Business Intelligence at Telenor Pakistan

Telenor Pakistan won two “best practices” awards from The Data Warehousing Institute for its business intelligence (BI) infrastructure in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, its Director of BI was promoted to Vice President of BI for the Telenor Group that had stakes in cellular network operations across thirteen countries. The new Director of BI, Rizwan Fazal, had been recruited from a major competitor. With past credentials, existing challenges and future ambitions in mind, his task was now to design a “roadmap” for BI that would satisfy all stakeholders that the unit would indeed progress ahead. The challenge – as he saw it – was, “How do you take what is already a de facto ‘centre-of-excellence’ even further?

Shigella sonnei Bacteremia Presenting With Profound Hepatic Dysfunction

Worldwide, Shigellosis is a significant public health issue, associated with nearly one million deaths annually. About half a million cases of Shigella infection are reported annually in the United States. Shigella bacteremia is uncommon and generally seen in children and immunocompromised adults. We present a case of a Shigella sonnei bacteremia with marked hepatic derangement in a 27-yearold previously healthy homosexual male with history of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, who presented to the emergency room with a 4-day history of loose watery stool, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting, and yellow skin of 2-day duration. He reports similar diarrhea illness in two close contacts in preceding days. On examination, he was fully oriented but dehydrated, icteric, and febrile. Laboratory data revealed WBC of 2200/L, elevated AST and ALT (201 IU/L, 73 IU/L resp.), normal alkaline phosphatase, elevated total and direct bilirubin of 8.2 mg/dL and 4.4 mg/dL, albumin of 3.2 g/dL, INR of 2.9, prothrombin time of 31.7, and platelet of 96,000/L. Workup for infectious, autoimmune and medication-induced hepatitis, Wilson’s disease, and hemochromatosis was negative. Abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography of the abdomen showed hepatic steatosis and right-sided colitis. Stool and blood cultures were positive for Shigella sonnei. He was treated with ciprofloxacin with improvement in liver function. Followup blood test 4 months later was within normal limits

Pancreatic Involvement in Hermansky–Pudlak Syndrome- A Case Report

Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder that presents with oculocutaneous albinism, bleeding disorders, and immunodeficiency. Granulomatous colitis and pulmonary fibrosis are two major complications of this syndrome. On rare instances, HPS can involve the heart and lungs. This report discusses a 32-year-old man who presented with oculocutaneous albinism and immunodeficiency along with renal, pulmonary, and pancreatic complications. Pancreatic atrophy is a unique finding in our patient, which has not been reported in the literature. The purpose of our case report is to bring into light unusual complications of HPS so that timely action could be taken to avoid the progression of complications.&nbsp

Optimization of surface roughness of A1-7075 T6 in CNC end milling

Submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirement of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in MechanicalThe demand for high strength and low weight material in aerospace industries is found to be\ud increasing in fabrication of structures and equipment’s of aircraft and space satellites.\ud Aluminium alloys possesses the characteristics of lightweight and high strength. The\ud identification of the optimum values of input parameters to achieve better surface finish as\ud response parameters is the prime objective of the project. The Aluminium 7075 T651 is worked\ud on the End milling process on the HAAS CNC machine. Different parameters of Cutting Speed,\ud Feed, and Depth of Cut in the Orthogonal Array method using Taguchi method. The results are\ud to be worked on the DOE method on software MINITAB.\ud The material can further be worked upon different input parameters on various machines and for\ud different response parameters. For carrying out the above-mentioned process various papers were\ud referred for guidance and knowledge in the same field of previously carried experiments and\ud results. Various technical concepts and tools like The Taguchi, Orthogonal Array, DOE,\ud ANNOVA, Fuzzy Logic, and Response Parameters etc. were learned from the Published papers\ud and it helped extensively in gaining knowledge required for the experiments to be performed on\ud our project

Ownership type, business model, market structure, and the performance of Takaful and conventional insurance companies in Malaysia

The paper evaluates the performance of the Takaful and insurance companies in Malaysia. It examines the impact of ownership, business model, and market structure on conventional and Takaful companies’ performance. The inter-firm comparisons provide information about the performance and competitiveness of firms operating under different modes of business. The study adopts the unbalanced panel data approach with Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) regression to analyse the data of 44 Malaysian Takaful and insurance companies with 255 firm observations over the period from 2011 to 2016. The study’s findings show that Takaful and insurance companies perform at par in terms of their premiums. However, Takaful has better investment income. Foreign-owned firms perform better than local firms. The efficient market hypothesis is more powerful than the structural conduct hypothesis in explaining the firms’ performance. The study’s implications are expected to help improve and develop the Takaful and insurance sector as an efficient industry in-line with regulation changes. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to compare the Takaful with conventional insurance in Malaysia concerning their performance, market structure, and ownership

Left atrial volumes and associated stroke subtypes.

Background: Cardio embolism and cerebrovascular atherosclerosis are two major mechanisms of stroke. Studies investigating associations between advanced echocardiographic parameters and stroke mechanisms are limited. Methods: This study is a standardized review of 633 patients admitted to the stroke service of a tertiary care hospital following a standardized stroke investigation and management pathway. Stroke subtypes were characterized using the Causative Classification System, using the hospitals online radiologic archival system with CCS certified stroke investigators. Patients with two mechanisms were excluded. Results: Patients with cardioembolic stroke had a higher proportion of atrial fibrillation (p \u3c 0.001), acute myocardial infarction (p \u3c 0.001) and ischemic heart disease (p \u3c 0.001). On electrocardiogram (ECG) and transthoracic Echo (TTE), patients with cardioembolic stroke had a greater atrial fibrillation (p \u3c .00), left ventricular thrombus (p \u3c .00), left ventricular ejection fraction \u3c30% (p \u3e\u3c .00) and global hypokinesia (p \u3c .00) Patients with cardioembolic stroke had higher mean left atrial volume indices (LAVi) (p \u3c 0.001), mean left ventricular mass indices (LVMi) (p \u3c 0.05) and mean left atrial diameters (LAD) (p \u3c 0.05). At LAVi of 29–33 ml/m2 , the risk of atherothrombotic stroke increased. The risk of cardioembolic stroke increased with LAVi of 34 ml/m2 and above. Conclusion: Left atrial volume indices may be linked to specific stroke phenotype. At mild increases in left atrial dimensions, the risks of atherosclerotic stroke are high, and probably reflect hypertension as the unifying mechanism. Further increases in left atrial dimensions shifts the risk towards cardioembolic stroke

Mid- and far-infrared localized surface plasmon resonances in chalcogen-hyperdoped silicon

Plasmonic sensing in the infrared region employs the direct interaction of the vibrational fingerprints of molecules with the plasmonic resonances, creating surface-enhanced sensing platforms that are superior than the traditional spectroscopy. However, the standard noble metals used for plasmonic resonances suffer from high radiative losses as well as fabrication challenges, such as tuning the spectral resonance positions into mid- to far-infrared regions, and the compatibility issue with the existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing platform. Here, we demonstrate the occurrence of mid-infrared localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in thin Si films hyperdoped with the known deep-level impurity tellurium. We show that the mid-infrared LSPR can be further enhanced and spectrally extended to the far-infrared range by fabricating two-dimensional arrays of micrometer-sized antennas in a Te-hyperdoped Si chip. Since Te-hyperdoped Si can also work as an infrared photodetector, we believe that our results will unlock the route toward the direct integration of plasmonic sensors with the one-chip CMOS platform, greatly advancing the possibility of mass manufacturing of high-performance plasmonic sensing systems.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

A randomized controlled behavioral intervention trial to improve medication adherence in adult stroke patients with prescription tailored Short Messaging Service (SMS)-SMS4Stroke study.

Background: The effectiveness of mobile technology to improve medication adherence via customized Short Messaging Service (SMS) reminders for stroke has not been tested in resource poor areas. We designed a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of SMS on improving medication adherence in stroke survivors in Pakistan. Methods: This was a parallel group, assessor-blinded, randomized, controlled, superiority trial. Participants were centrally randomized in fixed block sizes. Adult participants on multiple medications with access to a cell phone and stroke at least 4 weeks from onset (Onset as defined by last seen normal) were eligible. The intervention group, in addition to usual care, received reminder SMS for 2 months that contained a) Personalized, prescription tailored daily medication reminder(s) b) Twice weekly health information SMS. The Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive theory were used to design the language and content of messages. Frontline SMS software was used for SMS delivery. Medication adherence was self-reported and measured on the validated Urdu version of Morisky Medication Adherence Questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was used to model the outcome against intervention and other covariates. Analysis was conducted by intention-to-treat principle. Results: Two hundred participants were enrolled. 38 participants were lost to follow-up. After 2 months, the mean medication score was 7.4 (95 % CI: 7.2–7.6) in the intervention group while 6.7 (95 % CI: 6.4–7.02) in the control group. The adjusted mean difference (Δ) was 0.54 (95 % CI: 0.22–0.85). The mean diastolic blood pressure in the intervention group was 2.6 mmHg (95 % CI; −5.5 to 0.15) lower compared to the usual care group. Conclusion: A short intervention of customized SMS can improve medication adherence and effect stroke risk factors like diastolic blood pressure in stroke survivors with complex medication regimens living in resource poor areas