The Effectiveness of Co-curricular Activities on Academic Achievements of Secondary School Students in District Abbottabad Pakistan - A Case Study

This research was conducted to examine the effect of co-curricular activities on academic achievements of secondary school students in District Abbottabad. The research is experimental in nature, pre-test Post test equivalent group design was selected for this purpose. In this study, an achievement test covering four chapters of mathematics and four lessons of English was used as measuring instrument. Depending upon pre-test scores, 200 students of 10th class were divided into two equal groups (n=100) named as experimental group and control group. The experimental group was involved in co-curricular activities and the control group did not participate in any activity beyond the classroom. There were two types of co-curricular activities. First physical i.e., games, athletics and P.T (physical training) etc and the other was debates, drama speeches etc. The experimental group carried out activities for forty minutes daily for twelve weeks. The post-test was administered after twelve weeks. The pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups served as data for this study. The analysis of data revealed that on the whole, experimental groups showed better performance than controlled group. Hence the ultimate results of the study indicated that co-curricular activities can contribute for enhancing academic achievements of the secondary school students. Keywords: Co-curricular activities, Academics achievement

Enhancing Writing Skills: An Analytical Study of Obstacles in Writing at B.A. Level in Najran University, KSA

Academic writing demands a deliberate endeavor and a conscious effort to achieve a desirable efficiency in the academic pursuits of learners. Academic writing is considered perhaps the most challenging and difficult skill in terms of L2. This study critically explores the obstacles in academic writing faced by students and teachers alike at Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To investigate, a comprehensive questionnaire has been floated among professional teachers to get their expert opinions in order to identify some problems and form effective remedial strategies eventually. This paper will primarily focus on the two significant aspects of academic writing i.e. language skills (LS, Grammar etc.) and writing skills (WS, writing itself as a skill)

Time Management and its Application in Academic Life: A Study of Omani Students at Dhofar University, Sultanate of Oman

The basic aim of this study is to identify and discuss the awareness of Time Management (TM) and its application in the academic life of Omani Students in English Unit, Dhofar University, Sultanate of Oman. This paper also inculcates and indoctrinates the importance of TM in students’ practical life. It has been observed by the researchers that students complain about the scarcity of time rather than lack of time. The study upholds that pedagogically, TM and its applications in EFL scenario are crucial. Thus the paper advocates that students’ sufferings can be subsided by enhancing their TM skills. This paper finds out that the most of the Omani students at the University of Dhofar suffer from Mismanagement of Time due to lack of focus on study skills.The researchers also give fruitful suggestions in order to overcome the confronted problems such as procrastination, distractions and so on.Keywords: TM: Time Management, Study Skills, Omani Students, EFL, Procrastination, Dhofar University

Insights from Health Care Providers in Dealing with Suicide Attempters in Kashmir: A Preliminary Qualitative Analysis

Background: The Valley of Kashmir has witnessed a growing number of suicides. It is often witnessed that whenever a person attempts or commits suicide, most of the times he/she is bought to the hospital to save his/her life. Thus, the role of health care providers in a hospital setting is very important, as this is the first point of contact with the suicide attempters. In this study, an attempt was made to assess the intervention of health care providers toward suicide attempters in Kashmir. Methodology: In-depth expert interviews were conducted with the 12 healthcare professionals (Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists and Primary Health Care Physicians) who were involved in the identification; assessment, management, and prevention of suicidal behaviour at an urban general hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir. Purposive sampling method was used based on the availability and willingness of the participants from August to November 2018. Results: The results revealed that the health care providers follow a systematic procedure i.e., prevention, intervention and postvention in dealing with suicide attempters. However, their main focus remains on the intervention within the walls of the hospital setting. Conclusion: The results of the study provides some broad understanding about the role of doctors in the treatment and management of suicide attempters that will go a long way in the management of people attempting suicide in Kashmir. Keywords: Suicide, health care professionals, prevention, interventio

The Effectiveness of Co-curricular Activities on Academic Achievements of Secondary School Students in District Abbottabad Pakistan - A Case Study

This research was conducted to examine the effect of co-curricular activities on academic achievements of secondary school students in District Abbottabad. The research is experimental in nature, pre-test Post's test equivalent group design was selected for this purpose. In this study, an achievement test covering four chapters of mathematics and four lessons of English was used as measuring instrument. Depending upon pre-test scores, 200 students of 10th class were divided into two equal groups (n=100) named as experimental group and control group. The experimental group was involved in co-curricular activities and the control group did not participate in any activity beyond the classroom. There were two types of co-curricular activities. First physical i.e., games, athletics and P.T (physical training) etc and the other was debates, drama speeches etc. The experimental group carried out activities for forty minutes daily for twelve weeks. The post-test was administered after twelve weeks. The pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups served as data for this study. The analysis of data revealed that on the whole, experimental groups showed better performance than controlled group. Hence the ultimate results of the study indicated that co-curricular activities can contribute for enhancing academic achievements of the secondary school students. Keywords: Co-curricular activities, Academics achievement

Integrating Educational Technologies In Higher Education of the Developing Countries

Successful eLearning projects are reportedly dependent on the quality of integration between new technologies and the existing organizational and managerial levels. This integration is not simply connecting the cables and devices rather it has to happen at the planning, development and use levels of eProjects when creating eLearning environments. Besides considering different levels of integration, the management has to handle several issues which work as bottlenecks to successful integration practices. This paper is an effort to first unearth and then juxtapose major factors of integrating eLearning with the practices of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the developing countries like Pakistan with a view to synthesizing the results into a theoretical model

ON CAUCHY-TYPE BOUNDS FOR THE EIGENVALUES OF A SPECIAL CLASS OF MATRIX POLYNOMIALS

Let $\mathbb{C}^{m\times m}$ be the set of all $m\times m$ matrices whose  entries are in $\mathbb{C},$ the set of complex numbers. Then $P(z):=\sum\limits_{j=0}^nA_jz^j,$ $A_j\in \mathbb{C}^{m\times m},$ $0\leq j\leq n$ is called a matrix polynomial. If $A_{n}\neq 0$, then $P(z)$ is said to be a matrix polynomial of degree $n$. In this paper we prove some results for the  bound estimates of the eigenvalues of some lacunary type of matrix polynomials

Comparing the mapping between EQ-5D-5L, EQ-5D-3L and the EORTC-QLQ-C30 in non-small cell lung cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Several mapping algorithms have been published with the EORTC-QLQ-C30 for estimating EQ-5D-3L utilities. However, none are available with EQ-5D-5L. Moreover, a comparison between mapping algorithms in the same set of patients has not been performed for these two instruments simultaneously. In this prospective data set of 100 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, we investigate three mapping algorithms using the EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L and compare their performance. METHODS: A prospective non-interventional cohort of 100 NSCLC patients were followed up for 12 months. EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L and EORTC-QLQ-C30 were assessed monthly. EQ-5D-5L was completed at least 1 week after EQ-5D-3L. A random effects linear regression model, a beta-binomial (BB) and a Limited Variable Dependent Mixture (LVDM) model were used to determine a mapping algorithm between EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L and QLQ-C30. Simulation and cross validation and other statistical measures were used to compare the performances of the algorithms. RESULTS: Mapping from the EQ-5D-5L was better: lower AIC, RMSE, MAE and higher R(2) were reported with the EQ-5D-5L than with EQ-5D-3L regardless of the functional form of the algorithm. The BB model proved to be more useful for both instruments: for the EQ-5D-5L, AIC was –485, R(2) of 75 %, MAE of 0.075 and RMSE was 0.092. This was –385, 69 %, 0.099 and 0.113 for EQ-5D-3L respectively. The mean observed vs. predicted utilities were 0.572 vs. 0.577 and 0.515 vs. 0.523 for EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L respectively, for OLS; for BB, these were 0.572 vs. 0.575 and 0.515 vs. 0.518 respectively and for LVDMM 0.532 vs 0.515 and 0.569 vs 0.572 respectively. Less over-prediction at poorer health states was observed with EQ-5D-5L. CONCLUSIONS: The BB mapping algorithm is confirmed to offer a better fit for both EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L. The results confirm previous and more recent results on the use of BB type modelling approaches for mapping. It is recommended that in studies where EQ-5D utilities have not been collected, an EQ-5D-5L mapping algorithm is used

Achievable Sum-rate of variants of QAM over Gaussian Multiple Access Channel with and without security

The performance of next generation wireless systems (5G/6G and beyond) at the physical layer is primarily driven by the choice of digital modulation techniques that are bandwidth and power efficient, while maintaining high data rates. Achievable rates for Gaussian input and some finite constellations (BPSK/QPSK/QAM) are well studied in the literature. However, new variants of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) such as Cross-QAM (XQAM), Star-QAM (S-QAM), Amplitude and phase shift keying (APSK), and Hexagonal Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (H-QAM) are not studied in the context of achievable rates for meeting the demand of high data rates. In this paper, we study achievable rate region for different variants of M-QAM like Cross-QAM, H-QAM, Star-QAM and APSK. We also compute mutual information corresponding to the sum rate of Gaussian Multiple Access Channel (G-MAC), for hybrid constellation scheme, e.g., user 1 transmits using Star-QAM and user 2 by H-QAM. From the results, it is observed that S-QAM gives the maximum sum-rate when users transmit same constellations. Also, it has been found that when hybrid constellation is used, the combination of Star-QAM \& H-QAM gives the maximum rate. In the next part of the paper, we consider a scenario wherein an adversary is also present at the receiver side and is trying to decode the information. We model this scenario as Gaussian Multiple Access Wiretap Channel (G-MAW-WT). We then compute the achievable secrecy sum rate of two user G-MAC-WT with discrete inputs from different variants of QAM (viz, X-QAM, H-QAM and S-QAM).It has been found that at higher values of SNR, S-QAM gives better values of SSR than the other variants. For hybrid inputs of QAM, at lower values of SNR, combination of APSK and S-QAM gives better results and at higher values of SNR, combination of HQAM and APSK gives greater value of SSR.Comment: 11 Figures, two tables. Accepted for publication in IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing and Computer Vision (SPCV-2023