229 research outputs found

    Time-Frequency Spatial Wavelet Phase Coherence Analysis of EEG in EC and EO During Resting State

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    AbstractThe electrophysiological brain activities are nonlinear in nature as measured by Electroencephalography (EEG). There are coherent activities in brain not only seen during explicit tasks but also during rest. This article aims to investigate the Wavelet based Phase coherence of oscillations of eye closed and eye open signals during resting states. The wavelet coherence is computed for selected 19 electrodes according to 10-20 system from 129 channel EEG signals. The significance was obtained using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and pairwise wavelet coherence was computed for each possible combination. The Wavelet Phase Coherence using Wavelet Transform gives significantly high results (P<0.05) in EC and EO signals during resting states in frequency interval 0.5-50Hz overall as well as in the band intervals such as delta (05-4Hz), theta (4-7Hz), alpha (7-13Hz), beta (13-22Hz) and gamma (22-50Hz)

    Study of natural radioactivity in Mansehra granite, Pakistan: environmental concerns

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    A part of Mansehra Granite was selected for the assessment of radiological hazards. The average activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were found to be 27.32, 50.07 and 953.10 Bq kg(-1), respectively. These values are in the median range when compared with the granites around the world. Radiological hazard indices and annual effective doses were estimated. All of these indices were found to be within the criterion limits except outdoor external dose (82.38 nGy h(-1)) and indoor external dose (156.04 nGy h(-1)), which are higher than the world's average background levels of 51 and 55 nGy h(-1), respectively. These values correspond to an average annual effective dose of 0.867 mSv y(-1), which is less than the criterion limit of 1 mSv y(-1) (ICRP-103). Some localities in the Mansehra city have annual effective dose higher than the limit of 1 mSv y(-1). Overall, the Mansehra Granite does not pose any significant radiological health hazard in the outdoor or indoor

    A review of soil carbon dynamics resulting from agricultural practices

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    Literature related to the carbon cycle and climate contains contradictory results with regard to whether agricultural practices increase or mitigate emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). One opinion is that anthropogenic activities have distinct carbon footprints – measured as total emissions of GHGs resulting from an activity, in this case, “agricultural operations”. In contrast, it is argued that agriculture potentially serves to mitigate GHGs emissions when the best management practices are implemented. We review the literature on agricultural carbon footprints in the context of agricultural practices including soil, water and nutrient management. It has been reported that the management practices that enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) in arid and semi-arid areas include conversion of conventional tillage practices to conservation tillage approaches. We found that agricultural management in arid and semi-arid regions, which have specific characteristics related to high temperatures and low rainfall conditions, requires different practices for maintenance and restoration of SOC and for control of soil erosion compared to those used in Mediterranean, tropical regions. We recommend that in order to meet the global climate targets, quantification of net global warming potential of agricultural practices requires precise estimates of local, regional and global carbon budgets. We have conducted and present a case study for observing the development of deep soil carbon profile resulting from a 10-year wheat-cotton and wheat-maize rotation on semi-arid lands. Results showed that no tillage with mulch application had 14% (37.2 vs 43.3 Mg ha⁻¹) higher SOC stocks in comparison to conventional tillage with mulch application. By implementing no tillage in conjunction with mulch application, lower carbon losses from soil can mitigate the risks associated with global warming. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider agricultural practices and soil erosion after a land-use change when calculating global carbon footprints

    Optimizing the phosphorus use in cotton by using CSM-CROPGRO-cotton model for semi-arid climate of Vehari-Punjab, Pakistan

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    Rahman, Muhammad Habib ur/0000-0002-2823-9959; Jabran, Khawar/0000-0001-8512-3330; Hakeem, Khalid Rehman/0000-0001-7824-4695; Amin, Asad/0000-0003-2242-8377; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Jatoi, Ghulam Hussain/0000-0002-7266-1567; Rehmani, M.I.A./0000-0001-7922-1233; Bajwa, Ali/0000-0002-7171-3118; Nadeem, Muhammad/0000-0002-7426-1196; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Ameen, Asif/0000-0002-3982-7000; Islam, Faisal/0000-0002-1471-1570WOS: 000397013000067PubMed: 28054268Crop nutrient management is an essential component of any cropping system. With increasing concerns over environmental protection, improvement in fertilizer use efficiencies has become a prime goal in global agriculture system. Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important nutrients, and strategies are required to optimize its use in important arable crops like cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) that has great significance. Sustainable P use in crop production could significantly avoid environmental hazards resulting from over-P fertilization. Crop growth modeling has emerged as an effective tool to assess and predict the optimal nutrient requirements for different crops. In present study, Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) sub-model CSM-CROPGRO- Cotton-P was evaluated to estimate the observed and simulated P use in two cotton cultivars grown at three P application rates under the semi-arid climate of southern Punjab, Pakistan. The results revealed that both the cultivars performed best at medium rate of P application (57 kg ha(-1)) in terms of days to anthesis, days to maturity, seed cotton yield, total dry matter production, and harvest index during 2013 and 2014. Cultivar FH-142 performed better than MNH-886 in terms of different yield components. There was a good agreement between observed and simulated days to anthesis (0 to 1 day), days to maturity (0 to 2 days), seed cotton yield, total dry matter, and harvest index with an error of -4.4 to 15%, 12-7.5%, and 13-9.5% in MNH-886 and for FH-142, 4-16%, 19-11%, and 16-8.3% for growing years 2013 and 2014, respectively. CROPGRO-Cotton-P would be a useful tool to forecast cotton yield under different levels of P in cotton production system of the semi-arid climate of Southern Punjab.Government of Australia [4915_2015]; Higher Education Commission (HEC) of PakistanHigher Education Commission of PakistanThe first author is grateful to the International Global Change Institute (IGCI) Hamilton, New Zealand, for providing the software (SimCLIM2013) and the required climatic dataset for future projections with for southern Punjab, Pakistan. The first author is thankful to Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hoogenboom (Ex-Director, AgWeatherNet, Washington State University, USA; Currently: University of Florida-USA), for his technical guidance and support during the entire period of study and modeling work. Furthermore, first author is highly thankful from NASA for weather data of respective years (which was obtained from website http://power.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/cgiwrap). The corresponding author (Wajid NASIM) is highly thankful to Government of Australia, for Endeavor Research Award/Fellowship (No. 4915_2015) to The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Sustainable Agriculture, National Research Flagship, Toowoomba-QLD 4350, Australia. Furthermore, co-authors (Wajid NASIM and Shakeel AHMAD) are highly thankful for Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for partial funding
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