Effect of time pressure and human judgment on decision making in three public sector organizations of Pakistan

This study attempts to widen the effect of time pressure and human judgment on decision making. A census of three organizations named Project Management Organization (PMO), Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) and Controller General of Accountant (CGA) was occupied. To demeanor this study a questionnaire tagged Decision Making, Time Pressure and Human Judgment was used for the assortment of data. The questionnaire was predominantly designed to accomplish the objectives of the study. The total number of observations was eighty two and the Arithmetic Mean Score of decision making, time pressure and human judgment were 2.532, 2.527 and 2.395 respectively. The significance level of the model was 0.000 which illustrates maximum significant level. As p-value is less than .05 so it can be assumed that the variables elected for the study are decidedly significant

Damage detection in a fixed-fixed beam using natural frequency changes

This paper presents a damage detection technique which uses change in Frequency Response Function (FRF) and Modal Strain Energy (MSE) for damage detection in beam and truss like structures. It’s a robust approach for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) using natural frequency for structural damage assessment. This technique couples FRF with Iterative Modal Strain Energy (IMSE) method to accurately localize and quantify the damage with only few frequencies, overcoming the limitation of mode shape based damage detection methods which requires mode shapes at full coordinates but damage is either over/underestimated. In the current approach, a damage detection algorithm is developed and validated by conducting numerical studies for a Fixed-Fixed beam, both noise-free and noise-effected cases are simulated. The numerical studies reveal that proposed algorithm is capable of identifying, localizing and quantifying the damage accurately at reduce computational cost

An unsuspected bleeding Meckel\u27s diverticulum in an adult detected on mesenteric angiography

Meckel\u27s diverticulum is usually asymptomatic and found in almost 2% of the population. Haemorrhage from a Meckel\u27s diverticulum is common in children but rare in adults. Here we report a case of 20 years old male with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. Meckel\u27s diverticulum was diagnosed due to abnormal vascularity on mesenteric angiography and embolization was performed. Diagnosis was correlated with other radiological imaging and later elective resection was performed. This case is reported to emphasize the potential role of mesenteric angiography in the detection and management of bleeding Meckel\u27s diverticulum and correlation with other radiological imaging

Fear of getting Covid-19: A challenge to elective surgical practice and ways to overcome

Background: Covid-19, a global pandemic has a huge impact on surgical practice. There is transmission risk of Covid-19 during the elective surgery and nowadays it is a part of informed consent process. This has an impact on patient decision making as it creates anxiety and fear. Objective: To evaluate patient experience (fear of getting Covid-19) from elective surgery and challenges of elective surgical practice and ways to overcome during this pandemic era. Methods: This study was an observational cross-sectional survey and it has been conducted in General Surgery Department of Dr Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital, Islamabad, from May to August 2021 after approval of Institutional Review Board (IRB). Participants for elective surgery and their negative report of Covid-19 infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were included in the study. Fear of Covid-19 infection was measured through “fear of Covid-19 scale” by Ahorsu et al and analyzed. All findings were entered in a structured Proforma. Data was entered in SPSS version 26 and analyzed. Effect modifier chi square was used to find out the patient’s dropout due to getting Covid-19 infection from surgery. Results: Total 200 patients were included; 62% patients were male and 38% were females. The mean age of the patients was 38.64±12.08 years. The statistical analysis showed that there was a very significant association between FCV-19 scale and getting Covid-19 infection from elective surgeries (p ≤ 0.05). When stratified FCV-19 scale with education status of all patients there was a very significant association between them (p=0.001). The patient’s observations regarding FCV-19 questionnaire, most of the patients were disagreed (46.3%) to getting Covid-19 infection from their elective surgeries or any fear of Covid-19 infection. The actual dropout of patients from elective surgery due to fear of getting Covid-19 infection during surgery or staying in hospital was 7.5%. Conclusion: Fear of getting Covid-19 is still present in some of the patients who visit hospitals for elective surgeries. Discussing the various steps taken by the institute to improve patient safety and minimize risk of Covid-19, greatly enhanced their confidence in elective surgery and improved satisfaction level. Key words: Covid-19; Fear; Fear of Covid-19 Scale; Elective Surgical Procedures

Fear of getting Covid-19: A challenge to elective surgical practice and ways to overcome

Background: Covid-19, a global pandemic has a huge impact on surgical practice. There is transmission risk of Covid-19 during the elective surgery and nowadays it is a part of informed consent process. This has an impact on patient decision making as it creates anxiety and fear. Objective: To evaluate patient experience (fear of getting Covid-19) from elective surgery and challenges of elective surgical practice and ways to overcome during this pandemic era. Methods: This study was an observational cross-sectional survey and it has been conducted in General Surgery Department of Dr Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital, Islamabad, from May to August 2021 after approval of Institutional Review Board (IRB). Participants for elective surgery and their negative report of Covid-19 infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were included in the study. Fear of Covid-19 infection was measured through “fear of Covid-19 scale” by Ahorsu et al and analyzed. All findings were entered in a structured Proforma. Data was entered in SPSS version 26 and analyzed. Effect modifier chi square was used to find out the patient’s dropout due to getting Covid-19 infection from surgery. Results: Total 200 patients were included; 62% patients were male and 38% were females. The mean age of the patients was 38.64±12.08 years. The statistical analysis showed that there was a very significant association between FCV-19 scale and getting Covid-19 infection from elective surgeries (p ≤ 0.05). When stratified FCV-19 scale with education status of all patients there was a very significant association between them (p=0.001). The patient’s observations regarding FCV-19 questionnaire, most of the patients were disagreed (46.3%) to getting Covid-19 infection from their elective surgeries or any fear of Covid-19 infection. The actual dropout of patients from elective surgery due to fear of getting Covid-19 infection during surgery or staying in hospital was 7.5%. Conclusion: Fear of getting Covid-19 is still present in some of the patients who visit hospitals for elective surgeries. Discussing the various steps taken by the institute to improve patient safety and minimize risk of Covid-19, greatly enhanced their confidence in elective surgery and improved satisfaction level. Key words: Covid-19; Fear; Fear of Covid-19 Scale; Elective Surgical Procedures

A CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH STUDY TO EVALUATE VARIOUS CLASSES OF KENNEDY'S TAXONOMY AMONG PATIENTS OF PARTIALLY EDENTULOUS

Objective: The objective of this particular research was to evaluate various Kennedy’s classes incidence in the patients having partially edentulous and presented themselves at our hospital. Methodology: We carried out this cross-sectional research at Services Hospital, Lahore from February to August 2017 on a total of 300 patients. Every patient was included in this research after fulfilling the set research criteria. We carried out a clinical assessment of every patient and documented every required detail on a Proforma. Results: In the total research sample, there were 173/300 males (57.66%) and 127/300 females (42.33%); the ratio of females to males was (1:1.3). The patients were enrolled in the age bracket of 15 years – 75 years with a mean age of (47 ± 7.8) years. Clinical assessment revealed that 180/300 patients were missing their teeth in the mandibular arch (60%), while 120/300 patients were missing teeth in the maxillary arch (40%). Most of the patients had missing teeth from the left side, such patients were 128/300 (42.66%), followed by the patients missing their teeth from right side 144/300 (38%) and 58/300 with teeth missing from the anterior site (19.33%). In terms of Kennedy’s Classification, we revealed that there were 97 patients in Class – I (32.33%), 47 patients in Class – II (15.66%), 99 patients in Class – III (33%) and 57 patients in Class – IV (19%). Conclusion: It is concluded that there is a common existence of a partially edentulous condition in the mandibular site than the maxillary arch site. In terms of Kennedy’s Class, Class I & III were the most repeated classes with the respective proportion of 33% and 32.33%. Keywords: Kennedy’s Classes, Incidence, Mandibular, Maxillary, Arch and Partially Edentulous

Cost Effective Chemical Oxidative Synthesis of Soluble and Electroactive Polyaniline Salt and Its Application as Anticorrosive Agent for Steel

The cost effective synthesis of electroactive polyaniline (PANI) while retaining its desirable properties is one of the most debatable and challenging tasks for researchers in the field. Herein, we report a cost effective inverse emulsion polymerization pathway for the synthesis of soluble and processable PANI salt by using diesel as a novel dispersion medium. Different reaction parameters and their effects on the properties and yield of polyaniline were optimized. The polymer exhibited a highly porous morphology and was found to be stable up to 417 °C. The PANI salt showed good solubility in common solvents, such as chloroform, N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and in a 1:3 mixtures by volume of 2-propanol and toluene. The coating of the synthesized PANI salt on stainless steel has shown good corrosion resistant behavior in marine water by reducing the corrosion rate to 67.9% as compared to uncoated stainless steel

Flexible Traffic Management in Broadband Access Networks using Software Defined Networking

Abstract-Over the years, the demand for high bandwidth services, such as live and on-demand video streaming, steadily increased. The adequate provisioning of such services is challenging and requires complex network management mechanisms to be implemented by Internet service providers (ISPs). In current broadband network architectures, the traffic of subscribers is tunneled through a single aggregation point, independent of the different service types it belongs to. While having a single aggregation point eases the management of subscribers for the ISP, it implies huge bandwidth requirements for the aggregation point and potentially high end-to-end latency for subscribers. An alternative would be a distributed subscriber management, adding more complexity to the management itself. In this paper, a new traffic management architecture is proposed that uses the concept of Software Defined Networking (SDN) to extend the existing Ethernet-based broadband network architecture, enabling a more efficient traffic management for an ISP. By using SDN-enabled home gateways, the ISP can configure traffic flows more dynamically, optimizing throughput in the network, especially for bandwidth-intensive services. Furthermore, a proofof-concept implementation of the approach is presented to show the general feasibility and study configuration tradeoffs. Analytic considerations and testbed measurements show that the approach scales well with an increasing number of subscriber sessions

Potential of siltstone and its composites with biochar and magnetite nanoparticles for the removal of cadmium from contaminated aqueous solutions: Batch and column scale studies

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd The present study is the first attempt to evaluate the pilot and batch scale adsorption potential of siltstone (SS) and its nanocomposites with biochar (EDB/SS), magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs/SS) and MNPs/EDB/SS for Cd removal from contaminated water. The SS, EDB/SS, MNPs/SS and MNPs/EDB/SS were characterized with FTIR, XRD, BET, SEM, TEM, TGA and point of zero charge (PZC). The effects of adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial Cd concentration, pH and presence of competing ions were evaluated on the Cd removal and its adsorption. The order for Cd removal was: MNPs/EDB/SS \u3e MNPs/SS \u3e EDB/SS \u3e SS (95.86–99.72% \u3e 93.10–98.5% \u3e 89.66.98–98.40% \u3e 74.90–90%). Column scale experiments yielded maximum retention (95%) of Cd even after 2 h of injection at 100 mg Cd/L. The exhausted SS, EDB/SS, MNPs/SS and MNPs/EDB/SS were reused without losing significant adsorption potential. Similarly, maximum Cd adsorption (117.38 mg/g) was obtained with MNPs/EDB/SS at dose 1.0 g/L. The results revealed that coexisting cations reduced the Cd removal due to competition with Cd ions. The experimental results were better explained with Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo 2nd order kinetic models. The results revealed that SS and its composites can be used efficiently for the removal of Cd from contaminated water