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Symptoms of severe leaf curling, typical of begomovirus infection, were observed on a plant of Brugmansia arborea grown in lawns of Quaid-i-Azam university Islamabad, Pakistan. A begomovirus and its associated betasatellite were amplified and sequenced from infected plants. Nucleotide sequence showed that a monopartite begomovirus named Chilli leaf curl virus (ChLCV) and Chilli leaf curl betasatellite (ChLCB) are associated with the disease and it shared highest sequence identity 99% and 91% respectively with previously reported clones. Our data adds to recent reports that show an expansion of the host range of begomovirus-betasatellite complexes in the Old World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B. tabaci exists as a complex of morphologically very similar but genetically different variants previously termed as biotypes and more recently as cryptic species. Using a region of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase, I (mtCO-I) gene sequences this study for the first time identified at molecular level the presence of two cryptic species of B. tabaci; Asia-I and Asia-II-5 from cotton grown in the fields of Bland Ghar, Bihsud district, Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. It is the first report of its type as this insect was not reported earlier from any crop or area of this country at species level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of 2D and 3D educational content learning on memory has been studied using electroencephalography (EEG) brain signal. A hypothesis is set that the 3D materials are better than the 2D materials for learning and memory recall. To test the hypothesis, we proposed a classification system that will predict true or false recall for short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) after learning by either 2D or 3D educational contents. For this purpose, EEG brain signals are recorded during learning and testing; the signals are then analysed in the time domain using different types of features in various frequency bands. The features are then fed into a support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier. The experimental results indicate that the learning and memory recall using 2D and 3D contents do not have significant differences for both the STM and the LTM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The urban Lei river consists of a catchment area of about 211 km[sup 2]. About 55% lies in Islamabad (population about 3 million) and the rest in Rawalpindi (population about 3 million). The city of Islamabad is growing without considering its hydrogeological set-up, which is creating further flood problems in Rawalpindi. Even after the drought of 1994, groundwater is being privately exploited without any central legal control. Measures for increasing the amount of available groundwater would improve drinking water both qualitatively and quantitatively, reduce loss through uncontrolled runoff, reduce aquifer depletion and lead also to improved monitoring. The chessboard regional city planning of Islamabad, as laid down in the Master Plan (1960), has to be replanned inter-disciplinary according to topographical, geological, meteorological, hydrological and hydrogeological investigations. Sustainable ecological solutions ought not be sacrificed to political short-sighted expedience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]