Transportation is an indistinguishable component of any society. Provision of luxury transportation at favorable rates to general public is the need of the day for societal comfort. Research has been done to assess the service and efficiency level of(Bus Rapid Transit)BRT system by evaluating initial parameters including passenger’s attitudes towards quality, safety, security, and service provided by Metro bus Lahore as well as identifying problems encountered by passengers. In Pakistan, local transportation play significant role for travelers to commute whereas the vast transportation system of Lahore and construction of Metro Bus Transit System with consideration to balance demands of traffic has provided safer, economical and secure public transport system to the people. This research has been carried out from Shahdara to Gujjumata. The questionnaire-based survey was conducted. which was comprised of questions according to problems, needs of passengers and indicators which were set to identify the service quality of Metro Bus. It is revealed from analysis that majority of people are satisfied from service quality, punctuality, accessibility and efficiency provided by BRT system. It is also observed that this service is user-friendly for physically impaired persons. Dissatisfaction level was also observed on low seating capacity in buses, security, safety of users on board. This research suggests concerned authority to improve, enhance current passenger services and provide better services so that current users can enjoy services and attract new passengers to use Metro bus as well as imply international best practices in Pakistan urban transport.

“Water is life” is not only a phrase but also a reality which ensure human survival. This study provides an important tool to analyze different water management strategies that can be helpful in saving available water resources in an efficient way. Consultation with the public and officials of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Lahore Development Authority (LDA), and Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) made this easier to understand the acceptability of the explored strategies in Lahore. A sample size of 400population was observed a supportive method to draw favorable results from the collected primary data. It is estimated that Lahore and its outskirts receive highest rainfall which contributes 40% to the annual groundwater recharge but the water table is still depleting gradually. This research provides necessary information regarding the conservation of ground water. The correlations method was applied to check the significance of the variables. The findings proposed that authorities must communicate awareness among general public regarding importance of water or should start programs for water management. The other way of correlating strategies implemented in other similar countries led us towards billing and taxing as the topmost strategy to be implemented in our case study. A total of 66% targeted population was willing to make this strategy implemented through government support. Although other strategies like flash flooding, water recycling, rainwater harvesting, and equitable access to water all the time were following the acceptance as 60%, 61%, and 62% respectively. Finally, imposition of strict laws on water usage leads toward water saving for a sustainable future.

Industries, being commercial productive units perform as manufacturing agents to produce large quantity of goods to cater the needs of increasing population. Manufacturing units use raw material and goods to deliver the final product. The findings of this research are consistent and reliable. The study area mainly consists of three types of industries including iron and steel, chemical and fertilizer and plastic industry. The hazardous waste generated by industries in Pakistan was computed as 1 lac tons per day and more than 10 thousand tons/day in Lahore. These wastes played a vital role in the degradation of environment. In addition, various harmful gases such as fluoride, carbon monoxide and dust were released by these industries which mixed with fog and caused smog that resulted in respiratory diseases and the Lahore remained in smog for last 3 years. The air quality declined to alarming level because of the dust produced by these industries. Air pollution leads to skin problems, and respiratory diseases among residents living in outskirts of these industries. In this research it is estimated that industrial emission is more dangerous than any other emissions. From the year 2008 to 2019 the harmful emissions were categorized as 43% by transport sector, 25% by industries, 20% by agricultural sector and 22% by power sector. Proper planning and management is required to secure the safety of environment from the adverse effects of industries.

The global emerging trends of E-Governance utilizes Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support the governance functions. It emphases on improving governance by innovating administrative processes, transforming relationships, improving public services delivery, ensuring accountability, increasing participation and collaboration among civil society, government and private sector. Whereas, E-Governance is considered a revolutionary reform of promoting good governance through greater control over state power, authority and resources to promote equality, peace and prosperity by eliminating corruption, unemployment and hunger. Pakistan had made huge investments on deploying ICTs infrastructure and human resource development in public sector but the country could not achieve the expected outcomes. The results show that public sector has adequate level of ICTs infrastructure and competent human resource to obtain the promising benefits of these initiatives. However, all these resources remained underutilized which is considered a public sector dilemma in Pakistan. Most of public sector businesses are still relying on the manual systems rather than the fully computerized or automated and the public officials are bound to exchange and processes information manually. The under-utilization of these technologies and human resource cannot reap the benefits of E-Governance and therefore could not promote transparency, accountability, equality, and participation for sustainable socio-economic growth and development of Pakistan.

Continuous monitoring of spatial variations in urban poverty is a complex multidimensional phenomenon. In urban areas of South Asian countries, various factors contribute to promote urban poverty e.g., rapid and unmanaged urbanization, high migration and inflation rates and fluctuations in land values. The poor community should be focused by policy makers to solve poverty related issues. This research was conducted in a metropolitan city Lahore in Punjab province of Pakistan which is confronting with urban poverty and need to construct a policy for poverty alleviation. Alkire-Foster approach was used to compute urban poverty by selecting poverty cut off point k=2/5 for this study. It demonstrates that 70.8% of households were poor whereas 29.8% households were living out of poverty with positive potentials. The results can be taken as a reference point to alleviate poverty in other regions of country.

In Pakistan, about 36000 people were killed in road accidents in the year 2019. This study focuses on hazard assessment through geo-spatial techniques using both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. An attempt was made to demarcate the most vulnerable roads to accidents for the years 2015 to 2019 through geospatial techniques. The data used in this research was collected through real time field observation using questionnaire-based survey. The results show that the ratio of reported accidents was higher in 2019 which was 53,979, in comparison to the number of accidents occurred in 2015 which were 19,073. It caused 478 casualities in 2019 in comparison to 308 in 2015. We found various reasons behind these accidents at both administration and individual levels e.g., about 67% increase was observed in number of vehicles from 2015 to 2019 whereas only 14% driving licenses were issues against this number. The most vulnerable roads where most of accidents occurred were Ferozepur Road, Ring Road, Mall Road and Jail Road whereas, in Iqbal Town, the roads were Canal Road, Multan Road, College Road and Raiwind Road. Geospatial techniques proved efficient for mapping the vulnerable roads to accidents.

Spatio-temporal variations in assessment of land values play a vital role in better urban planning and policy making. This study focuses on spatial structures of land values in Lahore metropolitan area by using different spatial and statistical techniques. The comparative analysis of land values for the years 2012 & 2018 is generated which is useful for planners, investors, and policy makers. The research is descriptive but explanatory in nature to show correlation between independent variables (real land values) and dependent variables (interpolated land values). The interpolation techniques which have the highest correlation coefficient, were used further processing. The inter category shift based on interpolation maps for comparison shows categorical shift which is useful for investors in future. The results indicate that the land values are higher in Central Business District and Gulberg Zone because of highly active business zone which increases the demand of the land which is ultimately increasing the value of land in Lahore metropolitan area.

A massive tremor stuck Baluchistan Pakistan on September 24, 2013 with a magnitude of 7.7 recorded on Richter scale. The epicenter was Awaran Baluchistan which directly affected about 300,000 people leaving about 386 causalities. The impact of this earthquake was so much large that it created a new landmass which was named as Zalzala Koh later. It was the result of strike slip faulting at a depth of 15km. The new born island was full of rich minerals, gases and dead sea animals. This island was 60 feet high, 100 feet wide and 250 feet long. The classification results of landsat 8 show that the island completely disappeared in 2019 after 6 six years of its birth. First the volume of this island decreases due to reduced pressure of internal gases and secondly, the high-pressure water waves vanished it completely. Satelltie imagery proved efficient for spatio-temporal monitoring of various landuse classes.

Earth is a blue planet because of the rudimentary cause of life, that is water. All the biochemical reactions which are pre-requisite for nourishing life of animals and plants, use water as a basic element. Being a universal solvent, it dissolves almost all minerals present in the soil. It is one of the basic and necessary compounds responsible for the survival of life. The main purpose of research was to determine the quality of groundwater in Kasur near the tanneries. The study is focused on the bacteriological and physicochemical (pH, Temperature, DO, BOD, CO2, TOSM, TDS, TM and heavy metals) parameters. We selected four sites as Din Garh, Qatal Garhi, Mangal Mandi and Kot Haleem Khan for investigation. Coliforms were present in high concentration that produce viruses and bacterial diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastrocnemii, dysentery and ear infections. World Health Organization (WHO) has justified that the drinkable water must have zero level of coliform and E.coli. Regarding the Total Suspended Matter (TSM), the values ranged from 0.3-0.5g/l in DIN GHARH, 0.2-0.5g/l in QATAL GHARHI, 0.2-0.5g/l in MANGAL MANDI and 0.2-0.6g/l in KOT HALEEM KHAN. The study concludes that the water pollution due to tanneries in Kasur have changed the bacteriological and physicochemical properties of ground water to a considerable level which is not drinkable. It also conclude that groundwater was contaminated with high concentrations of BOD, TOSM, TDS, TM and Heavy metals due to discharge of industrial effluents.

Selection of suitable sites for construction of dam is the most important phase because a number of factors are required to consider that include topography, geology, tectonic settlements and the slope. We selected Diamer Basha dam site to analyze it feasibility considering real-time field data. Geologically the study site is a part of Chilas Mafic Igneous Complex which is not ophiolite. Matic complex is a block which is 40km in depth and 300km in length. These rocks are comparatively hard in nature and are considered good for construction of dam. Tectonically, we observed that the area under investigation was highly active tectonically. Surface deformation rates of the study site are highest throughout the world because this area is comprised of multiple fault lines that include Main Mantle Thurst (MMT), Main Karakoram Thrurst (MKT), Main Boundary Thurst (MBT) and many others. This area has become a hot cake for the geologist worldwide due to it’s very high surface deformation rates.Tectonically active regions are considered worst for construction sites, e.g., for dam sites. The dam site is actcually laying on the MKT which is not favorable for construction of Diamir Basha dam. A low-level earthquake may generate small cracks in concrete structure and any leakage of water may produce big holes with passage of time which are not remidable. A big level earthquake may vanish the dam site completely. Therefore, the current site is not favorable for construction of dam.

The global emerging trends of E-Governance utilizes Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support the governance functions. It emphases on improving governance by innovating administrative processes, transforming relationships, improving public services delivery, ensuring accountability, increasing participation and collaboration among civil society, government and private sector. Whereas, E-Governance is considered a revolutionary reform of promoting good governance through greater control over state power, authority and resources to promote equality, peace and prosperity by eliminating corruption, unemployment and hunger. Pakistan had made huge investments on deploying ICTs infrastructure and human resource development in public sector but the country could not achieve the expected outcomes. The results show that public sector has adequate level of ICTs infrastructure and competent human resource to obtain the promising benefits of these initiatives. However, all these resources remained underutilized which is considered a public sector dilemma in Pakistan. Most of public sector businesses are still relying on the manual systems rather than the fully computerized or automated and the public officials are bound to exchange and processes information manually. The under-utilization of these technologies and human resource cannot reap the benefits of E-Governance and therefore could not promote transparency, accountability, equality, and participation for sustainable socio-economic growth and development of Pakistan.

Urbanization has become a hot issue in context of environmental and socio-political scenarios which is addressed at every forum internationally. The mega cities are considered the main origin of socio-economic development which caused to emerge a number of issues like biodiversity, environmental degradation, resource consumption, implementation of law and order and provision of basic facilities to the general public. The area under investigation consists of Lahore, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura. The study site was bounded by 73-75 E longitudes and 31-33 N latitudes. We used Landsat satellite data to map Spatio-temporal variations in urban sprawl from 1990 to 2019 with a temporal window of 15 years. The Landsat data is free, highly reliable and considered as primary source. The classification results show that the total area of study site was site was 29355 km2 including 21933km2 were green index 4595 km2 was under human settlements and 2827 km2 was the waterbody in 1990. The classification of Landsat image of the year 2005 describes that area of human settlements was increased to 9366 km2, the volume of water body was reduced to 2111km2 and the vegetation was also degraded to 17878km2. Again, the urban area was computed using satellite imagery for the year 2019 which was 16105km2 in 2019. Kappa stat proved the accuracy of supervised classification what was around 87%. Remotely sensed datasets proved the reliability of Landsat satellite images for estimation of urban sprawl during last three decades.

Pakistan has faced numerous natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, landslides and environmental degradation which severely affects the Pakistan’s economy and results in various problems like causalities, diseases, water stress and severe damages (e.g., houses, public infrastructure and agricultural land erosion). There is a lack of systematic approaches to analyze pre and post damage assessment for estimation of exact loses and the total cost for rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure in an efficient way. There exist a variety of mechanisms but GIS based flood mapping is considered the most efficient to manage the flood situation. This study is focused on evaluation of flood affected areas especially in Punjab using WorldView-2, 8-band multi-spectral imagery by applying Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS techniques. The research area is comprised of Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh Districts in Punjab province of Pakistan that faced a catastrophic super flood of 2010. The WorldView-2, Quick Bird and multispectral satellite imagery are capable of making better decisions and assessment of flood effected area accurately. RS and GIS techniques can achieve the objectives and significant analyses through visual interpretations. These techniques are also used to identify the flood affected regions. The study site was examined by applying supervised classification on the basis of the training areas which were obtained during the field surveys in the study site. Supervised classification determines that 16900.96 Hectors of agriculture land was damaged while Sparse Riverine Forest had the area 44.52 hectors. The damaged built-up area was 1805.78 Hectors. RS and GIS techniques are efficient for flood mapping.

Shishper glacier is surge type glacier which gave rise to Glacier Lake Outbursts Flood (GLOF) and an ice dammed lake. The probability of GLOF events has been increased in Pakistan’s mountain system due to increased temperature and irregular glacial fluctuations in northern region of Pakistan. The average rise of temperature in Pakistan is 1.04 ?C from the year 1960 to 2014. Rising temperature is initiating the recession of glaciers over the last decade which is indicating towards the evolution of glacial lakes in Basin of Hunza River. The Shishper glacier has travelled 800m during six months and about 1400m in the next six months in the year 2018. Shishper glacier has created a danger to fault lines and infrastructure of downstream of Hassanabad valley situated just below the hill. It travelled about 2.2km during 12 months. Temporal satellite imagery was used to evaluate susceptibility of GLOF events. Digital Elevation model was used to evaluate drainage patterns of Shishper glacier. Geological maps evaluated the geo-refred fault lines in the mountainous regions of Pakistan.

Atmosphere is an envelope of gasses and aerosols around the planet, 99% of the total mass of atmospheric gases resides within 32km from Earth’s surface in vertical column. From primordial era to current scenario composition of earth endured numerous drastic modifications. In last decade atmosphere had undergone a vigorous change by the addition of many pollutants in both natural and anthropogenic aspects. South Asia is a densely populated; masses here are in a transition state, this developing nation in this region considerably done enough damage to the atmosphere of south Asia by inserting multiple pollutants in atmosphere in a number of anthropogenic activities. These pollutants piled up as a serious danger for people around the globe like Methane (CH4), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Formaldehydes (HCHO) and tropospheric Ozone (O3) etc. “Environmental Remote Sensing” has arisen as a great tool of modern era to get fruitful and precise results to monitor these variations in atmospheric pollutants. The NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) system provides access to a wide variety of NASA’s remote sensing data, Variety of environmental data types has permitted the use of Giovanni for different applications to define addition and increase in concentration of various pollutants. Spatio temporal variation of pollutants shows their concentration increased in last decade and in last three years the concentration boosted as compared to last seven years.

The global temperature trends are being changed due to anthropogenic activities. The natural ecosystems and human societies both are affected by climate change. Increasing concentration of CO2 and other atmospheric gases are causing climate changes. Green house gases include methane and oxides of nitrogen and Sulphur. Accurate data can identify variations in temperature and precipitation. Arctic regions exhibit considerable warming trends. Arctic regions are two times warmer than the other parts of world. The largest increase in precipitation occurs in Northern Europe at the rate of 12.9mm per decade. The concentration of carbon dioxide has been raised up to 4.14 ppm in atmosphere by December 2020. This increased concentration has raised the global temperature. Global temperature has increased up to 1.2°C since pre industrial era.

Changing climate is a global distress these days. Global warming is one of the men driven outcome of climate change which causes the glaciers to melt, shoreline regression and raises the level of sea. The regression of shoreline in Togo resulted in vandalization of human habitat and infrastructure. This research aims to monitor the coastal erosion utilizing the geospatial techniques in Togo from 1988 to 2020. The process of extraction and existence of change in shoreline is analyzed. Scientific problems regarding the precision of classification algorithms methods utilized for shoreline extraction using various satellite images are also considered. Thus, NDWI index derived from multisource satellite images were used in this research paper. The performance of Iso Cluster Unsupervised Classification, Otsu threshold segmentation and Sup- port Vector Machine (SVM) Supervised Classification techniques are monitored for the shoreline extraction. This study also takes into account the topographic morphology including non linear and linear coastal surfaces. The rate of change of shoreline was estimated through the statistical linear regression method (LRR). The results demonstrated that the SVM Supervised Classification method worked accurately for topographic morphology than other methods.

In Pakistan, about 36000 people were killed in road accidents in the year 2019. This study focuses on hazard assessment through geo-spatial techniques using both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. An attempt was made to demarcate the most vulnerable roads to accidents for the years 2015 to 2019 through geospatial techniques. The data used in this research was collected through real time field observation using questionnaire-based survey. The results show that the ratio of reported accidents was higher in 2019 which was 53,979, in comparison to the number of accidents occurred in 2015 which were 19,073. It caused 478 casualities in 2019 in comparison to 308 in 2015. We found various reasons behind these accidents at both administration and individual levels e.g., about 67% increase was observed in number of vehicles from 2015 to 2019 whereas only 14% driving licenses were issues against this number. The most vulnerable roads where most of accidents occurred were Ferozepur Road, Ring Road, Mall Road and Jail Road whereas, in Iqbal Town, the roads were Canal Road, Multan Road, College Road and Raiwind Road. Geospatial techniques proved efficient for mapping the vulnerable roads to accidents.

Transportation is an indistinguishable component of any society. Provision of luxury transportation at favorable rates to general public is the need of the day for societal comfort. Research has been done to assess the service and efficiency level of(Bus Rapid Transit)BRT system by evaluating initial parameters including passenger’s attitudes towards quality, safety, security, and service provided by Metro bus Lahore as well as identifying problems encountered by passengers. In Pakistan, local transportation play significant role for travelers to commute whereas the vast transportation system of Lahore and construction of Metro Bus Transit System with consideration to balance demands of traffic has provided safer, economical and secure public transport system to the people. This research has been carried out from Shahdara to Gujjumata. The questionnaire-based survey was conducted. which was comprised of questions according to problems, needs of passengers and indicators which were set to identify the service quality of Metro Bus. It is revealed from analysis that majority of people are satisfied from service quality, punctuality, accessibility and efficiency provided by BRT system. It is also observed that this service is user-friendly for physically impaired persons. Dissatisfaction level was also observed on low seating capacity in buses, security, safety of users on board. This research suggests concerned authority to improve, enhance current passenger services and provide better services so that current users can enjoy services and attract new passengers to use Metro bus as well as imply international best practices in Pakistan urban transport.

“Water is life” is not only a phrase but also a reality which ensure human survival. This study provides an important tool to analyze different water management strategies that can be helpful in saving available water resources in an efficient way. Consultation with the public and officials of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Lahore Development Authority (LDA), and Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) made this easier to understand the acceptability of the explored strategies in Lahore. A sample size of 400population was observed a supportive method to draw favorable results from the collected primary data. It is estimated that Lahore and its outskirts receive highest rainfall which contributes 40% to the annual groundwater recharge but the water table is still depleting gradually. This research provides necessary information regarding the conservation of ground water. The correlations method was applied to check the significance of the variables. The findings proposed that authorities must communicate awareness among general public regarding importance of water or should start programs for water management. The other way of correlating strategies implemented in other similar countries led us towards billing and taxing as the topmost strategy to be implemented in our case study. A total of 66% targeted population was willing to make this strategy implemented through government support. Although other strategies like flash flooding, water recycling, rainwater harvesting, and equitable access to water all the time were following the acceptance as 60%, 61%, and 62% respectively. Finally, imposition of strict laws on water usage leads toward water saving for a sustainable future.

Industries, being commercial productive units perform as manufacturing agents to produce large quantity of goods to cater the needs of increasing population. Manufacturing units use raw material and goods to deliver the final product. The findings of this research are consistent and reliable. The study area mainly consists of three types of industries including iron and steel, chemical and fertilizer and plastic industry. The hazardous waste generated by industries in Pakistan was computed as 1 lac tons per day and more than 10 thousand tons/day in Lahore. These wastes played a vital role in the degradation of environment. In addition, various harmful gases such as fluoride, carbon monoxide and dust were released by these industries which mixed with fog and caused smog that resulted in respiratory diseases and the Lahore remained in smog for last 3 years. The air quality declined to alarming level because of the dust produced by these industries. Air pollution leads to skin problems, and respiratory diseases among residents living in outskirts of these industries. In this research it is estimated that industrial emission is more dangerous than any other emissions. From the year 2008 to 2019 the harmful emissions were categorized as 43% by transport sector, 25% by industries, 20% by agricultural sector and 22% by power sector. Proper planning and management is required to secure the safety of environment from the adverse effects of industries.

Continuous monitoring of spatial variations in urban poverty is a complex multidimensional phenomenon. In urban areas of South Asian countries, various factors contribute to promote urban poverty e.g., rapid and unmanaged urbanization, high migration and inflation rates and fluctuations in land values. The poor community should be focused by policy makers to solve poverty related issues. This research was conducted in a metropolitan city Lahore in Punjab province of Pakistan which is confronting with urban poverty and need to construct a policy for poverty alleviation. Alkire-Foster approach was used to compute urban poverty by selecting poverty cut off point k=2/5 for this study. It demonstrates that 70.8% of households were poor whereas 29.8% households were living out of poverty with positive potentials. The results can be taken as a reference point to alleviate poverty in other regions of country.

Spatio-temporal variations in assessment of land values play a vital role in better urban planning and policy making. This study focuses on spatial structures of land values in Lahore metropolitan area by using different spatial and statistical techniques. The comparative analysis of land values for the years 2012 & 2018 is generated which is useful for planners, investors, and policy makers. The research is descriptive but explanatory in nature to show correlation between independent variables (real land values) and dependent variables (interpolated land values). The interpolation techniques which have the highest correlation coefficient, were used further processing. The inter category shift based on interpolation maps for comparison shows categorical shift which is useful for investors in future. The results indicate that the land values are higher in Central Business District and Gulberg Zone because of highly active business zone which increases the demand of the land which is ultimately increasing the value of land in Lahore metropolitan area.

There are regular conflicts between the traditionally divided software organization i.e. dev and ops teams during the software development process for delivering the software to the end-user. DevOps overcome these conflicts by automating the processes between the development and operations team in such a way that they can build, test, and release the software successfully and efficiently to the end-user. Globally, more and more organizations are adopting DevOps. As Pakistan’s software industry is progressively growing while DevOps is a relatively new concept, there is a need for DevOps awareness and understanding towards its adoption and practices. This paper evaluated DevOps awareness and identified the practices adopted in Pakistan’s software organizations and suggested generic guidelines for DevOps transition. A questionnaire-based survey is conducted to collect data and various DevOps sub-activities being practiced. The survey analysis and results depicted that Pakistan’s Software Industry is making efforts towards the adoption of DevOps but due to lack of its awareness, most of the DevOps practices are not fully adopted yet. According to the DevOps evolution model, only one-eighth of Pakistan’s software organizations are at the self-service stage, while the rest of them are still struggling at the normalization and standardization stage.

The increasing threats of plastics to the natural environment encouraged the production of bio-plastics from renewable biomass resources. The premium quality of bio-plastics are mainly produced by treating starch with glycerol. Plastics are basically non-biodegradable synthetic or semi synthetic products. This study aims at analyzing the degradation patterns of bio-plastics. The bio-plastics are ecologically less toxic than the synthetic plastic materials. The bio-plastics can degrade in several environmental conditions including aquatic environment, compost and soil. The bioplastic materials are buried in composite soil or loam sand to analyze degradation activity by taking photographic data and measuring the weight. Effect of weather conditions on the degradation activity was analyzed by recording different weather conditions including temperature, humidity, rainfall sunshine intensity and duration of sunlight. The comparative results portrayed the degradation activity of bio-plastics which was accomplished through hydrophilic enzymes. The initial regenerating material absorbs moisture of soil after saturation and the weight was increased up to 87%. The weight of bio-plastics reduced steadily after the initiation of decomposition. Invasion of soil microorganisms enhance the degradation activity. The environmental features including rainfall, humidity and sunlight intensity also affects the disintegration of bioplastics. The increased intensity of sunshine increased the microbial activity of soil which in turn increased the rate of degradation of bio-plastics.

The Potwar plateau was developed in subduction zone of lower Himalayan fold and thrust in the North West region. This study identifies topographic deformation and neotectonics activity using Digital Evaluation Model (DEM). The SRTM DEM having resolution of 90 m analyzes active tectonics in local drainage network. Standard algorithms and geomorphic indices are used to extract isobase maps, concavity, steepness and relative rates of uplift. The steepness index indicates the elevation of Potwar region. The variable rates of uplift, indicates surface deformation in different regions of Potwar plateau. Isobase maps indicate lithological distinctions and structures under the influence of neotectonics using geological maps. Landsat satellite imagery was used to indicate neotectonics activity over the spatial drainage network and streams corresponding to the longitudinal river profile analysis.

Snow and glaciers in the mountain ranges of Hindu-Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayas (HKH), are supposed to be shrinking. Consequently, serious significances occur in respect of water accessibility for inhabitants of down streams. This investigation is an effort o identify the temporal variation in snow covers of Gilgit Baltistan (GB), northern Pakistan. For the calculation of the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and estimation of snow-covered area (SCA), MODIS images for the period of 2000 to 2020 were used. Hunza, Astore, Gilgit, Diamir, Shyok, Ghanche, Skardu and Shigar are major sub-basins lying in GB with Hunza and Skardu being the mostly glaciated areas. Annual fluctuation in snow cover within GB was 10 to 80%. In accumulation season, from December to February, snow cover was almost 80% while in melting season, from July to September this area was reduced to 65-75%. The maximum and minimum Snow-Covered Area (SCA) detected in 2009 was almost 57687.85 km2 and 12083.40 km2 respectively. These results show fluctuations in SCA within the time duration of the last two decades.

Nitrogen is one of chemical gases which has drastic impact on human health. It is also renowned globally as a major component of climate change. Lahore city has been selected as the study area to conduct this research. The basic objective of this study is to assess the temporal and seasonal change of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) concentration in the study area and its effects on human health. For this purpose, the two-phase methodology has been adopted. In the first phase, primary and secondary datasets were collected through an online questionnaire and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), respectively, while in the second phase, satellite imageries were acquired from NASA Earth Observatory (NEO). An online questionnaire survey was conducted for a better understanding and assessment of NO2 effects on inhabitants. The interpolation technique was applied to show a temporal change in Concentration of NO2 from 2010-2022 and for seasonal change in 2022. Findings of this research showed that NO2 levels are high during winters as compared to summers. Whereas, temporal analysis from 2010-2019 revealed that high dense columns of NO2 were found in 2019 & 2020 and less dense columns were found in 2019, whereas this concentration declined due to the arrival of COVID from 2020 to the end of 2021. The main reason of this decline is the lack of transport or industrial exhaust due to lockdown by COVID. The results of the questionnaire indicate that people encountered diverse health problems due to long- and short-term exposure to NO2. Moreover, this study helps to display the drastic impacts of NO2 concentration on human health and the natural environment.

Background: Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) is due to multiple gestations and reproductive-assisted techniques. Neonatal complications mainly arise in infants with VLBW and Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW). The main objective was to study the risk factors associated with VLBW and to conduct a meta-analysis. Methods: A meta-analysis was done to present the most recent risk variables for VLBW. Electronic databases were searched for information on the suggested topic. Using STATA version 14, the relevant data was extracted, and statistical analysis was conducted. Results: A total number of 112 studies have been conducted on the topic of VLBW worldwide from 2000 to 2020. Information from many parts of the world was evaluated in which GDP or per capita income, age, and education were followed in prominent regions of the world. As GDP and education level improved, the nutritional status also improved. Fifteen studies have been identified, with five meeting the inclusion criteria for the metanalysis of VLBW <1500g in developing countries. Illiteracy, poverty, mother occupation, hypocalcemia, and hypoglycemia were the common risk factors of VLBW (<0.05). Conclusion: It was identified that per-capita GDP is inversely proportional to VLBW throughout the world. VLBW in America was found to be significant when compared with central Europe (<0.005), similarly with Southern Europe (<0.03), Northern Europe (<0.00001), Asia (<0.0001), and Africa (<0.0001). Unlike per capita GDP, VLBW was insignificantly related to maternal age in all regions except Africa, where VLBW was significantly associated with maternal age (p<0.0001). In developing countries, illiteracy, poverty, mother occupation, hypocalcemia, and hypoglycemia are the common risk factors for VLBW (<0.05) as the complications related to VLBW are at a high-risk rate, so it is recommended that VLBW babies require special care at the time of birth, especially in poor economic countries.