Edible Oil Deficit and Its Impact on Food Expenditure in Pakistan

This study is an attempt to analyze the impact of Edible Oil Deficit on Food Expenditure in Pakistan for the period 1971-2008. Edible oil deficit is one of the major concerns for the policy makers in Pakistan. Despite of having agriculture based economy; Pakistan is unable to fulfil her domestic demand of edible oil by local production. This situation forces the government to import edible oil and oil seeds from other countries. This import not only increases our balance of payment deficit but also it negatively affects the ability to finance the external debt repayments. Autoregressive Distributed Lag model has been used to analyse the long run relationship amongst the variables. Other important determinants of food expenditure along with edible oil deficit were also used to check for their collective long run impact. It was found that long run negative relationship exists between edible oil deficit and food expenditure and hence the result derives the policy implication that there is a need to boost up the efforts in the agriculture sector to steadily increase the local production of oil seeds in the country. The relationship between the per capita GDP and food expenditure is found to be positive and significant with elasticity of 0.261 suggesting that 1 percent increase in per capita GDP will cause food expenditure to increase by 0.26 percent. The relationship between food subsidy and food expenditure is found to be insignificant suggesting that due to improper targeting and consumer’s perception about quality and accessibility of subsidized food, Government’s food support programs are not effective.Edible Oil; Production; Imports; Trade Deficit; Balance of Payments; International Trade; Oilseed Crops; Agriculture; Pakistan; Edible oil deficit; demand function; food; inflation; food inflation; household expenditure.

Performance analysis of hybrid 5G cellular networks exploiting mmWave capabilities in suburban areas

Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is considered as a key enabler for fifth generation (5G) networks to achieve higher data rates with low transmission power by offloading the users with low signal-to-noise-ratios. Millimeter wave networks operating at E and W frequency bands have available bandwidth of 1 GHz or more to provide higher data rates whereas their propagation characteristics differ greatly from the conventional Ultra High Frequency (UHF) networks operating at sub 6 GHz frequency band. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance in terms of coverage and rate, of hybrid cellular networks where base stations (BSs) operating at mmWave and sub 6 GHz bands coexist in suburban environment such as a university campus. The actual building locations within a suburban university campus are modeled as blockages and the analysis is carried out for different densities of UHF and mmWave BSs for different densities of outdoor users. Our analysis also highlight the fact that mmWave cellular networks are predominantly noise-limited due to larger available bandwidth in comparison to the interference limited conventional UHF networks. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of dense deployment of mmWave BSs to achieve better coverage and rate probabilities in comparison to the stand alone UHF network

Design of Compact Dual Band Circular Polarized Micro-strip Antenna for High Efficiency WLAN 802.11ax-2019

Design of antennas for the latest upcoming standards of WLANs is considered as a key challenge in the science of Mobile Communication Engineering. Micro strip antennas are supposed to have some quality features in mobile and wireless network systems. Their weight and size are reduced and they are capable of having low power capacity. All these interesting features enabled these type of antennas suitable for the communication of IEEE 802.11ax-2019 high speed WLANs. Shape of these antennas can be designed in an efficient manner to achieve required gain and bandwidth. In this paper the concept of circular polarization has been introduced along with compact design of antennas in order to achieve return loss and axial ratio of less than -10 dB and 3dB respectively. Antenna has been designed and simulated on CST MW studio software and usage of dual bands 2.4 and 5.2GHz having circular polarization is properly elucidated for 802.11ax-2019

Weather effects on stock returns and volatility in South Asian markets

We study the effect of mood-proxy variables on index returns and volatility in six South Asian markets. Our mood-proxy variables include six weather (temperature, humidity, cloud cover, air pressure, visibility, and wind speed), three weather indicator variables (fog, thunder storm and rain or drizzle) and two biorhythmic variables (SAD and lunar phases). We adopt a robust approach and attempt to select the best parsimonious econometric model for each market. Our findings suggest that mood-proxy variables have some convincing influences in South Asian capital markets. In some instances, these variables are influencing returns while in other instances they are influencing volatility

Integrated power amplifier and antenna-on-chip for 5G communication applications : thesis by publications presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Chapters 4 and 5 are reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0 Deed).With the advent of 5G cellular networks, there is a crucial requirement for wireless hardware operable at microwave and millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies. Two significant elements of wireless hardware are Power Amplifier (PA) and Antenna. An integrated power amplifier designed for 5G communications is expected to offer maximum performance in terms of efficiency, output power, and/or gain. An On-Chip Antenna design would require features like simple geometry, a small form factor, free from the risk of micro-fracture, and cost-effectiveness. Among different classes of PAs, the Class-F-1 amplifier is selected because it offers relatively better output power and efficiency. Different techniques are utilized in this work to enhance the performance parameters of the Class-F-1 PA, designed at the 5G-millimeterwave frequency of 38-GHz. In order to achieve high gain, a two-stage topology of Class-F-1 PA is employed. For the purpose of obtaining high output power, a stacking structure is established in the final stage of the two-stage topology. Class-F-1-based parasitic-aware harmonic-control loading is employed to improve the efficiency of the power amplifier. Therefore, a two-stage Class-F-1 power amplifier with a double-stacked configuration is designed and fabricated. GlobalFoundries 8HP 130nm SiGe-BiCMOS process technology is utilized for realizing the integrated mmW power amplifier. A Figure of Merit (FoM) is calculated for comparing the performance of the designed power amplifier with other mmW amplifiers reported in the literature. It is observed that the proposed two-stage double-stacked Class-F-1 PA shows comparatively the highest FoM (69.68) achieved so far in state-of-the-art silicon-based Class F/F-1 power amplifiers. Another integrated Class-F-1 power amplifier is proposed at a new unlicensed 5G-microwave frequency of 6-GHz. The PA is designed to achieve very high power-efficiency. The amplifier employs a “single-transistor” design in 65-nm standard CMOS process technology. The PA is loaded with a Class-F-1 harmonic-control network, employing a new parasitic-aware topology deduced using a novel iterative-algorithm. The proposed algorithm starts from a specific reference value and quickly converges towards the solution. A dual-purpose output-matching circuit is employed in the design. The output-matching circuit not only matches the output impedance to 50-Ω but also reinforces the Class-F-1 harmonic network in controlling the harmonics efficiently. The proposed amplifier offers a peak power-added-efficiency (PAE) of 47.8% which is one of the highest when compared with previously reported microwave/millimeterwave PAs in CMOS and SiGe process technologies. Besides power-amplifiers, another essential part of this research is On-Chip Antenna (OCA). As millimeterwave frequencies exhibit relatively smaller wavelengths, it becomes feasible to design an antenna on a microchip using standard CMOS processes. As compared to Off-Chip Antennas, the On-Chip Antennas offer a high level of integration with RF-front-end circuitry, as well as an external interconnect-free interface and low fabrication cost. An On-Chip Planar-Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) in TSMC 180-nm CMOS is designed to radiate at the 5G-millimeterwave frequency of 38-GHz. A PIFA is selected because it offers simple geometry, small form factor, design flexibility, and robustness. An Ultra-Thick Metal (UTM) layer in 180-nm CMOS is utilized to implement the antenna structure on the chip. To achieve better radiation performance, the OCA is positioned close to the edge of the microchip. The measurements are conducted after placing the fabricated OCA over a 3D-printed plastic-slab to minimize the reflections from the metallic-chuck of the probe-station. The fabricated OCA delivered an antenna-gain of 0.7-dBi at the millimeterwave center-frequency of 38-GHz

Behaviour Profiling using Wearable Sensors for Pervasive Healthcare

In recent years, sensor technology has advanced in terms of hardware sophistication and miniaturisation. This has led to the incorporation of unobtrusive, low-power sensors into networks centred on human participants, called Body Sensor Networks. Amongst the most important applications of these networks is their use in healthcare and healthy living. The technology has the possibility of decreasing burden on the healthcare systems by providing care at home, enabling early detection of symptoms, monitoring recovery remotely, and avoiding serious chronic illnesses by promoting healthy living through objective feedback. In this thesis, machine learning and data mining techniques are developed to estimate medically relevant parameters from a participant‘s activity and behaviour parameters, derived from simple, body-worn sensors. The first abstraction from raw sensor data is the recognition and analysis of activity. Machine learning analysis is applied to a study of activity profiling to detect impaired limb and torso mobility. One of the advances in this thesis to activity recognition research is in the application of machine learning to the analysis of 'transitional activities': transient activity that occurs as people change their activity. A framework is proposed for the detection and analysis of transitional activities. To demonstrate the utility of transition analysis, we apply the algorithms to a study of participants undergoing and recovering from surgery. We demonstrate that it is possible to see meaningful changes in the transitional activity as the participants recover. Assuming long-term monitoring, we expect a large historical database of activity to quickly accumulate. We develop algorithms to mine temporal associations to activity patterns. This gives an outline of the user‘s routine. Methods for visual and quantitative analysis of routine using this summary data structure are proposed and validated. The activity and routine mining methodologies developed for specialised sensors are adapted to a smartphone application, enabling large-scale use. Validation of the algorithms is performed using datasets collected in laboratory settings, and free living scenarios. Finally, future research directions and potential improvements to the techniques developed in this thesis are outlined

Changes in free amino acid, peptide-N, sugar and pyrazine concentration during cocoa fermentation

The free amino acids, peptide-N, reducing sugars (the flavour precursors in cocoa) and pyrazine profiles of mix hybrid cocoa beans fermented in a rotary drum reactor were monitored over a period of 6 days. As fermentation progressed, the acidic free amino acid concentration decreased significantly (P<0·05) by 15%, whereas total, hydrophobic and other free amino acids increased significantly by 148, 280 and 127%, respectively. In terms of hydrophobic/acidic/other free amino acids ratio, the unfermented cocoa beans contained 30%:18%: 52%, whereas those of fermented beans contained 46%: 6%: 48%. Concentrations of peptide-N and total reducing sugars were significantly (P<0·05) increased by 55 and 208%, respectively during fermentation; however, those of sucrose and total sugars decreased significantly (P<0·05) by 89% and 75%, respectively. The unfermented cocoa beans contained no pyrazine; however during fermentation, the 2-methyl-, 2,5-dimethyl-, 2,6-dimethyl-, 2,3-dimethyl-, trimethyl- and tetramethylpyrazine were formed. The two principle pyrazines were tetramethyl- (2099·30 μg kg−1) and trimethylpyrazine (692·00 μg kg−1)

EMPIRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SOFTWARE QUALITY

The research topic focuses on the characterization of software quality considering the main software elements such as people, process and product. Many attributes (size, language, testing techniques etc.) probably could have an effect on the quality of software. In this thesis we aim to understand the impact of attributes of three P’s (people, product, process) on the quality of software by empirical means. Software quality can be interpreted in many ways, such as customer satisfaction, stability and defects etc. In this thesis we adopt ‘defect density’ as a quality measure. Therefore the research focus on the empirical evidences of the impact of attributes of the three P’s on the software defect density. For this reason empirical research methods (systematic literature reviews, case studies, and interviews) are utilized to collect empirical evidence. Each of this research method helps to extract the empirical evidences of the object under study and for data analysis statistical methods are used. Considering the product attributes, we have studied the size, language, development mode, age, complexity, module structure, module dependency, and module quality and their impact on project quality. Considering the process attributes, we have studied the process maturity and structure, and their impact on the project quality. Considering the people attributes, we have studied the experience and capability, and their impact on the project quality. Moreover, in the process category, we have studied the impact of one testing approach called ‘exploratory testing’ and its impact on the quality of software. Exploratory testing is a widely used software-testing practice and means simultaneous learning, test design, and test execution. We have analyzed the exploratory testing weaknesses, and proposed a hybrid testing approach in an attempt to improve the quality. Concerning the product attributes, we found that there exist a significant difference of quality between open and close source projects, java and C projects, and large and small projects. Very small and defect free modules have impact on the software quality. Different complexity metrics have different impact on the software quality considering the size. Product complexity as defined in Table 53 has partial impact on the software quality. However software age and module dependencies are not factor to characterize the software quality. Concerning the people attributes, we found that platform experience, application experience and language and tool experience have significant impact on the software quality. Regarding the capability we found that programmer capability has partial impact on the software quality where as analyst capability has no impact on the software quality. Concerning process attributes we found that there is no difference of quality between the project developed under CMMI and those that are not developed under CMMI. Regarding the CMMI levels there is difference of software quality particularly between CMMI level 1 and CMMI level 3. Comparing different process types we found that hybrid projects are of better quality than waterfall projects. Process maturity defined by (SEI-CMM) has partial impact on the software quality. Concerning exploratory testing, we found that exploratory testing weaknesses induce the testing technical debt therefore a process is defined in conjunction with the scripted testing in an attempt to reduce the associated technical debt of exploratory testing. The findings are useful for both researchers and practitioners to evaluate their project