DECLINING US STATUS AS A SUPERPOWER: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WORLD ORDER

Since 1945, the US has been relishing the status of a superpower by following its interests through a no of means, including international order, global and regional security arrangements, and international organizations. Recently, emerging global powers have challenged the existing international order, whereas the US is on a declining trajectory. The US hegemonic obligations to use its preponderant power in global issues with the intent to cast events in its favour have brought an inevitable overstretch beyond its capacity. Furthermore. a visible shift in power centres, the backlash of political decisions, and economic recession are other factors that need to be studied. This paper, therefore, explores the highly debated and contested reasons for the US decline. While employing deductive reasoning through qualitative analysis, it evaluates the efficacy of existing international order, emerging multilateralism, and difficulties in obviating the attendant risks to US security and prosperity. Implications of a declining superpower and suggested course of action for Pakistan have also been discussed in this paper.   Bibliography Entry  Abbas, Muhammad, and Hassan Jalil Shah. 2021. “Declining US Status as a Superpower: Implications for the World Order.” Magalla Papers 25 (1): 131-142

The prevalence of bipolar spectrum disorder in medical students of Pakistan

Background: Bipolar affective disorder is cyclic swinging of mood between mania or hypo-mania and depression. Bipolar disorder is the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide and has a lifetime prevalence of about 1 to 3% in the general population. Despite a growing body of knowledge on bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD), relatively little is known about the clinical characteristics of BSD in medical students. This study evaluates the prevalence and severity of BSD in medical students in relation to certain socio-demographic factors like age, sex and class of education.Methods: A questionnaire based study was done on 298 medical students of Nishtar Medical University, Multan and Shaikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan chosen on basis of random sampling to test the prevalence of bipolar spectrum disorders using Mood Disorder questionnaire (MDQ). Out of these students 161 were males and 137 were females. Students were interviewed to obtain information about age, sex and academic year of education.Results: According to mood disorder questionnaire scoring, of the total 298 students 80 (26.84%) screened positive for bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD). Among 80 students who screened positive for BSD 43 (53.75%) are males while 37 (46.25%) are females. Class-wise distribution of BSD is as follows: Out of 80 students screened positive 15 (18.75%) are from 2nd year, 22 (27.5%) from 3rd year and 43 (53.75) from 4th year. Age-wise distribution of BSD is as following: Students of age 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 years suffering from BSD were 5 (6.25%), 17 (21.25%), 23(28.75),22 (27.5%) and 13 (16.25%) respectively.Conclusions: In our study, the estimated rate of prevalence for bipolar spectrum disorder among medical students of Pakistan is 26.84%. There was no significant difference in prevalence on the basis of gender. Prevalence was increasing with both age and class wise distribution

Evaluation of Steel Industrial Slag as Partial Replacement of Cement in Concrete

Cement is the most important ingredient in concrete, which acts as a binding material. It is evaluated that cement is the second largest industrial source of CO2 on earth. This demands a partial or full replacement of cement by an environment-friendly material. In this research industrial waste slag from a local Steel Mill, namely Mangla Metals was selected as possible replacement of cement. Some preliminary standard tests conducted on the slag showed its strong chances to be used as pozzolana. Slag used for this study was reduced to the particle size passing through ASTM standard sieve #100. Concrete specimens containing 10% and 20% replacement of cement by slag were prepared. The mechanical properties like compressive, split cylinder tensile and flexure strength were determined as per standard ASTM methods. Tests were conducted at 3, 7 and 28 days of concrete age. Results show a decrease of 14% in compressive strength, 7.5% in tensile strength and 10.5% in flexure strength for 10% replacement vis-à-vis control specimens at 28 days. For 20% replacement, the decrease in compressive, tensile and flexure strength are 25.5%, 29%, 31% respectively. Additionally, ASTM standard strength activity index test with finer slag particles passing through ASTM sieve #200 provided compressive strength more than that of control specimen. Based on the results, it is concluded that the industrial slag has the potential to partially replace the cement if slag is ground to the particles, passing through ASTM sieve #200. This could lead to a huge reduction of cement quantity in concrete and the environmental burden due to deposition of waste slag in landfills

Pavement condition survey in road along Kampung Selancar Pagoh

Road maintenance involves in remedying defects such as potholes, patch, edge defects and etc. that occurs in the carriageway. The corrective maintenance and providing treatments is carried out from time to time to slow the rate of deterioration (preventative maintenance). Road maintenance is essential to preserve the road in its originally constructed condition, protect adjacent resources and user safety and provide, and convenient travel along the route. Before doing any road maintenance, the defects should be determined first. The place chosen in Kampung Selancar, Pagoh which is the defects determination are carried out along 1km carriageway..

Study on the impact of tidal effects on water quality modelling of Juru River, Malaysia.

This study on water quality modelling in Sungai Juru, Penang was undertaken as one of the most polluted rivers in Malaysia and is literally known as the 'dying river'. The research objectives are to assess the parameters that govern the amount of pollutants in the river and to identify appropriate measures to improve the river water quality. The main pollution sources are pig waste, discharge from agro-based industries, dumping of municipal and industrial waste. Due to its relatively flat bed gradient, Sungai Juru experienced tidal effect up to a distance of 13 km from the estuary. As a result, pollutants in the river are hardly discharged into the sea. This research on Dissolved Oxygen (DO) parameter has been carried out to develop a rehabilitation solution for Sungai Juru by using the numerical hydrodynamic modeling technique simulated by I-D Infoworks R.S software. The modeling involved two phases namely, development of a flow model followed by a water quality model. After the model has been successfully calibrated, the pollutant behaviour under various scenarios can be investigated. The hydraulic study of Sungai Juru revealed that the velocity at STJ02 ranging from -0.1 to +0.12 m sec-1 during high and low tide, respectively. Based on this velocity, traveling time from S TJ02 (Sungai Juru) to STJ01 (Sungai Rambai) (3.5 km) is approximately between 9-10 h. The duration provides ample time for photosynthesis to occur resulting high DO ranging from 4-10 mg at STJ01. The information is useful to determine pollution characteristics in Sungai Juru particularly related to tidal impacts. It is hoped that the modeling technique developed can be applied in other rivers in Malaysia which are subjected to tidal influences

Impact of total activity variation in 18F-FDG injected with the overall PET image quality in oncology patients

The preliminary study aims to investigate whether variation on dose activity 18F -FDG will influence the overall PET image quality in oncology patients. This is a retrospective analysis of 10 oncology patients who were injected with an average of 337.40 ± 38.43 MBq of 18F -FDG for PET/CT whole body examination. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on total activity of 18F -FDG injected: less than 333 MBq (302.96±12.65 MBq) (group 1) and more than 333 MBq (371.85±14.00 MBq) (group 2). Multiple Image Projection (MIP) PET images were scored visually by two qualified nuclear radiologists using a two-point scoring scale (poor and excellent). The agreement between radiologists was analysed using kappa measure of agreement (K). The prediction on poor-to-excellent PET image by the total activity of 18F-FDG injected was analysed using a Chi-squared test (x 2). A p value of 0.05). Therefore, there is no strong evidence suggest that the dose injected will influence the PET image quality. Hence, it is recommended to use low-dosed of 18F -FDG technique as it also potentially yields a comparable PET image and reduces radiation burden to the patients

Life cycle assessment analyzing with gabi software for food waste management using windrow and hybrid composting technologies

The use of composting technologies to treat food waste (FW) now represents an environmentally friendly form of waste treatment, in which organic matter can decompose biologically. However, the damaging emissions of composting technologies for FW treatment vary, thus a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is often used to certify the quality of the decision-making process. This study quantifies and compares the environmental impact of two scenarios in Malaysia: windrow and hybrid composting (windrow integrated with a landfill) technologies. The scenario modeling was performed via GaBi v6.0 software using 1 ton of pre-treated FW as a functional unit, with the analysis based on the ReCiPe (H) v1.07 characterization method. The midpoint results revealed that windrow composting technology has a lower environmental impact and is an environmentally friendly option compared to hybrid technology. Treating FW in a windrow scenario has relatively low power requirements for operation with the added advantageous properties of compost production, and a substantial reduction in the distances transferred by the road. The hybrid scenario had the largest negative environmental impact in all categories, such as climate change (1.45E+03 kg CO2 eq), and ozone depletion (4.39E-09kg CFC-11 eq) because of the energy-intensive waste collection and treatment activities it needs, and with no landfill gas filtration. Finally, based on the single score synthesis, windrow is considered as an appropriate treatment with the avoidance of Resource Depletion (6.61E+02 Pt). This study provides valuable insights for policy-making groups to help predict the environmentally preferred choice of FW management technologies in a particular area, resulting in improved environmental management sustainability

Synthesis of fluorine-18-labelled choline (18F-fluorocholine): towards an early and accurate management of prostate cancer in Malaysia

Prostate cancer is ranked fourth among the most prevalent cancers in men in Malaysia. It is anticipated that the number of prostate cancer sufferers’ will increase in future. With the emergence of reputable imaging tracers such as fluorine-18-labelled choline (18F-fluorocholine) and gallium-68 labelled prostate specific membrane antigen (68Ga-PSMA) for the diagnosis of prostate cancer in positron emission tomography / computed tomography (PET/CT) modality, the challenges in the staging and detection accuracy would promise a better management strategy for patients. This article presents the synthesis of 18F-fluorocholine and a convenient method for quality control analysis of 18F-fluorocholine. In addition, the aim of this research work is to assist local Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) radiopharmaceutical laboratories that routinely produce 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), to start producing 18F-fluorocholine as a tracer for prostate cancer imaging

A miniaturized series fed tri-slot coplanar Vivaldi antenna for RADAR application with reduced ground plane effect

In this article, a printed series fed tri-slot coplanar Vivaldi antenna is studied and investigated for RADAR application. The antenna consists of three exponentially tapered slots excited by a single microstrip line. The three slots are series fed simultaneously with a radial stub on the microstrip feed line for impedance matching. The proposed antenna covers a frequency of 7.8-11.8 GHz at -10 dB impedance bandwidth. The antenna gain varies from 7.5 dB at the lowest operating frequency and increases to around 9.5 dB at the center frequency of 10 GHz. A key versatility of the proposed design is the ability to modify the ground plane size without affecting the antenna impedance and gain. This makes the antenna suitable to incorporate RADAR transceiver components without modifying the existing antenna design. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured results show good agreement with simulated results

Kinetic exploration of CO2 methanation over nickel loaded on fibrous mesoporous silica nanoparticles (CHE-SM)

A novel series of nickel (Ni) loaded on Fibrous Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (CHE-SM) support with varying Ni contents (x=1–30 wt%) were synthesized, denoted as xNi/CHE-SM and then investigated for carbon dioxide (CO2) methanation. The catalysts underwent comprehensive characterization using XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, FESEM, FTIR-KBr, H2-TPR, and CO2-TPD techniques. The XRD and FESEM analyses confirmed the structural integrity of CHE-SM, irrespective of the Ni loading. However, the size of the nanocrystalline NiO particles appeared to be influenced by the Ni loading. Notably, 20Ni/CHE-SM exhibited the highest CO2 conversion of 92% at 350 °C, demonstrating its potential for low-temperature activation. H2-TPR and CO2-TPD results revealed favorable NiO reduction at lower temperatures, indicating medium-strength basicity that facilitated efficient CO2 and H2 adsorption and activation. Consequently, 20Ni/CHE-SM exhibited superior catalytic performance compared to other catalysts, with lower activation energy (61.5 kJ/mol). Kinetic studies focusing on 20Ni/CHE-SM indicated a molecular adsorption mechanism of CO2 and H2 on a single site after evaluation using four Langmuir-Hinshelwood models. This result was attributed to the high amount of medium strength basicity possessed by the 20Ni/CHE-SM catalyst which provided an abundance of adsorption sites, resulting in greater fractional coverage of reactants and enhancing the CH4 formation rate