Risks in new product development (NPD) projects

New product development (NPD) is vulnerable to a wide variety of risks arising from within the firm or from the external environment. Existing categorizations of NPD project risks are partial or ill-defined and consequently there is no clear consensus among researchers and practitioners about what constitute NPD project risks. To address this gap, this thesis deploys a systematic literature methodology to inductively develop a comprehensive risk taxonomy from a review of 124 empirical studies. This taxonomy is then empirically validated through a survey capturing data from 263 NPD projects conducted by UK firms. The thesis further investigated the moderating effect of NPD project type (incremental or radical), firm size (SMEs and large firms) and industry sectors on the proposed risk taxonomy. Variation in the perceptions of NPD risk by different members of the team was explored as well. The findings revealed that the principal risk factors affecting NPD projects are technological rapidity risk, supply chain risk, lack of funding and resource risk. The risk profile of radical NPD projects differed to that of incremental projects. SMEs were more vulnerable to NPD project risks than large firms. Most risks influenced NPD projects equally across industrial sectors. Members of NPD project teams from different backgrounds or with different roles perceived risks differently. The proposed taxonomy and its subsequent empirical validation provides a comprehensive and robust taxonomy for identifying and managing risks associated with different types of NPD project conducted by firms of varying sizes from different industrial sectors

Chemical composition of Nigella sativa Linn : Part 2 Recent advances

The black cumin or Nigella sativa L. seeds have many acclaimed medicinal properties such as bronchodilatory, hypotensive, antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and immunopotentiating. This review article is an update on the previous article published on Nigella sativa L. in this journal in 1999. It covers the medicinal properties and chemical syntheses of the alkaloids isolated from the seeds of the herb

Clinical and Pathological Characteristics of Brain Tumor

Background: CNS tumors comprise 2% to 5% of all tumors. There was no epidemiological and statistical data regarding various features of brain tumors in this country. 80% involve the brain and 20% involve the spinal cord. Brain tumors cause approximately 2% of all cancer deaths. Objectives: to evaluate the clinical and pathological characteristics of brain tumors. Methods: This prospective study was done at Oncology department and Neurosurgery department of Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujib Medical University from July 2006 to June 2007. Total 50 patient age 2-60 years attending the oncology department with the diagnosis of primary brain tumor were included in this study. Clinical symptoms and sign in relation to brain tumor were recorded. X ray skull and CT scan reports of all cases were evaluated. To find out the histopathological pattern of the brain tumors all histopathological reports were also evaluated. Results: Most common symptoms of brain tumor were headache (76%), mental change (64%), vomiting (52%), visual defect (46%), difficulty in movement (42%) and convulsion (36%). Astrocytoma was found in 40% patients and 30% brain tumor was associated with hydrocephalus Conclusion: This study represent the brain tumor and gives some idea about the clinicopathological aspects of the disease in our country. It will help to do further studies to evaluate the clinical, epidemiological and pathological characteristics of brain tumor  DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v3i2.7054BSMMU J 2010; 3(2): 68-7

Mass transfer efficiency of a tall and low plate free area liquid pulsed sieve-plate extraction column

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge Chakwal group of industries for funding the project. Ms. Madiha, Ms. Zona, Mr. Sohaib, Mr. Abdullah, Mr. Mudassar, and Mr. Salahuddin also deserve our acknowledgements for their assistance in different ways.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dynamic Role of Zakat in Alleviating Poverty: A Case Study of Pakistan

Poverty is a curse at individual as well as community level. It is a threat to humanity at whatever level it exists. All the societies of the world have made efforts to address this challenge. Islam being the religion of all times has also presented a comprehensive system to alleviate this curse. The present study explores the application of some of these measures in collective way and brought into consideration the Zakat system exercised in Pakistan since 1980. This is hypothesized that weather Zakat disbursement along with other Islamic measures has proved to bail out the poor from poverty. Descriptive as well as empirical appraisal of the existing system showed that the Zakat disbursement among the poor, needy, destitute, orphans and widows has played a significant role in poverty alleviation. The ARDL approach to cointegration is used to evaluate the short run and long run impact of Zakat disbursement along with the other exogenous variables on poverty. The results of the study show that there is an inverse relationship between poverty and Zakat disbursement both in the short run and long run. The study also investigated the certain flaws in the system operated in Pakistan and suggested the remedies

Dynamic Role of Zakat in Alleviating Poverty: A Case Study of Pakistan

Poverty is a curse at individual as well as community level. It is a threat to humanity at whatever level it exists. All the societies of the world have made efforts to address this challenge. Islam being the religion of all times has also presented a comprehensive system to alleviate this curse. The present study explores the application of some of these measures in collective way and brought into consideration the Zakat system exercised in Pakistan since 1980. This is hypothesized that weather Zakat disbursement along with other Islamic measures has proved to bail out the poor from poverty. Descriptive as well as empirical appraisal of the existing system showed that the Zakat disbursement among the poor, needy, destitute, orphans and widows has played a significant role in poverty alleviation. The ARDL approach to cointegration is used to evaluate the short run and long run impact of Zakat disbursement along with the other exogenous variables on poverty. The results of the study show that there is an inverse relationship between poverty and Zakat disbursement both in the short run and long run. The study also investigated the certain flaws in the system operated in Pakistan and suggested the remedies

Oral lichen planus and hepatitis C virus infection; a symbiotic relationship or a mere co-incidence?

Background: Lichen planus (LP) is a common idiopathic chronic inflammatory immune mediated mucocutanous disease that effects stratified squamous epithelia and appendices. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is quite common across the world. A couple of reports have suggested positive association of HCV infection and oral lichen planus (OLP) and most of the studies are usually confined to Mediterranean and south European countries. Due to high incidence and suspected alliance between these two diseases in Pakistan, the following study was conducted with the view that it may help clinicians to set guidelines for HCV testing of lichen planus patients.Methods: Approximately 11500 patients from general population coming to dental diagnostics department of Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore (from March 2015-February 2016) were screened clinically for OLP and by ELISA for HCV infection. Out of these 11500 patients 103 were selected one of them incidental and the other pre-diagnosed or both incidental and both pre-diagnosed. These patients were unaware but had either one or both OLP and HCV infection which was confirmed clinically and by ELISA respectively.Results: Majority of patients presenting for other dental complaints were unaware of these diseases process going on in them and was mostly an incidental finding by the clinician. Either one or both OLP and HCV infection were more conjoint in females comprising 77.7% of the total subjects. OLP alone was most common finding comprising 66.67% of the cases. HCV infection alone was present in 15.53% whereas 16.50% subjects showed presence of both OLP and HCV infection.Conclusions: The current study could not detect statistically significant relationship between OLP and HCV infection in Pakistani population which could be due to genetic variation or may be geographic relationship

Herbal drugs: knowledge, attitude and practice of its concurrent use with allopathic drugs, scientific testing and effectiveness in common diseases among educated class

Background: Craving for a holistic approach for healthcare and concern about side effect of the chemically produced drug is increasing interest in herbal medicine. There is a favourable perception about its effectiveness in complete cure of certain diseases. Its regulation, concurrent use with allopathic medicine and scientific testing has always been of concern.Methods: Cross sectional descriptive study was done using predesigned questionnaire among the educated class. Socio-demographic data, attitude and practice about simultaneous use, effectiveness in common disease, scientific testing and regulation of herbal medicine were asked. Also a rating of different system of medicine i.e allopathy, unani, ayurveda, homeopathy was asked.Results: Total completed participants were 120. Across level of education use of herbal medicine was 55% in the last 1 year, 56.7% have used or intend to use herbal along with allopathic and only 18.9 % tell it to treating physician. 50% consider concurrent use as safe, 43% believe it cures completely, 31.7% consider equally effective than allopathic and 95% have not encountered any side effect or allergic reaction with it. A majority did not know about any scientific testing and clinical study of herbal drugs.Conclusions: Herbal medicines have very positive perception. The regulatory authorities are also patronising it in many countries. They are also being used along with allopathic medicine and many times even without knowledge of treating doctor. The perception about herbal medicine is historical based on personal or clinical experiences, mostly lacking with good grade of strength of evidence. There is need to have Level Ia or Ib evidence for their effectiveness and safety