OBJECTIVES:Malaria remains a major public health concern in flood-prone districts where environmental vulnerability and weak health infrastructure exacerbate transmission risks. This study develops an integrated geospatial framework for malaria risk zonation by combining multi-criteria decision-making and machine learning. STUDY DESIGN:A geospatial modeling study integrating environmental, meteorological, and socio-demographic datasets with decision analysis and machine learning. METHODS:Eleven predictor variables, including elevation, land surface temperature (LST), rainfall, slope, drainage density, humidity, flood inundation, population, proximity to roads and health facilities, and land use/land cover (LULC), were processed to generate hazard, vulnerability, and elements-at-risk (EAR) layers. Two approaches were employed: (i) the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) integrating hazard, vulnerability, and EAR through weighted overlays; and (ii) a Random Forest (RF) model trained with 250 union council-level malaria Test Positivity Rate (TPR) records from 2014 to 2024. RESULTS:The RF model achieved 93.3% accuracy, 0.95 precision, 0.93 recall, and a Kappa coefficient of 0.86, confirming strong predictive performance. AHP identified 69.2% of the area as moderate risk and 13.8% as high risk, while RF produced localized hotspots with higher spatial resolution. Flood proximity, LST, rainfall, and LULC were dominant predictors. Validation against 2022 malaria outbreak data showed strong spatial agreement. CONCLUSIONS:The dual-model framework, integrating hazard, vulnerability, and EAR layers with data-driven validation, demonstrates practical utility for climate-resilient malaria control. The methodology is transferable to other disaster-prone regions for targeted interventions and resource allocation.

Groundwater is a vital resource for agriculture, industry and domestic use in Pakistan's Dera Ghazi Khan Division; however, increasing water demand, excessive floods and climate change pose severe challenges to its sustainability. This study introduces a strategy involving satellite imagery for flood mapping, integrated with geospatial analysis, decision-support using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Random Forest (RF) modeling, and Geophysical data integration to validate groundwater recharge zones that also serve as recharge sites aimed at enhancing recharge by capturing and managing floodwater. Conditioning factors including slope, soil type, land cover, rainfall, drainage density, lineament density, rock type, distance to river, and water-table depth were analyzed using AHP and modeled using RF identified favourable recharge zones in central Muzaffargarh, while unsuitable zones were primarily found in Rajanpur and parts of DG Khan due to difference in underlying lithologies impeding water infiltration. Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) data validated aquifer characteristics and supported model verification. Spatial Overlap between flood-prone and recharge areas suggests that capturing floodwater in favourable zones could transform a recurring hazard into a renewable water resource. This strategy offers a reproducible geospatial decision-making framework for sustainable groundwater management in regions facing low aquifer levels and frequent flooding, through effective floodwater mitigation and recharge intervention.

In 2019, a series of earthquakes struck the northern sub-Himalayan region of Pakistan, with the Mirpur earthquake triggering extensive coseismic liquefaction-induced surface deformations, such as sand blows, ground failure, and lateral spreading along the upper Jhelum Canal (UJC). A total of thirty-two vertical electrical sounding (VES) sites were acquired to investigate the deeper aquifer system in the region. An electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was conducted along the canal to comprehensively delineate the subsurface conditions associated with the coseismic liquefaction phenomenon in the epicentral region. To address the water quality after the earthquakes, physiochemical analysis was also performed on twenty-four water samples collected from the tube wells and shallow water wells across the study area. The VES data reveals that the lithological units consist of thick layers of sandy clay, sand, and sand with gravel. The iso-resistivity map and hydrochemical analysis reflects fresh groundwater potential at a depth of about 100m. The ERT profiles identified a low resistivity (<10Ωm) saturated layer of clay that is about 20m thick. This saturated layer records the rise in groundwater level and contributes to liquefaction and land subsidence during an earthquake. The higher values of turbidity in shallow water samples document deterioration of water quality due to multiple earthquake tremors. The sandy aquifer units present at deeper levels are highly recommended for drinking purposes and domestic usage.

In spintronic technology, bismuth ferrite BiFeO3 (BFO) is a potential multiferroic material for multiferroic capacitor application. In present study, the impact of transition metals X = Co, Ni, Mn, Ti at the Fe-site and rare earth element lanthanum (La) at the Bi-site is investigated using DFT calculation in order to improve the structural stability, spin polarized electronic, and dielectric properties of bismuth ferrite for switching energy of multiferroic capacitor applications. The calculations are carried out in the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) code by using ultra-soft pseudopotential (USP). The substitution of La and X atoms alters the spin-polarized electronic and dielectric characteristics of BFO, leading to an increase in the density of states (DOS) around the Fermi level. The observed descending order of the structure stability of co-doped BFO is given as: LaCo > LaNi > LaMn co-doped BFO system. LaCo and LaNi co-substituted systems have shown high spin polarizations of 87.08 % and 82.20 % respectively. Low switching energies of 0.52 aJ and 0.72 aJ, respectively have been observed for LaCo and LaNi co-doped BFO systems for multiferroic RAM capacitor applications.

In this study, twenty-two water samples were collected from boreholes (BH), and streams to evaluate drinking water quality, its distribution, identification of contamination sources and apportionment for Moti village, northern Pakistan. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) is utilized to determine the level of heavy metals in water such as arsenic (As), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), and ferrous (Fe). Groundwater chemistry and its quantitative driving factors were further explored using multivariate statistical methods, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) models. Finally, a total of eight electrical resistivity tomographs (ERTs) were acquired across i) the highly contaminated streams; ii) the villages far away from contaminated streams; and iii) across the freshwater stream. In the Moti village, the mean levels (mg/l) of heavy metals in water samples were 7.2465 (As), 0.4971 (Zn), 0.5056 (Pb), 0.0422 (Cu), 0.0279 (Cd), 0.1579 (Mn), and 0.9253 (Fe) that exceeded the permissible limit for drinking water (such as 0.010 for As and Pb, 3.0 for Zn, 0.003 for Cd and 0.3 for Fe) established by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008). The average entropy weighted water quality index (EWQI) of 200, heavy metal pollution index (HPI) of 175, heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) of 1.6 values reveal inferior water quality in the study area. Human health risk assessment, consisting of hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), exceeded the risk threshold (>1),indicating prevention of groundwater usage. Results obtained from the PCA and PMF models indicated anthropogenic sources (i.e. industrial and solid waste) responsible for the high concentration of heavy metals in the surface and groundwater. The ERTs imaged the subsurface down to about 40 m depths and show the least resistivity values (<11 Omega m) for subsurface layers that are highly contaminated. However, the ERTs revealed relatively high resistivity values for subsurface layers containing fresh or less contaminated water. Filtering and continuous monitoring of the quality of drinking water in the village are highly recommended.

Dehdan village lies downstream of Hattar Industrial Estate (HIE) that dumps industrial effluents into the nearby stream in Haripur Basin, Pakistan. In this paper, an integrated methodology such as borehole drilling, 1D and 2D geoelectrical measurements and hydrochemical anaylysis is suggested for assessing groundwater dynamics of the Dhedan area. A total of six boreholes were drilled to analyze aquifer sediments and to establish regional water table within the study area. Geoelectrical investigation emerges as an effective complementary technique that improved the data coverage and reduces the cost of borehole drilling, especially in the developing country. The geoelectrical datasets that consist of 1D and 2D sounding sites were acquired using the composite Wenner-Schlumberger configuration across the study area. The 1D-vertical electrical sounding (VES) data is utilized to infer subsurface rocks and to estimate hydraulic conductivity (S). The 2D-electrical resistivity tomographs (ERTs) each about 300 m long were also acquired across the highly contaminated Dehdan stream. Physicochemical and heavy metal analyses of twenty-three water samples collected from the stream water and the aquifer sediments were carried out to suggest potable water-quality in the region. A good correlation between the 1D resistivity data and borehole logs is established to investigate subsurface rocks down to 175 m depth. The results show presence of a shallow aquifer unit at about 17 m thick and relatively a deep aquifer layer at about 50 m depth. The hydraulic conductivity (S) identified moderate to good protective zones for contamination. The ERTs imaged contaminated highly conductive layer overlain by relatively resistive layers. Resistivity value for the highly conductive zone, about 25 m thick, is <11 Omega m. The ERT shows a localized shallow aquifer unit that is recharged by the contaminated stream water especially during rainy seasons. The 3D model based on the ERTs demonstrates that the resistivities within the low-resistivity anomaly remain unchanged and gradually increased downward. It was considered that these spatial changes in resistivities were related to dilution of stream highly-contaminated water with shallow aquifer sediments and the contamination migration downward to next aquifer unit across the stream. The hydrochemical analysis shows that four out of six analysed samples were highly polluted and the contamination level decreased at greater depths and as distance from the highly contaminated stream increases. A semi-confined to confined aquifer unit present at about 50 m depth contains relatively good quality water. This aquifer unit is highly encouraged for groundwater exploitation for human consumption.

This study performed first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to study the interlayer electronic and optical properties of NbSe2/MoS2 heterostructures. Bandgap in 2H-MoS2 is often quite large typically around 1.8 eV, showing slow response time and low photoresponsivity (R); however, a slight bandgap variation can improve the properties of semiconducting and conducting heterostructures. Different stacking configurations of the interlayer van der Waals interaction were precisely investigated. Due to their unique properties, atomically thin NbSe2/MoS2 based heterostructures hold great potential for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. LDA, GGA, GGA with SOC, and HSE06 are used to study the monolayers of MoS2, NbSe2, and their T and H stacking structures. Our results demonstrate that the metallic NbSe2 effect on the semi-metallic MoS2 reduces the band gap of MoS2 up to 140 meV. Moreover, these heterostructures exhibit outstanding absorption properties from visible to ultraviolet regions, which makes them ideal candidates for optoelectronic applications, particularly in photodetectors.

The deposition in Haripur basin not only provides a contemporary insight into old fluvial depositional sequences of the Himalayan foreland but also sheds light on the important continental depositions in a monsoon controlled foreland system. The present study emphasizes the evaluation of the paleo-depositional architecture for sustainable groundwater availability by utilizing a total of four field-based geological observations, eleven boreholes, and fifty-nine vertical electrical sounding (VES) datasets. The acquired surface geological data well correlate with resistivity and borehole data. The derived results of the lithostratigraphic cross-sections and spatial distribution maps reveal three-sided closure depositional. These depositional directions indicate thick successions of coarser sediments near the foothills and interbedded mixture of coarser and finer sediments toward the central and southern parts of the basin. The former conditions provide maximum groundwater yielding capacity for sustainable groundwater supply in the north-eastern and north-western parts of the basin. On the contrary, in the central and southern parts of the basin, the groundwater yielding capacities have drastically decreased due to deposition of finer sediments.

The early Cretaceous sand intervals of Lower Goru Formation (LGF) are significant reservoir for hydrocarbons and are situated in study area of Sawan gas field, Middle Indus Basin, Pakistan. This integrated study focuses on the development of stratigraphic traps and reservoir geometries in paleo-depositional environment through sequence stratigraphic and diagenetic analysis of productive Lower Goru sandstone. The datasets of well-logs from five wells (Sawan-1, Sawan-2, Sawan-3, Judge-1, and Nara-1), core samples from two wells (Sawan-1 and Sawan-2) and 2D seismic section (line: PSM96-133) are used in this study. The key system tracts including lowstand, transgressive, and highstand system tracts are identified with several progradational and retrogradational parasequences. The bounding stratigraphic surfaces are identified as sets of onlaps and downlaps unveiling different episodes of rise and fall in sea level with different sedimentation conditions. A depositional model is generated to map the paleo-environment of the reservoir by integrating the results of stratigraphic analysis. The log trends and seismic stratigraphic analysis showed the thickening trend of productive C-sand interval towards the eastern direction followed by gradual thinning in the middle part and shale-out trend towards the south and west part of the area. This indicates that the paleo-depositional direction was from east to west in shallow marine settings. The petrography and diagenesis results reveal that reservoir sands are iron chlorite-cemented sublitharenites to lithic arenites. The porosity and permeability of the reservoir is preserved due to a high amount of early diagenetic pore-lining iron chlorite, which commonly coats the surface of the quartz grains. The facies depositional environment is a wave dominated lowstand shelf edge delta system in which proximal delta front sands constitute the best reservoir. The outcomes of this research hold significant promise for advancing the comprehension of diagenetic processes and their influence on reservoir properties within the Lower Goru sandstone and its surrounding regions.

This study is focused on imaging of weak zones in subsurface using borehole and geophysical datasets. These weak zones are present within Jhill limestone of Miocene age across the northern, Karachi. A total of forty-nine core samples were collected from eleven boreholes about 30 m deep within the study area. The core analysis reveals presence of cavities in fractured limestone at shallow and deep levels. The lateral extension and thickness of these weak zones are well imaged by the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) dataset. The 2D tomographs of the six profiles show variability in the ground resistivity response. The ERT profiles are interpreted using on hand samples collects from boreholes. These tomographs reveal relatively high resistivity values interpreted as intercalation of dry clay and marl beds within limestone. The medium resistivity values suggest presence of clay and sand in highly fractured limestone or surficial dry features. The low resistivity values are interpreted to be originated 24 by the weak zones filled with lithologies having high moisture content within limestone. The collected core samples were analysed for geotechnical parameters. The integration of borehole and ERT datasets delineated weak zones in the northern and central regions, which should be well28 cemented to avoid any geohazard.

The Hattar industrial estate in the Haripur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, is investigated for the groundwater potential and aquifer vulnerability using vertical electrical sounding (VES) data, borehole logs, and hydrochemical analysis. A total of eight VES points were acquired in the Haripur region using Schlumberger configuration. The interpreted VES models are further constrained by four borehole logs to delineate comprehensive information of the thin lithological layers, subsurface layers configuration, and spatial extent in the area. A quantitative interpretation based on the VES and the borehole data suggests six main subsurface layers: (i) soil cover, (ii) gravel, (iii) clay, (iv) clay with gravel, (v) silty-clay, and (vi) sand with boulder in the study area. A fence diagram is also generated to provide a detailed paleo-depositional model of the subsurface layers. The interpreted VES data is utilized to compute aquifer thickness, longitudinal conductance, and transverse resistance within the study area. The lateral extent and protective capacity for the aquifer were inferred from these measurements. The aquifer thickness is relatively low in the central and eastern parts ranging from 10 m to 11 m. The longitudinal conductance map shows values greater than 2 mhos from the central region to northern one. This is indicative of moderate to good protective capacity for the aquifer and is less vulnerable to infiltration of Hattar industrial polluted fluid. However, the values less than 0.19 mhos in the southwest and east are indicative of weak protective capacity with risk of contamination. The hydrochemical analysis of the surface and subsurface water is carried out at eleven locations to identify the water quality within the study area. The chemical analysis of the water shows the presence of the high concentration of magnesium, bicarbonate, and chlorine away from the World Health Organization (WHO) standard.

The nature of the crust beneath central Iberia was estimated by a wide-angle seismic reflection/refraction transect, ALCUDIA-WA, which sampled the southern half of the Variscan Central Iberian Zone, covered in the north by the Cenozoic Tajo Basin. The shot gathers recorded by vertical component sensors revealed well defined P- and S-wave phases. These arrivals were modeled by an iterative forward approach providing 2D crustal models showing variations in the velocity distribution with upper crustal P- and S-wave velocities increasing northwards. The lower crust P-wave velocities are homogeneous along the profile while the S-wave velocities slightly increase northwards. The Moho is placed at 32 km depth in the southern edge of the profile, deepening northward down to 35 km beneath the Tajo Basin. The Poisson's ratio, calculated from P- and S-wave velocities, varies along the profile at upper crustal depths. The highest values are located below the Mora and Pedmches batholiths. These resulting physical properties can serve to constrain the crustal composition by comparing them with laboratory measurements on rock samples. Our results suggest that the upper crust in the southern and central segments of the ALCUDIA profile is made up of low-grade metasedimentary rocks, while the northern segment is dominated by igneous rocks, in agreement with the surface geology. Separated by a sharp boundary located between 12 km (south) and 18 km (north) depth, the lower crust is more homogeneous and shows low Poisson' ratios compatible with a rather felsic composition. However, outstanding lamination described in coincident vertical incidence data indicates some degree of intercalation with mafic components.

Brahma Bahtar area in Lesser Himalayas was assessed using an integrated approach of geophysical and hydrogeological investigations. The vertical electrical sounding (VES) and hydrologer were employed for the aquifer delineation and vulnerability. The VES results and borehole lithologies reveal alluvial and rock aquifer system. The alluvial aquifer was unconfined to semi-confined and comprised of inter-layered lithology of sand, gravel, boulders, clay and silt. Rock aquifer system comprised of inter-layered cavity beds of limestone and shales. Pumping test shows low-to-medium flow rates, which can be exploited for groundwater development. The chemical analysis of groundwater samples collected at selected locations satisfy the potable water quality according to World Health Organization standards.

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the structural styles of Miano and Kadanwari Fields, located in the Central Indus Basin, Sindh province, Pakistan. Discovered in 1989 and 1993, Kadanwari and Miano Fields are located on the Pano Aqil graben and Kadanwari High, in between two extensive NW-SE-oriented regional highs, i.e., Jacobabad-Khairpur and Mari-Kandhkot High. The Central Indus Basin is an extensional basin exhibiting normal faulting. Fourteen seismic lines were interpreted to understand the presence, trend, and development of the fault system in the Central Indus Basin along with the assessment of the Petroleum system based on the analysis of seismic reflection data and well logs across the Cretaceous clastic reservoirs. The tectonics of Miano and Kadanwari Fields has been interpreted with the presence of normal faults, strike-slip faults, and inverted structures leading to ambiguities about the structural framework of the area. However, with this detailed study, an extensional fault system has been interpreted in the Cretaceous and lower Tertiary sections over a detachment in the incompetent Sembar Formation. In Miano Field, the faults are dominantly recognized to have NNW-SSE trend due to NW-SE-oriented extension related to northward drift of Indian Plate from Madagascar. Resultantly tilted fault blocks of half grabens geometry have developed in the area depicting bookshelf geometry of an extensional system Wrench fault system is found to be absent with exception of a probable strike-slip fault in the Kadanwari Field. The fields are interpreted to have significant recoverable reserves of 1662 (bcf) equivalents to 280 (mmboe) in tilted fault blocks having an average displacement of about 50 m.

In this paper, the surface roughness characteristic of D-shaped optical fibre sensors with its effects on the sensitivity has been studied. The ULTRAPOL end and edge polishing system was used with some modifications to fabricate the D-shaped sensors with planar sensing zone from the single-mode optical fibres. The mean surface roughness of 343, 96, 25 and 9nm was estimated at the sensing zone of the D-shaped sensors which were sequentially polished with 30, 9, 3 and 0.5 mu m grit size polishing films, respectively. From the experimental results, it has been observed that surface roughness of the sensing zone does not exhibit the significant effects on the output signal strength, whereas the sensitivity of the D-shaped sensors nonlinearly related with the surface roughness of the sensing zone. The designed D-shaped optical fibre sensors have potential applications in biomedical and chemical industries.

Using the first-principles procedure of density-functional-theory within tight-binding approximation and nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, this paper reports on the impact of vacancy defects on the structural, electronic and transport properties of hydrogen-passivated graphene atomic sheet. After the introduction of vacancy defects in graphene atomic sheet passivated with hydrogen atoms, apart from increase in band gap, a suppression is noted in the intensity of transmission channels and density of states arising from the long array deformations of the graphene sheet and a corresponding shift of the Fermi level. This in turn decreases the conductance of the defected graphene atomic sheet. In case of slow-ion bombardment method, the conductance of the sheet decreases slowly and its value of the order 10(-6) S before vanishing the percolation drops to the order 10(-10) as the percolation of the sheet is destroyed. But in case of fast bombardment the conductance of the sheet shows a linear drop before vanishing of the percolation of the sheet, and its value of the order 10(-6) S before vanishing the percolation drops to the order 10(-10) as the percolation of the sheet is destroyed. Furthermore, it is found that the atomic vacancy defects effectively terminate the original smooth sp(2) -hybrid network of 2D graphene atomic sheet that leads to modify its electronic and transport properties, especially a decrease in its electrical conductance. Interestingly, transmission spectrum of graphene atomic wire with large vacancy defects of 143 attains identical shape to that of a molecular benzene ring.