An Evaluation of Capital Structure Influencing on Profitability: An Evidence of General Industrial Sector Listed in KSE

The objective of this research paper is to an Evaluation of the Capital Structure Influencing on Profitability regarding General Industrial Sector and to ascertain the association ship and most influential variables that effect on Profitability. Method of sampling was used in Simple Pooled Regression Model technique taking samples of the 9 companies listed (General Industrial Sector) on the Karachi stock exchange for the periods of 11 years (2005-2015). The results showed that Capital Structure (Debt-Equity) has significant influence on Profitability such as (Return on assets, Return on equity, Return on Capital Employed and Net Profit Margin). Association betwixt Capital Structure (Debt-Equity) has negative with profitability (Return on Assets, Return on Capital Employed and Net Profit Margin) and Return on Equity is positive association with Debt-Equity. All variables are influential and significant to the Capital Structure regarding General Industrial Sector. This research paper will assist for the assessment of the capital structure regarding various sectors which is listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange. Keywords: Capital Structure, Profitability, Karachi Stock Exchange, Simple Pooled Regression

How Corporate Governance Influence on Firms Performance: An Association between Fuel and Power Sector Listed in KSE-100

The purpose of this paper to examines the impact of corporate governance on firm’s performance for listed companies of Fuel and Power. In this paper we analyzed the corporate governance such as board size, board independence block holders on firm performance (ROE, ROA, Tobin’s Q, Firm Size and leverage). It covers the study for the period of 2010-2014 with 15 listed companies of Fuel and Power in KSE using linear regression analysis. The empirical findings show a firm size and leverage is significant effect with corporate governance and also positive association between board of independence and firm’s performance. The research has been limited to some selected fuel and power sector companies focus on the comparison of corporate governance 2002 and 2012. This paper suggests the reforms of corporate governance in Pakistan companies or firms especially in board size and block holders should be promoted to the other sectors. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Fuel and Power Sectors, Karachi Stock Exchang

Entrepreneurial orientation and intellectual capital: A systematic literature review, past trends and future research directions

This systematic literature review is performed to know about how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) literature is developing in relation to the intellectual capital (IC) and what is the literature’s main focus. The two clusters identified are, variables that are studied in connection with SMEs and large firms and the second cluster identified is the research works in which individuals’ entrepreneurial orientation behavior is studied i.e. through questionnaires the owners of very small businesses, such as restaurants, young graduated entrepreneurs. Most of the studies show that there is a significant positive relationship between IC and EO. This research study further shows that the IC and EO is not explored up to its full potential and there is room for a lot of research in the field. There is increasing trend seen in researches/ publications on the topic since year 2020. This study has implications for researchers, providing information on field’s progress and future research avenues. This study can also be helpful for training institutes, who train entrepreneurs and managers of large firms who are responsible for IC and EO management. The study can also be helpful for the public authorities in designing any policy for IC

Decentralised computer systems

The architecture of the Web was designed to enable decentralised exchange of information. Early architects envisioned an egalitarian yet organic society thriving in cyberspace. The reality of the Web today, unfortunately, does not bear out these visions: information networks have repeatedly shown a tendency towards consolidation and centralisation with the current Web split between a handful of large corporations. The advent of Bitcoin and successor blockchain networks re-ignited interest in developing alternatives to the centralised Web and paving a way back to the earlier architectural visions for the Web. This has led to immense hype around these technologies with the cryptocurrency market valued at several hundred billions of dollars at the time of writing. With great hype, apparently, come great scams. I start off by analysing the use of Bitcoin as an enabler for crime and then present both technical solutions as well as policy recommendations to mitigate the harm these crimes cause. These policy recommendations then lead us on to look more closely at cryptocurrency's tamer cousin: permissioned blockchains. These systems, while less revolutionary in their premise, nevertheless aim to provide sweeping improvements in the efficiency and transparency of existing enterprise systems. To see whether they work in practice, I present the results of my work in delivering a production permissioned blockchain system to real users. This involves comparing several permissioned blockchain systems, exploring their deficiencies and developing solutions for the most egregious of those. Lastly, I do a deep dive into one of the most persistent technical issues with permissioned blockchains, and decentralised networks in general: the lack of scalability in their consensus mechanisms. I present two novel consensus algorithms that aim to improve upon the state of the art in several ways. The first is designed to enable existing permissioned blockchain networks to scale to thousands of nodes. The second presents an entirely new way of building decentralised consensus systems utilising a trie-based data structure at its core as opposed to the usual linear ledgers used in current systems

Encapsulating the Translatory Attributes in the Formulation and Development of the Selected Modernist Building Constructed in Islamabad, Capital of Pakistan

Right after the construction of Islamabad, National Capital of Pakistan, different foreign architectswere hired by the State to undertake landmark projects in the city. Most notable among them were Doxiadis, Kenzo Tange, Edward Durell Stone. The preference given to these foreign architects over the local architect was tied to the inherited ideas of Modernist Supermacy, ‘glorified western cultures’ and their understanding of the traditional architecture specifically the so called, Islamic architecture. It was assumed that the architecture, foreign architects will produce would be technologically advanced, help in the International recognition of national architecture and become a symbol of Nation’s progression. The paper focusses on a comparative critique of the two landmark projects namely Presidential Estate and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission building (PAEC) named as Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), both situated in Islamabad and designed by Edward Durell Stone. These two buildings have been analysedwith reference to the background forces, in line to Foucault’s term,narrated as political power, subjectivity and resistance. The research has anchored on the idea that in line with the official brief, the former project was not only inspired byInternationalstyle,but also adapted to the Mughal gardens in terms of grandeur and spatial construction. On the other hand, PINSTECH building can be read as an effort of the forceful marriage of states religious subjectivities and Modernity. The paper concludes with ‘folk architecture’ a term coined by Doxiadis and reading it in conjunction with the architectural anomalies

FrameProv: Towards End-To-End Video Provenance

Video feeds are often deliberately used as evidence, as in the case of CCTV footage; but more often than not, the existence of footage of a supposed event is perceived as proof of fact in the eyes of the public at large. This reliance represents a societal vulnerability given the existence of easy-to-use editing tools and means to fabricate entire video feeds using machine learning. And, as the recent barrage of fake news and fake porn videos have shown, this isn't merely an academic concern, it is actively been exploited. I posit that this exploitation is only going to get more insidious. In this position paper, I introduce a long term project that aims to mitigate some of the most egregious forms of manipulation by embedding trustworthy components in the video transmission chain. Unlike earlier works, I am not aiming to do tamper detection or other forms of forensics -- approaches I think are bound to fail in the face of the reality of necessary editing and compression -- instead, the aim here is to provide a way for the video publisher to prove the integrity of the video feed as well as make explicit any edits they may have performed. To do this, I present a novel data structure, a video-edit specification language and supporting infrastructure that provides end-to-end video provenance, from the camera sensor to the viewer. I have implemented a prototype of this system and am in talks with journalists and video editors to discuss the best ways forward with introducing this idea to the mainstream

Re-thinking Residence: How to Mass Produce Diversity?

Due to shortage of housing, Pakistan has launched a project to build five million new dwellings within the next 5 years, through public-private partnerships. Currently, in Pakistan, only 0.3 million units are built in one year and this project would increase that number drastically, greatly impacting the environment and the built fabric. This thesis looks at an alternative to the simple idea of repeating one house to make many. It is a vision to reimagine Pakistani cities through this expansive development: mass produce dwellings that are responsive to environmental and contextual conditions, minimize the impact on existing infrastructure, energy consumption, and the environment. The proposal is an optimized system of construction that has the ability to mass-produce customizable and personalized units. The aim of this thesis is to showcase a balance between mass production and personalization

Numerical Investigation of Air Mixer Performance for HVAC Testing Applications

The ever-increasing energy demand is one of the biggest challenges of the design processes in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Accurate performance measurements of equipment in the laboratory requires air mixing to reduce measurement error. The National Bureau of Standards conducted in depth experimental research on the required air mixing devices in the late 1960s. At this point, very limited guidelines are available for air-mixers, with ASHRAE RP-1733 addressing this gap.In this thesis, CFD analyses have been conducted to predict the mixing effectiveness and pressure losses of candidate air-mixers of RP-1733. Both existing and new air-mixer models have been investigated for their mixing effectiveness and pressure drop characteristics. It was found that the proposed static air mixing models, consisting of louvers-baffles, louvers, and orifice-target parts, add turbulence to the airstream to enhance the mixing process. I have also investigated the pressure drop characteristics with respect to the flowrate. I found that the louver-baffle mixer has significantly more pressure drop as compared to the louver mixer with a negligible small increase in mixing efficiency. Therefore, I conclude that the louver mixer (without baffle) is a better option when we consider the trade-off between mixing efficiency and pressure drop characteristics, which might provide further insights to our co-designed experimental studies