5 kg ha-1) and nitrogen (65 and 130 tons ha-1)were allotted to main plots while Methods (M) of nitrogen application(full at sowing, full at knee stage, and half at sowing and half at knee stages) to sub-plots. Plants at harvest, number of ears per plant, number of grains per row, no. of rows per earwere studied. Higher number of plants at harvest (62102), ear per plant(1.50), grains per row(31), grains per ear (436), rows per ear(13) were produced by compost when applied at the rate of 5 ton ha-1 compared to control plots. Higher no. of plant at harvest(62913), grains per row (31),grains per ear(425 ),rows per ear(13) were produced by 130 kg N ha-1 compared to 65 kg N ha-1. Higher number of plants at harvest  (61599) ,grains per row (31), grains per ear (432), rows per ear (13), were produced when nitrogen was applied as 1/2 at sowing and half 1/2 at knee stage compared to  N application as full dose either at sowing or knee stage. So it is concluded from the experiment that compost at the rate of 5 tons per ha-1 along with 130 kg N ha-1 applied as nitrogen at the rate 130 kg per ha-1 and methods of nitrogen application 1/2 at sowing and 1/2 at knee stage improved yield and yield component of maize and is therefore recommended for general cultivation in agro-climatic condition of Peshawar. Keywords: Maize, Compost, Nitrogen, Method of Nitrogen Applicatio

Maize Response to Compost, Nitrogen and its Method of Application at Peshawar, Pakistan

An experiment on yield and yield components of maize response to compost and fertilizer nitrogen rate as well as timing of application was conducted at New Developmental Farm Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar during Kharif 2011. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement. Compost (0 and 5 kg ha-1) and nitrogen (65 and 130 tons ha-1)were allotted to main plots while methods (M) of nitrogen application(full at sowing, full at knee stage, and half at sowing and half at knee stages) to sub-plots. Biological yield,1000 grain weight, grain yield, shelling percentage, and harvest index(%) were studied. Higher biological yield(9832 kg ha-1), 1000 grain weight(251gm), grain yield (3449 kg ha-1) and shelling (55%),were produced by compost when applied at the rate of 5 ton ha-1 compared to control plots. Higher biological yield(9707 kg ha-1), 1000 grain weight (249g), grain yield (3391 kg ha-1), and shelling  (54%) were produced by 130 kg N ha-1 compared to 65 kg N ha-1. Higher biological yield (9180 kg ha-1) and 1000 grain weight (244g)  were produced when nitrogen was applied as 1/2 at sowing and half 1/2 at knee stage compared toan application as full dose either at sowing or knee stage. So it is concluded from the experiment that compost at the rate of 5 tons per ha-1 along with 130 kg N ha-1 applied as nitrogen at the rate 130 kg per hectare and methods of nitrogen application 1/2 at sowing and 1/2 at knee stage improved yield and yield component of maize and is therefore recommended for general cultivation in agro-climatic condition of Peshawar. Keywords: Maize, Compost, Nitrogen, Method of Nitrogen Applicatio

Immense Industrialization And Their Air Prominent Pollutants Effect On Urban Air Quality Index

On the basis of the reported air quality index (API) and air pollutant monitoring data obtained at the Peshawar over the last seven years, the characteristics of air quality prominent pollutants and variation of the average annual concentrations of SO2, NO2total suspended particulate (TSP) fine particulates (PM10) CO and dust fall in Peshawar City were analyzed. Results showed that SO2and NO2were the prominent pollutants in the ambient air environment of Peshawar City. Of the prominent pollutants TSP accounted for nearly 63 % SO2, 32.8 ppb NO2, 147 ppb of CH4 , 13.8 ppb of CO, 94.5µg/m3of MC and 0.60 ppb of O3respectively in 2013. NO2to SO2 comparison ratio initially declined to 39.3 in 2009 and then starts to increase to 42.5 in 2010 while in 2013 reached upto 44.8 and O3 to SO2 ratio in the last year of observation, the ratio drop to 0.01830 µg/m3. Concentrations of air pollutants have shown a upward trend in recent years but they are generally worse than ambient air quality standards for EPA-USA, Pak and EU. SO2and NOx pollution were still serious impling that waste gas pollution from all kinds of vehicles had become a significant problem for environmental protection in Peshawar. The possible causes of worsening air quality were also discussed in this paper

Sibling and non-sibling fingerprints comparison of Pakhtun population of Swat district, KP, Pakistan

Background: Fingerprint and other ridges are considered to be the best forensic science tool for identification of humans, alive or dead, and even for decomposed bodies. These fingerprint ridges exhibit various static features throughout life which reflect the person biology. This branch gained immense importance since the past few decades in congenital abnormality. This study was to carry out fingerprints analysis of sibling and non-sibling for differentiation and gender identification.Methods: A total of 80 pairs of fingerprints (1600 prints) were collected from persons aged 15 to 30 years using rolling method. Out of which 20 pairs were brother-brother, 20 were sister-sister, 20 were brother-sister and 20 Pairs were random. Each fingerprint was analyzed for the gender identification on the basis of minutiae, ridge density and types. All the fingerprints were analysed using ACE-V method. After comparison SPSS software was used for further analysis.Results: Our result showed that the types of fingerprints identified was whorl (50%) followed by loop (45.25%), arch (4.5%) and 0.25% of the accidental type. The dominant type was whorl while accidental was the least common type of fingerprints. Statistical analysis showed that between the groups, brother-brother and sister-sister was significant while rest of the groups was not significant. Moreover, greater ridge density was observed in female as compared to male.Conclusion: It is concluded that the sibling fingerprints had greater similarity as compared to non-sibling, however both male and female fingerprints were significantly different in term of ridges density. This study may be useful in crime scene investigation.Keywords: Forensics; Fingerprint ridge density; Fingerprint type; Gender identification

In vitro Anti-oxidant Activity and HPLC-DAD System Based Phenolic Content Analysis of Codiaeum variegatum Found in Bangladesh

Purpose: This study evaluated the in vitro antioxidant potential of two varieties of Codiaeum variegatum leaves (spiral (CP) and royal like (BP)) extracts. Methods: The different antioxidant assays, including DPPH free radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging, hydrogen peroxide, reducing power, total antioxidant activity, protection of lipid peroxidation and RBC membrane stabilization activity, were studied. Moreover, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode-array detection was used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in the royal like (BP) leaves extract. Results: Codiaeum variegatum extracts showed effective DPPH free radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging and nitric oxide scavenging activity. However, reducing power of ferric ion was not significant compared to the standard antioxidant activity. In addition, Codiaeum variegatum extracts exhibited protection against lipid peroxidation. The total antioxidant activity was increased dose dependently when compared with standard drug ascorbic acid. (-)-Epicatechin, p-coumaric acid, rutin hydrate and ellagic acid were identified in the extract. Among the phenolic compounds, ellagic acid was abundantly present in the extract. Conclusion: Our investigation suggests that Codiaeum variegatum leaves contain high amount of phenolic compounds which may responsible for its biological activities in folkloric medicine

Beneficial Role of Bitter Melon Supplementation in Obesity and Related Complications in Metabolic Syndrome

Diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome are becoming epidemic both in developed and developing countries in recent years. Complementary and alternative medicines have been used since ancient era for the treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Bitter melon is widely used as vegetables in daily food in Bangladesh and several other countries in Asia. The fruits extract of bitter melon showed strong antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities in experimental condition both in vivo and in vitro. Recent scientific evaluation of this plant extracts also showed potential therapeutic benefit in diabetes and obesity related metabolic dysfunction in experimental animals and clinical studies. These beneficial effects are mediated probably by inducing lipid and fat metabolizing gene expression and increasing the function of AMPK and PPARs, and so forth. This review will thus focus on the recent findings on beneficial effect of Momordica charantia extracts on metabolic syndrome and discuss its potential mechanism of actions

Prediction of Gender-Biased Perceptions of Learners and Teachers Using Machine Learning

Computers have enabled diverse and precise data processing and analysis for decades. Researchers of humanities and social sciences are increasingly adopting computational tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyse human behaviour in society by identifying patterns within data. In this regard, this paper presents the modelling of teachers and students’ perceptions regarding gender bias in text books through AI. The data was collected from 470 respondents through a questionnaire using five different themes. The data was analysed with support vector machines (SVM), decision trees (DT), random forest (RF) and artificial neural networks (ANN). The experimental results show that the prediction of perceptions regarding gender varies according to the theme and leads to the different performances of the AI techniques. However, it is observed that when data from all the themes are combined, the best results are obtained. The experimental results show that ANN, on average, demonstrates the best performance by achieving an accuracy of 87.2%, followed by RF and SVM, which demonstrate an accuracy of 84% and 80%, respectively. This paper is significant in modelling human behaviour in society through AI, which is a significant contribution to the field

Effect of citrus flavonoids, naringin and naringenin, on metabolic syndrome and their mechanisms of action

Flavonoids are important natural compounds with diverse biologic activities. Citrus flavonoids constitute an important series of flavonoids. Naringin and its aglycone naringenin belong to this series of flavonoids and were found to display strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Several lines of investigation suggest that naringin supplementation is beneficial for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. A number of molecular mechanisms underlying its beneficial activities have been elucidated. However, their effect on obesity and metabolic disorder remains to be fully established. Moreover, the therapeutic uses of these flavonoids are significantly limited by the lack of adequate clinical evidence. This review aims to explore the biologic activities of these compounds, particularly on lipid metabolism in obesity, oxidative stress, and inflammation in context of metabolic syndrome

Cuckoo Search-based SVM (CS-SVM) Model for Real-Time Indoor Position Estimation in IoT Networks

Internet of Things (IoT), an emerging technology, is becoming an essential part of today’s world. Machine learning (ML) algorithms play an important role in various applications of IoT. For decades, the location information has been extremely useful for humans to navigate both in outdoor and indoor environments. Wi-Fi access point-based indoor positioning systems get more popularity, as it avoids extra calibration expenses. The fingerprinting technique is preferred in an indoor environment as it does not require a signal’s Line of Sight (LoS). It consists of two phases: offline and online phase. In the offline phase, the Wi-Fi RSSI radio map of the site is stored in a database, and in the online phase, the object is localized using the offline database. To avoid the radio map construction which is expensive in terms of labor, time, and cost, machine learning techniques may be used. In this research work, we proposed a hybrid technique using Cuckoo Search-based Support Vector Machine (CS-SVM) for real-time position estimation. Cuckoo search is a nature-inspired optimization algorithm, which solves the problem of slow convergence rate and local minima of other similar algorithms. Wi-Fi RSSI fingerprint dataset of UCI repository having seven classes is used for simulation purposes. The dataset is preprocessed by min-max normalization to increase accuracy and reduce computational speed. The proposed model is simulated using MATLAB and evaluated in terms of accuracy, precision, and recall with K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM). Moreover, the simulation results show that the proposed model achieves high accuracy of 99.87%

Mineralization of Farm Manures and Slurries under Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditions for Subsequent Release of Phosphorus and Sulphur in Soil

A good understanding of nutrient release from manure or compost after application through mineralization is important to assure meeting the nutrient demand of crops, to secure timely fertilizer application and to enhance nutrient use efficiency. The current study was done to evaluate phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) release patterns from different types of manures viz. cow dung, cow dung slurry, tricho-compost, vermicompost, poultry manure, poultry manure slurry and mungbean residues. The mineralization study was performed under aerobic (field capacity) and anaerobic (waterlogging) conditions for 180 days at 25 ± 1 °C in the laboratory. The release of P and S showed the highest values within 75–180 and 75–150 days, respectively, and was always higher in aerobic conditions than in anaerobic conditions. The first-order kinetic cumulative model was a good fit for mineralization, which was significantly influenced by manure type, soil moisture level and incubation period. Poultry manure slurry exerted the highest P and S release under both moisture conditions. Both slurries showed higher potential mineralization, with a lower rate constant for these elements compared to that in their manure states. Hence, appropriate manures should be chosen and applied in the proper quantity to provide exact amounts of nutrients, to increase crops nutrient use efficiency and to formulate correct fertilizer recommendations