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Sentiment Analysis is a technique that is being used abundantly nowadays for customer reviews analysis, popularity analysis of electoral candidates, hate speech detection and similar applications. Sentiment analysis on tweets encounters challenges such as highly skewed classes, high dimensional feature vectors and highly sparse data. In this study, we have analyzed the improvement achieved by successively addressing these problems in order to determine their severity for sentiment analysis of tweets. Firstly, we prepared a comprehensive data set consisting of Urdu Tweets for sentiment analysis-based hate speech detection. To improve the performance of the sentiment classifier, we employed dynamic stop words filtering, Variable Global Feature Selection Scheme (VGFSS) and Synthetic Minority Optimization Technique (SMOTE) to handle the sparsity, dimensionality and class imbalance problems respectively. We used two machine learning algorithms i.e., Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Multinomial Naïve Bayes’ (MNB) for investigating performance in our experiments. Our results show that addressing class skew along with alleviating the high dimensionality problem brings about the maximum improvement in the overall performance of the sentiment analysis-based hate speech detection.

Background: The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency remains high in cystic fibrosis despite daily supplementation. Vitamin D as an immunomodulator has been related to lower respiratory tract infections in children. The present study was undertaken to examine the association between vitamin D status and markers of cystic fibrosis-related pulmonary disease including exacerbations, bacterial colonization and pulmonary function. Methods: The study includes review of records of 51 cystic fibrosis patients. Baseline patient variables and serum vitamin D levels were recorded. Based on vitamin D levels study patients were divided into three groups: vitamin-D sufficient (≥20 ng/mL), vitamin-D insufficient (12 to 20 ng/mL), and vitamin D-deficient (≤12 ng/ml). Results: The proportion of children with deficient, insufficient and sufficient vitamin D levels were 47.1%, 15.7%, and 37.2%, respectively. Female sex, bacterial colonization and a greater number of exacerbations were associated with highest odds of developing vitamin D deficiency in patients with CF with 1.77 (0.22–4.61) (p = 0.002), 2.9(0.57−14.82) (p = 0.011), and 5.12 (1.28−20.50) (p = 0.021) respectively. The comparison of vitamin-D levels taken during exacerbations, colonization and during routine follow-up were significant [16.04 (7.42−27.91), 24.3 (15.5−32.4) and 48.54 (18.37−78.7) ng/ml, p

Crop phosphorus (P) deficiency and poor utilization of added P is a major agricultural problem due to reduced solubility of soil P and rapid fixation or precipitation of applied P fertilizer in alkaline and calcareous soils. The effects of P-enriched compost and single superphosphate (SSP) fertilization on maize and wheat yields and P use efficiency in a maize–wheat rotation system were studied for three years. On a three-year average, grain yields of maize and wheat after application of P-enriched compost were increased by 18% and 24%, respectively, in comparison with sole addition of a recommended dose of SSP fertilizer. P-enriched compost addition to soil increased maize and wheat yields by 12% and 17%, respectively, compared to P fertilizer plus FYM incorporation. Soil available P concentration and P uptake were affected significantly by the addition of P-enriched compost. On average, increases in P recovery, use efficiency, and agronomic efficiency of 52%, 18%, and 43% were recorded in maize and increases of 50%, 23%, and 49% in wheat. P-enriched compost application yielded 30% and 32% higher economic returns in maize and wheat than SSP fertilization alone. Keywords: P-enriched compost, Maize, Wheat, Farmyard manure, P-uptake

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is a major world health problem It is one of the main causes of cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). HCV-related end stage liver disease is the leading reason for liver transplantation in the USA. The introduction of routine screening of blood, blood products and organ tissues has reduced transmission in advanced economies. Unfortunately this is not the case in developing economies where poor screening, unreliable blood screening tools, careless attitude of the laboratory personnel and poor economic status of the patient all contribute to the unabated incidence of new cases

The architecture of the turbidity current sediment waves exhibits intricate morphologies and patterns on the Indus Fan channel levee backslope. The sediment waves are present on the channel levee of Plio-Pleistocene age and are absent in the deeper sections of the study area. The architecture of channel levee backslope on the Indus Fan is poorly understood. We used seismic interpretation techniques and modelling by utilizing high-resolution seismic data to approach this problem. The morphological variations in wavelength, crest dimensions and potential wave formation patterns suggest the autogenic and allogenic processes associated with wave development. Wavelengths reach up to 1473 m with an average of 486.84 m and the height of the levee ranges between 10 m and 60 m (average 30 m). The angle of the channel levee and dimension of the sediment wave here are independent of each other. Low angle levees have accommodated high dimension sediment waves and vice versa at multiple points downslope. Characteristically, the waves have formed on the outer levee (usually left) of the channels marked by steep margins suggesting that flow overspill caused the development of the waves. Generally, the younger sediment waves followed the patterns of older sediment waves, but the varying trends are often observed in the study area. The patterns of the sediment waves towards the younger sections of the levee indicate the modified and varying architectural style of growth. Sediment waves are generated by downslope turbidity currents. However, the deformation features have also possibly triggered the development of sediment waves.

Fickian and non-Fickian behaviors were often detected for contaminant transport activity owed to the preferential flow and heterogeneity of soil media. Therefore, using diverse methods to measure such composite solute transport in soil media has become an important research topic for solute transport modeling in soil media. In this article, the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) model was applied to illustrate the relative concentration of transport in low-permeability homogeneous and saturated soil media. The solute transport development was also demonstrated with the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) and Two Region Model (TRM) for comparison. CXTFIT 2.1 software was used for CDE and TRM, and CTRW Matlab Toolbox v.3.1 for the CTRW simulation of the breakthrough curve. It was found that higher values of determination coefficient (R2) and lower values of root mean square error (RMSE) concerning the best fits of CDE, TRM, and CTRW. It was found that in the comparison of CDE, TRM, and CTRW, we tend to use CTRW to describe the transport behavior well because there are prevailing Fickian and non-Fickian transport. The CTRW gives better fitting results to the breakthrough curves (BTCs) when β has an increasing pattern towards 2.00. In this study, the variation of parameters in three methods was investigated and results showed that the CTRW modeling approach is more effective to determine non-reactive contaminants concentration in low-permeability soil media at small depths.

Oilseed crops play a vital role in the economy of Pakistan, yet the production of oilseeds is far less than the demand for them. White mustard (Sinapis alba L.) is an emerging crop, that belongs to the Brassicaceae family. It is considered to be an alternative to all other oilseed crops for dry temperate climates. White mustard develops rapidly, and has a large canopy and deep rooting system; hence, it can draw up nutrients from deeper layers. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of nitrogen on S. alba agro-morphological attributes and enhance nutrient use efficiencies. During the Rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21, an experiment was conducted at the University Research Farm, Chakwal Road, Rawalpindi. The study included seven treatments, i.e., T1-Control, T2-20, T3-40, T4-60, T5-80, T6-100, and T7-120 kg·ha−1. Each treatment was replicated three times, and the study utilized a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The results revealed that nitrogen at 100 kg·ha−1 was the optimal concentration and significantly increased the agro-morphological parameters, i.e., plant height (47.01%), primary branches (41.36%), secondary branches (45.33%), 1000 seed weight (54.35%), siliques/plant (41.57%), seeds/silique (52.30%) biological yield (68.38%), seed yield (54.90%), harvest index (11%), and oil yield (38.84%), as compared to the control. Moreover, protein contents and oil contents were significantly increased (5.15% and 6%, respectively), as compared to the control, while glucosinolate content was decreased (4.36%). Similarly, maximum agronomic efficiency (AE), apparent recovery efficiency (ARE) (53%), physiological efficiency (PE), and nutrient use efficiency (NUE) were also improved, as compared to the control. Hence, N application at a concentration of 100 kg·ha−1 can be recommended for S. alba under the present cropping system of Pothwar.

In the present study, SeNPs were synthesized using Melia azedarach leaf extracts and investigated for growth promotion in wheat under the biotic stress of spot blotch disease. The phytosynthesized SeNPs were characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The in vitro efficacy of different concentrations of phytosynthesized SeNPs (i.e., 100 μg/mL, 150 μg/mL, 200 μg/mL, 250 μg/mL, and 300 μg/mL) was evaluated using the well diffusion method, which reported that 300 μg/mL showed maximum fungus growth inhibition. For in vivo study, different concentrations (10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L) of SeNPs were applied exogenously to evaluate the morphological, physiological, and biochemical parameters under control conditions and determine when infection was induced. Among all treatments, 30 mg/L of SeNPs performed well and increased the plant height by 2.34% compared to the control and 30.7% more than fungus-inoculated wheat. Similarly, fresh plant weight and dry weight increased by 17.35% and 13.43% over the control and 20.34% and 52.48% over the fungus-treated wheat, respectively. In leaf surface area and root length, our findings were 50.11% and 10.37% higher than the control and 40% and 71% higher than diseased wheat, respectively. Plant physiological parameters i.e., chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll content, were increased 14, 133, and 16.1 times over the control and 157, 253, and 42 times over the pathogen-inoculated wheat, respectively. Our findings regarding carotenoid content, relative water content, and the membrane stability index were 29-, 49-, and 81-fold higher than the control and 187-, 63-, and 48-fold higher than the negative control, respectively. In the case of plant biochemical parameters, proline, sugar, flavonoids, and phenolic contents were recorded at 6, 287, 11, and 34 times higher than the control and 32, 107, 33, and 4 times more than fungus-inoculated wheat, respectively. This study is considered the first biocompatible approach to evaluate the potential of green-synthesized SeNPs as growth-promoting substances in wheat under the spot blotch stress and effective management strategy to inhibit fungal growth.

In this study, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeONPs) were synthesized by using the extract of Melia azedarach leaves, and Acorus calamusas rhizomes, respectively, and investigated for the biological and sustainable control of yellow, or stripe rust, disease in wheat. The green synthesized NPs were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SeNPs and CeONPs, with different concentrations (i.e., 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L), were exogenously applied to wheat infected with Puccinia striformis. SeNPs and CeONPs, at a concentration of 30 mg/L, were found to be the most suitable concentrations, which reduced the disease severity and enhanced the morphological (plant height, root length, shoot length, leaf length, and ear length), physiological (chlorophyll and membrane stability index), biochemical (proline, phenolics and flavonoids) and antioxidant (SOD and POD) parameters. The antioxidant activity of SeNPs and CeONPs was also measured. For this purpose, different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200 and 400 ppm) of both SeNPs and CeONPs were used. The concentration of 400 ppm most promoted the DPPH, ABTS and reducing power activity of both SeNPs and CeONPs. This study is considered the first biocompatible approach to evaluate the potential of green synthesized SeNPs and CeONPs to improve the health of yellow, or stripe rust, infected wheat plants and to provide an effective management strategy to inhibit the growth of Puccinia striformis.