Abstract:

The Asian Koel does not develop its own nest and it exploits the nests of House Crow for laying eggs which stay there till hatching as the egg-laying season of both the species take place at the same time. The instant study was conducted by authors at Research Garden in Pakistan Forests Institute Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan during the months of August & September which fall in the peak breeding season of Asian Koel. The phenomenon of brood parasitism between Asian Koel and House crow was observed in the Bambax ceiba & Melia azedaraich. During the field visits for this study such association was also checked between Asian Koel and Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos), but nothing as such came into the observation of the authors at the study sites. In the study area; the sighting of both the species i.e. Asian Koel and House Crow was mostly noted at the same trees in the early morning as well as in the evening. Total Eight (08) nests of house crow were recorded in the area which were physically checked by the authors to witness the phenomenon of brood parasitism, but such association was only recorded in two nests (one in Bambax ceiba & the other in Melia azedaraich); the sighting in the study area concluded with the success percentage of 25%.

Keywords: Asian Koel, Brood Parasitism, House Crow, Pakistan Forests Institute Peshawar

Abstract:

The relationship between personality and job performance is well-established, but research on university non-academic staff is scant. The Big Five Personality Traits Model (BFPTM) and job performance (task and contextual) were examined in this paper. Multiple linear regression was used to test hypotheses on a convenience sample of 254 nonacademic staff respondents from two South-western Nigerian universities. Findings revealed that conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to new experiences significantly influenced task performance, but not extraversion. Extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to new experiences significantly impacted contextual performance, but not conscientiousness. Overall, openness to new experiences influenced task performance the most, while neuroticism influenced contextual performance maximally. Based on the findings of this study, university administrators can better understand how personality factors affect task and context performance. The findings of this study can be used to guide non-academic staff recruitment, selection, retention, promotion, and motivation.

Keywords: Job performance; Non-academic; Nigeria; Universities; Personality traits

Abstract:

This investigation focused on the climatic variability in Nigeria and its responds to solar forcing. The daily meteorological data for five climatic parameters; Minimum Temperature (MIT), Maximum Temperature (MAT), Relative Humidity (RH), Vapour Pressure (VP) and Rainfall (RNF) obtained from Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and two solar parameters Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) and F10.7 cm solar radio flux (F10) from sorceTM were modeled using a proposed linear multivariate model and the empirical coefficient determined by applying least square fittings. Validity of the model was tested using the statistical indicator; Mean Bias Error (MBE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The result shows that there is considerable forcing on climatic parameters in Nigeria with relative humidity receiving the lowest percentage of forcing and rainfall having more than 90% percentage of solar forcing.

Keywords: Sunspot Number, Solar Irradiance, Radiative forcing, Rainfall, Minimum and Maximum Temperature, Relative Humidity and Vapour Pressure.

Abstract:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Conventional cancer treatments are effective in eradicating the primary tumor; however, there is a great chance of disease recurrence besides the tense effects of the radio and chemo therapies. Therefore, researchers are trying to find safe alternative treatments. Natural products such as dates have shown beneficial effects in many diseases including cancer due to their important constituents. In this project, we investigated the anticancer effect of Ajwa Date Extract (ADE) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell line. Cells were treated with ADE in different concentrations (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 mg/ml) for 24 hours. Results showed an inhibitory effect of ADE on cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner with apoptotic morphological changes of the cells. ADE also caused genomic DNA fragmentation, as well as a significant increase in gene expression of BAX that play a major role in apoptosis. Thus, ADE may offer a potential safe and efficient HCC treatment in the future.

Keywords: Ajwa Date; Phoenix dactylifera L.; apoptosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma; HCC; BAX; gene expression; date extract

Abstract:

In this research, the punching shear behavior of high strength concrete bubble slab was investigated after burning in a real fire test until it reached 300 C° for 30 minutes and cooling gradually by air and rapidly by spraying water for (5 and 10) minutes and quenching in water for 10 minutes. Experiment results show that using high strength concrete improves the cracking pattern, punching zone perimeter, angel of failure, and critical section of slabs due to improvements in the stiffness of concrete by lower voids ratio in concrete micro-structure and higher cement content but some drawbacks appear like higher spalling rate. All results discussed in the article.

Keywords: High temperature, Bubble slab, High Strength concrete, water cooling, punching shear expression; date extract