Industrial development, agricultural growth, urbanization and environmental Kuznets curve in Pakistan

The debate of environmental issues and their analysis is of vital interest for economic policies. Institutions are engaged in identifying and estimating the extent of environmental impact of determinants controllable via policy measures. Annual data from the on Carbon Dioxide emission, economic growth, consumption of energy, openness for foreign trade, urbanization, industrial growth and agriculture growth on Pakistan is used for 1971 to 2007. Augmented Vector Autoregression technique and cointegration analysis is implemented to test Granger causality. Gross domestic product significantly Granger causes emission of Carbon Dioxide and energy consumption. On the other hand emissions of CO2 affect economic growth, agriculture and industrial growth in the long run. It is also evident that energy consumption unidirectional Granger causes emission of Carbon Dioxide. Industrialization and urbanization bidirectional Granger causes each other. The results indicate the more careful industrial and energy policies to reduce emissions and control global warming.Pakistan, Carbon Dioxide emission, Environment, Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, Foreign Trade

With No Deliberate Speed: The Segregation of Roma Children in Europe

In this study, by taking the advantage of both inorganic ZnO nanoparticles and the organic material chitosan as a composite seed layer, we have fabricated well-aligned ZnO nanorods on a gold-coated glass substrate using the hydrothermal growth method. The ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by the Raman spectroscopic techniques, which showed the nanocrystalline phase of the ZnO nanoparticles. Different composites of ZnO nanoparticles and chitosan were prepared and used as a seed layer for the fabrication of well-aligned ZnO nanorods. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopic techniques were utilized for the structural characterization of the ZnO nanoparticles/chitosan seed layer-coated ZnO nanorods on a gold-coated glass substrate. This study has shown that the ZnO nanorods are well-aligned, uniform, and dense, exhibit the wurtzite hexagonal structure, and are perpendicularly oriented to the substrate. Moreover, the ZnO nanorods are only composed of Zn and O atoms. An optical study was also carried out for the ZnO nanoparticles/chitosan seed layer-coated ZnO nanorods, and the obtained results have shown that the fabricated ZnO nanorods exhibit good crystal quality. This study has provided a cheap fabrication method for the controlled morphology and good alignment of ZnO nanorods, which is of high demand for enhancing the working performance of optoelectronic devices

Effect of river indus sand on concrete tensile strength

In the development of Pakistan construction industry, the utilization of River Indus sand in concrete as fine aggregate has expanded tremendously. The aim of this research is to study the effect of Indus River sand on the tensile strength of various grades of concrete when it is utilized as fine aggregate. Concrete Samples of M15, M20 and M25 grade concrete were cured for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Based on the results, it is found that concrete became less workable when Indus river sand was utilized. It is recorded that tensile strength of concrete is decreased from 5% up to 20% in comparison with hill sand. The results were derived from various concrete grades

Development and Characterization of Piezoresistive Nanocomposites for Sensing Applications

Carbonnanotube basedhybrid nanocomposites are known to exhibit remarkable electrical and mechanical properties with many potentials in strain and damage sensing applications. In this work, we fabricate hybrid nanocomposites with carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) as fillers with epoxy matrix. An improvement in both electrical conductivity and piezoresistivity is observed with the combination of CNTs and GNPs, indicating the formation of efficient hybrid conductive networks for strain and electrical transfer in the material. Different matrix materials have been compared to investigate the effect ofmatrixand to choose the one that yields increased strains, flexibility, and electromechanical response. The electromechanical behavior of the hybrid composites is investigated both under static and dynamic loading at various frequencies with induced levels of strains, and has shown positive response under all tested conditions. Digital image correlation has been used to investigate the strain variation within the specimen both during static and dynamic testing. As these sensors will be tested for damage sensing in space applications for inflatable habitat under Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) impact, the sensitivity of the sensor with 3 mm impact holes is evaluated usingfour pointprobe electrical resistivity measurements. An array of these sensorswhen sandwiched between soft good layers in a space habitatcan act as a damage detection layer for inflatable structures. A computer program is developed to determine the event of impact, its severity and the location on the sensing layer for active health monitoring. Outgassing testing has been performed to evaluate the Total Mass Loss (TML) of the nanocomposite in space environment. Our results indicate that these hybrid nanocomposites exhibit a distinct piezo resistive response which can be beneficial for potential strain, vibration, and damage sensing applications

The erratic antibiotic susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens causing urinary tract infections

Increasing trend of antibiotic resistance and expression of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases (ESBLs) are serious threats for public health as they render the treatment ineffective. Present study was designed to elucidate the antibiotic-susceptibility patterns of ESBL and non-ESBL producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae causing urinary tract infections so that the ineffective antibiotics could be removed from the line of treatment. The bacterial isolates obtained from the urine of patients visiting a tertiary health care facility were cultured for strain identification using API20E. Antimicrobial susceptibility and ESBL detection were done by Kirby-bauer diffusion technique. Almost 53.4 % isolates of E. coli and 24.5 % isolates of K. pneumoniae were found to be ESBL producers. The ESBL producing bacteria were found to be more resistant towards various antibiotics. The most effective drugs against E. coli ESBL isolates were imipenem (99.54 %), ampicillin-sulbactam (97.48 %), piperacillin-tazobactam (96.86 %), fosfomycin (94.51 %), amikacin (92.26 %) and nitrofurantoin (90.68 %). The most effective drugs against K. pneumoniae ESBL isolates were imipenem (97.62 %), piperacillin-tazobactam (95.35 %), ampicillin-sulbactam (90.48 %) and amikacin (88.37 %). The antibiotics having the highest resistance, particularly by the ESBL producers were amoxicillin clavulanic acid, sulphamethoxalzole/ trimethoprim, cefuroxime, cefpirome, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin. Most of the isolates showed multi drug resistance (MDR). High frequency of ESBL producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae were observed as compared to previous data. Penicillins, cephalosporins and some representatives of fluoroquinolones were least effective against the common UTIs and are recommended to be removed from the line of treatment

Mudarabah- A New Paradigm for Corporate Governance

It is increasingly believed that the shareholders have lost control over their wealth in the hands of management. As a consequent there is a need for an effective and efficient monitoring environment which can be materialized through active and effective participation of shareholders in policy making and major decision making. In this background, the purpose of this paper is to search for a new form of business organization in which the rights of all the stake holders are secured. “Mudarabah” is a basic mode of Islamic finance in which one party rabb-ul-mal (owner) provide capital to the mudarib (manager) to run business within a given paradigm. Here we are focusing on the point that how this concept can be applied in the context of corporate governance issues. Through applying this concept, much debating issue of activism of share holders can be addressed to a great extent. In addition the concept of limited liability can also be refined. As per teaching of Islam even the death of debtors can not write off the right of repayment of debt to the creditors. It may emerge into a new paradigm of corporate governance as the concept may leads to a major shift in principal-agent relationship. The concept can be successfully implemented either to structurally change the corporate form of business organization or make the way for a new form of business organization. However, there would be a need to form a global body to oversee and implement the recommendations. It will also require extensive legislation by the countries. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Mudarabah Board, Paradig

Hybrid Intrusion Detection System Based on Optimal Feature Selection and Evolutionary Algorithm for Wired Networks

The field of cybersecurity encounters ongoing difficulties in identifying and preventing attacks in networks, and the pervasive threat of cyberattacks demands continual advancements in intrusion detection systems (IDS) to safeguard network integrity. Traditional intrusion detection systems face the challenge of class imbalance. Addressing the formidable challenges posed by class imbalance and high-dimensional data, this research proposes a novel hybrid IDS approach. Leveraging (ACO), the algorithm navigates complex datasets to identify salient features, effectively mitigating the complexities associated with high-dimensional data. Subsequently, a Weighted Stacking Classifier amalgamates the strengths of Random Forest, AdaBoost, and Gradient Boosting classifiers, fortifying the system’s ability to handle class imbalance robustly. By strategically enhancing the importance of base classifiers with favourable training outcomes and diminishing the influence of those yielding inferior results, the hybrid IDS endeavors to optimize classification efficacy. The experimentation, conducted exclusively on the dataset named NSL-KDD, demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed model, yielding remarkable results. With a 90.13% Accuracy, 88.87% precision, 91.23% Recall, and 87.33% F1-score, the hybrid IDS exhibits superior performance in detecting malicious activity. The findings underscore the viability of the proposed hybrid IDS as a potent tool in the ongoing battle against cyber threats, positioning it for real-world deployment across diverse networks