Role of Family System, Positive Emotions and Resilience in Social Adjustment Among Pakistani Adolescents

The present study explored the role of positive emotions, resilience & family system in social adjustment in Pakistani adolescents. Through convenient sampling, data collected from 150 adolescents (70 boys & 80 girls).In terms of family system 92 were living in nuclear family while 58 injoint family. Urdu version of Modified Differential Emotions Scale, Resilience Scale and Bell`s Adjustment Inventory were used. Statistical analysis revealed the presence of significant positive relationship between positive emotions and resilience (r = .39**) where girls were slightly more resilient (M ± SD = 120.77 ± 24.03) & socially adjusted (M ± SD = 17.41 ± 4.15). Moreover 52 % adolescents reported difficulty in talking with new people. Majority of participants from Joint family reported good social adjustment (38%) and high resilience (17%) as compared to those in nuclear family (21%, 13%). The influence of these demographic variables is important indication to be explored further

Long-lived alpha emitters concentrations in the spices consumed in Iraq using CR-39 detector

البهارات تستخدم كاضافات على الطعام في مختلف البلدان ، من ضمنها بلدنا، لذا من الضروري التاكد من خلوها من المواد المشعة الضارة بصحة الانسان. هدف هذا البحث كان قياس تراكيز باعثات الفا ، وقياس الجرعة السنوية الفعالة  AED الناتجة من تناول الرادون. استخدم كاشف  CR-39 في قياس تراكيز الرادون ، الراديوم واليورانيوم في 24 عينة من البهارات المختارة من الاسواق. تراكيز الرادون وجد في هذا البحث تتغير من 65.102 الى 195.30 Bq/m3 وبقيمة متوسطة 126.47 Bq/m3 وهذه القيمة هي اعلى بقليل من  100 Bq/m3 المستوى او الحدود المقبولة من منظمة الصحة العالمية (WHO) واقل من 200 Bq/m3 التي هي حدود اللوائح البريطانية للوقاية من الاشعاع (NRPB) والاوربية. الجرعة السنوية الفعالة للرادون تراوحت بين 1.642- 4.927 mSv/y التي هي ضمن المدى 0.2 - 10 mSv/y  للجنة الامم المتحدة لاثار الاشعاع الذري (UNSCEAR). تراكيز الراديوم تغيرت بين 0.446 - 1.367 Bq/Kg بمتوسط 0.943 Bq/Kg. وتراكيز فعالية اليورانيوم كانت في المدى 4.408 - 13.520 Bq/Kg وبقيمة متوسطة 9.322 Bq/Kg. هذا العمل قاس التراكيز المحددة للمواد المشعة الموجودة في البهارات وبين ان هذه البهارات امنة للتناول.Spices are mainly used as additives to diets in different countries, including our country, so it is necessary to ensure that they are free of radioactive substances harmful to human health. This research aimed to measure the concentrations of alpha emitters, and measure the annual effective dose AED resulting from the intake of radon. The CR-39 detector used to measure radon, radium, and uranium concentrations in the 24 spices samples selected from markets. In this work the radon concentrations in the samples were found to vary from  65.102 to 195.30 Bq/m3 with 126.47 Bq/m3 a mean value, this mean value is a small amount over 100 Bq/m3 the reference level limits of the World Health Organization (WHO), below 200 Bq/m3 of the UK Board of National Radiation Protection (NRPB) limits and below the level of the European Recommendation Commission. The annual radon effective dose varied between 1.642-4.927 mSv/y which is within the range of 0.2-10 mSv/y of (UNSCEAR). Radium contents vary between 0.446-1.367 Bq/Kg with 0.943 Bq/Kg as a mean value. The range of uranium activity concentrations is between 4.408-13.520 Bq/Kg with a mean value of 9.322 Bq/Kg. This work identified and measured the specified concentrations of radionuclide present in spices showed that spices are safe for consumption

Digital Forensic Examination of Mobile phone Data

Mobile phones are an integral part of our lives since they have played a vital role in bringing people closer together. They have abundantly been used by people all across the globe as they keep them up-to-date about the happenings in the world. However, these mobile phones have also been used in carrying out various criminal activities for the past few decades, therefore, a new discipline of Mobile Phone Forensics has been introduced which will help a lot in curbing the menace of these crimes by locating the whereabouts of the criminals. This research paper deals with the introduction of this innovative discipline of mobile phone forensics by throwing light on the importance of this discipline. It also deals with the detailed procedure of conducting a formal forensics analysis with the help of these mobile phones

CNN and LSTM-Based Emotion Charting Using Physiological Signals

Novel trends in affective computing are based on reliable sources of physiological signals such as Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrocardiogram (ECG), and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). The use of these signals provides challenges of performance improvement within a broader set of emotion classes in a less constrained real-world environment. To overcome these challenges, we propose a computational framework of 2D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture for the arrangement of 14 channels of EEG, and a combination of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and 1D-CNN architecture for ECG and GSR. Our approach is subject-independent and incorporates two publicly available datasets of DREAMER and AMIGOS with low-cost, wearable sensors to extract physiological signals suitable for real-world environments. The results outperform state-of-the-art approaches for classification into four classes, namely High Valence—High Arousal, High Valence—Low Arousal, Low Valence—High Arousal, and Low Valence—Low Arousal. Emotion elicitation average accuracy of 98.73% is achieved with ECG right-channel modality, 76.65% with EEG modality, and 63.67% with GSR modality for AMIGOS. The overall highest accuracy of 99.0% for the AMIGOS dataset and 90.8% for the DREAMER dataset is achieved with multi-modal fusion. A strong correlation between spectral-and hidden-layer feature analysis with classification performance suggests the efficacy of the proposed method for significant feature extraction and higher emotion elicitation performance to a broader context for less constrained environments.Peer reviewe

Impact of Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination on Neuroradiological Manifestations of Pediatric Tuberculous Meningitis

The authors conducted this study to identify whether bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination leads to an altered spectrum of neuroimaging findings outcome in pediatric Patients with tuberculous meningitis. This retrospective study was conducted through chart review and review of computed tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of Patients with confirmed central nervous system tuberculosis from the year 1992 to 2005, at a large tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 108 pediatric Patients with tuberculous meningitis were included in the analysis. Of the 108 Patients, 63 (58.3%) were male and 45 (41.7%) had received bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination. There was no difference in terms of severity of clinical presentation and outcome between vaccinated and unvaccinated group. There were no significant differences in CT or MRI findings between the 2 groups except for tuberculomas on MRI, which were significantly higher in the non-bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccinated group (52.2% vs 22.7%, P = .042). Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination appears to translate into less tuberculoma formation on MRI

Tilted beam fabry-perot antenna with enhanced gain and broadband low backscattering

Communication with low radar signature platforms requires antennas with low backscatter, to uphold the low observability attribute of the platforms. In this work, we present the design for a Fabry–Perot (F-P) cavity antenna with low monostatic radar cross section (RCS) and enhanced gain. In addition, peak radiation is tilted inthe elevation plane. This is achieved by incorporating phase gradient metasurface (PGM) with absorptive frequency selective surface (FSS). The periodic surface of metallic square loops with lumped resistors forms the absorptive surface, placed on top of a partially reflecting surface (PRS) with an intervening air gap. The double-sided PRS consists of uniform metallic patches etched in a periodic fashion on its upper side. The bottom surface consists of variable-sized metallic patches, to realize phase gradient. The superstrate assembly is placed at about half free space wavelength above the patch antenna resonating at 6.6 GHz. The antenna’s ground plane and PRS together construct the F-P cavity. A peak gain of 11.5 dBi is achieved at 13◦ tilt of the elevation plane. Wideband RCS reduction is achieved, spanning 5.6–16 GHz, for x-and y-polarizations of normally incident plane wave. The average RCS reduction is 13 dB. Simulation results with experimental verifications are presented

Looking Good: Mediatisation and International NGOs

Many international NGOs value those parts of their work that are suited to media representation: campaigning, advocacy, projects that produce the right sort of images. In this article I make three points about this change. First, those parts of the NGO most reliant on media – such as the campaign desk – may be becoming more powerful. This can change the internal dynamics of NGOs. Second, the increasing use of media means that NGOs, like other organisations, hold themselves accountable in new ways. Third, NGOs may appear to look more and more like media organisations. These changes have received relatively little attention in the literature on NGOs, though they reflect a broader set of debates about the role of media in society. Using a case analysis of an international NGO, I suggest that the concept of mediatisation might be a useful way to understand some of the changes observed in the NGO sector

Knowledge and Awareness about Cervical Cancer and Its Prevention amongst Interns and Nursing Staff in Tertiary Care Hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality amongst the gynecological cancers worldwide, especially in developing countries. It is imperative for at least health professionals in developing countries like Pakistan to have a sound knowledge about the disease. This study was carried out to assess the knowledge and awareness about cervical cancer and its prevention amongst health professionals in tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan.A cross-sectional, interview based survey was conducted in June, 2009. Sample of 400 was divided between the three tertiary care centers. Convenience sampling was applied as no definitive data was available regarding the number of registered interns and nurses at each center.Of all the interviews conducted, 1.8% did not know cervical cancer as a disease. Only 23.3% of the respondents were aware that cervical cancer is the most common cause of gynecological cancers and 26% knew it is second in rank in mortality. Seventy-eight percent were aware that infection is the most common cause of cervical cancer, of these 62% said that virus is the cause and 61% of the respondents knew that the virus is Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Majority recognized that it is sexually transmitted but only a minority (41%) knew that it can be detected by PCR. Only 26% of the study population was aware of one or more risk factors. Thirty seven percent recognized Pap smear as a screening test. In total only 37 out of 400 respondents were aware of the HPV vaccine.This study serves to highlight that the majority of working health professionals are not adequately equipped with knowledge concerning cervical cancer. Continuing Medical Education program should be started at the hospital level along with conferences to spread knowledge about this disease