The impact of staff training and development on teachers’ productivity

Training and Development has always been a driving force for enhancing the teachers’ productivity and performance. A training and development program provided by the employer is a sincere effort to provide opportunities to the employees to be acquainted with the variety of skills, information, attitude and conduct. With the ever-growing needs of modern education system, the education industry has to become more techno savvy, dynamic and updated. There is always requirement of skillful and talented manpower to take up this education industry to the heights of international standards. The primary objective of this research paper is to investigate the impact of staff training and development on their productivity and performance in classroom teaching and in their administrative work as well. It can also be viewed as on their overall productivity. The data collected was through structured questionnaire. 58 teachers were interviewed through the questionnaire. Statistical Software (SPSS Version 16) was used for analyzing the data. The study concludes that there exist positive and strong relations between training and development and productivity of the teachers of Kurdistan. The study further concluded stating positive correlation between productivity and other independent factors like Skills, Expertise, Morale, Enhancement, Potential, Job Knowledge and Proficiency. Technical/Technology training is the most suitable training program for the teachers of this region.&nbsp

Smart handoff technique for internet of vehicles communication using dynamic edge-backup node

© 2020 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9030524A vehicular adhoc network (VANET) recently emerged in the the Internet of Vehicles (IoV); it involves the computational processing of moving vehicles. Nowadays, IoV has turned into an interesting field of research as vehicles can be equipped with processors, sensors, and communication devices. IoV gives rise to handoff, which involves changing the connection points during the online communication session. This presents a major challenge for which many standardized solutions are recommended. Although there are various proposed techniques and methods to support seamless handover procedure in IoV, there are still some open research issues, such as unavoidable packet loss rate and latency. On the other hand, the emerged concept of edge mobile computing has gained crucial attention by researchers that could help in reducing computational complexities and decreasing communication delay. Hence, this paper specifically studies the handoff challenges in cluster based handoff using new concept of dynamic edge-backup node. The outcomes are evaluated and contrasted with the network mobility method, our proposed technique, and other cluster-based technologies. The results show that coherence in communication during the handoff method can be upgraded, enhanced, and improved utilizing the proposed technique.Published onlin

An effective data-collection scheme with AUV path planning in underwater wireless sensor networks

Data collection in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is a more robust solution than traditional approaches, instead of transmitting data from each node to a destination node. However, the design of delay-aware and energy-efficient path planning for AUVs is one of the most crucial problems in collecting data for UWSNs. To reduce network delay and increase network lifetime, we proposed a novel reliable AUV-based data-collection routing protocol for UWSNs. The proposed protocol employs a route planning mechanism to collect data using AUVs. The sink node directs AUVs for data collection from sensor nodes to reduce energy consumption. First, sensor nodes are organized into clusters for better scalability, and then, these clusters are arranged into groups to assign an AUV to each group. Second, the traveling path for each AUV is crafted based on the Markov decision process (MDP) for the reliable collection of data. The simulation results affirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed technique in terms of throughput, energy efficiency, delay, and reliability. © 2022 Wahab Khan et al

Motivating and De-Motivating Factors towards Marketing of Rice for the Rice Marketing Channel Members in Pakistan

From the production of rice at the rice fields to the final consumers, the rice moves from different marketing channels. This study aims to identify those factors which motivate and de-motivate the rice marketing channels members towards rice marketing. For this study the data were collected from 120 rice farmers, 45 rice commission agents, 45 rice millers and 45 rice traders from three districts of Punjab province in Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. OLS regression was applied using SPSS. The results of the study revealed different motivating and de-motivating factors for different marketing channel members. For the rice growing farmers, the motivating factors towards rice marketing were found to be cash payment at the spot, selling paddy at the farm gate, high demand due to exportable item, better results as compare to other crops and rice as the status symbol crop. The significant de-motivating factors for rice growers were found to be difficulties due to transportation issues, shortage of water for rice cultivation and low yield per acre. The significant motivating factors for commission agents were found to be less risk because of the working on rice mills payroll, profitable business despite the lack of education and financing by the rice millers. The significant de-motivating factors for commission agents were found to be issues in storage facilities, rising transportation cost and delay in payments by the rice millers. The significant motivating factors for rice millers were found to be growing demand of branded rice and satisfactory profit margins while significant de-motivating factors were found to be seasonal nature of business, high fixed cost, increasing cost due to alternative power usage and labor cost and mixing of different verities. The significant motivating factors for rice traders were found to be whole year running business, good profit margin and growing demand of branded rice while high taxes and increasing transportation cost were found to be significant de-motivating factors for rice traders. Keywords: Rice, Marketing, Marketing channels, motivating factors, De-motivating factor

Laparoscopic-assisted resection of jejunal GIST with Acute Gastrointestinal Bleed

Small intestinal bleeding accounts for about 5-10% of gastrointestinal bleed. Jejunal GIST’s though can be a cause but rarely present with acute bleed. The diagnosis of such cases can be quite challenging and requires a multidisciplinary approach. We present a case of acute bleed from jejunal GIST that was managed by laparoscopic-assisted resection. The postoperative period was uneventful and the patient was discharged on day four. Histopathological examination of the specimen was suggestive of GIST that was confirmed further with immunohistochemical staining

A blockchain-based deep-learning-driven architecture for quality routing in wireless sensor networks

Over the past few years, great importance has been given to wireless sensor networks (WSNs) as they play a significant role in facilitating the world with daily life services like healthcare, military, social products, etc. However, heterogeneous nature of WSNs makes them prone to various attacks, which results in low throughput, and high network delay and high energy consumption. In the WSNs, routing is performed using different routing protocols like low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), heterogeneous gateway-based energy-aware multi-hop routing (HMGEAR), etc. In such protocols, some nodes in the network may perform malicious activities. Therefore, four deep learning (DL) techniques and a real-time message content validation (RMCV) scheme based on blockchain are used in the proposed network for the detection of malicious nodes (MNs). Moreover, to analyse the routing data in the WSN, DL models are trained on a state-of-the-art dataset generated from LEACH, known as WSN-DS 2016. The WSN contains three types of nodes: sensor nodes, cluster heads (CHs) and the base station (BS). The CHs after aggregating the data received from the sensor nodes, send it towards the BS. Furthermore, to overcome the single point of failure issue, a decentralized blockchain is deployed on CHs and BS. Additionally, MNs are removed from the network using RMCV and DL techniques. Moreover, legitimate nodes (LNs) are registered in the blockchain network using proof-of-authority consensus protocol. The protocol outperforms proof-of-work in terms of computational cost. Later, routing is performed between the LNs using different routing protocols and the results are compared with original LEACH and HMGEAR protocols. The results show that the accuracy of GRU is 97%, LSTM is 96%, CNN is 92% and ANN is 90%. Throughput, delay and the death of the first node are computed for LEACH, LEACH with DL, LEACH with RMCV, HMGEAR, HMGEAR with DL and HMGEAR with RMCV. Moreover, Oyente is used to perform the formal security analysis of the designed smart contract. The analysis shows that blockchain network is resilient against vulnerabilities. © 2013 IEEE

Domestic Rice Marketing Structure and Marketing Margins in Pakistan

Agriculture plays a key role in the economic development of Pakistan. Its contribution to GDP in Pakistan accounts 25% and it is a major source of raw material for different industries in Pakistan. Punjab is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and is a major producer of agricultural commodities. Rice is one of the most important agricultural commodities in Pakistan. The Punjab province produces 56% of the total rice in Pakistan as well as this province is solely producer of basmati rice variety which is a type of fragrant rice and is very famous for its aroma. For the development of agricultural sector, the importance of agricultural marketing cannot be ignored. In developing countries like Pakistan where the population is growing rapidly, an efficient internal agricultural marketing system for agricultural commodities can be very useful for not only to meet the domestic food needs but also for the development of rural economy. The aim of this study was to analyze the current status, structure and operations of rice marketing in Pakistan as well as to explore the marketing margins of different marketing intermediaries and to identify the respective marketing problems faced by those marketing intermediaries. Three districts famous for rice production were purposely selected for this study and a sample of 120 small, 45 medium and 45 large farmers was obtained from the study area. Along with the rice growing farmers, 45 commission agents, 45 rice millers, 45 rice traders, 45 whole sellers and 45 retailers in the study area were also contacted for the purpose of data collection. Three majorly grown rice varieties of basmati and non basmati rice were found being cultivated in the study area. The results revealed that majority of the rice producers were involved in selling their produce (paddy) to commission agents at their farm gate. The absolute cash margins for different marketing channel members were estimated and it was found that the rice producer was earning the maximum share for both varieties in the marketing chain i.e. 62.57% and 47.71% respectively for basmati and non basmati rice varieties. Along with the absolute cash margins, the net marketing margins were also calculated by deducting the marketing cost of respective marketing chain members. The overall domestic rice marketing structure was found to be efficient yet there is need for further improvement in order to enhance the rice production and exports from Pakistan. Keywords: Agricultural marketing, Rice, Rice marketing, marketing margins, Rice marketing problems

Knowledge, awareness and practices regarding dengue fever among the adult population of dengue hit cosmopolitan.

Background: The World health Organization (WHO) declares dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever to be endemic in South Asia. Despite the magnitude of problem, no documented evidence exists in Pakistan which reveals the awareness and practices of the country\u27s adult population regarding dengue fever, its spread, symptoms, treatment and prevention. This study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever in people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted among people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi. Through convenience sampling, a pre-tested and structured questionnaire was administered through a face-to-face unprompted interview with 447 visitors. Knowledge was recorded on a scale of 1-3. Results: About 89.9% of individuals interviewed had heard of dengue fever. Sufficient knowledge about dengue was found to be in 38.5% of the sample, with 66% of these in Aga Khan University Hospital and 33% in Civil Hospital Karachi. Literate individuals were relatively more well-informed about dengue fever as compared to the illiterate people (p\u3c0.001). Knowledge based upon preventive measures was found to be predominantly focused towards prevention of mosquito bites (78.3%) rather than eradication of mosquito population (17.3%). Use of anti-mosquito spray was the most prevalent (48.1%) preventive measure. Television was considered as the most important and useful source of information on the disease.Conclusion: Adult population of Karachi has adequate knowledge related to the disease \u27dengue\u27 on isolated aspects, but the overall prevalence of \u27sufficient knowledge\u27 based on our criteria is poor. We demonstrated adequate prevalence of preventive practices against the disease. Further studies correlating the association between knowledge and its effectiveness against dengue will be helpful in demonstrating the implications of awareness campaigns

Risk factors associated with relapse of drug dependence after treatment and rehabilitation in areas under the influence of war on terror

Background: People exposed to war on terror are more prone to neuropsychiatric disorders and drug addiction. The present study was aimed to investigate the risk factors associated with relapse of drug dependence after treatment and rehabilitation in areas under the influence of war and terrorism.Methods: Total 57 individuals who had a relapse from the war affected area were included in current study. Retrospective data were collected from Drug Detoxification and Health Welfare Research Center, Bannu, KPK, Pakistan. Along with demographic characteristics, current study also focused on the prevalence of psychological problems due to war, in association with prevalence of relapse.Results: A total of 93% of Individuals with relapse have concurrent stress. Similarly, depression was also common in 78.9% of relapsed individuals. Relapse was more common in Polydrug abusers (66.7%) as compared to single drug abusers. As far as abstinence duration is concerned, subjects having depression and stress due to war, relapsed in less time as compared to individuals with no psychological disorders.Conclusion: Wars are related with mental and psychological problems like stress and depression and these factors significantly contribute to the relapse of drug dependence as suggested by results of current study.Keywords: Drug addiction; Relapse; War on terror; Depressio