The basic objective of the irrigation reforms, i.e., participatory irrigation management in Pakistan, was a better economic and financial management of irrigation service delivery, equity in water ...distribution, and better environmental outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the optimism with the reforms package that has actually delivered expected outcomes. For this purpose, this study used a cross-sectional dataset of 567 farmers in five selected Area Water Boards (AWBs) of Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Important institutional features including compliance, adaptiveness, clarity of objectives, good interaction, and appropriate scale, were modeled through structural equation modeling on the overall performance assessment of water use associations from a farmer’s perspective. Results suggested that clear objectives, adaptiveness, scale, and compliance show a strong relationship with an overall assessment of performance. While good interaction has not impacted significantly with an overall performance assessment. The impact of institutional feature on the overall performance assessment depends on the nature of performance considered, e.g., drivers of the economic performance of a farmer organization may not be the same as the drivers of its environmental performance. Besides offering insights on specific drivers that matter for a particular dimension of the institutional performance of farmer organizations, the study suggests that participatory irrigation management institutions are still in infancy even after decades of their introduction, and just creating institutions is neither mandatory nor sufficient. Furthermore, the institutional designs are considered critical for the success of participatory institutions. Therefore, there is a need to consider the conformity of the strategies with the existing norms and compliance to the on-going procedures.
In the present work, pristine and transition metal (TM) (W, Ag, Zn)-doped SnO
nanocrystals using a facile sol-gel approach were synthesized. The grown products were anchored on graphene oxide (GO) ...sheets via a simple ultrasonication technique to fabricate binary nanocomposites. The structural, optical, and morphological properties of as-synthesized samples were studied by XRD, FTIR, Raman, EDX, UV-Visible, PL, and FE-SEM. The charge transferability of graphene oxide-based samples was investigated by EIS. The XRD exhibited the TM doping in SnO
and the development of GO-based nanocomposite. FTIR data evidenced the existence of the metal-oxygen bonds. Raman spectra presented the optical phonon modes of SnO
and the existence of oxygen vacancy defects. FE-SEM images demonstrated the anchoring of particles on the GO sheet, and EDX further approved the existence of desired dopants. The integration of SnO
with TM doping remarkably reduced optical bandgap (3.65-3.10 eV), which was further decreased (3.10-2.99 eV) by making composite with GO. The photodegradation results exhibited that GO-based nanocomposites have the higher potential to degrade synthetic dyes (methyl red (MR), and methyl orange (MO) and SnZnO
/GO have shown superb photocatalytic performance after 80-min sunlight illumination (99.9% MR and 95.0% MO dyes) with the higher rate constant and superior stability up to 6th cycle against MR dye. The grown samples were tested for bacterial disinfection, and SnZnO
/GO sample showed a higher zone of inhibition towards S. aureus and K. pneumoniae bacteria strains. The greater charge transfer rate and lower recombination of charge carriers in GO-based composites were also observed by EIS and PL analysis. Moreover, the present article ascribed that the photocatalytic and antibacterial properties of bare SnO
could be improved by TM doping and fabricating their composite with GO.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This study applied a nuclear technique in conjunction with a classical monitoring tool to characterize the origin, fate, and behavior of metal pollutants in groundwater of Islamabad-Rawalpindi ...Metropolitans, which are also known as the “twin cities.” In total, 122 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed in accordance with standard methods. GIS and multivariate statistical analysis were employed for the groundwater vulnerability assessment and source apportionment. The results of the aesthetic parameters indicated that the majority of groundwater sources were tested and were colorless, odorless and tasteless in the “twin cities.” In addition, the findings of this study indicated that the concentration of pH, phosphates, copper, manganese, and zinc were within the drinking water standards in the “twin cities” as stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) at all sampling points in the study area. The groundwater quality was found unsuitable for consumption due to elevated levels of electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids at 9.83% and 4.09% of samples, respectively. The contents of arsenic and fluoride were well within the allowable range at almost all points except at one location. However, iron and lead contents were above permissible limits. A statistical analysis revealed that trace metals originated from both geogenic and anthropogenic sources such as enhanced rock-water interaction, over abstraction, evaporation enrichment, improper waste disposal, discarded batteries, cross contamination of water supply and sewerage lines, active recharge from Lie drain, and domestic, industrial, and agricultural effluents. The computed water quality index (WQI) based on heavy metals elucidated that groundwater quality was poor in most of the study area due to elevated electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, lead, iron, arsenic, and fluoride values. A highly depleted isotopic composition of
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C provides clues about the aquifer’s vulnerability from miscellaneous sources such as domestic, urban, construction, and agricultural sites and the dissolution of carbonate minerals. This study clearly indicates that a rapidly growing population, unplanned urbanization, industrialization, improper waste disposal, over abstraction, and a lack of water abstraction policies are significantly contributing toward the impairment of groundwater quality in the study area. The study strongly emphasized the need to regulate groundwater abstraction by improving water treatment and the supply system for the provision of safe water to the urban populace. These results will help in designing remedial strategies for improving water quality in the “twin cities.”
Forest biomass estimation is the central part of sustainable forest management to assess carbon stocks and carbon emissions from forest ecosystem. Sentinel-2 is state-of-art sensor with refined ...spatial and recurrent temporal resolution data. The present study explored the potential of Sentinel-2 derived vegetation indices for above ground biomass prediction using four regression models (linear, exponential, power and logarithmic). Sentinel-2 indices includes Global environmental monitoring index, transformed normalized difference vegetation index, normalized difference water index, normalized difference infrared index and red-edge normalized difference vegetation index. The performances of Sentinel-2 indices were assessed by simple single variable (index) based regression for GEMI, TNDVI, NDII, NDWI and RENDVI versus AGB values. Further, stepwise linear regression was also developed in which used all indices entered into stepwise selection and the best index was selected in the final model. Results showed that linear model of all indices performance best compared to the rest three models and R2 values 0.12, 0.39, 0.46, 0.44 and 0.37 for Global environmental monitoring index, transformed normalized. Vegetation index, normalized difference water index, infrared index and red-edge vegetation index, respectively. Normalized difference water index was considered the best index among five computed indices in simple linear as well as in stepwise linear regression, whereas rest of the indices were removed because they were not significant under the stepwise criteria. Further, the accuracy of normalized difference water index model was determined by root mean square error and final prediction model has 28.27 t/ha error for both simple linear and stepwise linear regression. Therefore, normalized difference water index was selected for biomass mapping and resultant biomass showed up to 339 t/ha in the study area. The resultant biomass map also showed consistency with global datasets which include global forest canopy height and global forest tree cover change maps. The study suggest that Sentinel-2 product has great potential to estimate above ground biomass with accuracy and can be used for large scale mapping in combination with national forest inventory for carbon emission accounting.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The study attempts to highlight various factors, which may create significant impact on employee 's career achievement The main objective of the study was to know the impact of Social Reputation, ...Social Recognition and Social Status on Career Achievement. In today's world of competition, it is very important to utilize all the available talent in an organization, and for employees, it is very essential to be successful in their career. That is why this study tried to help the employees, who want to grow in their career and for organizations, which wish to get maximum output from their employee and achieve targeted goals. Data were collected through questionnaire-based survey from 250 employees of banking sector, on 5 Point Likert Scale. Regression and reliability analysis has been applied to generate results. Three hypotheses were proposed and tested. The results show that social Status, Social Recognition and Social Reputation exist significantly among employees, irrespective of their gender.
Lilium is one of the foremost cut flowers in the international market. The main problem is blockage of xylem vessels and insufficient water uptake takes part in the short vase life of cut flowers. An ...investigation was made to study the effect of preservative and biocides such as Sucrose (4 mg), Aluminum Sulfate (60 mg), CaCl2.2H2O (30 mg), CuSO4 (90 mg) and Ethanol (6 ml) on vase life of Oriental lily cv. 'Crystal Blanca'. Postharvest characteristics such as vase life, solution uptake and petal quality were evaluated. The experiment was laid out according to Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with six treatments and three replications and Tukey test was applied to check the differences among treatments. Maximum vase life in terms of days was observed in treatment Sucrose (9.33 days) followed by Aluminum Sulfate (7.00 days) and Ethanol (6.33 days). Maximum solution uptake was also recorded in CaCl2.2H2O (151.67 ml) followed by Ethanol (106.67 ml). In present context, sucrose treatment was distinctly able to enhance the vase life of Oriental Lilly and it could be a source to increase the value of this flower
Hepatitis C is among the leading hepatic disorders in current period through which about 3 % world population has been anguish among them 170 million were diagnosed as persistent carriers. A great ...range of alteration in liver biochemical parameters were found to be allied with HCV infestation. Current study was designed to evaluate the extent of HCV mediated abnormalities in liver biochemical markers which includes ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate transaminase), ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase) and serum bilirubin. The study was conducted on coal miners of Punjab province, Pakistan. HCV was primarily diagnosed through one step rapid test device after which positive samples were confirmed through ELISA. Biochemical markers were determined through Autoanalyzer by using standard procedure provided with spinreact kits. Simple linear regression analysis significantly explained 24 %, 56.2 %, 68.8 % and 56 % variance in ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate transaminase), ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase) and serum bilirubin level among HCV positive coal mine workers respectively. Results have clearly indicated significant correlation between HCV seropositivity and liver biochemical markers. Findings of present study conclude monitoring of liver biochemical markers is crucial during HCV infectivity as it represents the degree of impairment in liver functioning. In addition to this elevation in these diagnostic markers could points toward the presence of HCV in respective individual.
Elementary school education plays a vital role for the enhancement of literacy rate of the country which is considered the major contribution for the socio-economic growth of the country. However, ...elementary school teachers face several challenges and issues during their job while performing the classroom activities. The main purpose of this research was to evaluate the problem in classroom for teachers. The population was elementary teachers from Bahawalnagar and 219 (public=113, private=106) respondents were administered as sample by applying simple random sampling technique. A Self-administered questionnaire was made for data collection based on survey method. SPSS was processed to evaluate the research objectives. The results indicated the significant difference between public and secondary school teachers about the factors classroom management and lack of facilities. There was also a significant difference shown among the teaching experience of respondents about issues related to management in classroom. The findings are useful for upgrading the learning process by adopting innovative resources.
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