411 research outputs found
Rhetorical expression in Rehman Baba’s poetry
No full textRehman Baba is a prominent figure and well known personalty in the history of Pashto literature. Despite of his poetic themes, his diction and expressions with the lingual reference are very important.He has a unique style and diction in his poetry.He used figurative language. It is not only eloquent but also strenuous.He is popular among all due to his artistic abilities and lingual aspects .The author of this paper has strived to unpack rhetorical expression the poetry of rehman baba
Hydraulic simulations to evaluate and predict design and operation of the Chashma Right Bank Canal
No full textIrrigation systems / Irrigation canals / Flow control / Velocity / Canal regulation techniques / Hydraulics / Simulation models / Design / Operations / Crop-based irrigation / Distributary canals / Water delivery / Policy / Protective irrigation / Water allocation / Water requirements / Sedimentation / Water distribution / Equity / Water conveyance / Pakistan / Chashma Right Bank Canal
Gulf capital & islamic finance: the rise of the new global players
No full textIn Gulf Capital and Islamic Finance, Aamir A. Rehman, the acclaimed author of Dubai & Co.: Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States, sheds welcome light on the hows and whys of trillions of dollars of Gulf capital, and Shariah-compliant finance--a fast-growing sector that Standard & Poor's values at $750 billion. In addition to incisive analysis of these dynamic, often unfamiliar markets, Rehman examines this sector's growth potential and investment opportunities
Fern-synthesized silver nanocrystals: Towards a new class of mosquito oviposition deterrents?
No full textMosquitoes act as vectors of devastating pathogens and parasites, representing a key threat for millions of humans and animals worldwide. Eco-friendly control tools are urgently required. We proposed a novel method of fern-mediated biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) using Dicranopteris linearis, acting as a reducing and capping agent. AgNP were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), zeta potential and particle size analysis. In mosquitocidal assays, the LC50 of D. linearis extract against Aedes aegypti ranged from 165.213 (larva I) to 255.055 ppm (pupa). LC50 of D. linearis-synthesized AgNP ranged from 18.905 (larva I) to 29.328 ppm (pupa). In the field, the application of D. linearis extract and AgNP (10 × LC50) led to 100% larval reduction after 72 h. Smoke toxicity experiments conducted against A. aegypti adults showed that D. linearis leaf-, stem- and root-based coils evoked mortality rates comparable to the permethrin-based positive control (58%, 47%, 34%, and 48% respectively). In ovicidal experiments, egg hatchability was reduced by 100% after treatment with 25 ppm of AgNP and 300 ppm of D. linearis extract. Interestingly, oviposition deterrent assays highlighted that 100 ppm of fern extract reduced oviposition rates of more than 65%, while 10 ppm of fern-fabricated AgNP reduced oviposition rates of more than 70% in A. aegypti (OAI were − 0.52 and − 0.55, respectively). Overall, our results highlighted that D. linearis-synthesized AgNP could be useful candidates to develop nano-formulated oviposition deterrents effective against dengue vectors
Insecticide susceptibility in larval population of the West Nile vector Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) in Saudi Arabia
No full textObjective: To investigate the susceptibility to some conventional and non-conventional
insecticides in laboratory and field larval populations of the West Nile vector Culex
pipiens L. (Cx. pipiens), the dominant species in Jeddah Province, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: The tested conventional insecticides were Actikil and Pesgard, while the nonconventional
ones were Bacilod, Dudim and Baycidal. Probit analysis and photomicroscopical
observations were carried out to shed light on acute toxicity in laboratory
and field Cx. pipiens strains.
Results: Cx. pipiens were more susceptible to Pesgard (LC50: 0.045 and 0.032 mg/L)
than Actikil (0.052 and 0.038 mg/L) and Bacilod (0.129 and 0.104 mg/L), for the field
and laboratory strains, respectively. Results showed that treatments with the chitin synthesis
inhibitor Dudim and Baycidal evoked morphological effects similar to those
induced by other insect growth regulators. According to IC50 values obtained (concentration
which to inhibit the emergence of 50% of mosquito adults), the compound Dudim
(0.0003 and 0.0001 mg/L) was more effective against Cx. pipiens L. mosquitoes than
Baycidal (0.0004 and 0.0003 mg/L) for both the field and laboratory strains, respectively.
Conclusions: Our results provide baseline data to enhance control programs and orient
public health decisions on the selection of pesticides againstmosquito vectors inSaudiArabia
Barcoding Antarctic Fishes: Species Discrimination and Contribution to Elucidate Ontogenetic Changes in Nototheniidae
No full textFish species richness in the Southern Ocean accounts for approximately 2 % of the world’s ocean species, with more than 370 species registered and several awaiting for formal description. Here we explore on the use of DNA barcoding to discriminate fishes from Antarctic Peninsula by compiling our results and placing them into a comparative framework with other previous studies to provide a comprehensive review of available barcodes for Antarctic fishes. A total of 275 specimens, belonging to 36 different putative species were barcoded. Nearly all species exhibit unique barcodes or clusters of closely related haplotypes, and only four species lacked genetic resolution using Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). Thus, *90 % of the species barcoded in this study could be identified at species level with accuracy using BINs. However the use of nucleotic diagnostic character allowed us to discriminate the remaining species. Compiling our results with previous studies, about 80 species inhabiting the Antarctic Peninsula were already barcoded, representing approximately 60 % of the species occurring in the area. Finally, we highlighted ontogenetic morphological traits observed in some Notothenidae, which may lead to misidentification of juveniles. DNA Barcoding was a cornerstone element for obtaining a reliable identification of these specimens. These results are crucial for management and conservation purposes since an accurate species-level resolution of juveniles is necessary to determine nursery areas and to clarify species distributions.Fil: Mabragaña, Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Delpiani, Sergio Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Rosso, Juan Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: González Castro, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Deli Antoni, Mariana Yanel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Hanner, Robert. University Of Guelph. Department Of Integrative Biology.; CanadáFil: Díaz de Astarloa, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentin
High-throughput phenotyping applications in control and outdoor environments for stress tolerance analysis of kale and blueberries production
No full textAbiotic stressors such as drought and salinity significantly impact plant growth, development, and productivity. Traditional phenotyping methods for assessing plant responses to these stressors are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and unsuitable for large-scale plant populations. This thesis explores the application of advanced high-throughput phenotyping techniques by utilizing cutting-edge imaging technologies combined with machine learning and deep learning models to assess plant stress tolerance and predict physiological traits. These application-driven approaches provide scalable, non-destructive, and precise phenotyping capabilities, improving resource management and accelerating breeding programs for stress-resilient crops. To evaluate salt stress tolerance in kale plants, a high-throughput phenotyping system utilizing RGB imaging was developed. This system automated the extraction of morphological traits, such as canopy area and axes lengths, using YOLOv8 instance segmentation models trained on images from GoPro and Raspberry Pi cameras. Results showed that the model achieved mAP values between 0.897–0.952, and plants with split-root systems demonstrated superior growth under high salt stress compared to single-root systems. An ARIMA model was also used to forecast plant growth, achieving low MAPE values, providing growers with a new method to optimize resource allocation in controlled environments. Assessing drought stress in blueberries is crucial for supporting breeding programs aimed at developing drought-tolerant varieties. To facilitate laborious and time consumption task, a custom hyperspectral imaging platform was designed to capture high-resolution spectral data. A Transformer-based model, LWC-former, was introduced to predict leaf water content (LWC) by transforming spectral reflectance into patch representations, effectively addressing multicollinearity issues in hyperspectral data. The results showed that our model achieved a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.81 on the test dataset. The performance of the proposed model was also compared with a multilayer perceptron (MLP), partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector regression (SVR), and random forest (RF), achieving R² values of 0.71, 0.47, and 0.58, respectively. The results demonstrated that LWC-former outperformed other deep learning and statistical-based models, demonstrating its effectiveness for large-scale drought tolerance phenotyping. To obtain more comprehensive insights into plant responses under drought stress, it is critical to predict additional physiological traits beyond LWC. To this end, a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN)-based model, Plant-GCN, was developed to predict multiple physiological traits of blueberries along with LWC, such as stomatal conductance (gs), electron transport rate (ETR), photosystem II efficiency (φPSII), and photosynthesis (A) using hyperspectral imaging data. The GCN model transformed spectral data into a graph-based representation, capturing complex spectral interactions among plants. The model achieved R² values ranging from 0.89 to 0.94 for different traits and consistently outperformed other statistical and deep learning-based models, demonstrating its ability to accurately and efficiently predict a wide range of physiological traits under drought stress conditions. This unified approach provides a more complete picture of plant responses, offering a scalable solution for phenotyping and improving drought resilience strategies
(Auto)portret intelektualny Antoniego Rehmana a formy komunikacji z czytelnikami w "Kilku kartkach z Kaukazu" [An intellectual (self)portrait of Antoni Rehman, and the forms of communicating with readers in "A few Pages form the Caucasus"]
No full textThe subject of this article is a forgotten text, A few Pages form the Caucasus. Passages from a Journey Previously not Announced in Print, Made in 1873, published in 1879 in the Pamiętnik Towarzystwa Tatrzańskiego [Tatra Society Memoir] by Antoni Rehman, a Galician scholar, traveller and plant collector. The author of the article endeavours to identify elements of an intellectual (self)portrait of Rehman, evident in the author’s strategies of describing the region. The author of the article examines Rehman’s research sensitivity, characteristics of his professional ethos and, finally, his subjectivity as a traveller and as an author of travel accounts. The author of the article continually confronts the portrait of the scholar prepared in this way with Rehman’s visible need to communicate with a readership not versed in scientific research. Furthermore, the author of the article situates the above-mentioned examination in a postcolonial perspective. This, however, is not done in a way that would exhaust the topic, but as a supplement to the postcolonial portrayal of Rehman, which already exists in literature of this field
Mitochondrial DNA diversity of wild and hatchery reared strains of Indian Lates calcarifer (Bloch)
No full textLates calcarifer, locally known as seabass in Asia and barramundi in Australia, is a large, euryhaline member of the family Centropomidae that is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region. Its hardy nature, high tolerance to wide range physiological condition and high commercial value has made it a good candidate species for aquaculture practices. In this study we compared the mtDNA diversity of hatchery reared and wild Lates calcarifer using universal DNA barcode gene (Cytochrome Oxidase C subunit 1 gene) to assess the genetic health of L. calcarifer hatchery practices in India. Sampling stations were randomly chosen to cover both East and West coasts of India. The phylogram constructed with COI sequences (n = 88) of L. calcarifer revealed that geographic distributions of clades are not restricted to any particular sampling stations. Gene flow appeared to have transported haplotypes between the clades from their likely origins across the sampled range. Both Nucleotide (π) and haplotyte (h) diversity of wild L. calcarifer was higher in East coast samples compared to West coast samples. The comparative genetic diversity analysis assessed through COI sequences between hatchery reared and wild catches of L. calcarifer showed that the nucleotide diversity of hatchery strains was 2.7 times lesser than that of wild strains, demanding immediate action plans to restore genetic diversity in L. calcarifer hatchery practices in India
Early prediction of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia
No full textThe study aim was to predict, using serum bilirubin, level measured 18 to 24 hours (SB, 18-24) after birth, the occurrence of peak serum bilirubin level >15 mg/dL (hyperbilirubinemia) or the requirement of phototherapy, any time from the second to fifth postnatal day. The study was conducted on a prospective cohort of 274 neonates born in north India. The main outcome measures were (a) hyperbilirubinemia and (b) phototherapy. Serum bilirubin level was estimated at 18-24 hours of age and then daily from second to fifth postnatal day. Exclusion criteria were Rh incompatibility, asphyxia and life threatening congenital malformations; and neonates of women with gestational diabetes or history intake of drugs affecting the fetal liver. Hyperbilirubinemia was found in 12.8%; and 19.3% neonates received phototherapy. Dichotomous SB 18-24, using a cut-off of >3.99 mg/dL, as the "prediction test" had the following sensitivity and specificity for predicting (a) hyperbilirubinemia: 67% and 67%, respectively, and (b) the treatment with phototherapy: 64% and 68%, respectively. We concluded that by using SB 18-24 as the "prediction test", approximately two-thirds of neonates were test negative and had about one in ten chances of re-admission for treatment of hyperbilirubinemia, if discharged. After further validation, our results will be of benefit to neonates delivered in developing countries
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