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Drought is one of the most severe natural disasters. It negatively influences the crop output considerably as water resources are inadequate across large geographic areas. Food insecurity, hunger, and poverty are widespread in three Pakistani provinces: Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh. Until March/April 2022, roughly 4.66 million people, or 25% of the population examined, were severely food insecure. Historically, the severity of a drought is evaluated using several different indicators, with the selection of indices depending on the data that is easily accessible. By multiple aspects, including potential evapotranspiration and rainfall data on a standard timescale and computing monthly, seasonal, or annual data, the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) has a significant advantage over the other indices in determining drought severity. When rainfall in a region is significantly lower than the amount of potential evapotranspiration, drought situations can occur on the earth. Rainfall will often occur in locations with an increase in the relative humidity of the air. The reconnaissance drought index (RDI) for Khyber Pakhtaunkhawa province in Pakistan was calculated from 1981 to 2020 for 3-, 6-, and 12-month timeframes. This research employed rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature data from KPK province to describe drought using the DrinC program, the Man Kendall test, and Sen's slope calculator to determine drought patterns and variation. All regions had moderate, severe, and extreme droughts, with RDIs between -1.0 and -3.5. RDI 3-, 6-, and 12-month evaluations highlighted 1991, 1994, 2000, 2010, 2015, and 2017. These results indicate that productivity declines in dry and subsequent years due to seasonal rainfall and soil moisture retention.Wheat production averaged 1.7 tones ha-1 year-1, with significant variations. Between October and December, it is an essential to have favorable growing conditions to increase productivity. If droughts occur in this era, the yield will be substantially more negatively impacted than if they occur later in the growing cycle. The 3-month RDI values offer a more accurate description of this variation than the six-month and twelve-months RDI Values. Geospatial drought analysis indicates a considerable variance in drought patterns across the Kpk province over the last 4 decades. Because long-term droughts sometimes affect water quality, especially groundwater, a rise in the intensity of long-term droughts could pose a risk to the water management in the regions that have been examined. Analysis of the Landsat TM 30 m data took place. At the same time, Landsat imageries were utilized to generate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) for drought evaluation. The findings of the NDWI indicate an increase in value from 0.58 to 0.7 for the KPK region.

Abstract Three hundred and twenty day old Hubbard broilers were randomly allocated to four treatments (8 replicates, 10 birds/pen) and were raised under standard management conditions. Birds in the first group served as control and were fed a corn based diet, while birds in the remaining three groups i.e.; A, B and C were fed with a basal diet supplemented with copper nanoparticles (CuNP) at 5, 10 and 15 mg /kg of diet respectively for 35 days. Supplementation of CuNP linearly increased (P≤0.05) body weight (BW), average daily weight gain (ADWG) and feed intake (FI) in broilers. Uric acid, glucose levels in blood and feed conversion ratio (FCR) reduced linearly (P≤0.05) with CuNP supplementation in diet. Supplementation of CuNP in the diet also linearly increased (P≤0.05) tibia weight, length, diameter, weight/length index (W/L) and Tibiotarsal index (TT index). Inclusion of CuNP in broilers diet linearly increased the measured parameters of muscle i.e.; pH, fiber diameter, fiber cross-sectional area, fascicle diameter, fascicle cross-sectional area (P≤0.05). Concentration of copper, iron, calcium and phosphorous in blood also increased line-arly (P ≤ 0.05) with CuNP supplementation. Overall, CuNP positively affected the growth performance, histological characteristics of muscles, bone strength and serum metabolites in broilers.

Abstract The focal plane camera is the core component of the Wide Field-of-view Cherenkov/fluorescence Telescope Array (WFCTA) of the Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Because of the capability of working under moonlight without aging, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) have been proven to be not only an alternative but also an improvement to conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMT) in this application. Eighteen SiPM-based cameras with square light funnels have been built for WFCTA. The telescopes have collected more than 100 million cosmic ray events and preliminary results indicate that these cameras are capable of working under moonlight. The characteristics of the light funnels and SiPMs pose challenges (e.g. dynamic range, dark count rate, assembly techniques). In this paper, we present the design features, manufacturing techniques and performances of these cameras. Finally, the test facilities, the test methods and results of SiPMs in the cameras are reported here.

Abstract Poultry industry is amongst highly developed industries of Pakistan, fulfilling the protein demand of rapidly increasing population. On the other hand, the untreated poultry waste is causing several health and environmental problems. The current study was designed to check the potential of keratinolytic fungal species for the conversion of chicken-feather waste into biofortified compost. For the purpose, three fungal species were isolated from soil samples. These strains were pure cultured and then characterized phenotypically and genotypically. BLAST searches of 18S rDNA nucleotide sequence of the fungal isolates revealed that the two fungal isolates belonged to genus Aspergillus and one belonged to genus Chrysosporium. Optimum temperature for Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Chrysosporium queenslandicum was 29, 26 and 25 oC, respectively. A. flavus showed maximum (53%) feather degradation, A. niger degraded feather waste up to 37%, while C. queenslandicum showed 21% keratinolytic activity on chicken feathers at their respective temperature optima. The degradation potential of these fungal species showed their ability to form compost that has agro-industrial importance.

This research analyzed and compared administrators' supervisory and teachers' pedagogical skills concerning quality education in Public and Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools at the secondary level, in line with the Vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025 (Minimum Standards for Quality Education in Pakistan, 2016). The research employed a descriptive method and adopted a quantitative approach. For this study, 248 head teachers were selected from public schools and 126 from Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools via simple random sampling, making a total sample of 374 respondents. Data were collected using a five-response Likert scale and analyzed with SPSS, including mean, standard deviation, t-test, and f-test to assess the difference between administrators' supervisory and teachers' pedagogical skills towards quality education in both school types. The study concluded that administrators in public secondary schools exhibited better academic and professional qualifications and that both administrators' supervision and teachers' pedagogical skills were superior in public schools. Additionally, public schools were more aligned with the Minimum Quality Standards for Schooling to meet the vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025 for quality education compared to Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools. It is recommended that the heads of Punjab Education Foundation-funded schools enhance their supervisory skills, while teachers should improve their pedagogical skills to align with the vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025.

The current study examined the psychometric properties and correlates of three measures assessing individual differences in mattering among people from Palestine assessed in January, 2024. This study uniquely considers mattering as a resource and feelings of not mattering as a risk factor among people experiencing traumatizing life circumstances. Our sample consisted of 950 Palestinian adults (305 men and 645 women). They completed the General Mattering Scale, the Anti-Mattering Scale, the Fear of Not Mattering Inventory, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Extensive psychometric tests supported these measures as each having one factor with adequate reliability and validity. Examination of means indicated significantly elevated levels of fear of not mattering, anxiety, depression, and stress. Regression analyses further established that each measure predicted significant unique variance in anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings attest to the further use of these measures and how feelings of mattering can be vital resource as the need for resilience and adaptability escalates due to traumatizing events.

This meta-analysis examined whether motivation mediated the relationship between self-efficacy, locus of control, and academic achievement. Thirty-seven studies providing correlation estimates for 40 different samples were included in the analysis. The data from these studies were fitted to three models using a two-stage structural equation modelling method. In stage 1, a total correlation matrix was created by combining the correlations. In stage 2, this matrix was used for examining the models. First, a proposed model was fitted to examine the effect of self-efficacy and locus of control on achievement through motivation. Second, an alternative model was tested by drawing a direct line from self-efficacy to achievement. Third, another model was tested by examining the mediating role of motivation between self-efficacy and achievement. The analyses suggested that academic achievement significantly correlates with self-efficacy (r=0.218) and motivation (r=0.237). Motivation significantly correlates with self-efficacy (r=0.415) and locus of control (r=0.216). However, locus of control does not correlate with self-efficacy and achievement (p>0.05). Self-efficacy and locus of control positively influence motivation. Self-efficacy influences achievement both directly and indirectly through motivation. The findings provide a general overview of how these variables correlate and affect student achievement.