Civil Engineering

Field experiments were conducted at the Irrigated Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Prosser, Washington, in 1992 and 1993 to study the effects of simulated chlorsulfuron (2 chloro-hi "(4 methoxy-6 methyl 1,3,5-triazin 2 yl)amino]carbonyl]benzenesulfonamide) drift at different reproductive growth stages of three cherry (Prunus avium L) cultivars, Rainier, Chinook, and Bing Branches of each cultivar were treated at side-green, full bloom, postbloom, and pit hardening growth stages with 0, 251 1 x 10 ' , 83 8 x 10 ' , 27 9 x lo-', 9 3 x lo-', and 3 1 x lo-' M chlorsulfuron In single-exposure experi ments, Chinook was adversely affected by the lower levels of chlorsulfuron Bing was not affected by levels of chlorsulfuron below 27 9 x 10 ' M The yield and quality of fruit decreased significantly with the increase in chlorsulfuron concentrations applied at full bloom and postbloom stages Reduction in yield was correlated with the severity of injury symptoms on leaves In the multiple exposure experiments, fruit yield, fruit size, and color were significantly reduced by increasing chlorsulfuron concentration and number of exposures Average firmness of fruit increased with increases in chlorsulfuron concentration The data suggested that multiple exposures of a susceptible cherry cultivar to low levels of chlorsulfuron at full bloom and postbloom stage can reduce fruit yield and delay maturity of cherries while increasing fruit firmness

1. A 2‐year field study was conducted in 2000 and 2001 at a farm in Monmouth, Illinois to evaluate the effect of MON 863, a transgenic corn event that expresses the Cry3Bb1 protein for control of corn rootworms, on diverse groups of arthropod populations in a corn ecosystem.2. The field study employed a split‐plot design with MON 863 and conventional corn as the main plots and several insecticide treatments as subplots; each main plot was replicated four times (i.e. n = 4 block replications for each corn variety). A large number of arthropod taxa were trapped, taxonomically characterised, and counted in all plots. A mixed linear repeated‐measures model was used for analysis of each taxon collected to determine if there was an effect of MON 863 or insecticide regime on that taxonomic group.3. This report describes the results of a power analysis to determine the ability of the study design to detect an effect of MON 863 corn on the abundance of different groups of arthropods. A 50% d...

A 3-yr Þeld study was conducted in Monmouth, IL, to evaluate the effect of transgenic Bt corn expressing a Cry3Bb1 protein (MON 863) on foliage-dwelling arthropods. The study employed a split-plot design with MON 863 corn and a conventional non-Bt near isoline (RX670) as the main plots and insecticide regimens (no insecticide, imidacloprid applied as seed treatment, teßuthrin applied as soil treatment, and permethrin applied as foliar treatment) as subplots. Foliage-dwelling arthropods were sampled with sticky traps during each of the 3 yr (2000 Ð2002). The most abundant taxa collected included corn pests, such as Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte and Chaetocnema pulicaria Melsheimer (Coleoptera:Chrysomelidae), and Rhopalosiphum maidis Fitch (Homoptera: Aphididae). The most abundant generalist predators captured by sticky traps were Coccinellidae (ladybird beetles), Nabidae (damsel bugs), Orius insidiosus Say (minute pirate bugs), Syrphidae (ßower ßies), Chrysoperla carnea Stephens (green lacewings), Macrocentrus cingulum Rienhardt (a braconid parasitoid), and Araneae (spiders). MON 863 corn had no consistent adverse impact on the relative abundance of any nontarget foliage-dwelling arthropod taxon, including predators and parasitoids. However, insecticide applications of foliar insecticide (permethrin) signiÞcantly and consistently decreased the abundance of ladybird beetles, green lacewings, and damsel bugs compared with the insecticidal seed treatment or no insecticide application. The abundance of the pest R. maidis also was observed to increase in the foliar-applied insecticide treatment. Therefore, adoption of MON 863 and the concurrent reduction in broad-spectrum foliar-applied insecticide use for control of adult Diabrotica spp. have the potential to enhance biological control within corn agro-ecosystems.

To observe the influence/efficiency of entry test in the selection of students for MBBS. To see the effect of FSC and Entry test marks on the future performance of students in the coming years. This was an Analytical Prospective Longitudinal study carried out in a private medical college from December 2009 to April 2011. Sampling was universal as all the students of year 2009 who succeeded in getting admission were included. The subjects were selected at the time of admission and the whole class (admission intake) comprising of 100 students during the admission year 2009 were studied. The same cohort was observed over a period of three years. The base line data was collected from the record, documents submitted at the time of admission and verified from the original record. The results of FSC and entry test are consistent in approximately all the percentage groups who got above 70% marks in FSC. Consistency was only disturbed in students who acquired 61-70% marks in FSC and entry te...

The increasing use of pesticides for boosting the yield of agricultural crops also impart toxic residues which ultimately extend to numerous physiological disorders upon consumption. The present study was designed as an effort to assess the reduction potential of various chemical solutions and to minimize the pesticide residues in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis). The samples were soaked in various solutions along with tap water to mitigate pesticide residues. Afterwards, the extracted supernatant was passed through column containing anhydrous sodium sulfate trailed by activated carbon for clean-up. Eluents were first evaporated and then completely dried under gentle stream of Nitrogen. Finally, the residues were determined using gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). Results revealed the highest reduction of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues with acetic acid (10 %) was 1.133 ± 0.007 (41 %), 0.870 ± 0.022 (60 %) and 0.403 ± 0.003 (75 %), respectively among the tested solutions. However, simple tap water treatment also resulted in 0.990 ± 0.02 (12 %), 1.323 ± 0.015 (14 %) and 1.274 ± 0.002 (21 %) elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively. Moreover, among various solutions, acetic acid depicted maximum reduction potential followed by citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, sodium chloride and sodium carbonate solutions. The percent reduction by various solutions ranged from 12 to 41, 14 to 60 and 21 to 75 % for the elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively.

Genotypic variation between and within populations of the outbreeding wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.), was studied using seeds collected from 55 sites across the West Australian wheat belt along 2 transects in December 1999 and February 2000. The seeds were grown at the University of Western Australia field station at Shenton Park, Perth, WA over the 2000 growing season, and 14 morphological and phenological characters were scored. A high degree of variation was present in all traits, and within site variation was greater than between sites. The greatest variation was recorded in the reproductive traits such as time to flowering, seed weight, and pod weight. Variation between sites was associated with geo-clusters based primarily on rainfall and temperature. Populations from sites with a high annual rainfall and low average temperature had longer and wider pods, larger seeds and pods with more segments, compared to populations from sites with a low annual rainfall and a high average temperature. These plants also tended to flower later than those from hotter, drier sites. The results show that wild radish in the wheat-belt of Western Australia has formed genotypically distinct populations in the 150 years since it was introduced, that are adapted to the climate at the site of collection.

The truncated distributions has been widely studied, primarily in life-testing and reliability analysis. Most work has assumed an upper bound on the support of the random variable, i.e. the space of the distribution is (0, d). We consider a doubly-truncated Fréchet random variable restricted by both a lower (c) and upper (d) truncation point. We provide forms for the density, cumulative distribution function (CDF), hazard function, characteristic function, rth raw moment, mean, mode, median, variance, skewness, kurtosis, Shannon entropy function, relative entropy and quantile function. We also consider the generating issues. This paper deals also with the determination of R = P[Y < X] when X and Y are two independent doubly truncated Fréchet distributions (DTFD) with different scale parameters, different shape parameters but the same truncations parameters. Different methods to estimate doubly truncated Fréchet distribution parameters are studied, Maximum Likelihood estimator, Moments estimator, Percentile estimator, least square estimator and weighted least square estimator. An empirical study is conducted to compare among these methods.

ABSTRACTSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections has affected more than 15 million people and, as of 22 July 2019, caused deaths of more than 0.6 million individuals globally. With the excretion of SARS-CoV-2 in the stool of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, its genome detection in the sewage water can be used as a powerful epidemiological tool to predict the number of positive cases in a population. This study was conducted to detect SARS-CoV-2 genome in sewage water during the lockdown. Sewage samples, from 28 pre-selected sites, were collected on alternate days from 13-25 July, 2020 from two selected areas [Johar Town (n = 05) and Township (n = 23)], where smart lockdown were implemented by the government authorities on 9th July, 2020. Genomic RNA was extracted and the SARS-CoV-2 was detected and quantified using commercially available kit through Real-Time PCR. Out of 28, sixteen samples were positive on day one while 19, 17, 23, 17, ...

Objectives: To measure the current status of preventive activities in civil and military hospitals. To compare the quantum ofpreventive and curative activities in the hospitals. To make recommendations for promotion of preventive activities to reduce the curative burdenfrom the hospitals. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Sampling Technique: Universal sampling. All the major military and publicsector hospitals having bed strength more than 400 in Rawalpindi were included in the study. All the preventive and curative work was taken intoaccount. Methodology: A structured questionnaire was developed and data regarding the quantum of work was collected from all the fourmajor Military and civil hospitals having bed strength more than 400 beds through registers and annual reports of the hospital and was analyzedin the form of frequencies, tabulation, cross tabulation, percentages and was displayed in tables and graphs using SPSS (10.5), Microsoft Exceland calculus. Results: ...

Telecommunication industry has begun to appreciate and embrace Lean Six Sigma (LSS) not only to improve organisation productivity but also to enhance supply chain performance. The aim of this study is to survey which critical success factor (CSFs) of Lean Six Sigma that were could lead to better supply chain performance which eventually increases the competitiveness of the telecommunication industry in Malaysia. Research methodology is designed to empirically analyse data collected from 45 senior managers in the telecommunication industry. However, only 35 employees respond towards the questionnaire given. Hypotheses were tested using factor analysis, reliability and multiple regression analysis. The result of this study reveals the CSFs that significantly influence the successful implementation of LSS within the TELCO industry. The study identified project selection, prioritization and reviews the most critical to the success of implementing the LSS program, which eventually will e...

The SFD ® technology, applied in numerous basins around the world, uses a unique quantum method to extract stress field anomalies and hence trapped reservoir information from the gravitational field. The gravity field acts as a carrier of stress induced energies that are the contributors to the gravitational field potential. Unlike traditional gravity measurement methods, the SFD ® sensor can dynamically (integration of signal over time) and selectively (through resonance) interact with the gravity field and, as a result, is able to detect perturbations associated with trapped fluids (oil, gas and/or water) in the subsurface.”

The purpose of this study is to explore the employability skills required in different countries/cultures and to further explore how cultural differences influence teaching/learning techniques required to equip students with required employability skills. Data were collected from 158 human resource managers working in different organizations and 169 faculty members who were engaged in teaching business graduates in four culturally different countries: Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. SPSS version 20 was used to calculate the average and compute the values. Results of this study indicated that employability skills for business graduates vary among different counties/cultures but the five employability skills are common regardless of cultural differences: entry-level digital skills, problem-solving skills, organizational skills, decision making, and goal-oriented skills. In addition, the findings of this study also indicated that teaching/learning techniques such as case ...

W heat is an essential source of food and provides an appreciable amount of protein, carbohydrates, zinc, fiber, calories, energy and fat globally (Chattha et al., 2017a; Hassan et al., 2019a, 2021a; Mohsin et al., 2021). Nonetheless, production of wheat across the continents is substantially decreasing owing to drought stress linked with climate change (Sadok et al., 2019; Sabella et al., 2020). Moreover, frequency of drought stress is contentiously soaring up owing to unpredictable rainfall and rapid change in climate Abstract | Drought is serious constrain to global food production and shortage of water at any stage of plant life can be damaging for growth, physiological processes and yield. Thus, present study was executed to determine the impact of drought on growth and yield of different wheat cultivars. The study was comprised of early drought treatment such as I 0 (control), I 1 (fist irrigation 30 days after sowing), I 2 (first irrigation 45 days after sowing) and I 3 (first irrigation 60 days after sowing) and wheat cultivars Faisalabad-2008 (standard height and low tillering), Td-1 (low height and low tillering) and Galaxy-2013 (standard height and high tillering). The results indicated that maximum leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), tillers (356.2 m 2), spikelet/spike (18.61), grains/spike (49.53), 1000-grain weight (44.4 g), biological yield (12.95 t ha-1) and grain yield (4.61 t ha-1) was recorded in control whereas lowest value for these parameters were recorded when first irrigation was applied 60 days after sowing. Among cultivars Galaxy-2013 performed well maximum LAI, CGR, plant height (83.42 cm), tillers (358 m 2), spikelet/spike (18.61), grains/spike (44.97), 1000 seed weight (43.4 g) and grain yield (4.42 t ha-1), whereas Td-1 performed poorly with minimum LAI, CGR, plant height (71.10 cm), tillers (331 m 2), spikelet/spike (17.64), grains/spike (35.48), 1000 grain weight (35.50 g) and grain yield (3.14 t ha-1). In conclusion cultivar Galaxy-2013 with standard height and high tillering can be grown in drought stress areas to get maximum wheat productivity.

An effective healthcare sector essentially relies on a strong primary healthcare system. The primary healthcare system governs all major aspects of preventive healthcare and family planning services including immunization, hygiene, communicable disease prevention, sanitation, etc. In addition to this, a major bottleneck limiting the quality of healthcare at secondary and tertiary health facilities is the very high patient footfall that these hospitals. The primary healthcare facilities are designed to be the first tier of facility that a patient falls onto, and hence is either treated there or referred to higher level facilities by screening and limiting patient flow to next levels. Supporting this tier hence helps reduce burden on secondary and tertiary facilities of patients that could have been treated at primary facilities and hence exponentially improve the quality of health services in these lager hospitals. The document discusses some of the major issues faced by the primary ...

The structural changes in Ti(C,N)-W-Al mechanically alloyed (MA) binders and the sintering mechanism of PcBN were investigated by XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. The elastic properties of PcBN compacted were determined by ultrasound technique. Tungsten was efficiently dissolved in Ti(C,N) by mechanical alloying, forming homogeneous binders during sintering. Opposite strain effects were induced in the binders than in PcBN particles. Dissolution of W in Ti(C,N) enhanced the fracturing of the cBN particles and the formation of the nanostructured binder pools by increasing the hardness of binder particles. Poisson's ratios and Young's moduli of the new PcBN products were higher than the reference product. Micro-Vickers hardness of sintered products increased with milling time of the binder powder. Slightly higher hardness values were achieved when Al powder was mechanically alloyed with Ti(C,N) and W powders than when it was attrition milled with MA Ti(C,N)-W.