waseem akram - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by waseem akram

The size of Aphis gossypii population in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) crop field was assessed u... more The size of Aphis gossypii population in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) crop field was assessed using a randomised complete block design in the Rabi crop season (2009-10) at Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. The maximum aphid population was recorded in February. In this study we observed that aphid population started decreasing with time as the environmental temperature increased. Abiotic conditions played an important role and significantly affected the reduction in the number of aphids. Environmental variables, such as the maximum and minimum temperature, had significant negative effects, whereas relative humidity had a significant positive effect, precipitation had a non-significant negative effect on the Aphis gossypii population. Farming practices indicated that different plant protection strategies were adopted, which mainly involved the excessive application of pesticides. Given the frequency of aphids on brinjal crops and farming practices, there is a need to develop a crop protection package based on modern integrated pest management practices.

European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, 2013

Hypersensitive response/reaction is a form of the cellular demise frequently linked alongside pla... more Hypersensitive response/reaction is a form of the cellular demise frequently linked alongside plant resistance against pathogen infection. Main transducers for this reaction are the intermediates of reactive oxygen and ion fluxes which are plausibly needed for hypersensitive response (Hpr Sen Rsp). An immediate and enormous energy production and its intra-cellular biochemical conduction are imperative for an Hpr Sen Rsp to be occurred. A number of studies proved that there are such diverse types of factors involved in triggering of Hpr Sen Rsp that morphologies of dead cells have become a vast topic of study. Hpr Sen Rsp could play a frolic role in plants as certain programmed cellular disintegrations in other organisms, to restrict pathogen growth. In fact, Hpr Sen Rsp can be involved in all types of tissues and most of the developmental stages.

Pak. J. Agri. Sci, 2010

Botanical products or plant derivatives serve as suitable replacement to chemical insecticides as... more Botanical products or plant derivatives serve as suitable replacement to chemical insecticides as these are safe and readily degraded in the environment (Roy and Saraf, 2006). These plant products are in use for the last two centuries and have thus minimized ...

Pakistan journal of zoology

In this study citrus oils extracted from citrus seeds were tested on different growth stages of T... more In this study citrus oils extracted from citrus seeds were tested on different growth stages of T. castaneum, an important pest of stored grains. On adults LC50 of different citrus seed oils were 5.47%, 7.70%, 10.79% and 11.79% for rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri), freutrall early (Citrus reticulate), kinnow (Citrus reticulate) and red blood orange (Citrus sinensis), respectively. While for grubs, LC50s were 11.27%, 17.31%, 106.85% and 111.20% for C. jambhiri, C. reticulate, C. sinensis and C. reticulate, respectively. Rough lemon (C. jambhiri) showed lowest LT50 of 6.89 h and 4.06 h against adults and grubs, respectfully. In case of repellency, C. jambhiri gave lowest RD50s value (4.40%) against adults when compared with other citrus cultivars. The presence of limonoids in citrus extracts is therefore a significant indicator for pest control that needs to be exploited further.

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2015

Mosquito and mosquito borne diseases are often discussed, as a major concern for climate change r... more Mosquito and mosquito borne diseases are often discussed, as a major concern for climate change resulting due to global warming and rise in sea level (Scott et al., 2000). The greatest concern is that when temperature increases then the geographic range of the pest and vector species will increase automatically and with it the risk of human diseases also raises particularly for tropical diseases like Malaria, West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever, Filariasis and Dengue fever (Silva et al., 2008). However, there are many factors besides temperature including the availability of suitable habitats and short term changes in rainfall and tidal heights as well as urbanization and mosquito control programs (Nasir et al., 2015) that influence the distribution and abundance of mosquitoes as well as the incidence of human disease. Two mosquito species Aedesalbopictus and Aedesaegyptiplay very important role in spreading different diseases like Yellow fever, West Nile virus and is a primary vector of ...

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2016

The type of locality and seasons had a great effect on species composition (richness and abundanc... more The type of locality and seasons had a great effect on species composition (richness and abundance) and community structure of rove beetles. This was determined in 3 forest and 8 cultivated areas of the Punjab from January 2008 to December 2009. A total of 2,386 specimens belonging to 26 species were captured by using 5 different collection methods, i.e. pitfall traps, flight intercept trap, light trap, Berlese funnel trap and netting. Each area was sampled for four days with an interval of 2 months. The percentage population of different species and Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated. Maximum species richness and abundance was observed during rainy season (July-August). Even a single specimen of Paederus fuscipes Curt., Philonthus cinotulus Kr., Philonthus gemellus Kr., Myrmecopora elegans Cam., Tachyporus himalayicus Bernh., and Astilbus mixtus Cam. was not found from forest area during the whole period of collection.Overall, Paederus fuscipes was the species with the highest population (16.05%), while Tachyporus himalayicus with the lowest (0.22 %). High α-diversity index (20.804

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015

The present study was designed to develop safer, effective, and viable cardioprotective herbal co... more The present study was designed to develop safer, effective, and viable cardioprotective herbal combination to control oxidative stress related cardiac ailments as new alternatives to synthetic drugs. The synergetic cardioprotective potential of herbal combination of four plantsT. arjuna(T.A.),P. nigrum(P.N),C. grandiflorus(C), andC. oxyacantha(Cr) was assessed through curative and preventive mode of treatment. In preventive mode of treatment, the cardiac injury was induced with synthetic catecholamine (salbutamol) to pretreated rabbits with the proposed herbal combination for three weeks. In curative mode of treatment, cardiotoxicity/oxidative stress was induced in rabbits with salbutamol prior to treating them with plant mixture. Cardiac marker enzymes, lipids profile, and antioxidant enzymes as biomarker of cardiotoxicity were determined in experimental animals. Rabbits administrated with mere salbutamol showed a significant increase in cardiac marker enzymes and lipid profile and...

Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases, 2015

Background: Rove beetles of the genus Paederus cause dermatitis when they come in contact with hu... more Background: Rove beetles of the genus Paederus cause dermatitis when they come in contact with human skin. This condition is prevalent in some tropical and subtropical regions, such as in northern Pakistan, where it was recorded for the first time by US troops. Despite much research from other countries on this subject, few studies, mostly clinical, have been performed in a Pakistani context. A survey was carried out in villages, towns and cities of Punjab province, Pakistan, to explore the rove beetle population dynamics and to develop a model to elucidate the symptoms, preventive measures and treatment strategies for this dermatitis. Methods: The prospective observational and patient surveys were performed bimonthly over a period of two years, in different districts of Punjab province. Collection was carried out in fields, gardens and houses during every visit with the aid of a pitfall trap, light trap, flight intercept trap, Berlese funnel trap and sweep netting. These traps were installed for four days during every visit. Interviews of ten individuals of different ages and sexes from each site were recorded during each visit. Results: Out of 980 individuals, 26.4% were found to suffer from Paederus dermatitis. Lesions were most commonly found on the neck followed by the face. In July-August during the rainy season, this skin irritation was most prevalent and the population of these beetles peaked (36.2%). During May-June, the beetle population was lowest (7.85%) due to soil dryness. About 70% of such irritation cases were from individuals living in farming villages or in farmhouses. Their houses typically (80%) had broken doors and screen-less windows while 97% of the residents were unaware of how they may have come into contact with these beetles. In most cases (91% from villages/small towns and 24% from cities and adjoining areas) the local residents were unaware of modern treatment strategies. Conclusions: Paederus dermatitis is extremely frequent in villages with poor housing facilities and could be avoided via community awareness.

Experimental oncology, 2004

Evidence on the relationship between cancer and occupational exposure to pesticides and endocrine... more Evidence on the relationship between cancer and occupational exposure to pesticides and endocrine disrupting chemicals is reviewed. In animal studies it has been proved that majority of endocrine disrupting pesticides are carcinogenic. In humans, pesticides have been classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Farmers may therefore be at higher risk for acute and chronic health effects associated with pesticides. Human data, however, are limited by the small number of studies that evaluate individual endocrine disrupting pesticide. Cancer of the breast, ovary, prostate, testis, and thyroid are hormone-dependent, which fostered research on the potential risk associated with occupational and environmental exposure to the so-called endocrine-disrupting pesticides. Professional as well as public exposure to pesticides raises cancer risk. Interaction with adjuvant and with other toxicants increases the actual risk. On the other hand, organochlorine pesti...

Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2000

Study was carried out to determine the level of resistance in Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.). Strain... more Study was carried out to determine the level of resistance in Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.). Strains collected from various localities of the Punjab and exposed to different concentrations of phosphine, viz; 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05%. Higher concentration (0.05 percent) gave higher mortality (90.721-100 percent) under test. While LC 50 values calculated for Sargodha,

Pak. J. Agri. Sci, 2010

Morphological and molecular characteristics do not provide information on habitat characteristics... more Morphological and molecular characteristics do not provide information on habitat characteristics of members of a particular taxonomic group. Due to habitat adaptations in the course of evolution, it is common for the closely related species to flourish in different habitats. To ...

PLoS ONE, 2014

Background: Diarrhea is an important cause of childhood mortality in developing countries like Pa... more Background: Diarrhea is an important cause of childhood mortality in developing countries like Pakistan because of unhygienic conditions, lack of awareness, and unwise use of preventive measures. Mechanical transmission of diarrheal pathogens by house flies, Musca domestica, is believed as the most effective route of diarrhea transmission. Although the use of insecticides as a preventive measure is common worldwide for the management of house flies, success of the measure could be compromised by the prevailing environmental temperature since it significantly affects toxicity of insecticides and thus their efficacy. Peaks of the house fly density and diarrheal cases are usually coincided and season specific, yet little is known about the season specific use of insecticides. Methodology/Principal Findings: To determine the temperature-toxicity relationship in house flies, the effect of postbioassays temperature (range, 20-34uC) on the toxicity of seven insecticides from organophosphate (chlorpyrifos, profenofos), pyrethroid (cypermethrin, deltamethrin) and new chemical (emamectin benzoate, fipronil, spinosad) classes was evaluated by using a feeding bioassay method. From 20-34uC, the toxicities of chlorpyrifos, profenofos, emamectin and fipronil increased 2.10, 2.93, 2.40 and 3.82 fold (i.e. positive temperature coefficient), respectively. Whereas, the toxicities of cypermethrin, deltamethrin and spinosad decreased 2.21, 2.42 and 3.16 fold (i.e. negative temperature coefficient), respectively. Conclusion/Significance: These findings suggest that for the reduction in diarrheal cases, house flies should be controlled with insecticides according to the prevailing environmental temperature. Insecticides with a positive temperature coefficient may serve as potential candidates in controlling house flies and diarrhea epidemics in hot season and vice versa.

In multiclass classification of multidimensional data, the user wants to build a model of the cla... more In multiclass classification of multidimensional data, the user wants to build a model of the classes to predict the label of unseen data. The model is trained on the data and tested on unseen data with known labels to evaluate its quality. The results are visualized as a confusion matrix which shows how many data labels have been predicted correctly or confused with other classes. The multidimensional nature of the data prevents the direct visualization of the classes so we design ClassSPLOM to give more perceptual insights about the classification results. It uses the Scatterplot Matrix (SPLOM) metaphor to visualize a Linear Discriminant Analysis projection of the data for each pair of classes and a set of Receiving Operating Curves to evaluate their trustworthiness. We illustrate ClassSPLOM on a use case in Arabic dialects identification.

Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, 2022

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2013

The present study was carried out to screen most commonly cultivated mango, Mangifera indica L., ... more The present study was carried out to screen most commonly cultivated mango, Mangifera indica L., cultivars for their susceptibility to gall formation. Sarooli cultivar proved to be the most resistant one by having a minimum number of galls per 100 leaves. The abundance of galls in four quadrants of the tree i.e., east, west, north and south, was also studied which revealed that east quadrant had maximum number of galls while the abundance of galls in the remaining quadrants was variable. Gall formation on mango leaves seemed to increase gradually with increasing height from the ground level, reached a maximum at the height 12 ft to 16 ft and then declined. Leaf area measurements and nutrient analysis of the leaves were also done to see their impact on gall formation. Correlation analysis revealed that gall formation was positively linked with leaf area and the amount of Zn (ppm), P (%), K (%) while N (%) had negative correlation (P<0.05) with gall formation. In conclusion, the fi...

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2021

Few data are available regarding comprehensive or quantitative assessment of fish feed considerin... more Few data are available regarding comprehensive or quantitative assessment of fish feed considering both the environmental and feeding impacts. Aiming to fill the gap, an experimental study to investigate the effects of three fish feeds on concentrations of nutrients and crucian carp (Carassius carassius) growth was conducted in laboratory aquariums in the presence and absence of prometryn. Results showed that weight gain rates of crucian carp treated with Tong Wei (TW) feed were 106.3% and 2.0% higher than that of Zhong Shan (ZS) and Zhong Liang (ZL) feeds, a possible explanation was that the quality of protein in TW feed was highest as evidenced by the protein efficiency ratios. Meanwhile, TW feed posed relatively lighter effects on water qualities (between ZL and ZS). Prometryn significantly inhibited the growth of crucian carp and thus affected concentrations of nutrients in water indirectly. The relationships between weight gain rates of fish and concentrations of nutrients in water (R2 = 0.929-0.990) were developed. In sum, this study suggested that it is realizable to obtain better fish growth performance with lesser degrading effects on water qualities by producing and selecting appropriate feed regardless of prometryn existence, and the developed equations could be used as a basis for future studies.

Proceedings of the First International Conference on Information Sciences, Machinery, Materials and Energy, 2015

Entomological Research, 2002

Entomological Research, 2004

Genus Neolimothrips with a single species N. binervis has been collected, identified and describe... more Genus Neolimothrips with a single species N. binervis has been collected, identified and described for the first time from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Redescription and illustration of the key characters of the species are provided. The genus and the only collected species can easily be identified and separated on the basis of head protruding in front of eyes and antennal segments 3-4 with simple sense cones.

Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2000

The size of Aphis gossypii population in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) crop field was assessed u... more The size of Aphis gossypii population in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) crop field was assessed using a randomised complete block design in the Rabi crop season (2009-10) at Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. The maximum aphid population was recorded in February. In this study we observed that aphid population started decreasing with time as the environmental temperature increased. Abiotic conditions played an important role and significantly affected the reduction in the number of aphids. Environmental variables, such as the maximum and minimum temperature, had significant negative effects, whereas relative humidity had a significant positive effect, precipitation had a non-significant negative effect on the Aphis gossypii population. Farming practices indicated that different plant protection strategies were adopted, which mainly involved the excessive application of pesticides. Given the frequency of aphids on brinjal crops and farming practices, there is a need to develop a crop protection package based on modern integrated pest management practices.

European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, 2013

Hypersensitive response/reaction is a form of the cellular demise frequently linked alongside pla... more Hypersensitive response/reaction is a form of the cellular demise frequently linked alongside plant resistance against pathogen infection. Main transducers for this reaction are the intermediates of reactive oxygen and ion fluxes which are plausibly needed for hypersensitive response (Hpr Sen Rsp). An immediate and enormous energy production and its intra-cellular biochemical conduction are imperative for an Hpr Sen Rsp to be occurred. A number of studies proved that there are such diverse types of factors involved in triggering of Hpr Sen Rsp that morphologies of dead cells have become a vast topic of study. Hpr Sen Rsp could play a frolic role in plants as certain programmed cellular disintegrations in other organisms, to restrict pathogen growth. In fact, Hpr Sen Rsp can be involved in all types of tissues and most of the developmental stages.

Pak. J. Agri. Sci, 2010

Botanical products or plant derivatives serve as suitable replacement to chemical insecticides as... more Botanical products or plant derivatives serve as suitable replacement to chemical insecticides as these are safe and readily degraded in the environment (Roy and Saraf, 2006). These plant products are in use for the last two centuries and have thus minimized ...

Pakistan journal of zoology

In this study citrus oils extracted from citrus seeds were tested on different growth stages of T... more In this study citrus oils extracted from citrus seeds were tested on different growth stages of T. castaneum, an important pest of stored grains. On adults LC50 of different citrus seed oils were 5.47%, 7.70%, 10.79% and 11.79% for rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri), freutrall early (Citrus reticulate), kinnow (Citrus reticulate) and red blood orange (Citrus sinensis), respectively. While for grubs, LC50s were 11.27%, 17.31%, 106.85% and 111.20% for C. jambhiri, C. reticulate, C. sinensis and C. reticulate, respectively. Rough lemon (C. jambhiri) showed lowest LT50 of 6.89 h and 4.06 h against adults and grubs, respectfully. In case of repellency, C. jambhiri gave lowest RD50s value (4.40%) against adults when compared with other citrus cultivars. The presence of limonoids in citrus extracts is therefore a significant indicator for pest control that needs to be exploited further.

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2015

Mosquito and mosquito borne diseases are often discussed, as a major concern for climate change r... more Mosquito and mosquito borne diseases are often discussed, as a major concern for climate change resulting due to global warming and rise in sea level (Scott et al., 2000). The greatest concern is that when temperature increases then the geographic range of the pest and vector species will increase automatically and with it the risk of human diseases also raises particularly for tropical diseases like Malaria, West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever, Filariasis and Dengue fever (Silva et al., 2008). However, there are many factors besides temperature including the availability of suitable habitats and short term changes in rainfall and tidal heights as well as urbanization and mosquito control programs (Nasir et al., 2015) that influence the distribution and abundance of mosquitoes as well as the incidence of human disease. Two mosquito species Aedesalbopictus and Aedesaegyptiplay very important role in spreading different diseases like Yellow fever, West Nile virus and is a primary vector of ...

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2016

The type of locality and seasons had a great effect on species composition (richness and abundanc... more The type of locality and seasons had a great effect on species composition (richness and abundance) and community structure of rove beetles. This was determined in 3 forest and 8 cultivated areas of the Punjab from January 2008 to December 2009. A total of 2,386 specimens belonging to 26 species were captured by using 5 different collection methods, i.e. pitfall traps, flight intercept trap, light trap, Berlese funnel trap and netting. Each area was sampled for four days with an interval of 2 months. The percentage population of different species and Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated. Maximum species richness and abundance was observed during rainy season (July-August). Even a single specimen of Paederus fuscipes Curt., Philonthus cinotulus Kr., Philonthus gemellus Kr., Myrmecopora elegans Cam., Tachyporus himalayicus Bernh., and Astilbus mixtus Cam. was not found from forest area during the whole period of collection.Overall, Paederus fuscipes was the species with the highest population (16.05%), while Tachyporus himalayicus with the lowest (0.22 %). High α-diversity index (20.804

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015

The present study was designed to develop safer, effective, and viable cardioprotective herbal co... more The present study was designed to develop safer, effective, and viable cardioprotective herbal combination to control oxidative stress related cardiac ailments as new alternatives to synthetic drugs. The synergetic cardioprotective potential of herbal combination of four plantsT. arjuna(T.A.),P. nigrum(P.N),C. grandiflorus(C), andC. oxyacantha(Cr) was assessed through curative and preventive mode of treatment. In preventive mode of treatment, the cardiac injury was induced with synthetic catecholamine (salbutamol) to pretreated rabbits with the proposed herbal combination for three weeks. In curative mode of treatment, cardiotoxicity/oxidative stress was induced in rabbits with salbutamol prior to treating them with plant mixture. Cardiac marker enzymes, lipids profile, and antioxidant enzymes as biomarker of cardiotoxicity were determined in experimental animals. Rabbits administrated with mere salbutamol showed a significant increase in cardiac marker enzymes and lipid profile and...

Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases, 2015

Background: Rove beetles of the genus Paederus cause dermatitis when they come in contact with hu... more Background: Rove beetles of the genus Paederus cause dermatitis when they come in contact with human skin. This condition is prevalent in some tropical and subtropical regions, such as in northern Pakistan, where it was recorded for the first time by US troops. Despite much research from other countries on this subject, few studies, mostly clinical, have been performed in a Pakistani context. A survey was carried out in villages, towns and cities of Punjab province, Pakistan, to explore the rove beetle population dynamics and to develop a model to elucidate the symptoms, preventive measures and treatment strategies for this dermatitis. Methods: The prospective observational and patient surveys were performed bimonthly over a period of two years, in different districts of Punjab province. Collection was carried out in fields, gardens and houses during every visit with the aid of a pitfall trap, light trap, flight intercept trap, Berlese funnel trap and sweep netting. These traps were installed for four days during every visit. Interviews of ten individuals of different ages and sexes from each site were recorded during each visit. Results: Out of 980 individuals, 26.4% were found to suffer from Paederus dermatitis. Lesions were most commonly found on the neck followed by the face. In July-August during the rainy season, this skin irritation was most prevalent and the population of these beetles peaked (36.2%). During May-June, the beetle population was lowest (7.85%) due to soil dryness. About 70% of such irritation cases were from individuals living in farming villages or in farmhouses. Their houses typically (80%) had broken doors and screen-less windows while 97% of the residents were unaware of how they may have come into contact with these beetles. In most cases (91% from villages/small towns and 24% from cities and adjoining areas) the local residents were unaware of modern treatment strategies. Conclusions: Paederus dermatitis is extremely frequent in villages with poor housing facilities and could be avoided via community awareness.

Experimental oncology, 2004

Evidence on the relationship between cancer and occupational exposure to pesticides and endocrine... more Evidence on the relationship between cancer and occupational exposure to pesticides and endocrine disrupting chemicals is reviewed. In animal studies it has been proved that majority of endocrine disrupting pesticides are carcinogenic. In humans, pesticides have been classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Farmers may therefore be at higher risk for acute and chronic health effects associated with pesticides. Human data, however, are limited by the small number of studies that evaluate individual endocrine disrupting pesticide. Cancer of the breast, ovary, prostate, testis, and thyroid are hormone-dependent, which fostered research on the potential risk associated with occupational and environmental exposure to the so-called endocrine-disrupting pesticides. Professional as well as public exposure to pesticides raises cancer risk. Interaction with adjuvant and with other toxicants increases the actual risk. On the other hand, organochlorine pesti...

Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2000

Study was carried out to determine the level of resistance in Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.). Strain... more Study was carried out to determine the level of resistance in Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.). Strains collected from various localities of the Punjab and exposed to different concentrations of phosphine, viz; 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05%. Higher concentration (0.05 percent) gave higher mortality (90.721-100 percent) under test. While LC 50 values calculated for Sargodha,

Pak. J. Agri. Sci, 2010

Morphological and molecular characteristics do not provide information on habitat characteristics... more Morphological and molecular characteristics do not provide information on habitat characteristics of members of a particular taxonomic group. Due to habitat adaptations in the course of evolution, it is common for the closely related species to flourish in different habitats. To ...

PLoS ONE, 2014

Background: Diarrhea is an important cause of childhood mortality in developing countries like Pa... more Background: Diarrhea is an important cause of childhood mortality in developing countries like Pakistan because of unhygienic conditions, lack of awareness, and unwise use of preventive measures. Mechanical transmission of diarrheal pathogens by house flies, Musca domestica, is believed as the most effective route of diarrhea transmission. Although the use of insecticides as a preventive measure is common worldwide for the management of house flies, success of the measure could be compromised by the prevailing environmental temperature since it significantly affects toxicity of insecticides and thus their efficacy. Peaks of the house fly density and diarrheal cases are usually coincided and season specific, yet little is known about the season specific use of insecticides. Methodology/Principal Findings: To determine the temperature-toxicity relationship in house flies, the effect of postbioassays temperature (range, 20-34uC) on the toxicity of seven insecticides from organophosphate (chlorpyrifos, profenofos), pyrethroid (cypermethrin, deltamethrin) and new chemical (emamectin benzoate, fipronil, spinosad) classes was evaluated by using a feeding bioassay method. From 20-34uC, the toxicities of chlorpyrifos, profenofos, emamectin and fipronil increased 2.10, 2.93, 2.40 and 3.82 fold (i.e. positive temperature coefficient), respectively. Whereas, the toxicities of cypermethrin, deltamethrin and spinosad decreased 2.21, 2.42 and 3.16 fold (i.e. negative temperature coefficient), respectively. Conclusion/Significance: These findings suggest that for the reduction in diarrheal cases, house flies should be controlled with insecticides according to the prevailing environmental temperature. Insecticides with a positive temperature coefficient may serve as potential candidates in controlling house flies and diarrhea epidemics in hot season and vice versa.

In multiclass classification of multidimensional data, the user wants to build a model of the cla... more In multiclass classification of multidimensional data, the user wants to build a model of the classes to predict the label of unseen data. The model is trained on the data and tested on unseen data with known labels to evaluate its quality. The results are visualized as a confusion matrix which shows how many data labels have been predicted correctly or confused with other classes. The multidimensional nature of the data prevents the direct visualization of the classes so we design ClassSPLOM to give more perceptual insights about the classification results. It uses the Scatterplot Matrix (SPLOM) metaphor to visualize a Linear Discriminant Analysis projection of the data for each pair of classes and a set of Receiving Operating Curves to evaluate their trustworthiness. We illustrate ClassSPLOM on a use case in Arabic dialects identification.

Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, 2022

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2013

The present study was carried out to screen most commonly cultivated mango, Mangifera indica L., ... more The present study was carried out to screen most commonly cultivated mango, Mangifera indica L., cultivars for their susceptibility to gall formation. Sarooli cultivar proved to be the most resistant one by having a minimum number of galls per 100 leaves. The abundance of galls in four quadrants of the tree i.e., east, west, north and south, was also studied which revealed that east quadrant had maximum number of galls while the abundance of galls in the remaining quadrants was variable. Gall formation on mango leaves seemed to increase gradually with increasing height from the ground level, reached a maximum at the height 12 ft to 16 ft and then declined. Leaf area measurements and nutrient analysis of the leaves were also done to see their impact on gall formation. Correlation analysis revealed that gall formation was positively linked with leaf area and the amount of Zn (ppm), P (%), K (%) while N (%) had negative correlation (P<0.05) with gall formation. In conclusion, the fi...

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2021

Few data are available regarding comprehensive or quantitative assessment of fish feed considerin... more Few data are available regarding comprehensive or quantitative assessment of fish feed considering both the environmental and feeding impacts. Aiming to fill the gap, an experimental study to investigate the effects of three fish feeds on concentrations of nutrients and crucian carp (Carassius carassius) growth was conducted in laboratory aquariums in the presence and absence of prometryn. Results showed that weight gain rates of crucian carp treated with Tong Wei (TW) feed were 106.3% and 2.0% higher than that of Zhong Shan (ZS) and Zhong Liang (ZL) feeds, a possible explanation was that the quality of protein in TW feed was highest as evidenced by the protein efficiency ratios. Meanwhile, TW feed posed relatively lighter effects on water qualities (between ZL and ZS). Prometryn significantly inhibited the growth of crucian carp and thus affected concentrations of nutrients in water indirectly. The relationships between weight gain rates of fish and concentrations of nutrients in water (R2 = 0.929-0.990) were developed. In sum, this study suggested that it is realizable to obtain better fish growth performance with lesser degrading effects on water qualities by producing and selecting appropriate feed regardless of prometryn existence, and the developed equations could be used as a basis for future studies.

Proceedings of the First International Conference on Information Sciences, Machinery, Materials and Energy, 2015

Entomological Research, 2002

Entomological Research, 2004

Genus Neolimothrips with a single species N. binervis has been collected, identified and describe... more Genus Neolimothrips with a single species N. binervis has been collected, identified and described for the first time from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Redescription and illustration of the key characters of the species are provided. The genus and the only collected species can easily be identified and separated on the basis of head protruding in front of eyes and antennal segments 3-4 with simple sense cones.

Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2000