Design and provisioning of WDM networks for traffic grooming

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is the most viable technique for utilizing the enormous amounts of bandwidth inherently available in optical fibers. However, the bandwidth offered by a single wavelength in WDM networks is on the order of tens of Gigabits per second, while most of the applications\u27 bandwidth requirements are still subwavelength. Therefore, cost-effective design and provisioning of WDM networks require that traffic from different sessions share bandwidth of a single wavelength by employing electronic multiplexing at higher layers. This is known as traffic grooming. Optical networks supporting traffic grooming are usually designed in a way such that the cost of the higher layer equipment used to support a given traffic matrix is reduced. In this thesis, we propose a number of optimal and heuristic solutions for the design and provisioning of optical networks for traffic grooming with an objective of network cost reduction. In doing so, we address several practical issues. Specifically, we address the design and provisioning of WDM networks on unidirectional and bidirectional rings for arbitrary unicast traffic grooming, and on mesh topologies for arbitrary multipoint traffic grooming. In multipoint traffic grooming, we address both multicast and many-to-one traffic grooming problems. We provide a unified frame work for optimal and approximate network dimensioning and channel provisioning for the generic multicast traffic grooming problem, as well as some variants of the problem. For many-to-one traffic grooming we propose optimal as well as heuristic solutions. Optimal formulations which are inherently non-linear are mapped to an optimal linear formulation. In the heuristic solutions, we employ different problem specific search strategies to explore the solution space. We provide a number of experimental results to show the efficacy of our proposed techniques for the traffic grooming problem in WDM networks

Islamic International law and its significance in the contemporary global landscape

Islamic international law, also known as "Fiqh al-Siyar," is a legal framework that governs the conduct of Muslim individuals and states in their interactions with the international community. This research article aims to explore the Islamic international law historical development, principles, application, and contemporary challenges. After analyzing the Islamic sources, including the Quran, Hadith, and scholarly consensus, this study sheds light on the unique features and contributions of Islamic international law to the broader field of international law. This research article explores the topic of Islamic international law and its significance in the contemporary global landscape. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of Islamic international law, its historical development, principles, sources, and application. A comparative analysis is conducted to highlight the similarities and differences between Islamic international law and other legal systems and international legal frameworks. The research also addresses the contemporary challenges faced by Islamic international law and the debates within the Muslim world regarding its interpretation and application. The research emphasizes the constructive role that Islamic principles play in addressing contemporary global challenges, such as climate change, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development. A comparative analysis is conducted to compare Islamic international law with other legal systems and international legal frameworks, identifying similarities, differences, and potential areas of convergence. The study highlights the shared principles of justice, respect for sovereignty, and treaty obligations, while also noting differences in sources of law and legal concepts. Keywords: Islamic international law; Fiqh al-Siyar; Muslim states; Quranic principles; Contemporary challenge

Personality Profiles of Software Engineers and Their Software Quality Preferences

Studies related to human aspects in software engineering (SE) have been performed from different perspectives. These perspectives include the study of human factors in different phases of software life cycle, effect of team performance in software development, how can a personality trait suit a particular task, and about some other miscellaneous issues. This research work aims to establish personality profiles of Pakistani software engineers using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) instrument. In this survey, we have collected personality profiles of 110 software engineers. Moreover, their preferences of software quality attributes have also been collected. Analysis of the study shows that the most prominent personality type is a combination of introversion, sensing, thinking and judging. Investigative results indicate that most of the software engineers consider usability and functionality as the most important software quality attributes

ROLE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION IN POVERTY REDUCTION IN PAKISTAN: A Quantitative Approach

This paper examines the role of social protection through different channels (education, health, social transfers, subsidies, etc.) which are helpful in reducing poverty in Pakistan. Unlike the existing literature, the paper considers the quantitative model of social protection policies to reduce the poverty. To handle this issue, a time series data set containing thirty-one observations, is used for the period 1982–2012. An Autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) is used to identify the long-run, as well as the short-term relationship between the social protection indicators and the poverty. It is concluded that outreach of social protection via expenditures on education, foreign aid and zakat play a significant role in poverty reduction. Moreover, the autocratic period has proved itself a mechanism to reduce poverty by social protection provisions as compared to the democratic period but remain insignificant

Drought Analysis and Water Resources Management Inspection in Euphrates–Tigris Basin

Growing population, increasing basin development, and progressively declining water supplies are typical water resources issues in the Middle East. Drought is one of the most damaging climate‐related hazards that affect more people than any other. For identifying drought‐prone areas in the Euphrates–Tigris Basin, multifold aspects of drought and its features such as the frequency of drought occurrence and its spatial distribution were assessed. The long‐term precipitation data were collected from different meteorological stations of Turkey and Iran, and standard precipitation index (SPI) was calculated. Due to the lack of raw data, the literature works on drought were used in Syria and Iraq to obtain a drought perception in these countries. Moreover, the policy of water resources management and the hydraulic works in these regions were considered. The results show significant changes in the precipitation in these regions over the past decades. The projects undertaken in the basin are not in line with the principles of integrated water resources management and intensify the drought and caused marshland demise in the downstream of the basin. The results of a comprehensive analysis of precipitation variation and water management in this research can alter the policy of water resources management in order to avoid drought in the basin

Enhancing Knowledge and Bounce Rate in SERPs Using Micro-Data

Internet has revolutionized the human life. SEs (Search Engines) are one of the major tools being used for finding information over the Internet. SEs enlist the information into links as per relevance to the searched query. A searcher usually visits the top web links retrieved on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) in response to a search query. With the evolving nature of Internet and the increasing number of competitors; it is hard to maintain high ranking in SERPs even for professional correspondents. However, correspondents can apply the techniques of web micro-data to achieve high CTR (Click through Rate) in SERPs. Ranking in major SEs is still a critical factor, although in certain cases such as movies, books, recipes rich snippets proved profitable for webmasters. This study aims to address the gap in micro-data moving from top category such as Animals to their limited scope. Animals with information such as name, price, category will have high CTR and hence more user satisfaction for specified result will lead to high ranking in SERPs

Endovascular coil embolization of ruptured and unruptured intracranial aneurysms: Review of a 15 year single center experience in Pakistan

Objective: To assess the outcome of endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysm over 15 years.Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at the at Radiology Department of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised medical records from April 2003 to April 2018 of patients who received endovascular treatment for intracranial aneurysm. Multiple variables reviewed included demographics, clinical presentation, aneurysm morphology, technique used, technique outcome and clinical outcome. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.Results: Of the 242 patients, 111(45.8%) were males and 131(54.1%) were female. The overall mean age was 46.3+/-13.543 years (range: 9-78years). Aneurysm size was \u3c5mm in 95(40.4%) patients, 5-10mm in 98(41.7%) and \u3e10mm in 42(17.9%) patients. Aneurysms were located in the anterior communicating artery in 93(38.4%) patients, internal carotid artery 48(19.8%) patients and posterior communicating artery 26(10.7%) patients. Patients with higher initial Hess and Hunt grade were more likely to have higher modified Rankin scale score after treatment (p=0.001). Overall, 222(91.7%) patients were treated successfully. Complications were noted in 37(15.2%) patients and 10(4.0%) patients died.Conclusions: No correlation was found between Hess and Hunt grades and aneurysm severity based on aneurysm size, neck and ruptured/unruptured cases

Recent progress in two dimensional Mxenes for photocatalysis: a critical review

Transition metal carbides and nitrides, generally known as MXenes have emerged as an alternative to improve photocatalytic performance in renewable energy and environmental remediation applications because of their high surface area, tunable chemistry, and easily adjustable elemental compositions. MXenes have many interlayer groups, surface group operations, and a flexible layer spacing that makes them ideal catalysts. Over 30 different members of the MXenes family have been explored and successfully utilized as catalysts. Particularly, MXenes have achieved success as a photocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction, nitrogen fixation, hydrogen evolution, and photochemical degradation. The structure of MXenes and the presence of hydrophilic functional groups on the surface results in excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In addition, MXenes’ surface defects provide abundant CO2 adsorption sites. Moreover, their highly efficient catalytic oxidation activity is a result of their excellent two-dimensional nanomaterial structure and high-speed electron transport channels. This article comprehensively discusses the structure, synthesis techniques, photocatalytic applications (i.e. H2 evolution, N2 fixation, CO2 reduction, and degradation of pollutants), and recyclability of MXenes. This review also critically evaluates the MXene-based heterostructure and composites photocatalyst synthesis process and their performance for organic pollutant degradation. Finally, a prospect for further research is presented in environmental and energy sciences