Impact of Financial Literacy on Investment Decisions: The Mediating Effect of Big-Five Personality Traits Model

The study examines the impact of financial literacy on investment decisions with the mediating effect of personality traits based on the big-five model. A total of 235 responses from Karachi were collected using the convenience sampling technique. The five-point Likert scale questionnaire was used alongside the Smart-PLS software for data analysis. The results suggest that financial literacy did not have a significant effect on investment decisions through agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion. However, financial literacy has a significant negative impact on investment decisions through openness toexperience and a significant positive impact through neuroticism. The study helps improve our understanding of investor behavior by considering the mediating role of big five personality traits on the relationship between financial literacy and investment decisions. It is recommended that financial institutions should provide investment counseling services to prospective investors using the consumer profile technique.Keywords: Financial literacy, big-five model, investment decisions, PLS-SEM, Pakistan

The Experimental Study On the Effectiveness of Social Media Ad Campaign: Like, Comment, Share

The popularity of social media outlets has forced us to inquire about marketing effectiveness in any area of the industry. Social media has rapidly risen in popularity as a new advertising platform that allows users to connect with one another and engage with brands.  This research has attempted to explore the attitude of people over the advertisements in what formats most people prefer to like, comment or share. We focus top trended social media sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to demonstrate the consumer engagement on advertisements placed on these sites. This research has identified the factors which influence the users to keep an eye out on advertisements that make them want to continue watching it as they spend their daily time on these social media websites and apps. To determine what makes Ads and online marketing campaigns successful we used variables such as Vividness, Content of Posts, Position of Posts, Scheduling and Call to Action.  It was conducted on 300 respondents. We used the questionnaire to collect the data and used a semantic differential scale. We questioned about the ads to respondents which were based on our variables. Results showed that our research is decisive but the variable call to action has an insignificant effect and other variables such as vividness, the position of post, the content of the post, schedule have a significant relation with customer engagement

Knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on organ donation among a selected adult population of Pakistan

Background: To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding organ donation in a selected adult population in Pakistan. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to generate a sample of 440, 408 interviews were successfully completed and used for analysis. Data collection was carried out via a face to face interview based on a pre-tested questionnaire in selected public areas of Karachi, Pakistan. Data was analyzed using SPSS v. 15 and associations were tested using the Pearson\u27s Chi square test. Multiple logistic regression was used to find independent predictors of knowledge status and motivation of organ donation. Results: Knowledge about organ donation was significantly associated with education (p = 0.000) and socioeconomic status (p = 0.038). 70/198 (35.3%) people expressed a high motivation to donate. Allowance of organ donation in religion was significantly associated with the motivation to donate (p = 0.000). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that higher level of education and higher socioeconomic status were significant (p \u3c 0.05) independent predictors of knowledge status of organ donation. For motivation, multiple logistic regression revealed that higher socioeconomic status, adequate knowledge score and belief that organ donation is allowed in religion were significant (p \u3c 0.05) independent predictors. Television emerged as the major source of information. Only 3.5% had themselves donated an organ, with only one person being an actual kidney donor. Conclusion: Better knowledge may ultimately translate into the act of donation. Effective measures should be taken to educate people with relevant information with the involvement of media, doctors and religious scholars

Designing of Low Cost Arduino Based Ultrasonic SONAR System

Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging) was covertly created by few countries during the reign of World War II. SONAR can be used to detect some moving object. It helps in the measurement of distance and angle from the observer. It works on the principle of Doppler shift. The designing of cheaper SONAR system for security purpose is the requirement of an industry. In this research Paper, the designing and implementation of Arduino based SONAR system using ultrasonic sensor are presented. The device is able to detect the object, calculate its distance (up to 30cm) and can determine the elevation angle. It provides a cheaper solution for security purposes

Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization Based Cascade Interval Type 2 Fuzzy PD Controller for Rotary Inverted Pendulum System

This paper presents the design of an optimized Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Proportional Derivative Controller (IT2F-PDC) in cascade form for Rotary Inverted Pendulum (RIP) system. The parameters of the IT2F-PDC are optimised by using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The goal is to balance the pendulum in upright unstable equilibrium position. The IT2F-PDC which is the extended version of conventional type 1 fuzzy logic controller, improves the control strategy by using the advantage of its footprint of uncertainty for the fuzzy membership function. The performance characteristics considered for the controller are steady state error, settling time, rise time, maximum overshoot, and control energy. Experimental and simulation results indicated that the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed GA- and PSO-based controllers on the RIP with respect to load disturbances, parameter variation, and noise effects have been improved over state-of-the-art method. However, the comparative results for simulation and experiment based on cascade IT2F-PDC indicate that GA-based IT2F-PDC has lower steady state error while PSO-based IT2F-PDC has lower overshoot, settling time, and control energy, but both have almost the same rise time. The proposed control strategy can be regarded as a promising strategy for controlling different unstable and nonlinear systems

A Systemic Review of Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV) And its Emergence in Pakistan

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an infectious disease caused by the virus lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). The family of LSDV is Poxiviridae and the genus Capripoxvirus (CaPV). The GTPV (goat pox virus) and SPPV (sheep pox virus) also belong to the same genus. LSDV causes disease in livestock animals except for dogs. LSDV causes vast economic losses in the country in the livestock industry and dairy industries. LSDV also affects the industries belonging to these industries like the leather industry. The sequence of 21 strains of LSDV were taken from NCBI database and their fasta files were retrieved. After that, phylogenetic analysis was performed using these sequences. This study provides an overall overview of the lumpy skin disease (LSD) its genome, causative agent, transmission, epidemic, molecular characterization, phylogenetic analysis, control, and treatment of the LSDV. We also give a short review of the emergence of LSD in Pakistan

The Experimental Study On the Effectiveness of Social Media Ad Campaign: Like, Comment, Share

The popularity of social media outlets has forced us to inquire about marketing effectiveness in any area of the industry. Social media has rapidly risen in popularity as a new advertising platform that allows users to connect with one another and engage with brands.  This research has attempted to explore the attitude of people over the advertisements in what formats most people prefer to like, comment or share. We focus top trended social media sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to demonstrate the consumer engagement on advertisements placed on these sites. This research has identified the factors which influence the users to keep an eye out on advertisements that make them want to continue watching it as they spend their daily time on these social media websites and apps. To determine what makes Ads and online marketing campaigns successful we used variables such as Vividness, Content of Posts, Position of Posts, Scheduling and Call to Action.  It was conducted on 300 respondents. We used the questionnaire to collect the data and used a semantic differential scale. We questioned about the ads to respondents which were based on our variables. Results showed that our research is decisive but the variable call to action has an insignificant effect and other variables such as vividness, the position of post, the content of the post, schedule have a significant relation with customer engagement

Confronting challenges: an inductive thematic analysis of barriers and solutions to undergraduate medical research in Pakistan

Objectives: To qualitatively analyse the barriers in pursuing undergraduate research, and to propose solutions for the problems identified. Method: The qualitative study was conducted from May to October 2021 after approval from the institutional ethics review board of the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, and comprised undergraduate students of either gender at various public and private medical universities across Pakistan having some level of research experience and good communication skills. Data triangulation was employed to collect qualitative data through open-ended survey, face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions. Using the information of one method to inform the rest, linked trajectories were established that allowed validation of information at each level. Data was coded manually by two researchers independently. Data was subjected to inductive thematic analysis. Results: Of the 33 subjects, 17(51.5%) were males, 17(51.5%) were from private medical colleges, 18(54.5%) were from Karachi, and 11(33.3%) were in the final year of medical school. Overall, 13(39.4%) students completed the open-ended survey, 6(18.2%) completed face-to-face interviews, and 14(42.4%) participated in focus group discussions. Thematic anlsysis showed that students were interested in research to improve their career prospects, but not all were passionate about it. Students were not satisfied with the quality of research being conducted Pakistan in the country. Dearth of motivated faculty, unavailability of well-maintained and digitalised data registries, ineffective research methodology teaching and lack of access to medical journals and research software were the major barriers in undergraduate research. Time constraint was a projecting problem which challenged the students. Frequent research workshops and conferences, strong networking, reorienting curriculum to provide early exposure to research and student-led initiatives were suggested to improve undergraduate research in Pakistan. Conclusion: Students’ lack of initiative coupled with administrative and faculty-related issues pose a serious threat to the future of evidence-based medicine. Proposed solutions offer a ray of hope to the future of undergraduate research in Pakistan. Key Words: Undergraduate medical education, Qualitative research, Focus groups, Interview, Pakistan