UNDERSTANDING FACTORS OF USING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AMONG WOMEN IN KUALA LUMPUR

In recent decades, the percentage of women working outside their homes has ascended in many developing countries depicts the needs on the understanding of how women travel daily. Many claims, public transportation facilities, and infrastructure related to it do not consider the needs of women travelers but fit men's standards. As a result, many face difficulties became dependent on men for traveling or facing safety-related issues that deter them to use public transportation independently. Thus, this study is to identify factors of public transportation usage among women users in Kuala Lumpur. The study has able to identify three main attributes in public transportation usage factors that influence women users. Using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) researchers have found that situational attributes have a larger influence on public transportation frequency, in the use of public transportation and surrounding condition of the public transportation in the mode choice decisions of their travel preferences.

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Social Media: A Qualitative Inquiry to Advantages and Disadvantages for Business Organizations

Views about the use of social media in businesses are contradictory. This research work expands the knowledge by using qualitative approach and explores the use of social media in business organizations. Data collection included 109 business professionals in Pakistan. We transcribed the interviews and used thematic network approach to develop organizing and basic themes following global theme of social media. The findings include two organizing themes: (a) advantages of social media, followed by ten basic themes (b) disadvantages of social media, followed by five basic themes. One conclusion that we draw on the basis of qualitative inquiry is the need for serious consideration by business professionals to supplement pluses making the business outperform market. Further, the authors describe some negatives associated with social media

Macroeconomic Determinants of Housing Finance in Pakistan

The concept of human welfare cannot be imagined without housing as it is one of the basic needs of human life. It is alpha and omega for social inclusion and standard of living. The persons need a house for a variety of reasons including protection, security, space and other services and utilities attached with the houses. The people who do not have adequate housing facilities may encounter many pitfalls. This study explains the macroeconomic determinants of housing finance in Pakistan based on quarterly data ranging from 2005Q1 to 2018Q4. Vital factors that influence the housing finance in Pakistan are interest rate, per capita income, urbanization and wholesale price index. Findings expose that the interest rate and wholesale price index are negatively while per capita income and urbanization are positively related to housing finance of Pakistan

Verbal Autopsy of Maternal Mortality in Rawalpindi District

Objective: To identify the causes and risk factors leading to maternal mortality through verbal autopsy in the District of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Study Design: A retrospective, descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Community Department of Foundation University Medical College Islamabad from January 05, 2019, to December 25, 2019. Materials and Methods: Data of 105 women died of causes related to death during pregnancy/ delivery between 01 April 2013 and 30 April 2018 was retrieved from the office of District Health Officer (DHO) Rawalpindi. A Verbal Autopsy was conducted to determine cause of death and the possible risk factors, through a structured questionnaire that was filled by close relatives of the deceased women. Analysis of data was done using SPSS version 25.0. Results: The Mean age of the patients was 31 years, and it ranged from 15 to 49 years. In 26.7% of mothers cause of death could not be determined. Overall, the major and most obvious cause of maternal death was delivery related hemorrhage in 58% cases. Out of these, antepartum hemorrhage was the commonest cause occurring in 43.8% of the total cases. Postpartum hemorrhage occurred in 11.4% cases, while fatal hemorrhage during the delivery occurred in 2.8% mothers. Eclampsia was the next common cause that occurred in 11.4% mothers. Difficult and prolonged labour was found to be cause of death in 2.8% cases, while 0.95% died of Sepsis. Among the risk factors, lack of antenatal care emerged as the leading risk factor, present in 62% mothers, followed by anemia being present in 46.6% mothers. Multi-parity was found to be the next common risk factor being present in 26.6% mothers. Reduced interval in successive pregnancies was found in 21% cases. Systemic medical disorders like hypertension, renal disorders, Diabetes Mellitus, Pneumonia, hepatic failure, were found in 6.66% mothers. History of complications in previous pregnancies was present in 3.8% cases. History of lack of proper medical services in the hospital as possible factor leading to death was present in only 5 (4.8%) cases. Conclusion: Hemorrhage related with delivery, especially the antepartum hemorrhage emerged as the commonest cause of maternal mortality, followed by eclampsia. At the same time, lack of antenatal care and anaemia emerged as the commonest risk factors in this regard

Impact of Mycorrhizal Fungal Inoculum on the Growth of Fenugreek in Different Soil Samples

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is an aromatic plant that yields secondary metabolites, continuously used for the readiness of food and medicines. The current study is conducted to assess the impact of inoculation of mycorrhiza on the growth of Trigonella foenum-graecum in different soil samples. The current study presents two arrangements of treatment in experimental and control pots. Different soil samples were obtained from different areas for experimental and control pots. In experimental pots, mycorrhiza fungi inoculation is introduced. The six pots were filled with each soil sample. Out of the six pots, three were control pots, and three were inoculated pots. In each pot, 6 kg soil was filled. It was observed that there were more leaves in the experimental (inoculated) pots and fewer in the fenugreek (non-inoculated) pots. The fresh and dry weight of the shoots and roots was taken. However, it was examined that the fresh weight of the shoots and roots of the inoculated pots was more compared to the non-inoculated pots. But the difficulty is seen in the clay control pots of clay soil because of the compactness of the clay soil. It was concluded that fenugreek showed more growth in inoculated pots compared to non-inoculated pots. It was also concluded that mycorrhizal fungal showed symbiotic association with fenugreek plants

Assessment of Soil Texture on Triticum aestivum Growth

Soil texture is an important environmental factor that influences the crop productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum) because it provides all the nutrients required for growth of the plants. The soil based on nutrients is classified into four classes: silt, clay, sand, and loam. Soil based on mineral particles was classified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to USDA, loam particles have a size between sand (2.00–1.0 mm) and silt (0.05–0.002 mm), whereas clay is less than 0.002 mm. Analysis shows that the growth rate of Triticum aestivum in each soil sample is different. The sizes of seven plants were increased in loamy soil, to 47 cm, whereas in sandy soil, plants were 25 cm long. Seven plants were grown in clay soil, and had lengths of 28 cm. Finally, five plants were grown in silt soil, and reached a size of 38 cm. After fertilizing each plant in the different soils equally, that the productivity of plants in loamy soil was observed to be greater as compared to plants of other soil samples. Clay soil plants showed improvements as compared to sand and silt soil, although not as good as loam. The worst growing plants were observed in sandy soil. This shows that the growth of Triticum aestivum plants is better in loamy soil, and loamy soil is the most beneficial for wheat crop productivity

Synthesis of 3,4-Biaryl-2,5-Dichlorothiophene through Suzuki Cross-Coupling and Theoretical Exploration of Their Potential Applications as Nonlinear Optical Materials

We report herein the efficient one-pot synthesis of 3,4-biaryl-2,5-dichlorothiophene derivatives (2a–2i) via a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. A series of thiophene derivatives were synthesized, starting from 3,4-dibromo-2,5-dichlorothiophene (1) and various arylboronic acids using Pd(PPh3)4 and K3PO4 with moderate to good yields. For further insights about the structure and property relationship, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed. A relaxed potential energy surface (PES) scan was performed to locate the minimum energy structure. A frontier molecular orbitals analysis was performed to explain the reactivity of all synthesized derivatives. As the synthesized derivatives had extended conjugations, therefore the first hyperpolarizability (βo) was calculated to investigate their potential as non-linear optical (NLO) materials and significant βo values were found for the 2b and 2g derivatives

GC/MS profiling, in vitro antioxidant, antimicrobial and haemolytic activities of Smilax macrophylla leaves

The current study has been designed to appraise the antioxidant, antimicrobial and haemolytic potential of Smilax macrophylla leaves. The n-hexane fraction was analysed by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer which revealed the presence of 38 compounds. All examined extracts and fractions of plant leaves showed significant antimicrobial activity. The haemolytic effect of the plant was found to be in a range of 3.41–8.48%. S. macrophylla leaves contained substantial level of total phenolic contents (2.2–6.2 Gallic acid equivalent mg/g) and total flavonoid contents (1.2–4.5 Catechin, mg/g) of dry plant matter. Leaf extract and fractions also exhibited a good antioxidant potential when measured by DPPH radical scavenging assay (Inhibitory concentration 50% = 33.4–72.3 μg/mL). The antioxidant activity of plant extracts was also studied using sunflower oil as an oxidative substrate and found that it stabilized the oil. Significant (p < 0.05) variations were observed in the results. The correlation between the results of different antioxidant assays and oxidation parameters of oil indicated that leaf extracts and fractions, exhibit considerable total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and scavenging power, along with more potent for enhancing the oxidative stability of sunflower oil. Considering these results, S. macrophylla could be used as a source for the exploration of new antimicrobial, antioxidant agents, functional food and nutraceutical applications