US Foreign Policy to Pakistan, 1947-1960: Re-constructing strategy.

The thesis analyses US policy to Pakistan between 1947 and 1960 by using a theoretical framework beyond the positivist-empiricist nexus that dominates much of International Relations and especially its dominant school, Realism. This nexus considers the world to be self-evident, which requires independent observers to passively pick up. The thesis rejects this epistemological position by demonstrating that reality is interdependent between subject and object, that knowing reality depends on the subject that is analysing as much as the object that is being analysed. The first part of this thesis thus develops a framework to accommodate this interdependence, one based on identity narratives. Identity narratives are accounts of how the self came to be, where it came from, what it is and where it is going. These stories explain how political subjects categorise, attach meaning and ultimately engage reality. Thus, four American identities, with corresponding narratives, are selected: exceptionalism, capitalism, Anglo-Saxon and missionary. Further, a meta-identity in anti-communism is also used. This framework is applied on archival and other material relating to US policy to Pakistan between 1947 and 1960. The thesis demonstrates Washington's exclusive deployment of its anti-communist narrative to understand Pakistan since America could only categorise and attach meaning to Pakistan in the context of communist issues and could not fit into any other American identity narrative. Initially in 1947, American failed to make sense of Pakistan given the speed of Pakistan's creation, American distraction elsewhere and its inability to place Karachi into any of its identity narratives. However, as the anti-communist identity intensified, as it did during 1950-1954, Pakistan was attached meaning as a supporter of America's anti-communist narrative and therefore was engaged as an ally, located in the communist- vulnerable Middle East. When American anti-communism eased and Pakistan overtly abandoned its anti-communist guise, both of which occurred during 1957-1960, Pakistan lost meaning to America, which led to American attempts to disengage Pakistan. Interestingly, neither of America's two policies, being the engagement and disengagement of Pakistan, was especially dependent on calculations of Pakistan's military or economic contribution to the Cold War. In contrast, policy to India reflected the dialectic deployment of anti-communist and missionary narratives for Washington re-located the continuation of its missionary identity narrative through India after China's sudden rejection of its aged role within that narrative

Risk mitigation of poor power quality issues of standalone wind turbines:An efficacy study of synchronous reference frame (SRF) control

This paper validates and presents the efficiency and performance of Synchronous Reference Frame (SRF) control as a mitigating control in managing risks of high volatility of electric current flows from the wind turbine generator to the distributed load. High volatility/fluctuations of electricity (high current, voltage disturbance) and frequency are hazards that can trip off or, in extreme cases, burn down a whole wind turbine generator. An advanced control scheme is used to control a Voltage Source Converter (VSC)-based three-phase induction generator with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). For the purpose of risk mitigation of harmonics, this scheme converts three-phase input quantity to two-phase Direct Current (DC) quantity (dq) so that the reactive power compensation decreases the harmonics level. Thus, no other analog filters are required to produce the reconstructed signal of fundamental frequency. In this paper, the values of Proportional Integral (PI) regulators are calculated through the “MONTE CARLO” optimization tool. Furthermore, risk analysis is carried out using bowtie, risk matrix and ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) methods, which is the novelty based on the parametric study of this research work. The results reveal that by inducting proposed SRF control into the Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS), the risks of high fluctuations and disturbances in signals are reduced to an acceptable level as per the standards of IEEE 519-2014 and EN 50160. The proposed work is validated through running simulations in MATLAB/Simulink with and without controls

A Simulation-Based Approach for Evaluating Cost and Performance of a Sediment Removal and Processing System for the Lower Susquehanna River Dams

A series of three major dams and reservoirs located along the Lower Susquehanna River have historically acted as a system of sediment and nutrient pollution traps.  However, episodic pulses of these pollution loads are released following short-term extreme storm events, affecting subaquatic vegetation, benthic organisms, and the overall water quality in the Upper Chesapeake Bay.  In addition, all three reservoirs have reached a state of near maximum storage capacity termed as dynamic equilibrium.  Based on prior research, this study seeks to reduce the sediment buildup behind the dams through a sediment removal and processing operation, and thereby reduce the ecological impact of major storms.  A set of scour performance curves derived from a regression analysis, and a stochastic lifecycle cost model were used to evaluate the sediment scouring reduction and economic feasibility of three processing alternatives:  Plasma Vitrification, Cement-Lock, and Quarry/Landfill, and three removal amount cases:  Nominal, Moderate, and Maximum.  Since the scour performance curves treat the dams as static, a fluid system dynamics model was used to determine if the dynamic interaction between the capacitance of the dams during major scouring events is negligible or considerable.  A utility vs. cost analysis factoring in time, performance, and suitability of the alternatives indicates that a Cement-Lock processing plant at moderate dredging for the Safe Harbor and Conowingo Dams is the most cost-performance effective solution

The Role of Financial institutions and the Economic Growth: A Literature Review

The coercion to uplift an economy in a right way to growth is more a mystery than a fact. Every country in the world is determined to be amongst the strong economies of the world. This draws a line of difference between developed and developing economies of the world. Developed countries have strong economies as compared to the developing countries. Economic growth is the major intent of every nation that contributes towards its development but there are certain hurdles such as over population, illiteracy and political instability that hold back their economic growth. Economic growth of every nation is dependent upon the role of financial institutions and the ultimate financial development. Policymakers and economists generally agree that financial development contributes towards financial institutions and markets, such as commercial and investment banks, bond and stock exchanges which in turn lead to economic growth.

Training & Development, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intentions in SMEs

Training and development is an important tool for motivating employees and increasing organizational performance. Therefore, we have developed a new model in which we have empirically tested four direct relationships, three mediating relationships, and one moderating effect. We have collected the data from selected SMEs in Karachi. A total of 410 questionnaires were distributed, and 385 valid responses were available. The instrument was adapted from earlier studies. We have used Smart PLS for data analysis. Of the four direct hypotheses, we found support for two of them. Similarly, we only found support for one indirect hypothesis and no support for the moderating relationship. The study found that antecedents “availability of training and managerial support for training†stimulate organizational commitment. However, we did not find any support for the “association between motivation to learn and organizational commitment†in Karachi SMEs. In contrast to earlier literature, we found that “organizational commitment stimulates turnover intentions.†Organizational commitment mediates (1) availability of training and turnover intentions, and (2) managerial support and turnover intentions. However, the study did not support organizational commitment’s mediating role on motivation to learn and turnover intentions. Similarly, constituent attachment did not have a moderating effect in our study

Properties and Applications of Biodentine in Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics: A Review

Recently, a new calcium silicate based cement known as “Biodentine” or “dentin in capsule” has been introduced. It is a biocompatible and bioactive material. It consists of tricalcium silicates, dicalcium silicates, calcium carbonate and zirconium oxide. It has many promising characteristics including antibacterial activity, high compressive strength and chemical bonding to tooth structure. Additionally, it also has the ability to initiate reparative dentine formation. These properties allow their use for various restorative and endodontic procedures such as management of deep carious lesions, vital pulp therapies, perforation repair, retrograde fillings, apexogenesis, and apexification.&nbsp

Unmanned aerial vehicles optimal airtime estimation for energy aware deployment in IoT-enabled fifth generation cellular networks

[EN] Cellular networks based on new generation standards are the major enabler for Internet of things (IoT) communication. Narrowband-IoT and Long Term Evolution for Machines are the newest wide area network-based cellular technologies for IoT applications. The deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has gained the popularity in cellular networks by using temporary ubiquitous coverage in the areas where the infrastructure-based networks are either not available or have vanished due to some disasters. The major challenge in such networks is the efficient UAVs deployment that covers maximum users and area with the minimum number of UAVs. The performance and sustainability of UAVs is largely dependent upon the available residual energy especially in mission planning. Although energy harvesting techniques and efficient storage units are available, but these have their own constraints and the limited onboard energy still severely hinders the practical realization of UAVs. This paper employs neglected parameters of UAVs energy consumption in order to get actual status of available energy and proposed a solution that more accurately estimates the UAVs operational airtime. The proposed model is evaluated in test bed and simulation environment where the results show the consideration of such explicit usage parameters achieves significant improvement in airtime estimation.The research is funded by the Department of Computer Science, Iqra University, Islamabad Campus, PakistanMajeed, S.; Sohail, A.; Qureshi, KN.; Kumar, A.; Iqbal, S.; Lloret, J. (2020). Unmanned aerial vehicles optimal airtime estimation for energy aware deployment in IoT-enabled fifth generation cellular networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 2020(1):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-020-01877-01142020

Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in Higher Education Institutions

Relationships have diverse categories and have different significances and implications. Among different connections existing in this word, there is a very influencing connection that survives between a SURVQUAL model and its importance in service providing sector. This study is carried out on nearly 200 students of Gomal University DIKhan of Pakistan to find out Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in education sector. We have two variables in this research dependent and independent in dependent there is the customer satisfaction while in independent there is responsiveness, reliability, assurance, Empathy, tangibility The Pearson correlation and regression was applied on data, and results exposed a positive and a significant relationship between the variables. This study found is significant relationship between the tangibility and assurance as the sample population of the study considers them important for improvement of service quality in universities. Hence, it is not only the bookish knowledge to which the students of the education institutions pay attention, rather there are also other factors on which student take more care before making a decision for enrolment in any university

Assessing the Impact of Job Involvement and Commitment on Organizational Productivity in the Arab/Gulf Countries

The relationship between job involvement, organizational commitment and productivity/ performance is well studied concept in western organizational literature because organizational commitment and job involvement are crucial factors having direct effect over organizational performance. It is generally assumed that since workers with high organizational commitment and job involvement are usually highly satisfied with their organization and job, hence puts extra efforts to perform better in the organization which ultimately leads to organizational efficiency. Despite given importance to the said constructs, limited studies have been conducted in developing countries and especially in Arab/Gulf countries. The proposed study was designed to assess the effects of job involvement and workers commitment on organizational performance in Middle East countries. Findings of the study reveal significant positive relationship between job involvements, employee’s commitment and organizational productivity. The study concludes clearly indicate that organizations with high job involvement and employees’ commitment are performing well than organizations with little job involvement and low employees’ commitment. Keywords: Job involvement, organizational commitment and organizational productivity/ performanc