Rapid prototyping technology adoption framework development: Operationalization and roadmap generation for SMEs

The research provides a comprehensive and practical roadmap, from strategic through to the operational level, for an effective adoption of Rapid Prototyping Technology (RPT). This has been achieved through the development of frameworks, a Decision Support System for process selection, identification of the drivers of external and internal environment, market evaluation and competitor analysis. The developed methodology incorporates Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), value chain micro analysis of product development cycle and important performance (IP) Analysis

Partitioned histories: promoting critical engagement and tolerance by comparing narratives

A new initiative established by volunteers in India, Pakistan, the UK and US, aims to promote critical thinking and tolerance through history education. Their publication uses school textbooks from conflict areas as source material and places them side by side to showcase the contrasting national narratives of the same events. The first case study is on India and Pakistan. Ayyaz Ahmad offers an insight into how the project that he co-founded is encouraging participants to question what we learn and to understand that there might be other sides to each story

Class Politics in the Era of Neoliberalism: The Case of Karachi, Pakistan

In one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and the biggest city in Pakistan, Karachi, the question of political praxis has seldom been addressed in academic literature beyond the received wisdom of various 'primordial' identities. Politics in the city, which until at least the 1980s had a vibrant trade/labour union movement, has become increasingly fragmented along ethnic and religious sectarian identities. This paper examines the various contours of neoliberal urbanism as it manifests itself in the context of Karachi and the political praxis it generates. The approach draws upon a Gramscian spatial historicism to look at the constitution of 'historical situations as a confluence of multiple, spatially mediated temporal rhythms' (Kipfer, 2012: 86). In doing so, it will look at the combined effects of neoliberal praxis, formal neo-imperialism and Pakistan's continually evolving post-colonial state, on the emergence (or lack thereof) of working class politics in Karachi. Thus, the historically and geographically specific ensemble of forces at multiple scales (local, national and international) which act to impede and, in several cases, co-opt any forms of horizontal political praxis in the city will be elaborated upon. Light will also be shed upon the unresolved dialectic between residential and working spaces for Marxist praxis in urban areas. Thus, through local level analyses of the multi-scalar workings of state and capital, the paper argues that a dialectic of coercion and patronage animates - and restricts - the political choices made by Karachi's working class subjects. In doing so, the paper also advocates for an understanding of class (and the process of class formation) being as much an objective category as a subjective, lived phenomenon which operates over multiple spaces (i.e. both residential and working spaces) and is necessarily shaped by forces operating over multiple scales. The paper will draw upon the author's fieldwork in one residential and one industrial area of Karachi while combining insights from existing literature on class-based political praxis in other urban areas (especially in global South contexts) and current literature on Pakistan and its 'over-developing' state

Thermophysical Properties and Solubility of CO2/CH4 in Aqueous Alkanolamine Solutions and Ionic Liquids

Natural gas is the most useful and vital source of energy which could be considered as one of the cleanest and safest fossil fuel as compared to oil and coal. Regardless of the natural gas (NG) importance, it is usually contaminated with acid gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The percentage of CO2 in natural gas varies widely depending on the geological locations of gas fields. In some of the Malaysian gas fields in Peninsular and Sarawak, the average amount of CO2 in natural gas has been found as high as 46 and 72 % respectively (Darman and Harun, 2006). The presence high CO2 contents in NG decreases its heating value and also create corrosion and blockage problems during transmission. In many industrial applications, the selective separation of gas from mixture is usually performed by absorption process using glycol ethers and aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) etc. Most recently, ionic liquids (ILs) have been introduced as novel solvents with unique properties such as negligible vapor pressure, high thermal stability and high gases selective solubility. The solvent characteristics play an extremely important role in the separation of gases at operating conditions of the absorption unit. The solubility measurements of gases in potential solvents are essential for generating reliable gas liquid equilibrium (GLE) data which provide basic information for the design and development of industrial absorption processes. In the present work, a fundamental study is carried out to systematically investigate the potential application of imidazolium based ILs for bulk removal of CO2 from NG to replace the existing alkanolamine solutions. For this purpose, initially thermophysical properties (density, isobaric thermal expansion coefficients, viscosity, surface tension, and refractive index) of aqueous MDEA/PZ solutions and ILs were measured and correlated. Thermal stability of all the studied solvents was also explored using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The density and viscosity values for all the studied ILs were found to be higher than all the studied amine solutions. The effect of pressure on densities of ILs was found to be insignificant up to 100 bar. The IL: [C6mim][PF6] was found to be highly viscous as compared to other studied ILs i.e., 431 mPa.s at 303.2 K. The surface tension of solvents was found to be in decreasing order of (PZ + water), (MDEA + PZ + water), (MDEA + water) and ionic liquids. The studied imidazolium based ILs showed very high thermal stability with their onset temperature values reaches three times higher than the amine solutions. A theoretical understanding has been proposed to develop a relationship between solvent physical properties and solubility behavior which is based on the experimental conclusions of physical properties of solvents. The solubility measurements for pure CO2 and its binary mixtures with CH4 are performed in all the studied solvents at temperature range of (303.15 to 333.15) K and pressure up to 90 bar. The solubility experiments were performed in a specially designed high pressure gas solubility cell with auto data logging and acquisition system and an online gas chromatograph (GC). The CO2 solubility in 4 molal and 8 molal aqueous MDEA solutions reached to 5.138 (moles.kg-1) and 9.132 (moles.kg-1) at P ≈ 54 bar and at T = 303.15 K. The CO2 solubility in ILs with different anions was found to be in decreasing order of [C6mim][Tf2N], [C6mim][PF6] and [C6mim][BF4] at P ≈ 60 bar and at temperature range from 303.15 K to 333.15 K. The effect of ILs’ anion appeared to play the most significant role in determining the CO2 solubility as the IL with [Tf2N] anion showed highest CO2 solubility (5.483 moles.kg-1) than [PF6] and [BF4] i.e., 3.428 and 3.872 (moles.kg-1) respectively. The solubility measurements for CO2/Methane in fresh solvents and recycled ILs were performed at exploration conditions of upstream NG with a perspective to explore potential capabilities of ILs to replace alkanolamines. The amount of CO2 dissolved in recycled ILs was found to be similar to that obtained for ILs with maximum deviation of 6.8% obtained in case [C6mim][PF6]. The solubility of CO2 in all the studied solvents significantly decreased due to presence of methane in gaseous mixtures in comparison to its solubility as pure carbon dioxide. The gas liquid equilibrium (GLE) data is correlated with an extended Henry’s law constant using Peng- Robinson Equation of State (PR-EOS) approach and other important thermodynamic parameters (Enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and Entropy) of solutions were investigated

The Impact of High Involvement Work Practices on Job Demands and Employees Burnout

Current study investigates how HIWPs affect employee burnout and job demands in Pakistan's banking industry. Hence, we predicted that HIWPs would have a bad impact on staff burnout as well as requests. Employees of commercial banks listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange who work in the banking sector provided the information. In five regions in the Punjab, self-administered questionnaires were provided to both Islamic and conventional banks. The study's findings were consistent with the model associations that were hypothesized, which indicated that high engagement work practices had a negative impact on all aspects of job demands. The outcome was the same for all employee burnout dimensions and high involvement work practices. In a stressed-out banking sector setting where turnover is high and maintaining qualified employees is a big concern, this study offers novel insights into the field of human resource literature. It also covers how managers may retain and develop their important workforce. The Asian setting was largely disregarded in earlier studies, necessitating additional empirical data from different cultural contexts. The paradigm utilized in this study had never been applied to Pakistan before. Hence, research on the connection between high involvement work practices, job demands, and burnout in Pakistan's banking sector was necessary

Impact of the indexed effective orifice area on mid-term cardiac-related mortality after aortic valve replacement

Background There has been ongoing controversy as to whether prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM, defined as indexed effective orifice area (EOAI) <0.85 m(2)/cm(2)) influences mortality after aortic valve replacement (AVR). In most studies, PPM is anticipated by reference tables based on mean EOAs as opposed to individual assessment. These reference values may not reflect the actual in vivo EOAI and hence, the presence or absence of PPM may be based on false assumptions. Objective To assess the impact of small prosthesis EOA on survival after aortic valve replacement AVR. Methods 645 patients had undergone an AVR between 2000 and 2007 entered the study. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography for determination of the actual EOAI within 6 months postoperatively. In order to predict time from surgery to death a proportional hazards model for competing risks (cardiac death vs death from other causes) was used. EOAI was entered as a continuous variable. Results PPM occurred in 40% of the patients. After a median follow-up of 2.35 years, 92.1% of the patients were alive. The final Cox regression model showed a significantly increased risk for cardiac death among patients with a smaller EOAI (HR=0.32, p=0.022). The effect of EOAI on the 2-5 year mortality risk was demonstrated by risk plots. Conclusions In contrast to previous studies these EOAI values were obtained through postoperative echocardiography, substantially improving the accuracy of measurement, and the EOAI was modelled as a continuous variable. There was a significantly improved survival for larger EOAIs following AVR. Strategies to avoid PPM should become paramount during AVR