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Objective: To find out the causes, level of knowledge and sources of drugs among drug addicted teen agers. Materials & Methods: It was cross sectional mixed method type of study conducted at different shelter homes at Dhaka and Mymensingh from January 2022 to November 2022. Study population were the teen agers, age 14-19 years old patients admitted to the shelter homes. Data was collected by face to face interview with pretested structured and unstructured questionnaire. Results: Majority of the respondent 41.2% was between the age group 17 & 18 and 73%^ were college going. 51.3% of the respondent were from a family with 43 people. Majority 57.2% father’s education was graduate level and mothers 34.8% were secondary or equitable passed. 41.7% father was service holder and majority 69.51% of the mother was housewives. Mean family income was 63320.86  27362.44. Maximum teen agers 43.85% believe drugs increases the joy of life and 90% of the respondent knowledge regarding different sides of drug abuse is poor. Conclusion: The study revealed that teen agers knowledge regarding different sides of drug abuse is poor. Different government, non-government organization, traditional social control agencies, law enforcement organizations and research in intervention program about different aspect of drugs indulgent need to be done to increase knowledge level of teen agers against drug addiction.

Purpose: Karachi is the third most populous city globally, inhabiting over 20 million people. Its air quality is hardly ever comprehended despite ever-increasing vehicular and industrial emissions. The present paper investigates the outdoor concentrations of 10 air pollutants, viz. NO, NO2, NOx, SO2, CO, O3, CH4, methane carbon, non-methane hydrocarbons, and total hydrocarbons at three sites of the city and their relationship with meteorological parameters. Method: All ten air pollutants were measured continuously for 24 hours at all three city sites by the Air Quality Monitoring Station, equipped with the Horiba AP-370 series, which has a built-in calibration solenoid valve for calibration simply by connecting the calibration gas. The meteorological parameters were measured simultaneously by the device installed outside the station. The data were then transferred to a computer for analysis. Results: The results demonstrate that these pollutants severely affected the city’s air quality. The annual mean concentrations of both NO2 and SO2 exceeded the WHO guidelines at some sites. The city experiences varied concentrations of major air pollutants because three fuels, viz. diesel, gasoline, and compressed natural gas operate the motor vehicles in this conurbation. The study also correlates the air pollutants with each other and with meteorological factors. All three nitrogen oxides are related to each other at all three sites, with SO2 at Defense Housing Authority, CO at North Nazimabad, and meteorological factors at Sohrab Goth and Defense Housing Authority. Conclusion: The higher air pollution in the city is due to the adoption of lenient vehicular emission standards. Stringent emission standards cannot be adopted because of the non-availability of low or zero sulfur fuel. Moreover, ineffective regulation of exiting standards also contributes to higher vehicular emissions in the city.

Objective: This investigation work aimed to find out the awareness and numerous perspectives towards the procedure of mensuration between ladies of fledgling age. Methodology: This descriptive investigation work carried out in Jinnah Hospital, Lahore and its remote areas from December 2017 to November 2018. The selection of the 500 ladies carried out from remote areas of hospital and students of this institute with the help of non-probability sampling method. Ladies present with the abnormalities in amenorrhea procedure or suffering from other gynecological problems were excluded from this investigation work. All the selected ladies were in their menstruating age regardless of their marriage and education stage. SPSS V. 22 was in use for the arithmetical exploration of the collected information. We recorded all the information of a well-organized Performa. Results: Out of total five hundred participants, 84.5% (n: 415) ladies stated that this procedure is beneficial for health; however, 18.5% (n: 85) felt that this incident was not healthy. Out of total five hundred ladies, 88.65% (n: 438) ladies regarded the procedure of amenorrhea as normal procedure, while 13.45% (n: 62) ladies thought this as God’s curse. Conclusion: Health education of the ladies particularly living in the rural areas is much necessary. Health education will prepare the ladies emotionally to face this procedure of amenorrhea with less adverse reactions. Faulty perception, un-acfactsment and unsecure practices about the procedure of amenorrhea are very common between ladies of fledgling age. Keywords: Arithmetical, exploration, unsecure, Sampling, amenorrhea, Performa, abnormalities.

This phytosociological investigation is conducted in various disturbed forests around Murree hills. The main purpose of study is to explore community types, associated ground flora and their relation to soil characteristics. Eight community types and two monospecific tree stands have been recognized as follows: Pinus wallichiana (pure), Pinus roxburghii (pure), Pinus wallichiana-Quercus baloot, Pinus wallichiana-Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana-Abies pindrow, Pinus wallichiana-Quercus dilatata, Quercus dilatata-Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii-Pinus wallichiana, Pinus roxburghii-Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii-Quercus dilatata. Pinus wallichiana dominates monospecifically in 8 stands while Pinus roxburghii -Pinus wallichiana community types found at 5 locations. Pinus wallichiana formed community type with Cedrus deodara and Abies pindrow at 4 locations separately. Highest stand density achieved in Pinus wallichiana-Cedrus deodara and Pinus roxburghii-Quercus dilatata community i.e. 128 trees/h. Highest basal area (48.06 (m²/ha) recorded from Pinus wallichiana (pure) stands. Pinus wallichiana-Pinus roxburghii communities correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with tree density. Range of DO. pH, Temperature, Conductivity, Salinity, ORP and chemical parameters in each community type has also shown and discussed. Bu fitososyolojik araştırma, Murree tepeleri çevresindeki çeşitli bozulmuş ormanlarda yapılmıştır. Çalışmanın temel amacı topluluk türlerini, ilişkili zemin florasını ve toprak özellikleri ile ilişkilerini araştırmaktır. Sekiz bitki topluluğu ve iki monospesifik meşcere tanımlanmıştır: Pinus wallichiana (saf), Pinus roxburghii (saf), Pinus wallichiana-Quercus baloot, Pinus wallichiana-Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana-Abies pindrow, Pinus wallichiana-Quercus dilatata, Quercus dilatat-Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii-Pinus wallichiana, Pinus roxburghii-Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii-Quercus dilatata. Pinus wallichiana 8 standda monospesifik olarak baskınken, 5 yerde bulunan Pinus roxburghii-Pinus wallichiana topluluk türleri. Pinus wallichiana, Cedrus deodara ve Abies ile 4 yerde ayrı ayrı topluluk oluşturmuştur. Pinus wallichiana-Cedrus deodara ve Pinus roxburghii-Quercus dilatata topluluğunda, yani 128 ağaç/saatte elde edilen en yüksek meşcere yoğunluğu olarak gözlenmiştir. Pinus wallichiana (saf) meşcerelerinden kaydedilen en yüksek bazal alan (48.06 (m²/ha) olarak kaydedilmiştir. Pusus wallichiana-Pinus roxburghii toplulukları ağaç yoğunluğu ile anlamlı bir şekilde korelasyon göstermiştir (p

Environmental variables play a crucial role in shaping vegetation structure, mainly in mountainous ecosystems. Different studies have attempted to identify the environment-vegetation relationship of Conifer Dominating Forests (CDF) worldwide. However, due to differences in local climate and soil composition, different environmental drivers can be found. By applying multivariate analysis techniques, this study investigated the vegetation-environment relationship of CDF of Indus Kohistan in northern Pakistan. Our results showed that CDF of Indus Kohistan are distributed in five distinct ecological groups, which are dominated by different trees and understory species. A total of 7 trees and 71 understory species were recorded from the sampling sites. Cedrus deodara was the leading species among four groups, having the highest importance value (IV), density and basal area. Group I was dominated by Pinus wallichiana with the second highest importance value, density and basal area. In addition, elevation, slope, maximum water holding capacity (MWHC), soil moisture (SM), total organic matter (TOM), sodium, phosphorus and nickel showed highly significant influence on composition and distribution pattern of Indus Kohistan vegetation. Therefore, this study shows a new evidence of vegetation-environment relationship, pointing out specific drivers of vegetation structure in CDF of Indus Kohistan region in northern Pakistan.

Despite being one of the most populated cities globally, the air quality of Karachi is hardly ever comprehended. The present paper investigates the outdoor concentrations of 10 air pollutants, viz. NO, NO2, NOx, SO2, CO, O3, CH4, methane carbon, non-methane hydrocarbons, and total hydrocarbons at three different city sites, viz., Sohrab Goth, Defense Housing Authority, and North Nazimabad. The results demonstrate that these pollutants severely affected the city's air quality. The annual mean concentrations of both NO2 and SO2 exceeded the WHO guidelines at some study sites. The city experiences varied concentrations of major air pollutants because three types of fuel, viz. diesel, gasoline, and compressed natural gas, operate the motor vehicles in this conurbation. The study also correlates the various air pollutants with each other and with various meteorological factors. All the three oxides of nitrogen are statistically associated at all three sites with one another, with SO2 at Defense Housing Authority, with CO at North Nazimabad, and with meteorological factors at Sohrab Goth and Defense Housing Authority. Carbon monoxide is statistically associated with the meteorological factors only at North Nazimabad. The study suggests that higher air pollution in the city is due to the adoption of lenient vehicular emission standards because stringent emission standards cannot be adopted due to the non-availability of low or zero sulfur fuel. Moreover, ineffective regulation of exiting standards also contributes to higher vehicular emissions in the city.

The western Himalayan region in northern Pakistan is one of the most sensitive hotspots to climate change, due to the rapidly increasing population and delicate mountainous ecosystem. The relatively limited observed instrumental record impedes our understanding of long-term climate variability and their assessment. Using standard dendrochronological techniques, a 395-year (1620 to 2014 C.E.) tree-ring chronology of Abies pindrow (Royle) (Himalayan fir) was developed from the western Himalayan region in northern Pakistan. The results of the growth-climate relationship demonstrated that the radial growth of Abies pindrow was limited by minimum temperature. Using a robust reconstruction model, a 310-year (1705 to 2014 C.E.) minimum temperature was reconstructed from the western Himalayan region in northern Pakistan. The reconstructed minimum temperature accounts for 38% variance of the actual minimum temperature, and provides the evidences of Dalton minimum and modern maximum periods. The coldest years in the reconstruction were 1726, 1727, 1892, 1921, and 2001, whereas the hottest years were 1789, 1807, 1814, 1846, 2011, and 2013. Multi-taper method (MTM) spectral analysis showed a significant shorter quasi-cycles (2.3 to 3.5 years) and decadal cycles (11.5 to 17.5 years), suggesting a possible teleconnections with El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Northern Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) respectively.

Background: Asthma remain the most common chronic inflammatory lung disease in childhood. Asthma management needs lung function assessment. Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) is one of the lung function test. PEFR has been used as measure of ventilatory capacity for long mainly because of a simple, less tiring procedure than other lung function test. It is easy to use, inexpensive, portable, reliable can be used by patients, parents, home & clinic. There is no national nomogram on PEFR in Bangladesh. We always use the nomogram of other countries for diagnosis, management of Asthma. This study was taken to establish what is the normal pattern of PEFR in Bangladeshi children of rural and urban area and to construct nomogram of PEFR in healthy Bangladeshi children. Materials and methods : It is a cross sectional study conducted in different 6 schools (Urban & rural) in Chattogram District of both sexes (5-15 yrs old) in equal proportion of child. Study period was from April 2009 to November 2009 under supervision of Pediatrics Department of Chattogram Medical College. Sample was selected by non-probability technique. Data were collected by pretested questionnaire including exclusion criteria. Results: A total of 1424 healthy school children (Age 5-15 yrs) of equal sexes of both rural and urban school were included during study. The best of three PEFR of boys ranged from 90 to 750 I/min (Mean 291 I/min, SD 143) and in case of girls ranged from 80 to 540 (L/min (mean 236 L/min, SD 94.38). The positive correlation of PEFR with various anthrometric parameters specially height and observed difference with boys and girls. The most significant correlation was observed PEFR with height and also found different value of PEFR between rural and urban children. Conclusion : This study concluded that there is significant difference of PEFR between Bangladeshi boys and girls (5-15 yrs). Height is the best predictor of PEFR value than any other anthrometric parameters PEFR value of Bangladeshi Girls is lower than that of Boys and significant difference between PEFR values among urban & rural Bangladeshi children. Chatt Maa Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.18 (1); Jan 2019; Page 18-22

Multivariate analysis was conducted to explore the moist temperate forests of the Shangla district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The prime objective was to quantitatively describe and differentiate the vegetation groups and the factors that determine the boundaries and composition of plant communities in the Shangla district. This was achieved by sampling all common species in a complex vegetation mosaic coinciding with local gradients in topography and soil distribution. Ward’s clustering dendrogram demonstrated four significant vegetation clusters with respect to environmental effects. These four major groups of the tree vegetation were superimposed on the ordination plane: 1. Pinus wallichiana, the dominant group associated with Abies pindrow; 2. Abies pindrow and the Piceasmithiana group; 3. Dominant Cedrusdeodara associated with the Pinuswallichiana,Abies pindrow, Piceasmithiana, and Quercus baloot group; 4. Pinusroxberghii pure group. The key controlling factors for each group were the environmental characteristics (i.e., edaphic factors, topographic factors, soil physical properties, and soil nutrients). The results revealed elevation (p

This research is focused on the accelerated in-situ neutron radiation failure-in-time test (at a sea-level height) that was performed on 1200V and 1700V SiC power n-MOSFETs from 3 different manufacturers. The test was performed at room temperature and 150 °C with an average neutron flux of 1×105 n/cm2-sec above 1.5 MeV neutron energy. The room temperature samples demonstrated higher FIT values compared to 150 °C samples for both 1200V and 1700V devices. The maximum FIT of 8 and 28 was measured for 1200V and 1700V devices respectively at room temperature.

This study focuses on age, growth rate and diameter distribution of pine forests in the Malam Jabba area, Swat District, Pakistan. Wood core samples were taken from twenty stands. Picea smithiana was the oldest at 234 years with a 112-cm diameter. Abies pindrow was 125 years with an 80-cm diameter while the oldest Pinus wallichiana was 122 years with 75-cm diameter. The fastest overall growth rate of 1.5 ± 0.1 year/cm was for P. wallichiana on a west-facing aspect, while the slowest 5.8 ± 2.6 year/cm growth was P. smithiana on an east-facing exposure. P. wallichiana and A. pindrow exhibited marked differences in growth rates over a 5-year period. The highest growth was by P. wallichiana from 1966 to 2006. A. pindrow showed less growth over the same years, such pattern simultaneously reverse from 1911 to 1965. The relationship between diameter and age, diameter and growth rate and age and growth rate were correlated. P. wallichiana and A. pindrow ages were correlated with diameter and growth rates. P. smithiana age was positive correlated with diameter. Generally, topographic and edaphic factors did not show significant correlations with growth rates, although some appreciable correlations were recorded. The growth of P. wallichiana was correlated with elevation while A. pindrow was correlated with maximum water retaining capacity. Diameter and age produced uneven size classes and many size gaps, which could be the result of anthropogenic disturbances.

Our understanding of the full range of natural variability in streamflow, including how modern flow compares to the past, is poorly understood for the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) because of short instrumental gauge records. To help address this challenge, we use Hierarchical Bayesian Regression (HBR) with partial pooling to develop six centuries long (1394–2008 C.E.) streamflow reconstructions at three UIB gauges (Doyian, Gilgit, and Kachora), concurrently demonstrating that HBR can be used to reconstruct short records with interspersed missing data. At one gauge (Partab Bridge), with a longer instrumental record (47 years), we develop reconstructions using both Bayesian Regression (BR) and the more conventionally used Principal Components Regression (PCR). The reconstructions produced by PCR and BR at Partab Bridge are nearly identical and yield comparable reconstruction skill statistics, highlighting that the resulting tree-ring reconstruction of streamflow is not dependent on the choice of statistical method. Reconstructions at all four reconstructions indicate flow levels in the 1990s were higher than mean flow for the past six centuries. While streamflow appears most sensitive to accumulated winter (January-March) precipitation and summer (MJJAS) temperature, with warm summers contributing to high flow through increased melt of snow and glaciers, shifts in winter precipitation and summer temperatures cannot explain the anomalously high flow during the 1990s. Regardless, the sensitivity of streamflow to summer temperatures suggests that projected warming may increase streamflow in coming decades, though long-term water risk will additionally depend on changes in snowfall and glacial mass balance.

Given the reported increasing trends in high Asian streamflow and rapidly increasing water demand in the Indian subcontinent, it is necessary to understand the long‐term changes and mechanisms of snow- and glacier-melt-driven streamflow in this area. Thus, we have developed a June–July streamflow reconstruction for the upper Indus River watershed located in northern Pakistan. This reconstruction used a temperature-sensitive tree-ring width chronology of Pinus wallichiana, and explained 40.9% of the actual June–July streamflow variance during the common period 1970–2008. The high level of streamflow (1990–2017) exceeds that of any other time and is concurrent with the impact of recent climate warming that has resulted in accelerated glacier retreats across high Asia. The streamflow reconstruction indicated a pronounced reduction in streamflow in the upper Indus River basin during solar minima (Maunder, Dalton, and Damon). Shorter periods (years) of low streamflow in the reconstruction corresponded to major volcanic eruptions. Extreme low and high streamflows were also linked with sea surface temperature. The streamflow reconstruction also provides a long-term context for recent high Asian streamflow variability resulting from seasonal snow and glaciers that is critically needed for water resources management and assessment.

Purpose: The study was conducted to identify the associated weeds of Rabi (winter) crops and their control measures used by the farmers at Dumuria and Batiaghata upazila in Khulna district of Bangladesh. Research Method: Data were collected from purposively selected 73 respondents using structured interview conducted from 4 January to 20 April, 2019. Findings: In the study area, Echinochloa crussgalli and Cynodon dactylon were found as dominant within rice fields with the highest severity index of 25.34% and 20.54% respectively. In sesame fields, Cucumis melo var. agrestis and Cynodon dactylon were found with 16.78% and 12.33% severity index respectively. The severity index of Cynodon dactylon was the highest in majority of the vegetable crops. The weeding of rice, potato, bitter gourd, spinach, country bean was done within the critical weeding regime but in the rest of the crops weeding was not done during the critical weeding regime. Originality/value: Farmers spend about 40% of the total production cost on weed control and the critical weeding regime has a major impact on effectiveness of weed control, overall economic benefit and net income.

This paper describes reliability experiments on 1200 V SiC power n-MOSFETs manufactured by three different manufacturers utilizing two different mechanisms: accelerated thermal aging and bias temperature instability. Each of the devices was electrically tested for evaluating variation of pre- and post-stress I–V characteristics. Pre-stress evaluation of threshold voltage (Vth) for 25 cycles showed transient behavior and a saturation toward an average value. For thermal aging reliability test, devices were stressed at 120 °C for 200 h and 3.33% of the devices showed significant shift in threshold voltage (Vth). For bias temperature instability measurement, devices were stressed at 120 °C for 200 h and a bias voltage of 20 V was applied across the gate–source terminals. For 96.7% device, Vth demonstrated an increment with stressing time and a movement toward saturation.

Uncooled infrared detectors (IR) on a polyimide substrate have been demonstrated where amorphous silicon (a-Si) was used as the thermometer material. New concepts in uncooled microbolometers were implemented during the design and fabrication, such as the integration of a germanium long-pass optical filter with the device-level vacuum package and a double layer absorber structure. Polyimide was used for this preliminary work towards vacuum-packaged flexible microbolometers. The detectors were fabricated utilizing a carrier wafer and low adhesion strength release layer to hold the flexible polyimide substrate during fabrication in order to increase the release yield. The IR detectors showed a maximum detectivity of 4.54 × 106 cm Hz1/2/W at a 4 Hz chopper frequency and a minimum noise equivalent power (NEP) of 7.72 × 10−10 W/Hz1/2 at a biasing power of 5.71 pW measured over the infrared wavelength range of 8–14 μm for a 35 μm × 35 μm detector. These values are comparable to other flexible microbolometers with device-level vacuum packaging which are found in literature.

Anthropogenic and climatic stressors have affected the forests of northern Pakistan in recent decades. Several studies have been conducted to understand forest growth and its relation to the changing climate in this region, but more work needs to be done to understand this complex environment. In this study, we have collected tree core samples of three conifer species (Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, and Abies pindrow) from three different sites in northern Pakistan to understand their radial growth pattern with the goal of finding a relationship between ring-width and climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation, and drought). A 610-year (AD 1406–2015), a 538-year (AD 1478–2015), and a 306-year (AD 1710–2015) long tree-ring width chronology of Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, and Abies pindrow were developed, respectively, using living trees. The ring-width chronologies of these three species showed a strong positive link with the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) rather than precipitation or temperature alone, indicating that soil moisture is the primary limiting climatic factor for the growth of these species in the sampling locations. The chronologies of Pinus wallichiana and Picea smithiana exhibited growth suppressions during AD 1570–1610 and the second half of 17th century while their growth was heightened from AD 1540–1560. We have found the lowest growth in Abies pindrow and Picea smithiana from AD 1900–1920, suggesting dry conditions. All three chronologies have exhibited the most rapid increase in growth during the recent decades, suggesting that this region is experiencing climate change with a strong trend towards wetter conditions.

Measurement noise acts as a barrier to the accurate calculation of threshold voltage by derivative-based extraction methods. We examined several smoothing techniques and their effects on measurement noise in threshold voltage extracted by the linear extrapolation method and the g m / I d method. We applied these techniques on a set of SiC power MOSFET devices before and after they had undergone accelerated thermal testing. The smoothing methods examined are least-squares polynomial fitting, low-pass filtering using Butterworth and Chebyshev filters, and differential smoothing. These methods are compared by their shift in threshold voltage compared to unsmoothed data and their standard deviation among the measurements of each device. All methods performed poorly at smoothing when extracting via the g m / I d due to the large amounts of high-magnitude subthreshold noise, mostly tending to extract threshold voltages far below the expected value. Differential smoothing provided results closest to the expected value with an absolute shift of 1.2 V on average. The smoothing methods performed better with the LE method. On a failed device, all smoothing methods except polynomial smoothing preserved the large threshold voltage anomaly for four out of five measurements. These results show that choice of smoothing method, if used must be evaluated based on the device and extraction method.

We have performed neutron radiation hardness testing for commercially available 650 V/7.5 A GaN power HEMT. The devices were tested at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) inside Irradiation of Chips Electronics, ICE house-1 at a flux density of 106 n/cm2-s and energy level above 1 MeV, which is approximately 106 times higher than neutron radiation at airliner flight height (30,000 ft). During the experiments, the devices were stressed electrically, thermally and irradiated with neutron radiation. We have observed degradation of AlGaN layer due to accelerated neutron radiation (1.54 × 1010 n/cm2 above 1.5 MeV neutron energy) under electrical stress condition. We have performed parametric defect analysis through step-by-step application of neutron irradiation, thermal stress and electrical bias, and observed highest degradation of threshold voltage (0.14 V) for combined electrical stress and neutron irradiation.

The fabrication and characterization of micromachined piezoresistive absolute pressure sensors in a flexible substrate is presented. A suspended aluminum oxide diaphragm containing nichrome (Ni-80%/Cr-20%) piezoresistive sensors backed by a vacuum cavity was utilized to form the sensor. The piezoresistors were placed in a half-Wheatstone bridge geometry to provide a linear response and thermal stability. The average value of the gauge factor of nichrome was measured to be 1.95. The average normalized Hooge coefficient $\text{K}_{1/f}$ was found to be $4.64\times 10^{-11}$ for the nichrome piezoresistors. The pressure sensors displayed an average sensitivity of 1.25 nV/Pa and average value of noise equivalent pressure (NEPr) of 7.44 kPa in the bandwidth of 1–10 Hz in the 1/ $f$ -noise limited regime. In the Johnson noise-limited regime, the NEPr was found to be 10 Pa in a 1-Hz bandwidth. [2014-0028]

Pyroelectric infrared detectors provide the advantage of both a wide spectral response and dynamic range, which also has enabled systems to be developed with reduced size, weight and power consumption. This paper demonstrates the deposition of lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and lead calcium titanate (PCT) thin films for uncooled pyroelectric detectors with the utilization of gold electrodes. The modified lead titanate thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition on gold electrodes. The PZT and PCT thins films deposited and annealed at temperatures of 650 °C and 550 °C respectively demonstrated the best pyroelectric performance in this work. The thin films displayed a pyroelectric effect that increased with temperature. Poling of the thin films was carried out for a fixed time periods and fixed dc bias voltages at elevated temperature in order to increase the pyroelectric coefficient by establishing a spontaneous polarization of the thin films. Poling caused the pyroelectric current to increase one order of magnitude.

A systematic increase in global temperature since the industrial revolution has been attributed to anthropogenic forcing. This increase has been especially evident over the Himalayas and Central Asia and is touted as a major contributing factor for glacier mass balance declines across much of this region. However, glaciers of Pakistan’s Karakorum region have shown no such decline during this time period, and in some instances have exhibited slight advance. This discrepancy, known as the ‘Karakorum Anomaly’, has been attributed to unusual amounts of debris covering the region’s glaciers; the unique seasonality of the region’s precipitation; and localized cooling resulting from increased cloudiness from monsoonal moisture. Here we present a tree-ring based reconstruction of summer (June–August) temperature from the Karakorum of North Pakistan that spans nearly five centuries (1523–2007 C.E.). The ring width indices are derived from seven collections (six—Picea smithiana and one—Pinus gerardiana) from middle-to-upper timberline sites in the northern Karakorum valleys of Gilgit and Hunza at elevations ranging from 2850 to 3300 meters above mean sea level (mean elevation 3059 m asl). The reconstruction passes all traditional calibration–verification schemes and explains 41 % of the variance of the nested Gilgit–Astore instrumental station data (Gilgit—1454 m asl, 1951–2009; Astore—2167 m asl, 1960–2013). Importantly, our results indicate that Karakorum temperature has remained decidedly out of phase with hemispheric temperature trends for at the least the past five centuries, highlighting the long-term stability of the Karakorum Anomaly, and suggesting that the region’s temperature and cloudiness are contributing factors to the anomaly.

In the current paper, we report the 1/f noise measurement of nichrome Ni/Cr (80/20 %) thin films for two types of pressure sensors: relative pressure sensors and absolute pressure sensors. The normalized Hooge coefficient for nichrome thin film was found to be 1.89 × 10?10 for the relative pressure sensors and 4.64 × 10?11 for the absolute pressure sensors. We demonstrated that the normalized Hooge coefficient multiplied by the volume of the thin film become constant regardless of the sensor types and discuss the complexities arise for the miniaturization of MEMS sensors due to the bulk noise properties of piezoresistive thin films.

In Astore valley, 26 species of plants under 17 genera and 13 families were found to be used as folkmedicine. The study reveals that the villagers from remote area use medicinal plants for the treatment of joint pain, bone fracture, urine problem, asthma, diabetes, blood pressure and for the treatment of other common ailments. The aborigines also use traditional herbal therapy for their live stocks. Because of high destruction pressure of anthropogenic origin, Ephedra gerardiana Wallich ex C.A.Meyer, Berberis spp., Rosa foetida Herrm. and Rhododendron hypenanthum Balf. f. were found threatened. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjb.v43i1.19741 Bangladesh J. Bot. 43 (1): 19-25, 2014 (June)

MEMS force sensors embedded in flexible polyimide substrates are reported, motivated by the need to monitor force and pressure on nonplanar surfaces for structural health monitoring. Details of the fabrication, measured preliminary results, and figures of merit are described. The sensors showed an average piezoresistive gauge factor of 1.75. The average value of normalized Hooge noise coefficient K1/f was found to be 1.89×10-10. The sensitivity was measured to the range from 0.266 to 2.248 V/N with an average sensitivity of 1.25 V/N. The noise equivalent force was calculated to the range from 8.83 to 46.56 μN with an average value of 20.47 μN for the force sensors in a noise frequency bandwidth from 1 to 8 Hz.

Past global climate changes had strong regional expression. To elucidate their spatio-temporal pattern, we reconstructed past temperatures for seven continental-scale regions during the past one to two millennia. The most coherent feature in nearly all of the regional temperature reconstructions is a long-term cooling trend, which ended late in the nineteenth century. At multi-decadal to centennial scales, temperature variability shows distinctly different regional patterns, with more similarity within each hemisphere than between them. There were no globally synchronous multi-decadal warm or cold intervals that define a worldwide Medieval Warm Period or Little Ice Age, but all reconstructions show generally cold conditions between AD 1580 and 1880, punctuated in some regions by warm decades during the eighteenth century. The transition to these colder conditions occurred earlier in the Arctic, Europe and Asia than in North America or the Southern Hemisphere regions. Recent warming reversed the long-term cooling; during the period AD 1971?2000, the area-weighted average reconstructed temperature was higher than any other time in nearly 1,400 years. Fil: Ahmed, Moinuddin. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology. Department of Botany; Pakistán Fil: Anchukaitis, Kevin J.. Columbia University. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Estados Unidos Fil: Asrat, Asfawossen . Addis Ababa University. School of Earth Sciences; Etiopía Fil: Borgaonkar, Hemant P.. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology; India Fil: Braida, Martina . University of Trieste. Dipartimento di Matematica e Geoscienze; Italia Fil: Buckley, Brendan M. . Columbia University. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: Ulf Büntgen. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL; Suiza Fil: Chase, Brian M.. Université Montpellier. Département Paléoenvironnements et Paléoclimats (PAL); Francia. University of Bergen. Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion; Noruega Fil: Christie, Duncan A. . Universidad Austral de Chile. Laboratorio de Dendrocronología y Cambio Global; Chile. Universidad de Chile. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile Fil: Cook, Edward R.. Columbia University. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Argentina Fil: Curran, Mark A. J.. Australian Antarctic Division; Australia. University of Tasmania. Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre; Australia Fil: Diaz, Henry F. . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, ; Estados Unidos Fil: Esper, Jan. Johannes Gutenberg University. Department of Geography,; Alemania Fil: Fan, Ze-Xin . Chinese Academy of Sciences. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden ; China Fil: Gaire, Narayan P. . Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. Faculty of Science,; Nepal Fil: Ge, Quansheng. Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, ; China Fil: Gergis, Joëlle. University of Melbourne. School of Earth Sciences; Australia Fil: González-Rouco, J Fidel. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento Astrofísica y CC de la Atmósfera; España Fil: Goosse, Hugues. Université Catholique de Louvain. LemaitreCenter for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute; Bélgica Fil: Grab, Stefan W. . University of the Witwatersrand. School of Geography,Archaeology and Environmental Studies; Sudáfrica Fil: Graham, Nicholas. Hydrologic Research Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Graham, Rochelle . Hydrologic Research Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Grosjean, Martin . University of Bern. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research & Institute of Geography; Suiza Fil: Hanhijärvi, Sami T.. University of Helsinki. Department of Environmental Sciences; Finlandia Fil: Kaufman, Darrell S.. Northern Arizona University. School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability; Estados Unidos Fil: Kiefer, Thorsten . International Project Office, Past Global Changes (PAGES); Suiza Fil: Kimura, Katsuhiko. Fukushima University. Department of Symbiotic System Science; Japón Fil: Korhola, Atte A.. University of Helsinki. Department of Environmental Sciences; Finlandia Fil: Krusic, Paul J.. Stockholm University. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology; Suecia Fil: Lara, Antonio. Universidad Austral de Chile. Laboratorio de Dendrocronología y Cambio Global; Chile. Universidad de Chile. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile Fil: Lézine, Anne-Marie. Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climat: Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN); Francia Fil: Ljungqvist, Fredrik C.. Stockholm University. Department of History, ; Suecia Fil: Lorrey, Andrew M.. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd., National Climate Centre Auckland; Nueva Zelanda Fil: Luterbacher, Jürg. Justus Liebig University. Department of Geography, Climatology, Climate Dynamics and Climate Change; Alemania Fil: Masson-Delmotte, Valérie . Laboratoire des Science du Climat et de l’Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette; Francia Fil: McCarroll, Danny. Swansea University. Department of Geography; Reino Unido Fil: McConnell, Joseph R.. Nevada System of Higher Education. Desert Research Institute; Estados Unidos Fil: McKay, Nicholas P.. Northern Arizona University. School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability; Estados Unidos Fil: Morales, Mariano Santos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Moy, Andrew D.. Australian Antarctic Division; Australia. University of Tasmania. Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre; Australia Fil: Mulvaney, Robert. British Antarctic Survey; Reino Unido Fil: Mundo, Ignacio Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Nakatsuka, Takeshi. Nagoya University. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Japón Fil: Nash, David J.. University of the Witwatersrand. School of Geography,Archaeology and Environmental Studies; Sudáfrica. University of Brighton. School of Environment and Technology; Reino Unido Fil: Neukom, Raphael . Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL; Suiza Fil: Nicholson, Sharon E.. Florida State University. Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, ; Estados Unidos Fil: Oerter, Hans. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association. Department of Glaciology; Alemania Fil: Palmer, Jonathan G.. University of Exeter. College of Life and Environmental Sciences; Reino Unido. University of New South Wales. Climate Change Research Centre; Australia Fil: Phipps, Steven J.. University of New South Wales. Climate Change Research Centre; Australia. University of New South Wales. ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science; Australia Fil: Prieto, Maria del Rosario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Rivera, Andres. Centro de Estudios Cientificos; Chile Fil: Sano, Masaki. Nagoya University. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Japón Fil: Severi, Mirko. University of Florence. Department of Chemistry ‘Ugo Schiff’; Italia Fil: Shanahan, Timothy M.. University of Texas at Austin. Jackson School of Geosciences; Estados Unidos Fil: Shao, Xuemei. Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research; China Fil: Shi, Feng. Chinese Academy of Sciences. LASG, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, ; China Fil: Sigl, Michael . Nevada System of Higher Education. Desert Research Institute,; Estados Unidos Fil: Smerdon, Jason E.. Columbia University. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; Estados Unidos Fil: Solomina, Olga N. . Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Geography; Rusia Fil: Steig, Eric J.. University of Washington. Department of Earth and Space Sciences; Estados Unidos Fil: Stenni, Barbara. University of Trieste. Dipartimento di Matematica e Geoscienze; Italia Fil: Thamban, Meloth. National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research; India Fil: Trouet, Valerie. University of Arizona. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Turney, Chris S.M.. University of New South Wales. Climate Change Research Centre; Australia Fil: Umer, Mohammed. Addis Ababa University. School of Earth Sciences; Etiopía Fil: van Ommen, Tas. Australian Antarctic Division; Australia. University of Tasmania. Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre; Australia Fil: Verschuren, Dirk. Ghent University. Department of Biology; Bélgica Fil: Viau, Andre E.. University of Ottawa. Department of Geography; Canadá Fil: Villalba, Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Vinther, Bo M.. University of Copenhagen. Niels Bohr Institute; Dinamarca Fil: von Gunten, Lucien . Past Global Changes (PAGES). International Project Office, ; Suiza Fil: Wagner, Sebastian. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht. Institute for Coastal Research; Alemania Fil: Wahl, Eugene R.. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. National Climatic Data Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Wanner, Heinz. University of Bern. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research & Institute of Geography; Suiza Fil: Werner, Johannes P.. Justus Liebig University. Department of Geography, Climatology, Climate Dynamics and Climate Change; Alemania Fil: White, James W.C.. University of Colorado. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Yasue, Koh. Shinshu University. Department of Forest Science; Japón Fil: Zorita, Eduardo. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht. Institute for Coastal Research; Alemania

To record the incidence of vascular complications in cases of acute pancreatitis.This retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed at the Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, from October 31, 2012 to October 31, 2014, and comprised computerised records and computerised tomography scan images related to cases of pancreatitis.Of the 210 patients included, 97(46.19%) were men and 113(53.81%) were women. A total of 24(11.4%) patients had thrombosis of splanchnic vasculature, of which the most frequently thrombosed vessel was the splenic vein, in 17(70.8%) patients; followed by the portal vein, 11(45.8%); and the superior mesenteric vein,4(16.7%).The incidence of vascular thrombosis was low, but not uncommon in patients of severe acute pancreatitis.

In this study vegetation composition of understorey species of Malam Jabba forest is evaluated by multivariate analysis. Thirteen stands were quantitatively sampled by point centered quarter method. Environmental variables were recorded and correlate them with vegetation characteristic. In 13 stands 49 understory species were recorded. Multivariate techniques were employed to assess the vegetation groups and underlying group structure. Agglomerative Cluster analysis (Ward’s method) discloses four main groups of vegetation while Principle Component Analysis (PCA) clearly ordinate these groups on all three axes. The most common species distributed in all four groups were Adiantum capillus veneris, Adiantum venestum , Berberis lyceum, Chrysopogon aucheri, Oxalis corniculata, Pteris cretica and Trifolium repens while these species were observed in three groups i.e. Punica granatum and Plantago amplexicaulis. The Group 1 comprises on 23 species and the dominant species were Androsace rotundifolia, Aristida cynantha, Berberis lyceum, Dryopteris filix, Oxalis corniculata, Pteris cretica and Trifolium repens while Group 2 comprises on 18 species, the dominant were Pteris cretica, Adiantum venestum , Duchesnea indica while some other species included, Berberis lyceum, Chrysopogon aucheri, Chrysopogon aucheri, Dryopteris juxtapostia and Morus alba. Group 3 & 4 comprises 31 species each, in which 18 species were common i.e. Adiantum capillus veneris, Adiantum venustum, Arisaema jacquemontii , Berberis lyceum, Chrysopogon aucheri, Dryopteris filix, Dryopteris juxtapostia, Duchesnea indica, Oxalis corniculata, Plantago amplexicaulis, Polygala erioptera, Prunus avium, Pteris cretica, Punica granatum, Ranunculus muricatus, Rosa macrophylla, Trifolium fragiferum and Trifolium repens . Among the environmental variables elevation and slope played an overriding role in the distribution of vegetation. The relationships between the six PCA ordination axes with environmental factors generally showed few significant relations, only axis 2 showed marked relationship with all edaphic variables (except pH), suggesting that the edaphic gradient has an overriding role in the composition and distribution of understorey vegetation. Some other environmental factors showed weak correlations with ordination axes, it could be spurious correlation. Malam Jabba forests are highly disturbed due to civil war and anthropogenic causes. Slope of the forests prove to be an overriding role in the distribution of vegetation as evaluated by analysis of variance.

Korean Abstract: 2016 전략지역 심층연구 논문집은 신흥지역에 대한 국내연구를 활성화하기 위해 대외경제정책연구원 (KIEP)이 수행한 2016년 ‛전략지역 심층연구 사업’의 일환으로 발간되었습니다. 본 논문집에는 동남아시아 및 인도ㆍ남아시아 지역에 대한 이해의 폭을 넓히고 인식의 지평을 확대하는 데 기여하는 정치, 경제, 사회, 문화에 대한 8편의 논문이 수록되어 있습니다. English Abstract: The study was published as part of the 'Strategic Research Projects in 2016, conducted by the Institute for International Economic Policy Studies (KIEP) to boost domestic research. This paper covers eight articles on politics, economy, society and culture that contribute to broaden the horizons of perceptions and awareness about Southeast Asia and India-South Asia.

Steady and transient two-dimensional thin jet flow of a Newtonian fluid is examined numerically. The influence of inertia and gravity is emphasized. The fluid is assumed to emerge from a vertical channel, driven by a pressure gradient and/or gravity. The boundary layer equations are assumed for the thin film. In contrast to the commonly used depth-averaging solution method, the strong nonlinearities are preserved in the present formulation as the boundary layer equations are solved by expanding the flow field in terms of orthonormal shape functions in the transverse direction to the jet. It is found that the initial conditions strongly determine the stability of the film, which for all transient cases examined, were shown to be stable despite the presence of initial instabilities.

This paper presents the fabrication and measured performance of temperature sensors embedded in flexible polyimide substrates. The sensing material used for the temperature sensor was undoped amorphous silicon which was fabricated on a 35-m-thick layer of polyimide that serves as the flexible substrate. Another flexible polyimide superstrate layer of 35-40 m was spin-coated on top of the sensors to make sure the temperature sensors lie on a zero stress plane. The temperature coefficient of resistance was measured over the temperature range of 200- 360 K. The maximum temperature coefficient of resistance at 30 C was measured to be 0.0288 K-1. The effect of the flicker noise and voltage dependence of the voltage noise power spectral density exhibited by the sensor was evaluated. The normalized flicker noise coefficient was found to be 1.2 × 10-11.

This study reports on the multivariate analysis of the vegetation of Hindukush Range in Pakistan, concentrating on the structure and regeneration potential of Monotheca buxifolia and associated tree species. Twenty stands at different locations in the Dir District of the Hindukush Range in Pakistan were chosen for the study. A point centered quarter method for trees and 5m × 5m size quadrats were used for the sampling of understorey vegetation, including shrubs, seedlings, and saplings, respectively. The underlying group structure in vegetation was exposed by an agglomerative clustering technique, while major trends were disclosed by DCA ordination. Size class structure and regeneration potential of M. buxifolia and associated tree species were also examined, which reflects the future trend of species and, consequently, the forests where they dominate. The relationships between environmental factors and vegetation were investigated. The arboreal vegetation was mostly dominated by broad leaved species including Monotheca buxifolia, Olea ferruginea, Acacia modesta, Punica granatum, Quercus baloot, and Ficus palmata. Among the understorey vegetation, the abundant species were Dodonea viscosa, Justicia adhatoda, Otostegia limbata, Indigofera gerardiana, Plantago lanceolata, Rumex dentatus, Marrubium vulgaris, Fragaria nubicola, Geranium rotundifolium, Daphne oleoides, Solanum nigram, Ajuga bracteosa, Oxalis corniculata seedlings of Monotheca buxifolia, Quercus baloot, and Punica granatum. At the seedling and sapling stage, the maximum number was observed for Monotheca buxifolia (27±5.75 and 38±7.1), followed by Quercus baloot (18±2.2 and 12±1.0) and Olea ferruginea. As far as regeneration status is concerned, 34% species showed good regeneration, 50% species were facing the problem of poor regeneration while, and only 16% species were not regenerating. Five groups of tree vegetation that emerged from Ward’s cluster analysis could readily be superimposed on DCA ordination. These groups were associated with particular elevation and, to a lesser extent, with edaphic variables, such as pH and nutrients. Some of the topographic and edaphic variables, such as soil nutrient, showed significant or weak linear relationships with one or more ordination axes. The size class structure of M. buxifolia and associated tree species for individual stands exhibited a few gaps. Relationships between density and basal area were significant, but the density and basal area with altitudinal and slope gradient showed an insignificant relation. Some recommendations are outlined for future research and sustainable management of these forests species.

A collection of 28 tree-ring chronologies from six different species located in northern Pakistan were evaluated in terms of their potential for dendroclimatic reconstructions. 15 of the sites are new while the remaining 13 (all Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb.) have been reported earlier. Several species had trees attaining ages of around 700 years (Cedrus deodara (D. Don) G. Don, Pinus gerardiana Wall. ex D. Don., Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks and Picea smithiana (Wall.) Boiss.) but the juniper was clearly the oldest with some trees greater than 1000 years. Correlations between the site chronologies declined with increasing separation distance. This was consistently seen both between sites of the same species and between sites composed of different species. This led to a situation where a much stronger correlation occurred between two different species growing at the same site than between sites of the same species but separated by as little as 0.5 km. Such results highlight the obvious strong elevational gradients present in this mountainous region (where some elevations are over 7000 m). They also lend support to the practice of multi-species combinations for better spatial and temporal coverage. The best prospects for this appear to be C. deodara and P. gerardiana and are consistent with studies from neighbouring India. The comparison to 0.5 ◦ gridded climate data was strongest from the same two species though P. smithiana at one site was also highly significant. A general climate correlation pattern from all species was evident that starts with a strong negative relationship to temperature in the previous October, then turns towards positive during winter, before again becoming significantly negative by the current May. The previous October signal is thought to be a lag effect where hot temperatures (and low soil-moisture) stress the trees, thereby reducing reserves available for the following spring. Similarly, hot temperatures in late spring (May) lead to greater soil moisture losses and tree transpiration costs. Conversely, there is an extended strong positive precipitation correlation from late winter to spring (January–May). This ends abruptly and there is no evidence of a summer (June–September) monsoon signal seen in the rainfall correlation functions.

Objective: To determine the opinion of clinicians about using an automated online tool for instant detection of drug interactions. Material and methods: This descriptive type of prospective cross-sectional study was carried out among the general physicians and specialists involved in various hospitals in Dhaka from September to November 2017. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire comprising of both closed and open ended questions was used. After taking informed consent, they voluntarily participated in the study. Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2003 and results were expressed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages. Some questions had multiple options, therefore, the sum of percentage is not always 100%. Results: Among a total of 50 participants, most of them (52%) could not recall the correct definition of drug interaction, though 60% know its types. Only 36% know drug interactions can produce adverse effects. Most (46%) were not sure about common drug interactions occurring in all specialities. Fiftysix percent report patients with polypharmacy suffer maximum from drug interactions, followed by elderly and children, revealed by 28% and 24%, respectively. Majority (60%) stated steroids produce maximum drug interactions among all drug groups, followed by 48% and 18% who revealed antibiotics and beta blockers are also responsible. Fifty percent followed by 30% and 20% reported hypertension, diabetes mellitus and bronchial asthma are the disease conditions where drug interactions occur commonly. Seventyfour percent find searching information on drug interaction while prescribing is time consuming from various sources. Simultaneously, 54% think an online drug interaction checker can be an instant easy option, while 50% state it can also prevent drug interactions. Generic name of drugs, common adverse effects, dose and type of drug interaction were opted to be included in the checker by 58%, 62%, 40% and 38%, respectively. More than half (58%), think outdoor patients will be benefitted most. Majority (54%) prefer online checker to be presented in both English and Bangla language. Fifty percent encounter drug interactions every six months, of moderate intensity by 62%. Fourty percent always give priority to drug interactions while prescribing. Sixty percent depend on drug leaflets for drug interaction information while prescribing, followed by 44% on drug reference books and 34% recall from previous knowledge. Only 24% always check drug interaction information while prescribing. Fiftyfour percent find available information inadequate to avoid drug interaction. Maximum (84%) previously did not use any online checker. Conclusion: Online drug databases can reduce the time for information procurement, ease decision making while prescribing, improve prescribing potential and prevent drug related adverse events.

The use of aqueous saturated sodium salicylate for the extraction of tar acids from a low-temperature tar fraction is discussed. Solubility and equilibrium data for the system (neutral oil-tar acids-aqueous sodium salicylate) when plotted on a ternary diagram showed 2 types of curves: an ordinary bite type and another a loop containing solid and liquid phases. The tie-line data agree with most of the empirical relationships reported in the literature. The plait point for the system had a tar- acid concentration of 47%. The results have been compared with the earlier data for the system: phenol-phi- methylnaphthalene-aqueous sodium salicylate. (12 refs.)

α-BaO.Al2O3.4H2O has been synthesised and studied by infrared, X-ray and thermal analytical techniques. The compound of approximate formula BaO.Al2O3.0.5H2O, described in Part III, forms as a dehydration product, and appears to be identical with the compound β-BAH2 described by other workers. A possible explanation for the discrepancy in water content is discussed.

The compound 2BaO.Al2O3.5H2O has been synthesised and studied by infra-red, X-ray and thermal analytical techniques. The compound of approximate formula 2BaO.Al2O3.H2O forms as a dehydration product. The results are interpreted in terms of the known structure.

A new compound of formula 2BaO·Al2O3·2H2O has been synthesised and studied by infra-red, X-ray and thermal analytical techniques. This hydrate yielded another crystalline product, 2BaO·Al2O3, during dehydration.