Implementation of Lean Practices in Banks: A Qualitative Research

For Pakistani banks to remain competitive in this 21st century, they have to adopt and excel in practices that have brought significant competitive advantages to firms worldwide. Among these practices, lean management has played a significant role. There is a need to develop a systematic approach to access up to what extent firms are adopting lean practices. The objective of this research is to measure the level of adoptions of lean practices in banking sector in Pakistan. Face to face structured interviews were conducted and our findings suggest that banks are not implementing lean practices in true spirit. To implement lean practices holistically, bank employees should understand the philosophy of lean

Space-filling, multi-fractal, localized thermal spikes in silicon, germanium and zinc oxide

The mechanism responsible for the emission of clusters from heavy ion irradiated solids is proposed to be thermal spikes. Collision cascade-based theories describe atomic sputtering but cannot explain the consistently observed experimental evidence for significant cluster emission. Statistical thermodynamic arguments for thermal spikes are employed here for qualitative and quantitative estimation of the thermal spike-induced cluster emission from silicon, germanium and zinc oxide. The evolving cascades and spikes in elemental and molecular semiconducting solids are shown to have fractal characteristics. Power law potential is used to calculate the fractal dimension.The fractal dimension is shown to be dependent upon the exponent of the power law interatomic potential. Each irradiating ion has the probability of initiating a space-filling, multi-fractal thermal spike that may sublime a localized region near the surface by emitting clusters in relative ratios that depend upon the energies of formation of respective surface vacancies.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Production of surfactin from Bacillus subtilis MZ-7 grown on pharmamedia commercial medium

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

From Fiscal Decentralisation to Economic Growt The Role of Complementary Institutions

Decentralisation is theoretically expected to be a platform towards efficient provision of the local public goods and services. This is expected to boost economic growth due to efficient and effective utilisation of scarce fiscal resources. Nevertheless, the existing empirical studies present mixed results on this expected positive relationship among decentralisation and economic growth. Recently, the theories of fiscal federalism have also pressed upon the enabling environment for effective decentralisation; talking explicitly, an enabling institutional setup is required. The current study explores the complementarity between fiscal decentralisation and other institutions for stimulating growth and the study uses rich crosscountry panel data for the period 1984 to 2012, covering both the developing and developed countries of the world. The results suggest that positive relationship exist between fiscal decentralisation and economic growth for the developed countries while evidence was not found in the case of developing countries. Further, it was found that fiscal decentralisation and quality institutions are complementary for economic growth. JEL Classification: C22, H11, H77, O40 Keywords: Fiscal Decentralisation, Institutions, Economic Growth, Panel Data, unequally spaced panel dat

Reservoir Characterization and Modelling with Diagenetic Trends of carbonates of the Kawagarh Formation: A Section exposed in the Kala-Chitta Range, Pakistan

Present study is focused on the diagenetic studies and reservoir characterization of the Cretaceous KawagarhFormation exposed in the Gandab village, Kala-Chitta range, north-western Himalayan Fold-and-Thrust belt, Pakistan.The formation is composed of argillaceous limestone and dark grey marls. A total of thirty-three representativecarbonate rock samples were collected at equal intervals of three meters. Various diagenetic features includingcementation, micritization, pyrite precipitation, neomorphism, fracturing, sparitization and stylolitization were observedin the studied rocks which occur in the marine, meteoric and deep burial diagenetic environments respectively. Suchdiagenetic features control the reservoir quality of the rock unit. Porosity types include mostly vuggy and fracture,while minor stylolitic porosity were noted with quantity ranging from 2.66% to 3.88%. The carbonates of KawagarhFormation are highly fractured, but the filling of these fractures due to precipitation of calcite or micritic mud hasgreatly reduced its reservoir potential, while some unfilled fractures, stylolites and vuggs are the dominant factors thatenhance the reservoir potentiality of the Kawagarh Formation. However, the porosity values still do not mark the levelof reservoir rock. These diagenetic studies revealed very less chances for hydrocarbon accumulation as no significantporosity values have been observed and overall reservoir potential is characterized as poor

Evaluation of Etiological Factors of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) Using CT scan as the Gold Standard.

Objective: This study was focused to find out the precision of the CT scan in diagnosis of the subarachnoid hemorrhage.Study Design: Prospective type of study.Duration and Setting: This study was carried out in a period of 9 months from August 2017 to April 2018 in Mayo hospital Lahore in Neurosurgery department.Patients and Methods: Off all the cases landing in Mayo hospital emergency department only those cases were selected which had subarachnoid hemorrhage and in this study only those were included which had hemorrhage due to some sort of trauma or vascular injury. A total of 100 patients were selected in a period of 9 months which were willing to take part in this research. Informed consent was taken from the patient or attendant. A carefully designed proforma was used for data collection. Ethical approval was taken from the ethical committee of the Mayo hospital.Results: A total of 1538 cases presented in emergency in 9 months with subarachnoid hemorrhage and 100 cases were selected which were willing to take part in study. Clinical feature were recorded. Total 66 (66%) cases had throbbing headache (a typical feature of subarachnoid hemorrhage), nausea and vomiting was recorded in 53(53%) cases while stiffness of neck was seen in 26(26%) cases. Head injury was the leading cause with 53(53%) in these patients, ruptured aneurysm was noted in 30(30%) of the cases and 12(12%) hemorrhages were because of the arterio-venous malformation. Typical findings of SAH were seen in 97(97%) of the cases on CT scan and atypical findings were seen in 3(3%) of the cases of SAH.Conclusion: Trauma was the leading cause of SAH while arterio-venous malformation and other causes like aneurysmal rupture were seen in some cases. Headache was the most commonly found clinical feature.

Examining the Relationship between Relational e-HRM and Organizational Performance: A Study of the Banks of Lahore during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The current study empirically investigated the implementation of relational e-HRM practices in banks and examined their relationship with the overall organizational performance of the banks in Lahore during COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlighted the issues that managers face during the implementation of relational e-HRM practices. The mixed method approach was adopted to conduct this cross-sectional study. Commercial banks with their head offices in Lahore were chosen and 171 branches were selected randomly. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect qualitative data and semi-structured interviews of sixteen (16) branch managers were carried out online. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically while covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was used to understand the effect of e-HRM practices on organizational performance. Most of the banks were found to have implemented all the relational e-HRM practices except e-selection which was implemented only in two branches. Relational e-HRM practices showed a positive effect on the overall performance of banks during COVID-19 pandemic. Centralized decision- making, limited autonomy of bank branches, presence of senior, computer illiterate employees, and inadequate financial resources were found to obstruct the implementation of e-HRM practices. The current research added to the e-HRM literature and examined the association between relational e-HRM practices and overall organizational performance in the context of banks operating in Lahore which apparently was never done before. Only the top commercial banks operating in Lahore, one of the largest metropolitans in Pakistan, were included in this study. The generalizability of findings may be enhanced with further studies

UAV-Empowered Disaster-Resilient Edge Architecture for Delay-Sensitive Communication

The fifth-generation (5G) communication systems will enable enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low latency, and massive connectivity services. The broadband and low-latency services are indispensable to public safety (PS) communication during natural or man-made disasters. Recently, the third generation partnership project long term evolution (3GPPLTE) has emerged as a promising candidate to enable broadband PS communications. In this article, first we present six major PS-LTE enabling services and the current status of PS-LTE in 3GPP releases. Then, we discuss the spectrum bands allocated for PS-LTE in major countries by international telecommunication union (ITU). Finally, we propose a disaster resilient three-layered architecture for PS-LTE (DR-PSLTE). This architecture consists of a software-defined network (SDN) layer to provide centralized control, an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) cloudlet layer to facilitate edge computing or to enable emergency communication link, and a radio access layer. The proposed architecture is flexible and combines the benefits of SDNs and edge computing to efficiently meet the delay requirements of various PS-LTE services. Numerical results verified that under the proposed DR-PSLTE architecture, delay is reduced by 20% as compared with the conventional centralized computing architecture.Comment: 9,

Diffusion weighted MR imaging (DWI) and ADC values in endometrial carcinoma

Objective: To determine the sensitivity of MR imaging utilizing diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in detection of endometrial cancer and to compare the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) values of malignant and normal endometrium. Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Radiology Department, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, from January 2007 to December 2009. Methodology: Patients were defined as undergoing MRI for suspected endometrial malignancy, and the controls were female subjects who underwent MRI examination for indications other than endometrial malignancy. Studied variables included the signal characteristics of the endometrium and ADC values. The sensitivity of DWI for the detection of endometrial carcinoma was calculated using histopathology as the gold standard, and the ADC values of the endometrium in patients and controls were recorded. The mean ADC values were compared using two-sided t- test with significance at p \u3c 0.05 at 95% confidence interval. Results: Out of 52 patients, 10 had hyperintense, 40 had hypointense and 2 had isointense endometrium on T2 weighted imaging. On DWI, 42 patients had hyperintense and 10 patients had hypointense endometrium. In comparison, 40 controls had hypointense endometrium on DWI and 12 had hyperintense endometrium. The mean ADC value for abnormal endometrium was 0.730±0.215 x10-3 mm2/sec and of normal endometrium was 1.265±0.305 x10-3 mm2/sec (p \u3c 0.001). The sensitivity for detection of endometrial carcinoma on DWI was 77.77%. False positive cases were found to be due to secretory and hyperplastic endometrium. False negative findings were found in a few cases of adenocarcinoma, endometroid carcinoma and clear cell sarcoma. Conclusion: In patients with suspected endometrial carcinoma, MRI examination utilizing DWI was a sensitive tool in detecting endometrial cancers with significantly lower ADC values for carcinoma in general. Physiological and histopathological variants may be responsible for a few false results

Student satisfaction level among allied health sciences students at King Edward Medical University

The purpose of this study was to evaluate student satisfaction with their program, academic environment and administrative services in terms of its effectiveness on their professional attitudes, lives and career. A total of 261 students of allied health sciences program at King Edward Medical University, were examined in terms of personal satisfaction by means of a specifically designed student satisfaction survey. A qualitative analysis approach was used to interpret the data generated by a three‐part survey form circulated to the four proceeding sessions of allied health sciences program and satisfaction of students in 12 major disciplines was evaluated. The data was entered in statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) version 22 using quantitative variables and descriptive statistics including frequency distribution tables and diagrams. The study revealed a student satisfaction of only 22.1% with their program with different levels of recommendation in different sub-disciplines. A total of 20.9% students agreed to the library facilities, 53.9% with computer lab, 35% with administrative support, 29.6% with sports facilities and 49% with teaching methodologies. The present study concludes that most of the students had little satisfaction concerning their field of study. So, it is necessary to make an attempt for continuous development of quality services