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The present study aims to investigate possible perception gap between fresh engineering graduates and their employers about essential skills required for getting a job. Data were collected from 129 industrial employers and 812 final year engineering students from all over Pakistan with the help of a questionnaire adapted from Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) comprising 36 questions categorized into eight broader areas. Data analysis reveals that wide gap exists between the perceptions of both, as employers give more importance to skills like creativity, communication, interpersonal, decision making and problem solving, while engineering graduates perceive that their technical skills would play a major role in getting them jobs. Strong correlation is observed between students' ranking of skills and their competence level in respective skills. Consequently, students' un-employment time increases causing concern among students, parents and the students' academic institutions. This situation becomes more alarming in a developing country like Pakistan, where unemployment has already touched 8.3%, the highest in last 13 years. Findings of this study can guide the management of engineering universities to better align their engineering programs with employer's requirements and create awareness among students about the importance of soft skills in their professional career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review describes some recent developments in the composite doped cathode materials such as LiCoO2, LiNiO2, LiMn2O4, and LiMnO2 with focus on LiFePO4. Olivine LiFePO4 have attracted considerable attention since last decade because of its promising properties as a cathode material in Li ion based batteries (LIBs), that is, it offers high theoretical capacity, environmental friendliness, and less toxicity. The electrochemical and structural characterization of this system will be discussed in more detail as compared with its other counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of encapsulated Burkholderia cepacia G4 (ATCC 53617) for trichloroethylene (TCE) degradation (1.5, 5, 10, and 20 mg/L) in the presence of toluene (10 and 60 mg/L) as enhancement substrate was evaluated experimentally. Burkholderia cepacia G4 cultures were encapsulated in cylindrical pellets (4 mm in diameter and 4 mm in height (preferred)) using polyethylene glycol (PEG). Higher transformation capacities were observed for the encapsulated cultures for both toluene concentrations. The highest transformation capacities measured for the encapsulated cultures and suspended cultures were 46.98 and 5.94 μg TCE/mg biomass, respectively. The Monod equation was used to simulate the degradation rates of toluene and Haldane's equation was employed to describe the degradation kinetics of TCE. The first-order reaction rate constant ( k/ Ks) for toluene degradation in the encapsulated cultures was 2.3-fold higher than the value of the suspended cultures, whereas the kc/ Ksc value for TCE was 4.3-fold higher compared to the suspended cultures. The higher kinetic values of the encapsulated cultures indicate that the degradation efficiency and capability of B. cepacia G4 was enhanced through PEG encapsulation. Moreover, the higher inhibition constant value for the encapsulated cultures compared with the suspended cultures demonstrated that PEG-encapsulated B. cepacia G4 can tolerate and degrade much higher TCE concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of biomass density, effect of different ratios of trichloroethylene (TCE) and toluene on biomass, and strategies to cope with problems using acclimated Burkholderia cepacia G4 were investigated. Complete degradation of TCE was achieved when B. cepacia G4 was exposed to 0.5 mg/L TCE and 10 mg/L toluene after starvation of 100 h. Overall results of this study show that degradation rates of toluene decreased as TCE concentration increased. On the contrary, degradation rates of TCE increased up to 10 mg/L TCE and then decreased. Transformation capacity of B. cepacia G4 increased as toluene concentration increased but transformation yield decreased showing that excessive substrate supply may not help to improve specific performance parameters. Results of these experiments bear that instead of simultaneous injection of TCE and substrate, the supply of substrate in pulses can increase the efficiency of B. cepacia G4 or similar bacterial strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of different catchment types and storage conditions on Pseudomonas aeruginosa in harvested rainwater under wet and dry seasons were investigated. Both horizontal (roof intercepted to outlet point) and vertical (surface to bottom) quality variation inside storage tanks of different rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems was also monitored. The numbers of P. aeruginosa varied from 30 to 400 colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL during the dry season and 200 to 1800 CFU/100 mL during the wet season. A relatively good quality of harvested rainwater was observed in dry season. The horizontal and vertical quality variation of P. aeruginosa revealed best quality at the supply point. The number of P. aeruginosa was the highest (about 1800 and 1000 CFU/100 mL during wet and dry seasons, respectively) in rainwater harvested from mountain catchment while the lowest (about 30 and 1000 CFU/100 mL during dry and wet seasons, respectively) numbers was seen from concrete roof catchment. Dark, covered storage conditions resulting low rainwater temperatures showed better microbial quality of rainwater than uncovered and open storage conditions exposed to light. The study suggests that the improvement in the quality of harvested rainwater is possible when appropriate tank designs, maintenance of catchment surfaces, and proper storage conditions are considered in RWH systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis, based on a questionnaire, of factors that affect the stress level of engineering students who come from remote areas. The questionnaire relates to the expectations that the students have gained from their native institutions as well as from their families. Randomly collected data from 200 students is analyzed. Six-sigma techniques of an Affinity diagram, Pareto analysis, SIPOC analysis, a Cause and Effect matrix and Scatter plots are used for the analysis. It is observed that the students' poor command of the English language, their lack of confidence and lack of knowledge about higher education are the most critical stress-causing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focused on investigating the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) on rice (Oryza sativa L.) growth and changes in soil health in two contrasting soil textures (silt-loam and clay). Moreover, response of rice to different methods of TiO 2 NPs application and phosphorous fertilizer levels were also evaluated. For toxicity assessment, pot experiment was carried out. TiO 2 NPs (0, 500, 750 mg kg -1 ) were applied and plants were grown till vegetative stage. After harvesting, physiological parameters, stress assay, soil microbial and enzymatic activities were determined. Based on the results of toxicity study, impact of three methods of TiO 2 NPs application (foliar, irrigation, soil) and four phosphorous fertilizer levels (0, 10, 20, 40 mg kg -1 ) on rice growth were assessed. During the 1st phase, results showed an adverse effect of TiO 2 NPs on plant growth and soil microorganisms in both soil textures at 750 mg kg -1 . The H 2 O 2 production, lipid peroxidation and leaf membrane injury index were increased by 4.3-, 2.4-, and 1.9-folds in clay soil upon 750 mg kg -1 TiO 2 NPs application. Likewise, at the same level of TiO 2 NPs; microbial biomass, dehydrogenase, and respiration were decreased by 0.91-, 0.79-, and 0.78- folds respectively. In 2nd phase, maximum shoot length, biomass, phosphorous uptake and rice grain protein content were observed under application of TiO 2 NPs (500 mg kg -1 ) through irrigation method in combination with 40 mg P kg -1 . However, 20 and 40 mg P kg -1 performed equally well upon TiO 2 NPs application and the results were not statistically significant. The results suggest that 750 mg kg -1 of TiO 2 NPs negatively affect plant growth and soil enzymatic activities. Moreover, combined application of TiO 2 NPs (500 mg kg -1 ) through irrigation and 20 mg P kg -1 is recommended to be the optimum for growth of rice plant., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A significant proportion of all incidents of nosocomial infections in acute-care hospitals is due to contaminated catheters. Alternative strategies e.g. antibiotics as well as surface modifications have been devised in an attempt to reduce the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), but most have proven unsuccessful. Therefore, the race to identify such substances which can combat pathogenic bacteria is ongoing in order to improve the quality of health care. Novel technologies such as the potential use of antiseptic or antimicrobial coatings on catheters hold promise for reducing these infections in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. In this study, the bactericidal activity of newly synthesized tungsten-nanoparticles was tested on clinical multiple drug resistant Escherichia coli isolates from UTI patients with indwelling catheters and Staphylococcus aureus reference strain. The results suggest that the particles tested in this study certainly mediate the inhibition of bacterial growth. We believe that the fabrication of W-NPs on catheters could possibly prevent them from being contaminated by pathogens and hence provide continuous protection of the site. This study is the first of its type testing the antibacterial effects of W-NPs on clinical bacterial isolate from catheterized human UTI case.