A Study of Stress Factors and Their Impact on Students’ Academic Performance at University Level

The main emphasis of the study is on the academic performance and the stress management in applied science among the students of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Sindh University Campus Dadu. What is the level of stress on the academic success of the students? How does it affect their lifestyle and health? This is what the research study covers to counteract the general stress among the students. The purpose of the study is to inquire and bring light to measure and check the present stress among students of the university. While doing the research a quantitative method was applied for collecting and analyzing the data. The Questionnaires were distributed among different students for this purpose. Innumerable factors of stress were found in the results and the factors were grouped in four categories which are; -Environmental Factors, Academic Factors, and Personal Factors. In environmental factors, the stress was about the happening the fate in the future. The students were found worried about future that what would happen about their fate? How it will happen? What is about to happen? When they came into contact with the new people it raised their stress. Also the class workload was the main reason for the stress among the students regarding academic factors. When the students were experiencing the workload of the class the group of the students came under stress. The last factor was a personal factor which was mainly due to the financial problem among the students. The stress of all categories can be managed through stress management courses and doing different extracurricular activities which will help to divert the attention of the students on different occasions. This study has drawn significant conclusions and Suggests further measures for practitioners which could help other to manage stress. The limitations are also mentioned so that those who are conducting research for the similar cases can extract better results and ways of curbing stress. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect the response from students, the five-point Likert scale was used from strongly agree to strongly disagree. SPSS-21 version was used to interpret the results through different quantitative techniques like descriptive, regression, and correlation. ____________

Postharvest Application of Botanical Extracts to Improve the Storage Life and Quality of Kinnow

Citrus is one of the utmost promising fruit crops of Pakistan owing to its delicious taste and excellent aroma. Kinnow being an auspicious variety has a significant importance in the global market. Pakistan is facing a drastic reduction in quality of Kinnow mandarin due to improper postharvest management and hence severs losses regarding quality and shelf life which might be upto 40%. In this context laboratory experiments were conducted to enhance the storage life and quality of Kinnow on sustainable basis. Hence, the comprehenive research plan in which series of experiments were executed to optimize different oil coatings such as coconut oil, castor oil and sesame oil, aloe vera and neem extracts. In first three experiments results delineated that 30% coconut oil, 50% castor oil and 60% sesame oil proved best treatments to maintain quality related parameters TSS, total sugars, acidity, Vitamin C and maximum TPC, total antioxidants, (POD) peroxidase enzyme activity and (SOD) superoxide dismutase enzyme activity after 90 days storage. Results of experiment 4th and 5th showed that a minimum fruit rot of 6% and 9% was calculated when fruits were treated with 60% Aloe vera and 40% neem extracts, respectively in comparison to control having fruit rot (30%) during storage. Maximum total antioxidants, total phenolic contents, POD and SOD enzymatic activity along with other quality parameters were also showed better in fruits of same treatments among plant extracts. In experiment 6 oil coating doses were compared with commercial wax (fomesa wax) which showed that 30% coconut oil performed parallel to fomesa wax to sustain fruit quality parameters and prolong storage life of Kinnow fruit. Minimum weight loss (9%), total soluble solids (11.53°Brix) and maximum titratable acidity (1%), vitamin C (42.53 mg 100 g-1) were observed, however higher values of TPC (218.33 mg 100 g-1), total antioxidants (79.60%), CAT (17.40), POD (0.76 mg-1 protein) and SOD (125.28 mg-1 protein) enzyme activities were also found after 90 days storage. Findings regarding the comparison of plant extracts and fungicide (TBZ) indicated that 60% aloe vera showed similar results as synthetic fungicide (TBZ) and controlled fruit decay up to (6.25%).The fruits of same treatment were also showed better biochemical characteristics relating to fruit quality after 90 days storage. Finally, it was found that 30% coconut oil performed better than aloe vera extract 60% and synthetic fungicide. The fruits dipped in 30% coconut oil showed minimum weight loss (11.70%), fruit rot (5.83%), maximum juice content (42 g), biochemical parameters like TSS (10.90°Brix), TA (1.09%), vitamin C (40 mg 100 g-1), total sugars (16%), maximum total antioxidants (70% inhibition) and maximum enzymatic activity [catalase (18.10U mg-1 protein), peroxidase (0.79U mg-1 protein) and superoxide dismutase (133.93 U mg-1 protein)] of Kinnow mandarin fruits which were stored up to 90 days. It was concluded from the present study that prestorage treatment of 30% coconut oil was proved to be most beneficial to reduce decay losses and sustain the quality of fruit during 90 days storage.