Estimation of Export Supply Function for Citrus Fruit in Pakistan

There is strong evidence in the literature that export and economic growth have a positive relationship. In Pakistan, with an agrarian economy, earnings from primary agricultural exports are vital for the overall growth process. Fruits are the traditional export commodities, which contribute more than half of total export earnings from primary agricultural commodities. The persistent instability in world market prices for primary commodities has depressed the export earnings from these commodities over time. This poses great challenges to a country like Pakistan. The present study aims at examining changes in the volume of export of citrus fruit from Pakistan caused by such factors as changes in domestic and export prices, national product, foreign exchange rate, etc. The study uses time series data for the period 1975–2004 for citrus exports and related domestic price, export price, GDP, and foreign exchange rate, employing the co-integration and error correction techniques for analysis purposes.

The Biosorption of Cr (VI) From Aqueous SolutionUsing Date Palm Fibers (Leef)

The ability of Cr (VI) removal from aqueous solution using date palm fibers (leef) was investigated .The effects of pH, contact time, sorbets concentration and initial metal ions concentration on the biosorption were investigated.<br />The residual concentration of Cr (VI) in solution was determined colorimetrically using spectrophotometer at wave length 540 nm .The biosorption was pH-dependent, the optimum pH was 7 and adsorption isotherms obtained fitted well with Langmuir isotherms .The Langmuir equation obtained was Ce/Cs = 79.99 Ce-77.39, the correlation factor was 0.908.These results indicate that date palm fibers (leef) has a potential effect for the uptake of Cr (VI) from industrial waste water.<br /

Rapid Manufacturing: Classification and Recent Development

Rapid Prototyping is an emerging technology in the field of advance manufacturing process/technique in which components/parts/models are rapidly created from the visual world (CAD model) to real world with minimum human interaction. Since the manufacturing starts with the creation of geometric data, either as a 3D solid using a CAD model, or 2D layers using a 3D scanning device therefore it is also referred as Layer Manufacturing, Material Deposition Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, Solid Freeform Manufacturing and Three-Dimensional Printing. This is one of the best techniques to manufacture prototypes which may be used for physical visualization, making some typical and intrinsic geometry. For the same requirement, in most of the cases it is very cost effective, flexible and time saving than any other available manufacturing technique. Therefore it is the most appropriate technique to manufacture or to recreate components/parts/model in different engineering viz. aerospace, product and tool development. A lot of new developments are occurring in the field of Rapid Prototyping Techniques in recent years. This paper also provides the development, trendsand applications of the Rapid Prototyping Techniques. The authors cover various available literatures to prepare concise and progressive review. There are various components which are associated with RP technique and some of them are listed in this paper

Acute Administration of Clozapine and Risperidone Altered Dopamine Metabolism More in Rat Caudate than in Nucleus Accumbens: A Dose-Response Relationship

The present study compares the extrapyramidal and neurochemical effects of clozapine and risperidone in rat caudate (corpus striatum) and nucleus accumbens (ventral striatum) dose-dependently. Animals injected with clozapine (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg IP) or risperidone (1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg IP) in acute were sacrificed 1 h later to collect brain samples. Extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) in terms of locomotor activity and catalepsy were monitored in each animal after the drug or vehicle administration. Maximum cataleptic potentials were found only at high doses of clozapine (10.0 mg/kg; 60%) and risperidone (5.0 mg/kg; 100%). Neurochemical estimations were carried out by HPLC-EC. Both drugs at all doses significantly (p<0.01) increased the concentration of homovanillic acid (HVA), a metabolite of DA, in the caudate nucleus and decreased in nucleus accumbens. Levels of Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) significantly (p<0.01) increased in the caudate by clozapine administration and decreased in the nucleus accumbens by the administration of both drugs in a dose-dependent manner. 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the predominant metabolite of serotonin significantly decreased in the caudate and nucleus accumbens in a similar fashion. Levels of tryptophan (TRP) were remained insignificant in caudate and nucleus accumbens by the injections of two drugs. In caudate, clozapine and risperidone administrations significantly (p<0.01) decreased HVA/DA ratio and increased DOPAC/DA ratio in nucleus accumbens at all doses. The findings suggest the evidence for DA/5-HT receptor interaction as an important link in the lower incidence of EPS. The possible role of serotonin1A receptors in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia is also discussed

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector

Overexpression of adrenomedullin gene markedly inhibits proliferation of PC3 prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

The expression of the gene encoding adrenomedullin (AM), a multifunctional peptide hormone, in the prostate is localized to the epithelial cells. Prostate cancer cells are derived from prostatic epithelial cells. To elucidate the potential role of the AM gene in prostate cancer progression, we have stably-transfected the PC3 human prostate cancer cell line with an AM gene expression vector. The AM-transfected PC3 sublines were studied along with parental and empty vector transfected PC3 cells as controls. The average level of AM in the conditioned media of AM-transfected cells was 0.959+/-0.113 nM, a physiologically relevant concentration. The ectopic expression of AM gene inhibited the proliferation of PC3 cells in culture dishes. In addition, anchorage-independent growth of the transfected sublines was virtually abolished in soft agar assays. Flow cytometry studies showed that overexpression of AM gene caused a very significant G(1)/G(0) cell cycle arrest. In vivo experiments demonstrated that AM gene expression markedly inhibited the growth of xenograft tumors in nude mice. Our in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that AM could strongly suppress the malignancy of prostate cancer cells, via autocrine and/or paracrine mechanisms