Concept of equilibrium is very difficult to understand for under graduate students. This experiment has a good visual impact of demonstration of equilibrium and would be one way of stimulating awareness in chemistry. An alkaline solution of arabinose and methylene green in aqueous medium can be used to explain equilibrium visually through reaction of dissolved oxygen which was observed in “BLUE BOTTLE EXPERIMENT” that showed the shift of equilibrium by regeneration of color during shaking and upon standing equilibrium shift in the forward direction and color loss was observed. Shaking the solution raises the concentration of oxygen in the mixture and oxidizes the methylene green back to its blue form. When the dissolved oxygen has been consumed, the methylene green is slowly reduced back to its colorless form by the remaining arabinose and the cycle can be repeated many times by further shaking. The experiment was repeated with various concentrations of dye indicator, arabinose and sodium hydroxide concentration. It was observed that regeneration of color and colorloss is the best visual example of explanation of equilibrium.

Phytosociological studies were carried around the International Leather industry and Farooq Textile Mill in the vicinity of Landhi industrial estate of Karachi and compared with control area of University Campus to evaluate plant community-soil relationship in the localities. The vegetation was herbaceous, shrubs and predominantly disturbed in nature at all of the sites. Based on the composition, structure and distribution of species, plant communities of each area were recognized. Both plant communities of International Leather industry and Farooq Textile Mill had low number of plant species as related to control area. Importance value index of all the species were determined. Senna holosericea (Fresen.) Greuter, Corchorus depressus (L.) Stocks and Amaranthus viridis L. were found in all the communities whereas, Corchorus trilocularis L. and Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet were present in industrial areas. A relationship between soil characteristics and plant communities of the industries of Landhi and control site were conducted. Industrial plant communities have low level of water holding capacity and organic matter and high concentrations of total soluble salts and available sulfate as relative to soil of plant community of control area. The research demonstrated that the plant species were retarded in numbers due to soil pollution as compared to control area of Karachi University Campus due to industrial existing contamination and pollution in soil in the area

This preliminary study was designed to monitor the effect of distillery spent wash evaporation ponds on underground water. The water samples (3 spent wash and 32 underground (total 35)) were analyzed for the parameters, pH, Electrical conductivity (E.C), Total dissolved salts (TDS), Total hardness (TH), Chloride, Total phosphate-P, M-alkalinity, Sulfate, Nitrate-N, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). The physico-chemical parameters of the water samples for spent wash and underground were found in the following ranges; pH 7.2-7.7 and 6.8-7.7, electrical conductivity 38.2-44.7 ms/cm and 0.47-32.0 ms/cm, TDS 24448-28608 mg/l and 302-19840 mg/l, Total hardness 17400-18000 mg/l and 170-4150 mg/l, chlorides 7446-13293.5 mg/l and 85.0-2836 mg/l , Total phosphate-p 229.5-328.5 mg/l and 0.005-2.29 mg/l, Methyl red Alkalinity 1702.5-2352.5 mg/l and 115-657.5 mg/l , Sulfate 3157.8-3552.6 mg/l and 10-417.1 mg/l, Nitrate-N 471.5-539.1 mg/l and 0.0-28.0 mg/l, COD 20080-24320 mg/l and 0.0-53.0 mg/l, DO 0.036-0.12 mg/l and 1.1-7.7 mg/l respectively. The underground water was observed being affected by the spent wash. It was observed that the distillery industry discharges various pollutants in concentration above NEQS for industrial effluents. Greater concentration of these pollutants is responsible for underground water pollution of study area.

Conventional wood preservatives are not only toxic to target bio-deterioration organisms but also to man, other organisms and the environment. In an effort to find preservatives that are less or non- toxic to man, other organisms and the environment, efficacy of heartwood water extractives (0.65g/ml) of Tectona grandis (teak) and Distemonanthus benthamianus (bonsamdua) was tested on five selected less used timer species (LUS): Sterculiaoblonga (ohaa), Antiaristoxicaria (kyenkyen), Canariumschweinfurthii (bediwonua), Celtiszenkeri (esa-kokoo) and olagigantea (watapuo) by brushing and immersion and exposed to the ground for 8 months following a modified EN 252. Regardless of extract retention in selected LUS, Bonsamdua extract improved their durability more than that of Teak. Improved durability of selected LUS was ranked as follows: Sterculiaoblonga>Colagigantea>Celtiszenkeri>Antiaristoxicaria>Canariumschweinfurthii. Though extracts showed reduced efficacy with time, indications were that they could be employed to control wood pests.

The herbal drug formulation (Diabrid) was evaluated for hypoglycemic activity in normal, glucose-fed hyperglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic rabbits. Fasting blood glucose level was determined prior to the drug administration in each group. Blood sugar was also determined at various time intervals after oral drug administration and compared with the reference drug, Gliben clamide. The data was statistically analyzed. No significant hypoglycemic effect was produced by the herbal test drug in alloxan- induced diabetic rabbits. However, fasting blood glucose levels were significantly decreased in the normal animals within one hour after drug administration. The maximum hypoglycemic effect was noted within two hours. A significant hypoglycemic effect was observed in glucose-fed hyperglycemic rabbits. Diabrid at a dose of1000 mg/kg produced approximately the same effect as 3.3 mg/kg Glibenclamide. The herbal drug did not produce any toxic effect at higher doses. The study suggests that Diabrid is a safe potential herbal medicine in the amelioration of hyperglycemia in Type-II diabetes. It has not shown any significant effect in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) animal model.

Cypermethrin is one of the most widely used pesticides in the country for agriculture crop production. Due to least water solubility and toxicity, its removal need especial attention. Microbial degradation is considered to be an efficient and cost effective method for decontamination of toxic pesticides from the environment. In this study, malathion degrading bacterial isolate, identified as Pseudomonas, was used to assess its biodegradation potential for cypermethrin in aqueous system. The experimental findings indicate that Pseudomonas was able to degrade cypermethrin, if suitable environmental conditions provided in the reactor. Increased concentration from 20 to 80 mg/L gradually decreased the removal efficiency. However, under continuous agitation, complete degradation of cypermethrin (20 mg/L) occurred within a period of 48 hours. These results suggest that the use of potential microorganisms in the treatment system can successfully overcome many of the disadvantages associated with the conventional method used for the degradation of inhibitory compounds.

In this study the photocatalytical degradation of propanil that used frequently in Iraq was investigated in different sources of water (distilled, tap and river waters) by using zinc oxide as a photocatalyst and mercury lamp as a source of light with intensity 2.66 x 10-4 Ein.l-1 sec.-1. The rate of photo oxidation process is followed-up under optimum conditions at natural pH of solution, 10-4 M initial concentration of propanil, 0.4 g/lZnO loading and 20 ml/min oxygen flow rate. The photodegradation rate measurements were based on chloride ions liberation and the change in conductivity and pH. Kinetic study of photodegradation was found that -1the reaction is of the first order reaction and found equal to 0.0046, 0.0079 and 0.0086 min for distilled, tap and river waters, respectively. Also the activation energy and quantum yields were calculated. UV-Visible spectrophotometric and PHLC were utilized to identify final species of the reaction products.

Experiment was conducted to study the effect of different concentrations (10,000, 100,000 and 1000, 000 cfu) of Fusariumsolani on growth and resistance to soybean (Glycine max(L.) Merr )leguminous plant. Sterilized seeds of Glycine max were sown in 350g of acid washed sand. The plants were regularly watered with complete Nutrient Hoagland solution. Leaves samples were weekly collected for analysis of biochemical tests. The growth and morphology of G. max were adversely affected with F. solani which show damping off seedling root rot. The symptom was first appearing in root. Infected seedling of G. max showed a marked decreased in root, shoot length and discoloration and decay in roots. Stem diameter was also decreased in infected plants as compared with the control plants. There were not marked differences occurring in leaf area but the color of leaves turn yellowish green in infected plants. The infected tissues of soybean with different colonies of F. solani showed the highest level of total phenolic content as compared to healthy tissues.