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Climatic changes in southern Europe during the Holocene are characterized by a strong spatial and temporal heterogeneity whose patterns are still poorly understood, notably the presence or not of a Holocene thermal maximum (HTM; 10 000–6000 cal BP). The climatic patterns also differ according to the proxies used (e.g. pollen, chironomid) and the latitude of the record. Here, a multi-proxy approach combining pollen and lipid biomarkers (branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, brGDGTs) is applied to the Canroute sedimentological sequence (Massif Central, France) to reconstruct the climatic variation over the last 15 000 years in southern Europe. This area is poorly documented in terms of vegetation and climate change. To provide reliable climate reconstructions, we have (1) performed a multi-method approach applied to pollen (modern analogue technique, MAT; weighted averaging partial least squares regression, WA-PLS; boosted regression trees, BRT; and random forest, RF) and molecular biomarkers brGDGTs (five calibrations) and (2) investigated the role of modern databases and calibrations in climate reconstructions. Three different databases were tested for pollen data: one global database based on a Eurasian pollen database and two regional databases corresponding to Mediterranean–Temperate Europe and Temperate Europe–Scandinavian databases respectively. Five global calibrations were tested for lipid biomarkers including four for soil and one for peat. Results show that the use of different modern databases highlights the importance of considering environmental and ecological constraints when using transfer functions on pollen sequences. Pollen- and brGDGT-inferred climate trends are consistent, notably for the Late Glacial and the Early and Late Holocene. However, the reconstructions notably differ concerning the presence of a Holocene thermal maximum with the MAT pollen-based method, but no difference is apparent with the BRT pollen method nor brGDGT. The temperature reconstructions estimated from the two independent pollen and lipid proxies are then compared to regional climate signals (chironomids, pollen, molecular biomarkers) to better understand global regional climatic patterns in southern Europe. Altogether, our results from the Canroute sequence and those already available in southern Europe reveal that for the Late Glacial and Early Holocene, the regional climate trends are consistent between sites and proxies, supporting the reliability of their reconstructions despite some discrepancies. During the Holocene, the temperature signal of Canroute does not indicate the clear presence of a pronounced HTM, but rather stable temperatures.

Abstract Open‐source, satellite‐based digital elevation models (DEMs) are widely used for flood modeling. However, studies on effectiveness of these DEMs in depicting local‐level flood processes are limited. This study generated a high‐resolution digital terrain model (DTM) based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and used in a two‐dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic model (HEC‐RAS) to simulate the flood processes in a floodplain environment of the Jamuna River in northern Bangladesh. The effectiveness of a few satellite‐based DEMs was also compared with this DTM by using the DEMs in the same hydrodynamic model. Field data for two flood seasons were collected to develop the model. The results indicate that the 2D model with UAV‐based DTM provides the flood parameters, such as flood arrival time, depth, duration and extent, better than those from the satellite‐based DEMs. Of the open‐source DEMs, the FABDEM and the WorldDEM™ have the least errors and provide better results compared to the SRTM30, ALOS PALSAR, and ASTER DEMs. The UAV technique with ground control points and field measurements for the tree‐canopy and water areas is very useful in generating a fit‐for‐purpose DTM. The findings of this study would be useful for terrain generation and DEM selection for local‐level flood modeling elsewhere.

Three dimensional numerical investigations are carried out to analyse the effect of different shapes of annular fin on heat transfer characteristics and pressure drop across a tube surface. Shear stress transport based k-ωturbulence model is used to analyse flow physics and heat transfer characteristics in flow domain. Weak zones of heat transfer across a circular tube surface are identified for 2500 < Re< 13000. Three different shapes of annular fin are considered to test the possibility of optimum heat transfer characteristics in weak zones. Results are compared with circular shape annular fin. Circular shape annular fin outperforms in terms of overall rate of heat transfer at the cost of highest pressure drop. The heat transfer rate decreases by 18%, 21% and 31% in sectorial fin, elliptical fin and sectional fin as compared to that of circular fin at 12965 Reynolds number, but at other end pressure drop across a tube surface in case of these fins also decrease as compared to that of circular annular fin. Potential rate, ratio of heat transfer rate to required pumping power, is calculated to evaluate optimum fin performance. Potential rate of an elliptical fin is highest among all the reported cases.

Abstract Aquatic environments serve as a sink for anthropogenic discharges. A significant part of the discharge is tire wear, which is increasingly being released into the environment, causing environmental disasters due to their longevity and the large number of pollutants they contain. Main components of tires are plastic and zinc, which therefore can be used as substitutes for tire abrasion to study the effect on microbial life. We investigate environmentally realistic concentrations of plastic and zinc on a freshwater microeukaryotic community using high-throughput sequencing of the 18S V9 region over a 14-day exposure period. Apart from a generally unchanged diversity upon exposure to zinc and nanoplastics, a change in community structure due to zinc is evident, but not due to nanoplastics. Evidently, nanoplastic particles hardly affect the community, but zinc exposure results in drastic functional abundance shifts concerning the trophic mode. Phototrophic microorganisms were almost completely diminished initially, but photosynthesis recovered. However, the dominant taxa performing photosynthesis changed from bacillariophytes to chlorophytes. While phototrophic organisms are decreasing in the presence of zinc, the mixotrophic fraction initially benefitted and the heterotrophic fraction were benefitting throughout the exposure period. In contrast to lasting changes in taxon composition, the functional community composition is initially strongly imbalanced after application of zinc but returns to the original state.

Numerical investigations are carried out to determine the effect of change in geometrical parameter of annular fin on thermal and hydraulic characteristics. Fin shape is changed by varying horizontal diameter of fin. Three different cases of annular fin are investigated corresponding to fin diameter ratio (X) of 0.65, 0.85 and 1. Turbulence is modelled using k-ω shear stress transport model. Relative assessment of tube with annular fin of different horizontal diameter (D01) is done for 2500 < Re < 13000. The comparison of Nusselt number reveals that circular tube with annular fin enhances heat transfer rate. Nusselt number augments by 35% and 10% in case of annular fin with diameter ratio of 0.65 and 0.85 as compared to that of annular fin with diameter ratio of 1.00 for 2500 < Re< 13000. Pressure drop augments with increase in horizontal diameter of fin and Reynolds number. Annular fin with diameter ratio of 0.65 performs better in terms of heat transfer and pressure penalty as compared to other cases for range of reported Reynolds number.

Intrinsic toroidal rotation velocity ( V _φ ) has been measured from the Doppler shift of C ^5+ carbon spectral lines (at 529.05 nm) in the edge region of the ADITYA-U tokamak without any auxiliary torque input in an ohmically heated pure hydrogen (H _2 ) plasma as well as in H _2 plasmas seeded with medium-Z (neon and argon) impurities . The toroidal rotation in the edge region is observed to reverse its direction from the counter-current to the co-current direction with an increase in plasma current beyond I _p ∼ 145–150 kA. Furthermore, a systematic decrease in the co-current V _φ has been observed with the edge density, which tends to decrease to almost zero velocity with an increase in the edge density. The injection of medium- Z (neon and argon) impurities is observed to influence the edge toroidal rotation significantly. In low I _p discharges, argon injection leads to a reversal of edge intrinsic rotation from the counter-current to the co-current direction. In high I _p discharges, both neon and argon seeding enhance the co-current rotation by about ∼5–10 km s ^−1 , at a constant I _p compared to pure H _2 discharges. Simultaneous measurements of the edge radial electric field, E _r , shows that the E _r × B _θ flow seems to be driving the edge toroidal rotation in ADITYA-U. With impurity injection, the E _r also gets modified, leading to an observed increase in the edge toroidal rotation.

Intro: Carbepenems resistance(CRE) among microorganisms is a global public-health problem with limited treatment options Asymptomatic gastrointestinal carriage of CRE in ICU patients is common and may be associated with increased risk of CRE infection. Methods: The cross-sectional hospital based study was done to evaluate the prevalence of CRE colonization and hospital care associated infection(HCAI) in ICU patients. Per-rectal swabs of patients were collected within 24 hours of admission and patients were followed up weekly for CRE colonization and for development of HCAI until discharge/transfer from the ICU. Samples processing, identification of isolates was done as per standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility & phenotypic screening and confirmation for MBL producers was done as per CLSI guidelines. Detection of bla genes (blaNDM, blaVIM, blaOXA, blaKPC, blaIMP) was done by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction. Findings: Total 120 patients were admitted in ICU during the study period. Of these 45(37.9%) patients were found to be colonized with CRE within 24 hours of their admission. Duration of hospital stay(n=24; 53.3%, P

In this research paper, we propose a highly sensitive yet simple design hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (PCF) core-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractive index (RI) sensor. The unknown target analyte and the plasmonic material, gold (Au) are placed at the exterior of the sensor surface for the feasibility of the operation. Twelve purely circular air-holes in two rings constitute PCF structure which makes the fabrication process realizable and practical. Numerical investigations are carried out utilizing the full-vector finite element method (FEM) to obtain the sensing performance of the PCF-SPR structure. After optimizing the structural parameters, the proposed PCF-SPR sensor obtains the highest wavelength sensitivity of 36000 nm/RIU and the highest amplitude sensitivity of 642.53 RIU-1, for an analyte RI range of 1.395 to 1.420 in the near-infrared wavelength regime (800 nm − 1200 nm). Aside from that, the sensor attained the maximum wavelength resolution and amplitude resolution of 2.77×10-6 RIU and 1.55×10-5RIU-1 respectively to assure excellent detection accuracy of smallest RI changes. Furthermore, the sensor achieved the highest Figure of Merit of 257.14 RIU-1. Thus, the proposed PCF-SPR sensor has the potential to detect unknown RI in a variety of applications including biosensing.

Abstract The current research work aims to provide knowledge about the diversity of spiders’ fauna and their occurrence throughout the year from District Charsadda Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Research data were collected from March-2015 to January-2017 from seven different localities of Charsadda District by using the camera, bottle, plastic bags, paraffin films, field book and 70% of ethylene alcohol and 20% of glycerine were used as chemicals. By using special identification keys, spiders were differentiated into families, genera and species. During the study time, a total of 2734 specimens of spiders were collected belonging from 35 genera, 15 families and 44 species were identified. Salticidae was the dominant family according to genera studied plus spiders samples numbers collected with 10 genera and 616 species specimens count. The high occurrence of spiders was studied during July. The result of the current study also shows a reduction of spider’s species in December due to lowering the temperature. The current study shows that Salticidae were the dominant family as capered to other species. The occurrence of spiders species greatly depends on changing the weather condition. The present study also shows great fluctuation in spider’s occurrence with changing of hot climate to colder during the study duration. Moreover, the wet season plays a great role in spiders’ population increase and growth.

Abstract The present study was conducted to explore morphometric variations of Pteropus medius (the Indian flying fox) and the roosting trees in Lower Dir, Pakistan. The bats were captured from Morus alba, Morus nigra, Brousonetia papyrifera, Pinus raxburghii, Hevea brasiliensis, Platanus orientalis, Populous nigra, Melia azedarach, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Grevillea robusta through sling shot and mess net methods. A total of 12 bats were studied for the differential morphological features based on age and sex. Male bats were recorded higher in weight than females. The variations were found in body mass (821.1±34.65gm), circumference of body with wings (25.43±0.39cm), wingspan (112.58±1.90cm), Body length (20.73±0.68cm), Snout length (3.42±0.04cm), Eye length (1.45±0.033cm), Length of ear (3.56±0.05cm), Width of ear (2.46±0.04cm), Length b/w ear (5.51±0.11cm), Circumference of neck (12.23±0.24cm), Circumference of body without wings (18.68±0.31cm), Arm wing length (23.2±1.03cm), Length of thumb (5.43±0.1cm), Length of nail (1.89±0.05cm), Hand wing length (29.1±0.51cm), Maximum width of wing (21.03±0.68cm), Length b/w tip of wing to 5th digit (29.39±0.30cm), Length b/w 5th digit to foot (22.97±1.09cm), Length b/w feet (18.31±0.74cm) and Length of foot claw (4.23±0.05cm). This study was designed for analysis of external morphological variations for P. medius (the Indian flying fox) that may help in identification of these bats and their roosting sites.

The recent pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has increased the global concern over its transmission and prevention. Since there was an incontrovertible perception that environmental conditions might affect the spread of SARS-CoV-2, we analyzed the environmental variables impact on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Pakistan. Our analytical study revealed that when the temperature remained high for consecutive 10 to 15 days, a significant decrease is witnessed in the forthcoming week in the COVID-19 cases. We found that a persistent high ambient temperature of 36 °C and above is detrimental to SARS-CoV-2 transmission and has paused the community spread of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Importantly, during the fall period of SARS-CoV-2, a high relative humidity of 63–72% was noted that showed a positive role in COVID-19 inhibition. Hence, the community spread of SARS-CoV-2 was paused by the warm humid climate and the ambient temperature was the yardstick in turning down the epidemic in Pakistan.

Abstract Erythrokeratoderma Variabilis (EKV) is a rare genodermatosis, characterized by variable erythematous and hyperkeratotic skin lesions. It is most often transmitted in autosomal dominant manner (AD). Casual mutations were found in the GJB3 and GJB4 genes encoding connexins 31 and 30.3, respectively. We report a 7‐year‐old girl with multiple dusky red and brown skin lesions on face, buttock, both arms and legs. This diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical and histological findings and further genetic analysis detected a G > C transition at position 125 of the coding sequence, which replaces arginine with a proline at residue 42 of the protein (R42P). Here, we report a first case of Nepalese patient with EKV resulting from the GJB3 mutation.

Purpose: Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkins B cell lymphoma. It typically presents with asymptomatic monoclonal lymphocytosis, lymphadenopathy or bulky extranodal disease. Mantle cell lymphoma rarely affects the central nervous system. We present two cases in which vision loss was the initial symptom of central nervous system involvement by the malignancy. Observations: Both patients initially received high dose intravenous steroids with notable improvement in their vision. Conclusions and importance: Early detection and management of optic nerve infiltration by mantle cell lymphoma is essential as it improves visual outcomes and enables prompt management of the patient's systemic disease.

Abstract Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the serious global public health burden of liver disease. Approximately 170 million people in the world are infected with (HCV). In Pakistan, where the disease has high occurrence rate. The present study envisages an up-to-date prevalence of HCV and genotypic distribution in the general population of Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. The blood samples from 6,538 individuals including 3,263 males and 3,275 females were analyzed for hepatitis C surface antigen by Immuno-chromatographic test (ICT), Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It was found that 396 (12.13%) out of 3263 individuals contained antibodies in their blood against HCV, while among the different age groups, the highest incidences of HCV antibodies were found in the 31-40 age group (11.01%). The ICT positive samples were further screened by nested PCR to determine the existence of active HCV-RNA. It was identified that 7.11% (3263) of the total population (6538) tested was positive, among which the 461 (14.07%) females possessed antibodies in their blood against HCV. Our data showed total HCV infection in the investigated population was 5.78%. Higher percentage of HCV prevalence was detected in males than females in the age group 31-40 and 41-50. To compare the prevalence of HCV genotypes age-wise in male and female genotype 3a was found most prevalent genotype followed by 1a, 2a and 3b, respectively.

Abstract Hepatitis B virus infection is perilous among the five types of Hepatitis, as it remains clinically asymptomatic. The present study draws up-to-date prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the general population of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. The blood samples from 4803 individuals including 2399 male and 2404 females were investigated. All the suspected samples were analyzed for hepatitis B surface antigen using Immuno-chromatographic test (ICT), Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and followed by Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results showed that 312 (13.00%) out of 2399 individuals contained antibodies in their blood against HBV, while among the different age groups, the highest incidences of HBV antibodies were found in the age of 21-30 groups (10.73%). Furthermore, the ICT positive samples were screened by nested polymerase chain reaction to detect the existence of active HBV-DNA. It was observed that 169 (7.04%) out of (2399) male of the total population (4803) tested was positive. On the other hand, the female 463 (19.25%) possessed antibodies in their blood against HBV. Accumulatively, our results showed a higher percentage of HBV prevalence in males than females in the age group 21-30 years. The total HCV infected in Mardan general population was recorded at 5.7% comprising both male and female.

Abstract The present research was carried out to explore the spider fauna of Buner valley with taxonomic study from February 2018 to January 2019. For this purpose samples were collected, four times at each month from 4 tehsils: Daggar, Gagra, Mandan and Totalai. Two methods were used, hand picking and sweep net for collection of samples. During day and night, three habitats, arid area, agriculture land and building area were search for collection. A total of 534 samples of spider were collected from four sampling sites, in which 379 were belonging to family Araniedae. After confirmation, the identified species were belonging to 8 genera (Neoscona, Argiope, Cyclosa, Araneus, Cyrtophora, Larinia, Erivoxia and Poltys) and 19 species. 18 of them were identified to specie level while a single specie to its generic level. The genus Neoscona was the dominant genus 26.31% having 5 species while the genus Argiope 21.05% is the second dominant having 4 species followed by Cyclosa 15.78% having 3 species followed by Cyrtophora and Araneus 10.52% having two species both. The Poltys and Larinia 5.26% are the rarest genera represent single-single specie both. Statistical analysis show that specie richness (D) = 5.77, Simpson index (1-D) = 0.87, Shannon index (H) = 2.33. Diversity of spiders was evenly distributed and calculated Evenness value was H/InS = 0.5408. There is also few atypical species and Fisher alpha estimate high value (Fisher α) = 4.42. Chao-1 estimated we have reported 22 species.

Abstract For the proper growth of fish, it is necessary to feed the fish with a proper and balanced diet. A study was conducted to find out the effect of different protein-based diets on fingerlings of Tor putitora (mahseer). A feed with dietary protein levels of 35%, 40%, 45%, and 50% were prepared. The effect of different protein-based feed on weight gain, standard growth rate (SGR), food conversion ratio (FCR), percent weight gain, food conversion efficiency (FCE), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) was studied. An increase was observed in the growth rate with an increase in protein concentration up to 45%. The fingerlings fed a 45% protein diet shown the highest growth, followed by 50%, 40%, and 35%. The SGR value was greatest for 45% protein diet (8.56) followed by 50% and 40%, while the least values were observed for 35% protein feed (1.57). The same trend was observed for FCE. The highest PER values was observed in fishes fed 45% protein-based feed (0.65) followed by 50% (0.56), 40% (0.38) and35% (0.17). The food conversion ratio was lowest for 45% protein diet (3.41), while the greatest for 35% protein feed (16.85). It was concluded that a 45% protein-based diet was the best feed formulation for higher production of Tor putitora. However, research on the same percentage of protein diet is recommended for yearlings.

Abstract Plasmodium vivax is the most common human malaria parasite in Asian countries including Pakistan. Present study was designed to explore the genetic diversity of plasmodium vivax genotypes based on Pvmsp-3α and Pvmsp-3βgenes using allelic specific nested PCR and RFLP assays markers from field isolates in district Mardan, Pakistan. Blood samples of 200 P. vivax malarial patients were collected after taking their written informed consent. Genetic diversity in nested PCR products was determined by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) utilizing Alu1 and PstI restriction enzymes for alpha and beta gene products digestion, respectively. For analysis the genetic diversity of the sub allelic variants of Pvmsp3α and Pvmsp3β genes, Chi-Square test was performed by utilizing Minitab programming software 18. The P value 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. For Pvmsp-3α genes after gel electrophoresis of digested products, four distinct genotypes were obtained from total of 50 samples; type A: 35 (70%) (1.5-2.0 kb), 12 of type B (24%) (1.5-1.7 kb), 2 of type C (4%) (0.5-1.5) and one for type D (2%) (0.5-0.65 kb) which could be characterized into 9 allelic pattern (A1-A4, B1-B3, C1, D), in which A3 remained the most predominant. For Pvmsp-3βgenes, three distinct genotypes were obtained from 50 samples; 40(80%) of type A (1.5-2.5 kb), 9 (18%) of type B (1.0-1.5kb) and 1(2%) of type C (0.65 kb) which could be characterized into 6 allelic patterns (A1-A3, B1-B2, and C1). Most dominant one in Type A was A1 alleles which were noted (46%), while in Type B, the most dominant were B1 (10%).This study is the first ever report of molecular epidemiology and genetic variation in Pvmsp-3α and Pvmsp-3β genes of P. vivax isolates by using PCR/RFLP from District Mardan and showed a remarkable level of genetic diversity in the studied genes of circulating parasites in the study area. The results of this study will contribute in future studies about the genetic structure of parasite and vaccine development against the malaria.

ABSTRACT Infectious agents cause serious diseases in humans worldwide and are responsible for the high rate of morbidity and mortality. The prevalence and epidemiology of infectious disease (HCV) in the hospital visited patients referred by the physicians through the initial findings and their associated risk factors were studied in Swat. The data of 174 infected patients were collected during the period of 2015 to 2017 from two clinical laboratories of Tehsil Matta Swat. Inform consent form was taken before blood collection. After taking informed consent blood samples were collected and ICT test was performed and then ICT positive cases were conform through PCR. A total of 174 ICT positive samples [106 male and 68 females] were included in this study. Age was considered from 10 to 72 years. Of the 174 ICT strip positive, 99 [63 males, 36 females] were confirmed through PCR. The prevalence rate was recorded 56.89%. I.V/I.M injection was recorded in 100% of the individuals. Visits to the barber shop was reported in (58%) of the individuals, married individuals were (81.0), surgical operation was reported in (44.8%), sharing toothbrush was observed in (29.9%), piercing was reported in (39.7%), family history was reported in (26.4%), dental treatment was observed in (21.8%), jaundice were (13.2%) and tattooing was (1.7%). Blood transfusion, surgical operations, Jaundice, family history and dental treatment were found significant risk factors for acquiring HCV infection. It was concluded that proper implementation of precautionary measures should be needed to control the spread of HCV in far near future.

In this paper, we establish some Jensen-type inequalities for continuous functions of self-adjoint operators on complex Hilbert spaces. Furthermore, using the Cartesian decomposition of an operator, we improve the known result due to Mond and Peˇcari´c. Some refinements of the H¨older-McCarthy inequality are given as well.

Abstract Background Salinity is one of the most widespread abiotic stresses affecting rice productivity worldwide. The purpose of this study was to establish the relative importance of different traits associated with salinity tolerance in rice and to identify new quantitative trait loci (QTL) conferring tolerance to salinity at seedling stage. A total of 231 F2:3 plants derived from a cross between a sensitive variety BRRI dhan29 (BR29 hereafter) and Capsule, a salt tolerant Bangladeshi indica landrace, were evaluated under salt stress in a phytotron. Results Out of the 231 F2 plants, 47 highly tolerant and 47 most sensitive lines were selected, representing the two extreme tails of the phenotypic distribution. These 94 plants were genotyped for 105 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and insertion/deletion (InDel) markers. A genetic linkage map spanning approximately 1442.9 cM of the 12 linkage groups with an average marker distance of 13.7 cM was constructed. QTL were identified on the long arm of chromosome 1 for Na+ concentration, K+ concentration, Na+-K+ ratio and survival; chromosome 3 for Na+ concentration, survival and overall phenotypic evaluation using the Standard Evaluation system (SES); and chromosome 5 for SES. A total of 6 pairwise epistatic interactions were also detected between QTL-linked and QTL-unlinked regions. Graphical genotyping indicated an association between the phenotypes of the extreme families and their QTL genotypes. Path coefficient analysis revealed that Na+ concentration, survival, Na+-K+ ratio and the overall phenotypic performance (SES score) are the major traits associated with salinity tolerance of Capsule. Conclusions Capsule provides an alternative source of salinity tolerance aside from Pokkali and Nona Bokra, the two Indian salt tolerant landraces traditionally used for breeding salt tolerant rice varieties. Pyramiding the new QTL identified in this study with previously discovered loci, such as Saltol, will facilitate breeding varieties that are highly tolerant of salt stress.

Abstract Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (the skittering frog) is one of the most widespread species in Pakistan. Present study was aimed to know the presence of Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis in urban and rural areas of Lower Dir, the North-western Pakistan. A total of 33 frogs were collected, including 15 from rural and 18 from urban areas. The frogs were caught by hands covered with gloves instead of using nets. The collection was managed from August to October 2016 and from April to May 2018. Morphometric analysis, coloration as well as photographs of the frogs have been provided in detail. Skittering frogs were seen frequent in swampy areas near the water bodies. These frogs were mostly seen after sunset.

Abstract Extensive field surveys were carried out to explore the distribution of Leisler’s Bat Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl, 1819) in selected area of FATA regions, Pakistan. Specimens of Leisler’s Bat Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl, 1819) (n5) were collected from Kurram Agency (Shublan) (N33.8229788 E70.1634414) at elevation 1427m and Khyber Agency (Landi Kotel) (N34.0909899 E71.1457517) at elevation 1091m for two years survey extending from May 2013 through August 2015. The mean head and body length, hind foot length, ear length and tail length the Nyctalus leisleri specimens captured from the study area was 65.08 ± 1.58 mm, 44.06 ± 0.52 mm, 8.38 ± 0.60 mm, 13.20 ± 0.99 mm and 39.46 ± 1.46 mm, respectively. For molecular analysis the sequences of COI gene were obtained and analyzed. The mean intraspecific divergences of Nyctalus leisleri was 0.04%. The mean interspecific divergences of Nyctalus noctula and Nyctalus leisleri was 0.2%. The mean concentration of each nucleotides was A = (26.3%), T = (32.8%), G = (15.9%) and C = (25.0%). The mean A+T contents were 59.2%and C+G were 40.9%. In the phylogenetic tree Nyctalus leisleri and Nyctalus noctula clustered with significant bootstrap support value.

Abstract The present study was aimed at comparing the brain size of mahseer (Tor putitora) in relation to their body weight and standard length, to investigate the potential impact of rearing environment on brain development in fish. The weight of the brain and three of its subdivisions cerebellum (CB), optic tectum (OT), and telencephalon (TC) were measured for both wild and hatchery-reared fish. The data was analysed using multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and discriminate function analysis (DFA). We found the fish reared under hatchery conditions exhibit smaller brain size related to body weight, when compared to the wild ones. A significant (p

Abstract Snow trout (Schizothorax plagiostomus) is an economically important freshwater fish, mostly found in northern areas of water reservoirs of Pakistan. The current study was conducted in River Swat to analyze the bioaccumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Ni, and Zn) in tissues of Schizothorax plagiostomus. Tissues were extracted and dissolved in perchloric acid (HClO4) and nitric acid (HNO3) along with hotplate. The heavy metals, zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), and Nickel (Ni) were determined using Perkin Elmer 2380 atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results shows great variation in the content of the metal related to tissue type and sampling sites. A high concentration of bioaccumulation was reported at Charbagh, whereas lowest at Odigram: Charbagh>Landakai>Odigram. In the same way, Cr was the most accumulated heavy metal followed by lead, nickel, and Zinc:

Introduction There is a limited literature available showing mental health burden among adolescents following cyberbullying. Objectives Aim is to evaluate the association of low mood and suicidality amongst cyberbullied adolescents. Methods A study on CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) (1991-2017). Responses from adolescence related to cyberbullying and suicidality were evaluated. Chi-square and mix-effect multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to find out the association of cyberbullying with sadness/hopelessness, suicide consideration, plan, and attempts. Results A total of 10,463 adolescents, 14.8% of adolescents faced cyberbullying a past year. There was a higher prevalence of cyberbullying in youths aged 15-17 years (25 vs 26 vs 23%), which included more females to males (68 vs 32%).(p

Introduction Anticholinergic medications block cholinergic transmission. The central effects of anticholinergic drugs can be particularly marked in patients with dementia. Furthermore, anticholinergics antagonise the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors, the main dementia treatment. Objectives This study aimed to assess anticholinergic drug prescribing among dementia patients before and after admission to UK acute hospitals. Methods 352 patients with dementia were included from 17 hospitals in the UK. All were admitted to surgical, medical or Care of the Elderly wards in 2019. Information about patients’ prescriptions were recorded on a standardised form. An evidence-based online calculator was used to calculate the anticholinergic drug burden of each patient. The correlation between two subgroups upon admission and discharge was tested with Spearman’s Rank Correlation. Results Table 1 shows patient demographics. On admission, 37.8% of patients had an anticholinergic burden score ≥1 and 5.68% ≥3. At discharge, 43.2% of patients had an anticholinergic burden score ≥1 and 9.1% ≥3. The increase was statistically significant (rho 0.688; p=2.2x10-16). The most common group of anticholinergic medications prescribed at discharge were psychotropics (see Figure 1). Among patients prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors, 44.9% were also taking anticholinergic medications. Conclusions This multicentre cross-sectional study found that people with dementia are frequently prescribed anticholinergic drugs, even if also taking cholinesterase inhibitors, and are significantly more likely to be discharged with a higher anticholinergic drug burden than on admission to hospital. Conflict of interest This project was planned and executed by the authors on behalf of SPARC (Student Psychiatry Audit and Research Collaborative). We thank the National Student Association of Medical Research for allowing us use of the Enketo platform. Judith Harrison was su

In this work, a highly sensitive yet simple hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractive index (RI) sensor is proposed. The proposed structure consists of twelve purely circular air-holes to render the fabrication process easily realizable. For the feasibility of operation, the target analyte, and the plasmonic material, Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) are employed around the outer surface of the sensor. The performance of the sensor is numerically analyzed using the full-vectorial finite element method (FEM) for different fiber geometric parameters and RI variations. A step-by-step design procedure has been followed starting from the regular hexagonal lattice PCF structure. The optimal sensor performance is obtained by tuning the geometric parameters over the relevant numeric range. It is shown that the proposed sensor achieves a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 37000 nm/RIU and a maximum amplitude sensitivity of 407.285 RIU-1for a dielectric RI range from 1.33 to 1.40 in the near-infrared wavelength regime (1470 nm − 2220 nm). Apart from this, to ensure high detection accuracy of small refractive index (RI) changes, the sensor achieves the highest wavelength resolution and amplitude resolution of 2.70×10-6 RIU and 2.46×10-5RIU-1, respectively, along with the highest Figure of Merit of 217.65 RIU-1. Hence, the proposed PCF-SPR sensor can potentially be used to detect unknown refractive indices for various applications including biosensing.

Abstract Malakand region is an endemic area for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). However, there are limited number of studies of this disease in Pakistan. Therefore, a study was conducted to understand the level of awareness attitude and practice among the residents of Makaland towards CL and the disease vectors. This study adopted a cross-sectional approach with a total of 400 respondents (n=93 rural and n= 307 urban). Overall, the population in Malakand region (61.2%) were well-informed in the role of sand fly in transmitting diseases, but most lack knowledge on the vector’s behavior and almost a quarter (24.5%) were unable to provide knowledge on proper control measures. Alarmingly, the practice and attitudes of the general population was not satisfactory as close to half (49.8%) of the population did adopt any control method. This study calls for increase in awareness through health education campaign to reduce the risk of cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreaks in the future.

H2S gas when exposed to metal can be responsible for both general and localized corrosion, which depend on several parameters such as H2S concentration and the corrosion product layer formed. Therefore, the formation of passive film on 316L steel when exposed to H2S environment was investigated using several analysis methods such as FESEM and STEM/EDS analyses, which identified a sulfur species underneath the porous structure of the passive film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the first layer of CrO3 and Cr2O3 was dissolved, accelerated by the presence of H2S-Cl-. An FeS2 layer was formed by incorporation of Fe and sulfide; then, passivation by Mo took place by forming a MoO2 layer. NiO, Ni(OH)2, and NiS barriers are formed as final protection for 316L steel. Therefore, Ni and Mo play an important role as a dual barrier to maintain the stability of 316L steel in high pH2S environments. For safety concern, this paper is aimed to point out a few challenges dealing with high partial pressure of H2S and limitation of 316L steel under highly sour condition for the oil and gas production system.

Being a developing nation, India is facing an array of problems owing to the huge population shift from rural to urban areas, thereby leading to an increasing urbanisation trend since the 1980s. As a result, the process of urban planning in India is extremely tedious and requires lots of manual intervention. Although the recent developments in GIS have immensely helped urban planners, extensive ground survey is still a big challenge in the context of Indian cities. In this work, the study area has been chosen as Mehmedabad which is a Tier-3 city in the state of Gujarat. A rigorous grass root oriented ground survey involving each and every household of Mehmedabad has been utilised for both requirement elicitation and site-suitability purposes. With the aid of both 2D and 3D GIS, a city development plan has been proposed for the year 2031. The planning process incorporated population projection, water supply demand, sewage discharge and road network analysis for building robust development control regulations which were essential to improve the socio-economic aspects of Mehmedabad. Additionally, cost estimations for each of the proposed sectors have been carried out so as to maintain an appropriate budget for uplifting the existing infrastructures of the city.

Abstract Despite its complexity and importance in managing water resources in populous deltas, especially in tidal areas, literatures on tidal rivers and their land use linkage in connection to water quality and pollution are rare. Such information is of prior need for Integrated Water Resource Management in water scarce and climate change vulnerable regions, such as the southwestern coast of Bangladesh. Using water quality indices and multivariate analysis, we present here the land use signatures of a dying tidal river due to anthropogenic perturbation. Correlation matrix, hierarchical cluster analysis, factor analysis, and bio-geo-chemical fingerprints were used to quantify the hydro-chemical and anthropogenic processes and identify factors influencing the ionic concentrations. The results show remarkable spatial and temporal variations (p

Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV) belonging to begomoviruses (Family Geminiviridae) can infect cotton and many other agricultural crops. Betasatellite associated with CLCuMuV i.e., cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB) is a small circular single-stranded deoxyribose nucleic acid (ssDNA) molecule that is essential for CLCuMuV to induce disease symptoms. Betasatellite molecule contains a ßC1 gene encoding for a pathogenicity determinant multifunctional protein, which extensively interacts with host plant machinery to cause virus infection. In this study the interaction of ßC1 with selected plant flavonoids has been studied. The study was focused on sequence analysis, three-dimensional structural modeling and docking analysis of ßC1 protein of CLCuMuB. Sequence analysis and physicochemical properties showed that ßC1 is negatively charged protein having more hydrophilic regions and is not very stable. Three-dimensional model of this protein revealed three helical, four beta pleated sheets and four coiled regions. The score of docking experiments using flavonoids as ligand indicated that plant flavonoids robinetinidol-(4alpha,8)-gallocatechin, quercetin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside, swertianolin, 3′,4′,5-trihydroxy-3-methoxyflavon-7-olate, agathisflavone, catiguanin B, 3′,4′,5,6-tetrahydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyflavone, quercetin-7-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1->6)-beta-D-galactopyranoside], prunin 6″-O-gallate and luteolin 7-O-beta-D-glucosiduronic acid have strong binding with active site of ßC1 protein. The results obtained from this study clearly indicate that flavonoids are involved in defense against the virus infection, as these molecules binds to the active site of ßC1 protein. This information might be interesting to study plant defense mechanism based on the special compounds produced by the plants.

Direct Conversion Receiver is the choice of the today’s designer for low power compact wireless receiver. DCR is attractive due to low power, small size and highly monolithic integratable structure, but distortions affect its performance. I/Q mismatch is the one of the major distortion which is responsible for performance degradation. In this paper, a novel method for Direct Conversion Receiver is suggested, which makes it insensitive to the I/Q mismatch. Here the classical homodyne architecture is modified to nullify effect of I/Q mismatch. The proposed method can be implemented in the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) back-end section also. This feature makes it acceptable in the already designed/functioning classical homodyne architecture based receiver.

Over the past decade, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services have gained wide popularity and acceptance from researchers and industries all over the world. SOA makes it easy to build business applications with common services, and it provides like: reduced integration expense, better asset reuse, higher business agility, and reduction of business risk. Building of framework for acquiring useful geospatial information for potential users is a crucial problem faced by the GIS domain. Geospatial Web services solve this problem. With the help of web service technology, geospatial web services can provide useful geospatial information to potential users in a better way than traditional geographic information system (GIS). A geospatial Web service is a modular application designed to enable the discovery, access, and chaining of geospatial information and services across the web that are often both computation and data-intensive that involve diverse sources of data and complex processing functions. With the proliferation of web services published over the internet, multiple web services may provide similar functionality, but with different non-functional properties. Thus, Quality of Service (QoS) offers a metric to differentiate the services and their service providers. In a quality-driven selection of web services, it is important to consider non-functional properties of the web service so as to satisfy the constraints or requirements of the end users. The main intent of this paper is to build an automated end-to-end multi-agent based solution to provide the best-fit web service to service requester based on QoS.

In this study the heart, kidneys and adrenal glands of 36 teddy goats (Capra hircus) of both sexes, divided in 3 age groups viz. kids (6-12 months), adults (13-21 months) and old (22-24 months) were collected after slaughter. Immediately after collection, absolute and relative weights, length, width, thickness, circumference and volume of all organs were recorded. Shape of the heart was cone like and the coronary groove was filled with fat. None of the anatomical parameters of the heart, kidneys and adrenal glands differed between male and female goats, except that absolute weight of the right kidney and volume of right and left kidneys were higher in males than in females (P

Aggressive voltage scaling into the subthreshold operating region holds great promise for applications with strict energy budget. However, it has been established that higher speed superthreshold device is not suitable for moderate performance subthreshold circuits. The design constraint for selecting Vth and TOX is much more flexible for subthreshold circuits at low voltage level than superthreshold circuits. In order to obtain better performance from a device under subthreshold conditions, it is necessary to investigate and optimize the process and geometry parameters of a Si MOSFET at nanometer technology node. This paper calibrates the fabrication process parameters and electrical characteristics for n- and p-MOSFETs with 35 nm physical gate length. Thereafter, the calibrated device for superthreshold application is optimized for better performance under subthreshold conditions using TCAD simulation. The device simulated in this work shows 9.89% improvement in subthreshold slope and 34% advantage in ION/IOFF ratio for the same drive current.

In this study the effect of temperature and humidity on electrical properties of organic orange dye (OD) complex with vinyl-ethynyl-trimethyl-piperidole (VETP) have been examined. Thin films of OD (C17H17N5O2) and VETP (C12H19NO) complex were deposited from 10 wt.% (5 wt.% of each matter) solution in mixture of distilled water (80%) and spirit. The films were grown at room temperature under normal gravity conditions, i.e., 1 g and in a spin coater at an angular speed of 300 RPM. The Cu/OD-VETP/Cu surface type samples were fabricated and their low frequency (10 Hz) AC electric characteristics were evaluated for the temperature range 30-95 °C at ambient humidity of 45-80%. It was observed that at normal conditions the conductivity of the samples is temperature dependent and shows semi-conductive behavior with activation energy of 0.55 eV. It was found that with increase in humidity the resistance of the samples decreases and at humidity values equal to 60-70% the irreversible transition from semi-conductive to conductive state takes place. It is supposed that in the former state the conductive matrix is formed due to incorporation of the water molecules into OD-VETP complex.

Antidermatophytic activity of dichloromethane and methanol extracts of whole plant of Allamanda cathertica was evaluated. Two pathogenic dermatophytes Trichophyton rubrum and Microsporum gypseum were used that were collected from dermatophytoses patients. The dichloromethane extract was moderately active at concentration of 50 µg/disc but exhibited highly potent activity at concentration of 200 µg/disc. The methanol extract was not active against the tested fungi. Dichloromethane extract of A. cathertica may have antidermatophyte constituents that could be useful in ringworm diseases.

Machines have a long-demonstrated ability to find statistical relationships between qualities of texts and surface-level linguistic indicators of writing. More recently, unlocked by artificial intelligence, the potential of using machines to identify content-related writing trait criteria has been uncovered. This development is significant, especially in formative assessment contexts where feedback is key. Yet the extent to which writing traits can be validly scored by machines remains under-researched, especially in the K-12 context. The present study investigated the validity of machine learning (ML) models designed for students in grades 3-6 to score three writing traits: task fulfillment, organization and coherence, and vocabulary and expression. The study utilized an argument-based approach, focusing on two primary inferences: evaluation and explanation. The evaluation inference investigated human-machine score alignment, the ability for the models to detect off-topic and gibberish responses, and the consistency of human-machine score alignment across grades and language backgrounds. The explanation inference investigated the relevance of features used in the models. Results indicated that human-machine score alignment was sufficient for all writing traits; however, validity concerns were raised regarding the models' performances detecting off-topic and gibberish responses and the consistency across sub-groups. Implications for language assessment professionals and other educators were discussed.