Servitization in Manufacturing: A case of Pakistani Firms

Master's thesis Business Administration BE501 - University of Agder 2016This study revolves around manufacturing firms which opted to go for servitization while how successful they were in understanding the meaning of servitization in order to make their customers more satisfied. The study also examined the other important side as how important role a customer play in servitization process. Firms had some difficulties in becoming service oriented so this aspect was also covered. Qualitative research method is applied and data was collected through skype interviews which was later analysed to get results. Result depicts more customers are gained by incorporating service with products. It showed that the greater the customer involvement leads to ultimate more profits. Customer’s involvement played vital role in successful servitization on the other hand firms which tried to restrict the customers involvement ended up in difficult servitization process. Social media can also be an important bridge now between customers and product designers to boost product design process and adding valuable value to product. The result reveals that this study will provide an insight for firms which wants to servitize, way to do it efficiently and some common misunderstanding while moving from manufacturing to servitization

An Empirical Evidence of Human Capital Constraint towards Economic Growth

Human capital plays a crucial role in enhancing sustainable economic growth. The aim of this study is to investigate the long run linkage between economic growth and human capital and explore the problems facing by education and health sectors in Pakistan, how to remove these problems in order to increase Human Capital, eminence of Human Capital and Economic Growth also. For this purpose, this study has been taken annual time series data from 1977 to 2014 and employed co-integration technique to find out the results. This study has been used the data from WDI, SBP, and Economic Survey of Pakistan (various issues). The results of this study revealed strong positive and significant long run association between human capital and economic growth in Pakistan. It is also found by the study that current status of health and education sectors in Pakistan is very poor. This study may be useful for health and educational policy making and human capital formation to boost up economic growth in Pakistan. Keywords: Human capital, Economic Growth, Johansen Co-integration, Skilled Worker

Improved Characterisation of Hypertension in Atrial Fibrillation: Role of Central Blood Pressure and Aortic Stiffness Assessment

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia; however its underlying mechanism is yet to be fully characterised. Emerging data have elucidated the strong correlation of the arrhythmia with uncontrolled cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Amongst these, hypertension is the most common population attributable risk associated with AF. However, treatment goals for blood pressure in AF remains undefined. The brachial blood pressure is recognised as an important predictor of future cardiovascular events. However, as compared to brachial, central blood pressure is more strongly related to CV outcomes. Aortic stiffness as a surrogate for persistently high central blood pressure, is of independent value in predicting AF outcomes. Further, certain anti-hypertensives can have a differential impact on brachial and central blood pressure. This may have important clinical implications in ongoing management of hypertension. However, further studies are required to demonstrate independent value of targeting central blood pressure to improve CV endpoints. This thesis evaluates the association of hypertension and aortic stiffness as a surrogate for central blood pressure with AF. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive review of the literature linking hypertension (HTN) and AF. Additionally, a clinical assessment tool is proposed to better characterise atrial remodelling and end organ injury due to HTN. Pre-HTN is not benign and associated with increased risk of developing AF. Chapter-2 summarises the association of pre- HTN and new-onset AF by presenting the systematic review and meta-analysis of current published literature. Multiple studies have also reported the independent value of aortic stiffness in predicting CV and mortality outcomes. However, its association with new-onset AF is evolving. In Chapter 3, we present the systematic review and meta-analysis of all the published prospective trials associating increased aortic stiffness with AF, CV and all-cause mortality. Despite its adjunctive value, aortic stiffness assessment is sparingly used in clinical CV risk profiling. Chapter 4 summarises and critically appraises the methodology adapted by commercially available devices to evaluate central blood pressure indices and aortic stiffness to improve clinical integration of these tools in ongoing CV risk factor management in AF. However, none of these devices has been validated to assess central BP and aortic stiffness during AF. In Chapter 5, we present our findings of IMPULSE AF validation study (Trial Id: ACTRN12616001225404). It is the first study to evaluate non-invasive central blood pressure and aortic stiffness assessment during AF. We validated non-invasive CBP indices assessment by SphygmoCor against invasive aortic root pressure and reported reliable assessment of CBP indices and aortic stiffness during rate-controlled AF. Exaggerated BP response to exercise can unmask pre- HTN and has been associated with adverse CV outcomes. Chapter 6 characterises the difference of central and peripheral blood pressure indices response to exercise in our AF cohort. As compared to controls, AF patients were reported to have normal resting central BP indices. However, during exercise impaired conduit arterial compliance was found in AF patients. This may reflect a residual aortic stiffness associating AF with persistently high central BP. This thesis recognises the additional value of non-invasive central BP indices and aortic stiffness assessment to better characterise HTN and its associated end organ injury in AF. Our studies have expanded the scope of central pressure wave and velocity assessment in AF and during exercise. However, further work is needed to establish central blood pressure and aortic stiffness as a treatment target to prevent HTN induced CV events.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Medical School, 202

Development of Biofilms for Antimicrobial Resistance

Biofilms are a unit referred to as assemblage of microbial cells growing as surface-attached microbial communities within the natural surroundings. Their genetic and physiological aspects are widely studied. Biofilm development involves the assembly of extracellular compound substances that forms the most bailiwick network. Quorum sensing is one more crucial development specifically connected with biofilm formation in several microorganism species. In ecological purpose, the biofilm offers protection against unfavorable conditions and provides a platform for the genetic transfer. A biofilm-forming bacterium area unit is medically necessary, as they are resistant to several antibiotics and might spread resistant genes. This chapter provides the summary of microorganism biofilm formation and its significance in ecology

Implementation of a Double Continuous Flow Intersection in Riyadh

The continuous growth of population in the capital, coupled with increased auto ownership and dependence has worsened traffic conditions on Riyadh's road network. Conventional methods to address this increased demand could be costly and insufficient. There has been greater interest in using alternative measures to improve the performance and safety characteristics on main corridors, particularly those that arrive at signalized intersections. Heavy left turning traffic at these intersections is one of the main causes for delays. Previous research has investigated several types of alternative designs termed "unconventional" arterial intersection designs that could minimize the effect of left turning traffic. This paper provides decision makers with an objective assessment on the efficiency of implementing an unconventional intersection design, the Double Continuous Flow Intersection (DCFI) configuration, to improve the operational and safety characteristics of an existing major signalized arterial intersection in Saudi Arabia. In this study, the Kingdom Hospital Intersection in Riyadh was selected, as it is one of the most congested intersections in Riyadh. Using the collected traffic data, the micro-simulation program VISSIM was used to analyze and compare the efficiency of both configurations. When compared to the existing conventional signalized intersection design, it was found that the proposed Double Continuous Flow Intersection (DCFI) unconventional intersection design decreased the average delay per vehicle by 99 seconds. The proposed Double Continuous Flow Intersection configuration also improved the Level of Service at the intersection from level F (152 sec/veh average delay) to level D (53 sec/veh average delay)

A modified droop controller for parallel operation of single-phase inverters in Islanded microgrid

Conventional droop control is a basic control strategy for power sharing in islanded microgrid applications. This strategy has several limitations, such as low transient response, frequency and voltage deviations. This paper presents a modified droop control method for the proper operation of parallel-connected inverters in islanded microgrid. The proposed method is able to improve transient response and achieved higher output power without voltage and frequency deviations by introducing a power derivative term into a conventional droop method. A new method of average power computation is proposed which significantly reduces the delay encountered in conventional approaches and provides the power signal without DC components. The simulation was developed in MATLAB/Simulink to verify the effectiveness of the modified droop control scheme. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the modified droop control strategy improves the performance of parallel-connected power electronic inverters in an islanded microgrid as compared to conventional droop control strategy

Graph-enabled Intelligent Vehicular Network data processing

Intelligent vehicular network (IVN) is the underlying support for the connected vehicles and smart city, but there are several challenges for IVN data processing due to the dynamic structure of the vehicular network. Graph processing, as one of the essential machine learning and big data processing paradigm, which provide a set of big data processing scheme, is well-designed to processing the connected data. In this paper, we discussed the research challenges of IVN data processing and motivated us to address these challenges by using graph processing technologies. We explored the characteristics of the widely used graph algorithms and graph processing frameworks on GPU. Furthermore, we proposed several graph-based optimization technologies for IVN data processing. The experimental results show the graph processing technologies on GPU can archive excellent performance on IVN data

Effects on ALT normalization in the first month of treatment by Sofosbuvir/Ribavirin therapy versus Sofosbuvir/Daclatasvir therapy in HCV infected individuals

Objective: To evaluate the effects on ALT normalization in first month by SOFOS/RIB therapy versus SOFOS/DAC therapy in HCV infected individuals in Pakistan Study Design: Cross sectional comparative study Material and Methods: In a cross sectional analysis in a total of 200 Hepatitis c infected patients, sex, H/O diabetes mellitus, prior interferon therapy, decrease in hemoglobin >2 gm/dl in 1st month and rise in serum bilirubin in 1st month were the qualitative variables and the quantitative variables were age, weight, baseline hemoglobin, baseline bilirubin at week 4 of treatment. The statistical relation of the mentioned variables was checked using SPSS version 15 on the basis of data collected. Results: Out of total 200 patients, 47% (94) were males, 53% (106) were females, 28% (56) patients were diabetic & 44.5% (89) patients had history of prior interferon therapy, 28.5% (57) patients were having low hemoglobin levels before starting above mentioned treatment. Both the groups completed the treatments A & B for 24 &12 weeks respectively & collected data showed the superiority of treatment B to treatment A as no decrease in hemoglobin (p=0.000), & no rise in serum bilirubin(p=0.000) during 1st month of treatment while ,serum bilirubin was 93 % in treatment B and 73 % in treatment A. Conclusion: The results concluded that treatment B (Sofosbuvir / Daclatasvir for 12 weeks) is superior anti hepatitis C therapy as compared to the treatment A (Sofosbuvir / Ribavirin for 24 weeks) in order to achieve ALT normalization in first month of therapy in Pakistani population. Ribavirin should be avoided to prevent hemolytic anemia as well. Keywords: Hepatitis C, Alkaline Phosphatas