Exploring the human factors in moral dilemmas of autonomous vehicles

Given the widespread popularity of autonomous vehicles (AVs), researchers have been exploring the ethical implications of AVs. Researchers believe that empirical experiments can provide insights into human characterization of ethically sound machine behaviour. Previous research indicates that humans generally endorse utilitarian AVs; however, this paper explores an alternative account of the discourse of ethical decision-making in AVs. We refrain from favouring consequentialism or non-consequential ethical theories and argue that human moral decision-making is pragmatic, or in other words, ethically and rationally bounded, especially in the context of intelligent environments. We hold the perspective that our moral preferences shift based on various externalities and biases. To further this concept, we conduct three Amazon Mechanical Turk studies, comprising 479 respondents to investigate factors, such as the “degree of harm,” “level of affection,” and “fixing the responsibility” that influences people’s moral decision-making. Our experimental findings seem to suggest that human moral judgments cannot be wholly deontological or utilitarian and offer evidence on the ethical variations in human decision-making processes that favours a specific moral framework. The findings also offer valuable insights for policymakers to explore the overall public perception of the ethical implications of AV as part of user decision-making in intelligent environments

AI in Assisting the Elderly and People with Disabilities

The focus of this research is to magnify those technologies that have been developed and that need more modification in their make. We will disclose some machines that have a great impact on the lives elderly and people with disabilities. As we know that artificial intelligence has advanced our life and now we can take advantage of it by using machines though that is related to defense or related to our daily life goods buying robots. These machines are not very common to everybody but we need to do it as these assist more than a human being to elder or disable persons. We also need to invest in these kinds of projects that can be fruitful to human beings. As it is clear that there is no sufficient human resources exist that can assist the elderly and people with disabilities. So ICTs are expected to play its part in assisting those people. In this age, 3D printers making better and better prosthetic for those in need. In the future we will reach a level that will make regular body parts inferior and before we know it the cyborg age will be upon us by this 3D technology. Also in the labs around the world bioengineering have begun to print prototype body parts like ears, noses, artificial bones and skin, even an entire face

Management of IoT systems for urban services

Urban Cities are growing exponentially and with them the need for efficient management of city resources. SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and IoT (Internet of Things) provides promising solutions for this issue. SOA brings interoperability, reusability and dynamic discovery. Whereas, IoT provide next evolution on the Internet by allowing physical real-world objects to connect to the internet through unique identifiers. Arrowhead Project has developed a framework to provide collaborative automation by enabling embedded devices to interact with each other. This project uses SOA to target five different domains. These domains include Smart Building and Infrastructure, Energy Production, Virtual Market of Energy, Production, and Electro-Mobility. In the thesis, three applications were developed. Light Simulator was developed to demonstrate the working principle of the IoT enabled Light devices. Meter application was developed to monitor and manage IoT enabled systems. Finally, Energy Consumption service was developed as a pilot service for Arrowhead Project. This service was deployed on Arrowhead and it calculates the energy consumed by different real-time objects. Furthermore, since Arrowhead framework follows all principles of SOA, reusability of above services can provide composability to develop further applications

Bio-methane Production from Sorghum Elite Lines under the Climatic Conditions of Pakistan

Fossil foils are depleting dramatically to meet the ever blooming energy demands. Plant biomass is a best source of renewable energy which can be used for bio-fuel production in order to meet the energy demands. Therefore, this study was conducted for two consecutive years 2016 and 2017 to screen out best lines of sorghum for biomass yield, chemical composition and bio-methane yield. The results revealed that tested lines had differential responses for biomass yield, biomass quality and methane yield. Line 5018, performed remarkably and produced maximum leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD) and crop growth rate (CGR) followed by L-6024 whereas the minimum LAI, LAD and CGR were recorded for L-5025. Maximum plant height, leaves per plant and dry matter yield ha-1 was observed in L-5018, whereas the minimum plant height leaves per plant and dry matter yield ha-1 was recorded in L-5025. Likewise, L-5018 also had maximum protein content, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, lignin content and ash content whereas the L-1914 had the minimum values for these parameters amongst the tested li- nes. In addition, L-1914 produced maximum specific yield, however, L-5018 produced maximum methane yield ha-1 owing to higher dry matter yield ha-1. The results of this study suggested that L-5018 can be used to develop high biomass cultivars with good methane yield potential

Evaluating the Effects of Textural Properties on the Strength Parameters of Marbles from North-Western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Marble is globally used as a natural stone for decorative and architectural purposes. Primary utilization of marble is as building and dimension stones. Mechanical properties and aesthetic aspects are major characteristics of marble and decisive factors for its selection and utilization. It is therefore imperative to evaluate the key strength properties i.e. Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) and Uniaxial Tensile Strength (UTS) of marble before its utilization. These key strength parameters are dependent on textural features of marble. Present study investigates the effect of two key textural features i.e. grain size and grain shape on two key strength parameters i.e. UCS and UTS of marble samples taken from three different regions i.e. Buner, Chitral and Swat in the north western part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Correlation and regression analysis between these textural properties and strength parameters revealed that prominent textural features of grain size and shape can be used as a quick indicator for assessment of strength parameters and as guideline for appropriate utilization of marble

Wolbachia pipientis: A potential candidate for combating and eradicating dengue epidemics in Pakistan

AbstractDengue virus syndrome is an emerging global health challenge which is endemic in tropical countries like Pakistan. In recent years dengue incidences have increased considerably in different areas of Pakistan with more sever impacts on urban and peri-urban populations. This review is an effort to highlight the changing epidemiology of dengue fever, role of Government of Pakistan in disease management and control using preventive and community based approaches in the region. Moreover, there is an emphasis on application of Wolbachia as novel, inexpensive and environmentally benign candidate for control and eradication of dengue transmitting vectors

Operational Risk Management in Corporate and Banking Sector of Pakistan

This paper is to examine the current status of operational risk management in Pakistan concerning corporate and banking sector and explore the reasons for the adoption or lack of adoption of integrated approach to operational risk management. It identifies the imperatives for implementation of comprehensive risk management solutions leading to enterprise risk management (ERM).The mode of research is qualitative. The paper shows that effective risk management can enhance organizational performance but appropriate infrastructure is not available in companies.  This paper highlights the fact that knowledge of risk management in corporate sectors of Pakistan is insufficient and sample companies hesitate to respond thinking that it may reflect inefficiencies and in banking sectors the concept of operational risk management can be seen up to some extent. Keywords: Operational risk management, corporate and banking, integrated approach, Enterprise risk management, organizational performanc

Abrasivos de pasta de dientes comunes y métodos para evaluar su abrasividad.

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The Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organisational Culture on Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovation

This study is concerned with conceptual model development, which examines the innovation influence on the relationship of organisational culture, entrepreneurial orientation and performance of large manufacturing firms in Pakistan. A total of 399 questionnaires were distributed to large manufacturing firms in Pakistan to assess the relationships between organisational culture, entrepreneurial orientation, innovation, and firm performance. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation significantly influences the performance of large manufacturing firms in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the results also indicated that other factors such as organisational culture do not significantly relate to the manufacturing firm’s performance. Interestingly, the results had shown that the factor of innovation significantly mediated the relationships between organisational culture, entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Based on the results, it can be summarised that the mechanism used to enhance the innovative culture in the organisation will also contribute to the introduction, adoption and diffusion of innovations. Additionally, these factors would contribute to increased performance and achievement in the near future. Indeed, this statement is supported by numerous current and past studies conducted in Pakistan, where scholars found that innovation is the primary impetus of firm performance. However, there exists a very limited number of studies regarding the impact of innovation on organisational culture and entrepreneurial orientation in manufacturing firms in Pakistan. This study would lead to a significant contribution to the prevailing literature by empirically examining the relationship between organisational culture, entrepreneurial orientation, innovation and firm performance

EFFECT OF SURFACE PROFILE OF MILD STEEL SUBSTRATE UPON ADHESION STRENGTH OF WC-11%CO FLAME SPRAY COATING

Improving surface properties especially high wear and impact resistance is always an existing challenge for automotive, aerospace, defense and agriculture industries etc. Surface engineering has developed various processes and methods to encounter this problem using plasma spray, electric arc, HVOF, PVD and flame spray etc. Amongst them flame spray technique has its own features to produce cermet coatings on steel substrates. In the present study, behavior of WC-11%Co coatings deposited on Mild Steel by means of flame spray process has been studied. It was found that surface roughness of substrate plays a vital role in the adhesion of such type of coatings. Therefore, different surface roughness profiles on substrate were generated by blasting sand and steel grits of various sizes. Surface profilometer was used to evaluate the surface roughness of substrates while the adhesion strength of flame spray coatings was determined by Pull test. SEM/EDX was used to study the morphology of flame spray coated samples and hardness was measured by micro-Vickers hardness tester. The results illustrate the optimum values of surface roughness to achieve better properties of WC-11%Co coatings for various engineering applications