Spirit and Innovation at Work in Software Houses of Pakistan: How Does Job Satisfaction Intervene the Relationship?

The study in hand is an effort to find the relationship of spirit at work with Innovative work behavior of employees using job satisfaction as mediator. The data was collected from employees of software houses of Punjab province through self-administered questionnaire. We distributed 560 questionnaires among which 361 questionnaires were received filled thus making response rate 67.3%. This study employs confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the overall fitness of measurement and structural model using AMOS graphic. The results of the study revealed that spirit at work had positive effect on innovative work behavior of employees. It is proved through results that job satisfaction has mediating effect on the relationship between Spirit at work and IWB. Job satisfaction demonstrated three dimensions of spirit at work to be mediated. However, Job satisfaction does not mediate the relation of spiritual connection and Innovative work behavior. As the employees are the integral part and most important asset of the organization so managers should focus on maintaining and lifting up the level of spirit at work among employees. This high level of spirit at work will help employees to show more innovative behavior that assists organizations to grow

Lightweight Cipher for H.264 Videos in the Internet of Multimedia Things with Encryption Space Ratio Diagnostics

Within an Internet of Multimedia Things, the risk of disclosing streamed video content, such as that arising from video surveillance, is of heightened concern. This leads to the encryption of that content. To reduce the overhead and the lack of flexibility arising from full encryption of the content, a good number of selective-encryption algorithms have been proposed in the last decade. Some of them have limitations, in terms of: significant delay due to computational cost, or excess memory utilization, or, despite being energy efficient, not providing a satisfactory level of confidentiality, due to their simplicity. To address such limitations, this paper presents a lightweight selective encryption scheme, in which encoder syntax elements are encrypted with the innovative EXPer (extended permutation with exclusive OR). The selected syntax elements are taken from the final stage of video encoding that is during the entropy coding stage. As a diagnostic tool, the Encryption Space Ratio measures encoding complexity of the video relative to the level of encryption so as to judge the success of the encryption process, according to entropy coder. A detailed comparative analysis of EXPer with other state-of-the-art encryption algorithms confirms that EXPer provides significant confidentiality with a small computational cost and a negligible encryption bitrate overhead. Thus, the results demonstrate that the proposed security scheme is a suitable choice for constrained devices in an Internet of Multimedia Things environment

Mediating Role of Work Engagement in the Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention: An empirical evidence from Hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan: Dr. Rizwan Qaiser Danish, Amna Gohar, Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad, Saba Shaukat

The basic purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention in the presence of mediating variable of work engagement in hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire which was distributed among public and private hospital nurses holding positions of nurse or head nurse. The sample size was 270. SPSS and AMOS software was used for demographic and inferential analysis. Results conclude that job satisfaction with determinants of JS (pay, promotion, nature of job etc.) have negative relationship with turnover intention. Results also showed that work engagement has partial mediating role in the relationship of job satisfaction and turnover intention. This study mainly focused on service sector (hospitals) in Lahore. So the results are limited to only service sector which narrow down its generalizability. Current study is cross sectional and longitudinal study is recommended to generalize results. The survey data was collected from nurses of one city that is Lahore it required to do similar research on other cities of Punjab. Various studies in literature have explored relationships among different variables of organizational behavior rather than explaining any other mechanism; they have focused much on their relationships but less on mediating relationship of work engagement

Effect of Caesalpinia bonduc Polyphenol Extract on Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats in Attenuating Hyperglycemia by Upregulating Insulin Secretion and Inhibiting JNK Signaling Pathway

Caesalpinia bonduc has been used in herbal medicines for the treatment of a wide range of diseases from decades. The present study has explored the remedial potential and underlying mechanism of polyphenol extract of Caesalpinia bonduc in alloxanized diabetic rats. HPLC/MS analysis confirmed the presence of phenolics in considerable concentrations in Caesalpinia bonduc extract. Administration of different doses (250 and 500 mg/kg) of CPP extract to hyperglycemic rats for 8 weeks restored blood and serum glucose, insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin, leptin, amylin, and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes level towards normal compared to alloxanized diabetic group. The effect of CPP extract on various genes such as Pdx-1, Ins-1, ngn-3, GLUT-4, and IRS-1 in insulin signaling pathway and Traf-4, Traf-6, and Mapk-8 in MAPK downstream JNK cascade was examined through qRT-PCR to access the core molecular mechanism involved in CPP-induced recovery of diabetes. Results have revealed that CPP extract reduced oxidative stress in pancreatic β cells by restoring free radical scavenging potential, reducing the mRNA expression of Mapk-8, Traf-4, and Traf-6, and increasing the Pdx-1, Ins-1, ngn-3, GLUT-4, and IRS-1 expression ensuing regeneration of β cells and subsequent insulin release from pancreas. The results obtained in this study recommend that CPP extract may be a promising therapeutic restorative agent in the treatment of diabetes mellitus

Assessing extreme weather-related vulnerability and identifying resilience options for California's interdependent transportation fuel sector

California’s transportation fuel sector (TFS), whose assets supply crude oil from its source to end fuel users, will increasingly be exposed to extreme weather events including flooding and wildfire under climate change. Prior studies have not considered the TFS as one sector and its exposure and vulnerability to these weather events, nor have they projected and analyzed the exposure at spatial resolutions that are fine enough to inform stakeholders about the vulnerability of individual assets that are interconnected to reliably supply and distribute fuel. Therefore, we conceptualize the TFS into a physically and organizationally connected, multi-sector network. Using this network, we project and analyze climate-change-induced flooding and wildfire exposure at both coarse and fine spatial resolutions, across multiple temporal horizons and climate scenarios. We then assess the statewide TFS’s exposure with the coarse resolution projections and discuss with various stakeholders about their assets’ vulnerability using the fine resolution projections in areas of interest.We find that transportation fuel product pipelines and central product distribution terminals are the most critical assets within the TFS network, and that the network is dependent on supporting sectors such as electricity and natural gas. Our statewide analysis identifies docks, terminals, and refineries as the most exposed TFS assets to coastal flooding, whereas roads and railroads are the most exposed assets to wildfire. The fine resolution models and the focus on different planning horizons (i.e. every 20-years between 2000 and 2100) facilitate our discussion with the stakeholders, which shows that they have implemented and plan to adopt hardening measures (improvements to physical infrastructures) and resiliency actions (improvements to behavioral responses at the organizational level) to adapt their infrastructures to these weather events, and that the fine resolution exposure projections are effective tools to facilitate stakeholder discussions. Overall, we find the TFS’s vulnerability to flooding and wildfire is three-fold: the direct exposure and potential disruption of operations, the impact on its supporting assets, and the increased pressure on California’s emergency management infrastructure. These findings will assist the TFS in adapting to the changing climate

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially