The properties of thin oxide films in relation to the corrosion and oxidation of metals

Imperial Users onl

Contending Identities of Pakistan and The Issue of Democratic Governance

Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology - Peace and Democracy in South Asia, Volume 2, Numbers 1&2, 200

Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm: A rare complication of amoebic liver abscess

Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm (HAP) is an infrequently encountered entity, usually seen secondary to blunt or penetrating trauma. The clinical presentation is often due to complications such as intrahepatic or intraperitoneal bleeding as a result of rupture of the pseudoaneurysm. Diagnosis is frequently delayed and made by splanchnic angiography. HAP associated with a liver abscess, has very rarely been described in the literature. We report the case of a 50-year-old man with amoebic liver abscess and right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm which was suspected on high resolution contrast-enhanced abdominal computer tomography (CT). The lesion was confirmed by arteriography and treated prophylactically with transcatheteter embolization

THE IMPACT OF MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS ON ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: A STUDY ON EDUCATION SECTOR OF PAKISTAN

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the motivational factors that affect the organizational learning in the education sector of Pakistan. Self-administrated questionnaire with 5 point Likert scale is used for primary data collection and research journals and articles are used for secondary data collection. The sample size of the study is consisted of hundred academic employees of different educational institutes of Lahore. SPSS is used for measuring the relationships between variables and interpretations of their relationship. Organizational learning mainly depends upon peer cooperation motivational factor. As the peer cooperation increases in an organization, it leads the organization towards learning. Peer cooperation has  a strong effect on organizational learning as a motivational factor in the education sector. A high level of peer cooperation in any organization helps in enhancing its learning. Furthermore, according to data analysis all other motivational factors used in this study i.e. working condition, recognition and reward has very small or no effect on learning of any organization. So, we can conclude that, among four different motivational factors i.e. peer cooperation, working condition, recognition and rewards, only peer cooperation has a strong relationship with organizational learning as compared to other factors

Driver’s fatigue detection system based on facial features

With increasing number of vehicles on roads the risk of getting involved in an accident is increasing as well. In Malaysia alone, the number of traffic accidents in 2007 almost doubled as compared to the number of traffic accidents that occurred in 1997. This high accident rate has led to road accidents being the 5th leading cause of death in Malaysia and caused 9.3 billion ringgit of losses to the country in the year 2003. According to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic System Administration) reports one of the major reasons of road side accidents is fatigue while driving. Therefore, to prevent road side accidents that occurs due to fatigued drivers, it is essential to have an assistive system inside vehicle that monitors the vigilance level of driver and alert the driver in case of fatigue detection. This thesis presents a fatigue detection system based on yawning and eyes status that continuously analyse the face and facial features of the driver. Vision based approach is adopted to detect fatigue because other developed approaches are either intrusive (physical approach) that makes the driver uncomfortable or less sensitive (vehicle based approach). This system has improved the accuracy of fatigue detection by contributing in 3 steps of fatigue detection process. First step is face detection for which combination of Viola Jones and skin color pixels detection is used. Second is accurate detection of eyes and mouth in detected face area. The system uses knowledge based division and Viola Jones technique for second step. The third step is the introduction of dynamic threshold value, to check weather driver is in yawning or sleeping state. The accuracy of the system to detect fatigue level of driver is 98 % and average processing time per frame is 0.0948 seconds. The simulation results show that this system is able to detect fatigue even if driver is wearing spectacles or having beard. The algorithm is developed in MATLAB software

Automated human age at death estimation system from long bones histology

Human age estimation at death from bone histology is a frequent and important requirement in forensic anthropology. Usually human age at death is estimated manually from bone histology or morphology. Manual methods of age estimation from bone histology involve three main phases that includes, analysis of variations in microscopic characteristics of bone with age, developing age regression equation based on the variation analysis and estimation of age using regression equation. However manual age at death estimation is not only tedious and time consuming process but also prone to observation variability and produce subjective results. Furthermore, there exists no digital database that can store the information of bone samples of Malaysian population. Hence it is vital to develop a histological automated system for age at death estimation to eliminate the problems of manual methods. This study presents the development of automated system for human age at death estimation from bone histology. Six histological and two morphological parameters were analyzed in 44 samples of long bones (humerus, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula and femur). First, the measurements and analyses were carried out using manual methods and then an automated system was developed to eliminate the problems of the manual process. The system assists in automatic measurements and calculations of bone histological parameters, analysis of parameters with age, developing regression equation and estimation of age. The automatic system also provides a digital database capable of storing the information of all parameters. The results of the system shows that histological parameters specifically percentage area covered by Haversian canals and mean Haversian canal area possess the highest correlation with age. Morphological parameters do not show significant correlation with age in Malaysian population. Age regression equation is developed with SEE of 8.3 years. The automatic system estimates age within 10 years of the actual ages for 89% of the samples. The automatic system is evaluated by seven forensic anthropologists and is considered effortless and acceptable for automatic age at death estimation from bone histology

The Contagious Nature of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant and Vaccine Efficacy

Background: Since the first COVID-19 outbreak, variants of SARS-CoV-2 have continued to dominate the global population. The repeated waves of emerging variants, each replacing the previous one with a greater rate of transmissibility and mutations, are the primary cause of the global pandemic. Public health concerns dramatically rose when a highly mutated variant (VOC) omicron (B.1.1.529) emerged in late 2021. omicron has more than 50 mutations, and over 30 mutations are in their spike protein that contributes to the virologic characteristics of the variant. Omicron is more contagious than previously reported SARS-CoV-2 strains and can re-infect people who have already contracted other SARS-CoV-2 infections. The variant has acquired a unique immune escape mechanism against monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. Currently, no therapeutic drug or vaccine is specifically available to prevent omicron infection and sublineage emergence. Method: The review was designed to search the recent research and literature and compile the most pertinent data on the virologic characteristics of the variant of concern. Result: The study reviewed and discussed the present prevalence, infectivity, dominance, immune evasion, therapeutic options, vaccine efficacy, and the future prospect of the omicron variant. Conclusion: Omicron variant has become a global public health concern due to the emergence of highly mutated sublineages. Developing variant-specific therapeutic drugs or vaccines is desirable to prevent the spread of these contagious variants globally.Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Omicron variant, Vaccine efficacy, Immune evasion

Role of Academic Leadership in Change Management for Quality in Higher Education in Pakistan

Currently, higher education is performing multi tasks for the development of a nation. It prepares and trains the work force for the 21st century. Higher education has broaden the fields of knowledge due to which different changes are occurring in every field of life as well as in the field of higher education and invites the academic leaders to integrate these changes and innovations for effective working in the global age. These changes have created many challenges to academic leaders, now academic leaders are responsible to trace these changes and add them for excellence in higher education. In some situations, academic leaders feel pressure as change management is necessary for advancement, while on the other hand local and cultural norms create some hurdles for them. It is up to academic leaders to motivate faculty members to accept these changes for the improvement of the standards of higher education and also prepare the faculty members to integrate these changes for fitness in the globalization. The objectives of the present study were to know the opinion of the faculty members about the change management and role of academic leaders to accept this change and implement for the betterment of higher education. The sample for the study was the faculty members of higher education institutions taken from Islamabad and Lahore. It is found that Integration of change is necessary for improvement in quality of higher education and it is the responsibility of the academic leaders to play their role for working in change management