School Heads’ Perceptions About Their Leadership Styles

This study explores school heads’ perceptions regarding their school leadership styles. The study adopted qualitative design. The sample of the study consisted of 10 male and 10 female head teachers from Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that school heads adopted a number of leadership styles. The main leadership styles found included instructional leadership, transformational leadership and moral leadership. These different leadership styles were adopted keeping in view the need of the different situations that heads found themselves working in. The study has important implications for school management, school teachers, researchers and policy makers.Keywords: instructional leadership, moral leadership, school leadership,transformation leadershi

Motion Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Using Artificial Potential Fields: A Review

Autonomous ground vehicle systems have found extensive potential and practical applications in the modern world. The development of an autonomous ground vehicle poses a significant challenge, particularly in identifying the best path plan, based on defined performance metrics such as safety margin, shortest time, and energy consumption. Various techniques for motion planning have been proposed by researchers, one of which is the use of artificial potential fields. Several authors in the past two decades have proposed various modified versions of the artificial potential field algorithms. The variations of the traditional APF approach have given an answer to prior shortcomings. This gives potential rise to a strategic survey on the improved versions of this algorithm. This study presents a review of motion planning for autonomous ground vehicles using artificial potential fields. Each article is evaluated based on criteria that involve the environment type, which may be either static or dynamic, the evaluation scenario, which may be real-time or simulated, and the method used for improving the search performance of the algorithm. All the customized designs of planning models are analyzed and evaluated. At the end, the results of the review are discussed, and future works are proposed

Comparison of QTC Interval Prolongation in Cirrhotic and Non-Cirrhotic Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

Objective: To determine frequency of QTc interval prolongation in hepatitis C infection. To compare QTc interval prolongation in patients with cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis c infectionStudy design: Descriptive Case SeriesSetting: Medical Unit-III, Fauji Foundation Hospital, RawalpindiDuration of study: 06 months duration of study i.e 10th May, 2017 to 10th Nov, 2017Methodology: Patients having chronic hepatitis c infection with cirrhosis was taken from medical ward and non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis c infection was taken from general medical OPD. Consent was taken. For QTc interval calculation ECG was performed by ECG technician having 22 years of experience as ECG technician in Fauji Foundation Hospital Rawalpindi. Information was recorded on the form. The variable of interest was age, gender, cirrhosis, QTc interval and comparison of prolongation of QTc between hepatitis c positive cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients. Results: Total 110 patients were included according to the inclusion criteria of the study. Mean age (years) in the study was 56.84+11.05. There were 48 (43.6) male and 62 (56.4) female patients who were included in the study according to the inclusion criteria. Mean duration of QTc interval was 0.48+0.04. Out of 110 patients, there were 27 (24.5) patients who have prolonged QTc interval. The frequency of QTc interval prolongation in patients with cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis C infection was 22 (57.9) and 05 (6.9) respectively which was statistically significant (p-value 0.000).Conclusion: The study concludes that QTc interval prolongation in cirrhotic patients was high which showed that cirrhotic patients are at risk of developing ventricular arrhythmias due to cardiomyopathy, so a simple ECG test can be used to diagnose and prevent cardiac events in cirrhotic patients as it is simple as well as easily available.Keywords: Cirrhosis, Hepatitis C, Prolonged QT interval, non-cirrhotic Chronic Hepatitis C Infectio

Prediction of Soil Macronutrients Using Machine Learning Algorithm

In this research work, machine learning algorithms were applied to find the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables for soil data analysis. The independent variables include moisture, temperature, soil pH, Cation Exchange Capacity(CEC) whereas, the dependent variables include Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK). This research concludes relationships between Phosphorus, Potassium,  soil pH and CEC; Nitrogen and soil moisture and temperature using machine learning(ML) algorithms so as to deduce NPK content of soil. A comparative analysis with obtained results from each ML method is also presented. Machine learning algorithms are best performed on data with multiple independent variables. The values computed for nitrogen relationship were more accurate than PK relationship values. The accuracy of data set I was less than data set II. A large data set would produce more accurate results for both data sets

Diabetes mellitus does not predict discharge in hospitalized patients with acute pyelonephritis: A study from Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction: The incidence of acute pyelonephritis (APN) in the diabetic population is comparatively higher and tends to be more complicated, with serious outcomes. Although complicated pyelonephritis (PN) needs hospital admission and intravenous antibiotics, the magnitude of hospital stay due to comorbidities is limited. This study\u27s aim was to assess the impact of diabetes mellitus on length of hospital stay among patients with PN.Methods: We did a retrospective data review of 520 randomly selected hospitalized patients of PN from March 2015 to December 2019 from a tertiary care center. Electronic medical records were used for identifying medical conditions through ICD-10 coding. Length of stay (LOS) was categorized as \u3c five days and ≥ five days. Chi‐ squared tests were used to compare categorical parameters. Logistic regression models were used for multivariate analyses.Results: The study included 520 patients with PN; 194 (37.3 %) men and 326 (62.7%) women. Overall, there were 353 (67.8 %) and 167 (32.1 %) patients with LOS \u3c five and ≥ five days respectively. Most of the patients had lower urinary tract symptoms (90%); among them, the majority (92%) were discharged within five days. Likewise, half of the patients had diabetes (51.2); among them, 53% were discharged after five days. Older age (OR:1.7, 95%CI: 1.1 - 2.6), upper urinary tract symptoms (OR:1.6, 95%CI: 1.1 - 2.4), lower urinary tract symptoms (OR:1.9, 95%CI: 1.1 - 3.5), creatinine greater than 1.5 mg/dl (OR:1.6, 95% CI: 1.1 - 2.4) was positively associated with LOS ≥ 5 days after adjusting for other covariates. Diabetes mellitus was not found to be associated with LOS ≥ 5 days (OR: 0.9, 95%CI: 0.8 - 1.5).Conclusion: In patients with acute PN, diabetes mellitus is not independently associated with prolonged hospital stay beyond five days

Mentoring and its Effects on Turnover Intensions in Perspective of Pakistan’s Telecom Sector

In today’s era of towering competition the retention of workforce is highly desirable for long term success of any organization. The employees serve as backbone for any organization and are responsible for attaining the laid down objectives of the organization. The ongoing study investigates the effects of mentoring on turnover intensions of employees working in telecom sector of Pakistan. Researchers retrieved data with the help of questionnaires based on five point likert scale from almost 300 employees working in telecom organizations of Pakistan. Multiple regressions were used to analyze the collected data. Result shows that mentoring mostly is negatively associated with turnover intension because employee was not satisfied with mentoring and commitment in employees is only due to experienced learning which helps to develop additional skills in employee

Development and validation of a spectroscopic method for the simultaneous analysis of miconazole nitrate and hydrocortisone acetate in pharmaceutical dosage form

Purpose: To develop a new analytical method for the quantitative analysis of miconazole nitrate (MCN) and hydrocortisone (HCA) in pharmaceutical creams.Methods: The study was accomplished in three steps. In the first stage, a spectroscopic method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of miconazole (MCN) and hydrocortisone (HCA). For this purpose, serial dilutions of both drugs were prepared using ethanol: water (50:50) as the solvent system. All solutions were analyzed for absorbance spectrophotometrically at 205 and 249 nm for MCN and HCA, respectively. The method was validated for linearity, range, accuracy, precision and robustness. A commercial formulation was also assayed by the proposed method.Results: The absorbance data were linear over a concentration range of 1 to 12 μg/mL for MCN and 1 to 40 μg/mL for HCA, with correlation coefficient of 0.9995 and 0.9984, respectively. Limit of detection (LOD) and of quantification (LOQ) of MCN were  0.49 and 1.49 μg/mL, respectively, and for HCA, 1.50 and 4.57 μg/mL, respectively. The assay results for the commercial  formulation were within the limits specified in British Pharmacopoeia.Conclusion: Simultaneous quantification of miconazole (MCN) and hydrocortisone (HCA) by UV spectroscopy provides a simple, reliable and robust method for the characterization of a mixture of the drugs in a dosage form.Keywords: Simultaneous analysis, Miconazole nitrate, Hdrocortisone acetate, UV-visible spectroscopy, Method validatio

Phytochemical profiling of Costus (Saussurea lappa Clarke) root essential oil, and its antimicrobial and toxicological effects

Purpose: To carry out gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the phytochemical content of the root essential oil of Saussurea lappa Clarke Asteraceae (Costus, SLEO), and to evaluate its physicochemical, antimicrobial and cytoxic properties. Methods: The oil was extracted from the plant’s roots by steam distillation using a Clevenger system. Various physicochemical parameters for the oil including refractive index, color, acid value, saponification number, ester and peroxide values were measured. Flavonoid content was assessed using thin layer chromatography (TLC). Thermoscientific trace ultra gas chromatograph equipped with a Thermoscientific capillary TR-5MS column was utilized to determine the volatile components of SLEO. Antimicrobial activity of SLEO was performed against various Gram (+ve) and Gram (-ve) microorganisms, viz, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, while cytotoxic effect was monitored using Artemia salina (brine shrimp) lethality assay. Results: Essential oil yield was good (3 %). Concentration-dependent antimicrobial effects were observed on all test microorganisms and no marked difference in lethality levels was observed among the tested SLEO concentrations on brine shrimp (p < 0.05). The main component of SLEO was costunolide or eudesma-5,11(13)-dien-8,12-olide (52.01 %). Conclusion: The results indicate the promising therapeutic properties of S. lappa. However, further phytochemical and biological investigations are required to establish the mechanism of action and toxicological the extract