Performance Guarantees for Homomorphisms Beyond Markov Decision Processes

Most real-world problems have huge state and/or action spaces. Therefore, a naive application of existing tabular solution methods is not tractable on such problems. Nonetheless, these solution methods are quite useful if an agent has access to a relatively small state-action space homomorphism of the true environment and near-optimal performance is guaranteed by the map. A plethora of research is focused on the case when the homomorphism is a Markovian representation of the underlying process. However, we show that near-optimal performance is sometimes guaranteed even if the homomorphism is non-Markovian. Moreover, we can aggregate significantly more states by lifting the Markovian requirement without compromising on performance. In this work, we expand Extreme State Aggregation (ESA) framework to joint state-action aggregations. We also lift the policy uniformity condition for aggregation in ESA that allows even coarser modeling of the true environment

Nursing in Pakistan: What Does Chat-GPT Answer Regarding the Future of Nursing Education

A significant part of Pakistan's healthcare system is nursing. The matter has been the focus of in-depth historical research, is still a pressing concern in the nation as of 2009, and has generated a great deal of academic and professional debate [1]. The Pakistani government declared in 2009 that it intended to raise the standard of nursing in the nation. The primary focus of the health care profession of nursing is on providing care for individuals and families. Everywhere in the world, but particularly in poorer nations like Pakistan, there is a shortage of nurses

Alternative strategies for building construction and project control

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture; and, (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1982.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-208).Housing low-income groups, who cannot afford even the most minimal shelter, remains a dominant issue in most developing countries. However, all the solutions advanced so far depend on large investments, either by the Government or by the individuals concerned, which neither of them can afford. This thesis examines squatter settlements in Aurangi, Karachi (Pakistan) and identifies issues related to housing and the policies currently being implemented. The results of that investigation indicate that housing the low-income, given the economy and housing policies in most developing countries, can most effectively be realized by encouraging self-help methods. before self-help methods. can be realized construction techniques have to be simplified. This thesis proposes an alternate construction method which promises to simplify some of the building tasks in construction of low-rise dwellings, and hopes to reduce the overall material costs in construction. This method relies on using fabrics as formwork in construction. This formwork is used in making walls, beams, and domes. A cost comparison is made with the current construction techniques in the country and the proposed building strategy is found to be highly competitive.by Javed Sultan.M.S

Empirical Research on the Effects of Firm-Bank Relationship on Firm’s Performance in Pakistan

In this competitive world of business, every commercial organization is in search of better performance with the help reduction in costs and establishing good market relationships. Bank relationships is one of such policies in order to achieve better performance. This paper has discussed a new aspect of these relationships and its impact on client firm’s performance. The research has collected a data of non-financial firms listed in Pakistan Stock Exchange for a period of 2006-2015 and investigated the impact of Islamic Bank relationships in comparison to the Conventional bank relationships with respect to contribution in client firm performance. The results show that performance of client firm is associated with Islamic banking relationship, positively and significantly. ROA, ROE, ROS and Tobin’s Q are used as the proxies for firm performance and a ratio is calculated between numbers of bank relationship of Islamic bank to conventional bank. In the light of our findings, we suggest that the firms in Pakistan may get more benefits by establishing bank relationships with Islamic banks. Keywords: Firm-bank relationship, Islamic bank, bank relationship, firm performance

Terrorism & Its Impact On Foreign Flows: Lessons From Pakistan

High terrorist attack frequency and intensity in Pakistan provides a unique data to study the impact of terrorism on foreign inflows and trade. After 9/11, Pakistan has suffered from rapidly decreasing foreign inflows and a contraction in trade. The paper estimates the unit cost of a terrorist attack in terms of foreign inflows and international trade lost to be $51.92 million

Bank-firm Relationships vs Financial Expenses of the Client Firm: Evidence from Developing Markets (Pakistan)

Aiming to perform better always, the management and strategy makers of the firm feel pressure of decision making. An aspect of this strategy is to maintain the continuous and low cost of finance for the firm to excel in the industry. Banking relationships, being the main or sometimes the only source of financing, is very important for the firm. This research aims to answer the question about the number of banking relationships and their effect on firm’s financial expenditures. Our research is unique as our data set is from developing markets and most of the previous researches are focused on developed markets like U.S, Japan, and Italy etc. the data for 180 listed firms is paneled for our research from Karachi Stock Exchange. We attempt to regress the financial expenses of clients firms against our main variables (NBR, MBR) using OLS regression analysis with robust errors. Some other most commonly used variables are also used to control the effect. Our results shows significant and positive effect on financial expenses with respect to increase in number of bank relationships. This means a negative impact on the firm’s performance indirectly. Thus, the firms have to reconsider the number of banking relationship it should establish. Keywords: Multi-bank relationship (MBR), Financial Expense, Firm Performance

Formulation and in vitro evaluation of orodispersible tablets of fexofenadine hydrochloride

Purpose: To develop orodispersible tablets (ODTs) of fexofenadine hydrochloride using three different superdisintegrants in various ratios and to compare their disintegration properties.Methods: Direct compression technique was used for the preparation of ODTs. Mannitol and Avicel CE-15 (microcrystalline cellulose and guar gum) were used as direct compression diluents. The disintegration time of tablets using each polymer (superdisintegrant) was evaluated as well as othertablet properties including weight fluctuation, hardness, friability, wetting time and water absorption ratio.Results: Satisfactory values were obtained for all the evaluated parameters. As the polymer concentration increased, there was a decrease in disintegration time. A comparison of the three different polymers used revealed that CCM3 formulated with 12 % croscarmellose sodium and 14.66 % lactose had the least disintegration time of 32.33 ± 3.23 s. In vitro release studies showed that the maximum drug release of 94.38 ± 0.12 % in 25 min was obtained for ODT tablets containing croscarmellose sodium (CCM3).Conclusion: The orodispersible tablets had quick disintegrating property which was achieved using superdisintegrants. Thus, superdisintegrants improve the disintegration efficiency of orodispersible fexofenadine tablets at low concentrations, when compared to traditional disintegrants. Keywords: Croscarmellose sodium, Direct compression, Fexofenadine, Orodispersible tablet

Impact of Servant Leadership on Project Success Through Mediating Role of Team Motivation and Effectiveness:A Case of Software Industry

Project management in today’s intensely competitive environment has compelled organizations to adopt project management approach for better business results. Therefore, current research study aims to investigate the impact of servant leadership on project success with the mediating role of team motivation and team effectiveness in the software industry. A field survey was conducted, using a questionnaire as a survey tool. Data were collected from 219 respondents who have been working as team members of software development projects. The statistical results were obtained using the SPSS Process macro. The results show project managers need to exhibit a servant leadership style due to its strong influence on project success, albeit through team motivation and effectiveness. The findings from this study contribute to the field of leadership and project management along with the field of information systems and software engineering.</p

FPGA IMPLEMENTATION OF ADVANCE ENCRYPTION STANDARD WITH SINGLE KEY

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is known as most secured encryption standard now a days. Many researchers have implemented it in different languages like java, C and C++ with different algorithms. Recently the AES 128-bit has been implemented using Verilog on FPGA with equipped key being encrypted along with data input in whole process. In this paper the AES 128-bit encryption and decryption process with key which is only used for data input and is not encrypted throughout the encryption/decryption process. Results are same but our algorithm is slightly faster because only data is encrypted in the process of encryption, thus process time and area is optimized

Prevalence of hamstrings tightness and its impact on lower extremity function in asymptomatic individuals with prolonged standing hours

Background: Hamstrings undergo adaptive shortening. It is common in healthy individuals to have a sedentary lifestyle affecting males (91.8%) more than females (78.7%). Hamstring tightness can interrupt ADL’s predisposing the person to further health problems i.e. plantar fasciitis, sacroiliac joint pain, decreased lumbar lordosis, knee pain, quadriceps malfunction, postural disturbances, overstretched lumbar ligaments, reduced muscle strength. Aims and Objectives: To analyze the prevalence of hamstring tightness and its effects on lower extremity function in individuals with prolonged standing. Materials and Methods: 65 participants were chosen for this cross-sectional study by convenient sampling; all were female nurses. The hamstring tightness was measured by the data collection tools i.e. lower limb task questionnaire, straight leg raise test, and active knee extension test after having the consent forms signed by the participants. The data was collected from three big hospitals in the city. Results: The results of the study conducted to see the prevalence of hamstrings tightness and its impact on lower extremity function in asymptomatic individuals with prolonged standing hours showed that only 15.38% of the sample (n=65) with a mean age of 31-35 years were found with bilateral hamstrings tightness while 84.62% were found with no hamstrings tightness. Conclusion: The prevalence of hamstring tightness in asymptomatic individuals with prolonged standing hours is low