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Agriculture is the largest sector of Pakistan economy and major driving force for the growth of national economy. Improvement in crop production will not only help the economy of Pakistan but will also benefit a large portion of country''s population. This book provides the fundamental knowledge about the role of crop rotation and crop residues managment in improvement of soil N & C dynamics and its impact on cereal yield. The low soil fertility is one of the serious problem of field crop production in different regions of the world. This book provides valuable information for the agricultural graduates, researchers, faculty and development oragnizations engaged in boosting of crop yield. The book explians the importance of legume crops and cropping systems to reduce the reliance on chemical fertilizers for high cereal yield.

Currently there is a need to develop management and/or nutritional strategies that will contribute to efficiently reducing the incidence of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) among weaner pigs which are suitable for use in commercial production systems where antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are not routinely supplemented in pigs feed. From the results obtained in this thesis, we propose that: Feeding weaner pigs with a diet supplemented with a combination of benzoic acid and inulin, and without AGPs could be used to reduce the incidence of PWD and increase weaner pig performance under the conditions of commercial production systems where young pigs might be exposed to environmental pressure by Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

Teachers are "gate-keepers" in schools. They process what is assumed "valid knowledge" and how it is taught. The process marginalizes indigenous knowledge and legitimizes western science. This book explores and discusses teachers' definitions of science and indigenous knowledge,their attitude towards incorporating the latter in science, and pedagogical techniques they use to bridge the cultural gap between science and indigenous knowledge. While teachers are expected to facilitate new knowledge and perspectives in teaching, they are sometimes conservative and resistant to new ideas. Science and indigenous knowledge are cultural and contextual constructs. Teachers should apply this contextual knowledge in their classes and allow students to move hermeneutically between western and indigenous sciences. The book challenges the cultural domination, universalization and rationalization of western science which negates other voices. The constructivist analysis that promotes multiple sciences should be of significant help to teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, policy makers, and others interested in promoting intercultural or cross-cultural sciences.

Collagen represents one of the mostly used biomaterials due to its excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability properties. The obtaining of collagen based biomaterials as support for local release of a desired amount of drugs has as motivation their use in the treatment of various skin affections (sores, burns, infections produced by various bacteria) and of soft tissues (periodontal disease, dental extractions). Besides its function as release support, collagen acts as a biological dressing for tissue regeneration. The objective of this work is to obtain last generation local delivery systems containing two antimicrobial drugs in collagenic systems (gels and matrices) to control the drug release for the treatment of different specific diseases: doxycycline - an antibiotic used especially for the treatment of periodontitic disease and tannic acid - an antiseptic for wound treatment. The development of such drug delivery systems bring about both theoretical and practical contributions in the field of biomaterials used as locally controlled drug delivery systems. The biomaterials obtained in this work are in clinical trial being used in medicine and dentistry with good results.

A viable and sustainable alternative that can ensure the bridging of the yawning gap between fish supply and demand therefore lies in aquaculture which offers vast opportunities for investment. Aquaculture production can be increased substantially by adopting a technological shift from semi intensive to intensive systems of production as is the trend worldwide. This book aims at enlightening and encouraging the public to invest in fish-farming based on the use of simple technology of Water Flow-through Systems (WFS) and Water Recirculating System (WRS), for fish production in concrete tanks. The system can be set up in urban or peri- urban premises of little space that is easily manageable and adequately profitable with guaranteed good returns on investment. It targets a wide audience from school leavers to university students and graduates, civil servants, retirees and practicing fish farmers. It is a complete reference book on WFS and WRS in Africa and includes basic material on health management, fluid mechanics, monitoring & control systems, waste management, fish nutrition and aquaponics.

This book is written for everybody who wants to improve his/her language skills in general and especially for those who are interested in foreign language learning and teaching process within a classroom context. The content is based on the research project undertaken by the author. The study was inspired by the research on Extensive Reading (ER), an approach to teaching and learning a foreign language without using a dictionary, but aiming to make learners better readers by doing a lot of reading with the focus on meaning rather than grammar. The conducting of the research has involved very much hard and difficult work. The procedure conformed to the principles of ER. The study employed a double-control pre- and post-test (Solomon) design, using six student groups: two experimental groups and four control groups. Multiple measurements used to assess comprehension with three texts were written recall protocols and translation tests; multiple-choice questions with twelve texts in timed reading to assess reading fluency; and a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews for attitudes to ER. The findings suggest positive effects of ER on comprehension, fluency and attitudes.

This work was aimed at evaluating the potential of pumpkin seed flour in enhancing the vitamin A and iron levels of maize flour. Vitamin A content of maize flour alone was not sufficient to meet the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for the infants, children, males, females, pregnant and lactating mothers. However, the mixtures of pumpkin seed flour and maize flour in the ratios of 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1 had enough vitamin A to meet the RDAs of such groups of people, implying that the pumpkin seed flour enhanced the vitamin A composition of maize flour. The iron content in a mixture of pumpkin seed flour and maize flour in the ratio of 4:1 was found to meet the RDAs of infants, children, males, females, pregnant and lactating mothers. Iron content of maize flour alone could not meet the RDAs of any of the above groups of people, implying that the pumpkin seed flour enhanced the iron content of maize flour. Sensory evaluation results of porridge and meal prepared from maize flour alone and a mixture of pumpkin seed revealed that the formulation of pumpkin seed flour and maize flour in the ratio of 4:1 respectively is the most acceptable for both porridge and meal.

The study of the MHD flow with heat transfer is a new offshoot of mathematics currently receiving considerable interest.It has wide applications in Geophysics,Astrophysics,Engineering,Aeronautics. The essence of MHD comprises models which help to arrive at optimum decisions. These models constitute the subject of this book.The book considers the problems of the MHD flow with heat transfer.It is written for postgraduate students of Mathematics, Physics,& Engineering. Chapter1 is a General Introduction which gives i)A brief history of MHD.ii)Some fundamentals of the subject.Chapter2 consists of important parameters, definitions and basic equations governing the MHD flow with heat transfer.Chapter3 contains a discussion of the impact of heat transfer in the MHD flow past an infinite vertical plate with time- dependent suction.Chapter4 deals with the heat transfer aspect in a three dimensional MHD flow along a porous infinite flat plate in the presence of viscous dissipative heat and a transverse magnetic field.Chapter5 is an investigation into the effect of an electromagnetic field on generalized Couette flow with heat transfer.

The findings indicate that tourists are generally satisfied with their experiences during their visits to Angkor Park and Siem Reap town. Their perceptions are influenced by their motivations before coming to Angkor and their actual experiences at the destination. The local people are marginally benefiting from the tourism industry, though the poor and powerless are left behind in terms of development. The gap between rich and poor is widening and food price inflation mainly driven by the tourism industry is causing more difficulties for those living in the rural areas. The power struggle and conflict between heritage conservationists and tourism developers (especially tourism related business groups) is quite serious, and in most cases tourism developers are given special privileges. Poverty and lack of participation, the imbalance between heritage site management and heritage site commercialization, the lack of collaboration by stakeholders, and the lack of proper management of urbanization in Siem Reap town are the main challenges for sustainable heritage tourism in the Angkor region.

Rolling Element bearings are among the most common elements used in the operation of rotating machines. They are, however, one of the weak points in these machines where a large majority of problems associated are caused by bearing failures. As a result, condition monitoring of the rolling element bearings are important in order to keep these machineries in their proper operating condition. Analysis and maintenance of any rolling element bearings failures are made much easier if any fault can be identified during its early stage. Thus, it is the aim of this book to investigate the relative shaft displacement and bearing housing vibration measurements for the early fault detection in rolling element bearings. Experiments were conducted on a rotor Kit that closely simulates the actual behaviour of rotating machines.

Grouted connections are highly utilized in the expanding offshore wind energy generation industries, providing a very efficient method for connecting foundation substructure to the tower of an offshore wind turbine. Offshore wind turbines are primarily exposed to overturning moment, arising from both the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic sources. So far, no design standard provides analytical methods to account for this kind of load transfer through the grouted connection. The intention of this paper is to demonstrate that analytical estimations can be formulated that reasonably agree with both experimental and numerical analyses of such connections. It is based on a theoretical approach, involving both theory of elasticity and finite element methods. The analytical approach involves various aspects of vector calculus, boundary value problems, potential energy formulations, harmonic functions and solution methods for 1, 2 and 3-dimmensional systems of equations. The finite element approach involves theoretical background on general FE formulations, solution methods, boundary definitions and contact problems.

The book attempts to provide a comprehensive view on naturally occurring organic compounds- Terpenes. Building upon biosynthetic relationships, the author describes classes of metabolites and the drugs that produce them. For each class, it presents the origin, botanical, chemical, structural data and therapeutic uses. Thus a considerable data is gathered into a particularly coherent compilation.

Forest planning practices involve economic, biometric, and operations research methods and processes. For the past fifty years, forest planning has involved sophisticated quantitative methods. For the past thirty years, advances in computer technology have allowed intricate and complex functional relationships between forests and planning goals to be recognized. Presented in this text are a large number of terms often used in conjunction with forest planning processes. The concepts range from basic terms, such as costs or objectives, to advanced terms that relate to stand-level and forest-level analyses. These include classical volume control methods, linear programming, and the more commonly used heuristic techniques. Both graphical and quantitative examples are periodically provided to help one understand the concepts presented. This book should be useful to natural resource managers and other professionals who develop forest management plans or are involved in forest management planning.

The braid groups were mainly studied by E. Artin in 1925. After that a lot of improvement has been seen in this area and the theory was established as a theory of braids. For example J. S. Birman and P. Dehornoy, etc, have great contributions in this subject. This book contains the basic notions of braids and braid monoids. Using the Bokut's non-commutative Grobner bases we have given an algorithm to compute inductively the Hilbert series of all the braid monoids and we gave examples for few initial values. Here we have given the growth rates of braid monoids with three and with four strings and shown that the growth functions of these monoids are exponential. In this book we have described the Garside elements of some spherical Artin monoids. At the end we have proved that for the spherical Artin monoids the growth rate is bounded above by 4.

Robots are often used in industry to handle flexible objects, such as frames, leather goods, thin plates and rubber tubes. Most of the earlier studies dealt with handling of rigid objects and only a few have focused on the collaborative manipulators handling flexible objects. Therefore in this book two rigid robot manipulators collaboratively moving the flexible object in the desired trajectory and also suppressing the vibration of the object are considered for the study. The complete system of dynamic equations is obtained with the help of derived kinematic relations and dynamic equations of manipulators as well as the flexible object. Then, by employing singular perturbation technique slow and fast subsystems are identified. In order to handle parameter uncertainties, robust control algorithms are suggested. As a further improvement of control law for the slow subsystem, two control algorithms are suggested. The first one focused on the avoidance of velocity signal measurement which is useful to eliminate the need of velocity sensors and the second controller aims at avoiding the complex regressor in the control law. Stability analysis and simulation results are also presented.

Islamic Banking and Finance is known to be the fastest growing economic system of the current time. It has always been in discussion that how the unique engraved risks of Islamic Finance be avoided or reduced to minimum. This book provides a comprehensive and all-encompassing view of different Risk Management Practices in Islamic Banking and Finance. This Book is equally helpful for students to build a theoretical understanding of Risk Management Techniques in Islamic Banking as well as for professionals who are practically applying these practices. This book will help them manage different risks in Islamic Banking field more appropriately.

In view of the fact that control and management of IAPS is a complex process that requires a scientific approach and wide stakeholder participation, the approach to the strategy development has to be through a desk study (review of local, national, regional and international documents) and multi-stakeholder consultations in meetings and face to face interviews. The ultimate aim of the strategy should be to promote Cooperative, Coordinated & Integrated control and management of IAPS to reduce their ecological, economic and social impacts on human and natural resources. The review of recent national, regional and international publications and policies and legislation relevant to IAPS management, the synthesis of existing literature on the bio-ecology and invasion ecology of IAPS and possible control strategies and mechanical, chemical and biological treatment methods should form the basis of the desk study.

Visionary management is an elusive concept without a clear role in strategic thinking. A systematic elaboration is called for to show how essential visioning is in a company¿s strategic culture.We focus on visionary management and relate it to the development of strategic management by 1) exploring war and business strategy literature 2) clarifying tactical versus strategic and visionary thinking and 3) systematizing the underlying logic of advanced decision making. Elements vital for good decision making in business context were extracted: the logical distinction between strategy and tactics, subordination of tactics to strategy, and flexibility of strategy. A new paradigm of advanced strategic thinking where visionary management is the third layer of strategic management is summarized. The work is based on research over the years and on consultancy in companies and real-life examples of visionary leadership are demonstrated. We show how foresighted leaders guide the company and prepare it for uncertainties and new opportunities by means of visionary management. The book makes a contribution to strategy and futures research and visionary management.

The rise of globalization and the trade in natural resources have progressively included Sub-Sahara African countries. The energy importing countries of the EU and China seek to increase their level of energy security, while the energy exporting countries of Sub-Sahara Africa are seeking to take advantage of the increase in exports in order to increase their economic development. The resource endowments, not only hold the opportunity of accelerating growth and increasing energy security, but if ill managed it can potentially create unbalanced economic growth and consequently socio-economic instability in the energy exporting countries. The purpose of this book is, to map and examine the intertwined policies of the international trade in energy, and more specifically the strategic policy directions, means and methods utilized by the EU and China, in their resource endowments in Sub-Sahara Africa. This helps to understand how the policy directions affect the level of energy security, while at the same time taking into account the consequences and opportunities the resource endowments have on sustainable development in the exporting countries.

In recent years, the use of crop model has been increasing exponentially for agro-climatic and site specific resource management to increase the grain yield. Among them, the CMS-CERES-Maize model is one, but, very little academic literature exists on how to best utilize the resource using simulation model to optimize the yield in reference to developing countries like Nepal. Best fit (calibration and validation)of model using the available datasets is prerequisites for its application. Site specific management of resources like nitrogen (dose, time and method), water (amount and time), etc. have increased the yield of maize minimizing their losses in field.Likewise, climate of the year, sowing dates, initial moisture content of the field,etc. also significantly affect on the yield performance. From the findings of this study, we concluded that the change in magnitude of climatic parameters creates stress on the limited resource management to increase the grain yield. Further, The analysis should help shed some light on this new and exciting field and should be especially useful to professionals and anyone else involve in agriculture.

Over the last decades, the development of digitization techniques and the increasing capacity of storage media together with decreasing storage costs has led to an explosion of digital content. Huge amounts of audio, images, and videos are generated daily and are mostly stored in an unstructured repository of multimedia information, much of which can be accessed through the Internet. To deal with these huge amounts of data, one of the main imperatives are tools and standards for data search and analysis. In particular, there is a need for efficient techniques that are able to extract semantic information directly from the content. The work presented in this book proposes methods to bridge the semantic gap in the computer vision and the musical audio mining domain. We propose features that are related with human perception and methods relying on machine learning techniques to relate these features with concepts. Next, we present a system to model, disclose, and manage different types of metadata. Furthermore, the interoperability with metadata standards is also tackled.

In this book, focus has been placed on SpikingNeural Networks (SNNs). Research on artificial SNNs has gained momentum in the last decadedue to its ability to emulate biological neural network signals and its enhanced computational capabilities. Input data arrives into a SNN as temporal data instead of values within a time window (rate code). The input data into such a neural network arrives in the shape of sequence of pulses or spikes in time, which called spike train patterns. Thus, there is a need for a pre-processing method, a learning algorithm, and deep analysis for a practical model is a highly postulated matter. Emphasis has been placed on finding a robust and practical SNNlearning algorithm and as well as an analysis of how various parameters affect the algorithm's behavior. A special pre-processingstage (the mapping stage) was used to convert spike train pattern inputs into spatio-temporal outputs. Another main point of this research was to achieve a learning organization that can be practically implemented. Hence, learningschemes have been developed in a way that avoids complex or costly designs.

"The Plights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) during armed conflict: The case of Sudan and Somalia", is an in-dept study into the the root causes of the internal armed conflicts in Sudan and Somalia, It also looks at the mechanism put in place by the international community to punish any violation of IHL.The work also looks at the consequences of both conflicts on civilians and properties. By way of conclusion, these work suggest possible short run and long run recommendation on ending the conflict and or how to punish gross violation of the laws of war by parties to the conflict.

This thesis was conducted in cooperation with the Core Values department at Volvo Logistics and Handelshögskolan, Gothenburg University in Gothenburg, Sweden. The objective of this study is two fold: (i) To develop a system capable of providing environmental cost information to decision makers at Volvo Logistics in a timely and effective manner in order to incorporate emission levels as a key performance indicator in logistics network management and; (ii) To conduct scientific research which meets the requirements of the academic community and produces new academic knowledge regarding the integration of environmental cost information in logistics network management. In order to fulfill both of these objectives, the authors conducted three months of qualitative case study research at Volvo Logistics, involving an interdisciplinary focus on environmental sciences, logistics management, and the development of lean information systems. This research was conducted to explore, describe, and analyze the challenges and concepts behind the problem at Volvo Logistics and to develop a practical solution.

In enclosed spaces, the combined treatment of the air to control, as specified, temperature, relative humidity, velocity of motion, and radiant heat energy level, with consideration of the need for removal of air-borne particles and contaminant gases.Heating Ventilating and Air conditioning (HVAC) System is capable of providing heating humidification during the winter, cooling and dehumidification during summer, the supply of fresh air through ¿ out the year and capability to furnish each of these services in a controlled manner and when sought by building occupants.Plumbing is a system of piping, apparatus, and fixtures for water distribution and waste disposal within a building. This chapter covers the basic water supply and water distribution systems, the theater of operations (TO) water supply and water distribution systems, and the sewerage system. Plumbing also includes the installation and maintenance of these systems. When architects design a building, they prepare a set of prints and a set of specification sheets detailing the types and quality of materials to be used. Plumbers use the prints and specifications to layout and plan the project.

The book ¿Basic Concepts in Laboratory Safety for Researchers and Students¿ is a book borne out of my years of experience in teaching undergraduate students and doing research. Most of the mysterious sickness during undergraduate studies and after graduation by some of our students are not far from the careless mistaken and ignorance during laboratory activities. The book is intended for first timers in the Laboratory, Project Students, Practitioners In the Hospitals, Research Institutes etc. The book explores various laboratory safety measures which a student or researcher must consider before and during laboratory activities to protect oneself, neighbors and the environment. It include notes on first aids, laboratory rules, chemical and biological hazard warning signs, biosafety, safety equipment, containment, laboratory wastes and laboratory waste disposals. Students of Biochemistry, Chemistry, Microbiology, Biology and Agriculture will find this book useful at one time or the other during their studies.

As the bar for service excellence keeps rising, especially in the request of shorter lead times, higher service levels, lower costs and better customer service support, the conventional models of spare parts inventory management are increasingly becoming inadequate. This book, therefore, develops three novel models of spare parts inventory management. Model 1 used mathematical analysis to integrate 7 spare parts inventory policies together. Model 2 integrated the same inventory policies of Model 1 using stochastic simulation while Model 3 expanded Model 2 by considering bulk demand and supply using stochastic simulation. 19 sensitivity parameters were varied in the study, where at each instance of variation, the behaviour of the fill rate, as well as backorders (i.e. with regard to its average number, mean response time and maximum queue length) were analysed. On the average a saving of 18.51% demands in comparison with the conventional models was found, which indeed will result in huge cost savings in absolute terms. This book will therefore serve as equipment that enriches the tool box of professionals and pedagogical tool for students on spare parts inventory management.

An effective records management programme is a major element of the governance of any organisation. The proper management of records can make a vital contribution to the achievement of business objectives, information sharing, legal compliance, administrative efficiency, etc. Despite these benefits offered by a records management programme, many organisations, including government departments, pay little attention to the management of records. In South Africa, government departments are under legislative obligations to adopt a systematic and organised approach to the management of records. This book, therefore, explores records management trends in the South African public sector with reference to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Historical account of record-keeping by the state archives is also discussed. Data was collected through content analysis, online questionnaires, physical observation and interviews. This book can serve as a catalyst for modification and formulation of records management policies and should be especially useful to professionals and students in archives and records management fields.

This book gives a critical analysis of the World Trade Organization and developing countries. The author questions whether the World Trade Organization presents any significant trade and development opportunities for developing countries. She makes an assessment of the achievements and obstacles in regulating international trade with respect to developing countries. The effects of liberalization and globalization policies embodied in the WTO on the developing countries are analyzed, given such issues as regionalism, sovereignty, trade imbalances and the political will to implement policies agreed at the WTO. The author concludes that the World Trade Organization does not change the status quo of the world economic order and is still exclusive rather than inclusive. It largely promotes marginalization rather than integration of developing countries into ¿Global trade¿. The author also further questions the role of the World Trade Organization as a panacea to economic development challenges faced by developing countries.