Chapter 1: Part A: A Unique Approach of Preparing 3,3-Disubstituted Oxindoles from Acyclic Tetrasubstituted Aldehydes: Total Synthesis of (-)-Coerulescine and (-)-Coixspirolactam A, Chapter 1: Part B: Synthetic Scope of Brønsted Acid Catalyzed Reactions of Carbonyl Compounds and Ethyl Diazoacetate,

CHAPTER 1: PART A: A UNIQUE APPROACH OF PREPARING 3,3-DISUBSTITUTED OXINDOLES FROM ACYCLIC TETRASUBSTITUTED ALDEHYDES: TOTAL SYNTHESIS OF (-)-COERULESCINE AND (-)-COIXSPIROLACTAM A(-)-Coerulescine and (-)-coixspirolactam A, two naturally occurring compounds characterized with an all-carbon quaternary center containing a spirooxindole, have been synthesized asymmetrically. The key feature of their total synthesis involves a novel rational construction of the chiral 3,3-disubstituted oxindole core from the acyclic chiral tetrasubstituted aldehyde. The later scaffold was prepared in high enantioselectivity (up to 86%) from the ethyl 3-hydroxy-2-(2-nitrophenyl)acrylate 1 by exploring both intermolecular and intramolecular Pd-mediated asymmetric allylic allylations (Pd-AAA). A through optimization of these approaches is described in this thesis. CHAPTER 1: PART B: SYNTHETIC SCOPE OF BRØNSTED ACID CATALYZED REACTIONS OF CARBONYL COMPOUNDS AND ETHYL DIAZOACETATE The comprehensive study of the reactions of carbonyl compounds and ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of a Brønsted acid catalyst is described. In this, a broad range of 3-oxo esters were synthesized from a variety of ketones, specifically benzophenones and aliphatic ketones. For the diaryl ketones, we have characterized two inseparable products of migration by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2D-NMR) and calculated the ratio of their relative migratory tendencies. However, the symmetric and nonsymmetrical aliphatic ketones provided the higher migration for relatively longer alkyl chains length. In case of the aliphatic aldehydes, we got exclusively the expected β-keto ester by a 1,2- hydride shift. CHAPTER 2: INVESTIGATION OF THE C2-ALKYLATION OF 1-(1H-INDOL-3-YL)-N,N-DIMETHYLMETHANAMINE Indole derivatives can be conveniently alkylated at the C2 position by choosing appropriate N-protecting group and appropriate base. However, 1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-N,N-dimethylmethanamine (commercially named as gramine) is also limited to that restricted choice of a protecting group for such alkylation. Herein we explore a the lithiation of gramine with different protecting groups (such as Ms, Ts, Me, TIPS etc.) on the N-heteroatom and investigate the alkylation at the C-2 position by trapping the C-2 lithio species with a variety of electrophiles such as methyl iodide, benzyl bromide, prenyl bromide, allyl bromide, etc

Anaesthetic management of two patients with beta-thalassaemia intermedia

There is paucity of literature regarding the anaesthetic management of patients with thalassaemia intermedia. In this case study, the anaesthetic management and concerns in two children with thalassaemia intermedia aged eleven and nine years undergoing herniotomy and splenectomy respectively is reported. Both children had unanticipated difficulty in airway management and high intraoperative blood pressure trends. These cases are representative of the range of problems seen in children with thalassaemia intermedia

RAZMIN by Qureshi Enterprises: Competing with the Secret Sauce of Competitors

The case is comprised of the entrepreneurial venture of Mr. Fahim Qureshi, who visualized the opportunity for growth and marketability for food, beverages and various FMCG products in Pakistan by organizing the scattered demand. He established QURESHI ENTERPRISE (QE) in 1997.  Mr. Qureshi believe that his deep knowledge of the consumer market, compounded with financial strength and other capabilities provides ample opportunities and further scope for expansion and with this in mind he created his brand “ Razmin”. The brand is for numerous culinary products, like corns, curry pastes and wide range of sauces. All these items are manufactured, packed and branded in Thailand

Assessing Water Consumption of Major Crops in the Command Area of Malwah Distributary, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sindh.

Soil and water are vital natural resources on which agriculture sector growth and village livelihood depend and having the proper knowledge of the Soil, Plant, and water relationship are extremely important to achieve sustainable agricultural productivity. Pakistan has entered the 21st century with the rising challenge to meet food and fiber requirements for its population for domestic consumption and export. Without having appropriate knowledge about the intense water need of plants, most of the agricultural land in Pakistan is still being irrigated by conventional methods, which in turn produces so many problems and reduces the agricultural productivity putting extra stress on the country’s economy, so to avoid these issues, it is extremely necessary to provide the required quantity of water to plant, which will only be possible by consideration and accurate estimation of Evapotranspiration of plant so to enhance awareness and practice of water-saving agriculture in Pakistan to increase the agricultural commodities. In this study, estimation of Actual Evapotranspiration ( ETa ) of Malwah Distributary located in Shaheed Benazirbad, Sindh was selected from Command area of Rohri Canal, ET of four different crops; Cotton, Fallow, Rice and Sugarcane for the period of Rabi 2019-2020 and Kharif 2020 was estimated by using satellite-based evapotranspiration mapping tool namely METRIC REFLUX. The actual ET for each season was obtained using the Reference ET fraction (ETrf) of satellite data and reference ET(ETr) obtained from the literature. The classified crop mask was obtained using maximum likelihood classification on bands 8,4, and 3 of sentinel-2 images of the year 2020. The overall accuracy obtained is 93% with a kappa coefficient 0.921841. The average Actual Evapotranspiration of different crops namely, banana, cotton, rice, and sugarcane were found to be 1527.2 mm, 536.6 mm, 386.80 mm, and 814.02 m

TRICHOBEZOAR WITH GASTRIC PERFORATION IN A 30 YEARS OLD FEMALE IN PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY

Trichobezoar is a Greek word trich, which means hair. Bezoars are collections of indigestible material that accumulate in the GI tract and are most often located in the stomach. Trichobezoars are often associated with psychiatric illness like trichotillomania and trichophagia usually occurs in young and adolescent females. In this case study, we present the 30 years old female who suffer from Trichobezoar with Gastric Perforation which is rare in nature. A 30-year-old woman resident of Dadu , presented in the emergency department of Liaquat University hospital Hyderabad/jamshoro in October 2018 , with the complain of pain in upper abdomen, constipation for last 10 days , vomiting for last 3 days and distention of abdomen. On examination patient look irritable abdomen was tense and tender on palpation, bowel sounds was absent. Ultrasound shows collection of free fluid in the peritoneal cavity and gas filled bowel loops no visceromegaly, and x-rays abdomen erect and supine shows gas under right dome of diaphragm. There was a past history of C-section and the socioeconomic status was average. On emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed and around two liters of pyoperitoneum was removed. And there was a 2×2 cm perforation was identified in the anterior wall of the prepyloric region of stomach. It is concluded that Gastric perforation is a rare complication of gastric trichobezoar formation. Without a history of trichotillomania or trichophagia, or findings on physical examination consistent with hair pulling behavior, one would not readily include this entity on their differential diagnosis of an acute abdomen. Key words: Trichophagia, Trichobezoar, Gastric, perforatio

Financial Inclusion and Information Communication Technology on Tax Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is to determine empirically the impact of financial inclusion and Information Communication Technology (ICT) on tax performance in Sub-Saharan African countries; determine the extent to which the elements of financial inclusion have influenced tax performance of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa; and examine the role technology plays in impacting the performance of taxes in Sub-Saharan African countries.   Theoretical Framework: The existing theories that serve as a roadmap for the development of this study are Theory of Digital Diffusion and Theory of Margins. Digital transformation has an important impact on the operations and systems of every economy, which often triggers a positive effect on taxes. Diffusion innovation theory was initiated by Rogers in 1962. The Theory of Margin on the other hand, is a theoretical school that gives validity to the impact of financial development on product output. It suggests that more access to financial services and products is vital for high output and economic advancement.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The population considered in this study was 48 sub-Saharan African Countries from the period of 1999 to 2019. The methods used for the analysis consists of the descriptive and correlation analysis on the identified variables and a creation of financial inclusion index using the Principal Component Analysis to deal with multiclonality challenge amongst the financial inclusion proxies, it also adopted the two-staged least square estimation technique for the empirical analysis.   Findings: The study reveals inter alia that the variables for financial inclusion and ICT proxies are overwhelmingly positive and significantly impact on the tax performance (i.e., total tax revenue and the non-resource tax revenue as percentages of GDP), in sub-Saharan Africa and that the financial inclusion index has positive effect on tax performance in  sub-Saharan Africa. We also observed that there   is a positive relationship between technology and tax performance in sub-Saharan Africa.   Research Practical & Social implications: Policies should be formulated to engender enhancement of technology and more investment should be allocated to technology as it is discovered to drive financial inclusion and promotes tax revenue mobilization. In general, the findings indicate that policies are needed to engender an enhancement of technology and more investment should be channeled to technology as it affects financial inclusion and by logical extension, the promotion of tax revenue mobilization.   Originality/value: The challenge of tax implementation can be directly ascribed to an ineffective tax system.  A tax management that is of high in superiority, helps to make the tax mobilization process more transparent and efficient, and also reduce the level of shadow economy, which main feature is non- remittance or payment of tax. This study reveals that a tax administration system can only operate effectively with the use of modern information technologies

Smoking behaviour among young doctors of a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background:Tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. There are more than one billion smokers in the world. Almost half of the world's children breathe air polluted by tobacco. Aim of current study was to study the smoking trends among young doctors in a tertiary care institute in north India.Methods:A descriptive observational cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted among 250 doctors of a tertiary care Hospital in Jammu & Kashmir (Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, SKIMS) during the two months of February-March, 2014. The predesigned tool adopted during data collection was a questionnaire that was developed at the institute with the assistance from the faculty members and other experts.Results:Among 250 participants, (20%) were smokers; among smokers, (76%) were regular smokers and (24%) were occasional smokers. Majority of smokers were in the age group of 21-30 years (80%) & started smoking between 11-20 years (70%). All of them were male (100%). No significant difference was observed among urban and rural students. Among smokers, majority (60%) was in the practice of smoking for last 6 months to 1 year and 26% smoked for <6 months; & (14%) smoked for more than 5 years .It was found more than half of the responding (60%) students used to smoke 5-9 cigarettes per day; 14% is <5 and 26% consumed 10 or more per day .Among smokers, peer pressure was found in 80% cases. (χ2 = 107, P <0.001). Among smokers, almost 20% had other addiction and among non-smokers only 5% had .Effect of parental smoking  was significantly higher in smokers than non-smoker (χ2 = 66.2, P <0.001) .It was seen that peer pressure was the most important risk factor (60%) of initiation of smoking habit followed by parental influence (20%). Majority (78.4%) had no intention to quit in the next 6 months. Lack of Incentive (36.36%) and Addiction (27.27%) were the main reasons for not quitting.Conclusion:We need to create more awareness regarding hazards of smoking in general population especially in medical students, and afterwards provide psychological and pharmacological support for those who intend to quit, as medical students can themselves become a tool to fight this hazard at all levels.

Lightweight multi-agent framework for a cluster-based wireless sensor network

L

Lightweight multi-agent framework for a cluster-based wireless sensor network

Sensor applications and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming a part of our everyday life. A number of network arrangements are used in WSN. In this paper, we focus on the cluster based network to help identify the issues associated with communication within such networks. We present a light- weight multi-agent routing framework for a cluster based WSN to resolve some issues associated with such networks. By using state- of-art protocol in a unique combination and categorizing cluster layers, we take full advantage of the properties of the selected protocols. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed method is light-weight in terms of energy consumption by the sensor nodes communicating information within a cluster based network. Nevertheless, high network throughput and robust data communication are also achieved