Developing of Institutional Repository in Public Sector University Libraries of Punjab, Pakistan

The target of this analysis to discover the current status of open source institutional repository software’s usage in the public sector university libraries of Punjab, Pakistan. Survey method was used by the researchers and a survey was adopted for information gathering. The target population of the investigation was library professionals of public sector universities in Punjab. Data was gathered from a sample of 135 university librarians using a convenience sampling approach. The analyses explored in which majority of library professionals have incorporated or are currently in the process of incorporating institutional repositories (IR) into their respective libraries which shows that library professionals are well aware about the importance of development/need of IR in this digital age. Further, this study revealed that most of the professionals preferred to use open source software i.e. D-Space for development of IR. Moreover, library professionals are of the view that IR software is a vital tool to organize the digital content/material. Further, IR software provides easy access to the users and enables them to provide efficient and effective services to their users. Furthermore, this study highlights that majority of participants were preferred to use those software which have the facility of customization, E-mail based sharing of books. Library professionals are satisfied with that IR software which is freely available, provide format for conversion of different digital files, and publishing digital contents. The study also highlights barriers which faced by majority of respondents i.e. selection of proper software while developing the Institutional Repository. The respondents also ranked lack of budget is another major barrier that forbade the development of IR followed by the selection of scanner technology, selection of material for digitization, institutional repository knowledge. The investigators will explore additional avenues for additional investigation through the lens of institutional repositories (IR)

Rising atmospheric temperature impact on wheat and thermotolerance strategies

Temperature across the globe is increasing continuously at the rate of 0.15–0.17 °C per decade since the industrial revolution. It is influencing agricultural crop productivity. Therefore, thermotolerance strategies are needed to have sustainability in crop yield under higher temperature. However, improving thermotolerance in the crop is a challenging task for crop scientists. Therefore, this review work was conducted with the aim of providing information on the wheat response in three research areas, i.e., physiology, breeding, and advances in genetics, which could assist the researchers in improving thermotolerance. The optimum temperature for wheat growth at the heading, anthesis, and grain filling duration is 16 ± 2.3 °C, 23 ± 1.75 °C, and 26 ± 1.53 °C, respectively. The high temperature adversely influences the crop phenology, growth, and development. The pre-anthesis high temperature retards the pollen viability, seed formation, and embryo development. The post-anthesis high temperature declines the starch granules accumulation, stem reserve carbohydrates, and translocation of photosynthates into grains. A high temperature above 40 °C inhibits the photosynthesis by damaging the photosystem-II, electron transport chain, and photosystem-I. Our review work highlighted that genotypes which can maintain a higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine, expression of heat shock proteins, stay green and antioxidant enzymes activity viz., catalase, peroxidase, super oxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase can tolerate high temperature efficiently through sustaining cellular physiology. Similarly, the pre-anthesis acclimation with heat treatment, inorganic fertilizer such as nitrogen, potassium nitrate and potassium chloride, mulches with rice husk, early sowing, presoaking of a 6.6 mM solution of thiourea, foliar application of 50 ppm dithiothreitol, 10 mg per kg of silicon at heading and zinc ameliorate the crop against the high temperature. Finally, it has been suggested that modern genomics and omics techniques should be used to develop thermotolerance in wheat.Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan | Ref. 1a55b19f0b99ca1

Impact of HR Practices on job Satisfaction of University Teacher: Evidence from Universities in Pakistan

This study investigates the dynamic process through which HR practices (compensation practices, employee performance evaluation practices, promotion practices, empowerment practices) in universities influence individual’s pattern of job satisfaction over the time. Self reported survey method was used to collect data form selected lecturers, associate professors, assistant professors and professors. Finally, sample of 100 participate in this activity in proportion to the percentage of each group in the population. Result of Study described that teacher satisfaction is not predicted by these set of HR practices so there are some other factor which effect satisfaction. Copyright © www.iiste.org Keywords: HR Practices, Satisfaction, University Teachers, Pakista

N-[(Methyl­sulfan­yl)meth­yl]benzamide

In the title compound, C9H11NOS, the phenyl ring and formamide unit make a dihedral angle of 23.93 (14)°, whereas the (methyl­sulfan­yl)methyl group is oriented at a dihedral angle of 61.31 (8)° with respect to the phenyl ring. There are inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming C(4) chains along the [010] direction. These polymeric chains are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form polymeric sheets in the (110) plane

Conversion of Waste Marble Powder into a Binding Material

In the marble industry, a lot of marble is wasted in the form of odd blocks of various sizes and slurry consisting of water and micro-fine particles. The slurry on drying converts into powder. Both slurry and powder have adverse effects on the environment. This research is focused on the gainful utilization of waste marble powder (WMP) by converting it into a valuable binding material. For this purpose, WMP and clay were collected, and their physical and chemical properties were determined. A mix of WMP and clay was prepared and burnt at a temperature around 1300 oC. The burnt mix was ground to powder form to get marble cement (MC). The MC was then used in mortar. The compressive and flexural strengths of mortar cubes and prisms were determined. Apart from this, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis were also carried out. The chemical composition showed that the MC has 52.5% di-calcium silicate (C2S) and 3.5% tri-calcium silicate (C3S).The  compressive strength of MC mortar after 28 days curing is 6.03 MPa, which is higher than M1 mortar of building code of Pakistan (5 MPa). The compressive strength of MC mortar after one year is 20.67 MPa, which is only 17% less than OPC mortar

Fibrolipomatous hamartoma of the median nerve with macrodystrophia lipomatosa

Fibrolipomatous hamartoma (FLH) is a rare congenital condition that presents with a benign overgrowth of the bone and fibroadipose tissue termed as macrodystrophia lipomatosa (MDL). Although commonly seen in the median nerve, other peripheral nerves can be involved. Diagnosis can be made on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to the characteristic coaxial cable appearance on axial images and the spaghetti appearance on sagittal images. Histology shows mature adipose and fibrous tissue infiltrating the epineural and perineural compartments. Multiple or debulking surgeries are often needed, with an emphasis on cosmetic aspects. We present one such case in which wide margin excision and sural nerve graft were carried out

VisTAS:Blockchain-based Visible and Trusted Remote Authentication System

The information security domain focuses on security needs at all levels in a computing environment in either the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Cloud of Things, or any other implementation. Data, devices, services, or applications and communication are required to be protected and provided by information security shields at all levels and in all working states. Remote authentication is required to perform different administrative operations in an information system, and Administrators have full access to the system and may pose insider threats. Superusers and administrators are the most trusted persons in an organisation. “Trust but verify” is an approach to have an eye on the superusers and administrators. Distributed ledger technology (Blockchain-based data storage) is an immutable data storage scheme and provides a built-in facility to share statistics among peers. Distributed ledgers are proposed to provide visible security and non-repudiation, which securely records administrators’ authentications requests. The presence of security, privacy, and accountability measures establish trust among its stakeholders. Securing information in an electronic data processing system is challenging, i.e., providing services and access control for the resources to only legitimate users. Authentication plays a vital role in systems’ security; therefore, authentication and identity management are the key subjects to provide information security services. The leading cause of information security breaches is the failure of identity management/authentication systems and insider threats. In this regard, visible security measures have more deterrence than other schemes. In this paper, an authentication scheme, “VisTAS,” has been introduced, which provides visible security and trusted authentication services to the tenants and keeps the records in the blockchain

A New Ensemble-Based Intrusion Detection System for Internet of Things

The domain of Internet of Things (IoT) has witnessed immense adaptability over the last few years by drastically transforming human lives to automate their ordinary daily tasks. This is achieved by interconnecting heterogeneous physical devices with different functionalities. Consequently, the rate of cyber threats has also been raised with the expansion of IoT networks which puts data integrity and stability on stake. In order to secure data from misuse and unusual attempts, several intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have been proposed to detect the malicious activities on the basis of predefined attack patterns. The rapid increase in such kind of attacks requires improvements in the existing IDS. Machine learning has become the key solution to improve intrusion detection systems. In this study, an ensemble-based intrusion detection model has been proposed. In the proposed model, logistic regression, naive Bayes, and decision tree have been deployed with voting classifier after analyzing model’s performance with some prominent existing state-of-the-art techniques. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed model has been analyzed using CICIDS2017 dataset. The results illustrate significant improvement in terms of accuracy as compared to existing models in terms of both binary and multi-class classification scenarios

Leaving Against Medical Advice From In-patients Departments Rate, Reasons and Predicting Risk Factors for Re-visiting Hospital Retrospective Cohort From a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Approximately 1% to 2% of hospitalized patients get discharged or leave from the hospital against medical advice and up to 26% in some centers. They have higher readmission rate and risk of complications than patients who receive complete care. In this study we aimed to determine the rate of leave against medical advice (LAMA) and reasons for the same across different in-patient departments of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: Retrospective cohort study on patients admitted in all departments at our institute over a 1-year period. All patients who were admitted to an in-patient ward at the hospital and who left against medical advice by submitting a duly filled LAMA form were included. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models with forward selection methods were employed. Revisit to hospital within 30 days; to clinic or emergency department was outcome variable for regression.Results: From June 2015 to May 2016 there were 429 LAMA patients, accounting for 0.7% of total admissions. Females were 223 (52%) compared to males 206 (48%). Finances were quoted as the most common reason for LAMA by 174 (41%) patients followed by domestic problems 78 (18%). Internal medicine was the service with the highest number of LAMA patients ie, 153 (36%) followed by Pediatric medicine with 73 (17%). Of the 429 patients, 147 (34%) patients revisited the hospital within 30 days. Sixty-one percent of these ‘bounced-back’ LAMA patients had worsening or persistence of same problem, or new problem/s had developed. In unadjusted bivariate logistic model, patients who were advised for follow-up during discharge against medical advice were four times more likely to revisit the hospital. Patients who were married had an increased odd of revisiting the hospital.Conclusion: Financial reasons are the most common stated reasons to LAMA. Patients who LAMA are at a high risk of clinical worsening and ‘bouncing back.’ This is the first study from our region on in-patient LAMA rates, to our knowledge. The results can be used for planning measures to reduce LAMA rates and its consequences

Kikuchi–Fujimoto Disease: Review of 11 Cases Diagnosed Over 10 Years at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Doha, Qatar

Introduction: Kikuchi-Fujimoto (KF) disease is a rare and self-limiting disorder of unknown aetiology characterized by cervical lymphadenopathy (CLN) and fever. The pathophysiology remains unclear and may be triggered by an infectious agent leading to a self-limiting autoimmune process. There are no confirmatory laboratory tests and lymph node biopsy is required to differentiate KF disease from other serious conditions. Materials and methods: We report 11 cases of KF disease diagnosed at Hamad General Hospital, Qatar, between 2006 to 2016. The diagnosis is based on clinical presentation, investigations and histopathological examination of lymph nodes. Results: All patients had painful neck swelling (average duration of 2.9 weeks) and 10 had fever (average duration of 3.2 weeks). Five patients developed mild leucopenia which resolved completely. HIV and tuberculosis (TB) screening including sputum for AFB, a PPD skin test and chest x-ray was done for all patients and came back negative. Autoimmune screening was done for all patients and excluded any rheumatological disease. Ultrasound and CT of the neck confirmed cervical lymphadenopathy. Except for hepatomegaly in one patient, CT scans of the chest and abdomen were negative for any lymphadenopathy or organomegaly (performed in seven patients). Diagnosis was confirmed on lymph node excision biopsy. Histopathological examination showed findings consistent with the diagnosis of histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis (KF disease).Conclusion: KF disease should be kept in mind for patients presenting with fever and CLN. Lymphoma, TB and autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus should be excluded in such patients