Present study analysed the influence of slow-pyrolyzed wood-derived biochar on growth performance and heavy metal accumulation in the leaves of spinach grown under groundwater and wastewater irrigation. Biochar was applied in soil as 5% (~30 t·ha−1) and 10% (~60 t·ha−1) amendment. According to results, plant biomass was significantly higher under wastewater than groundwater irrigation. Biochar amendment increased significantly the aboveground plant biomass and root biomass and promoted water use efficiency (WUE). Under groundwater irrigation, biochar amendment at 10% application rate, increased the leaf area index (P < 0.05), while amendment of biochar at all application rates significantly reduced leaf area index under wastewater irrigation (P < 0.05). Application of biochar also reduced accumulation of rhizosphere soil around roots under wastewater irrigation, indicating less exudate production in the rhizosphere of plants. Biochar significantly reduced the concentration of copper (Cu) in under wastewater irrigation. Biochar increased the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of plants for zinc (Zn) and Cu under wastewater irrigation.

<p>Stereotypical portrayal of women through images and text in the media has been discussed and debated widely across the globe. The area remains relatively under published in the context of the third world especially Pakistan. To fill this gap this paper is an attempt to examine the role of the media in creating gender identities. Data for this study comes from selected English language newspaper namely “THE NEWS”. Discourse analysis of text and images - the most common way of producing and transmitting social meaning attached to social realities was employed to interpret of the data. The data reveals that the images and text produced through the media are biased, patriarchal and they reinforce male hegemony and control over women’s bodies and their minds. By doing this the media is strengthening the existing power structure of the Pakistani society. The images of women produced are those of victims of violence both domestic and public, sex objects, passive, dependent, weak and engaged in domestic roles. Consequently, standard images of feminity are idealized and normalized in the real world. Such practices act as barrier for women to escape traditional gender roles and expectations. The study argues that such images reinforce stereotypical roles and hence promote gender inequality instead of emancipation.</p>

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Michael et al., 2018). Atrazine is very environmentally stable due to low loss by volatilization and degradation. Furthermore, because of its accumulation effect, atrazine is significantly affecting the health of many organisms, including humans (Nodler et al., 2013;Juhel et al., 2017). European Union banned Atrazine in 2003 due to its severe toxicity to cells and tissues. However, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) still permits the use of atrazine worldwide (Almberg et al., 2018). Various studies have shown that Atrazine interferes with the normal functioning of body organs, including the

Higher education has two-fold mission. First is to train people for practical and technical work. Second is to foster public engagement. Following this, universities are committed to educating professional for moral and societal responsibility. In 21 st century University adopts a general mission of service to the public supported by new research discoveries. Globally, many national universities are now discovering that research based public service and outreach activities can improve society at local and regional levels. The quality of higher education around the world depends on quality of research produced by educational institutions. The recent development in quality of research frameworks developed by different researchers focused on evidence-based research. The current study was intended to explore quantitative growth and qualitative development of randomly selected social sciences disciplines in the recognized public sector universities of Pakistan located in Capital, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa and Balochistan during 2002-2009 regarding research publications by faculty members. From the universe of sixty eight, twenty universities were drawn through proportionate stratified random sampling from entire country, three universities from capital, six from Punjab, four, five and two from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa and Balochistan, respectively. From these selected universities 97 social sciences departments were randomly chosen for data collection. The current research study was conducted by using quantitative approach of social science research method and the data was collected through survey method. The unit of analysis was individuals (heads of the departments). Uni-variate analysis was implied to provide general description of various variables. The significant increase was seen in quantitative indicators such as departmental growth, degree programs offered, student's enrollment and passed out and number of faculty members. On the whole, data analysis explores that there is a tendency of improvement in all indicators of higher education in social sciences in Pakistan.