Search results for: Albab Ahmad Khan

Authors: Zahid Ullah, Atlas Khan

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This research endeavors to explore the regularity properties associated with a specific class of equations, namely extremely degenerate elliptic equations. These equations hold significance in understanding complex physical systems like porous media flow, with applications spanning various branches of mathematics. The focus is on unraveling and analyzing regularity results to gain insights into the smoothness of solutions for these highly degenerate equations. Elliptic equations, fundamental in expressing and understanding diverse physical phenomena through partial differential equations (PDEs), are particularly adept at modeling steady-state and equilibrium behaviors. However, within the realm of elliptic equations, the subset of extremely degenerate cases presents a level of complexity that challenges traditional analytical methods, necessitating a deeper exploration of mathematical theory. While elliptic equations are celebrated for their versatility in capturing smooth and continuous behaviors across different disciplines, the introduction of degeneracy adds a layer of intricacy. Extremely degenerate elliptic equations are characterized by coefficients approaching singular behavior, posing non-trivial challenges in establishing classical solutions. Still, the exploration of extremely degenerate cases remains uncharted territory, requiring a profound understanding of mathematical structures and their implications. The motivation behind this research lies in addressing gaps in the current understanding of regularity properties within solutions to extremely degenerate elliptic equations. The study of extreme degeneracy is prompted by its prevalence in real-world applications, where physical phenomena often exhibit characteristics defying conventional mathematical modeling. Whether examining porous media flow or highly anisotropic materials, comprehending the regularity of solutions becomes crucial. Through this research, the aim is to contribute not only to the theoretical foundations of mathematics but also to the practical applicability of mathematical models in diverse scientific fields.

Keywords: elliptic equations, extremely degenerate, regularity results, partial differential equations, mathematical modeling, porous media flow

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Authors: Asma Abdullah, Awais Khan, Reem Al-Ghumlasi, Pritam Kumari, Yasir Nawaz

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Introduction: This study verified the potential applications of two Oblique Wing configurations that were initiated by the Germans Aerodynamicists during the WWII. Due to the end of the war, this project was not completed and in this research is targeting the revival of German Oblique biplane configuration. The research draws upon the use of two Oblique wings mounted on the top and bottom of the fuselage through a single pivot. The wings are capable of sweeping at different angles ranging from 0° at takeoff to 60° at cruising Altitude. The top wing, right half, behaves like a forward swept wing and the left half, behaves like a backward swept wing. Vice Versa applies to the lower wing. This opposite deflection of the top and lower wing cancel out the rotary moment created by each wing and the aircraft remains stable. Problem to better understand or solve: The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential of achieving improved aerodynamic performance and efficiency of flight at a wide range of sweep angles. This will help examine the most accurate value for the sweep angle at which the aircraft will possess both stability and better aerodynamics. Explaining the methods used: The Aircraft configuration is designed using Solidworks after which a series of Aerodynamic prediction are conducted, both in the subsonic and the supersonic flow regime. Computations are carried on Ansys Fluent. The results are then compared to theoretical and flight data of different Supersonic fighter aircraft of the same category (AD-1) and with the Wind tunnel testing model at subsonic speed. Results: At zero sweep angle, the aircraft has an excellent lift coefficient value with almost double that found for fighter jets. In acquiring of supersonic speed the sweep angle is increased to maximum 60 degrees depending on the mission profile. General findings: Oblique biplane can be the future fighter jet aircraft because of its high value performance in terms of aerodynamics, cost, structural design and weight.

Keywords: biplane, oblique wing, sweep angle, supercritical airfoil

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Authors: Makhdoom Saad Wasim Ghouri, Muneeba Butt, Mohammad Ashraf Tahir, Rashid Bhatti, Akbar Ali, Abdul Rehman, Abdul Basit, Muzzamel Rehman, Shahbaz Aslam, Farakh Mansoor, Ahmad Fayyaz, Hadia Siddiqui

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Lip print analysis (Cheiloscopy) is the new emerging technique that might be the guardian angel in establishing the personal identity. Cheiloscopy is basically the study of elevations and depressions present on the external surface of the lips. In our study, 600 lip prints samples were taken (300 males and 300 females). Lip prints of each individual were divided into four quadrants and the upper middle portion. For general classification, middle part of the lower lip almost 10 mm wide would be taken into consideration. After analysis of lip-prints, our results show that lip prints are the unique and permanent character of every individual. No two lip print was matched with each other even of the identical twins. Our study reveals that there is equal distribution of lip print patterns among all the four quadrants of lips and the upper middle portion; these distributions were statistically analyzed by applying chi-square test which shows the significant results. In general classification, 5 lip print types/patterns were studied, Type 1 (Vertical lines), Type 2 (Branched pattern), Type 3 (Intersected pattern), Type 4 (Reticular pattern) and Type 5 (Undetermined). Type 1 and Type 2 were found to be the most frequent patterns in female population, while Type 3 and Type 4 most commonly found in male population. These results were also analyzed by applying Chi-square test, and the results show significance statistically. Thus, establishing sex determination on the basis of lip print types among the gender. Type 5 was the least common pattern among genders.

Keywords: cheiloscopy, distribution, quadrants, sex determination

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Authors: Myisha Ahmad, G. M. Jahid Hasan

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Electricity is the pinnacle of human civilization. At present, the growing concerns over significant climate change have intensified the importance of the use of renewable energy technologies for electricity generation. The interest is primarily due to better energy security, smaller environmental impact and providing a sustainable alternative compared to the conventional energy sources. Solar power, wind, biomass, tidal power, and wave power are some of the most reliable sources of renewable energy. Ocean approximately holds 2×10³ TW of energy and has the largest renewable energy resource on the planet. Ocean energy has many forms namely, encompassing tides, ocean circulation, surface waves, salinity and thermal gradients. Ocean tide in particular, associates both potential and kinetic energy. The study is focused on the latter concept that deals with tidal current energy conversion technologies. Tidal streams or marine currents generate kinetic energy that can be extracted by marine current energy devices and converted into transmittable energy form. The principle of technology development is very comparable to that of wind turbines. Conversion of marine tidal resources into substantial electrical power offers immense opportunities to countries endowed with such resources and this work is aimed at addressing such prospects of Bangladesh. The study analyzed the extracted current velocities from numerical model works at several locations in the Bay of Bengal. Based on current magnitudes, directions and available technologies the most fitted locations were adopted and possible annual generation capacity was estimated. The paper also examines the future prospects of tidal current energy along the Bay of Bengal and establishes a constructive approach that could be adopted in future project developments.

Keywords: bay of Bengal, energy potential, renewable energy, tidal current

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Authors: Ahmad Dahlan Salleh, Nik Abdul Rahim Nik Abdul Ghani, Muhamad Firdaus M. Hatta

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Risk management has implications on pricing, governance arrangements, business practices and strategy. Nowadays, home financing contract offers more in the risk transfer form to increase bank profit. This is parallel with Islamic jurisprudence method al-Kharaj bi al-thaman (gain accompanies liability for loss) and al-ghurm bil ghunm (gain is justified with risk) that determine the matching between risk transfer and returns. Malaysian financing trend is to buy house. Besides, exists transparency lacking risk transfer issues to the clients because of not been informed clearly. Terms and conditions of each financing also do not reflect clearly that the risk has been transferred to the client, justifying a determination price been made. The assumption on risk occurrence is also inaccurate as each risk is different with the type of financing contract. This makes the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 in providing standards that transparent and consistent can be used by Islamic financial institution less effective. This study examines how far the level of the risk and obligation incurred by bank and client under various Islamic home financing contract. This research is qualitative by using two methods, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Document analysis from literature review to identify profile, themes and risk transfer element in home financing from Islamic jurisprudence perspective. This study finds that need to create a risk transfer parameter by banks which are consistent with risk transfer theory according to Islamic jurisprudence. This study has potential to assist the authority in Islamic finance such as The Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) in regulating Islamic banking industry so that the risk transfer valuation in home financing contract based on home financing good practice and determined risk limits.

Keywords: risk transfer, home financing contract, Sharia compliant, Malaysia

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Authors: Anton V. Dolzhenko, Tahir Mehmood Khan

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An ability to make an evidence-based decision is a critically important skill required for practicing pharmacists. The development of this skill is incorporated into the pharmacy curriculum. We aimed in our study to estimate perception of pharmacy students regarding herbal medicines and their ability to assess information on herbal medicines professionally. The current Monash University curriculum in Pharmacy does not provide comprehensive study material on herbal medicines and students should find their way to find information, assess its quality and make a professional decision. In the Pharmacy course, students are trained how to apply this process to conventional medicines. In our survey of 93 undergraduate students from year 1-4 of Pharmacy course at Monash University Malaysia, we found that students’ view on herbal medicines is sometimes associated with common beliefs, which affect students’ ability to make evidence-based conclusions regarding the therapeutic potential of herbal medicines. The use of herbal medicines is widespread and 95.7% of the participated students have prior experience of using them. In the scale 1 to 10, students rated the importance of acquiring herbal medicine knowledge for them as 8.1±1.6. More than half (54.9%) agreed that herbal medicines have the same clinical significance as conventional medicines in treating diseases. Even more, students agreed that healthcare settings should give equal importance to both conventional and herbal medicine use (80.6%) and that herbal medicines should comply with strict quality control procedures as conventional medicines (84.9%). The latter statement also indicates that students consider safety issues associated with the use of herbal medicines seriously. It was further confirmed by 94.6% of students saying that the safety and toxicity information on herbs and spices are important to pharmacists and 95.7% of students admitting that drug-herb interactions may affect therapeutic outcome. Only 36.5% of students consider herbal medicines as s safer alternative to conventional medicines. The students use information on herbal medicines from various sources and media. Most of the students (81.7%) obtain information on herbal medicines from the Internet and only 20.4% mentioned lectures/workshop/seminars as a source of such information. Therefore, we can conclude that students attained the skills on the critical assessment of therapeutic properties of conventional medicines have a potential to use their skills for evidence-based decisions regarding herbal medicines.

Keywords: evidence-based decision, pharmacy education, student perception, traditional medicines

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Authors: M.Younus, M. Athar Khan, Asif Adrees

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The present research endeavour was made to investigate the Public Health impact of Salmonellosis through consuming the meat and eggs of the carrier’s birds and to see the prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium from poultry feed, poultry meat, and poultry eggs and their role in the chain of transmission of salmonellae to human beings and causing food poisoning. The ultimate objective was to generate data to improve the quality of poultry products and human health awareness. Salmonellosis is one of the most wide spread food borne zoonoses in all the continents of the world. The etiological agents Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium not only produce the disease but during the convalescent phase (after the recovery of disease) remain carriers for indefinite period of time. The carrier state was not only the source of spread of disease with in the poultry but also caused typhoid fever in humans. The chain of transmission started from poultry feed to poultry meat and ultimately to humans as dead end hosts. In this experiment a total number of 200 samples of human stool and blood were collected randomly (100 samples of human stool and 100 samples of human blood) of 100 patients suspected from food poisoning patients from different hospitals of Lahore area for the identification of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium through PCR method in order to see the public health impact of Salmonellosis through consuming the meat and eggs of the carrier birds. On the average 14 and 10 stool samples were found positive against Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium from each of the 25 patients from each hospital respectively in case of suspected food poisoning patients. Similarly on an average 5% and 6% blood samples were found positive from 25 patients of each hospital respectively. There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the sero positivity of stool and blood samples of suspected food poisoning patients as far as Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium was concerned. However there was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the hospitals.

Keywords: salmonella, zoonosis, food, transmission, eggs

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Authors: Afshan Channa, Sameeha Aleem, Harim Mohsin

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First rank symptoms (FRS) are considered to be pathognomic for Schizophrenia. However, FRS is not a distinctive feature of Schizophrenia. It has also been noticed in affective disorder, albeit not inclusive in diagnostic criteria. The presence of FRS in Mania leads to misdiagnosis of psychotic illness, further complicating the management and delay of appropriate treatment. FRS in Mania is associated with poor clinical and functional outcome. Its existence in the first episode of bipolar disorder may be a predictor of poor short-term outcome and decompensating course of illness. FRS in Mania is studied in west. However, the cultural divergence and detriments make it pertinent to study the frequency of FRS in affective disorder independently in Pakistan. Objective: The frequency of first rank symptoms in manic patients, who were under treatment at psychiatric services of tertiary care hospital. Method: The cross sectional study was done at psychiatric services of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. One hundred and twenty manic patients were recruited from November 2014 to May 2015. The patients who were unable to comprehend Urdu or had comorbid psychiatric or organic disorder were excluded. FRS was assessed by administration of validated Urdu version of Present State Examination (PSE) tool. Result: The mean age of the patients was 37.62 + 12.51. The mean number of previous manic episode was 2.17 + 2.23. 11.2% males and 30.6% females had FRS. This association of first rank symptoms with gender in patients of mania was found to be significant with a p-value of 0.008. All-inclusive, 19.2% exhibited FRS in their course of illness. 43.5% had thought broadcasting, made feeling, impulses, action and somatic passivity. 39.1% had thought insertion, 30.4% had auditory perceptual distortion, and 17.4% had thought withdrawal. However, none displayed delusional perception. Conclusion: The study confirms the presence of FRS in mania in both male and female, irrespective of the duration of current manic illness or previous number of manic episodes. A substantial difference was established between both the genders. Being married had no protective effect on the presence of FRS.

Keywords: first rank symptoms, Mania, psychosis, present state examination

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Authors: Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, Ahmad Shahril Mohd Ghani

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Agent-based systems technology has been addressed as a new paradigm for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing software systems. Agents are sophisticated systems that act autonomously across open and distributed environments in solving problems. Nevertheless, it is impractical to rely on a single agent to do all computing processes in solving complex problems. An increasing number of applications lately require multiple agents to work together. A multi-agent system (MAS) is a loosely coupled network of agents that interact to solve problems that are beyond the individual capacities or knowledge of each problem solver. However, the network of MAS still requires a main system to govern or oversees the operation of the agents in order to achieve a unified goal. We had developed a fleet management system (FMS) in order to manage the fleet of agents, plan route for the agents, perform real-time data processing and analysis, and issue sets of general and specific instructions to the agents. This FMS should be able to perform real-time data processing, communicate with the autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) agents and generate bathymetric map according to the data received from each ASV unit. The first algorithm is developed to communicate with the ASV via radio communication using standard National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) protocol sentences. Next, the second algorithm will take care of the path planning, formation and pattern generation is tested using various sample data. Lastly, the bathymetry map generation algorithm will make use of data collected by the agents to create bathymetry map in real-time. The outcome of this research is expected can be applied on various other multi-agent systems.

Keywords: autonomous surface vehicle, fleet management system, multi agent system, bathymetry

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Authors: Illahi Bakhsh Marghazani, Nasrullah, Masood Ul Haq Kakar, Abdul Hameed Baloch, Ahmad Nawaz Khoso, Behram Chacher

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Protein sources are the major part of ration fed to dairy buffaloes in Pakistan however, the limited availability and lack of judicious use of protein resources are further aggravating the conditions to enhance milk and meat production. In order to gain maximum production from limited protein source availability, it is necessary to balance feed for rumen degradable and rumen undegradable protein fractions. This study planned to know the rumen degradable and rumen undegradable fractions in all vegetable protein sources with (formaldehyde and heat treatment) and without treatments. Samples of soybean meal, corn gluten meal 60%, maize gluten feed, guar meal, sunflower meal, rapeseed meal, rapeseed cake, canola meal, cottonseed cake, cottonseed meal, coconut cake, coconut meal, palm kernel cake, almond cake and sesame cake were collected from ten different geographical locations of Pakistan. These samples were also subjected to formaldehyde (1% /100g CP of test feed) and heat treatments (1 hr at 15 lb psi/100 g CP of test feed). In situ technique was used to know the ruminal degradability characteristics. Data obtained were fitted to Orskove equation. Results showed that both treatments significantly (P < 0.05) decreased ruminal degradability in all vegetable protein sources than untreated vegetable protein sources, however, of both treatments, heat treatment was more effective than formaldehyde treatment in decreasing ruminal degradability in most of the studied vegetable protein sources.

Keywords: formaldehyde and heat treatments, in situ technique, rumen degradable and rumen undegradable fractions, vegetable protein sources

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Authors: Usha Barahmand, Ruhollah Heydari Sheikh Ahmad

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Distress refers to an unpleasant metal state or emotional suffering marked by negative affect such as depression (e.g., lost interest; sadness; hopelessness), anxiety (e.g., restlessness; feeling tense). These negative affect have been mostly suggested to be concomitant of metal disorders such as positive psychosis symptoms and also of proneness to psychotic features in non-clinical population. Psychotic features proneness including hallucination, delusion and schizotypal traits, have been found to be associated with metacognitive beliefs. Metacognition has been conceptualized as ‘thinking about thoughts, monitoring and controlling of cognitive processes’. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of psychosis proneness in the association of metacognitions and distress. We predicted psychosis proneness would mediate the association of metacognitive beliefs and the distress. A sample of 420 university students was randomly recruited to endorse questionnaires of the study that consisted of DASS-21questionnaire for assessing levels of distress, Cartwright–Hatton & Wells, Meta-cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) for assessing metacognitive beliefs, Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale-revised (LSHS-R), Peters et al. Delusions Inventory, Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief. Conducting a bootstrapping approach in order to investigate our hypothesis, the result showed that there was no a direct association between metacognitive dimensions and psychological distress and psychosis proneness significantly mediated the association. Finding suggested that individuals with dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs experience high levels of distress if they are prone to psychosis symptoms. In other words, psychosis proneness is a path through which individuals with dysfunctional metacognitions experience high levels of psychological distress.

Keywords: metacognition, non-clinical population, psychological distress, psychosis proneness

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Authors: Ziaul Islam, Asad Sultan, Sarzamin Khan

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Organic acids and micro encapsulated phyto essential oils have revealed great potential as an antibiotic replacement and as an additive to work tremendously for the health maintenance of broiler chicken. To explore more about organic acids, a total of 600 day-old broiler chicks (Cobb-500) were procured from a local hatchery and distributed into 5 treatment groups having 6 replicates of 20 birds each; the duration of the biological trial was of 35 days. Group T1 served as a control group that were fed on corn soy-based diet only. T2 were fed with a diet having 6% poultry by-product meal (PBM) diet, T3, T4, and T5 were served as the same diet as T2 but supplemented with an organic acid, phyto essential oils alone, and a combination, respectively. The findings declared significant improvement (p<0.05) in body weight gain and FCR in groups T3, T4, and T5 while feed intake was not affected. European broiler performance indicators like production efficiency factor (EPEF) and broiler index (EBI) were improved significantly (p<0.05) by the treatments T3, T4, and T5 compared with T1 and T2. Carcass evaluation depicted significantly better (p<0.05) dressed and eviscerated weight along with carcass yield (T3, T4, T5). Broilers fed organic acid and phyto essential oils supplemented diet had significantly lower (p<0.05) Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coliand Salmonella and increased Lactobacillus counts. Likewise, antibody titer against ND, IB, and IBD were also significantly (p<0.05) improved by the treatments T3, T4 and T5compared with the T1and T2. Litter moisture content was significantly (p<0.05) reduced by treatmentsT3, T4, and T5 on day 28 and 35 compared with the T1 and T2. These findings of the present study revealed that supplementation of organic acids blend and phyto-essential oils as an as an substitute to improve the performance of broilers without the use of feed antibiotics in broilers fed with 6% poultry by-product meal based diet.

Keywords: organic acid, phyto essential oils, growth performance, PBM, gut health, microbiota, immunity

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Authors: Zahid Ullah, Atlas Khan

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In today's data-driven world, the role of mathematics in bridging the gap between theory and applications is becoming increasingly vital. This abstract highlights the significance of mathematics as a powerful tool for analyzing, interpreting, and extracting meaningful insights from vast amounts of data. By integrating mathematical principles with real-world applications, researchers can unlock the full potential of data-driven decision-making processes. This abstract delves into the various ways mathematics acts as a bridge connecting theoretical frameworks to practical applications. It explores the utilization of mathematical models, algorithms, and statistical techniques to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and correlations within complex datasets. Furthermore, it investigates the role of mathematics in enhancing predictive modeling, optimization, and risk assessment methodologies for improved decision-making in diverse fields such as finance, healthcare, engineering, and social sciences. The abstract also emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and domain experts to tackle the challenges posed by the data-driven landscape. By fostering synergies between these disciplines, novel approaches can be developed to address complex problems and make data-driven insights accessible and actionable. Moreover, this abstract underscores the importance of robust mathematical foundations for ensuring the reliability and validity of data analysis. Rigorous mathematical frameworks not only provide a solid basis for understanding and interpreting results but also contribute to the development of innovative methodologies and techniques. In summary, this abstract advocates for the pivotal role of mathematics in bridging theory and applications in a data-driven world. By harnessing mathematical principles, researchers can unlock the transformative potential of data analysis, paving the way for evidence-based decision-making, optimized processes, and innovative solutions to the challenges of our rapidly evolving society.

Keywords: mathematics, bridging theory and applications, data-driven world, mathematical models

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Authors: Akbar Nawaz Khan, Abdul Ghaffar, Muhammad Naeem Riaz

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The study was conducted to investigate the phenotypic features, morphometry and production potentialities of indigenous naked neck chicken (NN) of Pakistan under intensive management condition. A total of 35 NN chicks were randomly selected, and the experiment was performed at Poultry and wildlife research section NARC Islamabad for a period of 22 weeks. The predominant plumage color was black and golden while skin color was observed white. The average shank length, leg length, thigh length, keel length, chest breadth, head width, wing space, wing length, body length, body girth, body height and pubic bone width in adult males and females were 69.19 ± 3.34mm, 117.93 ± 4.42mm, 117.93 ± 4.42mm, 90.87 ± 6.53mm, 95.03 ± 4.56mm, 49.77 ± 2.53mm, 30.63 ± 1.50cm, 27.24 ± 2.71cm, 18.88 ± 0.65cm, 17.77 ± 1.01cm, 25.96 ± 0.56cm, 47.81 ± 1.41cm and 35.69 ± 4.09mm respectively. The average age and live body weight of NN chicken at sexual maturity were recorded as 165.85 days and 1269.38 g. While hen-day egg production of NN was recorded as 45%. The present study was aimed to investigate the existence of polymorphism at IGF-I gene in indigenous naked neck chicken through PCR based Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism. Based on restriction analysis using Hinf I restriction enzyme, three genotypes were detected designated as AA, AC, and CC. Restriction analysis of PCR amplified product showed the presence of DNA fragments of 622, 378, 244 and 191, (genotypes). The PCR-RFLP analysis is easy, cost effective method which permits the easy characterization of IGF-I gene. This showed the investigated IGF-I genes can serve as good molecular markers for marker assisted selection (MAS) concerning growth related traits in chicken.

Keywords: Desi chicken, naked neck, morphology, morphometry, production potential, egg traits, egg geometry, IGF-I, growth, PCR- RFLP, chicken

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Authors: Sara Alzahrani, Samia Bokari, Patan Khan, Muneera Alshareef, Rania Safwat, Mohammed Galal, Hamdi Alqadi, Ameerah Alzahrani, Rehab Alboraie

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Introduction & Background: Diabetes in COVID-19 patients is individual risk factor and documented in worldwide studies to contribute to disease severity, increased length of stay and higher mortality. Aggressive management of blood sugars and acute diabetic complications reduce the length of stay and mortality. Methods: Randomly selected 200 patients admitted with diabetes and COVID-19 studied. The unified treatment protocol applied for all patients and blood sugars monitored closely and optimized .Data collected on bimonthly basis and analyzed. Patients’ characteristics taken from data extraction tool (Oasis) of hospital. Median values for length of stay and post discharge FBS and RBS were calculated via Microsoft Excel tool. Mortality rates were calculated by percentages. The results monitored in the post discharge clinic was 130 mg/dl and 170 mg/dl respectively. The results compared with the standard international studies. Discussion: Diabetes in COVID-19 patients posed great challenge as increased severity and mortalities reported compared to non-diabetic. Taking a pre-emptive strategy to combat this problem by aggressively manage diabetes help in reducing length of stay and morbidity. The length of stay in studded population was 3 days as compared to 13 days in a major international study. Financial saving come from rapid turnover of beds. The mortality was 2.5 % compared to reported 7.3% in a major study, reflecting the implications of aggressive management of diabetes. Regular follow-up and support by running post-discharge clinic definitely help reducing readmissions and acute complications of uncontrolled diabetes. Conclusion: Aggressive management of diabetes in COVID-19 patients by tailored treatment protocols and dedicated teams will help to decrease the morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: diabetes, covid-19, management, mortality

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Authors: Wajad Nazeer, Saghir Ahmad, Khalid Mahmood, Altaf Hussain, Abid Mahmood, Baoliang Zhou

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MNH-886(Bt.) is a upland cotton cultivar (Gossypium hirsutum L.) developed through hybridization of three parents [(FH-207×MNH-770)×Bollgard-1] at Cotton Research Station Multan, Pakistan. It is resistant to CLCuVD with 16.25 % disease incidence (60 DAS, March sowing) whereas moderately susceptible to CLCuVD when planted in June with disease incidence 34 % (60 DAS). This disease reaction was lowest among 25 cotton advanced lines/varieties tested at hot spots of CLCuVD. Its performance was tested during 2009 to 2012 in various indigenous, provincial, and national varietal trials in comparison with the commercial variety IR-3701 and AA-802 & CIM-496. In PCCT trial during 2009-10; 2011-12, MNH-886 surpassed all the existing Bt. strains along with commercial varieties across the Punjab province with seed cotton yield production 2658 kg ha-1 and 2848 kg ha-1 which was 81.31 and 13% higher than checks, respectively. In National Coordinated Bt. Trial, MNH-886(Bt.) produced 3347 kg ha-1 seed cotton at CCRI, Multan; the hot spot of CLCuVD, in comparison to IR-3701 which gave 2556 kg ha-1. It possesses higher lint percentage (41.01%), along with the most desirable fibre traits (staple length 28.210mm, micronaire value 4.95 µg inch-1 and fibre strength 99.5 tppsi, and uniformity ratio 82.0%). The quantification of toxicity level of crystal protein was found positive for Cry1Ab/Ac protein with toxicity level 2.76µg g-1 and Mon 531 event was confirmed. Having tremendous yield potential, good fibre traits, and great tolerance to CLCuVD we can recommended this variety for cultivation in CLCuVD hotspots of Pakistan.

Keywords: cotton, cultivar, cotton leaf curl virus, CLCuVD hit districts

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Authors: Abu Yousuf, Maksudur Rahman Khan, Ahasanul Karim, Amirul Islam, Minhaj Uddin Monir, Sharmin Sultana, Domenico Pirozzi

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Traditional biodiesel feedstock like edible oils or plant oils, animal fats and cooking waste oil have been replaced by microbial oil in recent research of biodiesel synthesis. The well-known community of microbial oil producers includes microalgae, oleaginous yeast and seaweeds. Conventional transesterification of microbial oil to produce biodiesel is lethargic, energy consuming, cost-ineffective and environmentally unhealthy. This process follows several steps such as microbial biomass drying, cell disruption, oil extraction, solvent recovery, oil separation and transesterification. Therefore, direct transesterification of biodiesel synthesis has been studying for last few years. It combines all the steps in a single reactor and it eliminates the steps of biomass drying, oil extraction and separation from solvent. Apparently, it seems to be cost-effective and faster process but number of difficulties need to be solved to make it large scale applicable. The main challenges are microbial cell disruption in bulk volume and make faster the esterification reaction, because water contents of the medium sluggish the reaction rate. Several methods have been proposed but none of them is up to the level to implement in large scale. It is still a great challenge to extract maximum lipid from microbial cells (yeast, fungi, algae) investing minimum energy. Electroporation technique results a significant increase in cell conductivity and permeability caused due to the application of an external electric field. Electroporation is required to alter the size and structure of the cells to increase their porosity as well as to disrupt the microbial cell walls within few seconds to leak out the intracellular lipid to the solution. Therefore, incorporation of electroporation techniques contributed in direct transesterification of microbial lipids by increasing the efficiency of biodiesel production rate.

Keywords: biodiesel, electroporation, microbial lipids, transesterification

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Authors: Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza, Salman Ahmad, Muhammad Farrukh Saleem, Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer, Rashid Iqbal, Imran Haider, Muhammad Usman Aslam, Muhammad Adnan Nazar

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One of the main negative effects of climate change is the increasing scarcity of water worldwide, especially for irrigation purpose. In order to ensure food security with less available water, there is a need to adopt easy and economic techniques. Two of the effective techniques are; use of ground covers and partial root zone drying (PRD). A field experiment was arranged to find out the most suitable mulch for PRD irrigation system in wheat. The experiment was comprised of two irrigation methods (I0 = irrigation on both sides of roots and I1= irrigation to only one side of the root as alternate irrigation) and four ground covers (M0= open ground without any cover, M1= black plastic cover, M2= wheat straw cover and M4= cotton sticks cover). More plant height, spike length, number of spikelets and number of grains were found in full irrigation treatment. While water use efficiency and grain nutrient (NPK) contents were more in PRD irrigation. All soil covers suppress the weeds and significantly influenced the yield attributes, final yield as well as the grain nutrient contents. However black plastic cover performed the best. It was concluded that joint use of both techniques was more effective for water conservation and increasing grain yield than their sole application and combination of PRD with black plastic mulch performed the best than other ground covers combination used in the experiment.

Keywords: ground covers, partial root zone drying, grain yield, quality traits, WUE, weed control efficiency

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Authors: Sara Khan Mohammadi

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The world is facing a major challenge of feeding a growing population while ensuring the sustainability of food systems. The United Nations estimates that the global population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050, which means that food production needs to increase by 70% to meet the demand. However, this increase in food production should not come at the cost of environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Therefore, there is a need for sustainable food systems that can provide healthy and nutritious food while minimizing their impact on the environment. Nutrition and Food Engineering: Nutrition and food engineering play a crucial role in promoting sustainable food system. Nutrition is concerned with the study of nutrients in foods, their absorption, metabolism, and their effects on health. Food engineering involves the application of engineering principles to design, develop, and optimize food processing operations. Together, nutrition and food engineering can help to create sustainable food systems by: 1. Developing Nutritious Foods: Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop foods that are rich in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. These foods can be designed to meet the nutritional needs of different populations while minimizing waste. 2. Reducing Food Waste: Food waste is a major problem globally as it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and wastes resources such as water and land. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that reduce waste during processing, storage, transportation, and consumption. 3. Improving Food Safety: Unsafe foods can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever among others which are major public health concerns globally. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that improve the safety of foods from farm to fork. 4. Enhancing Sustainability: Sustainable agriculture practices such as conservation agriculture can help reduce soil erosion while improving soil fertility. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Keywords: sustainable food, developing food, reducing food waste, food safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Asma Zaib, Saeed Khan, Ayaz Ahmed Noonari, Sehrish Bint-e-Mohsin

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Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females worldwide and is estimated that more than 450,000 deaths are reported each year. It accounts for about 14% of all female cancer deaths. Angiogenesis plays an essential role in Breast cancer development, invasion, and metastasis. Breast cancer predominantly begins in luminal epithelial cells lining the normal breast ducts. Breast carcinoma likely requires coordinated efforts of both increased proliferation and increased motility to progress to metastatic stages.Resveratrol: a natural stilbenoid, has anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects that inhibits proliferation of variety of human cancer cell lines, including breast, prostate, stomach, colon, pancreatic, and thyroid cancers.The objective of this study is:To investigate anti-neoangiogenesis effects of Resveratrol in breast cancer and to analyze inhibitory effects of resveratrol on aromatase, Erα, HER2/neu, and VEGFR.Docking is the computational determination of binding affinity between molecule (protein structure and ligand).We performed molecular docking using Swiss-Dock and to determine docking effects of (1) Resveratrol with Aromatase, (2) Resveratrol with ERα (3) Resveratrol with HER2/neu and (4) Resveratrol with VEGFR2.Docking results of resveratrol determined inhibitory effects on aromatase with binding energy of -7.28 kcal/mol which shows anticancerous effects on estrogen dependent breast tumors. Resveratrol also show inhibitory effects on ERα and HER2/new with binging energy -8.02, and -6.74 respectively; which revealed anti-cytoproliferative effects upon breast cancer. On the other hand resveratrol v/s VEGFR showed potential inhibitory effects on neo-angiogenesis with binding energy -7.68 kcal/mol, angiogenesis is the important phenomenon that promote tumor development and metastasis. Resveratrol is an anti-breast cancer agent conformed by in silico studies, it has been identified that resveratrol can inhibit breast cancer cells proliferation by acting as competitive inhibitor of aromatase, ERα and HER2 neo, while neo-angiogemesis is restricted by binding to VEGFR which authenticates the anti-carcinogenic effects of resveratrol against breast cancer.

Keywords: angiogenesis, anti-cytoproliferative, molecular docking, resveratrol

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Farah Fazlinda Binti Mohamad, Ahmad Saifizul Abdullah, Mohamed Rehan Karim , Jamilah Mohamad, Siti Hikmah Musthar

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Road safety is an important issue in Malaysia. It become important as it is discussed widely throughout printed and electronic media. Most of the news portrays on road accident and fatalities have increased the concern of everyone. This issue affects everyone's life as everyone shares the roads. The most vulnerable victims are the road user who uses the roads every day. It is appalling when World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in every 100,000 of population in Malaysia, 23 fatalities recorded due to road accident alone. This figure is quite alarming and requires serious attention. Furthermore, research by Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research concluded that that speeding has contributed to 60% of all road accident in the country. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the factors that influence road users’ speeding behaviour on selected roads in Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve this, set of questionnaires has distributed to 500 respondents on selected roads in Peninsular Malaysia. The respondents came from various demographic backgrounds in order to have a fair opinion on the issue. Using descriptive analysis, the results have indicated that psychological factors such as emotion and attitude of road user are the prominent factors that influence the road user’s speeding behaviour. Furthermore, the results have shown that male road users were dominant in speeding compared to female, which led to increased vulnerability to road injuries and fatalities. These findings are very useful in order for us to understand road users’ driving behaviour. Relevant authorities should also revise the existing countermeasures and find ways to reduce road accident. Engineers and road experts could cooperate in designing new road specifications for the road user. Nevertheless, it is important to comprehend this speeding issue and factors associated with it. Each road user should take this matter seriously and responsibly as road safety is a responsibility of all.

Keywords: countermeasures, psychological, road safety, speeding

Procedia PDF Downloads 502

Authors: Saheed Ahmad Rufai

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The growing nature of insurgencies in their various forms in the Muslim world is now of great concern to both the leadership and the citizenry. The high sense of insecurity occasioned by the unpleasant experience has in fact attained an alarming rate in the estimation of both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Consequently, the situation began to attract contributions from scholars and researchers in security-related fields of humanities and social sciences. However, there is little evidence of contribution to the discourse and the scholarship involved by scholars in the field of education. The purpose of this proposed study is to contribute an education dimension to the growing scholarship on the subject. The study which is situated in the broad scholarship of curriculum making and grounded in both the philosophical and sociological foundations of the curriculum, employs a combination of curriculum criticism and creative synthesis, as methods, in reconstructing Muslim schools’ educational blueprint. The significance of the proposed study lies in its potential to contribute a useful addition to the scholarship of curriculum construction in the context of the Muslim world. The significance also lies in its potential to offer an ameliorative proposal over unnecessary insurgency or militancy thereby paving the way for the enthronement of a regime characterized by peaceful, harmonious and tranquil co-existence among people of diverse orientations and ideological persuasions in the Muslim world. The study is restricted to only the first two stages of curriculum making namely the formulation of philosophy which concerns the articulation of objectives, aims, purposes, goals, and principles, as well as the second stage which covers the translation of such principles to an anti-insurgency secondary school curriculum for the Muslim world.

Keywords: education for conflict resolution, anti-insurgency curriculum principles, peace education, anti-terrorist curriculum framework, curriculum for Muslim secondary schools

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Oksana Razina, Shakeel Ahmad, Jessie Qun Ren, Olufemi Isiaq

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The modern life of businesses is categorically reliant on their established position online, where digital (and particularly website) content plays a significant role as the first point of information. Digital content, therefore, becomes essential – from making the first impression to the building and development of client relationships. Despite a number of valuable papers suggesting a strategic approach when dealing with digital data, other sources often do not view or accept the approach to digital content as a holistic or continuous process. Associations are frequently made with merely a one-off marketing campaign or similar. The challenge is to establish an agreed definition for the notion of Digital Content Strategy, which currently does not exist, as DCS is viewed from an excessive number of different angles. A strategic approach to content, nonetheless, is required, both practically and contextually. The researchers, therefore, aimed at attempting to identify the key content components comprising a digital content strategy to ensure all the aspects were covered and strategically applied – from the company’s understanding of the content value to the ability to display flexibility of content and advances in technology. This conceptual project evaluated existing literature on the topic of Digital Content Strategy (DCS) and related aspects, using the PRISMA Systematic Review Method, Document Analysis, Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria, Scoping Review, Snow-Balling Technique and Thematic Analysis. The data was collected from academic and statistical sources, government and relevant trade publications. Based on the suggestions from academics and trading sources related to the issues discussed, the researchers revealed the key actions for content creation and attempted to define the notion of DCS. The major finding of the study presented Key Content Components of Digital Content Strategy and can be considered for implementation in a business retail setting.

Keywords: digital content strategy, key content components, websites, digital marketing strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Faiza Marrium, Masood Rabbani, Ali Ahmad Sheikh, Muhammad Yasin Tipu Javed Muhammad, Sohail Raza

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More than 75% diseases spreading in the past 10 years in human population globally are linked to veterinary sector. Veterinary diagnostic labs are the powerful ally for diagnosis, prevention and monitoring of animal diseases in any country. In order to avoid detrimental effects of errors in disease diagnostic and biorisk management, there is a dire need to establish quality control system. In current study, 3 private and 6 public sectors veterinary diagnostic labs were selected for survey. A questionnaire survey in biorisk management guidelines of CWA 15793 was designed to find quality control breaches in lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care. The data was analyzed through frequency distribution statistically by using (SPSS) version 18.0. A non-significant difference was found in all parameters of lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care with an average percentage of 46.6, 57.77, 52.7, 55.5, 54.44, 48.88 and 60, respectively. A non-significant difference among all nine labs were found, with highest average compliance percentage of all parameters are lab 2 (78.13), Lab 3 (70.56), Lab 5 (57.51), Lab 6 (56.37), Lab 4 (55.02), Lab 9 (49.58), Lab 7 (47.76), Lab 1 (41.01) and Lab 8 (36.09). This study shows that in Lahore district veterinary diagnostic labs are not giving proper attention to quality of their system and there is no significant difference between setups of private and public sector laboratories. These results show that most of parameters are between 50 and 80 percent, which needs some work and improvement as per WHO criteria.

Keywords: veterinary lab, quality management system, accreditation, regulatory body, disease identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Abdullah Alaklabi, Ibrahim A. Arif, Sameera O. Bafeel, Ahmad H. Alfarhan, Anis Ahamed, Jacob Thomas, Mohammad A. Bakir

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Diospyros mespiliformis (Hochst. ex A.DC.; Ebenaceae) is a large deciduous medicinal plant. This plant species is currently listed as endangered in Saudi Arabia. Molecular identification of this plant species based on short sequence regions (571 and 664 bp) of plastid rbcL (ribulose-1, 5-biphosphate carboxylase) gene was investigated in this study. The endangered plant specimens were collected from Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia (GPS coordinate: 19.8543987, 41.3059349). Phylogenetic tree inferred from the rbcL gene sequences showed that this species is very closely related with D. brandisiana. The close relationship was also observed among D. bejaudii, D. Philippinensis and D. releyi (≥99.7% sequence homology). The partial rbcL gene sequence region (571 bp) that was amplified by rbcL primer-pair rbcLaF-rbcLaR failed to discriminate D. mespiliformis from the closely related plant species, D. brandisiana. In contrast, primer-pair rbcL1F-rbcL724R yielded longer amplicon, discriminated the species from D. brandisiana and demonstrated nucleotide variations in 3 different sites (645G>T; 663A>C; 710C>G). Although D. mespiliformis (EU980712) and D. brandisiana (EU980656) are very closely related species (99.4%); however, studied specimen showed 100% sequence homology with D. mespiliformis and 99.6% with D. brandisiana. The present findings showed that rbcL short sequence region (664 bp) of plastid rbcL gene, amplified by primer-pair rbcL1F-rbcL724R, can be used for authenticating samples of D. mespiliforformis and may provide help in authentic identification and management process of this medicinally valuable endangered plant species.

Keywords: Diospyros mespiliformis, endangered plant, identification partial rbcL

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Khalil Ahmad Kakar

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In developing countries increasing the automobile and low capacity public transport (para-transit) which are creating congestion, pollution, noise, and traffic accident are the most critical quandary. These issues are under the analysis of assessors to break down the puzzle and propose sustainable urban public transport system. Kabul city is one of those urban areas that the inhabitants are suffering from lack of tolerable and friendly public transport system. The city is the most-populous and overcrowded with around 4.5 million population. The para-transit is the only dominant public transit system with a very poor level of services and low capacity vehicles (6-20 passengers). Therefore, this study after detailed investigations suggests bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Kabul City. It is aimed to mitigate the role of informal transport and decreases congestion. The research covers three parts. In the first part, aggregated travel demand modelling (four-step) is applied to determine the number of users for para-transit and assesses BRT network based on higher passenger demand for public transport mode. In the second part, state preference (SP) survey and binary logit model are exerted to figure out the utility of existing para-transit mode and planned BRT system. Finally, the impact of predicted BRT system on para-transit is evaluated. The extracted outcome based on high travel demand suggests 10 km network for the proposed BRT system, which is originated from the district tenth and it is ended at Kabul International Airport. As well as, the result from the disaggregate travel mode-choice model, based on SP and logit model indicates that the predicted mass rapid transit system has higher utility with the significant impact regarding the reduction of para-transit.

Keywords: BRT, para-transit, travel demand modelling, Kabul City, logit model

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: T. Abbas, J. McEvoy, E. Khan

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Pesticide contamination in water supply is a common environmental problem in rural agricultural communities. Advanced water treatment processes such as membrane filtration and adsorption on activated carbon only remove pesticides from water without degrading them into less toxic/easily degradable compounds leaving behind contaminated brine and activated carbon that need to be managed. Rural communities which normally cannot afford expensive water treatment technologies need an economical and sustainable filter which not only treats pesticides from water but also degrades them into benign products. In this study, iron turning waste experimented as potential point-of-use filtration media for the removal/degradation of a mixture of six chlorinated pesticides (lindane, heptachlor, endosulfan, dieldrin, endrin, and DDT) in water. As a common and traditional medium for water filtration, sand was also tested along with iron turning waste. Iron turning waste was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-Ray analyzer. Four glass columns with different filter media layer configurations were set up: (1) only sand, (2) only iron turning, (3) sand and iron turning (two separate layers), and (4) sand, iron turning and sand (three separate layers). The initial pesticide concentration and flow rate were 2 μg/L and 10 mL/min. Results indicate that sand filtration was effective only for the removal of DDT (100%) and endosulfan (94-96%). Iron turning filtration column effectively removed endosulfan, endrin, and dieldrin (85-95%) whereas the lindane and DDT removal were 79-85% and 39-56%, respectively. The removal efficiencies for heptachlor, endosulfan, endrin, dieldrin, and DDT were 90-100% when sand and iron turning waste (two separate layers) were used. However, better removal efficiencies (93-100%) for five out of six pesticides were achieved, when sand, iron turning and sand (three separate layers) were used as filtration media. Moreover, the effects of water pH, amounts of media, and minerals present in water such as magnesium, sodium, calcium, and nitrate on the removal of pesticides were examined. Results demonstrate that iron turning waste efficiently removed all the pesticides under studied parameters. Also, it completely de-chlorinated all the pesticides studied and based on the detection of by-products, the degradation mechanisms for all six pesticides were proposed.

Keywords: pesticide contamination, rural communities, iron turning waste, filtration

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: M. R. Ahmad, I. Musirin, M. M. Othman, N. A. Rahmat

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Plug-in Hybrid-Electric Vehicle (PHEV) has gained immense popularity in recent years. PHEV offers numerous advantages compared to the conventional internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Millions of PHEVs are estimated to be on the road in the USA by 2020. Uncoordinated PHEV charging is believed to cause severe impacts to the power grid; i.e. feeders, lines and transformers overload and voltage drop. Nevertheless, improper PHEV data model used in such studies may cause the findings of their works is in appropriated. Although smart charging is more attractive to researchers in recent years, its implementation is not yet attainable on the street due to its requirement for physical infrastructure readiness and technology advancement. As the first step, it is finest to study the impact of charging PHEV based on real vehicle travel data from National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) and at present charging rate. Due to the lack of charging station on the street at the moment, charging PHEV at home is the best option and has been considered in this work. This paper proposed a technique that comprehensively presents the impact of charging PHEV on power system networks considering huge numbers of PHEV samples with its traveling data pattern. Vehicles Charging Load Profile (VCLP) is developed and implemented in IEEE 30-bus test system that represents a portion of American Electric Power System (Midwestern US). Normalization technique is used to correspond to real time loads at all buses. Results from the study indicated that charging PHEV using opportunity charging will have significant impacts on power system networks, especially whereas bigger battery capacity (kWh) is used as well as for higher penetration level.

Keywords: plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, transportation electrification, impact of charging PHEV, electricity demand profile, load profile

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Ruphi Naz, Altaf Ahmad, Mohammad Anis

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Sialic acid (5-Acetylneuraminic acid, Neu5Ac) is a common sugar found as a terminal residue on glycoconjugates in many animals. Humans brain and the central nervous system contain the highest concentration of sialic acid (as N-acetylneuraminic acid) where these acids play an important role in neural transmission and ganglioside structure in synaptogenesis. Due to its important biological function, sialic acid is attracting increasing attention. To understand metabolic networks, fluxes and regulation, it is essential to be able to determine the cellular and subcellular levels of metabolites. Genetically-encoded fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) sensors represent a promising technology for measuring metabolite levels and corresponding rate changes in live cells. Taking this, we developed a genetically encoded FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) based nanosensor to analyse the sialic acid level in living cells. Sialic acid periplasmic binding protein (sia P) from Haemophilus influenzae was taken and ligated between the FRET pair, the cyan fluorescent protein (eCFP) and Venus. The chimeric sensor protein was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) and purified by affinity chromatography. Conformational changes in the binding protein clearly confirmed the changes in FRET efficiency. So any change in the concentration of sialic acid is associated with the change in FRET ratio. This sensor is very specific to sialic acid and found stable with the different range of pH. This nanosensor successfully reported the intracellular level of sialic acid in bacterial cell. The data suggest that the nanosensors may be a versatile tool for studying the in vivo dynamics of sialic acid level non-invasively in living cells

Keywords: nanosensor, FRET, Haemophilus influenzae, metabolic networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Nushrat Khan, Mike Thelwall, Kayvan Kousha

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Making research data openly accessible has been mandated by most funders over the last 5 years as it promotes reproducibility in science and reduces duplication of effort to collect the same data. There are evidence that articles that publicly share research data have higher citation rates in biological and social sciences. However, how and whether shared data is being reused is not always intuitive as such information is not easily accessible from the majority of research data repositories. This study aims to understand the practice of data citation and how data is being reused over the years focusing on biodiversity since research data is frequently reused in this field. Metadata of 38,878 datasets including citation counts were collected through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) API for this purpose. GBIF was used as a data source since it provides citation count for datasets, not a commonly available feature for most repositories. Analysis of dataset types, citation counts, creation and update time of datasets suggests that citation rate varies for different types of datasets, where occurrence datasets that have more granular information have higher citation rates than checklist and metadata-only datasets. Another finding is that biodiversity datasets on GBIF are frequently updated, which is unique to this field. Majority of the datasets from the earliest year of 2007 were updated after 11 years, with no dataset that was not updated since creation. For each year between 2007 and 2017, we compared the correlations between update time and citation rate of four different types of datasets. While recent datasets do not show any correlations, 3 to 4 years old datasets show weak correlation where datasets that were updated more recently received high citations. The results are suggestive that it takes several years to cumulate citations for research datasets. However, this investigation found that when searched on Google Scholar or Scopus databases for the same datasets, the number of citations is often not the same as GBIF. Hence future aim is to further explore the citation count system adopted by GBIF to evaluate its reliability and whether it can be applicable to other fields of studies as well.

Keywords: data citation, data reuse, research data sharing, webometrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 146