Working Capital Management and Firm Performance: Evidence from Pakistan

Study analyzes the effect of the proper management of working capital on financial performance of cement sector in Pakistan. The sample period of the study is five years i-e from 2007 to 2011. The data was taken from dissimilar sources that used in this study from Karachi Stock Exchange, Published reports of SBP and respected firm site. The dependent variable of the study is Return on assets which is used as a proxy for firm financial performance.  There are independent variables are account receivable in days, inventory turnover in days, (CCC) and payable turnover in days. Panal Data methodology used to analyze the impact of Working Capital Management on performance or profitability of Cement sector. Results derived that CCC, Net Trading Cycle, Number of Days  Receivable has strongly positive relation with performance and these are significant whereas,  Number of Days Inventory turnover and Number of days payable turnover in Days have negative relation with firm performance and is insignificant. Keywords: Cash Conversion Cycle, Net Trade Cycle, Receivable Turnover in Days, Inventory Turnover in Days & Payable Turnover in Days

Jump Diffusion Phenomenon, Realized Jumps, and Stock Returns: Panel Quantile Regression Analysis of Aggregate Market and Sectors

Past financial crisis and uncertain dynamics of stock market direct the highly volatile trend of stock prices and returns. These volatility conditions may affect investors and financial managers severely. Therefore, it is necessary to find comprehensive framework to understand the dynamics of stock return volatility. This study is aimed at examination of dynamics of jump diffusion phenomenon of stock return volatility. Comparative insight of aggregate stock market and sectoral stock returns in response with diffusive risk, jump risk, return asymmetry and total volatility measures of jump diffusion are provided in this research. This study is based on the sample of 251 non-financial firms with 8 sectors listed in PSX formerly in KSE during the period of 2006 to 2018. This research uses panel data quantile regression model with fixed effect estimates for statistical results. The results indicate that non-linear events with proxy results of realized jumps have significant negative impact on aggregate stock market return. But sectoral stock returns show mixed of positive and negative linkages with realized jumps. Jump diffusion components of volatility results confirmed non-linear positive and negative impact on sectoral stock returns. This research will provide diversified perspectives of managing investment decisions. Key Words: Jump Diffusion Processes, Realized Jumps, Volatility, Non-Linear Events, Financial risk JEL Codes: C32, G12, G14, G3

Predictors of Non-adherence to iron chelation therapy in pediatric thalassemia patients

Objective: This study was conducted to identify predictors of non-adherence to iron chelation therapy among children suffering from β-thalassemia major across different treatment regimens. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2019. The study was conducted at the Pakistan Institute of Thalassemia, Islamabad. Children between the ages of 2 -16 years suffering from β-Thalassemia major and taking iron chelation therapy were included in the study. Chelation adherence for this analysis was defined as the percent of doses taken in the last 12 weeks out of those prescribed. Guardians of patients were interviewed using a questionnaire and medical records were checked. Data were analysed using SPSS 20.0. Multivariate analysis was conducted to identify the predictors for non-adherence to chelation therapy. The significant value was set at ≤ 0.05. Results: Mean age of the patients in our study was 8.90± 3.74 years. There were 33 males and 64 females. Most of the patients n=87 (89.7%) were taking oral iron chelation therapy. The mean score for chelation adherence was 67.12%. Among the multiple demographic, medical-related, and patient-related factors analysed, travel time from the patient’s residence to the treatment centre and the number of transfusions per year were found to be significant predictors (p-value ≤0.05) of non-adherence to iron chelation therapy. Conclusion: Overall, the study provides strong evidence that healthcare-related factors play a major role in patients’ adherence to treatment. A systemic approach should be taken to ensure patient adherence during the management of paediatric thalassemic patients

QuSecNets: Quantization-based Defense Mechanism for Securing Deep Neural Network against Adversarial Attacks

Adversarial examples have emerged as a significant threat to machine learning algorithms, especially to the convolutional neural networks (CNNs). In this paper, we propose two quantization-based defense mechanisms, Constant Quantization (CQ) and Trainable Quantization (TQ), to increase the robustness of CNNs against adversarial examples. CQ quantizes input pixel intensities based on a "fixed" number of quantization levels, while in TQ, the quantization levels are "iteratively learned during the training phase", thereby providing a stronger defense mechanism. We apply the proposed techniques on undefended CNNs against different state-of-the-art adversarial attacks from the open-source \textit{Cleverhans} library. The experimental results demonstrate 50%-96% and 10%-50% increase in the classification accuracy of the perturbed images generated from the MNIST and the CIFAR-10 datasets, respectively, on commonly used CNN (Conv2D(64, 8x8) - Conv2D(128, 6x6) - Conv2D(128, 5x5) - Dense(10) - Softmax()) available in \textit{Cleverhans} library

Razina imunoglobulina u odnosu na neonatalnu smrtnost janjadi pak- karakul ovaca.

The study was conducted on 85 neonatals of Pak-Karakul sheep at the Sheep and Goat Development Centre, Rakh Khairewala, District Layyah, Pakistan, with the aim of assessing the relationship of immunoglobulins to neonatal lamb mortality. Overall mortality in neonates was 8.24%. Surviving lambs (3.77±0.07 kg) were significantly (P<0.001) heavier than those that died during the neonatal period (2.79±0.018 kg). Males were significantly (P<0.05) heavier than females (3.84±0.11 vs. 3.52±0.09 kg). The lambs that survived the neonatal period had a significantly (P<0.001) higher level of immunoglobulins (30.89±0.87 ZST units) than those that died (7.08±1.99 ZST units). The mean total serum protein values for surviving and dead lambs, using a refractometer, were 78.51±1.86 and 47.14±4.84 g/l, respectively. The turbidity values below 10 ZST units and total serum protein level below 50 g/l may be considered as an indication of hypogammaglobulinemia and consequently an increased susceptibility to diseases and subsequent deaths.Istraživanje je provedeno na 85 novorođenčadi pak-karakul ovaca u Sheep and Goat Development Centru u Rakh Khairewala, u području Layyah u Pakistanu, s ciljem procjene odnosa imunoglobulina i neonatalne smrtnosti janjadi. Ukupna smrtnost novorođenčadi je bila 8,24%. Janjad koja je preživjela (3,77±0,07 kg) imala je značajno (P<0,001) veću masu od one koja je uginula u neonatalnom razdoblju (2,79±0,018 kg). Masa mužjaka bila je značajno (P<0,05) veća od mase ženki (3,84±0,11 prema 3,52±0,09 kg). Janjci koji su preživjeli neonatalno razdoblje imali su značajno (P<0,001) višu razinu imunoglobulina (30,89±0,87 ZST jedinica) od onih koji su uginuli (7,08±1,99 ZST jedinica). Prosječne vrijednosti ukupnih serumskih proteina preživjelih i uginulih janjaca, mjerene refraktometrom, bile su 78,51±1,86 odnosno 47,14±4,84 g/l. Vrijednosti za turbiditet ispod10 ZST jedinica i za ukupne serumske proteine ispod 50 g/l mogu se smatrati indikacijom hipogamaglobulinemije i posljedične povećane prijemljivosti za bolesti i smrtnost

Formulation and stability of topical water in oil emulsion containing corn silk extract

Purpose: To formulate the water in oil (W/O) emulsion of corn silk (CS) extract and to evaluate its stability at various storage conditions.Methods: Ethanol CS extract was prepared using maceration (cold) technique. A 4 % CS emulsion was prepared using varying concentrations of liquid paraffin, ABIL EM90 and water. The formulations were kept at 25 oC for 28 days and to screen out the less stable formulations. The remaining formulations were further stressed at 40 oC to choose the most stable formulation. The optimized formulation was evaluated for physical characteristics including phase separation, rheology and mean droplet size. The physical stability of the formulation was evaluated by monitoring these parameters over a period of 12 weeks at 8, 25, 40 and 40 oC, and 75 % RH.Results: The chosen formulation showed good resistance to phase separation on centrifugation under all storage conditions. Rheological behavior followed non-Newtonian pseudoplastic pattern at various storage conditions. Mean droplet size of freshly prepared formulation was 2.98 ± 1.32 μm and did not show significant (p &lt; 0.05) changes at normal storage conditions (8 and 25 oC).Conclusion: The findings indicate that the developed CS extract W/O emulsion is stable and therefore may be suitable for topical use on skin as an antioxidant preparation.Keywords: Corn silk, Emulsion, Nonionic surfactant, Rheology, Flow index, Droplet size, Non-Newtonian pseudoplasti

A Review on Text Detection Techniques

Text detection in image is an important field. Reading text is challenging because of the variations in images. Text detection is useful for many navigational purposes e.g. text on google API’s and traffic panels etc. This paper analyzes the work done on text detection by many researchers and critically evaluates the techniques designed for text detection and states the limitation of each approach. We have integrated the work of many researchers for getting a brief over view of multiple available techniques and their strengths and limitations are also discussed to give readers a clear picture. The major dataset discussed in all these papers are ICDAR 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013 and SVT(street view text).

Conceptualising the role of opinion leaders as moderator to local communities commitment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication

The concept of communication as mediation has now become a crucial metric for analysing various behavioural patterns, particularly in relation to new media. Several psychological and structural factors interpreting the relationship between engagement and the consumption of information and cognitive processes have been emphasised through the use of O-S-O-R and O-S-R-O-R communication mediation models. However, there remains a variety of viewpoints concerning theoretical perspectives and thematic patterns, leading to difficulties in obtaining a structured overview and so advance the development of communication mediation research. This study consists of a systematic literature review of 739 articles, published between 2015 and 2020, across three databases, Scopus, Google Scholar and EBSCOhost, resulting in thirty-four being identified as usable for providing a synthesis of current knowledge focusing on new media. This highlights a considerable variation in existing constructions and trends, along with communication effects and O-S-R-O-R measures. This review undertakes a thematic classification of prior studies in order to: firstly, identify key gaps in the literature, secondly, identify potential areas for additional research, and thirdly, offer recommendations for future studies. By offering an in-depth analysis, this review will enhance information and assist scholars to expand the existing literature. In addition, this study examines the implications for the investigation of potential pre-emptive factors for O-S-O-R and O-S-R-O-R