Role of E-commerce in Export Development for SMEs in Developing Countries

Ubiquitous Information and Communication technologies use has driven E-commerce growth at a rapid pace for the last many years. It has expanded at double the rate of physical retailers for the last decade. SMEs despite being crucial to world economies owing to their flexibility and innovativeness, a large number of them only operates domestically especially in the developing countries. Export can be very profitable for SMEs in developing countries but poses challenges due to factors such as, lack of information and unclear customs clearance procedures, language barriers, higher shipping cost, distant and unfamiliar customers with different cultural background. E-commerce can help reach new customers globally, at a lower cost, faster pace and without intermediaries hence will lead to export growth. Keywords: E-Commerce, Export, SMEs, Developing Countrie

Fabrication and Electrical characteristic of quaternary ultrathin HfTiErO thin films for MOS devices grown by rf sputtering

Ultra-thin Ti and Er co-doped HfO2 films were grown on Si substrate by RF sputtering at different compositions and subjected to rapid thermal annealing at 500?°C and 700?°C in nitrogen ambient for 60 s. Dielectric properties of ultrathin co doped with Tritium and Erbium into hafnium oxide (HfO2) with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) have been investigated. Ti and Er different contents doped HfO2 thin films about (5 to 10) nm thicknesses have been employed for Au/HfTiErO/Si/Au metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) structures fabrication. The fabricated MOS (Au/HfTiErO/Si/Au) structure has been used for extracting electrical properties such that, dielectric constant, effective charge carriers, flat band voltage, interface trap density and doping concentration through capacitance voltage measurements. The films compared at different contents used for Ti and Er doped with HfO2 on growth parameters, which could not showed excellent properties due to small thickness and other several defects during the depositions. While, the film annealed at 500?°C has the improved microstructure and electrical characteristics. Furthermore Atomic force microscopy and X-ray photo electron microscopy analysis verified the microstructure of HfTiErO gate oxide for future MOS devices.   Keywords: high-k, HfTiErO, Thin films, rf Sputterin

The SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic a Global Emergency: The Journey from Bats to Humans

Bats are considered as the reservoirs of coronaviruses (CoVs) which resulted in severe disease outbreaks in humans. Zoonotic coronaviruses responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), were originated from bats and remain highly pathogenic to humans during the last two decades. Recently, an acute respiratory disease outbreak which spread in Wuhan, China was caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) also known as 2019-nCoV, received worldwide attention. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 as a public health emergency. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has been considered as the third highly pathogenic epidemic of the 21st century. The SARS-CoV-2 belongs to β-coronavirus group with highly identical genome to bat coronavirus RaTG13, assuming bat as the natural host. According to WHO as of December 21, 2020, approximately 75,479,471 persons were infected with 16,86,267 deaths in 222 countries. Whereas the in Pakistan according to WHO as of December 21, 2020, around 4 57,288 persons were infected with 9, 330 death reported in the country. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; 2019-nCoV; Bats; Human; Epidemic; Pandemic DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/105-07 Publication date: February 28th 202

Application of Pretreatments on Banana Slices for Improving Drying Characteristics

The banana slices were subjected to pretreatment solutions for improving drying, physico-chemical and sensory characteristics.  The pretreatments were applied with four different solutions including ascorbic acid, lemon juice, sodium chloride and honey. The banana slices were cut into 5 mm and 7 mm in size, about 120 g banana slice samples were dip in each pretreatment solution for ten min. The banana slice samples were dehydrated in dehydration chamber and dried at temperatures of 60 °C for 12 to 16 hrs. Each sample was observed for physico chemical characteristics such as pH, TSS, vitamin C, total sugar and ash % and sensory analysis of their color, aroma, taste, texture and overall acceptability were observed. The results obtained showed that the banana slices treated with ascorbic acid and honey solution has the highest value of vitamin C. The results obtained for sensory analysis showed the significant difference in aroma, taste, texture and overall acceptability scores recorded for the samples pretreated with honey solutions for ten min. It is concluded from the present study that pretreatment solutions have important role in determining the final quality characteristics of dried banana slices and it has great potential application in food industries. Keywords: Banana; slices; pretreatment; ascorbic acid, honey, drying characteristics; sensory evaluation. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/103-06 Publication date: December 31st 202

Understanding the Dynamics of Human Capital Development in Pakistan: A Socio Economic Obstacle Frame work

Recent growth literature greatly emphasizes the role of human capital in socio economic development of a country. Numerous studies have been conducted to know the factors which play their role in developing and accumulating Human Capital Stock in a country. However there has been a dearth of studies for exploring the obstacles in developing the human capital. Human capital development has become a notable issue in the Pakistan. This study investigates the Socio Economic Obstacles which are hindering Human Capital growth in Pakistan. As a lower middle income country with huge population and talented labour force is lacking a quality pool of Human capital in a modern economic scenario. This paper aims to explore the situation to underpin the socio economic obstacles in converting a competitive workforce in modern era. The study is of exploratory nature and requires substantive empirical augmentation to validate for rigorous justification. Key words: Human Capital, Economic Growth, Socio Economic Obstacles, Pakista

Impact of Cooking Methods on Physicochemical and Sensory Attributes of Apple Gourd

An investigation was carried out to examine the influence of some cooking methods on physicochemical and sensory characteristics of apple gourd during 2016-17. For this purpose, vegetable was procured, washed, peeled, sliced and distributed in five equal lots. Four of these lots were used for individual cooking treatments (i.e. T2=boiling, T3=steaming, T4=frying and T5=microwaving), however, last lot was treated as control (i.e. T1=raw/without treatment). After cooking, all samples were used for analysis. It was found that all organic acids (%) i.e. acetic acid, citric acid, oxalic acid and tartaric acid remained significantly higher (

Loaf Characteristics and Sensory Properties of whole Wheat Bread Fortified with Sorghum and Rice Flour

Bread is a common staple food in developing countries and also in many other regions of the world. The loaf characteristic and sensory attributes of bread samples prepared by using different composite flours in which ratio of whole wheat flour, sorghum flour and rice flour kept as 100:0:0 (F1), 80:10:10 (F2) and 60:20:20 (F3) was evaluated. The composite flours F1, F2 and F3 were subsequently used for making bread samples i.e. whole wheat bread (WWB), sorghum rice bread-1 (SRB-1) and sorghum rice bread-2 (SRB-2), respectively. The results indicated that significantly higher loaf weight (g) was recorded in SRB-2 followed by SRB-1 and WWB. Significantly higher bread height (cm) was noticed in SRB-1 followed by WWB and SRB-2. The bread sample WWB was found to have significantly higher volume and specific volume followed by SRB-1 and SRB-2. It was also revealed that significantly higher average score for bread crust color was perceived by WWB. However, bread sample SRB-1 perceived significantly higher score (

Loaf Characteristics and Sensory Properties of whole Wheat Bread Fortified with Sorghum and Rice Flour

Bread is a common staple food in developing countries and also in many other regions of the world. The loaf characteristic and sensory attributes of bread samples prepared by using different composite flours in which ratio of whole wheat flour, sorghum flour and rice flour kept as 100:0:0 (F1), 80:10:10 (F2) and 60:20:20 (F3) was evaluated. The composite flours F1, F2 and F3 were subsequently used for making bread samples i.e. whole wheat bread (WWB), sorghum rice bread-1 (SRB-1) and sorghum rice bread-2 (SRB-2), respectively. The results indicated that significantly higher loaf weight (g) was recorded in SRB-2 followed by SRB-1 and WWB. Significantly higher bread height (cm) was noticed in SRB-1 followed by WWB and SRB-2. The bread sample WWB was found to have significantly higher volume and specific volume followed by SRB-1 and SRB-2. It was also revealed that significantly higher average score for bread crust color was perceived by WWB. However, bread sample SRB-1 perceived significantly higher score (