The Impact of Financial Leverage on Firm Performance in Fuel and Energy Sector, Pakistan

This research is finds the effect of financial leverage on firm performance of the fuel and energy sector in Pakistan. For this purpose 10 listed public limited firms out of 16 form fuel and energy sector listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). The main objective of the study is investigate the financial leverage has an effect on financial performance of the firm by taking evidence from listed fuel and energy companies of Pakistan. There is a positive relationship between the financial leverage and financial performance or not?  The main plan of this study is to examine the simplification that the firms get work with high profits may choice high leverage by using different statistical tools. Keywords: Financial leverage, Firm Performance, Financial ratio, Fuel and Energy Sector in Pakistan Paper type: Research pape

Role of Academic Leadership in Change Management for Quality in Higher Education in Pakistan

Currently, higher education is performing multi tasks for the development of a nation. It prepares and trains the work force for the 21st century. Higher education has broaden the fields of knowledge due to which different changes are occurring in every field of life as well as in the field of higher education and invites the academic leaders to integrate these changes and innovations for effective working in the global age. These changes have created many challenges to academic leaders, now academic leaders are responsible to trace these changes and add them for excellence in higher education. In some situations, academic leaders feel pressure as change management is necessary for advancement, while on the other hand local and cultural norms create some hurdles for them. It is up to academic leaders to motivate faculty members to accept these changes for the improvement of the standards of higher education and also prepare the faculty members to integrate these changes for fitness in the globalization. The objectives of the present study were to know the opinion of the faculty members about the change management and role of academic leaders to accept this change and implement for the betterment of higher education. The sample for the study was the faculty members of higher education institutions taken from Islamabad and Lahore. It is found that Integration of change is necessary for improvement in quality of higher education and it is the responsibility of the academic leaders to play their role for working in change management

Reversible Dementia in victims of Chronic Subdural Hematomas

Objective: The objective of this joint study was to offer the prompt surgical treatment to all diagnosed victims of Reversible dementia with chronic subdural hematomas in our population. Evaluation was based upon comparison of their Pre and Postoperative MMS scoring and HDS-R grading.Materials and Methods: This study started in June 2013 and is currently ongoing at the Services Institute of Medical Sciences with its allied Services Hospital, Lahore as a joint venture principally between the departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology. We included 30 cases in this study.Results: Out of 30 cases there were 25 (83.3%) males and 05 (16.66%) females patients. Twenty five out of 30 victims (83.3%) were suffering from dementia pre operatively. Twenty out of these patients (80%) recovered fully and three patients (10%) partially. 02 patients (6.6%) neither improved nor deteriorated. Twenty eight out of 30 victims underwent surgical evacuation by burr holes with closed drainage system under general anesthesia (91.1%) and 2 under went under local anesthesia (6.6%) due to their co-morbid conditions.Complications: There was no noticeable mortality. One patient complained of post operative pyrexia with convulsions (%) and was managed satisfactorily by conservative treatment. Another patient complained of head-ache for 3 days which was also managed conservatively pie diagram – II. There was no intracranial wound infection in our study.Conclusion: It was concluded that there was marked post operative improvement in patient’s memory, behavior and neurological status. This was established by proper recording, documentation and comparison of their pre and post operative MMS scoring and HDS-R grading system. It is recommended that the victims of chronic subdural hematomas should be offered prompt evacuation to improve their neurological status

Development of Threshold Levels and a Climate-Sensitivity Model of the Hydrological Regime of the High-Altitude Catchment of the Western Himalayas, Pakistan

Water shortages in Pakistan are among the most severe in the world, and its water resources are decreasing significantly due to the prevailing hydro-meteorological conditions. We assessed variations in meteorological and hydrological variables using innovative trend analysis (ITA) and traditional trend analysis methods at a practical significance level, which is also of practical interest. We developed threshold levels of hydrological variables and developed a non-parametric climate-sensitivity model of the high-altitude catchment of the western Himalayas. The runoff of Zone I decreased, while the temperature increased and the precipitation increased significantly. In Zone II, the runoff and temperature increased but the precipitation decreased. A two-dimensional visualization of the Pardé coefficient showed extreme drought events, and indicated greater sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature than to precipitation. The threshold levels of runoff for Zones I and II were 320 and 363 mm using the Q80 fixed method, while the mean runoff amounts were estimated to be 79.95 and 55.61 mm, respectively. The transient threshold levels varied by month, and the duration of droughts in Zones I and II ranged from 26.39 to 78.98 days. The sensitivity of the hydrological regime was estimated based on a modified climate-elasticity model (εp = 0.11–0.23, εt = −0.04–2.39) for Zones I and II, respectively. These results highlight the sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature, which influences the melting process. However, it is important to establish thresholds for hydrological variables and understand the climate sensitivity of the hydrological regime of the entire basin, so that policy makers and water managers can make sustainable water-resource-management decisions for this region

Identification of Finger Vein Images with Deep Neural Networks

To establish identification, individuals often utilize biometrics so that their identity cannot be exploited without their consent. Collecting biometric data is getting easier. Existing smartphones and other intelligent technologies can discreetly acquire biometric information. Authentication through finger vein imaging is a biometric identification technique based on a vein pattern visible under finger's skin. Veins are safeguarded by the epidermis and cannot be duplicated. This research focuses on the consistent characteristics of veins in fingers. We collected invariant characteristics from several cutting-edge deep learning techniques before classifying them using multiclass SVM. We used publicly available image datasets of finger veins for this purpose. Several assessment criteria and a comparison of different deep learning approaches were used to characterize the performance and efficiency of these models on the SDUMLA-HMT dataset.&nbsp

Recent updates on ions and nutrients uptake by halotolerant freshwater and marine microalgae in conditions of high salinity

Algae is an appropriate natural resource to augment the optimal use of undesired ions in water and wastewater. Increasing algal cells, the consumption of particular ions, including chloride, nitrate, phosphate, and ammonium, provides a suitable way to optimize water treatment processes. Different algal species have the capability to survive in extreme salinities by developing resistance against osmotic pressure in saline water. The current study reviews the effect of salinity on algal biomass production, algal growth rate, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and ammonium ions. Mainly algae cultivated in freshwater, synthetic brackish water, seawater, and hypersaline water, were studied for this review. Various ion uptake mechanisms used by the algal cell are summarized, focusing on biosorption and bioaccumulation processes. Critical parameters such as light intensity, pH, and temperature variations significantly influence ion and nutrients uptake efficiencies. Analysis performed on collected data indicated that halophytic algae could survive in high salinities at elevated growth rates compared to freshwater. The halotolerant algal species showed an inclining trend of chloride ion removal with an elimination capacity of 7.5 g.m-3.h-1. Moreover, the nitrate uptake rate in halophytic algae is 10-folds higher to phosphate, regardless of salinity level. It could be concluded that microalgae will be beneficial for ion and nutrient uptake processes in treating high saline water

Workplace Internet Leisure and Employee Productivity: Mediating Role of Employee Engagement

There is an ongoing discussion on the role of workplace internet leisure (WIL) and whether it is a vice or virtue. Considering this, Current study is aimed to examine the effects of Workplace internet leisure on employee productivity with mediating role of employee engagement in the Army health care sector of Pakistan. The data was collected through self-administered questionnaires from Armed forces nursing officers of different Army hospitals and institutes through convenience sampling size of 300.SPSS model macro Version 3 (Hayes, 2018) was used to analyze the respondents’ feedback. For analysis of workplace internet leisure influence on employee engagement regression is calculated and results indicates that workplace internet leisure has positive and significance impact on employee engagement, while work place internet leisure has positive but insignificance impacts on employee productivity. Additionally, indirect analysis is calculated for mediation analysis, results indicate that employee engagement positively mediates association between workplace internet leisure and employees productivity. Keywords: Workplace internet leisure (WIL), Employee productivity (EP), Employee engagement (EE), Self-determination theory(SDT), Job demand-resource model (JDR

Go Together: Bridging the Gap between Learners and Teachers

After the pandemic, humanity has been facing different types of challenges. Social relationships, societal values, and academic and professional behavior have been hit the most. People are shifting their routines to social media and gadgets, and getting addicted to their isolation. This sudden change in their lives has caused an unusual social breakdown and endangered their mental health. In mid-2021, Pakistan's first Human Library was established under HelpingMind to overcome these effects. Despite online sessions and webinars, HelpingMind needs technology to reach the masses. In this work, we customized the UI or UX of a Go Together Mobile Application (GTMA) to meet the requirements of the client organization. A very interesting concept of the book (expert listener or psychologist) and the reader is introduced in GTMA. It offers separate dashboards, separate reviews or rating systems, booking, and venue information to engage the human reader with his or her favorite human book. The loyalty program enables the members to avail discounts through a mobile application and its membership is global where both the human-reader and human-books can register under the platform. The minimum viable product has been approved by our client organization

Neural network-based adaptive global sliding mode MPPT controller design for stand-alone photovoltaic systems

The increasing energy demand and the target to reduce environmental pollution make it essential to use efficient and environment-friendly renewable energy systems. One of these systems is the Photovoltaic (PV) system which generates energy subject to variation in environmental conditions such as temperature and solar radiations. In the presence of these variations, it is necessary to extract the maximum power via the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller. This paper presents a nonlinear generalized global sliding mode controller (GGSMC) to harvest maximum power from a PV array using a DC-DC buck-boost converter. A feed-forward neural network (FFNN) is used to provide a reference voltage. A GGSMC is designed to track the FFNN generated reference subject to varying temperature and sunlight. The proposed control strategy, along with a modified sliding mode control, eliminates the reaching phase so that the sliding mode exists throughout the time. The system response observes no chattering and harmonic distortions. Finally, the simulation results using MATLAB/Simulink environment demonstrate the effectiveness, accuracy, and rapid tracking of the proposed control strategy. The results are compared with standard results of the nonlinear backstepping controller under abrupt changes in environmental conditions for further validation

Identification of ionotrophic purinergic receptors in Huh-7 cells and their response towards structural proteins of HCV genotype 3a

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health problem in developing countries including Pakistan. Chronic HCV infection results in progressive liver disease including fibrosis, cirrhosis, insulin resistance and eventually hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Ionotrophic purinergic (P2X) receptors are identified to involve in a spectrum of physiological and pathophysiological processes. However, the role of P2X receptors in HCV liver associated diseases still remains to be investigated. The current study was designed to identify the presence of P2X receptors in human liver cells. Furthermore, it investigates the response of P2X receptors towards HCV structural proteins (E1E2). To determine that how many isoforms of P2X receptors are expressed in human liver cells, human hepatoma cell line (Huh-7) was used. Transcripts (mRNA) of five different isoforms of P2X receptors were identified in Huh-7 cells. To examine the gene expression of identified isoforms of P2X receptors in presence of HCV structural proteins E1E2, Huh-7/E1E2 cell line (stably expressing HCV structural proteins E1E2) was used. The results showed significant increase (6.2 fold) in gene expression of P2X4 receptors in Huh-7/E1E2 cells as compared to control Huh-7 cells. The findings of present study confirmed the presence of transcripts of five different isoforms of P2X receptors in human liver cells and suggest that P2X4 receptors could be represented an important component of the purinergic signaling complex in HCV induced liver pathogenesis