Do neonicotinoid insecticides impaired olfactory learning behavior in Apis mellifera?

Muhammad Imran,Umer Ayyaz Aslam Sheikh,Muhammad Nasir,Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar,Ansa Tamkeen,Muhammad Aamir Iqbal 한국잠사학회 2019 International Journal of Industrial Entomology Vol.38 No.1

Bee’s population is declining and disappearing at alarming rate. There are many factors responsible for declining the population of bees including diseases, natural enemies, environmental conditions and pesticides. Insecticides play its role dramatically for their population decline and neonicotinoid insecticides are critically important due to their wide application for pest control. Keeping in view of above problem, effect of neonicotinoid insecticides on olfactory learning behavior in Apis mellifera was observed using Proboscis Extension Reflex (PER) method. In this method, bees were harnessed in centrifuges tubes and feed on insecticides mixed sugar solution after three hours hunger. Bees were checked by feeding on non-treated sugar solution to observe PER response. Minimum proboscis extension was observed for acetamiprid and imidacloprid with 26% and 20% respectively at their recommend field doses while it was maximum for dinotefuran and thiamethoxam with 73% and 60% respectively. Only 40% bees showed response when exposed at 1/10 concentration of field dose for imidacloprid and the least at 1/100 of field dose. At control (Sugar solution) about 90% bees showed PER response. Among these neonicotinoid insecticides tested, imidacloprid and acetamiprid were the most damaging which impaired the olfactory learning performance in Apis mellifera. Bombyx mori silkworm has many silkworm varieties and the structure and properties of silk can be varied depending on the silkworm variety. Therefore, the choice of proper silkworm variety can be an effective way to control and improve the performance of silk materials in biomedical and cosmetic applications. As a preliminary study, in the present study, thirty nine Bombyx mori silkworm cocoons were prepared and their molecular conformation and crystallinity were examined. Molecular conformation and the crystallinity of silkworm cocoons were different depending on the silkworm variety. Interestingly, the crystallinity index of outside of cocoon was different from that of inside of cocoon and the difference between the crystallinities of outside and inside of cocoon was varied depending on the silkworm variety. In this study, the silkworm variety cocoons were classified into three groups (Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3) based on the difference of crystallinities between outside and inside.

Do neonicotinoid insecticides impaired olfactory learning behavior in Apis mellifera?

Imran, Muhammad,Sheikh, Umer Ayyaz Aslam,Nasir, Muhammad,Ghaffar, Muhammad Abdul,Tamkeen, Ansa,Iqbal, Muhammad Aamir Korean Society of Sericultural Science 2019 International Journal of Industrial Entomology Vol.38 No.1

Bee's population is declining and disappearing at alarming rate. There are many factors responsible for declining the population of bees including diseases, natural enemies, environmental conditions and pesticides. Insecticides play its role dramatically for their population decline and neonicotinoid insecticides are critically important due to their wide application for pest control. Keeping in view of above problem, effect of neonicotinoid insecticides on olfactory learning behavior in Apis mellifera was observed using Proboscis Extension Reflex (PER) method. In this method, bees were harnessed in centrifuges tubes and feed on insecticides mixed sugar solution after three hours hunger. Bees were checked by feeding on non-treated sugar solution to observe PER response. Minimum proboscis extension was observed for acetamiprid and imidacloprid with 26% and 20% respectively at their recommend field doses while it was maximum for dinotefuran and thiamethoxam with 73% and 60% respectively. Only 40% bees showed response when exposed at 1/10 concentration of field dose for imidacloprid and the least at 1/100 of field dose. At control (Sugar solution) about 90% bees showed PER response. Among these neonicotinoid insecticides tested, imidacloprid and acetamiprid were the most damaging which impaired the olfactory learning performance in Apis mellifera.

Interactive Slide Navigation: An Approach for Manipulating Slides with Augmented Reality Markers

Muhammad Tahir,Muhammad Arshad Awan,Aniqa Hafeez,Mohsin Yazdanie,Sheikh Ziauddin 한국산학기술학회 2012 SmartCR Vol.2 No.2

The use of PowerPoint slides is an interactive way of communication in a classroom environment. To make it more effective, different techniques for the manipulation, annotation, and navigation of slides have been utilized. We presented the use of Augmented Reality technology to manipulate, annotate and navigate through PowerPoint slides. We used Augmented Reality marker recognition techniques by employing an Augmented Reality ToolKit. We performed tests by analyzing Augmented Reality marker IDs and their translational and rotational gestures. We used 1) simple flat Augmented Reality markers, 2) finger Augmented Reality markers, 3) cube markers, 4) illuminated markers, and 5) retro-reflective markers to manipulate slides. The results indicate that finger Augmented Reality markers are easy to handle and perform better than other types of markers. Cube markers are especially helpful in performing rotational gestures, while illuminated and retro-reflective markers provide moderate results in comparison with simple flat markers. As far as we know, we are the first to use Augmented Reality technology for handling slides and providing the presenter with distant access to the presentation.

High Resolution Image Reconstruction with Compressed Sensing based on Iterations

Muhammad Sameer Sheikh,Qumsheng Cao,Caiyun Wang,Muhammad Shafiq 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Hybrid Information Techno Vol.9 No.12

This paper proposes a new method of efficient image reconstruction based on the Modified Frame Reconstruction Iterative Thresholding Algorithm (MFR ITA) developed under the compressed sensing (CS) domain by using total variation algorithm. The new framework is consisted of three phases. Firstly, the input images are processed by the multilook processing with their sparse coefficients using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) method. Secondly, the measurements are obtained from sparse coefficient by using the proposed fusion method to achieve the balance resolution of the pixels. Finally, the fast CS method based on the MFR ITA is proposed to reconstruct the high resolution image. The proposed method achieved superior results on real images, and demonstrate qualitative improvements in terms of PSNR and SSIM values. Furthermore, achieved good reconstruction SNR in the presence of noise.

Are colony developmental stages of bumblebee, Bombus terrestris (hymenoptera: apidae) affected by different concentrations of sugar and honey solutions?

( Muhammad Imran ),( Munir Ahmad ),( Muhammad Naeem ),( Khalid Mahmood ),( Muhammad Nasir ),( Umer Ayyaz Aslam Sheikh ) 한국잠사학회 2017 International Journal of Industrial Entomology Vol.34 No.2

Bumblebees, more efficient than honeybees, provide important services for pollination especially in tomato, pepper, cucumber, strawberries and other crops grown under tunnel farming or glasshouse conditions to yield maximization. These bees require pollen and nectar to meet their dietary needs and maintain their colony structure, development and reproduction. Keeping in view their economic importance, the effect of five concentrations of sugar and honey solutions (1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 2:1,1.5:1) each as alternative to nectar were used to observe their effect on life history parameters of Bombus terrestris . The 1:1 ratio of sugar solution was found most effective followed by 1.5:1, 1:1.5, 1:2 and 2:1 and also more effective of all five concentrations of honey solutions on all three stages of colony development i.e., at colony initiation, colony development and colony maturation stages. At colony initiation stage, early pre-oviposition period (6.40± 0.97 days), early emergence of first worker in the first batch (25.40±1.21 days) and maximum numbers of workers (6.20±0.24) emergence in the first batch were observed at 1:1 ratio of sugar solution. Colonies reared on 1:1 ratio of sugar solution reached earlier (52.13±1.28 days) at colony foundation stage with minimum mortality (3.27±0.54 workers). At colony maturation stage, maximum numbers of workers, sexual (males, queens) and maximum mother queen longevity was observed at the same 1:1 ratio of sugar solution. It can be suggested from present study that sugar solution as alternative of nectar at 1:1 ratio was better than other sugar concentration levels and also from those of honey solution.

A Collision Avoidance Model for On-Ramp Merging of Autonomous Vehicles

Muhammad Sameer Sheikh,Yinqiao Peng 대한토목학회 2023 KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Vol.27 No.3

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have the ability to enhance traffic flow and road safety by significantly reducing human error. Although some collision risks may be eliminated in autonomous vehicles, other potential risks remain, especially at on-ramp merging areas. This paper proposes a collision avoidance model for on-ramp merging of autonomous vehicles under different scenarios. Simulation results suggest that the proposed method can reduce the risks of collision at on-ramp merging areas. Moreover, we assessed the effectiveness of the strategy in terms of traffic flow speed variations with different penetration rates of CAVs. Results show that the collision avoidance strategy leads to lower speed variations. This study reveals that the information obtained from the proposed collision avoidance model could be helpful for improving traffic safety and enhancing urban mobility.

The effect of Acacia nilotica bark extract on growth performance, carcass characteristics, immune response, and intestinal morphology in broilers as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoter

Muhammad Umer Zahid,Anjum Khalique,Shafqat Nawaz Qaisrani,Muhammad Ashraf,Ali Ahmad Sheikh,Muhammad Umar Yaqoob Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2023 Animal Bioscience Vol.36 No.7

Objective: Present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of Acacia nilotica bark extract as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broilers. Methods: Six hundred, day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into six groups (NC, without any supplementation; AB, NC+Zinc Bacitracin; PB, NC+Safmannan; ANBE1, NC+A. nilotica bark extract 0.1%; ANBE3, NC+A. nilotica bark extract 0.3%; ANBE5, NC+A. nilotica bark extract 0.5%), with ten replicates per group (10 chicks/replicate) and feeding trial was lasted for 35 days. Results: Results showed that weight gain (1,296.63 g) and feed conversion ratio (FCR, 1.59) of AB was better than NC, during the finisher phase. Overall FCR of AB (1.53), PB (1.54), and ANBE5 (1.54) was significantly (p<0.05) better than NC. From carcass parameters relative weight of wing and heart were highest in ANBE3 (2.5% and 1.51%, respectively). Significantly (p<0.05) highest blood glucose level was observed in NC (264.5 mg/dL) and highest albumin concentration was found in AB (1.46 mg/dL). In addition, antibody titer levels against ND and IBD were higher in ANBE5 than NC, while higher relative weight of bursa was observed in ANBE3 than NC. The villus height to crypt depth ratio in all experimental groups was better than NC. Conclusion: Acacia nilotica bark extract could be a suitable alternative to antibiotic growth promoters to support the growth in broilers.

Sentiment Analysis to Evaluate Different Deep Learning Approaches

Sheikh Muhammad Saqib,Tariq Naeem International Journal of Computer ScienceNetwork S 2023 International journal of computer science and netw Vol.23 No.11

The majority of product users rely on the reviews that are posted on the appropriate website. Both users and the product's manufacturer could benefit from these reviews. Daily, thousands of reviews are submitted; how is it possible to read them all? Sentiment analysis has become a critical field of research as posting reviews become more and more common. Machine learning techniques that are supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised have worked very hard to harvest this data. The complicated and technological area of feature engineering falls within machine learning. Using deep learning, this tedious process may be completed automatically. Numerous studies have been conducted on deep learning models like LSTM, CNN, RNN, and GRU. Each model has employed a certain type of data, such as CNN for pictures and LSTM for language translation, etc. According to experimental results utilizing a publicly accessible dataset with reviews for all of the models, both positive and negative, and CNN, the best model for the dataset was identified in comparison to the other models, with an accuracy rate of 81%.

Winner-Loser Effect: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

Muhammad Sahid RASHEED,Muhammad Fayyaz SHEIKH,Jahanzaib SULTAN,Qamar ALI,Aamir Inam BHUTTA 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.10

The study examines the behavior of stock prices after large price changes. It further examines the effect of firm size on stock returns, and the presence of the disposition effect. The study employs the event study methodology using daily price data from Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period January 2001 to July 2012. Furthermore, to examine the factors that explain stock price behavior after large price movements, the study employs a two-way fixed-effect model that allows for the analysis of unobservable company and time fixed effects that explain market reversals or continuation. The findings suggest that winners perform better than losers after experiencing large price shocks thus showing a momentum behavior. In addition, the winners remain the winner, while the losers continue to lose more. This suggests that most of the investors in PSX behave rationally. Further, the study finds no evidence of disposition effect in PSX. The investors underreact to new information and the prices continue to move in the direction of initial change. The pooled regression estimates show that firm size is positively related to post-event abnormal returns while the fixed-effect model reveals the presence of unobservable firm-specific and time-specific effects that account for price continuation.

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B and C Infections among Healthy Volunteer Blood Donors in the Central California Valley

( Muhammad Y Sheikh ),( Pradeep R Atla ),( Adnan Ameer ),( Humaira Sadiq ),( Patrick C Sadler ) 대한소화기학회 2013 Gut and Liver Vol.7 No.1

Background/Aims: The Central California Valley has a diverse population with significant proportions of Hispanics and Asians. This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepa titis C virus (HCV) in healthy blood donors in the Valley. Methods: A total of 217,738 voluntary blood donors were identified between 2006 and 2010 (36,795 first-time donors; 180,943 repeat donors). Results: Among the first-time donors, the HBV and HCV prevalence was 0.28% and 0.52%, respectively. Higher HBV prevalence seen in Asians (3%) followed by Caucasians (0.05%), African Americans (0.15%), and Hispanics (0.05%). Hmong had a HBV prevalence of 7.63% with a peak prevalence of 8.76% among the 16- to 35-year-old age group. Highest HCV prevalence in Native Americans (2.8) followed by Caucasians (0.59%), Hispanics (0.45%), African Americans (0.38%), and Asians (0.2%). Conclusions: Ethnic disparities persist with regard to the prevalence of HBV and HCV in the Central California Valley. The reported prevalence may be an underestimate because our study en rolled healthy volunteer blood donors only. The development of aggressive public health measures to evaluate the true prevalence of HBV and HCV and to identify those in need of HBV and HCV prevention measures and therapy is critically important. (Gut Liver 2013;7:66-73)