Cloud based Smart Irrigation for Agricultural Area of Pakistan

A beneficial product of Smart Irrigation for Agricultural Area of Pakistan has been presented in this paper. Pakistan stands in need of a participatory solution that is efficiently workable, sustainable, and profitable, to develop the way for the agricultural sector by improving crop productivity with minimum water loss. The goal of this project is to introduce Cloud support to the Smart Irrigation System for Agricultural Area of Pakistan. To achieve this objective Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is used to determine how much water to apply and when to irrigate. The system is divided into four main modules, i.e. Sensor node, Coordinator node, Server Module and Web Application. On the basis of acquired parameters from the WSN, the software application is programmed to take intelligent decisions increase the efficiency of the agricultural system

Which Factors Influence the Customers Switching Behavior? (Evidence from the Customers of Banking Sector of Pakistan)

This study investigates which factors influence customer’s switching behavior specifically in banks. Flourishing organizations very well aware about one fact that the road to their success moves with their customers. Those companies who do not value their customers they create chance for their rivals to capture customers. Same instance happen in banking sector.  We developed a questionnaire and used that for data collection survey from 200 customers having their bank accounts in different banks of Pakistan.  Results of the current study expose that number of bank branches, quality of services, profit or interest rates offered by banks to their customers directly impact on the attitude and it drive intention to behave in a particular way of customers. If the profit or interest rate will not be higher than any other bank then this factor will create intention to switch. Same behavior will be establish by customers in the case of low service quality and single bank branch or distant branch from center of city. Study also indicate that banks should concentrate on improving their service quality according to the market demand and for the betterment of customers’ perception, satisfaction and loyalty. Keywords: Switching behavior, service quality, convenience, religious belief, advertisement, profit & interest rat

Impact of Software Testing Techniques on Software Project Success through Regression Analysis

This study is intended to evaluate the effectiveness of software testing techniques for the success of software project. The research studies Functional Testing, Performance Testing and Regression Testing as critical factors and characterizes the importance of them for the acquisition of project milestones. Furthermore, the study aims to address if software testing techniques have significant effect on project success and does software testing techniques have significant relationship with each other. The study contributes to making polices by government, by providing a broad vision about effective testing techniques implementations in software houses and shows how management can boast the business and get the rewards of successful business. This study is focused to lead new techniques in enhancing project quality in IT sector of Pakistan. Moreover, this study will give an opportunity to management to pay more attention on quality assurance department to enhance their project success and finally their business growth

Impact of Software Testing Techniques on Software Project Success through Regression Analysis

This study is intended to evaluate the effectiveness of software testing techniques for the success of software project. The research studies Functional Testing, Performance Testing and Regression Testing as critical factors and characterizes the importance of them for the acquisition of project milestones. Furthermore, the study aims to address if software testing techniques have significant effect on project success and does software testing techniques have significant relationship with each other. The study contributes to making polices by government, by providing a broad vision about effective testing techniques implementations in software houses and shows how management can boast the business and get the rewards of successful business. This study is focused to lead new techniques in enhancing project quality in IT sector of Pakistan. Moreover, this study will give an opportunity to management to pay more attention on quality assurance department to enhance their project success and finally their business growth

Knowledge causes and practice of self-medication during COVID-19: A population-based survey in Pakistan

Background: Self-medication (SM) is a public health issue upsurge day by day and its side effects accelerate the burden on healthcare, pharmacists, and the economy. The demand for self-prescribed medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be on the rise globally.Methods: The survey was conducted during June-August 2021 to analyses knowledge, causes, and practices of self-medication in Pakistan. The Chi-square test was used to examine the relationships between the categorical variable: The Pearson Correlation coefficient determined the relationship between quantitative variables. Age, gender, marital status, education, profession, field, knowledge, causes and practice of SM were variables included in survey.Result: 203 responses were received in the online survey and results from demographic factors were 104 (51.7%) male, 114(56.7%) single, 20-30 years (42.3%) age group, 44.8% were MS/M. Phil, 31.3% were teacher and 74.1% respondents belongs to the bioscience field. 20.4% considered it good practice while 42.3% responded to it as an acceptable practice. Quarantine was the most significant factor for SM during COVID-19 (68.7%). Discrimination after infection (37.8%) was also of higher priority and SM practiced under the influence of friends and social media, emergency illness, distance to hospitals (19.9%), and prescribed by medical personnel in a health facility (31.3%) followed by own self (22.9%), 19.9% by a friend, and 15.4% by pharmacist. 52.7% used self-prescribed antibiotics with the appearance of symptoms of fever, chills, and tiredness (37.30%). Conclusion: This population-based survey suggested that legislation, awareness campaigns, media, community, and government should play their part to fight misinformation about alleged COVID-19 preventive medicines on different platforms

Malnutrition and Obesity in Patients with COPD Exacerbation, Insights from the National Inpatient Sample

Background: The obesity paradox suggests that obese patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbation (COPDE) may have better outcomes. COPD patients are at a higher risk of becoming malnourished, which has been linked to poor outcomes. Objective: This paper aims to study the impact of malnutrition in patients with and without obesity hospitalized with COPDE. Methods: Our retrospective study analyzed data from the National Inpatient Sample dataset between 2017 and 2020 to observe patients who were hospitalized with COPDE. The patients were divided into two groups: with and without malnutrition. The outcomes included all-cause mortality, invasive mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and total charge. We adjusted for confounders using multivariate regression model analysis. Results: The study involved 392,920 patients with COPDE, out of which 5720 (1.45%) were diagnosed with malnutrition. Most of the patients in both groups were female, white, and under Medicare coverage. The mean age was higher in patients with malnutrition (67.6 vs. 64 years). In both groups, the rates of admissions were lowest in 2020 compared to three years prior. The rates and adjusted odds ratios of all-cause mortality were higher in patients with malnutrition (3.59% vs. 0.61%, P \u3c0.01; adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.36, P\u3c0.01, CI 1.8-3.7). We observed comparable findings when using invasive mechanical ventilation (13.2% vs. 2.82%, P\u3c0.01, aOR 4.9, P\u3c0.01, 3.9-6). Malnourished patients had a lengthier hospital stay and a greater total charge. Conclusion: Malnutrition was identified as an independent risk factor associated with worse outcomes in obese patients admitted with COPD exacerbation

Evaluation of soil quality and its impact on mangroves forest Indus delta, Pakistan

The geochemical and texture of forests soil on different aspects have been widely studied, but the adverse effects of environmental degradation poses deterioration on mangroves forest soil of different mangroves species has not been broadly in the literature. The aim of the research was to find out the reasons for the change in forests density along with the extinction of mangroves species and to determine the detrimental impacts of forest soil on mangroves of Keti Bunder, Indus delta, Pakistan. The field study of the Indus delta has been conducted during the year 2021-22. The soil samples were collected from each root zone at different depths (25, 50, and 70 cm) of mangroves species (A.marina, R.mucronata, C.tagal, and A.corniculatum) that presently exist in Pakistan. To evaluate the soil quality, some physical and chemical parameters (pH, Salinity, TDS, TOC, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Nitrate, Phosphate, Iron, and Chromium) were used to evaluate the adversity of the pollution. The statistical results have also been calculated by using Descriptive and Principal Component Analysis to find out the level of parameters dispersed in soil and their effects that may cause extinction of mangroves species from Pakistan. Keywords: Species extinction, Adverse impacts, Soil quality, Physico-chemical, Indus delt

Action Segmentation Using 2D Skeleton Heatmaps and Multi-Modality Fusion

This paper presents a 2D skeleton-based action segmentation method with applications in fine-grained human activity recognition. In contrast with state-of-the-art methods which directly take sequences of 3D skeleton coordinates as inputs and apply Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) for spatiotemporal feature learning, our main idea is to use sequences of 2D skeleton heatmaps as inputs and employ Temporal Convolutional Networks (TCNs) to extract spatiotemporal features. Despite lacking 3D information, our approach yields comparable/superior performances and better robustness against missing keypoints than previous methods on action segmentation datasets. Moreover, we improve the performances further by using both 2D skeleton heatmaps and RGB videos as inputs. To our best knowledge, this is the first work to utilize 2D skeleton heatmap inputs and the first work to explore 2D skeleton+RGB fusion for action segmentation.Comment: Accepted to ICRA 202

Frequency of Sleep Paralysis and Its Association with Insomnia, Daytime Sleepiness and Perceived Stress Among Young Adults in Karachi

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of sleep paralysis (SP) among young adults in Karachi, Pakistan, and to assess its correlations with insomnia, daytime somnolence, and perceived stress. Methods:  A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to December 2023, with 400 participants aged 15 to 35 years, recruited through convenience sampling across Karachi. Data were gathered by a self-administered questionnaire that included the Unusual Sleep Experience Questionnaire (USEQ) for sleep paralysis, the Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI) for insomnia, the Epworth drowsiness Scale (ESS) for daytime drowsiness, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) for stress assessment. SPSS version 23 was used for analysis. Logistic regression and one-way ANOVA were used to examine relationships, with p<0.05 being statistically significant. All the ethical issues were taken into consideration. Results: The prevalence of SP was 49.5%, with 46.0% of individuals reporting 2 to 4 episodes.  Sensory responses comprised chest tightness (26.3% always) and suffocation (16.2% always).  Age (21–25 years: OR=2.13, p=0.002), marital status (married: OR=3.53, p=0.005), and postgraduate education (OR=5.86, p=0.033) were significant predictors of SP.  Females reported higher stress (p=0.004), while married and postgraduate participants showed elevated daytime sleepiness (p=0.003 and p=0.005, respectively).  Conclusion: SP is highly prevalent among Karachi’s young adults, driven by stress and daytime sleepiness rather than insomnia.  Targeted interventions addressing stress and sleep hygiene are warranted

Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome after administration of AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S vaccine for COVID-19: A systematic review

Background: Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) have been reported following vaccination with AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S. This review aimed to explore the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of TTS.Methods: A systematic review was conducted to identify evidence on TTS till 4th September 2021. Case reports and series reporting patient-level data were included. Descriptive statistics were reported and compared across patients with different sexes, age groups, vaccines, types of thrombosis, and outcomes.Findings: Sixty-two studies reporting 160 cases were included from 16 countries. Patients were predominantly females with a median age of 42.50 (22) years. AZD1222 was administered to 140 patients (87·5%). TTS onset occurred in a median of 9 (4) days after vaccination. Venous thrombosis was most common (61.0%). Most patients developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST; 66.3%). CVST was significantly more common in female vs male patients (p = 0·001) and in patients aged \u3c45 years vs ≥45 years (p = 0·004). The mortality rate was 36.2%, and patients with suspected TTS, venous thrombosis, CVST, pulmonary embolism, or intraneural complications, patients not managed with non-heparin anticoagulants or IVIG, patients receiving platelet transfusions, and patients requiring intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or inpatient neurosurgery were more likely to expire than recover.Interpretation: These findings help to understand the pathophysiology of TTS while also recommending diagnostic and management approaches to improve prognosis in patients.Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors