ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME-A CONCISE CLINICAL REVIEW

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a challenging and deadly disease faced by critical care specialists. The literature concerning ARDS has been increasing for the last 12 years and there are now many options available to treat this disease. However, not all of these options work and some may even be harmful to patients. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a review of the new criteria for ARDS definition and to discuss the pros and cons of the various treatment options now available

The Identity and Cultural Dimensions of the Iconic Pedestrian Territory Using Comparative Territorialism Comparison Between Broadway at Times Square, NYC (USA), Las Ramblas De Barcelona (Spain) and İstiklal Caddesi, Istanbul (Turkey)

Although territory has mainly been used in a political context, this thesis revisits the term to show how it can be multifaceted in a broader geographical context, and used to understand cultural and urban issues. The key argument of the thesis is the conceptualisation of the pedestrian street as a pedestrian territory and the application of this concept to iconic pedestrian streets that are tourism and entertainment destinations with unique historic and locational value, revealing the drivers and powers used to transform such territories in the last few decades as traveling practices of globalisation, neoliberalism and tourism. Theoretically, relationality is used to investigate sociocultural patterns between the pedestrian territories of Las Ramblas, Times Square and İstiklal Avenue and methodologically, comparative territorialism is used to distinguish between human and place cultures and identities. Both theoretical and empirical findings were used to chronologically track the transformation of these streets to a territories using three key approaches; subjectively use people’ sensations, affects, perceptions, expressions and conceptions to define the relationship between the human and non-human through territoriality; thematically draw distinctions between human culture and place culture in creating territorial culture; and analytically reveal the reasons behind this territorial identity, this experiential uniqueness. Three themes emerged; an intensive commercialisation and uneven creation of and simultaneous loss of public space, an opening up of opportunities for tolerance and freedom of expression alongside purposeful law-breaking, and the possibilities and tensions arising from the global/local identity crisis. The research reveals how the money and resources that are poured into pedestrian territories to attract symbolic attention contributes to their iconic status, but risks provoking conflicts on different levels, such as political protests, social tensions, cultural clashes and even major incidents

Eradicating polio in Pakistan:An analysis of the challenges and solutions to this security and health issue

Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988 the global incidence of poliomyelitis has fallen by nearly 99 %. From a situation where wild type poliovirus was endemic in 125 countries across five continents, transmission is now limited to regions of just three countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. A sharp increase in Pakistan’s poliomyelitis cases in 2014 prompted the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee to declare the situation a ‘public health emergency of international concern’. Global polio eradication hinges on Pakistan’s ability to address the religious, political and socioeconomic barriers to immunisation; including discrepancies in vaccine coverage, a poor health infrastructure, and conflict in polio-endemic regions of the country. This analysis provides an overview of the GPEI, focusing on the historical and contemporary challenges facing Pakistan’s polio eradication programme and the impact of conflict and insecurity, and sheds light on strategies to combat vaccine hesitancy, engage local communities and build on recent progress towards polio eradication in Pakistan

Assessment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) awareness and practices in manufacturing sector of Pakistan

Globalization and mass communication have significantly influenced the socio-economic growth of countries and organizations are under immense pressure to develop their businesses in a more socially responsible way. Consequently, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a business development concept. CSR acknowledgement is low in south Asian countries both at state and corporate levels. Pakistan, being a developing country, is no exception and the manufacturing sector, which is the third largest contributing sector to the economy, is facing the challenge of corporate social compliance. This study explores the awareness level amongst employees in the manufacturing sector and also evaluates the practices of CSR activities in these organizations. The study is mainly focused on the textile and automobile sectors and shows greater CSR awareness in the automobile sector than the textile sector; however, there are many organizations where the concept of CSR is unknown. The findings of this research will help organizations in enhancing understanding of CSR amongst employees and will also allow manufacturing industries to improve their implementation against identified weak areas. Increased levels of social compliance will ultimately help organizations in promoting their businesses in the global market

Consumer Participative Players - New Business Models in the Electric Power Sector

Energipolitikken, integrering av fornybar energi, økende forbruk og teknologisk fremgang er viktige drivkrefter bak utviklingen som kraftsystemet gjennomgår i dag. Nye IKT-løsninger endrer muligheter og spillerommet. Aktører innen forbrukerfleksibilitet, prosumenttjenester og off-grid vokser frem som følge av denne utviklingen. Felles for disse feltene er at forbrukere involverer seg i større grad i sin kraftsituasjon. For at aktører skal kunne skape verdi på lengre sikt, er det nødvendig at de kan tilpasse seg utfordringer og muligheter fremtiden bringer med seg. Utviklingen som forekommer hos disse aktørene kan ha betydning for hele kraftsystemet. Dette er dermed av interesse for Statnett, som er Norges systemansvarlig i kraftsystemet. Mange tidligere studier har fokusert på endringer i kraftmarkedene for å utløse potensialet hos aktører i fremtiden. Denne masteroppgaven tar for seg hvordan aktører innen forbrukerfleksibilitet, prosumenttjenester og off-grid kan tilpasse sine forretningsmodeller i tråd med fremtidens utfordringer og muligheter, forutsatt at kraftmarkedene forblir uendret. Basert på litteratur og tilgjengelig informasjon om aktørene, er det utført en kvalitativ analyse av forretningsmodellene deres gjennom analyseverktøyet Business Model Canvas. To mulige scenarier for fremtidens kraftsystem presenteres. Det ene scenariet beskriver et tilfelle med store begrensninger i kraftnettet, mens det andre beskriver et tilfelle der prisen på lagringsmuligheter har falt og de har blitt mer effektive. Videre blir aktørenes tilpasningsmuligheter til disse scenariene diskutert. Studien av forretningsmodellene viser først og fremst at alle aktørene har muligheter for verdiskapning i begge scenariene i det eksisterende kraftmarkedet. Samarbeid mellom aktører for forbrukerfleksibilitet og prosumenter vil bidra med å balansere forbruk og produksjon fra uregulerbare produksjonskilder på en effektiv måte. Samtidig vil samarbeidet bidra med å avlaste kraftnettet i perioder med begrensninger. Teknologiutviklingen og utfordringer med å dekke økende forbruk kan føre til at flere kobler seg fra kraftnettet. Det kan i noen tilfeller være av interesse for staten å støtte aktørene med midler for dette. For å kunne danne seg et bilde av hvilke implikasjoner som vil forekomme med de aktuelle utfordringene og mulighetene i fremtiden, burde mer enn kvalitative analyser bli tatt i betraktning. En studie i form av kvantitative analyser vil være et godt supplement til denne studien.Emission targets, integration of renewable energy, growing consumption and technological progress are key forces behind the changes occurring in the power system today. New ICT solutions are changing the opportunities. New players within demand response, prosumer services and off-grid are emerging as a result of these changes. Consumers greater extent of involvement in their power supply is common for their services. If these players want to be able to create value in the long term, it is necessary that they can adapt to the challenges and opportunities in the future. Changes that occur for these players could be of importance to the entire power system. This is therefore of interest to Statnett SF, Norway's transmission system operator. Many previous studies have focused on changes in energy markets to release the potential of players in the future. This thesis examines how players within demand response, prosumer services and off-grid can adapt their business models alongside future challenges and opportunities, assuming the electricity markets are unchanged. Based on literature and information available about the players, a qualitative analysis has been carried out of their business models through the Business Model Canvas. Two scenarios for the future are presented. The first scenario describes a case with major capacity constraints, while the other scenario describes a case where the price of energy storage has fallen and they have become more efficient. The players' adaptability to these scenarios are then discussed. The study of business models primarily shows that all players have opportunities to create value in both scenarios in the existing electricity market. Partnership between players of demand response and prosumer services will help balance consumption and production from intermittent production sources in an efficient manner. This partnership could help furthermore relieve the stress on the power grid in case of capacity constraints. Progress in technology and challenges in covering increasing consumption may lead people to go off the grid. It may in some cases be of interest for the state to support players with funds. To form a perspective of what implications the actual challenges and opportunities will bring, more than qualitative analysis should be taken into account. A study in the form of quantitative analysis will be a good supplement to this study.M-M

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A MULTICARRIER MIMO SYSTEM BASED ON DFT-PRECODING AND SUBCARRIER MAPPING

The ever-increasing end user demands are instigating the development of innovative methods targeting not only data rate enhancement but additionally better service quality in each subsequent wireless communication standard. This quest to achieve higher data rates has compelled the next generation communication technologies to use multicarrier systems e.g. orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), while also relying on the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. This paper is focused on implementing a MIMO-OFDM system and on using various techniques to optimize it in terms of the bit-error rate performance. The test case considered is a system implementation constituting the enabling technologies for 4G and beyond communication systems. The bit-error rate optimizations considered are based on preceding the OFDM modulation step by Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) while also considering various subcarrier mapping schemes. MATLAB-based simulation of a 2 × 2 MIMO-OFDM system exhibits a maximum of 2 to 5 orders of magnitude reduction in bit-error rate due to DFT-precoding and subcarrier mapping respectively at high signal-to-noise ratio values in various environments. A 2-3dBs reduction in peak-to-average power ratio due to DFT-precoding in different environments is also exhibited in the various simulations