Developing a Framework to Implement Public Key Infrastructure Enabled Security in XML Documents

This paper concentrates on proposing a framework to implement the PKI enables security in XML documents, by defining a common framework and processing rules that can be shared across applications using common tools, avoiding the need for extensive customization of applications to add security. The Framework reuses the concepts, algorithms and core technologies of legacy security systems while introducing changes necessary to support extensible integration with XML. This allows interoperability with a wide range of existing infrastructures and across deployments. Currently no strict security models and mechanisms are available that can provide specification and enforcement of security policies for XML documents. Such models are crucial in order to facilitate a secure dissemination of XML documents, containing information of different sensitivity levels, among (possibly large) user communities

Design Considerations for Implementing Security in Web Services

The rapid growth in XML and increasing use of World Wide Web allow users to use internet as a platform for document sharing and hosting embedded with certain security features. XML is becoming most prevalent means through which documents and data are encoded for distribution among users on the web. Currently no strict security models and mechanisms are available that can provide specification and enforcement of security policies for XML documents. Such models are crucial in order to facilitate a secure dissemination of XML documents, containing information of different sensitivity levels, among (possibly large) user communities. This paper concentrates on proposing key design considerations to implement the PKI enables security in XML documents, by defining a component model and processing rules that can be shared across applications using common tools, avoiding the need for extensive customisation of applications to add security. The considerations reuses the concepts, algorithms and core technologies of legacy security systems while introducing changes necessary to support extensible integration with XML. This allows interoperability with a wide range of existing infrastructures and across deployments

Impact of Deceptive Marketing on Consumers Behavior: A Case of Cellular Industry of Pakistan

The research study discusses the relationship between deceptive marketing and consumer behavior regarding the telecommunication industry of Pakistan. As Pakistan is the third largest telecommunication emerging market in the world so, the factors that affect the reaction of consumers are important.  Many customers who use different cellular networks are deceived through false marketing and deceptive features shown in the advertising. The factors that are considered deceptive according to the consumers are examined, that are incorrect interpretation, financial and emotional loss and misleading claims to determine consumer behavior. Moreover, the reaction to these factors is also considered when the customer is exposed to deception in marketing. Keywords: Deceptive marketing, Consumers behavior, incorrect interpretation, financial and emotional loss, misleading claims and cellular industry

Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan : Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Funding Information: Study 1 was funded through the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Program at Harvard Institute for International Development with a grant from USAID (Project 936–5952, Cooperative Agreement # DPE-5952-A-00-5073-00), and the Aga Khan Health Service, Northern Areas and Chitral, Pakistan. Study 2 was funded by the Pakistan US S&T Cooperative Agreement between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) (No.4–421/PAK-US/HEC/2010/955, grant to the Karakoram International University) and US National Academies of Science (Grant Number PGA-P211012 from NAS to the Fogarty International Center). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Prospects and challenges of teaching Science in response to Covid-19 pandemic

Science instructional practices around the world raise concerns. The situation in Pakistan is even grave where various studies highlight the use of direct instruction that promotes rote learning. Whereas the national curriculum of science suggests inquiry-based approaches for teaching science. Meanwhile there was this stark disparity between intended curriculum and actual science practices, Pakistan like every other place was hit by COVID-19. Teachers in the urban settings transitioned from face-to-face classrooms to various forms of instruction with initially no idea and gradually learnt to teach science in this newer uncertain time. Because this sudden transition was a result of a unique health crisis and for this Pakistani schools were barely prepared. This study focused on exploring the efforts that science teachers made in teaching science to elementary grade students during the COVID 19 era.. A qualitative case study was employed to explore the science instructional practices of teachers during the pandemic using semi-structured interviews, lesson plans and worksheets as its key data sources. This case study also showed the potential of online teaching where science teachers used various online resources to support students’ learning. Results also provides hope for meaningful integration of technology for science teaching and learning even in the face -to-face science classrooms. Having said that, the study found that hands-on science activities were badly compromised during online science instruction during COVID-19

Developing a Framework to Implement Security in Web Services

Recent advancement in XML and increasing use of World Wide Web allow users to use internet as a document sharing and hosting system, with certain security features. Currently no guidelines are available for developers to enforce security policies for XML and Web Services. It is crucial in order to facilitate a secure dissemination of XML documents, containing information of different sensitivity levels, among (possibly large) user communities. The paper concentrates on developing a framework and proposing design considerations to implement the PKI enables security in XML documents and web services, by defining a component model and processing rules that can be shared across applications using common tools, avoiding the need for extensive customisation of applications to add security. This allows interoperability with a wide range of existing infrastructures and across deployments

नासिरा शर्मा के कथा साहित्य में संवेदना एवं शिल्प

उपसंहार के रूप में लिखा जाए तों लेखिका मानव – मात्र की समस्याओं , विम्बनाओं , भावनाओं एवं संवेदनाओं की अभिव्यंजित करती हैं । जिसमें कभी वे अन्य महिला लेखिकाओं की भांती एक सामान्य से मानव की समस्या को लेकर लेखनी चलाती हैं । वो कभी वर्ग विशेष की ऐसी समस्या को लेती हैं जो विशेष होकर भी सामान्य हो सकती हैं । कई स्थलों पर जगह , धर्म , आदि का भी उल्लेख नहीं किया हैं । वास्तव में लेखिका यही कहना चाहती हैं कि वह एक मानव की बात कर रही हैं , जो संसार के किसी भी कोने में स्थित व्यक्ति की हो सकती हैं