Functional Properties and Preparation of Diet Apricot Jam

This research was conducted to prepare apricot diet jam from the pulp of fresh mature apricots by using artificial sweeteners i.e. aspartame and saccharine. Apricots were washed with clean water to remove dust particles. After sorting and pitting, apricots were cut into two halves with the help of stainless steel knives and dipped in 0.1% citric acid solution to avoid browning. The pulp of apricots was extracted by using plumper. Apricot pulp was heated to get the desired consistency. Low heating was continued and brix were noted after every 20 minutes. At the end two different artificial sweeteners were used for the preparation of jam. Pectin with small amount of non nutritive sweeteners were dissolved separately and added to the mixture. Preservatives and color was added at the end of cooking. At 210brix the product was poured into the jam bottles, already washed, cleaned, sterilized and without moisture. Bottles were caped and stored at ambient room temperature. After three days the samples were studied for their chemical characteristics. The parameter (i.e.) moisture, acidity, total soluble solids, ascorbic acid, pH, reducing sugar and non reducing sugar were determined in apricot diet jam.  Physicochemically the mean values of the results were 3.69 pH, 0.66% total acidity, 6.54% vit. C (mg/100g), 77.01% moisture, 21.3% TSS, 4.13% reducing sugars, and 9.2% non reducing sugars. Keywords: Preparation Apricot Diet Jam, Preservatives, Chemical Characteristic

Impact of today\u27s media on university student\u27s body image in Pakistan: a conservative, developing country\u27s perspective

Background: Living in a world greatly controlled by mass media makes it impossible to escape its pervading influence. As media in Pakistan has been free in the true sense of the word for only a few years, its impact on individuals is yet to be assessed. Our study aims to be the first to look at the effect media has on the body image of university students in a conservative, developing country like Pakistan. Also, we introduced the novel concept of body image dissatisfaction as being both negative and positive. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 7 private universities over a period of two weeks in the city of Karachi, Pakistan\u27s largest and most populous city. Convenience sampling was used to select both male and female undergraduate students aged between 18 and 25 and a sample size of 783 was calculated. Results: Of the 784 final respondents, 376 (48%) were males and 408 (52%) females. The mean age of males was 20.77 (+/-1.85) years and females was 20.38 (+/-1.63) years. Out of these, 358 (45.6%) respondents had a positive BID (body image dissatisfaction) score while 426 (54.4%) had a negative BID score. Of the respondents who had positive BID scores, 93 (24.7%) were male and 265 (65.0%) were female. Of the respondents with a negative BID score, 283 (75.3%) were male and 143 (35.0%) were female. The results for BID vs. media exposure were similar in both high and low peer pressure groups. Low media exposure meant positive BID scores and vice versa in both groups (p \u3c 0.0001) showing a statistically significant association between high media exposure and negative body image dissatisfaction. Finally, we looked at the association between gender and image dissatisfaction. Again a statistically significant association was found between positive body image dissatisfaction and female gender and negative body image dissatisfaction and male gender (p \u3c 0.0001). Conclusions: Our study confirmed the tendency of the media to have an overall negative effect on individuals\u27 body image. A striking feature of our study, however, was the finding that negative body image dissatisfaction was found to be more prevalent in males as compared to females. Likewise, positive BID scores were more prevalent amongst females

DYNAMICS OF STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA (PAKISTAN) WITH FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF MIDDLE MANAGEMENT

This study looks into various aspects of strategy execution in the context of higher education institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan). Most studies on this subject have been conducted in developed countries leaving much room for understanding in a context characterized by a weak regulatory framework, unique socio-cultural traditions, and a complex political environment in a country like Pakistan. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents selected through stratified random sampling technique in both academic and administrative sections of universities. The Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed for exploratory and confirmatory factory analyses while Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM 3.0) was used for the measurement of path models of the study. The results show that the role of middle management was significant in terms of championing alternative strategic options, synthesizing information, and executing deliberate strategy whereas it was insignificant in facilitating adaptability. The results of this study have theoretical significance in that it looks at strategy implementation from the perspective of a developing country. Practically, the results suggest giving more power to middle management in all aspects of strategic management. The results, however, have to be understood with some of the study’s limitations that have been discussed later at length

Dual chamber pacemaker implants--a new opportunity in Pakistan for children with congenital and acquired complete heart block

Implantation of cardiac pacemakers has been practiced for at least five decades with continuous developments of the hardware. The invention of dual chamber pacemakers has initiated a debate concerning its superiority over single chamber ventricular pacemakers. Throughout the world, surgeons have been using dual chambered permanent pacemakers with successful follow ups. However, Pakistan has not yet taken the advantage of such pacemaker devices till now. We report three cases that underwent a dual chamber permanent pacemaker implantation for the first time in children less than 8 kg with successful follow ups

Surgical correction of aorto-pulmonary window: a rare and lethal cause of pulmonary hypertension

Aorto-pulmonary window is a relatively rare congenital cardiac malformation with an overall incidence of 0.1%. Pulmonary hypertension develops quickly if the lesion is left untreated hence early surgical intervention is warranted after diagnosis. The surgery for correction of APW has evolved over years, currently an open repair on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with a single patch technique yields good results. Mortality is affected by association of pulmonary hypertension and other cardiac malformations. We present a case of an infant with a large type II APW with a relatively low pulmonary vascular resistance. Hospital stay was complicated because of pulmonary arterial disease making it an important reason for correction in the first few months of life

Successful surgical intervention of total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage in the third decade of life

Total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD) accounts for approximately 1.5% of all congenital heart diseases. It is usually diagnosed in the neonatal period and is rarely seen in adults. We report an unusual case of a patient with TAPVD who was successfully treated at the age of 28 years. We believe that this is the oldest person in the South Asian literature to undergo surgical correction of TAPVD

Design of Interactive Feature Space Construction Protocol

Machine learning deals with designing systems that learn from data i.e. automatically improve with experience. Systems gain experience by detecting patterns or regularities and using them for making predictions. These predictions are based on the properties that the system learns from the data. Thus when we say a machine learns, it means it has changed in a way that allows it to perform more efficiently than before. Machine learning is emerging as an important technology for solving a number of applications involving natural language processing applications, medical diagnosis, game playing or financial applications. Wide variety of machine learning approaches have been developed and used for a number of applications. We first review the work done in the field of machine learning and analyze various concepts about machine learning that are applicable to the work presented in this thesis. Next we examine active machine learning for pipelining of an important natural language application i.e. information extraction, in which the task of prediction is carried out in different stages and the output of each stage serves as an input to the next stage. A number of machine learning algorithms have been developed for different applications. However no single machine learning algorithm can be used appropriately for all learning problems. It is not possible to create a general learner for all problems because there are varied types of real world datasets that cannot be handled by a single learner. For this purpose an evaluation of the machine learning algorithms is needed. We present an experiment for the evaluation of various state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms using an interactive machine learning tool called WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis). Evaluation is carried out with the purpose of finding an optimal solution for a real world learning problemcredit approval used in banks. It is a classification problem. Finally, we present an approach of combining various learners with the aim of increasing their efficiency. We present two experiments that evaluate the machine learning algorithms for efficiency and compare their performance with the new combined approach, for the same classification problem. Later we show the effects of feature selection on the efficiency of our combined approach as well as on other machine learning techniques. The aim of this work is to analyze the techniques that increase the efficiency of the learners

Fractional calculus analysis: investigating Drinfeld-Sokolov-Wilson system and Harry Dym equations via meshless procedures

In this study, we present two meshless schemes, namely the radial basis function (RBF) method and the polynomial method, for the numerical investigation of the time-fractional Harry Dym equation and the Drinfeld-Sokolov-Wilson system. In both methods, the temporal derivatives are estimated using the Caputo operator, while the spatial derivatives are approximated either through radial basis functions or polynomials. Additionally, a collocation approach is employed to convert the system of equations into a system of linear equations that is easier to solve. The accuracy of the methods is assessed by calculating the $L_{\infty}$ error norm, and the outcomes are displayed through tables and figures. The simulation results indicate that both methods exhibit strong performance in handling the fractional partial differential equations (PDEs) under investigation

Clinical profile and outcome of infective endocarditis at the Aga Khan University Hospital

Background: The spectrum of infective endocarditis (IE) is significantly different in developed and developing countries. The present study was conducted to study the clinical profile and outcome of infective endocarditis in Pakistan.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with review of medical records for 188 patients admitted to our teaching hospital with a diagnosis of IE from January 1988 to December 2001. One hundred fifty-nine subjects fulfilled the modified Duke diagnostic criteria.Results: Definite IE was found in 59.7% (95/159) patients, while the rest had possible IE. One-third of subjects had acute IE 55/159 (34.5%). Subacute IE was found in 62% (99/159) and Nosocomial IE in 3% of the cases. Eighty six (54%) were classified as having culturenegative endocarditis and 73 (46%) as culture positive. Ninty four patients (59%) had an underlying predisposing factor including congenital heart disease (31%) and rheumatic heart disease (21%). The most frequently isolated organisms were streptococci (52%) and followed by staphylococci (29%). Fourteen (8.1%) patients had right-sided cardiac involvement. Using univariate analysis, patients with heart failure, neurologic or renal complications, septicemia, nosocomial endocarditis, and prosthetic valve endocarditis were at increased risk of death (p ≤ 0.05), however no individual microorganism, or specific site, size, or morphology of vegetation seen on echocardiogram were significantly associated with death. Thirty-seven (23%) patients died of endocarditis or its complications.Conclusion: Endocarditis continues to be an important contributor to morbidity and mortality in Pakistan, especially in young adults. Our patients differ from the west in terms of epidemiology, predisposing factors, microbiology, complications, and outcom