Organic dye adsorption on activated carbon derived from solid waste

Activated carbon was prepared through a chemical activation of bamboo waste precursor (BMAC) using phosphoric acid as the activating agent at 500°C for 2 h. Batch adsorption studies were carried out for the adsorption of C.I. Reactive Black 5 (RB5) onto the BMAC. The effect of various experimental parameters such as initial dye concentration (50–500 mg/L), contact time (0–32 h), pH (2–12), and temperature (30–50°C) were investigated. Equilibrium data were found to be very well represented by the Freundlich isotherm and a pseudo-second-order model was found to explain the kinetics of RB5 adsorption more effectively. The mechanism of the adsorption process was determined by the intraparticle diffusion model. Thermodynamic parameters such as standard enthalpy (ΔH°), standard entropy (ΔS°), standard free energy (ΔG°), and activation energy were determined. The results indicated that BMAC is a suitable adsorbent material for adsorption of reactive dye from aqueous solutions

The influence of seasonal variations on yield components of sunflower

The wider adaptability of the crop and wide range of climatic conditions of Pakistan make it possible to have two crops of sunflower in a year. Field experiments, one in spring and one in autumn were conducted at the University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, Pakistan to evaluate the influence of seasonal variation on yield and yield components of sunflower. Four sunflower hybrids were planted in randomized complete block design with three replications. Two central rows were harvested for the measurement of yield and yield components. It was observed that head size of spring crop was larger than autumn crop which was considered to be the result of overall better plant structure, length of crop life cycle, slow and gradual rise in cumulative degree days. Contrary to head size, thousand seed weight of autumn crop was found to be more than that of spring crop. Lesser seed weight of spring crop may be the result of competition for assimilates which left many seeds malnourished as larger head might have encouraged the initial setting of seeds. However, final yield of spring crop was greater than that of autumn crop. It led to the conclusion that having spring crop is the best option, however, autumn crop could be supplementary one to increase the production of oil seeds

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Through Microcredit: Assessing the Role of Sarhad Rural Support Program in Pakistan

Microcredit has been recognized as an effective tool to foster entrepreneurship among the rural women. Traditionally, women entrepreneurs in Pakistan are handicapped in the matter of organizing and running their businesses due to absence of capital and fear of failure. With the efforts of state-owned and private microcredit instructions, many Pakistani women are now establishing new businesses with ideas to start micro and small enterprises. This paper intends to examine the role of Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP) in empowering women entrepreneurs through microcredit in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The study was undertaken in six villages from three selected districts to examine the effect of microcredit on social and economic empowerment of the rural women entrepreneurs. The field data was collected by applying multistage sampling techniques from the sample size of 300 women entrepreneurs. However, social and economic empowerment index was developed for the assessment of socioeconomic empowerment of the women entrepreneurs. The study found significant improvement in the social and economic status of the women entrepreneurs and concludes that the overall effect of SRSP’s microcredit was positive in empowering women entrepreneurs and promoting entrepreneurship in the study area. However, to effectively address the gender-related constraints and cultural sensitivity that limit equitable access of women entrepreneurs to the local markets, support services are required by the SRSP to create linkages between the women entrepreneurs and local markets.Mikrokredyt jest uważany za skuteczne narzędzie wspierania przedsiębiorczości wśród kobiet wiejskich. Tradycyjnie, pakistańskie kobiety byłyby niechętne do uruchomienia nowej działalności gospodarczej z powodu braku kapitału i strachu przed porażką. Wspólnie z agencjami państwowymi i prywatnymi firmami wprowadzającymi programy kredytowe dla kobiet o niskich dochodach i przy niskich stopach procentowych, wiele pakistańskich kobiet zakłada obecnie nowe firmy. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu zbadanie roli Programu Wsparcia Obszarów Wiejskich (SRSP) we wzmocnieniu pozycji kobiet-przedsiębiorców poprzez mikrokredyty w prowincji Khyber Pakhtunkhwa w Pakistanie. Badanie zostało przeprowadzone w sześciu wsiach z trzech wybranych regionów w celu zbadania wpływu mikrokredytów na wzmocnienie pozycji społecznej i ekonomicznej z obszarów wiejskich kobiet-przedsiębiorców. Dane zebrano poprzez zastosowanie techniki wielostopniowego doboru z próby liczącej 300 kobiet-przedsiębiorców. Zostały opracowane indeksy społecznego i ekonomicznego upodmiotowienia dla oceny społeczno-gospodarczego upodmiotowienia kobiet. Badania wykazały znaczną poprawę statusu społecznego i gospodarczego kobiet przedsiębiorców. Ogólny efekt mikrokredytów SRSP był dodatni we wzmocnieniu pozycji i przedsiębiorczości kobiet w badanym obszarze

The measurement of the effectiveness of leadership styles for organizational commitment in Pakistan

This paper examines the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and organizational commitment.Survey method was used for the purpose of collecting data from academic staff working in public sector Tertiary Institutions in Pakistan.Total 200 questionnaires were collected.After the process of data analysis, the results revealed both transformational leadership styles and transactional leadership style have significant effect on organizational commitment.However, PLS modelling outcome showed that the transformational leadership style was more influencing factor on organizational commitment than transactional leadership.Besides that, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were highlighted

Coworker support as moderator on the relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment: A proposed framework

Several factors have been proposed to have influence over organizational commitment; among some of those prominent factors are human resource management practices.However, among the prominent studies on the said relationship; the reported findings are inconsistent.Therefore, it is proposed to incorporate a moderating variable to further explain this relationship.The current study proposed coworker support as moderator on the relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment

Moderating effect of coworker support on the relationship between HRM practices, organizational climate, leadership styles and organizational commitment

This study was conducted among the academic staff in public higher education sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. The main objective of the study was to determine the effect of human resource management practices, organizational climate, and leadership styles on organizational commitment. A total of 354 academic staff from universities located in the KPK, Pakistan participated in the study. The results revealed statistically significant support for the relationship between training and development and organizational commitment; compensation and organizational commitment; organizational climate and organizational commitment; transformational leadership style and organizational commitment; transactional leadership style and organizational commitment. However, no statistically significant support was found for the relationship between performance appraisal and organizational commitment. Moreover, the results reported moderating effect of coworker support over the relationship between compensation and organizational commitment; organizational climate and organizational commitment; transformational leadership style and organizational commitment; and transactional leadership style and organizational commitment. On the contrary, the results could not find support for the moderating effect of coworker support on the relationship between training and development and organizational commitment; and between performance appraisal and organizational commitment. In general, the empirical relationships between HRM practices, organizational climate, leadership style, coworker support, and organizational commitment suggested that it would be beneficial to the management of public sector universities to enhance organizational commitment. Besides that, theoretical and practical implications are also discussed

Application of neural networks to anger camera imaging

LAUREA MAGISTRALEHicam è un progetto di ricerca che è in continua evoluzione da importanti istituti europei che sono Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica del Politecnico di Milano, Max-Planck Institute, Università di Milano, e la University College di Londra. L'obiettivo di questo progetto è di sviluppare alta risoluzione e compatto Gamma camera per scopi clinici e di ricerca, con risoluzione spaziale complessiva inferiore a 1 mm. La parte più critica della gamma camera è la ricostruzione dell'interazione di eventi all'interno cristallo base ai segnali proviene dalla matrice di rivelatori SSD. Ci sono diversi algoritmi che potrebbero essere utilizzati per la stima delle coordinate di interazione dei raggi gamma all'interno del cristallo scintillatore, come metodo centroide e massima verosimiglianza. Ma ogni metodo ha i suoi vantaggi e svantaggi nel contesto del campo visivo, risoluzione spaziale e tempo di elaborazione. Questo lavoro si basa sullo studio delle architetture di reti neurali artificiali in particolare modello di rete e Feed Forward Neural Network per fornire una migliore stima di X, Y e Z coordinate di raggi gamma con una buona risoluzione energetica a basse energie. Le reti neurali sono molto complicati dal punto di vista formativo, ma richiede poco tempo di elaborazione.Hicam is a research project that is under continuous development by leading European institutes which are Department of Electronic Engineering of Polytechnic institute of Milan, Max-Planck Institute, University of Milan, and University College London. The objective of this project is to develop high resolution and compact Gamma camera for clinical and research purposes, with overall spatial resolution of less than 1 mm. The most critical part of the gamma camera is the reconstruction of the interaction of events inside crystal based on the signals comes from the array of SSD detectors. There are different algorithms that could be used for the estimation of the coordinates of interaction of gamma rays inside the scintillator crystal, such as centroid method and Maximum likelihood. But each method has its own advantages and disadvantages in context of field of view, spatial resolution and processing time. This work is based on the investigation of the Artificial Neural Networks architectures especially Pattern Net and Feed Forward Neural Network to provide better estimation of X, Y and Z co-ordinates of gamma rays with good energy resolution at low energies. Neural Networks are very complicated from training point of view but requires little processing time

Cystathione gamma lyase/hydrogen sulphide pathway up regulation enhances the responsiveness of ?1A and ?1B-adrenoreceptors in the kidney of rats with left ventricular hypertrophy

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the interaction between H2S and NO (nitric oxide) in the kidney and to evaluate its impact on the functional contribution of ?1A and ?1B-adrenoreceptors subtypes mediating the renal vasoconstriction in the kidney of rats with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). In rats the LVH induction was by isoprenaline administration and caffeine in the drinking water together with intraperitoneal administration of H2S. The responsiveness of ?1A and ?1B to exogenous noradrenaline, phenylephrine and methoxaminein the absence and presence of 5-methylurapidil (5-MeU) and chloroethylclonidine (CEC) was studied. Cystathione gamma lyase (CSE), cystathione ? synthase (CBS), 3-mercaptopyruvate sulphar transferase (3-MST) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) were quantified. There was significant up regulation of CSE and eNOS in the LVH-H2S compared to the LVH group (P<0.05). Baseline renal cortical blood perfusion (RCBP) was increased (P<0.05) in the LVH-H2S compared to the LVH group. The responsiveness of ?1A-adrenergic receptors to adrenergic agonists was increased (P<0.05) after administration of low dose 5-Methylurapidil in the LVH-H2S group while ?1B-adrenergic receptors responsiveness to adrenergic agonists were increased (P<0.05) by both low and high dose chloroethylclonidine in the LVH-H2S group. Treatment of LVH with H2S resulted in up-regulation of CSE/H2S, CBS, and 3-MST and eNOS/NO/cGMP pathways in the kidney. These up regulation of CSE/H2S, CBS, and 3-MST and eNOS/NO/cGMP pathways enhanced the responsiveness of ?1A and ?1B-adrenoreceptors subtypes to adrenergic agonists in LVH-H2S. These findings indicate an important role for H2S in modulating deranged signalling in the renal vasculature resulting from LVH development