INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL PRACTICES AND FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY: A MEDIATING ROLE OF BANKS’ PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE BANKING SECTOR OF PAKISTAN

The study attempts to examine the impact of intellectual capital(IC) practices (i.e. human capital, structural capital and relationalcapital practices) on financial efficiency through mediating the roleof bank performance. We collected data for 518 banks’ professionalsthrough questionnaire and use the direct path way and multipleregression to examine the impact of IC practices on mediating variable(bank performance) and mediating variable on dependent variable(financial efficiency). The results reveal that the proposed hypothesesare statistically significant (p<0.01) and that banks’ performancepartially mediates the relationship between IC practices and banks’financial efficiency. This study provides valuable insights on theimpact of IC practices on financial efficiency of banks throughmediation of bank performance. The tested theoretical relationshipreveals that banks which are more involved in IC practices get betterresults than their competitors

Influence of National Indicators on KSE Stock Index Variation

The aim of this research article is investigates perceptions of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) stake holders regarding  influence of national indictors affecting on Karachi Stock Exchange index. Self-administered structured questionnaire distributed conveniently among 140 stake holders of Karachi Stock Exchange. Data analysed through SPSS version 20 and descriptive statistics mean frequency and % exposed; Karachi Stock Exchange stake holders perceived that national indicators have significant influence on Karachi Stock Exchange index variation. Results determine that due to political uncertainty in Pakistan effect on Karachi Stock Exchange Index variation. Conclusion matched with findings of previous studies also

Vitamin D Deficiency in Rawalpindi –Islamabad Region

To assess vitamin – D deficiency in Northern Pakistan in order to provide inputs towards developing effective preventive and remedial strategies.Methods:A total of five thousand six hundred and ninety three (n=5693) adult patients of both genders were screened for serum Vitamin D-3 levels over the period of six years.Results:Mean serum Vitamin D3 levels among males and females were in insufficient range and showed no significant difference (P>0.05). In study population 56.5% (n=3216) of patients were Vitamin D-3 deficient (<20 ng/ml), 18.2% (n=1037) showed insufficient levels (20-30 ng/ml) and 25.3% showed sufficient levels (>30 ng/ml). Significant difference was observed on gender stratification with female population showed higher percentage of deficient levels (79.7%) versus males (20.3%) (p<0.05). Age based stratification also showed significant difference with age groups younger than 50 years showed higher percentage of deficient levels than in patients older than 50 years (P<0.05). Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in population of Rawalpindi and Islamabad region

ENHANCEMENT IN OVERALL THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF A GAS TURBINE POWER PLANT USING COMBINED CYCLE SYSTEM

The gas turbines are one of the major resources of power generation in the world and its usage is increasing day by day. Although the gas turbines have several advantages over other systems (such as high power to weigh ratio, high rotational speed or fast activation capabilities) but they still waste the energy in the form of high temperature exhaust gases coming out of the gas turbine which pollute the atmosphere and affect the environment. A waste heat recovery system (WHRS) installed at Gas turbine exhaust helps not only to reduce the exhaust temperature of these gases emitting from the uptake into the atmosphere but also enables to produce useful steam for various processes. The air mass flow rate which enters the compressor has a direct relation with the performance of gas turbine power plant. The volumetric efficiency of the gas turbines decreases with rise in the temperature of the inlet air. The increase in temperature will reduce the density which results in the reduction of gas turbine efficiency. In the present work the steam produced from WHRS has been used in the vapor absorption system of refrigeration. The refrigeration system is utilized to cool the air at the entry of the gas turbine compressor power plant. It was observed in gas turbine power plant that there is a 10% increase in thermal efficiency

Comparative Evaluation of Parasitological, Serological and DNA Amplification Methods for Diagnosis of Natural Trypanosomal Infection in Equines

Abstract.-The study was conducted to evaluate and compare the parasitological (micro-haematocrit method, MHCT), serological (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA) and molecular (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) methods for diagnosis of trypanosomal infection in equines. Blood samples, taken from 500 animals (horses and donkeys), were primarily screened with formol gel test. Of 500 samples examined, 120 samples were found positive with formol gel test. Later, these samples were further processed for the parasitaemia with MHCT, detection of antibody against trypanosmal antigens positive ELISA and trypanosomal DNA using PCR. Results showed that higher number of positive samples (p < 0.05) were detected with PCR (30.8%) compared to either ELISA (21.6%) or MHCT (17.5%). The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA were 85.7% and 79.5%, respectively compared to PCR which were found to be 100% and 58.97%, respectively. To conclude PCR test was found to be a superior test over MHCT and ELISA for the diagnosis of trypanosome in equines and can be used in field conditions

PERCEPTRON: an open-source GPU-accelerated proteoform identification pipeline for top-down proteomics

PERCEPTRON is a next-generation freely available web-based proteoform identification and characterization platform for top-down proteomics (TDP). PERCEPTRON search pipeline brings together algorithms for (i) intact protein mass tuning, (ii) de novo sequence tags-based filtering, (iii) characterization of terminal as well as post-translational modifications, (iv) identification of truncated proteoforms, (v) in silico spectral comparison, and (vi) weight-based candidate protein scoring. High-throughput performance is achieved through the execution of optimized code via multiple threads in parallel, on graphics processing units (GPUs) using NVidia Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) framework. An intuitive graphical web interface allows for setting up of search parameters as well as for visualization of results. The accuracy and performance of the tool have been validated on several TDP datasets and against available TDP software. Specifically, results obtained from searching two published TDP datasets demonstrate that PERCEPTRON outperforms all other tools by up to 135% in terms of reported proteins and 10-fold in terms of runtime. In conclusion, the proposed tool significantly enhances the state-of-the-art in TDP search software and is publicly available at https://perceptron.lums.edu.pk. Users can also create in-house deployments of the tool by building code available on the GitHub repository (http://github.com/BIRL/Perceptron)

Role of Company’s Own Career Portals in Recruitment: A Suggestion for IT Companies Operating in Pakistan: Adnan Ahmad Khan, Muqqadas Rehman, Chaudhary Abdul Rehman

Attracting and hiring a talented workforce is the primary role HR professionals have to play. For recruitment in IT industry, companies usually prefer different online job portals for advertising the open vacancies. The selections of these popular channels mainly depends upon the size of that particular company, average number of vacancies they have to fill and budget allocation for R&S activities. In small and medium sized organizations, budgetary constraints and limited staff strength in HR departments make it even harder to shortlist only the talented candidates. On the other hand, professionals tend to apply on every vacancy they see in order to grab a better opportunity or just grab an opportunity in heavy unemployment shadows and tight job markets. Company’s own career portal can be a comprehensive solution to all the challenges being faced by the recruiters in software houses

Impact of Knowledge based HR Practices on Innovation with the Mediating Effect on Employee’s Creativity: Kashif Mahmood, Chaudhary Abdul Rehman, Dr. Muqqadas Rehman, Faiza Ali

The purpose of this research is to concentrate on the mindful and orderly administrative activities for business with knowledge in firms (i.e. knowledge management (KM) practices), which aims at innovation performance improvements through proactive management of knowledge assets. The study examined the impact that the KM practices have on innovation performance. A study was conducted to obtain experiential evidence by using questionnaire. The data have been collected from 366 respondents from FMCGs within Lahore City. A structured questionnaire was framed containing 27 questions. This research is significant for practitioners, policy makers and from theoretical point of view. Quantitative data have been collected for research purpose. The results reveal that employee’s creativity plays a positive role in innovation of an organization. Therefore, all hypotheses are acknowledged. The study clarifies that the knowledge based HR practices have effect on innovation and it affects positively employee’s creativity too.&nbsp

Public awareness about e-tagging device on security Check posts & toll-plazas for the smooth traffic management and reduction in terrorist activities in pakistan.

This article reports on a qualitative study, which was conducted to identify the problems faced by the general public as well as the security agencies on check posts as well as toll plazas due to lesser use of E-Tag facility for smooth movement of traffic and reduction in terrorist activities. The sample of study consisted of all the twelve persons from different classes and professions, who shared their personal experiences about this issue. A structured interview with open-ended questions was used to investigate the problems of traffic and terrorist activities. Collected data were analyzed through (transcribing and coding) the statements given by the general public. It was found that there are some serious issues on both the ends of general public as well as security agencies to maintain terrorist free movement of traffic within and outside cities of Pakistan. It was surprising to find out that there is no public awareness campaign by the government to educated general public about the use of E-Tag facility on both print and electronic media. The problem of traffic jam as well as reduction in terrorist activities can be overcome by the extensive use of modern technology likewise cameras & scanners respectively.Key words: Public awareness, Role of media, E-Tag facility, Use of modern technology, Terrorist activities