Energy Demand in Pakistan: A Disaggregate Analysis

This study examines the demand for energy at disaggregate level (gas, electricity and coal) for Pakistan over the period 1972-2007. Over main results suggest that electricity and coal consumption responds positively to changes in real income per capita and negatively to changes in domestic price level. The gas consumption responds negatively to real income and price changes in the shortrun, however, in the long-run real income exerts positive effect on gas consumption, while domestic price remains insignificant. Furthermore, in the short-run the average elasticities of price and real income for gas consumption (in absolute terms) are greater than that of electricity and coal consumption. The differences in elasticities of each component of energy have significant policy implications for income and revenue generation.Energy Demand, Cointegration, Pakistan

Energy Demand in Pakistan: A Disaggregate Analysis

This study examines the demand for energy at disaggregate level (gas, electricity and coal) for Pakistan over the period 1972-2007. Over main results suggest that electricity and coal consumption responds positively to changes in real income per capita and negatively to changes in domestic price level. The gas consumption responds negatively to real income and price changes in the shortrun, however, in the long-run real income exerts positive effect on gas consumption, while domestic price remains insignificant. Furthermore, in the short-run the average elasticities of price and real income for gas consumption (in absolute terms) are greater than that of electricity and coal consumption. The differences in elasticities of each component of energy have significant policy implications for income and revenue generation.Pakistan, Energy Demand

Localization performance evaluation of extended kalman filter in wireless sensors network

This paper evaluates the positioning and tracking performance of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) in wireless sensors network. The EKF is a linear approximation of statistical Kalman Filter (KF) and has the capability to work efficiently in non-linear systems. The EKF is based on an iterative process of estimating current state information from the previously estimated state. Its working is based on the linearization of observation model around the mean of current state information. The EKF has small computation complexity and requires low memory compared to other Bayesian algorithms which makes it very suitable for low powered mobile devices. This paper evaluates the localization and tracking performance of EKF for (i) Position (P) model, (ii) Position-Velocity (PV) model and (iii) Position-Velocity-Acceleration (PVA) model. The EKF processes distance measurements from cricket sensors that are acquired through time difference of arrival between ultrasound and Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Further, localization performance under varying number of beacons/sensors is also evaluated in this paper. © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Socio-economic Status of Transferred and Non-transferred Urban Slums: A Case Study from Faisalabad

The rapid urbanisation has become a burning challenge across the developing countries of the world for the last four decades. The population pressure on the cities has caused many problems like environmental pollution, sanitation, education, health, traffic level and housing etc. In this context, housing is one of the most important issues related to urbanisation. Slums are reflected as the carbuncle in cities and looked extemporaneously and arbitrarily [Shafqaat, et al. (2013). The share of world urban population was 32 percent in 1950, it rose up to 39 percent in 1980 and 48 percent in 2000, which reflects that 3 out of 10 people were living in cities in 1950. In 2011, about half of the world population was living in the big cities and at the end of the third decade of this century; that make up the formation as 6 out of 10 people [World Bank (1999)]. Pakistan‘s town populace is fixed to become identical to its rural population in the year 2030. This needs for an effective urban planning instrument to confirm universal distribution of simple municipal amenities, regulator of the spread of slums, reducing of effluence and the control of crime and political might [Khan, et al. (2012)

Flow-Aware Elephant Flow Detection for Software-Defined Networks

Software-defined networking (SDN) separates the network control plane from the packet forwarding plane, which provides comprehensive network-state visibility for better network management and resilience. Traffic classification, particularly for elephant flow detection, can lead to improved flow control and resource provisioning in SDN networks. Existing elephant flow detection techniques use pre-set thresholds that cannot scale with the changes in the traffic concept and distribution. This paper proposes a flow-aware elephant flow detection applied to SDN. The proposed technique employs two classifiers, each respectively on SDN switches and controller, to achieve accurate elephant flow detection efficiently. Moreover, this technique allows sharing the elephant flow classification tasks between the controller and switches. Hence, most mice flows can be filtered in the switches, thus avoiding the need to send large numbers of classification requests and signaling messages to the controller. Experimental findings reveal that the proposed technique outperforms contemporary methods in terms of the running time, accuracy, F-measure, and recall

Antibacterial effects of cyanogenic glucoside isolated from the stem bark of Bauhinia rufescens Lam

The chemical contents and in vitro antibacterial effects of the n-butanol column fractions, stem bark methanol extracts of Bauhinia rufescens Lam. were evaluated in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria using disc diffusion technique. The n-butanol soluble portion from the stem bark methanol extract was successively eluted to afford 10 pooled fractions by comparison of TLC chromatograms. The bioactive fraction (fraction D) was further chromatographed using the bioassay guided protocol to afford 4 sub-fractions from which a pure compound was isolated and characterized using spectral studies as: (4S, 6R)-(Z)-6-(â-Dglucopyranosyloxy)-4-hydroxy-2-cyclohexenyl-Ä1,á-acetonitrile–a cyclohexenyl cyano methylene known commonly as menisdaurin. Test bacteria were Bacillus subtilis, Corynaebacterium spp., Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae. The diameters of inhibition zone on the Gram-positive bacteria was found in the range from11.83±0.17 (n-butanol Fraction D) to 17.33±0.67 (Fraction D2-8); while on Gram-negative organism the values ranged from  11.50±0.29 (n-butanol Fraction D) to 19.67±0.33 (Fraction D2-8). The activity index (AI) showed that Fraction D2-8 (51.18%) and Compound I [menisdaurin] (127.36%) was highly sensitive to Corynaebacterium spp. and E. coli when computed with Erythromycin and Gentamicin respectively. Highest AI was exhibited by Fraction D2-8 (93.89%) against S. dysenteriae when computed with ciprofloxacin. In continuation of our chemical studies and search for bioactive compounds from medicinal plants; this work, therefore, was aimed at characterizing and testing the antibacterial efficacy of the isolated compound in order to further confirm our earlier reports on use of this part of B. rufescens in some parts of Northern Nigeria as atreatment against diarrhoea and dysentery. This is the first report of the isolation and antibacterial activity of menisdaurin from B. rufescens.© 2013 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Antibacterial, Bauhinia rufescens, cyanogenic glucoside, isolation, menisdaurin

Identifying the problems, solutions, and challenges in referral writing: A Scoping Review

Abstract Background Both primary care physicians and other specialists are not satisfied with the quality and content of written communication between colleagues(1).  There is need of identifying the factors that lead to this dissatisfaction. Many of these are discussed in literature such as communication skills, teaching and assessment of referral writings to undergraduates, and lack of validated tool for evaluation of referral(2). This article is scoping review of literature for finding the problems, solutions, and challenges in referral writing. Methods The databases utilized for finding various referral systems are PubMed, ERIC, Pakmedinet and Google scholar. The article included in the study was 12 which were identified through PRISMA. These 12 articles were reviewed by two authors. (FA and TA) The first step was the application of Qualsyst criteria and then the two authors analyzed the final 12 articles for thematic analysis independently. Results The problems, solutions and challenges in referral writing were found after the thematic analysis by two authors. The multiple challenges regarding referral writing include the fact that details about the inadequate data written in referral letters, lack of teaching and learning strategies and lack of proper communication between physicians. There are many solutions like teaching and assessing the referral writing skills, introducing reflection and feedback to improve the skill among young doctors. Moreover, teaching the art of referral writing should include in the medical curriculum. Conclusion Referral writing is an important part of medical communication. A good quality referral will save time in management of patients. It will also enhance the outcome of patient management. There is need of teachings about communication skills in undergraduates and postgraduates students