Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Creativity: A Multi-Mediation Model

This research aims to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ creativity through mediating role of trust and job autonomy. The study employed cross sectional survey method for the collection of data from 187 employees working in construction and banking sectors of Pakistan. The findings reveal that transformational leadership fosters employees’ creativity through trust and job autonomy. Both trust and job autonomy have statistically significant mediating effect. However, trust being the mediator, plays a more significant role in boosting up the transformational leadership and employees’ creativity relationship as compared to job autonomy. This research helps to know how transformational leadership enhances employees’ creativity by enlightening the mediating role of trust and job autonomy. Further, the findings of this research also help the managers to understand and create such environment which enhances employees’ creativity by focusing on the factors identified in this study. This research contributes to advance the literature on the mediating role of trust and job autonomy in describing the relationship of transformational leader and employee’s creativity and highlighting that trust plays a more important role to enhance creativity in contrast to job autonomy. Further, this is the first attempt to enhance the employee creativity through transformational leadership style and the mediating role of both trust and job autonomy in Pakistan

Defending Against Firmware Cyber Attacks on Safety-Critical Systems

In the past, it was not possible to update the underlying software in many industrial control devices. Engineering teams had to ‘rip and replace’ obsolete components. However, the ability to make firmware updates has provided significant benefits to the companies who use Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), switches, gateways and bridges as well as an array of smart sensor/actuators. These updates include security patches when vulnerabilities are identified in existing devices; they can be distributed by physical media but are increasingly downloaded over Internet connections. These mechanisms pose a growing threat to the cyber security of safety-critical applications, which are illustrated by recent attacks on safety-related infrastructures across the Ukraine. Subsequent sections explain how malware can be distributed within firmware updates. Even when attackers cannot reverse engineer the code necessary to disguise their attack, they can undermine a device by forcing it into a constant upload cycle where the firmware installation never terminates. In this paper, we present means of mitigating the risks of firmware attack on safety-critical systems as part of wider initiatives to secure national critical infrastructures. Technical solutions, including firmware hashing, must be augmented by organizational measures to secure the supply chain within individual plants, across companies and throughout safety-related industries

Transformational Leadership and Pro-Environmental Behavior of Employees: Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation

Current research study attempts to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on pro-environmental behaviors along with the mediation of intrinsic motivation. This model is tested on 150 professionals that include lecturers from four different universities of Pakistan. We find that transformational leader enhances the intrinsic motivation, which consecutively related to pro-environmental behaviors positively. Further, there is also a direct positive relationship of transformational leadership with pro-environmental behaviors. Precisely, our findings advocate that transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation is important in prompting pro-environmental behaviors of employees

Albumin uptake in human podocytes: a possible role for the cubilin-amnionless (CUBAM) complex

Abstract Albumin re-uptake is a receptor-mediated pathway located in renal proximal tubuli. There is increasing evidence of glomerular protein handling by podocytes, but little is known about the mechanism behind this process. In this study, we found that human podocytes in vitro are committed to internalizing albumin through a receptor-mediated mechanism even after exposure to low doses of albumin. We show that these cells express cubilin, megalin, ClC-5, amnionless and Dab2, which are partners in the tubular machinery. Exposing human podocytes to albumin overload prompted an increase in CUBILIN, AMNIONLESS and CLCN5 gene expression. Inhibiting cubilin led to a reduction in albumin uptake, highlighting its importance in this mechanism. We demonstrated that human podocytes are committed to performing endocytosis via a receptor-mediated mechanism even in the presence of low doses of albumin. We also disclosed that protein overload first acts on the expression of the cubilin-amnionless (CUBAM) complex in these cells, then involves the ClC-5 channel, providing the first evidence for a possible role of the CUBAM complex in albumin endocytosis in human podocytes

Measuring Extent of Autonomy in Teaching Hospitals of Punjab: A Case of Services Hospital, Lahore

This study examined ‘to what extent’ hospital autonomy has affected the internal management of Services Hospital Lahore (SHL). It is a case study and semi-structured interview guide was used for in-depth interviews. Doctors, administrative staff and Para medical staff were included in the sample. Findings of this this study showed that Hospital Autonomy Reforms could not achieve its claimed objectives. Most of the powers still lie with the bureaucracy and there is no significant impact on the hospital management due to autonomy as all decisions are still finalized at secretariat through health and finance department. Key words: autonomy, hospital, reforms, health secto

Public Sector University Governance in Punjab: a case of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore

Governance is the policy level decision making. The day to day functioning and implementation of policies may be referred to as management. In this research, we have studied the governance and management mechanism of the public sector universities in Punjab by taking University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences as a case. The qualitative methodology was applied in conducting this study. Two methods of data collection were used; secondary documents, and guided semi-structured interviews. After the reforms introduced by the HEC in the higher education system of Pakistan, and the up gradation of the university, the overall mechanics of governance, and management have taken a paradigm shift. The policy making process is structured in a way that syndicate being the highest organ of governance in this manner. Syndicate provides the direction. Vice Chancellor is the head of administration and is responsible for the daily academic and administrative functioning of the university. However, in making decisions university has to face a certain level of external interference. Keywords: Governance, Public Sector, University Governance, Punja

Assessment of dynamic membrane filtration for biological treatment of old landfill leachate

This study investigated the behaviour of dynamic membrane (DM) filtration for the treatment of stabilised landfill leachate in a bench-scale pre-anoxic and aerobic submerged dynamic membrane bioreactor (DMBR). Four meshes with different openings (10, 52, 85 and 200 μm) were tested to support the development of DM. Differences were observed among the meshes in supporting the development of the cake layer constituting the DM. The treatment of landfill leachate had an impact on sludge characteristics resulting in deteriorated filtration performance of the DM. Effluent turbidity was often higher than 100 NTU for larger mesh pore size (85 and 200 μm). Low effluent turbidity was achieved with meshes with 10 and 52 μm (13 ± 2 and 26 ± 4 NTU, respectively) although at membrane fluxes lower than 10 L m− 2 h−1. The bioreactor exhibited a moderate organics removal of 50–60% and an ammonia oxidation between 80 and 90%. Incomplete nitrification was observed due to increased concentrations of free ammonia and free nitrous acid, with nitrite effluent concentrations up to 1062 mgNO2--N L−1. Due to the large presence of refractory organic matter in landfill leachate, denitrification was limited resulting in a total nitrogen removal of approximately 20%

Analysis of fouling development under dynamic membrane filtration operation

This research is a contribution towards evaluating the appropriate fouling mechanism responsible for the flux decline under dynamic membrane (DM) filtration and its formation mechanism by using gravity-driven filtration in a specifically designed experimental setup. Series of extended short term filtration experiments were performed at varying operating conditions of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations, trans-membrane pressures (TMP) and mesh pore sizes. Blocking models were applied to identify the fouling mechanisms occurring in DM development. The results demonstrated that cake filtration model can adequately describe fouling mechanisms during DM filtration. According to the analysis of variance, DM development, as described by flux (J) trends during filtration, was significantly affected only by MLSS concentration while effluent turbidity was significantly affected by MLSS concentration and TMP. On the contrary, J and effluent turbidity trends during filtration were not significantly influenced by mesh pore size, at least in the range used in this study (10–200 μm)

Antecedents of Sustainable Financial Performance: Evidence from the Banking Sector of Pakistan

This research aims to investigate the determinants of the sustainable financial performance of banks listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The data for the present research is collected from 30 banks over the period of 2012-2022. The panel cross-linear regression was employed to analyse the data by employing Stata. Various bank-specific factors were found to be positive and statistically significant antecedents of banks’ financial performance. However, bank size, business model and financial structure have negative and insignificant impacts on the bank’s financial performance. In a similar vein, macro-economic factors have a significant negative and insignificant positive impact on banks’ financial performance. Concerning social factors, only hospital funding has an adverse effect on financial performance. Last but not least, environmental financing is negatively and insignificantly linked with banks’ financial performance. Accordingly, this research concludes that managers and policymakers of commercial banks must keep their social and environmental investments in check to attain sustainable financial performance

Histomorphological effects of sodium arsenite on uterus of rats

Background: Arsenic is highly toxic agent and a risk factor for disease and disability. Arsenic is present in drinking water of many developing and developed countries including Pakistan and due to rapid industrialization its quantity in soil and water is increasing day by day.Methods: In an 18 month study in which we took two principal groups, labelled as control group A and experimental group B. The animals of experimental group B were administered 4 µg of sodium arsenite dissolved in 10 ml of distilled water by oral gavage daily for 14 days. The uterus was removed and processed for paraffin embedding and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E). The histological parameters; uterine luminal diameter, height of uterine luminal epithelium, area occupied by epithelial component of uterine glands and the thickness of myometrium were measured and evaluated by civil AutoCAD 2013 software. The data was analyzed statistically with the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).Results: Histological results showed the degenerative effects. The luminal diameter of uterine horns was reduced in experimental animals. The height of uterine epithelium was reduced. Area occupied by epithelial component of uterine glands was reduced along the reduction in the thickness of myometrium.Conclusions: The histological abnormalities observed in uterus showed that the degenerative effects may be due to oxidative stress produced by the exposure to sodium arsenite. As sodium arsenite produces the oxidative stress by the formation of free radicals and by the denaturation of proteins