Why physicians and lay people smoke and how can it be reduced?

Objective: The objective of this study was to find out the level of knowledge the physicians and lay people have pertaining to the effect of cigarettes, why certain physicians smoke and what measures could be applied to reduce the rate of smoking. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to the one hundred physicians who smoke, one hundred non-smoking physicians and one hundred lay people who smoke to determine their attitude towards this addition. Subjects were chosen using convenience sampling. The physicians were picked from six hospitals of Karachi. Results: When the smoking physicians were asked what could motivate them to stop smoking, majority of them said that an occurrence of a smoking related illness would. Majority of the physicians who do not smoke felt that individual will was the greatest force keeping them from smoking. When asked how smoking can be reduced in Pakistan, majority of the physicians, both smoking and non-smoking, favoured mass health education. Lay smokers expressed marked ignorance about deleterious effects of cigarette smoke. Like smoking physicians, majority of them said that occurrence of an illness related to smoking would effectively motivate them to stop smoking. CONCLUSION: Based on this survey we conclude that mass health education and enforcement of the ban on smoking in public places will effectively reduce the number of smokers. There is a need to educate physicians and the general public about the cardiac and carcinogenic effects of smoking

Emergency Intraperitoneal Onlay Mesh Repair of Incarcerated Spigelian Hernia

This report suggests that Spigelian hernia in an emergency setting may be easily and quickly repaired with an intraperitoneal onlay method using composite mesh

MODLEACH: A Variant of LEACH for WSNs

Wireless sensor networks are appearing as an emerging need for mankind. Though, Such networks are still in research phase however, they have high potential to be applied in almost every field of life. Lots of research is done and a lot more is awaiting to be standardized. In this work, cluster based routing in wireless sensor networks is studied precisely. Further, we modify one of the most prominent wireless sensor network's routing protocol "LEACH" as modified LEACH (MODLEACH) by introducing \emph{efficient cluster head replacement scheme} and \emph{dual transmitting power levels}. Our modified LEACH, in comparison with LEACH out performs it using metrics of cluster head formation, through put and network life. Afterwards, hard and soft thresholds are implemented on modified LEACH (MODLEACH) that boast the performance even more. Finally a brief performance analysis of LEACH, Modified LEACH (MODLEACH), MODLEACH with hard threshold (MODLEACHHT) and MODLEACH with soft threshold (MODLEACHST) is undertaken considering metrics of throughput, network life and cluster head replacements.Comment: IEEE 8th International Conference on Broadband and Wireless Computing, Communication and Applications (BWCCA'13), Compiegne, Franc

Proposed business plan for pilot farmer organizations: Extended project on Farmer Managed Irrigated Agriculture in LBOD Project Area of Sindh Province

Farmers' associations / Farmer managed irrigation systems / Irrigation programs / Irrigation management / Drainage / Economic aspects / Income / Operating costs / Maintenance costs / Conflict

Students' Feedback of Written Examination: A Public Sector Medical University Experience

Objective: To determine the students’ perceptions regarding the examination in a public sector medical university. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad. An examination feedback proforma was developed to collect the feedback from students appearing for the written exam for MD/MS/MTA during 2015. Multiple variables were assessed and descriptive analysis was done. Results: The feedback proforma was distributed to 98 candidates with response rate was 68.36%. Overall feedback from students about the examination was positive. Majority of the students were satisfied with the process and arrangements of the examination. However a large number of students did not comment on some important issues. Conclusion: Collecting students’ feedback about examination was a good effort to identify our deficiencies and indication for areas of improvement. This study revealed a positive response from students regarding overall management of the examination process

The Application of Human-Centric Lighting in Response to Working from Home Post-COVID-19

COVID-19 has caused a considerable proportion of the public to work from home, either part- or full-time, in unregulated domestic conditions, which have not been designed for commercial activities. This study determined what existing lighting conditions were present in a selection of work-from-home (WFH) environments (Objective One) through quantitative lux level and equivalent melanopic lux (EML) readings by evaluating them against regulatory standards, where further study is required to validate the results with a larger dataset. This study also investigated the social demand for human-centric lighting (HCL) installations within WFH environments (Objective Two) through qualitative questionnaires by considering key parameters: sustainability, practicality, and cost. The results of Objective One showed that compliance with general safety lighting requirements was achieved by 80% of the installations. The mean lux level recorded was 452.4 lux and 0.729 uniformity, which fell below commercial requirements defined for commonly performed WFH activities; 34.3% of recorded EML dropped below the regulatory requirements under daylight conditions. When isolated to artificial lighting, only 7.5% of the required EML was achieved. The results of Objective Two showed that generally participants did not feel that their WFH installations were unsuitably lit, however, 46.2% of participants identified noticeable headaches or eye strain when working from home. A total of 80% of participants highlighted that HCL task lighting would be preferable. It was also found that participants were willing to invest in circadian lighting for health, where 63.2% of them would not accept a reduction in efficiency of over 10% compared to non HCL. Wellbeing was found to be participants’ key preference for their lighting systems, followed by efficiency, home impact, and cost