Trends and developments in green cement “A sustainable approach”

It is evident from the history of cement that it’s a vital construction material but its hazardous effects on environment cannot be ignored. Cement production causes serious environmental damages from its production to disposal which includes carbon dioxide emissions, noise/vibration pollution and damage to natural rocks (during extraction of raw materials from quarries). Cement is considered to be the third largest (man-made) source of greenhouse gas due to emission of carbon dioxide in atmosphere. The harmful effects of cement are encouraging the construction industry to use new cementitious materials without compromising cost and quality. Efforts are being made to develop supplementary cementitious materials using domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes and also recycled materials. This review study presents a concise review of current efforts for undermining production and use of cement. This paper will also highlight some important green alternatives for cement which include energy effective, low carbon production, no carbon cements and inorganic materials. Keywords:  Cement, Carbon, Hazardous Effects, Energy, Cementitious Material

Omnichannel Development within the Pakistani Fashion Retail

We examined the omnichannel Development within the Pakistani Fashion Retail and observed both Retailer and Consumer perspective in our study to see the development and Potential of Omnichannel. We selected 25 retailers (of which 22 are using multi-channels) and 224 shoppers who used more than one channel for purchasing fashion products, (due to some model fitness error we reduced our final sample size to 205 respondents). We used UTAUT2 model with 2 more predictors (perceived security and Personal innovativeness) which we found effected in purchase intention of consumer from some previous literature.  As per Retailer Perspective we found that we are at an extremely early stage of omnichannel. Organizations are slowly transforming but some retailers are still under threat because of associated risks with changing their business models. Omnichannel loyalty service was found to be the weakest in current development due to profitability factors for organization which seem more important, and retailers also need to focus on data and analytics & IT structure to improve omnichannel journey. As per consumer perspective, the survey results show that the security is the main concern for the shoppers in Pakistan, it restricts shopper to provide their personal information to retailers also factors of social influence and hedonic motivation not found positively influenced in our model but habit and personal innovativeness found the key factors for omnichannel development also performance and effort expectancy founds positively influenced in the development of omnichannel. By summarizing both perspective we finally conclude (Fig. 26) that retailers should integrated their all channels in a way which gives consumer totally unified and seamless shopping experience and hit their purchase intention in a positive way which support omnichannel development in Pakistan Fashion Retail Industry. Keywords: Omnichannel, Integration, Purchase intention, transforming, loyalty services, data and analytics, Security, Effort Expectancy, Habit, Personal Innovativeness DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/54-06 Publication date:March 31st 201

Satellite Derived Sea surface temperature fronts in relation with Tuna catch In EEZ of Pakistan

Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important parameter in marine ecosystem studies as its relations of Fishery and other marine resources. In this study SST fronts have also been studied with relate to tuna fish catch data of April and August 2014 was acquired. Satellite derived MODIS daily products have been used to derive thermal fronts in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Pakistan. Research results indicated that the Sea surface temperature gradually changed from 22C to 24C where Tuna catch is high and By Catch is low in frontal region. The further Relationship between these two data are discussed in this study and also made recommendations for in what way these two datasets should be handled. Remote sensing data and GIS tools are efficient and less time consuming for mapping and classifying sea surface temperature in a broader way. Survey of fishing resources is really time consumed and costly, Satellite Remote sensing data shows a promising tool to monitor fishery resources in a cost effective manner. Satellite data play an important role to identify fish aggregation zones and these techniques could also be used to forecast potential fishing zones by measuring oceanic parameters which influence on fish distribution on a broader scale and these techniques can help to local fisherman and fishery organizations to observe fishery resources

Role of magnetic resonance planimetry and magnetic resonance parkinsonism index in discriminating Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy: A retrospective study based on 1.5 and 3 T MRI

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess magnetic resonance (MR) planimetric measurements and MR parkinsonism index (MRPI) in differentiating progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) from Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) using 1.5 and 3 T MRI scanner. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: After ethical approval was obtained, analysis of 34 consecutive patients with PSP, 34 patients with PD and 34 healthy controls (HCs) was performed. HCs were age-matched adults without any history of neurodegenerative disease or movement disorders. Retrospective data from the past 10 years (from January 2006 to December 2015) were obtained from the Hospital Information Management System, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. The measurements of pons area-midbrain area ratio (P/M) and MCP width-superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) width ratio ( MCP/SCP ) were used, and MRPI was calculated by the formula ( [P/M ]× [ MCP/SCP] ). RESULTS: Midbrain area and SCP width in patients with PSP (19 males, 15 females; mean age =66.7 years) were significantly (P \u3c 0.001 ) smaller than in patients with PD (20 males, 14 females; mean age = 66.7 years ) and control participants (17 males, 17 females; mean age = 66.1 years ). P/M and MCP /SCP were significantly higher in patients with PSP than in patients with PD and control participants. All measurements showed some overlap of values between patients with PSP and patients from PD group and control participants. MRPI value was significantly higher in patients with PSP (mean 21.00) than in patients with PD (mean 9.50; P\u3c0.001) and control participants (mean 9.6; P \u3c 0.001 ), without any overlap of values among groups. No correlation was found between the duration of disease, PSP rating scale, PSP staging system and MRPI in this study. No patient with PSP received a misdiagnosis when the index was used (sensitivity and specificity, 100%). CONCLUSION: MRPI should be made an essential part of all MRI brain reporting whenever differentiation between PD and PSP is sought for

Empirical analysis of impact of macroeconomic indicators on Profitability of Islamic Banking Industry in Pakistan

The Islamic banking has been found showing a great performance around the globe, which make it an important to understand the factors affecting the Islamic banking. This paper is aimed at studying the role of Interest Rate as economic indicator, Total assets and credit risk as bank specifics, on maintaining sustainable profitability measures, ROE and ROA of all full fledge Islamic banks in Pakistan during the period of 2006-2018. The data collection includes all full fledge Islamic banks of Pakistan i.e., Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Ltd, Bank Islami Pakistan Ltd (BIPL), Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited (DIB) and Meezan Bank Limited. Furthermore, there are two measures of profitability i.e. Return on equity (ROE) & Return on assets (ROA). The regression analysis in the results show that there is a significant role of bank specific variables (total assets, and credit risk) and macroeconomic indicator (interest rate) on ROE, moreover, the role of Credit Risk and Interest Rate is also found significant in influencing the ROA. Keywords: Profitability, Interest Rate, Credit Risk, ROE and ROA DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-33-14 Publication date: November 30th 201

Genomic analysis of tyrosine hydroxylase gene sequence variations and its association with D-9- tetrahydrocannabinol dependence in addicts

Purpose: To elucidate the genetic basis of drug addiction by conducting a genetic analysis of TH (tyrosine hydroxylase) gene and the novel polymorphisms that might help in understanding addiction and its molecular basis. Methods: Forty-two subjects were recruited into three groups for this study. DNA was isolated from the individuals. PCR amplification of TH gene was carried out and amplicons were sequenced. Genomic characterization of TH gene provided five polymorphic loci – TH 1, TH 2, TH 3, TH 4 and TH 5 which were found among all the groups. Results: According to Shannon’s diversity index, the studied population was between 0.0762 and 0.6032. Heterozygosity index depicted that TH 1 locus was less heterozygous (0.3288), followed by TH 5 (0.3152). TH 1 (0.1462) was the least heterozygous. Genotypic analysis predicted that among these five loci, TH 4 (p = 0.039898) and TH 2 (p = 0.851716) were non-significant (p > 0.05) and obeyed Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) law. There are few genetic changes in the studied population that can statistically be associated with drug addiction. Still, their genotypic distribution in the gene pool was very low. Conclusion: On the basis of these findings, drug addiction in the studied population is more likely a social issue rather than a genetic one. Keywords: Tyrosine hydroxylase, SNP, Drug dependenc

Solutions for the Power Distribution System of Karachi Electric (K- Electric) to Prevent Deaths in Rainy Season

Karachi is the metropolitan city of Pakistan. In rainy or flood season many deaths occurred due to electric shock. For the prevention, we suggest here to K-Electric (Karachi Electric Supply Distribution company) to control death casualties due to electric shock in rainy season. In suggestion paper providing some suggestions to the big power supplier of Karachi (K-Electric) about safety, maintenance, and monitoring for the prevention from deaths occur in metropolitan city due to electric shock. Those deaths occur due to faults in electric pole and touch the fallen live wire. When people touch the pole, they got electric shock in rainy and storm condition due to these electric faults occur in this condition provides enough loss to humans in the form to lose their lives. For the prevention or overcome the loss of life and danger here are giving some suggestions, if do work on following safety, maintenance and monitoring system then get the control on that loss will occur in heavy rain or flood

Necessitating Human Resource Management Model in South Asia: A Rationale Perspective

This retrospective study glimpses in the literature to understand the development of indigenous HRM models based on cultural and geographical differences, and ends up with identifying the need of a „South Asian HRM model‟. Such model is needed due to increasing share of this part of world and future potentials. Development of such model will not only pave the way towards indigenization of practices focusing local demands and cultural values, but will also pay to the investing firm. Such model may also be a guideline for firms investing huge funds in this part of the worl

Management of laryngotracheal trauma: A review of current trends and future directions

Laryngotracheal trauma is rare but can pose serious threats to one\u27s life. Presenting symptoms vary according to the severity of injury. Immediate Airway control is first step in the management, intubation should be considered by a senior member of the trauma team if the injury is minor while tracheostomy should be reserved for more severe injuries. Evaluation by a fibre-optic laryngoscopy and CT scan should be done whenever possible. Reconstruction is done according to the site involved using suture, titanium miniplates and stents. Tissue engineering has added a new horizon in this management but up till now complete laryngotracheal regeneration is very far-fetched, but tissue regeneration at individual sites have shown some positive results. More work needs to be done in this less explored field including laryngeal transplantation