Light addressable gold electrodes

The main objective carried out in this dissertation was to fabricate Light Amplified Potentiometric sensors (LAPS) based upon the semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots) instead of its bulk form. Quantum dots (QDs) were opted for this device fabrication because of their superior fluorescent, electric and catalytic properties. Also in comparison to their bulk counterparts they will make device small, light weighted and power consumption is much lower. QDs were immobilized on a Au substrate via 1,4 benzene dithiol (BDT) molecule. Initially a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of BDT was established on Au substrate. Because of SAM, the conductivity of Au substrate decreased dramatically. Furthermore QDs were anchored with the help of BDT molecule on Au substrate. When QDs immobilized on Au substrate (QD/Au) via BDT molecule were irradiated with UV-visible light, electron-hole pairs were generated in QDs. The surface defect states in QDs trapped the excited electrons and long lived electron-hole pairs were formed. By the application of an appropriate bias potential on Au substrate the electrons could be supplied or extracted from the QDs via tunneling through BDT. Thus a cathodic or anodic current could be observed depending upon bias potential under illumination. However without light illumination the QD/Au electrode remained an insulator. To improve the device different modifications were made, including different substrates (Au evaporated on glass, Au evaporated on mica sheets and Au sputtered on SiO2/Si) and different dithiol molecules (capped and uncapped biphenyl 4,4 dithiol and capped and uncapped 4,4 dimercaptostilbenes) were tried. Also different QD immobilization techniques (normal incubation, spin coating, layer by layer assembly (LbL) of polyelectrolytes and heat immobilization) were employed. This device was able to detect electrochemically different analytes depending upon the QDs incorporated. For example CdS QDs were able to detect 4-Aminophenol, a product of an enzymatic reaction of Alkaline Phosphatase with p-Aminophenyl Phosphate. Subsequently this reaction was observed at CdS/Au electrode, by enzyme-substrate reaction within the electrolyte solution, and also by immobilizing the enzyme on top of QDs via LbL assembly of polyelectrolytes. With another kind of CdS-FePt dimer QDs, detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was demonstrated. Only at CdS/Au electrode there was no impact made by H2O2 but with the presence of Pt within QDs H2O2 was detected via reduction even at a bias potential of -100mV

Design of a Finger Ring Antenna for Wireless Sensor Networks

Body-centric communications have become very active area of research due to ever-growing demand of portability. Advanced applications such as; health monitoring, tele-medicine, identification systems, performance monitoring of athletes, defence systems and personal entertainment are adding to its popularity. In this paper, a novel wearable antenna radiating at 5 GHz for the body-centric wireless sensor networks has been presented. The antenna consists of a conventional microstrip patch mounted on a gold base and could be worn in a finger like a ring. CST Microwave Studio is used for modelling, simulation and optimisation of the antenna. The simulated results show that the proposed antenna has a -10 dB bandwidth of 90.3 MHz with peak gain of 6.9 dBi. Good performance in terms of bandwidth, directivity, gain, return loss and radiation characteristics, along with a miniaturised form factor makes it a very well suited candidate for the body-worn wireless sensor applications

Multi-Foci Beamforming Using Curved Linear Array Transducer for Qualitative Identification of Lipids in Human Liver

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of liver chronic diseases in the U.S. and its prevalence is growing in the world. In the United States, it affects an estimate of 80 to 100 million people. In less than a decade, NAFLD will likely become the number one cause of liver transplants in the country. NAFLD cases have risen rapidly over the last three decades and is the most common liver disease in children. NAFLD encompasses a disease spectrum of a variety of liver conditions ranging from simple steatosis (SS) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). SS is a benign form of the disease, characterized by the accumulation of lipid in the liver. On the other hand, NASH is defined by hepatic steatosis with cell injury, hepatic ballooning and various degrees of fibrosis. NASH may further develop into cirrhosis, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A non-invasive, early detection and accurate staging of NAFLD may allow for a timely intervention and treatment to prevent the progression of the disease to cirrhosis and HCC. We hypothesized a new dual-modality ultrasound imaging combining acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging and thermal strain imaging (TSI) implemented on a clinical ultrasound probe. ARFI imaging utilizes high intensity focused ultrasound to generate a push in a region of interest (ROI). The response of the tissue inside the region of excitation due to the acoustic radiation push is determined by estimating the displacement between the pre-push reference frames and the post-push tracking frames. TSI has been used in the field of medical imaging for detecting lipids in atherosclerotic plaques and quantification of liver fat in ob/ob mice. TSI is based on the fact that the speed of sound changes differently in respect to the increase in temperature for different tissue composition. Lipids register a decreasing sound speed with increasing temperature, whereas water-bearing tissue exhibit an increasing sound speed with increasing temperature. Development of the proposed multi-modality system will be a step towards a novel clinical system which would permit the creation of a single co-registered image featuring information regarding lipid content and liver stiffness

Impact of Exports on Economic Growth- A Case of Luxemburg

The key purpose of this article is to analyze the significant impact of Exports, Government expenditures and Education expenditures on the economic growth of the developed economy of the Luxemburg, which is the member state of the EU: the biggest exporter in the world. The span of time is from the year 1975 to 2009 on yearly basis with total no. of observations of 35. Present analysis is based on the simple ordinary least square method to indentify the important linkage between the export and the growth considering the economy of Luxemburg. Experimental results reveal a significant positive relationship of exports, government spending, educational expenditure, on growth of the economy. Export shows that one unit increase in the export cause a positive change of .17 in the economic growth. In the same way government, exp. and education exp. show a coefficient of 2.67 and 9.93 with positive sign. This article identifies the association between the export and the economic growth with respect to Luxemburg

Reassessing leadership traits: An Islamic perspective

The phenomena of leadership has long been cited and discussed in business and management literature. Discourse on effective leadership qualities is popular in management circles. Interestingly, traditional literature on leadership has presented rather diverse results. And recent developments in the field of leadership and management reveal a growing interest in religion and spirituality. The present study attempts to understand leadership and submit a comprehensive framework exploring leadership traits from an Islamic viewpoint. A sample of 16 respondents was selected, most of whom had extensive knowledge and experience in leadership and management. They belonged to diverse industries such as manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, banking and education. The study found that Islamic Leadership is based around the notion of stewardship of Allah's creation. An Islamic leader must be a role model with exemplary personality, attitude, character and competence. And only those individuals may be selected as leaders who have piety (Taqwa) and goodness. The study also presented that Taqwa, Consultation and Intellectual competence are the key traits for a Muslim leader. In addition, Taqwa encompasses Islamic Spirituality and Islamic Social responsibly. The sub-constructs of Taqwa include; belief (Iman), worship (Ibadat) and repentance (Tawbah), patience, emotional control, forgiveness, the establishment of zakah and giving sadakah, fulfillment of contracts, justice and integrity. Together, these traits frame the overall description of Islamic leadership

DETERMINANTS OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE: A CASE OF NON-FINANCIAL SECTOR OF PAKISTAN

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of the capital structure of the Sugar Industry in Pakistan. This study reviews different theories related to the capital structure to formulate testable propositions concerning the determinants of the capital structure of the sugar industry of Pakistan. Panel data econometric techniques such as fixed effects and random effects are used to investigate the most significant factors that affect the capital structure choice of sugar firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period 2009-2018. The results of the study suggest that variables such as firm size, financial flexibility, asset structure, profitability, liquidity, growth, risk, and affect all measures of the capital structure of Pakistan corporations. Short-term debt is found to represent an important financing source for corporations in Pakistan. Firm size and current ratio have a negative and significant relationship with Capital Structure ratios. Long term debt, Working Capital, Asset Structure, asset utilization, Effective tax rate, Financial Flexibility, Growth opportunity, Risk Volatility have a positive and significant relationship with Capital Structure ratios. Due to the existence of a negative relationship between profitability and capital structure, investors must consider capital structure before making investment decisions

CHALLENGING THE MULTILAYERED CRISES WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH APPLICATION OF EFFECTIVE HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES (A CRISES MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE FOR ORGANIZATION’S EFFECTIVENESS)

Crises in organizations are not only multilayered but deeplyrooted thus compromising their effectiveness. To sustain and competein the global world, strategic approaches to manage these crisesbecome inevitable. This study explores the existing body of theorieson both organisational crises (operational, fraudulent and publicity),and the role of Human Resource practices in managing crises with anintent to develop a framework of application for utilising effectiveHRM practices in crisis management. We find that it is essential toassess the degree of change and complexity that a crisis might bringinto work setting and a high level of awareness of the nature of crisesmanagement among employees enhances the chances of bettermanagement performance. By comprehending the nature of variouscrises, and uncertainty factors useful measures can be created to avoidand mitigate organisational crises

Evaluation of Impact of Prescribing Safety Assessment Workshop on Medical Doctors Using Kirkpatrick Model

Background Clinical pharmacology training is a prerequisite for all medical graduates. Prescription writing errors are not infrequent at primary health care level leading to threat to patient safety. Prescribers lacks uniform structured training and assessment which is one of the major factors for this situation across the country. In lots of institutions despite proper curriculum, learners lack interest because the subject importance is insignificant. Hence to bring more interest in pharmacology for prescribers there is a dire need for innovative and interesting methods of teaching and assessment, one of which is prescribing safety assessment (PSA). Objectives To assess if the PSA is superior method of training prescription writing than CPW To evaluate the workshop on prescription writing using guidelines of Kirkpatrick Model   Methods It was an experimental study. 44 medical doctors participated; a pre-test was taken 01 week before the workshop. Afterwards, they were randomized into 02 groups, group A went through PSA and group B followed conventional prescription writing (CPW) 01-day workshop. At the end, post-test was taken from both groups. The qualitative data was also collected from participants on feedback proforma consisting of few closed ended questions on Likert scale. Results The independent t-test was used to compare the data as it was in normal distribution. Posttest performance of PSA group significantly increased P ˂ 0.001 as compared to CPW. Reaction  to closed ended 13 questions on Likert scale showed high satisfaction from 4.32 to 4.84 on 5 points  Likert scale on workshop satisfaction. Conclusion PSA is an effective teaching and assessment strategy for learning clinical pharmacology. The study objectively proves its effectiveness in comparison to CPW and provides a guideline to implement this innovative and useful tool for teaching and assessment. Keywords Prescribing safety assessment, conventional prescription writing, Faculty development, Workshop, Impact, Kirkpatrick model