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Morphometric analysis is essential for understanding drainage networks and landform evolution, particularly in complex mountainous regions like the Swat Valley. Accurate characterization of these features aids in water resource management and mitigating climate-induced challenges. The study employed GIS and remote sensing technologies, utilizing SRTM-30m DEM data to perform a comprehensive morphometric and hypsometric analysis. Key morphometric parameters such as basin size, stream order, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, circularity ratio, and elongation ratio were calculated by using Whitebox tool. Additionally, three-dimensional parameters including basin relief, roughness number, ruggedness index, and slope were analyzed. Hypsometric analysis was conducted to examine area-elevation relationships, using empirical formulas and contour data. The basin was found to be irregularly shaped, with an elongation ratio of 6.97 and a circulatory ratio of 0.3091, indicating an elongated form. Flow accumulation data highlighted areas of rapid and moderate water flow. Hypsometric analysis showed that 14 sub-basins were in an erosional stage, 8 were mature, and the remainder were older and more resistant to erosion. The overall hypsometric integral (HI) of 0.406 reflects moderate elevation variation across the basin. The study provides critical insights into the geomorphometric controls of the Swat Valley's drainage system, contributing to improved water resource management strategies. Understanding morphometric and hypsometric characteristics is vital for adapting to climate-induced risks and safeguarding water resources in mountainous landscapes.

Power cyber–physical systems such as multi-area power systems (MAPSs) have gained considerable attention due to their integration of power electronics with wireless communications technologies. Incorporating a communication setup enhances the sustainability, reliability, and efficiency of these systems. Amidst these exceptional benefits, such systems' distributed nature invites various cyber-attacks. This work focuses on the equal power sharing of MAPSs in the event of false data injection (FDI) attacks. The proposed work uses a sliding mode control (SMC) mechanism to ensure timely detection of challenges such as FDI attacks and load change, making MAPSs reliable and secure. First, a SMC-based strategy is deployed to enable the detection and isolation of compromised participants in MAPS operations to achieve equal power sharing. Second, time-varying FDI attacks on MAPSs are formulated and demonstrate their impact on equal power sharing. Third, a robust adaptive sliding mode observer is used to accurately assess the state of the MAPS to handle state errors robustly and automatically adjust parameters for identifying FDI attacks and load changes. Lastly, simulation results are presented to explain the useful ability of the suggested method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton is one of the world's leading fiber crops, but climate change, drought, heat, and salinity have significantly decreased its production, consequently affecting the textile industries globally. To acclimate to these environmental challenges, a number of gene families involved in various molecular, physiological, and hormonal mechanisms play crucial roles in improving plants response to various abiotic stresses. One such gene family is the GhSRF, a Strubbelig-Receptor family (SRF), and member of the leucine-rich repeat (LRR-V) group. This family encodes leucine-rich repeat transmembrane receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) and have not yet been explored in cotton. Arabidopsis thaliana Strubbelig-Receptor gene sequences were used as queries to identify the homologs in cotton, with subsequent support from the literature and functional prediction through online data. In the current study, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of cotton was conducted, identifying 22 SRF putative proteins encoded by 22 genes. We performed the detailed analysis of these proteins, including phylogeny, motif and gene structure characterization, promoter analysis, gene mapping on chromosomes, gene duplication events, and chromosomal sub-cellular localization. Expression analysis of putative genes was performed under drought and heat stress conditions using publicly available RNAseq data. The qRT-PCR results showed elevated expression of GhSRF2, GhSRF3, GhSRF4, GhSRF10, and GhSRF22 under drought and heat stress. So, it could be speculated that these genes may play a role in drought and heat tolerance in cotton. These findings could be helpful in cotton breeding programs for the development of climate-resilient cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discharge of toxic industrial effluents into freshwater has a significant impact on both humans and aquatic lives, which needs to be addressed on an urgent basis. SnO2, a wide bandgap material possesses good photocatalytic properties, which can be exploited to degrade organic pollutants. However, there is a need to develop an appropriate strategy to decrease its bandgap and minimize the recombination of charge carriers. For this purpose, we are reporting the synthesis of SnO2/SnSe composites by wet chemical process in various ratios. The as-synthesized samples were analyzed through various characterization techniques. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the successful synthesis of tetragonal rutile SnO2 and orthorhombic structure of SnSe. The average crystallite size varied between 25 and 35 nm. UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) confirmed that the bandgap of SnO2 and SnSe was 3.63 eV and 1.21 eV, respectively, whereas the bandgap of composites ranged from 3.47 to 3.03 eV. The FTIR spectrum exhibited absorption peaks at 745 cm−1, 1113 cm−1, and 1381 cm−1 due to the Sn–O–Sn bond and Sn–OH bond vibrations. Whereas the absorption observed at 665 cm−1 is associated with Se–O bond vibration. Raman spectroscopy revealed the bands at 629 cm−1 and 767 cm−1 for the rutile structure of SnO2 and bands at 75 cm−1, and 152 cm−1 are characteristic of SnSe. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) illustrated the formation of irregular-shaped agglomerated nanoparticles of the prepared materials. Photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) revealed that the composite containing 78% SnO2 and 32% SnSe (denoted as SS-4) was highly an highly effective catalyst and degraded 97.1% of MB in 120 min. The reaction kinetics of the prepared photocatalysts satisfied the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of industrial effluents into fresh water is a major contributor of water contamination. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a viable solution to this alarming issue to improve the quality of clean water. To enhance the photocatalytic efficiency and hence utilization ratio of CuO, a series of CuO–FeSe2 composites with different varying contents of FeSe2 were prepared through facile synthetic methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-rays (EDX) analysis verified that the samples were successfully prepared without any contaminating phases. The average crystallite sizes of CuO and FeSe2 were computed to be 29 and 21 nm respectively. For the CuO–FeSe2 composites, the crystallite sizes varied between 25 and 27 nm. The morphology of CuO was comprised of needle-shaped structures, whereas that of FeSe2 was observed to be flower-shaped structures comprising of irregular crystals. A red shift in the bandgap of CuO–FeSe2 composites was observed with the increase in FeSe2 concentration. The prepared photocatalysts were utilized to evaluate their efficiency under visible light against Rhodamine B (RhB). Among all the prepared composites, CuO–75% FeSe2 revealed a remarkable performance and degraded 96% RhB in 180 min. Rate constants for the degradation of the dye were determined by applying the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health information technology systems have the capacity to improve health outcomes for the patients thus ensuring quality and efficient services. Health information systems (HIS) are important tools in guidance towards patient safety and better outcomes. However, still, morbidity and mortality attributed to medical errors remain an important issue that needs to be addressed. The objective of the present study was to assess the health information system in terms of technological, environmental, organizational and human factors affecting the adoption as well as the perceptions of stakeholders along with barriers and constraints related to successful implementation. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Prospective data was collected from primary sources by self-administering the pre-validated questionnaires as well as by physical verification of the availability of equipment. After data collection, data was analyzed to assess the health information management systems. The results of the present study showed that the health information system in Pakistan is not up to the mark. The equipment was mostly unavailable at the primary healthcare facilities. The staff was also unsatisfied with the available services. Administrative, financial and human constraints were identified as the major barriers towards successful implementation and management of HIS. The present study concluded that the health information system of Pakistan needs to be revamped. Health information management system partially existed at district and sub-district offices, while was completely absent at tertiary, secondary and primary healthcare levels. The poor adoption of health information technology systems at healthcare facilities might largely be attributed to insufficient human resources with limited resources and budget allocation for health in Pakistan. Effective and timely strategies involving all important stakeholders and healthcare professionals must be designed and implemented at the National level to restructure an affordable, resilient and quality healthcare system.