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This study was undertaken with a view to examine the patterns and prevalence of informal language in social sciences PhD dissertations in Pakistan. Formality in academic writing is essential for intelligibility. It eliminates any room for the author's personal idiosyncrasies. Due to their systematic and formal structure, PhD dissertations are expected to adhere to the scholarly conventions and stylistic norms of the academic community. It explored a corpus of 15 most recent PhD dissertations from three social sciences disciplines. The dataset was taken from the disciplines that produced the highest number of PhD degrees in the past five years. The study employed the classification of informality proposed by Chang and Swales (1999), further modified by Hyland and Jiang (2017). The aim of the study was to identify deviations from these conventional norms and to explore various features of informality within the selected sample. Qualitative content analysis method was used for an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon. Markin Software 4 utilized for annotating the identified features of informality. The findings revealed that unattended anaphoric references were the most recurrent informal feature. These were followed by listing expressions and conjunctive adverbs/sentence-initial conjunctions. These findings show that actual linguistic practices contrast with conventional academic expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy utilization is a significant aspect of the manufacturing industrial processes, and inefficient transferring of heat is one of the disadvantages which can affect the quality measures of end product. Therefore, by controlling the heat transferring rate, the efficiency of manufacturing processes can be improved. Thus, the variable thermal relaxation time factor in the theory of Cattaneo-Christov is main concern of this analysis. The non-isothermal flow by means of a porous medium is modeled and analyzed for a viscous fluid. The fluid deformation is discussed under stretching mechanism. A study is also executed to interrogate the heat transfer features under the heat flux model of Cattaneo-Christov. Thermal relaxation time is also considered which is determined by temperature. The aspect of thermal stratification is also implemented to see the modifications in temperature. The flow and energy equations are reduced by appropriate variables. The reduced constitutive flow equations are then computed using an analytical convergent technique. The significant impacts of the numerous parameters on the flow field and heat transport features are evaluated in detail through various plots. Skin friction coefficient is evaluated mathematically. Results found that the temperature significantly decreases with increased stratification effects. For larger thermal relaxation time parameter, the temperature function shows increasing behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is a destructive pest of tomato crops. The cryptic nature of larvae often leads to low control efficacy. Sterile insect technique (SIT) has the potential to be an alternative management option for T. absoluta. In this study, the optimal dose for T. absoluta sterility was determined by estimating the effect of gamma radiation on parental generation (F0) and their descendants (first and second generation, F1 and F2). Adult emergence was not affected when T. absoluta pupae were exposed to gamma radiation at doses of 100~400 Gy. However, increasing doses of radiation increased deformed individuals and shortened their longevity. Furthermore, as the dose increased, F0 females showed decreased fecundity and fertility, and they were completely sterile when exposed to 300 Gy. The survival and sex ratio of females declined significantly in F1 of irradiated males with increasing doses. Moreover, we found that 300 Gy of gamma radiation did not affect the mating competitiveness of F0 males. Interestingly, this treatment caused a considerable reduction in the number of descendants and caused inherited sterility in F1 by lowering their fecundity and fertility. Therefore, the optimal radiation dose was 300 Gy, and the release of sterile adults may suppress T. absoluta population growth in the field. Our findings provide basis for controlling T. absoluta through SIT programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is considered one of the most economically important invasive pests that causes severe damage to tomato crops. The biopesticide spinosad is widely used for controlling T. absoluta. This study aimed to investigate the spinosad-induced intergenerational sublethal effects on T. absoluta. Results showed that spinosad exhibited high toxicity against 3rd instar T. absoluta with the LC50 of 0.04 mg L-1 after 72 h exposure. The LC10 and LC30 of spinosad significantly decreased the durations of various developmental stages and some reproductive parameters of parental (F0) T. absoluta compared to control. The developmental durations, survival rate, reproduction and life table parameters (intrinsic rate of increase, r; finite rate of increase, r; net reproductive rate, R0; and oviposition days, Od) were significantly decreased in the progeny generations (F1 and F2) following F0 exposure to the LC10 and LC30 of spinosad as compared to the control group. Additionally, the mRNA expression levels of development and reproduction related genes such as Vg, VgR, and JHBP were down-regulated in parental and progeny generations at both spinosad treatments as compared to control treatment. The resistance related cytochrome P450 genes CYP321C40 and CYP6AW1, followed by CYP4M116, CYP9A307v2, CYP15C1, CYP339A1, and CYP6AB327 were up-regulated at spinosad-treated groups in the parental and progeny generations of T. absoluta as compared to control. Overall, these results showed that although spinosad exhibited high toxicity and induces intergenerational sublethal effects on the parental and progeny generations, the indiscriminate and long-term application might causes resistance development in of T. absoluta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]