Predicting Firm Performance through Resource Based Framework

This study aims to review the key concept of Resource Based View (RBV) that is broadly acknowledged in strategic management, and analyze their impact on Firm Performance by using the VRIN and Non-VRIN Resources. Based on experts’ theory we develop hypotheses and a conceptual framework to investigate the relationship between firm’s resources and its performance to attain the sustainable competitive advantage. In spite of this perception, few empirical studies test these hypotheses at the conceptual level. The paper presents empirical evidence from a survey of different industrial firms in Pakistan. Through random Sampling, the data was collected from Top Management, CEOs and Senior Executives from the top companies in Pakistan. The data has been collected through questionnaires and statistically evaluated by SPSS software. All Data analyzed through Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regression, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The finding showed that VRIN Resources have a positive significant relationship to improve firm’s performance. While Non-VRIN Resources and performance have an insignificant relationship to each other. This study closes with future recommendations that how this study have important academic and practitioner implications. Keywords: Resource Based View (RBV), VRIN Resources, Non-VRIN Resources, Firm Performanc

Prevalent distribution of conscious processes on either side of the brain

Objectives. The brain has an intrinsic tendency for the lateralization of its functions. For instance, the left hemisphere assists in the comprehension and motor expression of language. What remains uncertain is whether conscious processes are also more prevalent in one hemisphere of the brain than the other. The epistemic goal of this research was to address this particular issue. Materials and Methods. We observed the rare pathological event of proximal occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), which halts blood flow to the central two-thirds of a hemisphere, and examined its effects on consciousness. We aggregated individual scores for eyes-opening and limb-motor responses from the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) to determine the conscious level, and used brain computed tomography imaging to identify the whole-territory infarcts of MCA. Results. Being a rare condition, we managed to recruit 35 patients from two centers (average age: 64.54 ± 13 years, 45.71% females). Whole-territory infarcts of the MCA occurred more frequently in the left hemisphere (22 versus 13, frequency: 62.85%). Unconsciousness was also more common with left hemisphere infarctions (16 versus 2 unconscious patients of the right hemisphere, Frequency: 72%, GCS: 2/10=3/22 cases, GCS: 5/10=1/22 cases, GCS: 6-7/10=12/22 cases). The difference in unconsciousness proved significant in Fisher’s exact analysis (p-value = 0.001) and remained independent of age (p-value=0.7247) and gender (p-value=0.3145). Moreover, six conscious patients with left hemisphere involvement exhibited a loss of conscious control for normal responses, implying a strong link between consciousness and cognition. Unconsciousness also correlated with stroke outcomes (16 Unconscious: 56.25% deceased within the hospital). Conclusion. Conscious processes are more predominant in the brain\u27s left hemisphere. Our observations indicate that only a gross unilateral insult to the brain can lead to unconsciousness

Understanding Perceived Organizational Performance through Human Resource Practices

The aim of this research study is to examine the causal relation of human resource management practices with perceived organizational performance. The study was conducted in Punjab Emergency services (Rescue 1122) of Pakistan. This study provides new insight to HR managers that they can increase the productivity of employees and improve the overall performance of organization. Sample of the study was the different cadres of rescue workers of Punjab Emergency services (Rescue 1122) of Pakistan. Among 384 questionnaires, 324 questionnaires were considered useful for data analysis. Regarding this, response rate was considered 84.38%. In order to examine casual relation of human resource management practices with perceived organizational performance, SEM has been incorporated. The findings of this research study suggested that HR managers now have to consider human resource management practices for achieving competitive advantage in the form of employees capacity building, worker’s commitment with organization and ownership of their responsibilities in Punjab Emergency services (Rescue 1122) of Pakistan. Moreover, relation of perceived organizational performance with other variables like recruitment and selection, training and development, reward and compensation, performance appraisal and employees participation were found positive and significant Keywords: perceived organizational performance, training and development, Rescue 1122, Reward, performance appraisal

Filtering Dishonest Trust Recommendations in Trust Management Systems in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Trust recommendations, having a pivotal role in computation of trust and hence confidence in peer to peer (P2P) environment, if hampered, may entail in colossal attacks from dishonest recommenders such as bad mouthing, ballot stuffing, random opinion etc. Therefore, mitigation of dishonest trust recommendations is stipulated as a challenging research issue in P2P systems (esp in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks). In order to cater these challenges associated with dishonest trust recommendations, a technique named “intelligently Selection of Trust Recommendations based on Dissimilarity factor (iSTRD)” has been devised for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.  iSTRD exploits  personal experience of an “evaluating node” in conjunction with majority vote of the recommenders. It successfully removes the recommendations of “low trustworthy recommenders” as well as dishonest recommendations of “highly trustworthy recommenders”. Efficacy of proposed approach is evident from enhanced accuracy of “recognition rate”, “false rejection” and “false acceptance”.  Moreover, experiential results depict that iSTRD has unprecedented performance compared to contemporary techniques in presence of attacks asserted

Implementation of Basel II in Microfinance Sector of Pakistan

The Basel, the new accord on banking regulation and supervision covers the risk of capital and credit risk. Basel II covers the additional risk of market which completes the first and second pillars. It includes the disclosure of basic information to its market participants. This information is a sum of risks that institution has to face, capital risk exposure, risk assessment process, capital adequacy of the bank, the techniques to account fall the risks. The aim of the study was to implement Basel II in microfinance sector of Pakistan. The study is unique because it is never analyzed before in microfinance sector of Pakistan. The discussion method was used for results and results of the study shows that new accord will definitely help the managers and practitioners to evaluate the performance of this sector. Keywords: Basel 1, Basel II, Capital Accord, Microfinance, CAR, Operational Risk, Market Risk

Effectiveness Of Therapeutic Ultrasound With And Without Ketoprofen Gel Among The Patients Ofnon-Specific Low BackPain

Background: Lower spinal back pain, a very common everyday problem, experienced by most people in their life, is usually nonspecific low back pain and varies with changes in posture and activity. It is also called mechanical low back pain. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound with and without ketoprofen gel on pain and disability in patients with nonspecific low back pain. Methods: The study design was randomized clinical trial, conducted at MadinahTeaching Hospital and Sugraha trust hospital Faisalabad. This study included males and females between ages 20 to 35. A convenient sampling technique was applied, as patients who were visiting the physiotherapy department during months of Febraury-June 2016 were considered. Signed consent forms and the privacy of patients was taken into consideration. Two groups were made; Group A received ultrasound with Ketoprofen gel and strengthening and stretching exercises whereas Group B received ultrasound with Aqua sonic gel and strengthening and stretching exercises. Total treatment sessions were over a period of 10 consecutive days. The pain intensity was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) and functional level was measured by Oswestry Disability Questionnaire(ODQ) before, in the middle and at the end of the treatment. Results: There was a significant difference before and after treatment in pain intensity between ketoprufen gel (3.07±0.77 and p=0.000) and aqua sonic gel (5.08±0.85 and p=0.06). There was a reduction in disability level after the treatment in both groups but greater improvement was achieved by Ketoprofen gel as compared to aqua sonic gel. Conclusion: Therapeutic ultrasound with ketoprofen gel along with stretching and strengthening exercises is more effective than the aqua sonic gel ultrasound in the management of non-specific lower lumbar back pain. Key Words: ketoprufen, therapeutic ultrasound, nonspecific low back pai

Spectrum of Different Spinal Disorders Presenting to Neurosurgical Department of Public Sector Tertiary Care Hospitals of Peshawar

Objectives: To assess the spectrum of different spinal disorders presenting to the Neurosurgical department of public sector tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar.Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out in the Neurosurgery departments of two public sector tertiary care hospitals in district Peshawar from January 2012 to December 2018. Our inclusion criteria comprised of all those patients who were having spinal abnormalities irrespective of age and gender, admitted either via emergency or OPD. We excluded those patients who were dead on arrival or whose data was lacking including those who did not do their follow up and those who were not given consent for the study.Results: Out of total 5,579 patients, male to female ratio was 1:1.7. The age range was from 6 days to 78 years. Elective cases were 63.61% (n = 3,549) and emergency were 36.37% (n = 2,030). TSCI were 35.01% (n = 1,953) and NTSCI were 3,626 (n = 64.99%). Out of all patients, 91.03% (n = 5,079) were treated surgically. About 79% (n = 4,406) had a good outcome.Conclusion: We collected data and made a survey of the spectrum of different spinal abnormalities resulting from various etiologies focused over the last 6 years. We found a variety of cases presenting to our departments of neurosurgery. Non traumatic spinal injuries are more frequent as compared to traumatic ones

Unmanned aerial vehicles optimal airtime estimation for energy aware deployment in IoT-enabled fifth generation cellular networks

[EN] Cellular networks based on new generation standards are the major enabler for Internet of things (IoT) communication. Narrowband-IoT and Long Term Evolution for Machines are the newest wide area network-based cellular technologies for IoT applications. The deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has gained the popularity in cellular networks by using temporary ubiquitous coverage in the areas where the infrastructure-based networks are either not available or have vanished due to some disasters. The major challenge in such networks is the efficient UAVs deployment that covers maximum users and area with the minimum number of UAVs. The performance and sustainability of UAVs is largely dependent upon the available residual energy especially in mission planning. Although energy harvesting techniques and efficient storage units are available, but these have their own constraints and the limited onboard energy still severely hinders the practical realization of UAVs. This paper employs neglected parameters of UAVs energy consumption in order to get actual status of available energy and proposed a solution that more accurately estimates the UAVs operational airtime. The proposed model is evaluated in test bed and simulation environment where the results show the consideration of such explicit usage parameters achieves significant improvement in airtime estimation.The research is funded by the Department of Computer Science, Iqra University, Islamabad Campus, PakistanMajeed, S.; Sohail, A.; Qureshi, KN.; Kumar, A.; Iqbal, S.; Lloret, J. (2020). Unmanned aerial vehicles optimal airtime estimation for energy aware deployment in IoT-enabled fifth generation cellular networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 2020(1):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-020-01877-01142020