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A mathematical model for production scheduling of open pit mines maximises the net present value and satisfies the reserves, pit slope angle, and production capacity constraints. A solution to this model aims to deliver an extraction sequence and the movement of materials across various stages within the operation over a defined planning horizon. However, given that the mineral reserves delineated into thousands of mining blocks form the geological input, the model falls in the category of large-scale optimisation problems, i.e. it is computationally intractable, and exact methods cannot solve realistic scenarios of the problem. Therefore, this paper contributes an alternative to the conventional mathematical model along with a corresponding heuristic method to solve this proposed model. An implementation of the proposed method at various realistic instances reveals better performance in terms of net present value, computation time and optimality gap as compared to the traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecofriendly magnetic chitosan composite hydrogel (Fe3O4@CS photo-catalyst) was prepared by using an aqueous extract of Boerhevia procombens leaves for the solar light mediated catalytic degradation of lethal organic Congo red dye. The prepared composite hydrogel was structurally studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) which reveals the formation of the Fe3O4@CS photocatalyst. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigation of the composite hydrogel signified high crystallinity of photocatalyst and crystallite structure of 53 nm for magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs). The surface investigation suggests multilayered porous photocatalyst owing to the presence of cavities offering more photoactive sites for the photodecomposition of dye molecules. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) scanning supports the fabrication of Fe3O4@CS photocatalyst due to the perseverance of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and iron. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) together with vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) certifies the preparation of thermally stable and magnetic composite hydrogel. The fabricated Fe3O4@CS photocatalyst possess low bandgap energy of 2.36 eV, supporting the excellent disintegration of dye molecules in the sunlight irradiations. The photocatalyst exhibited a maximum degradation efficacy of 99.1% for Congo red dye in the solar light irradiations with refined states of 70 min radiation time, dye concentration of 20 mg/L, pH 6, and 200 mg photocatalyst amount obeying the second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9959). The Fe3O4@CS photocatalyst displayed a little decrease in dissociation efficiency of dye molecules after five repeated cycles owing to the coverage or rupturing of photoactive sites. Conclusively, the results support Fe3O4@ CS to be an economical and biocompatible magnetic catalyst for the catalytic decontamination of Congo red dye molecules and other organic contaminants in domestic and industrial wastewater effluents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron (Fe) is an important micronutrient required for healthy life. Malnutrition resulting from low Fe in plant-based foods has caused serious problems worldwide. We propose that Fe biofortification of tomato through seed priming would be an innovative approach to address the problem Fe deficiency. This research was conducted to find the impact of Fe seed priming on germination, morphology, physiology, growth, yield, and final enrichment of Fe in fruit of tomato in two commercial hybrids. Tomato seeds were primed with different concentrations of iron sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) in the range of 1–15 mg L−1, resulting in differential accumulation of tomato fruit Fe contents. We observed a marked improvement in tomato seedling traits, yield contributing traits, fruit quality, biochemical attributes and physiological parameters. Interestingly, the Fe treatment concentration of 10 mg L−1 demonstrated improved tomato growth with a significant increase in fruit Fe contents to of 2.04 and 2.37 which are very much higher as compared to control having Fe contents of 1.47 and 1.49 ppm respectively. Fe seed priming of tomato represents as a cost effective and user-friendly strategy for tomato biofortification which triggers Fe acquisition and its final enrichment in tomato fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exacerbations have a major impact on the well-being of patients with uncontrolled asthma. This study evaluated lung function, healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), and productivity loss following asthma exacerbations.Methods: This single-center, observational, prospective cohort study recruited US patients presenting clinically with an acute asthma exacerbation; a reference group without exacerbations was included for comparison. Lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1]) was collected at baseline, daily during Month 1, and monthly for Months 2–5, and reported as FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1pp). HCRU (outpatient visits to a healthcare practitioner, emergency room [ER] visits, and hospitalizations for asthma), oral corticosteroid (OCS) use, and asthma-related work/school absence were collected monthly for 6 months.Results: Overall, 150 patients were recruited (exacerbation: n=102; reference: n=48; mean [SD] age: 42.7 [15.2] and 49.6 [12.4] years; female: 73% and 71%). In both groups, similar trends were observed in FEV1, with significant improvement from baseline to Week 1 (p<0.05), followed by a continuous decline. FEV1p was 7.7% lower at baseline and 8.6% lower at Month 5 in the exacerbation group versus the reference group. The exacerbation group had significantly higher rates of OCS prescription during follow-up versus reference group (p=0.04). Over half (52.9%) of patients in the exacerbation group had a recurrent exacerbation during follow-up, increased HCRU (outpatient visits, ER visits, and hospitalizations), and impaired productivity.Conclusion: Although patients with exacerbations had rapid recovery of lung function, this was not maintained and declined faster than in patients without exacerbations. Additionally, patients experienced increased HCRU after exacerbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inability of humans and many farm animals to synthesize certain amino acids has long triggered tremendous interest in increasing the levels of these so-called essential amino acids in crop plants. Hence, a two-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of straw mulch (8 t ha−1) and biochar applied at various rates (0, 4, 12, 36 t ha−1) on the chlorophyll, photosynthesis, total nitrogen in soil, essential and nonessential amino acid (AA) contents of maize grain. The maize straw mulch and biochar significantly increased chlorophyll contents, photosynthesis rate of maize crop and total soil nitrogen. The application of biochar (12 t ha−1) increased the chlorophyll contents and photosynthesis rate and total soil nitrogen during both years. However, excessive biochar applications (more than 12 t ha−1) had negative effects on chlorophyll contents, photosynthesis rate of maize crop and total soil nitrogen of soil. The AAs were significantly affected by biochar, depending on the application rate. In conclusion, the application of straw mulch and biochar improved the rate of leaf chlorophyll contents, photosynthesis rate and amino acid contents in maize grain when applied at appropriate rates, but the effects were negative when biochar was overused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends indicate that the tourism and hospitality (TH) industry is significantly contributing to the socio-economic conditions of the economies worldwide. However, TH-led economic development is attained at the cost of environmental pollution. This research explores four TH subindustries' impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollutants in the US. We also considered energy consumption, economic growth, and globalization to normalize TH subindustries' environmental impacts. The ARDL bounds test approach is applied on a quarterly (2005-2019) time-series data to analyze TH environmental impacts. The findings uncovered that food and drink places (FSDP) contribute higher to GHG (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the long-run than the rest of the subindustries. Compared to the other subsectors, the accommodation (AC) sector contributed higher to air pollutants (CO, NH3, NOx, SO2, VOC, and PM2.5). All the four subindustries positively contribute to energy consumption; however, FSDP, amusement, gambling, and recreation (AGR) subindustries consume higher energy levels. Economic growth has mixed impacts on GHG emissions and air pollutants. Interestingly, globalization shows negative impacts on GHG emissions and air pollutants. Granger causality results show that FSDP, AC, AGR, and performing arts and sports subindustries cause PM2.5. Key implications and policy initiatives are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate as an important water pollutant, causing eutrophication was analyzed in Pakistan at different water sources (hand pump (HP), bore hole (BH) and tube well (TW)) to assess the contamination level caused by NO3−. NO3− concentrations in the HP water samples were 31 mg L−1 to 59 mg L−1, in BH 20 mg L−1 to 79 mg L−1 while in TW water samples it was between 29 to 55 mg L−1. The association of NO3− with other selected parameter in groundwater can be determined by using statistical approaches. Different physicochemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO)) were studied in groundwater samples of the research district. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for groundwater characteristics were calculated. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was used to categorize samples based on their groundwater quality similarities and to find links between groundwater quality factors. The key relationship of the groundwater for HP samples on EC and TDS (r = 1) had a great correlation, while all other parameters correlations were lower (r = 0.40), BH's parameters on WT and WSD (r = 0.57), WT and pH (r = 0.57), EC and DO (r = 0.50), DO and TDS (0.50), EC and TDS (r = 1) had a quite high correlation, while all other parameters correlations were less than (r = 0.40), on the other hand, tube well parameters on TDS and EC (r = 1) had a perfect correlation, DO and pH (r = 0.75) parameters correlations were less than (r = 0.40). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents a new Simulated Annealing based stochastic optimisation algorithm to integrate geological uncertainty into the optimization process through multiple equiprobable simulated realisations of an orebody while considering stockpiling options and other relevant constraints. The stockpiling option is included, increasing the chances of processing high-grade and most certain ore blocks in early periods. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm in creating a single good enough production schedule that minimises the risk of deviation from production targets while maximising the net present value of the operation is demonstrated through three case studies, i.e. case A with 2448 blocks, B with 6,578 and C with 10,810 blocks. The comparison of results with the two-stage stochastic model reveals that the proposed methodology reduces the risk of production deviation to a minimal and provides a near-optimal solution with an optimality gap of 3.53, −0.87, and 8.19% for cases A, B, and C within a reasonable amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With more than half of the humans on the planet becoming internet users, the amount of information created and accessed is enormous. The Internet has become the most popular medium and source for seeking information. The information-seeking behavior is exhibiting itself. In Kashmir, India – users, businesses, and institutions use Internet to access and disseminate information. But, information blockades seem to hamper the seeking and delivering of information. Information blockades have become an increasing occurrence in various countries worldwide. Most often imposed in regions that witness some form of instability, such as economic or political; information blockades disrupt the primary communication channels. However, studies exploring the relationship between information-seeking behavior and information blockades are scarce. This study is a novel call for focusing research endeavors on information-seeking behavior and its antithetical counterpart, i.e. Information blockade. This paper uses various statistical resources and employs an intensive content analysis method to analyze the literature and identify key themes and patterns of research undertaken on information-seeking behavior and information blockades, especially in Kashmir, India. For the current discourse, ostensibly, the two phenomena have an antithetical relationship and more studies need to be conducted to understand the dynamics of how these two phenomena co-exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise categorization of mangrove forests with medium spatial resolution satellite data is challenging and occasionally yields mixed outcomes. The available methods to estimate mangrove vegetation cover using moderately high-resolution images lack differentiation between mangrove and homestead vegetation. Mangrove vegetation displays a range of responses across the phenological cycle at different wavelengths of an optical sensor. Taking advantage of this principle, this study utilized some mangrove and non-mangrove vegetation indices (VIs) as predictor variables sourced from monthly Sentinel-2 data into the random forest algorithm to derive a phenology-based classification outcome. It also ascertained a suitable month for thresholding mangroves across different VIs. Results indicated that phenologybased classification with three classes was more accurate (95% overall accuracy) than threshold-based or WorldCover v100 classifications. MI and MVI layers from December image performed better in discerning mangroves. Findings have important implications in separating mangroves from other coastal vegetations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of global warming, organizations are coming under increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions, minimize waste, and generally become more responsible in their practices. To this backdrop, researchers argue that organizational HR practices have significant potential in shaping human behaviors. Therefore, by investigating the employment of a subordinate-supervisor dyad (N = 378 (subordinates), and 141 (supervisors)), this empirical study contributes to the growing literature on Green Human Resource Management (green HRM) and its impacts on employees' green outcomes. In particular, this study tested a novel model to explore the impact of green HRM on Green Creativity (GC) of employees in mediating the role of Pro-Environmental Behaviors (PEBs) and moderating the role of Ethical Leadership Style (ELS). Data were collected from organizations in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region of Pakistan. For testing the results of the proposed hypotheses, structural equation modelling technique using SMART PLS 3 was employed. The results indicate that green HRM has a positive impact on employees' GC. Furthermore, partial mediating role of PEBs was also found. Finally, it was found that the ELS moderates the relationship between green HRM and GC and between green HRM and PEBs. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores hotel employees' perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the proposed conceptual model under the umbrella of self-determination and needs satisfaction theory. The model examines dichotomous perceived CSR relationships – instrumental and volunteer CSR – with employees' basic needs satisfaction, self-esteem, hedonic and eudemonic happiness, and innovativeness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to examines the assumed hypotheses. The results established that hotel employees perceived instrumental CSR has a significant positive influence on the satisfaction of their basic needs, and perceived volunteer CSR impact employees' self-esteem. Employees' basic needs satisfaction demonstrated a significant positive influence on their hedonic happiness and self-esteem on eudemonic happiness. Both hedonic and eudemonic happiness contribute significantly to employee innovativeness, where, eudemonic happiness contribution is higher than hedonic happiness. The findings expand the literature on CSR by providing a better understanding of the core mechanism through which CSR can influence hotel employees' happiness, where, a happy employee is a key to innovativeness, competitiveness, and better organizational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A supervised machine learning framework is proposed for local assessments of delamination and transducer debonding in smart composite laminates while using their low-frequency structural vibrations. Load independent discriminative features were identified through a system identification algorithm and several supervised machine learning algorithms were employed to distinguish between the healthy and damaged structures. Linear discriminant analysis was shown to outperform other classifiers. The issue of overfitting of the training data was addressed by evaluating the predictive performance of the classifier on independent test cases. The proposed approach could help provide insightful guidelines for the assessment of multidamages in smart composite laminates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal and annual water supplies of the rivers originating in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya (HKH) region of Pakistan are important to manage the Indus basin irrigation system for better agricultural production and its dependent agrarian economy. In this study, we simulated the current and future snowmelt runoff in a poorly gauged river basin of the Hindukush region under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) climate change scenarios. Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM) furnished with satellite snow cover maps and hydro-meteorological data were used to simulate the daily river discharge for the period 2000‒2005. The results indicated that SRM has effectually simulated the runoff in Chitral River with Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient of 0.85 (0.84) and 0.88 (0.83) in the basin-wide (zone-wise) application during the calibration and validation periods, respectively. The results obtained under future climate change scenario showed ∼14‒19% increase in mean summer discharge under three mid-21st century RCP (2.6, 4.5 and 8.5) scenarios. While an increase of ∼13‒37% is expected under late-21st century RCP scenarios. This study can help water resource managers to plan and manage peak discharges from the Chitral River Basin in the future and can thus prevent major losses due to floods in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gloeostereum incarnatum has edible and medicinal value and was first cultivated and domesticated in China. We sequenced the G. incarnatum monokaryotic strain GiC-126 on an Illumina HiSeq X Ten system and obtained a 34.52-Mb genome assembly sequence that encoded 16,895 predicted genes. We combined the GiC-126 genome with the published genome of G. incarnatum strain CCMJ2665 to construct a genetic linkage map (GiC-126 genome) that had 10 linkage groups (LGs), and the 15 assembly sequences of CCMJ2665 were integrated into 8 LGs. We identified 1912 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci and detected 700 genes containing 768 SSRs in the genome; 65 and 100 of them were annotated with gene ontology (GO) terms and KEGG pathways, respectively. Carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) were identified in 20 fungal genomes and annotated; among them, 144 CAZymes were annotated in the GiC-126 genome. The A mating-type locus (MAT-A) of G. incarnatum was located on scaffold885 at 38.9 cM of LG1 and was flanked by two homeodomain (HD1) genes, mip and beta-fg. Fourteen segregation distortion markers were detected in the genetic linkage map, all of which were skewed toward the parent GiC-126. They formed three segregation distortion regions (SDR1-SDR3), and 22 predictive genes were found in scaffold1920 where three segregation distortion markers were located in SDR1. In this study, we corrected and updated the genomic information of G. incarnatum. Our results will provide a theoretical basis for fine gene mapping, functional gene cloning, and genetic breeding the follow-up of G. incarnatum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the vulnerability and resilience of the US Leisure and Hospitality industry sector-wise by taking employment levels in seven different business segments. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model approach was applied to daily time series data of employment and COVID-19 to assess each sector's fragility and resilience. The findings reveal that museums and historical places, performing arts, and sports are the worst influenced sectors and exhibit low resilience. The accommodation sector initially shows high vulnerability; however, it bounces back by showing high resilience compared to some of the other sectors. The rest of the sector presents the same story negatively influenced by pandemic but eventually reveals a sign of recovery. A detailed discussion with the theoretical and practical implications is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimal cut-off grade policy maximises the net present value of an open-pit mining operation and defines a schedule of cut-off grades and the corresponding supply of materials to various destinations. Generally, the cut-off grades are dynamic and decline with the exhaustion of reserves from one year to the next. Thus, stockpiling of the low-grade uneconomic material during earlier years becomes an option to process or blend stockpiled material during later years of mine life. Stockpiling is an established practice in the mining industry and given its significance; as an alternative to traditional cut-off grade models, this article presents a mixed integer programming-based mathematical model that offers an optimal cut-off grade policy with an option to stockpile using three different strategies. The implementation of the new formulation using a case study mining operation available in literature reveals the value of the new model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the efficiency differences across the ownership structure of Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) operating during the year 2005/06 to 2017/18 in response to regulatory reforms initiated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the year 2011. We remove the outliers from the dataset first. Thereafter, we employ the bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the bias-corrected efficiency scores. To identify the performance determinants, we use bootstrap truncated regression. The empirical results suggest that the performance difference between NBFCs and Non-NBFC MFIs is not statistically significant in the sample period. Further, the study finds that the size and ownership structure of MFI has a positive and statistically significant impact on the efficiency level. Although the coefficient of PAR30 (Portfolio at risk, 30 days) is statistically insignificant, however, the results conclude that the deteriorating credit quality has hindered the efficiency level. The Indian MFI industry needs to focus on the adoption of more innovative technology and partnership with FinTech (financial technology) firms to reduce the transaction costs and service time. The RBI essentially endorses the regulatory-sandbox practices to offer micro-financial services to the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the last few decades, the piezoelectric materials are playing a vital role in the field of aerospace engineering. One of the major factors to reduce an aircraft's malfunctioning is its health monitoring. In doing so multiple types of sensors are required to be designed specifically for an aircraft. A large amount of energy source is required for operating all those sensor therefore harvesting techniques are made. This paper discusses the use of piezoelectric materials in health monitoring, aircraft's sensors and energy harvesters. It gives an elaborated idea of how piezoelectric materials can be used in various stages at aerospace industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of poly(aniline-co-pyrrole)-Sn(IV)tungstoarsenate((PA-co-Ppy)-STA) nanocomposite cation exchange membrane was prepared through solution casting method in order to ensure the homogeneity of the obtained membrane. The synthesis of the membrane was confirmed by characterization of the nanocomposite membrane by various instrumentation techniques like Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) techniques. The selective detection of Ni(II), having detection limit 1 × 10−9–1 × 10−1 M, the range of pH 5–8 and response time 35 s. The analytical efficacy of this electrode was built up by utilizing it as an indicator in the potentiometric titration. Various experimental parameter studies proved the absorption of Ni(II) on nanocomposite. The method used is a classical method for fabrication of an ion selective electrode and hence is easier and cost effective, other than being most precise for the detection of Ni(II) ions. Along these lines, this novel effort may be a reliable and effective to detect Ni(II) in environmental and biomedical sector in a broad scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cut-off grade classifies the available supply of ore (valuable) and waste material within a mineralised deposit. Given the mining, processing and refining limitations of a mining operation, an optimal cut-off grade policy ensures that the flow of ore from the mine to the processing and refining facilities is maintained at the maximum possible throughput. This policy defines a schedule of cut-off grades along with corresponding quantities of mineralised material to be mined, processed and metal refined in each period of the scheduling horizon. The criteria that controls the development of cut-off grade policy aligns with the strategic objectives of an operation in order to maximise the discounted value (net present value or NPV) over the life of operation. This paper proposes a new mixed integer linear programming (MILP) based model that maximises NPV subject to the mining, processing, refining capacity constraints and develops an optimal cut-off grade policy for an open pit mining operation with multiple processing streams. An implementation of the proposed method on hypothetical and realistic data promises a relatively higher NPV as compared to the traditional Lane's approach practiced in the mining industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been reported to penetrate the central nervous system (CNS) and induce neurotoxicity. However, there is a paucity of understanding of the toxicity of AgNPs and their effect on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) including the underlying molecular mechanism(s) of action. Such information is important for the formulation of new strategies for delivery of biological therapeutics to central nervous system (CNS) targets. Using an in vitro BBB model and mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we investigated alterations in the proteomes of brain endothelial cells and astrocytes at different time points after AgNPs exposure (24 and 48 h). Our data showed that several proteins involved in neurodisorders and neurodegeneration were significantly upregulated in endothelial cells (e.g. 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase, zinc transporters 1 and 6), while proteins responsible for maintaining brain homeostasis were significantly downregulated (e.g anti-oxidative proteins glutathione peroxidase 1 and glutathione peroxidase 4). Many inflammatory pathways were significantly upregulated at 24 h post-AgNPs exposure (C9 pathway), while at 48 h proteins involved in BBB damage and anti-inflammatory responses were upregulated (quinoneoxidoreductase1 and glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit) suggesting that by the later time point, cellular protection pathways had been activated to rescue the cells from AgNPs-induced toxicity. Our study suggests that in the initial stage of exposure, AgNPs exerted direct cellular stress on the endothelial cells by triggering a pro-inflammatory cascade. This study provides detailed insight into the toxic potency of AgNPs on in vitro BBB model and adds to the understanding of the adaptive role of BBB with regards to AgNPs-mediated toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent fingerprint segmentation involves marking out all the foreground regions accurately in a latent fingerprint image, but due to poor quality images and complex background, segmentation of latent fingerprint images is one of the most difficult tasks in automatic latent fingerprint recognition systems. In this article, we propose a patch-based technique for segmentation of latent fingerprint images, which uses Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to classify patches. CNN has recently shown impressive performance in the field of pattern recognition, classification, and object detection, which inspired us to use CNN for this complex task. We trained the CNN model using SGD to classify image patches into fingerprint and non-fingerprint classes followed by proposed false patch removal technique, which uses "majority of neighbors" to remove the isolated and miss-classified patches. Finally, based on the final class of patches, an ROI is constructed to mark out the foreground from the background of latent fingerprint images. We tested our model on IIIT-D latent fingerprint database and the experimental results show improvements in the overall accuracy compared to existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to investigate the direct co-pyrolysis of blends comprising lignite coal and waste tires. The effects of various parameters that include coal to waste tires ratio, temperature, pressure, hydrogen donor concentration, and retention time were investigated. From the results, an optimum oil yield obtained with 50:50 coals to waste tires ratio was found to be 36% with maximum gross calorific values of 5501 Kcal/kg. Fourier transform infrared resonance spectra (FTIR) suggested the presence of aromatic and aliphatic linkages along with hydroxyl group and carbonyl functional groups. According to nuclear magnetic resonance analysis (NMR), the aromatic and aliphatic fractions were found to be 65% and 35%, respectively, with 50:50, coal to waste tires blend. The presence of carbon fractions from C16 to C36 was found in liquid oil through gas chromatograph mass spectroscopic analysis (GC-MS). The results of study could be applied to the commercial production of pyrolysis oil through pyrolysis of waste tires and coal largely available in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this work, we separate the illumination and reflectance components of a single input image which is non-uniformly illuminated. Considering the input image and its blurred version as two different combinations of illumination and reflectance components, we use the conventional independent component analysis (ICA) to separate these two components. The separated reflectance component, which is an illumination normalized version of the input image, can then be used as an effective pre-processed (illumination normalized) image for different computer vision tasks e.g. face recognition. To this end, we present simulation results to show that our proposed pre-processing method called illumination normalization using ICA increases the accuracy rate of several baseline face recognition systems (FRSs). The proposed method showed improved performance of baseline FRSs when using the Extended Yale-B databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of total soluble and cell wall-bound phenolics and total soluble proteins inZea maysplants exposed to drought stress and foliar spray of salicylic acid (SA) at 10−4 mol/L and 10−5 mol/L was investigated. Drought stress was imposed at the four-leaf stage for 10 days (30–35% field capacity). Dehydration of maize leaves was accompanied by the accumulation of both total soluble and cell wall-bound phenolics, reduction in leaf relative water content (LRWC), and shoot and root growth attributes. Foliar spraying of SA further augmented the content of total soluble and cell wall-bound phenolics and total soluble proteins content under drought stress. SA ameliorated the adverse effects of drought stress on LRWC, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, root length and root area. The accumulation of both soluble and cell wall-bound phenolics by foliar spray of SA may be a mechanism related to SA-induced drought stress tolerance in maize. It was concluded that foliar spraying of SA at 10−5 mol/L can be highly economical and effective for modifying the effects of drought stress on maize at the four-leaf stage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Field observations and geodetic measurements suggest that in the Karakoram Mountains, glaciers are either stable or have expanded since 1990, in sharp contrast to glacier retreats that are prevalently observed in the Himalayas and adjoining high-altitude terrains of central Asia. Decreased discharge in the rivers originating from this region is cited as a supporting evidence for this somewhat anomalous phenomenon. Here, we show that river discharge during the melting season of the glaciers in the eastern and western Karakoram, respectively, exhibits rising and falling trends. We have implemented a statistical procedure involving non-parametric tests combined with a benchmark smoothing technique that has proven to be a powerful method for separating the stochastic component from the trend component in a time series. Precipitation patterns determined from ERA-40 and GPCP data indicate that summer-monsoonal precipitation has increased over the Karakoram Mountains in recent decades. Increasing flows in June and July in the eastern Karakoram are due to an increase in summer-monsoonal precipitation. The rising trend of August discharge is due to an increase in the loss of glacier storage at an approximate average rate of 0.186–0.217 mm d-1year-1during the period 1973–2010. Moreover, this rate is higher than the rate of increase in monsoonal snowfall during the months of August and September. Therefore, most plausibly, glacier mass balance in the eastern Karakoram is negative. In the western Karakoram, river flows show declining trends for all summer months for the period 1966–2010, corresponding to a rate of increase of glacier storage by approximately 0.552–0.644 mm d-1year-1, which is also higher than the rate of increase in summer-monsoonal precipitation. The gain of the cryospheric mass in the western Karakoram is in the form of increased thickness of the glaciers and perennial snowpacks instead of areal expansion. This investigation shows two contrasting patterns of trends of river flows that signify both negative and positive mass balance of the Karakoram glaciers. Trends of river flows are spatially and temporally integrated responses of a watershed to changing climate and thereby are important signals of the conditions of the cryospheric component of a watershed where it is highly significant. However, they cannot unequivocally provide indications of the state and fate of the glaciers in the complex hydrometeorological setting of the Karakoram. Extreme caution and care must be exercised in interpreting trends of river discharge in conjunction with climatic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to give a generalization ofq-Bernstein-Kantorovich operators. We present some approximation theorems. We compute the rate of convergence and error estimation of these operators by means of the modulus of continuity. Furthermore, we give some numerical examples to show comparisons in illustrative graphics for the convergence of these operators to various functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resource in Upper Indus Basin is highly vulnerable to climate change because seasonal snows and glacial melts are the principal components (70%) of river flows in this basin. Here, we apply the concept of Boltzmann–Shannon entropy to long-term discharge records along the main stem of the Upper Indus and its most important tributary Shyok River to determine the relative stability of flows in the four main seasons of the basin. Spring flows are most unstable possibly due to variations in onset of snow melting time in a changing climate. Summer flows, which account for bulk of the annual flows, have remained relatively stable, indicating general stability of the cryosphere of the basin during the past six decades. We draw support of this conclusion from observation of the trend of long-term time series (1962–2013) of summer inflows at the Tarbela reservoir located at the outlet of Upper Indus Basin. Within the summer flow regime, August flows show greatest instability possibly due to changing rate of production of glacial melts under a changing climate. Upper Indus flows are stabilized by flows from the Karakoram where glaciers have either mostly remained stable or gained mass slightly in the recent decades in spite of widespread glacier wastage or ice losses in the western Himalayas. The approach presented here can be used to determine predictabilities of monthly and seasonal flows in water resources management and planning challenged by changes in climate and by land and water usage in concert with economic and social changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research examines tourism development’s effectiveness in improving well-being by contextualizing economic growth, political stability, and population growth in developing South Asian economies. We applied panel econometric techniques (including PMG-ARDL estimation) to derive useful knowledge from the dataset. The findings reveal that tourism development impacts different countries’ well-being by contextualizing their economic, population growth, and political situations. Tourism development positively influences well-being and economic growth indicators at the regional level. Besides, population growth and political stability also positively contribute to well-being in South Asia. The cross-sectional country-level findings indicate that tourism development improves well-being in all the selected countries; however, economic growth only positively influences well-being in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. The Granger causality runs from tourism development to economic growth and well-being, discovering the tourism-led economic growth-led well-being hypothesis. The cross-sectional country-level findings indicate that political unrest worsens well-being in all the selected countries; however, population growth only negatively impacts Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Political stability Granger cause tourism development; thus, we argue that political stability enhances tourism development leading to economic growth and promoting well-being. Theoretical and practical policy implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) has sparked a lot of attention since it can learn fast and be applied to various problems. In this study, a convolutional layer-based extreme learning machine (CELM) architecture has been designed and implemented to recognize handwritten characters and reduce execution time. Furthermore, to validate the robustness of the approach, the characters are chosen from four different languages, mainly Indian languages, including English. The recognition has been performed on both numerals and alphabets. The experimental results regarding accuracy and execution time have been presented in a tabular fashion to discriminate the slight differences between the different datasets chosen. On three different datasets, including chars74kFnt, cMaterDB 3.1.2, and IIITBOdiaV1, the proposed method achieves an accuracy of 91.76%, 94.12%, and 91.43%, respectively. This effectiveness is shown to be higher than other feature extraction method-based recognition methods found in recent experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]