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Background The present study is the first quantitative ethnobotanical evaluation of Harighal, an inaccessible and unexplored area of District Bagh Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK). The exploration, quantification, and comparison of ethnobotanical knowledge among different rural communities of the study area were mainly focused during field survey. Methodology In total, 79 informants (49 men and 34 women) were selected randomly to collect data using a semi-structured questionnaire. Various quantitative indices, including use value, relative frequency of citation, relative importance, fidelity level, and informant consent factor, were employed to evaluate the gathered information. Furthermore, primary data were also compared with twenty-two papers published from adjoining areas. Result A total of 150 medicinal plants belonging to 98 genera and 60 families were documented. Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Rosaceae were the dominant families having 15 species each. Of these, 76 species were indigenous, 74 exotic, 136 were collected in the wild, 10 cultivated, and 4 both wild-collected and cultivated. Herbaceous taxa were the most used life form, and leaves were the most exploited plant part. Decoctions were the most preferred method used in preparation of herbal recipes. Three species viz. Mentha longifolia, Berberis lycium, and Galium aparine had the highest use value (1.05), relative frequency of citation (0.81), and relative importance value (96), respectively. The highest informant consensus factor (ICF) was reported for digestive disorders. Mentha longifolia, Punica granatum, Zanthoxylum alatum, and Olea ferruginea had 100% fidelity values. The Jaccard index revealed that uses of plants were more similar in two neighboring areas, i.e., Pearl Valley and Toli Peer. Conclusion Local inhabitants still prioritize herbal medicines as an effective way to treat a wide variety of ailments. Elders and health practitioners of the study area are well aware of indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants, but young people are not much interested in herbal practices. Thus, valuable knowledge about the use of plants is on the verge of decline.

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Waste wood biomass as precursor for manufacturing activated carbon (AC) can provide a solution to ever increasing global water quality concerns. In our current work, Melia azedarach derived phosphoric acid-treated AC (MA-AC400) was manufactured at a laboratory scale. This novel MA-AC400 was tested for RO16 dye removal performance as a function of contact time, adsorbent dosage, pH, temperature and initial dye concentration in a batch scale arrangement. MA-AC400 was characterized via scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and fluorescence spectroscopy. MA-AC400 is characterized as mesoporous with BET surface area of 293.13 m2 g−1 and average pore width of 20.33 Å. pHPZC and Boehm titration confirm the acidic surface charges with dominance of phenolic functional groups. The average DLS particle size of MA-AC400 was found in the narrow range of 0.12 to 0.30 µm and this polydispersity was confirmed with multiple excitation fluorescence wavelengths. MA-AC400 showed equilibrium adsorption efficiency of 97.8% for RO16 dye at its initial concentration of 30 mg L−1 and adsorbent dose of 1 g L−1. Thermodynamic study endorsed the spontaneous, favorable, irreversible and exothermic process for RO16 adsorption onto MA-AC400. Equilibrium adsorption data was better explained by Langmuir with high goodness of fit (R2, 0.9964) and this fitness was endorsed with lower error functions. The kinetics data was found well fitted to pseudo-second order (PSO), and intra-particle diffusion kinetic models. Increasing diffusion constant values confirm the intraparticle diffusion at higher RO16 initial concentration and reverse was true for PSO chemisorption kinetics. MA-AC400 exhibited low desorption with studied eluents and its cost was calculated to be $8.36/kg.

Background: The present study is the first quantitative ethnobotanical evaluation of Harighal, an inaccessible and unexplored area of District Bagh Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The exploration, quantification and comparison of ethnobotanical knowledge among different rural communities of the study area were mainly focused during field survey.Methodology: In total, 79 informants (49 men and 34 women) were selected randomly to collect data using a semi-structured questionnaire. Various quantitative indices, including use value, relative frequency of citation, relative importance, fidelity level and informant consent factor were employed to evaluate the gathered information. Furthermore, primary data were also compared with twenty-two papers published from adjoining areas.Result: A total of 150 medicinal plants belonging to 98 genera and 60 families were documented. Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Rosaceae were the dominant families having 15 species each. Of these 76 species were indigenous, 74 exotic, 136 were collected in the wild, 10 cultivated and 4 both wild-collected and cultivated. Herbaceous taxa were the most used life form, and leaves were the most exploited plant part. Decoctions were the most preferred method used in preparation of herbal recipes. Three species viz. Mentha longifolia, Berberis lycium and Galium aparine had the highest use value (1.05), relative frequency of citation (0.81) and relative importance value (96), respectively. The highest informant consensus factor (ICF) was reported for digestive disorders. Mentha longifolia, Punica granatum, Zanthoxylum alatum and Olea ferruginea had 100% fidelity values. The Jaccard index revealed that uses of plants were more similar in two neighboring areas i.e. Pearl Valley and Toli Peer.Conclusion: Local inhabitants still prioritize herbal medicines as an effective way to treat a wide variety of ailments. Elders and health practitioners of the study area are well aware of indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants, but young people are not much interested in herbal practices. Thus, valuable knowledge about the use of plants is on the verge of decline.

The phytosociological survey of western Himalayan subtropical and moist temperate forests of Tehsil Harighel, District Bagh Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan was carried out during 2015-2017. Sampling was done by using random stratified sampling technique at 12 different sites. Based on importance value twelve plant communities were recognized. They were merged into three plant associations using cluster analysis and Detrended correspondence analysis viz. Olea -Dodonea -Micromeria association, Pinus-Oxalis-Dactylis association and Pinus-Diospyros -Myrsine association. The average number of species per site varied between 17-48, Species richness 3.00 to7.01; Shannon Diversity 2.49 to 3.82; Evenness 0.46 to 0.72 and Equitability 0.73 to 0.91. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) revealed that altitude and edaphic characteristics like potassium, organic matter, saturation, electrical conductivity and pH play a significant role in controlling the distribution pattern of plant species. Low value of species diversity and associated components clearly reflect that forest structure is deteriorated in the investigated area with poor regeneration potential. Therefore, immediate conservation measures by integrating local populations' perceptions are urgently recommended.

Cr(VI) adsorption was studied for abundantly available low-cost lignocellulosic adsorbents in Pakistan namely, tobacco stalks (TS), white cedar stem (WCS) and eucalyptus bark (EB). Several process variables like contact time, adsorbent dose, pH, metal concentration, particle size and temperature were optimized in batch mode. EB showed high Cr(VI) adsorption of 63.66% followed by WCS 62% and TS 57% at pH 2, which is higher than most of the reported literature. Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.999) was well fitted into the equilibrium Cr(VI) data of EB, suggesting homogeneous active sites and monolayer coverage of Cr(VI) onto the EB surface. Freundlich (R2 = 0.9982) isotherm was better fitted to the equilibrium data of TS and WCS, revealing the adsorption sites with heterogeneous energy distribution and multilayer Cr(VI) adsorption. Moreover, the Cr(VI) adsorption of studied adsorbents followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Thermodynamic properties were investigated in two temperature ranges, i.e., T1 (303–313 K) and T2 (313–323 K). TS and EB showed the exothermic at T1 and endothermic reactions at T2 with entropy controlled adsorption at the solid-liquid interface, and WCS exhibited an opposite thermal trend with decreasing disorderness at solid-liquid interface as temperature rises. Gibbs free energy (ΔG>0) confirmed the non-spontaneous adsorption process for all studied adsorbents.

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