Evaluating the Nature of Distractive Driving Factors towards Road Traffic Accident

For past two decades many researchers have been working on quantitative as well as qualitative study of distractive driving using different approaches. Road traffic accidents have been identified as the main source of human casualties and cause of damages to the economy and society, as millions of humans is killed every year in these accidents around the world. National-level studies in Pakistan reveal that a higher percentage of males in the age group from twenty to forty years lose their lives in road traffic accidents when compared with that of females. Due to these factors, it is alarming for a society, which is highly dependent on males such as Pakistan, as these losses put numerous families into the financial crisis that lead to poverty. This study envisaged identifying whether moods and emotions play any role in road traffic accidents of young drivers. The study reviews have shown various gaps in our understanding. For this purpose, qualitative interviews of young drivers who are university going and have met some road accidents in recent years in Pakistan had been conducted. Data from the interviews had been transcribed for analysis while maintaining the anonymity of the participants for confidentiality. Analysis of the transcribed data reveals various factors that contribute to road traffic accidents where major causes are distractions, different weather conditions, sleep deprivation, unsafe lane changes, night-time driving, and these factors are triggered by the behavior when youthful drivers engage in driving for sensation seeking and self-esteem. We conclude that it is just through the appropriation of a systems approach that coordinated countermeasures can be proposed and actualized to relieve driver mistakes caused by distraction

Molecularly Tracing of Children Exposure Pathways to Environmental Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk

Organic pollutants (OPs) including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have showed neuro-damaging effects, but studies concerning the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk are limited. A case-control study with ASD (n=125) and healthy control (n=125) children was conducted on the different land use settings across Punjab, Pakistan. Serum concentrations of 26 OCPs, 29 PCB congeners, 11 PBDEs and 32 PAHs were measured. Serum PCB77 (AOR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.43, 2.18), PCB118 (AOR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.00), PCB128 (AOR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.91), PCB153 (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.55, 1.93) were significantly higher, but PCB187 (AOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.49) was significantly lower in the ASD cases when compared to the controls. Serum BDE99 (AOR = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.89) was significantly higher in the healthy controls than in the ASD cases. Among the analysed OCPs, p,p′-DDE (AOR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.85) was significantly elevated in the ASD cases with comparison in the controls. For PAHs, serum dibenzothiophene (AOR = 7.30; 95% CI: 1.49, 35.85) was significantly higher in the ASD, while perylene (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.06, 1.10) and fluorene (AOR = 0.21; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.72) were significantly higher in the controls. In addition, many of the serum pollutants were significantly associated with GSTT1, GSTM1 (null/present polymorphism) and presented the genotypic variation to respond xenobiotics in children. The children living in proximity to urban and industrial areas had a greater exposure to most of the studied pollutants when compared to the rural children, however children residing in rural areas showed higher exposure to OCPs. This comprehensive study documents an association between environmental exposure risk of several organic pollutants (OPs) from some contaminated environmental settings with ASD risk in children from Pakistan

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

CYCLE TIME OPTIMIZATION FOR IMPERFECT MANUFACTURING SETUP FOCUSING WORK-IN-PROCESS INVENTORY

Imperfect production processes have been focused during recent decades for optimum lot size calculation based on average cost minimization. However, cycle time optimization has been ignored relatively when processes are imperfect and inspection as a process is considered. Furthermore, the role of work-in-process inventory with respect to cycle time has always been signifcant. Hence, this paper integrates work-in-process inventory and imperfect production setup in order to optimize cycle time based on average cost minimization. A mathematical model is developed that incorporate rework operation, rejected products produced, and inspection processes in addition to work-in-process inventory. Cycle time is optimized based on total system cost minimization. Numerical example is also used to illustrate the impact of the developed model as compared to the previously developed model. The impact of work-in-process inventory and processes imperfection on optimum cycle time is highlighted by an example

Performance analysis of BER optimization in WDM systems using EDFA

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, which are widely used in telecommunication, have the advantages of huge bandwidth support and reliability. A performance analysis is presented of a WDM system using an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), with specific emphasis on bit error rate (BER) optimization. EDFA parameters, including doped fiber length and pump power, are optimized and performance evaluating parameters for different modulation schemes are observed. Simulation results provide optimized BER, noise figure, and gain flatness values. The WDM system is modeled from 1546 nm to 1558 nm bandwidth to obtain maximum gain uniformity, low noise figure, and low BER. This wavelength range is selected to investigate the 1550 nm wavelength commonly used in the telecommunication industry. Also, that we are using a WDM grid, so multiple channels can be accommodated in this range

FACTORS IDENTIFICATION FOR COAL BRIQUETTES MANUFACTURING USING STATISTICAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN APPROACH

Coal briquettes are mostly manufactured through conventional methods in developing countries including Pakistan. Shortages of energy resources across the globe have pushed companies to manufacture those products with least possible costs by using signifcant factors. Indeed, the role of statistical design of experiment in general and factorial design in particular is vital in identifying these signifcant factors in comparison to the conventional techniques. This paper provides a statistical approach towards manufacturing of coal briquettes in Northern Province of Pakistan. Binder composition, pressure, particle size, and coal type are analyzed for higher calorifc value and compressive strength simultaneously. Experiments are conducted in order to obtain the response of desired variables for the given three levels of each factor. Full factorial design approach with analysis of variance (ANOVA) is deployed to get the optimum values of the response variables under the given conditions

KULLBACK-LEIBER DIVERGENCE MEASURE IN CORRELATION OF GRAY-SCALE OBJECTS

Kullback-Leiber divergence measure is one of the commonly used distance measure that is used for computing the dissimilarity score between histograms. In this paper we show that it produces biased results when correlation is computed between gray scale images or sections of images using their histograms. The biased is explored and demonstrated through numerous experiments with different sizes of objects and different kind of movements between the pairs of images i.e., slow moving, fast moving, rotating bodies etc, in cluttered and less cluttered environments. The performance of the Kullback-Leiber divergence measure is compared with a pixel based spatial matching criterion

Waste reduction of polypropylene bag manufacturing process using Six Sigma DMAIC approach: A case study

In the current study, minimization of waste in terms of sack rejection at a polypropylene bag manufacturing process is achieved. The Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) approach is adopted which results in 50% waste reduction and a considerable cost saving. The sack rejection is brought to 1.20% from the previous average waste of 2.80% using DMAIC. It is found that this high rejection rate of 2.80% is due to the low fabric strength obtained at the weaving section, which in turn occurred due to the lower tape tenacity values obtained from the extrusion section. Hence, experimental design is conducted at the extrusion department and it is found that the two interacting factors are playing a significant contribution to the process variation and hence result in lower tape-tenacity (i.e., less than 6 g/denier). The two interacting factors included the “water bath temperature” and “line speed” of the extrusion process, with a p-value less than 5%. By further analysis, the optimal level of these significant factors is found. They are 300 m/min for “line speed” and 40⁰C for “water bath temperature. At these settings, the extrusion process produces optimal tape-tenacity results (i.e., at least 6 g/denier), which ultimately results in minimum waste in terms of sack rejection waste. The objective of the study includes finding the significant factors contributing to the process variation. Also controlling those factors to the optimal levels to achieve minimum wastage and considerable cost saving. The methodology and findings of the present study can be generalized to the polypropylene bag manufacturing plants and the process efficiency can be enhanced.</p

Experiments on Energy-Efficient Evaporative Cooling Systems for Poultry Farm Application in Multan (Pakistan)

Poultry are one of the most vulnerable species of its kind once the temperature-humidity nexus is explored. This is so because the broilers lack sweat glands as compared to humans and undergo panting process to mitigate their latent heat (moisture produced in the body) in the air. As a result, moisture production inside poultry house needs to be maintained to avoid any serious health and welfare complications. Several strategies such as compressor-based air-conditioning systems have been implemented worldwide to attenuate the heat stress in poultry, but these are not economical. Therefore, this study focuses on the development of low-cost and environmentally friendly improved evaporative cooling systems (DEC, IEC, MEC) from the viewpoint of heat stress in poultry houses. Thermodynamic analysis of these systems was carried out for the climatic conditions of Multan, Pakistan. The results appreciably controlled the environmental conditions which showed that for the months of April, May, and June, the decrease in temperature by direct evaporative cooling (DEC), indirect evaporative cooling (IEC), and Maisotsenko-Cycle evaporative cooling (MEC) systems is 7–10 °C, 5–6.5 °C, and 9.5–12 °C, respectively. In case of July, August, and September, the decrease in temperature by DEC, IEC, and MEC systems is 5.5–7 °C, 3.5–4.5 °C, and 7–7.5 °C, respectively. In addition, drop in temperature-humidity index (THI) values by DEC, IEC, and MEC is 3.5–9 °C, 3–7 °C, and 5.5–10 °C, respectively for all months. Optimum temperature and relative humidity conditions are determined for poultry birds and thereby, systems’ performance is thermodynamically evaluated for poultry farms from the viewpoint of THI, temperature-humidity-velocity index (THVI), and thermal exposure time (ET). From the analysis, it is concluded that MEC system performed relatively better than others due to its ability of dew-point cooling and achieved THI threshold limit with reasonable temperature and humidity indexes

In vitro micropropagation from immature embryos of the endemic and endangered Muscari muscarimi Medik.

An efficient in vitro bulblet production procedure from immature zygotic embryos of endemic and endangered Muscari muscarimi Medik. was described in the current study. Zygotic embryos were first isolated from immature seeds and cultured on different nutrient media compositions supplemented with various combinations of a-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), picloram, dicamba, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), and thidiazuron (TDZ). The best bulblet regeneration (59 bulblets per explant) was achieved in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 4 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L NAA after 1 year of culture initiation. Regenerated bulblets were then transferred into MS medium without plant growth regulators for rooting. Bulblets produced well-developed root systems and increased their size on this medium after 2 months. All rooted bulblets were successfully transplanted into a potting mixture and acclimatized to ambient conditions