Amelioration Of Educational Conditions Through School Management Committees

Community participation in planning and managing for increased educational opportunity is necessary. To ensure the involvement of local community, the government of Pakistan experimentally launched a scheme in 1994 by establishing School Management Committees (S.M.Cs).  The major purpose of the present study was to observe the functions and performance of  S.M.Cs in Promoting Education in Pakistan.              The government schools of Punjab Province were considered to be the target population. The study sample consisted of SMCs. of eight government higher secondary schools, 34 government high schools and 34 government elementary schools the Punjab. A survey-type study questionnaire was used to gather the data which were collected and interpreted by using simple statistical techniques of percentage, mean, standard deviation, and t-test.  Tentative conclusions are drawn with regard to observations of head teachers and memebrs of SMCs

How 5G wireless (and concomitant technologies) will revolutionize healthcare?

The need to have equitable access to quality healthcare is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which defines the developmental agenda of the UN for the next 15 years. In particular, the third SDG focuses on the need to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In this paper, we build the case that 5G wireless technology, along with concomitant emerging technologies (such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning), will transform global healthcare systems in the near future. Our optimism around 5G-enabled healthcare stems from a confluence of significant technical pushes that are already at play: apart from the availability of high-throughput low-latency wireless connectivity, other significant factors include the democratization of computing through cloud computing; the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing (e.g., IBM Watson); and the commoditization of data through crowdsourcing and digital exhaust. These technologies together can finally crack a dysfunctional healthcare system that has largely been impervious to technological innovations. We highlight the persistent deficiencies of the current healthcare system and then demonstrate how the 5G-enabled healthcare revolution can fix these deficiencies. We also highlight open technical research challenges, and potential pitfalls, that may hinder the development of such a 5G-enabled health revolution

6G wireless systems : a vision, architectural elements, and future directions

Internet of everything (IoE)-based smart services are expected to gain immense popularity in the future, which raises the need for next-generation wireless networks. Although fifth-generation (5G) networks can support various IoE services, they might not be able to completely fulfill the requirements of novel applications. Sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems are envisioned to overcome 5G network limitations. In this article, we explore recent advances made toward enabling 6G systems. We devise a taxonomy based on key enabling technologies, use cases, emerging machine learning schemes, communication technologies, networking technologies, and computing technologies. Furthermore, we identify and discuss open research challenges, such as artificial-intelligence-based adaptive transceivers, intelligent wireless energy harvesting, decentralized and secure business models, intelligent cell-less architecture, and distributed security models. We propose practical guidelines including deep Q-learning and federated learning-based transceivers, blockchain-based secure business models, homomorphic encryption, and distributed-ledger-based authentication schemes to cope with these challenges. Finally, we outline and recommend several future directions. © 2013 IEEE

Resource optimized federated learning-enabled cognitive internet of things for smart industries

Leveraging the cognitive Internet of things (C-IoT), emerging computing technologies, and machine learning schemes for industries can assist in streamlining manufacturing processes, revolutionizing operational analytics, and maintaining factory efficiency. However, further adoption of centralized machine learning in industries seems to be restricted due to data privacy issues. Federated learning has the potential to bring about predictive features in industrial systems without leaking private information. However, its implementation involves key challenges including resource optimization, robustness, and security. In this article, we propose a novel dispersed federated learning (DFL) framework to provide resource optimization, whereby distributed fashion of learning offers robustness. We formulate an integer linear optimization problem to minimize the overall federated learning cost for the DFL framework. To solve the formulated problem, first, we decompose it into two sub-problems: association and resource allocation problem. Second, we relax the association and resource allocation sub-problems to make them convex optimization problems. Later, we use the rounding technique to obtain binary association and resource allocation variables. Our proposed algorithm works in an iterative manner by fixing one problem variable (for example, association) and compute the other (for example, resource allocation). The iterative algorithm continues until convergence of the formulated cost optimization problem. Furthermore, we compare the proposed DFL with two schemes; namely, random resource allocation and random association. Numerical results show the superiority of the proposed DFL scheme. © 2020 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. All rights reserved

Educational Opportunities for Juveniles in Punjab, Pakistan - An Equity Concern

Juveniles makes an excluded group in a society. Mainstreaming them is one of the crucial objectives to be achieved through education. Provision of equitable educational opportunities, facilities and training to juveniles’ mental, moral, social and psychological development within borstal institutions has significant role in making them productive citizens for Pakistan’s society. The study rationalized that equity is a basic instrument to analyse educational facility for juveniles’ rehabilitation and mainstreaming. The study’s focus was to explore and analyse educational opportunities apropos of equity for juveniles in borstal institutes.Purposive sampling was used for conducting in-depth interviews from 26 juveniles, which was the total strength out of104 prisoned juveniles in the borstal institute, Faisalabad. The qualitative analysis revealed that although teaching-learning process had been taking place for juveniles but the system lacked in provision of equitable educational opportunities in the institute. Further, the data showed that teachers, reading materials, stationeries, laboratories and furniture, which are essential elements in carrying out teaching-learning process, were largely missing in the borstal institute and juveniles jail. In the light of the evidences gained, the study presents some practical suggestions for provision of equitable educational opportunities for juveniles in the borstal institute and jail of Punjab, Pakistan

A Review: An Insight into the Potential of Biological Control of Ticks in Domestic and Wild Animals

Ticks are hematophagous arthropods that transmit pathogens to humans, animals and poultry birds, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions globally, causing considerable economic and health losses by serving infectious vectors. In endemic locations of the world, tick-borne diseases have become a public health issue. Ticks biting causes anemia in animals and also impair their hide quality. Therefore, the current review article focused on the biological control of ticks. Ticks, like any other creature, are susceptible to various infectious agents (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia bigemina, B. gibsoni, Hepatozoon canis, H. americanum, Theileria annulate, T. taurotragi etc). Ticks can become infected with rickettsia, spirochetes, viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Some protozoans and worms infiltrate ticks and reproduce inside them, killing them. Fungus (Metarhizium anisopliae, Verticiliium lecanii, Beauveria bassiana), bacteria (Bacillus), nematodes (Steinernema glaseri, S. carpocapsae), and parasitoids (Ixodiphagus species.) have proved effective biological agents to control ticks. Insects are also a type of natural tick enemy. Ticks that are engorged with blood and while moulting are the most vulnerable to insect predation and eaten by spiders, ants, beetles, dragonflies, and wasps (Ixodiphagus). Ticks are also preyed upon by amphibians and reptiles. Birds such as yellow-billed oxpecker (Buphagus africanus), helmeted guineafowl and Galliformes are good predators of ticks. Biological agents affect only target pests (ticks), do not destroy beneficial natural enemies and are safer for the ecosystem and humans. By keeping in view, the significance of biological agents, we highly recommend them in integrated tick management program that could minimize the tick population

Alpha-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of various extracts of aerial parts of Fagonia indica Burm. F.

Purpose: To investigate in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potentials of Fagonia indica Burm.f. Var. indica in order to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use. Methods: Cold maceration method was employed for the preparation of extracts of aerial parts of the plant using chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and water as solvents. Total flavonoid and polyphenolic content of various extracts were determined by standard methods. The antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities of the extracts were determined using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and in vitro αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory assays, respectively. Results: Preliminary results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals in the extracts. The chloroform extract exhibited the highest contents of total flavonoids (65.98 ± 1.63 mg QE/g) and polyphenols (26.75 ± 1.09 mg GAE/g). This extract also showed the highest free radical scavenging (64.74 ± 1.43 %) with IC50 value of 34.18 ± 5.57 µg/mL while the methanol extract exerted the highest αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory activity (45.22 ± 0.46 %) with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 220.4 ± 0.41 µg/mL. Conclusion: The extracts of the aerial parts of Fagonia indica possess significant anti-diabetic and antioxidant effect, thus justifying the traditional use of the plant for treatment of diabetes