Personal Tutorage System for Schools in Pakistan: A Policy Proposal

The core objective of a school is to develop children for challenges ahead in life ahead by passing them through a well-developed mechanise process of teaching, learning and scholarship. While teaching helps them to grow academically, learning and scholarship are essential for personal development. In a participatory, progressive and tolerant society, the role of a teacher is to help children in becoming positively ‘participating citizens’ (Sociology and 1967, 1967). In Pakistan, there is a huge emphasis on exam-oriented quantitative teaching practices within government schools; however, the learning and scholarship aspect seems to have been largely left neglected. Currently, the only opportunity for a child to have a mentor-oriented learning experience within the school is through subject classes. Unfortunately, these classes do provide subject-specific guidance but does address after the overall development needs of a child, in particular: personal development, their trajectory in achieving their full potential, hitting learning objectives through the schooling experience and in developing ways of self-reflection (Miles, 1985; Syed et al., 2007a, 2007b). The paper is focused on proposing the Personal Tutorage system and structure in Pakistan, nevertheless, it can be implemented with minor revisions anywhere else in the world. The purpose of the draft is to propose a system of Personal Tutorage to be introduced at the government schools in Pakistan. For the benefit of the intended political and bureaucratic audience, the authors have intentionally kept the discussion closely relevant to the very structure of the proposed system and have avoided unnecessary jargon, as well as a detailed literature review. The draft is by no means suggested as a final proposal and has a substantial room for updates and structural improvements. Please note that elements or resources within to furnish this proposal may not be at present available in schools. Here, the word Personal Tutor refers to a member of staff in a school, typically a teacher; tutees refer to the students

DIGITAL CURRENCY (CRYPTOCURRENCY) ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

This study aims to determine the role of Digital Currency according to Islam. According to the legal instructions of Islam, digital currency lacks properties like that of a physical or financial asset such as Gold or Local Currency backed up by a country’s government. Now that the world is progressing towards digitalization, Governments and International businesses have started to experience and work with Digital Currencies, which needs an Islamic perspective as physical currency has started to transform into Digital Currency. Centralized form of currency like banks are old compared to Decentralized currency and trade which is new and has its own pros and cons. Currency in historical background of Islam has always been a physical medium of exchange having a source of value. Similarly, Mal is something that can be stored for the time of necessity or utilized for humanity, Mal in the form of a metal has transformed into Cash backed up by precious metals considered as assets in this modern age which is according to the teachings of Quran and Islamic law. Digital Currency in the History of Islam is new and does not meet the requirements of “currency” in Islam due to which Scholars has declared it Haram according to the rules of Shariah. Digital Currency being Haram is still up for debate as some Scholars have declared it Halal in some cases with strict conditions in light of Islamic Laws. Digital Currency in Islam remains an issue of debate

The Effect of Electronic Flashcards on EFL Students' Vocabulary Learning: The Case of Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to investigate the effect of electronic flashcards on EFL vocabulary learning of preparatory-year female students at a  Saudi Arabia. It was conducted following the quantitative research methodology with a quasi-experimental design. Two groups were assigned: an experimental group who used electronic flashcards, and a control group who employed the traditional method of vocabulary learning. A pre-test and a post-test were administered in order to appraise their performance before and after the experiment. The results revealed that the post-test scores of students in the experimental group were significantly higher than their pre-test. Also, the results showed that electronic flashcards promoted students' vocabulary, causing a statistical significance in comparison to the control group. Based on these findings, this study was able to draw a number of implications and recommendation

Energy drinks consumption practices among medical students of a Private sector University of Karachi, Pakistan

Consumption of energy drinks has become popular among students and athletes over the past few years. To explore the phenomenon, a cross-sectional survey was conducted through a self-administered pilot-tested questionnaire. Frequency of energy drinks consumption was found to be 121(52%) in a sample of 233 medical students. Red bull was the most common brand consumed 101(43%). The major reasons reported for its usage were to gain/replenish energy by 36(15.4%), and studying for examination by 34(14.6%). Television was reported as the major source of information 153(66%) followed by friends 113(48%). There was a high frequency of energy drinks\u27 consumption among medical students of a private university. There is a strong need to create awareness regarding these drinks, especially among adolescents and teenagers

3D printed implantable drug delivery devices for women’s health: Formulation challenges and regulatory perspective

Modern pharmaceutical interventions are shifting from traditional “one-size-fits-all” approaches toward tailored therapies. Following the regulatory approval of Spritam®, the first marketed drug manufactured using three-dimensional printing (3DP) technologies, there is a precedence set for the use of 3DP in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. The involvement of 3DP technologies in pharmaceutical research has demonstrated its capabilities in enabling the customisation of characteristics such as drug dosing, release characteristics and product designs on an individualised basis. Nonetheless, research into 3DP implantable drug delivery devices lags behind that for oral devices, cell-based therapies and tissue engineering applications. The recent efforts and initiatives to address the disparity in women’s health is overdue but should provide a drive for more research into this area, especially using new and emerging technologies as 3DP. Therefore, the focus of this review has been placed on the unique opportunity of formulating personalised implantable drug delivery systems using 3DP for women’s health applications, particularly passive implants. An evaluation of the current landscape and key formulation challenges for achieving this is provided supplemented with critical insight into the current global regulatory status and its outlook

Role of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy in Congenital Obstructive Hydrocephalus

Object:  To improve the care of Obstructive Hydrocephalic infants, from six months to twelve months and to evaluate the efficacy and complications of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV). Materials and Methods:  The study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery PGMI, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore from July 2007 to June 2008. Total numbers of patients were 30, which were divided into two equal groups. Group A (15 patients) underwent Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) and Ventriculo-peritoneal VP Shunt were done in Group B (15 patients). Cases were selected randomly. Results:  The mean age for Group A was 9 months and for Group B was 8 months Endoscopic Third Ventriculo-stomy (ETV) procedure found successful in older than 8 months of age while ventriculoperitoneal VP Shunt procedure found successful in all age groups. Before procedure mean head circumference for Group A was 50.86 cm and for Group B was 50.84 cm. After one year follow up mean head circumference in Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group was 50.18 cm and in VP Shunt Group was 47.38 cm. Primary success in Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group was 53.3% (8 out of 15), whereas in VP Shunt Group it was 66.7% (10 out of 15).  Conclusion:  Although results are same in both groups but Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group remain shunt free. Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy seems to be an effective alternative than VP Shunt in the management of Hydrocephalus in infants provided careful patient selection is done and surgeon is competent enough with Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy technique

Myths and fallacies about epilepsy among residents of a Karachi slum area

Misconceptions about epilepsy may explain the considerable stigma accompanying it. We aimed to identify such fallacies through questionnaire-based interviews of 487 adult residents of a slum area in Karachi, Pakistan. Of those interviewed, 25% believed that epilepsy was caused by evil spirits, black magic and envy by others those without a school education were more likely to hold these views (P \u3c 0.05). Perceived complications included impotence and cancer. Shoe-sniffing was considered a treatment modality by 13%. It appears that misconceptions abound regarding epilepsy\u27s causes, complications and methods of treatment. However, those who had received a school education were less likely to link epilepsy with supernatural phenomena

Fractional optimal control analysis of Covid-19 and dengue fever co-infection model with Atangana-Baleanu derivative

A co-infection with Covid-19 and dengue fever has had worse outcomes due to high mortality rates and longer stays either in isolation or at hospitals. This poses a great threat to a country's economy. To effectively deal with these threats, comprehensive approaches to prevent and control Covid-19/dengue fever co-infections are desperately needed. Thus, our focus is to formulate a new co-infection fractional model with the Atangana-Baleanu derivative to suggest effective and feasible approaches to restrict the spread of co-infection. In the first part of this paper, we present Covid-19 and dengue fever sub-models, as well as the co-infection model that is locally asymptotically stable when the respective reproduction numbers are less than unity. We establish the existence and uniqueness results for the solutions of the co-infection model. We extend the model to include a vaccination compartment for the Covid-19 vaccine to susceptible individuals and a treatment compartment to treat dengue-infected individuals as optimal control strategies for disease control. We outline the fundamental requirements for the fractional optimal control problem and illustrate the optimality system for the co-infection model using Pontraygin's principle. We implement the Toufik-Atangana approximating scheme to simulate the optimality system. The simulations show the effectiveness of the implemented strategy in determining optimal vaccination and treatment rates that decrease the cost functional to a minimum, thus significantly decreasing the number of infected humans and vectors. Additionally, we visualize a meaningful decrease in infection cases with an increase in the memory index. The findings of this study will provide reasonable disease control suggestions to regions facing Covid-19 and dengue fever co-infection

Neurological and neurobehavioral assessment of experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage

About 50% of humans with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) die and many survivors have neurological and neurobehavioral dysfunction. Animal studies usually focused on cerebral vasospasm and sometimes neuronal injury. The difference in endpoints may contribute to lack of translation of treatments effective in animals to humans. We reviewed prior animal studies of SAH to determine what neurological and neurobehavioral endpoints had been used, whether they differentiated between appropriate controls and animals with SAH, whether treatment effects were reported and whether they correlated with vasospasm. Only a few studies in rats examined learning and memory. It is concluded that more studies are needed to fully characterize neurobehavioral performance in animals with SAH and assess effects of treatment

Selective harmonic mitigation based two-scale frequency control of cascaded modified packed U-cell inverters

A new Modified Packed U-Cell (MPUC) converter architecture with cascading is proposed in this paper. To provide an output voltage of 25 levels, the proposed cascaded MPUC needs only twelve power switches and four power sources. The converter comprises two cascaded MPUCs with DC supply in a ratio of 5 : 1. One converter is operating at low frequency (LF) and the other at high frequency (HF) that leads to lower power losses and higher levels. Besides, a variable frequency method is anticipated to produce a 25-level output voltage which has low harmonic content (THD) with the help of Selective Harmonic Mitigation (SHM). The optimum switching angles for SHM are obtained through solving the SHM equations using the Genetic Algorithm (GA). The designed controller is efficient and suitable for applications that require low-frequency operation either in stand-alone or grid-tied. The proposed inverter and its operation procedure have been investigated using MATLAB®/Simulink software, and the findings demonstrate that the proposed inverter output voltage has reduced THD significantly. The simulation results are verified using the typhoon HIL-402 emulator. Also, the power loss analysis is done using PLECS. The maximum efficiency of the converter is found to be around 98.34 %. The simulation results justified the efficiency and viability of low 25-level THD voltages