A New Historicist Analysis of Bina Shah’s Novel a Season for Martyrs

This study is conducted to analyze the novel Bina Shah’ novel A Season for Martyrs, from the perspective of New Historicism. This novel presents history of Sindh blended with fiction. It highlights the main Historical events of Sindh; from the arrival of the British in 1827 and occupation of Sindh by Charles Napier till the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in present century. Shah has narrated the history to show its link with the present political and social situation of Sindh. The novel has focused social and political discourses of Sindhi society such as: Significance of love with the land and people’ faith in mystics. The novel has narrated various myths and tales about famous mystics belonging to Sindh. The novel presents story of Ali, a young media reporter, who faces identity problem because of social and psychological issues but when he realizes that his land needs his services, he becomes political activist. This study analyses historical facts and some social and political discourses presented in the novel. Effort is done to interpret the novel according to the theory. Cultural context and social environment of the author is analyzed by observing facts from her social and personal life. Social and political situation of present era are discussed to find the impact of present situation on the interpretation of the author.

Induction of Salt Tolerance in Wheat Triticum Aestivum L. . Through Exogenous Appliction of Polyhydroxy Fullerence Nanoparticles

The effect of exogenous polyhydroxy fullerene (PHF) nanoparticles on wheat salinity tolerance was studied. The PHF stock solution was prepared in MiliQ water and characterized via TEM, UV-Vis spectrum, EC, pH and TOC analyses. After this, different exogenous PHF concentrations (non-primed seed, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1000, 10,000 nM)were usedto study early growth response of wheat seedlings under 0 and 150 mM NaCl stress.The PHF doses, 0, 10, 40, 80 and 120 nM PHFwere selected to study their effects on wheat seedlings under salinity when supplied through three different exogenous modes viz. root zone, seed priming and foliar spray. Various morpho-biochemical attributes studied and the results revealed thattwo modes of PHF exogenous application (Seed priming and foliar spray) selected to check its role at later growth stages.During experimentation, six priming treatments (non-primed, 0, 10, 40, 80 and 120 nM) while three foliar spray treatments (0, 40 and 80 nM PHF) were used to study their influence on the growth, biochemical, physiological, ionic and yield attributes. In an overall note, salinity decreased growth, photosynthetic pigments, leaf water relations and gas exchange attributes. Under salt stress, increased hydrogen peroxide contents and lipid peroxidation was recorded. In addition, increase in antioxidant activitieswas recorded in response to salt stress. Changes in nonenzymatic antioxidants were also evident that included reduction in ascorbic acid (AsA) and increase in flavonoids, phenolics, sugars and proline contents. Marked increase in Na+ions in wheat plant parts recorded under stress consistent with decrease in shoot K+, Ca2+ and P ions. On the other hand, exogenous PHF treatments improved growth attributes of wheat consistent with improvement in photosynthetic pigments, enzymatic antioxidant activities and enhanced sugar and proline accumulation. Furthermore, the plants treated with PHF exhibited significant increasein the photosynthetic activity and leaf water relations. In short, PHF exogenousapplication caused 6-10 % increase in the 100-grain weight under salinity in comparison with control plantsOverall, seed priming with 40 and 80 nMPHF were the most effective treatment that reduced oxidative stress, and increased antioxidant capacity and contributed to improvements in wheat grain yield in wheat under salt stress.