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Currency salam is a financial product in the basket of Islamic finance that facilitates dealings in discounting of bills. Moreover, it allows provision for speculative future currency trading. This article shows that currency salam is prohibited in the light of Islamic rules of riba. Researchers have held three positions about modern currencies. The paper shows that the permissibility of currency salam is derived by combining together these three irreconcilable views about modern currencies. In other words, currency salam is the outcome of a fallacious methodology known as talfeeq which is merely a device of creating legal artifices (hiyal) for satisfying one's desires. It is argued that the permission of currency salam must be rejected because it is riba and it opens up the flood‐gate for financial speculations in the name of Islam. The paper also attempts to draw attention of the regulatory authorities to tackle this issue seriously as it will adversely affect the trust on Islamic banking regarding its Shariah compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known regarding effects of azo-dyes on soil organic matter cycling in soil. Therefore, this lab study was carried out in Government College University Faisalabad to understand effects of varying concentrations (100, 200, 400 mg kg-1 ) of reactive black (RB5), direct red (DR) and, acid yellow (AY) on soil organic matter cycling in a sandy loam, a clay loam, and a loam. Soils were mixed with the aforementioned dyes and incubated in lab for 636 hrs. Results revealed that DR induced change of -52 to +53%, -8 to -58%, and -50 to +8% on soil respiration rate in sandy loam, loam and clay loam soils respectively in first 160 h of incubation. RB5 induced a change of -52 to +49%, -38 to +9%, and -67 to -15% whereas, the AY induced a change of -54 to +36%, -34 to +24%, and -75 to -6% in respiration rate in sandy loam, loam and clay loam soils respectively during the same incubation time. The microbial biomass C (MBC) did not show any significant change in response to any azo dye in loam soil. Metabolic quotient indicated that the clay loam soil experienced the highest toxicity in response to DR and RB5 among the three soils. Overall, our study shows that not all the dyes are toxic to SOM cycling and that is dependent on the type of the azo dye as well as the intrinsic characteristics of the soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development means that human societies survive and meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It is as if existing resources are to be preserved for future generations and the resources that we are running out of are to be reduced or used in such a way that they remain usable for a long time. In modern times, due to population expansion and overuse of natural resources, resources are dwindling day by day and the world's population is not benefiting from these resources. Therefor the concept of sustainable development has become very popular globally and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030) to ensure the balanced and sustainable economic and social development of human society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was carried out in order to assess the effects of micronutrients (B, Fe, Zn) on the yield and quality of Kinnow (Citrus reticulata Blanco). Citrus is an important fruit crop of Pakistan and micronutrients are not only important for yield and quality of citrus but also for the human health. This experiment consisted of different soil treatments and foliar applications of B, Zn and Fe either alone or in combinations. The results revealed that the highest concentrations of these three micronutrients in soil were found where 20 g B, 40 g Zn and 100 g Fe were applied per plant, respectively through soil application. The highest concentrations of these micronutrients in the leaves of Kinnow were found in the individual treatments of foliar spray of 0.03 % B, 0.1 % Zn and 0.25 % Fe, respectively, followed by the combined application of B, Zn and Fe with concentration of 0.03%, 0.1% and 0.25%. Soil that had combined treatment, B: 10 g plant-1, Zn: 20 g plant-1, Fe: 50 g plant-1 gave the highest yield of fruit and juice content. Fruit drop was the highest in control and the lowest for 20 g B soil application. Total sugars, reducing sugars and TSS were the highest for 40 g Zn as soil application, followed by the combined treatment of B:10 g plant-1, Zn:20 g plant-1, Fe:50 g plant-1 . The non-reducing sugars were the highest in the case of combined soil application of B, Zn and Fe. It is concluded that the micronutrients application is a suitable approach for increasing the quality and yield of Kinnow [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To determine the quantitative comparison of handgrip strength between cardiac patients and age matched healthy controls using a handheld dynamometer. METHODS: This quantitative comparison cross-sectional study was th conducted at University of Lahore Teaching Hospital, Lahore from 17, th October 2017 to 5 February 2018. Twenty cardiac and twenty age matched healthy participants were selected using consecutive (non-probability) sampling technique. After approval from ethical committee, data was collected using questionnaire. Measurements were taken of grip strength of both hands by using Jammer Dynamometer. This method was repeated three times in order to obtain mean value of both hands. RESULTS: In this study 40 subjects were studied with mean age of the participants as 62.08±7.63years. Among them 23(57.5%) were male and 17(42.5%) were female. Mean age of males were 65±7.37years whereas mean age of females were 64.11±7.75years. Out of twenty cardiac patients, 12(60%) male and 5 (25%) female were suffering from myocardial infarction, 3(15%) female had angina. Twenty participants of age-matched healthy individual group included 11 (55%) males and 9 (45%) females. In quantitative comparison of the dominant handgrip strength of cardiac patients (54.28 ± 27.75) and age matched healthy control (74.78±30.33) there was noteworthy difference in mean values of both groups with significant p-value of 0.032 whereas in the strength of non-dominant hand grip in cardiac patients (54.11±26.46) and age matched healthy control (71.03±29.25), no significant difference was recorded. CONCLUSION: Grip strength of dominant hand is less in cardiac patients as compared to healthy normal individual with significant relationship whereas there is no significant difference among non-dominant hand strength in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of discounting is a most important issue in the world of economics and finance from both conventional and Islamic perspective, because it relates to capital and interest. Islamic finance cannot depend on the conventional techniques of capital budgeting because of interest. Conventional capital budgeting techniques involve time value of money and discounting the future cash flows in this respect which is strictly prohibited in Islam. There are two aspects of discounting; evaluation tool and consideration. A few scholars have discussed the time value of money and discounting in different aspects but all studies ignored the role of discounting as an evaluation tool. They also did not distinguish the time value of money from the concept time value of commodity. The purpose of this study is to answer the question whether discounting as an evaluation tool is permissible in Islamic perspective or not? The study will also differentiate the time value of money from time value of commodity. The study also clarifies that there is no objection in taking time value of money just for sake of capital budgeting and what is prohibited is time value of money taken as consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the high complexity of video contents has posed the following major challenges for fast retrieval: (1) efficient similarity measurements, and (2) efficient indexing on the compact representations. A video-retrieval strategy based on fuzzy c-means (FCM) is presented for querying by example. Initially, the query video is segmented and represented by a set of shots, each shot can be represented by a key frame, and then we used video processing techniques to find visual cues to represent the key frame. Next, because the FCM algorithm is sensitive to the initializations, here we initialized the cluster center by the shots of query video so that users could achieve appropriate convergence. After an FCM cluster was initialized by the query video, each shot of query video was considered a benchmark point in the aforesaid cluster, and each shot in the database possessed a class label. The similarity between the shots in the database with the same class label and benchmark point can be transformed into the distance between them. Finally, the similarity between the query video and the video in database was transformed into the number of similar shots. Our experimental results demonstrated the performance of this proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted to assess the quality of carrot variety T-29 as affected by the application of potassium fertilizer. Potassium was applied @ 0, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 kg/ha and carrot was sown during the month of November of every year. The experiment was continued for consecutive three years i.e. 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 at research area of Biochemistry Section, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Pakistan. Yield data were collected and quality parameters pulp, juice, TSS, vitamin C, dry matter, total sugars and reducing sugars were determined. Results revealed that the application of K enhanced the yield and quality parameters. Root yield in various treatments ranged from 20.6 to 30.8 in 2017, 18.0 to 25.8 in 2018 and 17.5 to 27.8 t/ha in 2019, minimum in control and maximum at treatment where K was applied @ 120 kg/ha. Quality parameters like pulp, juice, mineral matter and vitamin-C did not affect significantly by the application of K while the total sugars were increased from 4.0 to 5.6, 4.7 to 5.5 and 5.5 to 6.8% (Minimum in control and maximum with 120 kg/ha K application) during the years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively. Maximum antioxidant potential i.e. 75.2, 80.13 and 78.6 was found with potassium application of 120 kg/ha during all years. Pro vitamin A contents (3782 and 3706 μg/100g) were analyzed during 2018 and 2019, respectively where 100 kg/ha potassium was applied. In short, potassium application could be effective for carrot optimum yield and quality enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of root exudates has long been under estimated, presumably of being concealed in nature. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and compost inhabiting bacteria (CIB) interact with plant to regulate root exudation. Present study was conducted at Biochemistry Section, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during the year 2018 to check antifungal effect of PGPR and CIB tested against fungal pathogen, (Fusarium oxysporum) with maize crop. Root exudates were collected and analyzed by high performance laquid chromatography (HPLC) to get an insight of their chemical composition. Our results indicated that conidial germination of pathogen was significantly decreased while bacterial population enhanced by exudates of those plant roots which were treated with bacterial consortium. Analysis of root exudates revealed that composition of root exudates of co-inoculated plants, differ not only from the exudates of pathogen free plants but also from the un-inoculated controls referring to only pathogen inoculated plants. Salicylic acid (upto 83%), chlorogenic acid (upto 46%) and caffeic acid (upto 61%), along with higher quantities of malliec acid (upto 24%) were found in exudation of bacterial treated plants. The increase in concentration of specific secondary metabolites might have a role in inducing systemic resistance in the maize against seedling blight (Fusarium oxysporum). In conclusion, this study illustrates the disease resistance mechanism on the basis of plant-microbe communication and helps to devise suitable strategies against fusarium-mediated blight of maize plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a non-invasive technique used to examine the interiors of digestive tracts. Generally, the digestive tract can be divided into four segments: the entrance; stomach; small intestine; and large intestine. The stomach and the small intestine have a higher risk of infections than the other segments. In order to locate the diseased organ, an appropriate classification of the WCE images is necessary. In this article, a novel method is proposed for automatically locating the pylorus in WCE. The location of the pylorus is determined on two levels: rough-level and refined-level. In the rough-level, a short-term color change at the boundary between stomach and intestine can help us to find approximately 70-150 positions. In the refined-level, an improved Weber local descriptor (WLD) feature extraction method is designed for gray-scale images. Compared to the original WLD calculation method, the method for calculating the differential excitation is improved to give a higher level of robustness. A K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier is incorporated to segment these images around the approximate position into different regions. The proposed algorithm locates three most probable positions of the pylorus that were marked by the clinician. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is effective.