Unethical Practices in Pakistani Construction Industry

Construction Industry plays a substantial role in a country’s national economy, regardless of the level of economic development. It is beyond any doubt that this sector is an important employer of a nation’s workforce as it employs between 2 to 10 percent of the total workforce in most of countries. Same is the case with Pakistani Construction Industry. The industry has never been explored and exploited to its fullest capacity. Unfortunately the industry is seriously infected with corrupt and unethical practices which lay major obstacles towards growth and productivity of the industry. This research has been undertaken with a view to find out the most occurring unethical practices in Pakistan. To achieve this objective, a survey questionnaire was designed and disseminated to the respondents. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed, out of which total 125 responses were received, which is a good response for this study. The data was analyzed by using Statpro software. The major findings are; lack of training in ethics, corruption and bribery, bid shopping, and fraud and unfair conduct. These can be addressed by evolving codes of ethics, imparting high quality training in ethics and above all setting personal examples by the top management. Keywords: Unethical, Construction, Practices, Pakista

Trends of Safety Performance in Construction and Civil Engineering Projects in Pakistan

The major construction and  civil engineering projects are sponsored by public sector in Pakistan. The users contracting and bidding procedures do not offer a significant space to the aspect of safety performance in construction and engineering projects. The prevalent measures of safety are after- the- fact measures - that means safety is given importance once casualties have actually been occurred. Such practices or measures are termed as inductive, reactive, trailing, down stream or lagging indicators. This is so because they are based upon retrospective data. As the country has undergone through massive development in engineering, construction and infrastructure sectors, safety aspect has been transformed from lagging indicators to leading indicator. Companies and organizations have started focusing on good safety performance under safety climate and culture. In this paper, a sincere research effort has been made to assess and analyze the health and safety performance of various constructions firms as well as overall construction engineering industry of Pakistan. In order to achieve this objective, various structured interviews and survey questionnaire were designed. The data collected from industry specific respondents has been analyzed using statpro   software. The salient findings of this study are as follows; the majority of the casualties are Fall of Individuals from Heights, Electric Shocks, Caught in between the Plants, Machinery and Confined Spaces and Struck by an Object or Machinery. Similarly there is no positive mindset from top down, non application of safety laws, lack of safety management plan, lack of safety and health of workplace, inadequate arrangement of first aid, lack of personnel’s protective equipment and absence of accident reporting mechanism. The major recommendations of the study are as follows; At industry level, safety rules should be  as regulated and re-defined, documented and enforced. Moreover  provision of personnel protective equipment, training of entire organization, safety management plan under safety officer, adequate first aid at sites, efficient reporting mechanism and safety awareness of employees and workforce will also improve the existing situation. It is also recommended that more research should be carried out in order to evolve a comprehensive safety management policies. Keywords: Construction, civil engineering, Pakistan, safet

Cost Performance in Construction Industry of Pakistan

Construction industry is notorious and infamous as far as cost base lines and project budgets are concerned. More than 90 percent of projects delay gets over budgeted or completely abandoned due to either paucity of funds or mismanagement at different levels. Despite a major contributor in the Gross Domestic Product of a country, its full potential has never been exploited. Perhaps this retrogressive atmosphere has been cultivated by callous, careless and unprofessional attitudes of all stakeholders of construction industry. The primary stakeholders which affect the projects positively or negatively in cost dimension are; the government, the contractors, the consultants and the clients or owners. The authors conducted interviews as well as surveys with construction professionals, contractors, architects, design engineers, suppliers and sub contractors in order identify the most occurring causes of cost overruns in construction projects. In addition to this contemporary literature was studied and reviewed with a purpose to assess the current and ongoing issues in the construction industry. A questionnaire was distributed among respondents on cost performance of various completed and under construction projects, with a view to highlight the concrete reasons which push the projects out of approved budgets. The major conclusions from this research paper which have been drawn are; corruption and bribery, political interests, poor site management, delay in site mobilization, rigid attitude by consultants, extra work without approvals, frequent changes during execution, gold platting, safety and health and limited access to job sites. In order to avoid, eliminate or mitigate effects of these causes viable recommendations have been recommended. Keywords: Cost Performance, Construction Industry, Pakista

The Association of Gender with the Patterns of Impactions and Associated Radiolucency’s in Mandible and Maxilla

OBJECTIVES To find the association between gender and the patterns of impactions and associated radiolucency in Mandibleand Maxilla. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 385 Orthopantomograms (OPG) of patients visiting SharifMedical and Dental College (SMDC), Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) and Institute of Dentistry,CMH, Lahore Medical College, Lahore over a period of three months from December 2020 to February 2021.The angle of the impacted third molar was classified using Winters classification. The Pell and Gregoryclassification was used for depth of third molar impaction and ramus relationship of mandibular third molars.Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 23 and a P value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS The angle of impaction and gender in impacted mandibular third molars were significantly associated with eachother (p=0.011) while the depth of impaction (p=0.729), and ramus relationship(p=0.318) were not significantlyassociated with gender. The associa tion between gender and periapical radiolucency (p=0.605), peri coronalradiolucency (p=0.591), caries (p=0.499) and external resorption (p=0.499) were non-significant. In maxillaryimpacted third molars the association between gender and depth of impaction (p=0.121), angle of impaction(p=0.284), periapical radiolucency (p=0.111), peri coronal radiolucency (p=0.805) and caries (p=1.000) werenon-significant. CONCLUSION In impacted mandibular third molars the periapical, peri coronal radiolucency,caries and external resorption weremore in the males as compared to the females. In maxillary third molar impactions, the periapical radiolucencyradiolucency was greater in males while peri coronal radiolucency was greater in females

Effectiveness of Mckenzie Traction and Exercises on Neck Pain Secondary to Upper Crossed Syndrome.

OBJECTIVES:  To examine the effects of McKenzie traction and exercises on neck pain, cervical ranges, functional activities and posture secondary to upper crossed syndrome. METHODS: Randomized control trial was conducted on patient of neck pain secondary to upper crossed syndrome from physical therapy setups of Lahore and Sargodha in total six months. 120 patients of 20-60 years’ age group were allocated in two groups (experimental and control), both contained 60 respondents, both groups received neck pain exercises with TENS for eight weeks, weekly three times and McKenzie traction and exercises were additionally received by experimental group. Partakers were assessed after eight weeks of treatment. Oswestry questionnaire was used for assessment, reed co scale and goniometer parameters, was used. RESULTS: Collected data was analyzed in SPSS 20. Independent sample t-test was applied to compare mean of quantitative data at the end of treatment in both groups. Mean pre-treatment Oswestry disability score in general exercise group and McKenzie group was 60.37 and 56.82 respectively (with p-value > .05). Mean post treatment Oswestry disability score in general exercise group was 30.63 and in McKenzie group was 26.70 (with p-value.02). Mean pre-treatment flexion, extension, side flexion and rotation means in general group were 36.38, 47.10, 36.32, and 66.37 respectively whereas in McKenzie these values were 38.30, 45.47, 37.47 and 67.38 respectively (with p-value > .05). CONCLUSION: Both general exercises and McKenzie treatment improved neck pain secondary to upper crossed syndrome, however the McKenzie treatment stood significantly better than general exercise. Keywords: Mckenzie Traction, Exercise, Neck Pain, Mckenzie Treatment, Syndrome DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/74-07 Publication date:May 31st 202

Correlation of Foot Wears with MSK Disorders in Ankle Joints Among Females

AIM: This paper is a report of study conducted to explain the factors that causes ankle sprain by wearing high heels among students of Sargodha medical college and university of Sargodha.BACKGROUND: High heeled shoes have been worn for several centuries and despite numerous cautions against their use, they remain extremely popular. Wearing high heeled shoes is thought to increase the individual’s likelihood of experiencing a lateral ankle sprain. The 19th century saw the first warnings that wearing high heels footwear could lead to trips and falls. Previous investigations have shown that high heeled shoes align the foot in planter flexion, modifying the relative orientation of the skeletal structures of ankle, midtarsal, and metatarsophalangeal joints, and alter the insertion angles of the foot and gliding joint muscles, therefore increasing the risk factor for ankle sprain.METHODS: observational non-experimental study was conducted via a questionnaire which was distributed among 500 female students of SMC (Sargodha medical college) and university of Sargodha. These female students fall in age group between18-26.RESULT: The result of our study concluded that the types of heel and height of heel are the most significant factors that cause ankle sprain. The ankle sprain caused by wearing pencil heels and by use of <3 inch heels are greatest. Keywords: Pencil heel, height of heel, Ankle sprain, SMC, Female student. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/80-09 Publication date:September 30th 202

Comparison of Essential Oil Yield, Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Leaf: Conventional Distillation versus Emerging Superheated Steam Distillation

Eucalyptus essential oil (EO) has significance economically since it is used in the medicinal and fragrance industries. The main objective of this study was to investigate the differences in yield, composition, antioxidant capacity, and antibacterial effectiveness of the EO extracted from Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves. To achieve this, three distinct extraction techniques, namely steam distillation (SD), hydro distillation (HD), and superheated steam distillation (SHSD), were utilized to isolate the EO. The study aimed to analyze and compare these parameters among the three extraction methods. Based on the findings from the experiments, it has been found that using SHSD resulted in a higher EO yield than conventional techniques, and this SHSD produced a greater amount of EO in a shorter time. The EOs extracted using all three techniques have 1,8 cineole as the main constituent, according to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis results. All of the EOs demonstrated significant antioxidant capacities when tested in vitro using a variety of antioxidant assays. The EOs extracted through HD showed greater antibacterial activity among the other extraction processes, as evaluated by agar well diffusion and resazurin microtitre-plate assays. In conclusion, SHSD is more efficient for extracting EOs and antioxidant activity than traditional HD and SD