A comparative study of traditional and social media consumption patterns among youth

This research study examines the consumption trends of media by theyouth of Lahore. It investigates how both traditional and socialmedia are being used by the youth and how much time they give toeach media. A survey method was employed to collect informationfrom 250 respondents who were active users of media. The studyconcluded that both social and traditional media are consumed by theyouth, however, social media is most popular among the youth andvarious reasons are accounted for its popularity

Multiple Output Contactless Inductive Power Transfer System For Electric Vehicle Battery Charging Station

The proposed fast-charging system is capable of simultaneously charging the three different duty electric vehicles (small, medium, heavy) at the same time. The size and weight of the proposed system are reduced by operating at a higher switching frequency. The load (battery) dependency and system efficiency are eliminated and improved, respectively, by adopting the series-series compensation network in the proposed system. The CC-CV charging algorithm is adopted to charge the battery and PI controller, and the additional controlling loop is developed to remove the overshoot of the current during the CC to CV transition

Diagnostic accuracy of different cut-off values of adenosine deaminase levels in tuberculous pleural effusion

Objective: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of different cut-off values of pleural fluid adenosine deaminase levels as a diagnostic method for tuberculous pleural effusion. Method: The prospective study was conducted from 2014 to 2016 at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised pleural fluid samples of adult patients with and without tuberculosis which were tested for adenosine deaminase levels, and divided into tuberculosis group A and non-tuberculosis group B. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value were calculated using different cut-offs. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Of 155 patients, 46(29.7%) had tuberculosis; 30(65.2%) males and 16(34.8%) females. Those who did not have tuberculosis were 109(70.3%); 69(63.3%) males and 40(36.7%) females. The adenosine deaminase levels were elevated in group A compared to group B (p\u3c0.001). The cut-off of 30U/L showed the highest sensitivity (71.7%) and negative predictive value (87.4%), and a specificity of 82.6%. The cut-off of 50U/L showed the highest specificity (89.9%) with sensitivity 52.2%, and the cut-off of 40U/L showed the highest positive predictive value of 68.9% with sensitivity 67.4% and specificity 87.2%. Conclusion: Pleural fluid adenosine deaminase testing for diagnosing tuberculosis pleuritis revealed highest sensitivity and moderate specificity for cut-off value of 30U/

A New Structure of High Voltage Gain SEPIC Converter for Renewable Energy Applications

The paper proposes a new structure of SEPIC with high voltage gain for renewable energy applications. The proposed circuit is designed by amalgamating the conventional SEPIC with a boosting module. Therefore, the converter benefits from various advantages that the SEPIC converter has, such as continuous input current. Also, high voltage gain and input current continuity make the presented converter suitable for renewable energy sources. The modified SEPIC converter (MSC) provides higher voltage gain compared to the conventional SEPIC and recently addressed converters with a single-controlled switch. The analysis of voltage gain in continuous current mode (CCM) and discontinuous current mode (DCM) is analyzed by considering the non-idealities of the semiconductor devices and passive components. The selection of the semiconductor devices depending on the voltage-current rating is presented along with the designing of reactive components. The numerical simulation and experimental work are carried out, and the obtained results prove the feasibility of the MSC concept and the theoretical analysis.This work was supported by the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) through the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation) under Grant X-033-2-007.Scopu

A qualitative inquiry on smokers’ perceptions of smoking cessation during Covid-19

Background: This qualitative exploratory study explores smokers’ perspectives regarding smoking cessation processes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Purposive sampling was employed to conduct semi-structured interviews with cigarette smokers visiting cardiac and pulmonary clinics at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes from the participants’ responses.Results: Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis. These were smoking cessation facilitators, smoking cessation barriers, and COVID-19 impacts on smoking cessation. Awareness and education, threat of acquiring health problems, religious beliefs and family or support system behave as smoking cessation facilitators. While, role modeling, associating smoking to stress relief, and cigarette dependency were major barriers to smoking cessation or prevention. There were mixed perceptions regarding association of cigarette smoking and COVID-19. However, some of the participants shared feelings of fear for being vulnerable to COVID-19 and its complications.Conclusion: The findings of this study generated significant recommendations for providing effective and optimal smoking cessation interventions such as not missing the teachable moment for smoking cessation counselling, anti-smoking smoking efforts from religious perspectives, and strict implementation of anti-smoking regulations in the country

Enabling the Usability Heuristics of Agile Base Systems to Improve Quality of Local Software Industry

Many agile software development practices are promoted to improve the quality of software products. In recent years agile software development overlooked the usability features that effected system productivity.Usability is a main feature of interaction. Interaction is a way of a farming relationship between people and designed objects. An interactive model provides the way to band application together to achieve target user’s need. Usability gained attention of researchers and engineers because of its own importance. Agile software methods and usability engineering played a major role for producing better and reliable products, because both of them are concepts of methods as well as practices. The purpose of this research was to highlight the need of usability practices. The proposed model demonstrates that usability heuristics were much compatible with agile methodologies and would help to improve its productivity by reducing time and cost. Action research was applied for the development of framework proposed. The framework was evaluated using case study and further results were compared with existing related work

A rapid real-time polymerase chain reaction-based live virus microneutralization assay for detection of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in blood/serum

Background Individuals recovering from COVID-19 are known to have antibodies against the Spike and other structural proteins. Antibodies against Spike have been shown to display viral neutralization. However, not all antibodies against Spike have neutralizing ability although they may be cross-reactive. There is a need for easy-to-use SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing assays for the determination of virus-neutralizing activity in sera of individuals. Here we describe a PCR-based micro-neutralization assay that can be used to evaluate the viral neutralization titers of serum from SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Methods The SARS-CoV-2 strain used was isolated from a nasopharyngeal specimen of a COVID-19 case. The limiting dilution method was used to obtain a 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) of Vero cells. For the micro-neutralization assay, 19 serum samples, with positive IgG titers against Spike Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD) were tested. After 24 hours, infected cells were inspected for the presence of a cytopathic effect, lysed and RNA RT-PCR conducted for SARS-CoV-2. PCR target Ct values were used to calculate percent neutralization/inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. Results Out of 19 samples, 13 samples gave 100% neutralization at all dilutions, 1 sample showed neutralization at the first dilution, 4 samples showed neutralization at lower dilutions, while one sample did not demonstrate any neutralization. The RBD ODs and neutralization potential percentages were found to be positively correlated. Conclusion We describe a rapid RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 microneutralization assay for the detection of neutralizing antibodies. This can effectively be used to test the antiviral activity of serum antibodies for the investigation of both disease-driven and vaccine-induced responses.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A non-isolated symmetrical design of voltage lift switched-inductor boost converter with higher gain and low voltage stress across switches

The DC-DC converters have to be characterized by high gain, low voltage stress, small size, and high efficiency for most of the applications including fuel cell and photovoltaic integration to microgrid. However, conventional, quadratic, interleaved, three-level and cascaded boost converters are not able to satisfy the requirements. This letter proposes a new, non-isolated DC-DC converter with switched-capacitor and switched-inductors that can achieve high-gain, wide-ranging input-voltage, and low-voltage stress across the switches. This paper analyses the operating principle, the design of component parameters and comparisons with other high-gain converters. Experimental results for 22 V/400 V, 50 kHz prototype finally verifies the proposed converter with a voltage gain of 19. 2022 The Authors. IET Power Electronics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology.This publication is made possible by the NPRP grant # [13S-0108-200028] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The APC for the article is funded by the Qatar National Library, Doha, Qatar. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

A Review on Strong Impacts of Thermal Stress on Plants Physiology, Agricultural Yield; and Timely Adaptation in Plants to Heat Stress

In this review, we checked the harsh influence of high temperature or heat stress on plant metabolism and crop yield. Plants can bear a minimum range of temperature; temperature more than this optimum range comes in the term of heat stress. Climate changes increase the number and severity of heat waves that reduced the development of plants and resulted in the death of the entire plant. Heat stress is a major stressful environment that destroys plant growth, biochemical reactions, and the yield of crops across the world. High-temperature influences many physiological and chemical reactions in plants. HS is now a big deal for crop production and the essential goal of agriculture is to maintain a high yield of crops. A plant lives in the conditions of high temperature based on its capacity to receive the HT stimulus, generate and change the signal, and then initiate physiological and biochemical changes. The plants show physiological and biochemical responses to heat the stress, is an active area of research. To deal with HT, different molecular techniques are in progress. After thoroughly reviewed of the different discoveries on plants’ responses, adaptation, and forbearance to HT at the cellular, organelles, and entire plant levels, this article described several approaches that could be taken to increase thermo- forbearance in plants

Knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene management among women living in a low-income neighbourhood, Karachi, Pakistan

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the degree of awareness and practice of proper menstrual hygiene management among women living in low-income neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Bizerta Lines, Karachi between January and June 2019. All women of reproductive age were included in the study. Amenorrheic, menopausal, or women on birth control were excluded from the study. Degree of awareness and current practices pertaining to menstrual hygiene management were assessed through pro-forma. The study tool collected the participant’s knowledge, awareness, and misconceptions about menstruation. The factors affecting the quality of life during menstruation of women living in poor socio-economic conditions were also observed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.23) was used to analyze the collected data.Results: Of the 338 participants, 82.5% had no knowledge of menstruation prior to their first menstrual period. Only a minority of the women knew that the source of menstrual blood was the uterus while 41.4% of the women incorrectly claimed that the menstrual blood and urine were expelled from the same orifice. More than half of the participants used disposable sanitary napkins (55.5%). 65% of the participants changed the absorbent at least 1 to 3 times a day.Conclusions: Most of the participants used disposable sanitary napkins. However, the basic knowledge of female anatomy and physiology behind menstruation was poor among women