Trajectory/temporal planning of a wheeled mobile robot

In order for a mobile robot to complete its task it must be able to plan and follow a trajectory. Depending on the environment, it may also be necessary to follow a given velocity profile. This is known as temporal planning. Temporal planning can be used to minimize time of motion and to avoid moving obstacles. For example, assuming the mobile robot is an intelligent wheelchair, it must follow a prescribed path (sidewalk, hospital corridor) while following a strict speed limit (slowing down for pedestrians, cars). Computing a realistic velocity profile for a mobile robot is a challenging task due to a large number of kinematic and dynamic constraints that are involved. Unlike prior works which performed temporal planning in a 2-dimensional environment, this thesis presents a new temporal planning algorithm in a 3-dimensional environment. This algorithm is implemented on a wheeled mobile robot that is to be used in a healthcare setting. The path planning stage is accomplished by using cubic spline functions. A rudimentary trajectory is created by assigning an arbitrary time to each segment of the path. This trajectory is made feasible by applying a number of constraints and using a linear scaling technique. When a velocity profile is provided, a non-linear time scaling technique is used to fit the robot’s center linear velocity to the specified velocity. A method for avoiding moving obstacles is also implemented. Both simulation and experimental results for the wheeled mobile robot are presented. These results show good agreement with each other. For both simulation and experimentation, six different examples of paths in the Engineering Building of the University of Saskatchewan, were used. Experiments were performed using the PowerBot mobile robot in the robotics lab at the University of Saskatchewan

Organizational Commitment & Work Engagement Affected by Knowledge management: Evidence from banking sector of Pakistan

Current study is intended to explore the influence of knowledge management (KM) on organizational commitment and work engagement of the banking employees. Paper examines the dimensions of knowledge management that can influence the effective elements of employee performance.        Five dimensions of knowledge management practices are bootstrapped on the organizational commitment and work engagement. Data collected form the different banks of Punjab, Pakistan by including 171 usable questionnaires. Data analysis was done with the help of SPSS and smart PLS. Results reveals that knowledge sharing, codification and retention helps in boosting organizational commitment of employees while knowledge creating, retention and sharing has a significant impact on work engagement. Knowledge management construct is not discussed as a complete construct as researchers opt some of its dimensions. Moreover, KM relationship with organizational commitment and work engagement is missing in the past literature. Knowledge creation, retention and sharing has a strong influence on the organizational commitment and work engagement. Managers should implement KM processes to uplift the knowledge of workers but also to boost their commitment and work engagement

Organizational Commitment & Work Engagement Affected by Knowledge management: Evidence from banking sector of Pakistan

Current study is intended to explore the influence of knowledge management (KM) on organizational commitment and work engagement of the banking employees. Paper examines the dimensions of knowledge management that can influence the effective elements of employee performance.        Five dimensions of knowledge management practices are bootstrapped on the organizational commitment and work engagement. Data collected form the different banks of Punjab, Pakistan by including 171 usable questionnaires. Data analysis was done with the help of SPSS and smart PLS. Results reveals that knowledge sharing, codification and retention helps in boosting organizational commitment of employees while knowledge creating, retention and sharing has a significant impact on work engagement. Knowledge management construct is not discussed as a complete construct as researchers opt some of its dimensions. Moreover, KM relationship with organizational commitment and work engagement is missing in the past literature. Knowledge creation, retention and sharing has a strong influence on the organizational commitment and work engagement. Managers should implement KM processes to uplift the knowledge of workers but also to boost their commitment and work engagement

Microbes Mediated Keratin Extraction from Poultry Waste and Assessment of Its Efficacy in Growth Promotion of Zea Mays and Triticum aestivum

Feathers are a waste product of the poultry industry and are considered a major pollutant of the environment. Soil associated with poultry farms is a rich source of indigenous bacteria that are involved in biodegradation of keratin of the feathers of Gallus gallus domesticus. The present study was designed to understand the role of microbes in the degradation of a feather’s keratin and its possible utilization as a bio-protein for plants. In our studies, Keratinolytic activity was high at 37-45 ℃ and at 7.5-9.5 pH. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing as the most active keratinolytic strain. At 37 ℃ and pH 9.0 the protein content was 5.67mg/ml, while at 45 ℃ and pH 7 the protein content from bacterial isolate IM6 was 6.52 mg/ml. However, all other ten bacterial isolates (IM1, IM2, IM3, IM4, IM5, IM7, IM8, IM9, IM10, IM11) also showed degradation potential. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) was performed to confirm the presence of strong Amide-A, Amide-III, and disulfide bonds. In the plant microbial interaction experiments on the seed of Triticum aestivum and Zea mays, the isolates IM2 and IM6 were observed to increase the root, shoot and plant lengths as compared to all other bacterial isolates. The future implication of this study shows the importance of keratin degrading bacteria for the degradation and recycling of poultry feather waste, and introducing it as a value-added product for use in fertilizers, while also removing poultry waste from the environment and making the environment healthy for other living beings

A Macroscopic Traffic Model Based on the Safe Velocity at Transitions

The increasing volume of vehicles on the road has had a significant impact on traffic flow. Congestion in urban areas is now a major concern. To mitigate congestion, an accurate model is required which is based on realistic traffic dynamics. A new traffic model is proposed based on the conservation law of vehicles which considers traffic dynamics at transitions. Traffic alignment to forward conditions is affected by the time and distance between vehicles. Thus, the well-known Lighthill, Whitham, and Richards (LWR) model is modified to account for traffic behavior during alignment. A model for inhomogeneous traffic flow during transitions is proposed which can be used to characterize traffic evolution. The performance of the proposed model is compared with the LWR model using the Greenshields and Underwood target velocity distributions. These models are evaluated using the Godunov technique and numerical stability is guaranteed by considering the Courant, Friedrich, and Lewy (CFL) condition. The results obtained show that the proposed model characterizes the flow more realistically, and thus can provide better insight into traffic behavior for use in controlling congestion and pollution levels, and improving public safety. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091710 Full Text: PD

Do Mobile Addicts have Poor Sleep Quality?

Background: The dawn of technology in form of smartphones has brought about an epidemic but in addition to the beneficial use of mobile phone its causing the sleep loss and disturbance in the circadian rhythms of the body.  Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the association between the mobile phone addiction with sleep quality among medical students as this association can have long-term consequences on the life of the students.  Materials and methods: It was a descriptive study conducted on students of  Wah Medical College. The questionnaires comprising of three parts: the demographic profile, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index for sleep quality and Mobile Phone Use Scale for mobile phone addiction were distributed among all the students after informed consent. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square test was applied to find the association between Mobile Phone addiction and Sleep quality at α-value of 0.05.  Results: The sleep quality index score showed that 130(38.6%) students had a good quality of sleep and 162(48.1%) were addicted to mobile phone use. A significant association was found between mobile phone addiction and sleep quality among medical students with a p-value of 0.001. Conclusion: Mobile phone addiction is an important health problem in our medical college and because of this addiction there is poor sleep quality among the students. Health education sessions on a frequent basis should be conducted for all to disseminate the adverse effects of addictive mobile use

A COMPARISON OF THE LEGAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS ADULTERY IN SAUDI ARABIA AND PAKISTAN

Adultery is considered a major sin in Islam and is prohibited in all Muslim societies. However, there are differences in the legal and social attitudes towards adultery in different Muslim countries. This article aims to compare the legal and social attitudes towards adultery in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, two Muslim-majority countries with different legal systems and cultural norms. The article begins with an overview of the Islamic perspective on adultery, as outlined in the Quran and Hadith. It then delves into the legal frameworks governing adultery in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, including the penal codes and the judicial procedures for prosecuting, and punishing adulterers. Furthermore, the article explores the social attitudes towards adultery in these two countries, including the cultural norms and religious beliefs that influence people's perceptions of this issue. It examines the role of family and community in shaping these attitudes, as well as the impact of modernization and globalization on traditional values. The article draws upon a range of sources, including Islamic texts, legal documents, academic literature, and media reports. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the similarities and differences between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in their legal and social attitudes towards adultery. Overall, this article contributes to the understanding of how Islam shapes the legal and social attitudes towards adultery in different Muslim societies, and the implications of these attitudes for the lives of people living in these societies

Alpha-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of various extracts of aerial parts of Fagonia indica Burm. F.

Purpose: To investigate in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potentials of Fagonia indica Burm.f. Var. indica in order to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use. Methods: Cold maceration method was employed for the preparation of extracts of aerial parts of the plant using chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and water as solvents. Total flavonoid and polyphenolic content of various extracts were determined by standard methods. The antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities of the extracts were determined using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and in vitro αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory assays, respectively. Results: Preliminary results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals in the extracts. The chloroform extract exhibited the highest contents of total flavonoids (65.98 ± 1.63 mg QE/g) and polyphenols (26.75 ± 1.09 mg GAE/g). This extract also showed the highest free radical scavenging (64.74 ± 1.43 %) with IC50 value of 34.18 ± 5.57 µg/mL while the methanol extract exerted the highest αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory activity (45.22 ± 0.46 %) with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 220.4 ± 0.41 µg/mL. Conclusion: The extracts of the aerial parts of Fagonia indica possess significant anti-diabetic and antioxidant effect, thus justifying the traditional use of the plant for treatment of diabetes