Search results for: Muhammad Ziaur Rahman

Authors: Wega Trisunaryanti, Hesty Kusumastuti, Iip Izul Falah, Muhammad Fajar Marsuki, Rahmad Nuryanto

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Synthesis of Ni supported on mesopore silica-alumina (MSA) for hydrocracking of pyrolyzed α-cellulose had been carried out. The silica and alumina were extracted from Sidoarjo mud. Gelatin from catfish bone was used as a template for the mesopore design. The MSA was synthesized by using hydrothermal method at 100 °C for 24 h and calcined at 550 °C for 4 h then characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction Spectrometer (XRD) and Nitrogen Gas Sorption Analyzer (GAS). The Ni metal was loaded to the MSA by wet impregnation method. The catalytic activity in the hydrocracking reaction of pyrolyzed α-cellulose was carried out at 450 °C for 2 h. The MSA synthesized in this work is an amorphous material with specific surface area, total pore volume, and average pore diameter of 212.29 m²/g, 1.29 cm³/g, and 20.05 nm, respectively. The Ni/MSA catalyst produced 73.02 wt.% of liquid product in hydrocracking of pyrolyzed α-cellulose.

Keywords: catalyst, gelatin, hydrocracking, mesopore silica-alumina, α-cellulose

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Authors: Noman Ahmed, Fariha Tahseen

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Since several decades, unplanned urbanization and rapid growth of informal settlements have evolved and increased in size and number. Large cities such as Karachi have been impacted with sprawl and rising share of unplanned settlements where poor communities reside. Threats of eviction, deteriorating law and order situation, lack of essential amenities and infrastructure, extortion and bullying from local and non-local musclemen and feeble response of government agencies towards their development needs are some predicaments. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have caused important interventions in such locations. Appraisal of the community-based mapping as a tool in supporting the development work in less privileged areas in Karachi has been the objective of this research. The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), under the leadership of its slain director Perween Rahman had a significant role to play in developing and extending this approach in low income locations in Karachi and beyond. The paper investigates the application of mapping in the process of peri urban land invasion causing rapid transformation of traditional settlements in Karachi. Mixed methodology components comprising literature review, archival research, and unstructured interviews with key informants and case studies have been used.

Keywords: squatters (katchi abadis), land grabbing, community empowerment, housing rights, mapping, infrastructure development

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Authors: Yongkui Cui, Fengping Wang, Hailei Zhao, Muhammad Zubair Iqbal, Ziya Wang, Yan Li, Pengpeng LV

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The novel 3D SnO cabbages self-assembled by nanosheets were successfully synthesized via template-free hydrothermal growth method under facile conditions.The XRD results manifest that the as-prepared SnO is tetragonal phase. The TEM and HRTEM results show that the cabbage nanosheets are polycrystalline structure consisted of considerable single-crystalline nanoparticles. Two typical Raman modes A1g=210 and Eg=112 cm-1 of SnO are observed by Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, galvanostatic cycling tests has been performed using the SnO cabbages as anode material of lithium ion battery and the electrochemical results suggest that the synthesized SnO cabbage structures are a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Keywords: electrochemical property, hydrothermal synthesis, lithium ion battery, stannous oxide

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Authors: Muhammad Qamar Masood, Syed Abbas Raza, Umar Yousaf Raja, Imran Hassan, Bilal Afzal, Muhammad Aleem Zahir, Atika Shaheer

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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major burden among people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with 1 in 3 reported to have CVD. Therefore, understanding real-world clinical characteristics and prescribing patterns could help in better care. Objective: The CONVERGE (Cardiovascular Outcomes and Value in the Real world with GLP-1RAs) study characterized demographics and medication usage patterns in T2D intensified (add-on to metformin) overall population. The data were further divided into subgroups {dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4is), sulfonylureas (SUs), insulins, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2is)}, according to the latest prescribed antidiabetic agent (ADA) in India/Pakistan/Thailand. Here, we report findings from Pakistan. Methods: A multi-center retrospective study utilized data from medical records between 13-Sep-2008 (post-market approval of GLP-1RAs) and 31-Dec-2017 in adults (≥18-year-old). The data for this study were collected from 05 centers / institutes located in major cities of Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Multan. These centers included National Hospital, Aga Khan University Hospital, Diabetes Endocrine Clinic Lahore, Shifa International Hospital, Mukhtar A Sheikh Hospital Multan. Data were collected at start of medical record and at 6 or 12-months prior to baseline based on variable type; analyzed descriptively. Results: Overall, 1,010 patients were eligible. At baseline, overall mean age (SD) was 51.6 (11.3) years, T2D duration was 2.4 (2.6) years, HbA1c was 8.3% (1.9) and 35% received ≥1CVD medications in the past 1-year (before baseline). Most frequently prescribed ADAs post-metformin were DPP-4is and SUs (~63%). Only 6.5% received GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is were not available in Pakistan during the study period. Overall, it took a mean of 4.4 years and 5 years to initiate GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is, respectively. In comparison to other subgroups, more patients from GLP-1RAs received ≥3 types of ADA (58%), ≥1 CVD medication (64%) and had higher body mass index (37kg/m2). Conclusions: Utilization of GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is was low, took longer time to initiate and not before trying multiple ADAs. This may be due to lack of evidence for CV benefits for these agents during the study period. The planned phase 2 of the CONVERGE study can provide more insights into utilization and barriers to prescribe GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is post 2018 in Pakistan.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, GLP-1RA, treatment intensification, cardiovascular disease

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Authors: Benny Benyamin Nasution, Rahmat Widia Sembiring, Abdul Rahman Dalimunthe, Nursiah Mustari, Nisfan Bahri, Berta br Ginting, Riadil Akhir Lubis, Rita Tavip Megawati, Indri Dithisari

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The earth coordinate system is an important part of an attempt for earthquake forecasting, such as the one using Single Layer Hierarchical Graph Neuron (SLHGN). However, there are a number of problems that need to be worked out before the coordinate system can be utilized for the forecaster. One example of those is that SLHGN requires that the focused area of an earthquake must be constructed in a grid-like form. In fact, within the current earth coordinate system, the same longitude-difference would produce different distances. This can be observed at the distance on the Equator compared to distance at both poles. To deal with such a problem, a coordinate system has been developed, so that it can be used to support the ongoing earthquake forecasting using SLHGN. Two important issues have been developed in this system: 1) each location is not represented through two-value (longitude and latitude), but only a single value, 2) the conversion of the earth coordinate system to the x-y cartesian system requires no angular formulas, which is therefore fast. The accuracy and the performance have not been measured yet, since earthquake data is difficult to obtain. However, the characteristics of the SLHGN results show a very promising answer.

Keywords: hierarchical graph neuron, multidimensional hierarchical graph neuron, single layer hierarchical graph neuron, natural disaster forecasting, earthquake forecasting, earth coordinate system

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Authors: Showkat Ahmad Lone, Ahmadur Rahman, Ariful Islam

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The major assumption in accelerated life tests (ALT) is that the mathematical model relating the lifetime of a test unit and the stress are known or can be assumed. In some cases, such life–stress relationships are not known and cannot be assumed, i.e. ALT data cannot be extrapolated to use condition. So, in such cases, partially accelerated life test (PALT) is a more suitable test to be performed for which tested units are subjected to both normal and accelerated conditions. This study deals with estimating information about failure times of items under step-stress partially accelerated life tests using progressive failure-censored hybrid data with random removals. The life data of the units under test is considered to follow exponential life distribution. The removals from the test are assumed to have binomial distributions. The point and interval maximum likelihood estimations are obtained for unknown distribution parameters and tampering coefficient. An optimum test plan is developed using the D-optimality criterion. The performances of the resulting estimators of the developed model parameters are evaluated and investigated by using a simulation algorithm.

Keywords: binomial distribution, d-optimality, multiple censoring, optimal design, partially accelerated life testing, simulation study

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Authors: Raheela Akhtar, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhary, Yongqun Oliver He, Muhammad Younus, Aftab Ahmad Anjum

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Brucella abortus is an intracellular pathogen affecting macrophages. Macrophages release some components such as lysozymes (LZ), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrite intermediates (RNI) which are important tools against intracellular survival of Brucella. The antibrucella activity of bovine and murine macrophages was compared following stimulation with Brucella abortus lipopolysaccharides. Our results revealed that murine macrophages were ten times more potent to produce antibrucella components than bovine macrophages. The differential production of these components explained the differential Brucella killing ability of these species that was measured in terms of intramacrophagic survival of Brucella in murine and bovine macrophages.

Keywords: bovine macrophages, Brucella abortus, cell stimulation, cytokines, Murine macrophages

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Authors: Muhammad A. Nadeem, Shaheed Ullah

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The article reports the synthesis of Cr2O3/C nanocomposites obtained by the direct carbonization of PFA/MIL-101(Cr) bulk composite. The nanocomposites were characterized by various instrumental techniques like powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and the surface characterized were investigated via N2 adsorption/desorption analysis. TEM and SAED analysis shows that turbostatic graphitic carbon was obtained with high crystallinity. The nanocomposites were tested for electrochemical supercapacitor and the faradic and non-Faradic processes were checked through cyclic voltammetry (CV). The maximum specific capacitance calculated for Cr2O3/C 900 sample from CV measurement is 301 F g-1 at 2 mV s-1 due to its maximum charge storing capacity as confirm by frequency response analysis.

Keywords: nanocomposites, transmission electron microscopy, non-faradic process

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Authors: Muhammad Sohail Khan, Rehan Ali Shah

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The present paper applies the optimal homotopy perturbation method (OHPM) and the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM) introduced recently to obtain analytic approximations of the non-linear equations modeling the flow of polymer in case of wire coating of a corotational Maxwell fluid. Expression for the velocity field is obtained in non-dimensional form. Comparison of the results obtained by the two methods at different values of non-dimensional parameter l₁₀, reveal that the OHPM is more effective and easy to use. The OHPM solution can be improved even working in the same order of approximation depends on the choices of the auxiliary functions.

Keywords: corotational Maxwell model, optimal homotopy asymptotic method, optimal homotopy perturbation method, wire coating die

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Authors: Fahanim Abdul Rashid, Muhammad Azzam Ismail

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Part and parcel of building green homes (GHs) with favorable thermal comfort (TC) is to design and build with reduced carbon footprint (CF) from embodied energy in the building envelope and reduced operational CF overall. Together, the environmental impact of GHs can be reduced significantly. Nevertheless, there is still a need to identify the base CF value for Malaysian GHs and this can be done by assessing existing ones which can then be compared to conventional and vernacular houses which are built differently with different building materials. This paper underlines the research design and introduces the case studies. For now, the operational CF of the case studies is beyond the scope of this study. Findings from this research could identify the best building material and construction technique combination to build GHs depending on the available skills, financial constraints and the condition of the immediate environment.

Keywords: embodied carbon footprint, Malaysian green homes

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Authors: Noor-ul-Ain, Muhammad Thair Khan, Adeela Ajmal, Hamid Mustafa

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Pakistan is an agricultural country and livestock only share 11.8 percent to national GDP during 2015-16. Pakistan is a 3rd largest milk producing country having 41.2, 35.6, 29.4, 68.4 and 1.0 million head cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and camel, respectively. Modern urbanization and shortage of feed resources for livestock species in a country is an alarming threat. The introduction of new technology and advanced techniques solve this issue. This includes drought feeding, increase production, aid to crop management, balance nutrition and easily storaged of wet feed products. It is therefore clear that silage has important role in animal feed and feeding. Financial model of this study clear the effectiveness of silage. Therefore, it is revealed from this study that silage is a cost-effective option for a profitable dairy farming in Pakistan.

Keywords: feed, silage, dairy, production, Pakistan

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Authors: Zainab Ajab Mohideen, Kiran Kaur, A. Basheer Ahamadhu, Noor Azlinda Wan Jan, Sukmawati Muhammad

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The corpus in the digital library is to provide an overview and evidence from library automation that can be used to justify the needs of the digital library. This paper disperses the approach and implementation of the digital library as part of best practices by the Automation Division at Hamzah Sendut Library of the University Science Malaysia (USM). The implemented digital library model emphasizes on the entire library collections, technical perspective, and automation solution. This model served as a foundation for digital library services as part of information delivery in the USM digital library. The approach to digital library includes discussion on key factors, design, architecture, and pragmatic model that has been collected, captured, and identified during the implementation stages. At present, the USM digital library has achieved the status of an Institutional Repository (IR).

Keywords: academic digital library, digital information system, digital library best practice, digital library model

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Authors: Dost Muhammad Halepoto, Laila AL-Ayadhi

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Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism can cause lifelong disability. Genetic and environmental factors are believed to contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but relatively few studies have considered potential environmental risks. Several industrial chemicals and other environmental exposures are recognized causes of neurodevelopmental disorders and subclinical brain dysfunction. The toxic effects of such chemicals in the developing human brain are not known. This review highlights the role of environmental risk factors including drugs, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, vaccines, and other suspected neurotoxicants including persistent organic pollutants for ASD. It also provides information about the environmental toxins to yield new insights into factors that affect autism risk as well as an opportunity to investigate the relation between autism and environmental exposure.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, environmental factors, neurodevelopmental disorder

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Authors: Md. Mizanur Rahman, Chu Chi Ming, Mohd Suffian Bin Misaran

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Chimney is an important part of the industries to remove waste heat from the processes side to the atmosphere. The increased demand of energy helps to restart to think about the efficiency of chimney as well as to find out a valid option to replace forced draft chimney system from industries. In this study natural draft chimney model is air flow rate; exit air temperature and pressure losses are studied through modification with wire mesh screen and compare the results with without wire mesh screen chimney model. The heat load is varies from 0.1 kW to 1kW and three different wire mesh screens that have pore size 0.15 mm2, 0.40 mm2 and 4.0 mm2 respectively are used. The experimental results show that natural draft chimney model with wire mesh screens significantly restored the flow losses compared to the system without wire mesh screen. The natural draft chimney model with 0.40 mm2 pore size wire mesh screen can minimize the draft losses better than others and able to enhance velocity about 54 % exit air temperature about 41% and pressure loss decreased by about 20%. Therefore, it can be decided that the wire mesh screens significantly minimize the draft losses in the natural draft chimney and 0.40 mm2 pore size screen will be a suitable option.

Keywords: natural draft dhimney, wire mesh screen, natural draft flow, mechanical engineering

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Authors: Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh

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This paper has analysed the conceptual relations between the elements of NN compounds in Arabic and compared them to those found in English based on the framework of Conceptual Semantics and a modified version of Parallel Architecture referred to as Relational Morphology. The analysis revealed that the repertoire of possible semantic relations between the two nouns in Arabic NN compounds reproduces that in English NN compounds and that, therefore, the main difference is in headedness (right-headed in English, left-headed in Arabic). Adopting RM allows productive and idiosyncratic elements to interweave with each other naturally. Semantically transparent compounds can be stored in memory or produced and understood online, while compounds with different degrees of semantic idiosyncrasy are stored in memory. Furthermore, the predictable parts of idiosyncratic compounds are captured by general schemas. In compounds, such schemas pick out the range of possible semantic relations between the two nouns. Finally, conducting a cross-linguistic study of the systematic patterns of possible conceptual relationships between compound elements is an area worthy of further exploration. In addition, comparing and contrasting compounding in Arabic and Hebrew, especially as they are both Semitic languages, is another area that needs to be investigated thoroughly. It will help morphologists understand the extent to which Jackendoff’s repertoire of semantic relations in compounds is universal. That is, if a language as distant from English as Arabic displays a similar range of cases, this is evidence for a (relatively) universal set of relations from which individual languages may pick and choose.

Keywords: conceptual semantics, morphology, compounds, arabic, english

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Authors: Muhammad Mukhtar Aliyu

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This study investigated tutors’ experiences and perceptions of a problem-based learning approach (PBL) in a writing classroom. The study involved two Nigerian lecturers who facilitated an intact class of second-year students in an English composition course for the period of 12 weeks. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data of the study. The lecturers were interviewed before and after the implementation of the PBL process. The overall findings of the study show that the lecturers had positive perceptions of the use of PBL in a writing classroom. Specifically, the findings reveal the lecturers’ positive experiences and perception of the group activities. Finally, the paper gives some pedagogical implications which would give insight for better implementation of the PBL approach.

Keywords: experiences and perception, Nigeria, problem-based learning approach, writing classroom

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Authors: Argaw T. Gurmu, Muhammad N. Mahmood

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The objective of this research is to identify the architecture and construction management students’ learning challenges of the building measurement. This research used the survey data obtained collected from the students who completed the building measurement unit. NVivo qualitative data analysis software was used to identify relevant themes. The analysis of the qualitative data revealed the major learning difficulties such as inadequacy of practice questions for the examination, inability to work as a team, lack of detailed understanding of the prerequisite units, insufficiency of the time allocated for tutorials and incompatibility of lecture and tutorial schedules. The output of this research can be used as a basis for improving the teaching and learning activities in construction measurement units.

Keywords: building measurement, construction management, learning challenges, evaluate survey

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Authors: Muhammad Fiaz Qamar, Uzma Mehreen, Muhammad Arfan Zaman, Kazim Ali

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Ovine Theileriosis is a world-wide concern, especially in tropical and subtropical areas, due to having tick abundance that has received less awareness in different developed and developing areas due to less worth of sheep, low to the middle level of infection in different small ruminants herd. Across Asia, the prevalence reports have been conducted to provide equivalent calculation of flock and animal level prevalence of Theileriosisin animals. It is a challenge for veterinarians to timely diagnosis & control of Theileriosis and famers because of the nature of the organism and inadequacy of restricted plans to control. All most work is based upon the development of such a technique which should be farmer-friendly, less expensive, and easy to perform into the field. By the timely diagnosis of this disease will decrease the irrational use of the drugs, and other plan was to determine the prevalence of Theileriosis in District Jhang by using the conventional method, PCR and qPCR, and LAMP. We quantify the molecular epidemiology of T.lestoquardiin sheep from Jhang districts, Punjab, Pakistan. In this study, we concluded that the overall prevalence of Theileriosis was (32/350*100= 9.1%) in sheep by using Giemsa staining technique, whereas (48/350*100= 13%) is observed by using PCR technique (56/350*100=16%) in qPCR and the LAMP technique have shown up to this much prevalence percentage (60/350*100= 17.1%). The specificity and sensitivity also calculated in comparison with the PCR and LAMP technique. Means more positive results have been shown when the diagnosis has been done with the help of LAMP. And there is little bit of difference between the positive results of PCR and qPCR, and the least positive animals was by using Giemsa staining technique/conventional method. If we talk about the specificity and sensitivity of the LAMP as compared to PCR, The cross tabulation shows that the results of sensitivity of LAMP counted was 94.4%, and specificity of LAMP counted was 78%. Advances in scientific field must be upon reality based ideas which can lessen the gaps and hurdles in the way of scientific research; the lamp is one of such techniques which have done wonders in adding value and helping human at large. It is such a great biological diagnostic tools and has helped a lot in the proper diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases. Other methods for diagnosis, such as culture techniques and serological techniques, have exposed humans with great danger. However, with the help of molecular diagnostic technique like LAMP, exposure to such pathogens is being avoided in the current era Most prompt and tentative diagnosis can be made using LAMP. Other techniques like PCR has many disadvantages when compared to LAMP as PCR is a relatively expensive, time consuming, and very complicated procedure while LAMP is relatively cheap, easy to perform, less time consuming, and more accurate. LAMP technique has removed hurdles in the way of scientific research and molecular diagnostics, making it approachable to poor and developing countries.

Keywords: distribution, thelaria, LAMP, primer sequences, PCR

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Authors: Nowshin Nabila Siddique, S. M. Mustafizur Rahman

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There is evidence of cyclonic events in Bay of Bengal (BoB) throughout the year. These cyclones cause a variety of fluctuations along its track including the is the influence in Chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration. The main purpose of this paper is to justify this variation pattern. Six Tropical Cyclones (TC) are studied using observational method. The result suggests that there is a noticeable change in productivity after a cyclone passes, when the pre cyclonic and post cyclonic condition is observed. In case of Cyclone Amphan, it shows 1.79 mg/m3 of chlorophyll-a concentration increase after a week of cyclonic occurrence. This change is affected by several attributes such as translation speed, intensity and Ocean Pre-condition, specifically Mixed Layer Depth (MLD). Translation Speed and MLD shows a strong negative correlation with the induced chlorophyll concentration. Whereas the effect of the intensity on a cyclone is not that prominent. It is also found that the period of starting an induction is not same for all cyclone such as in case of Cyclone Amphan, the changes started to occur after one day however for Cyclone Sidr and Cyclone Mora it started after three days. Furthermore, a slightly increase in overall productivity is also observed after a cyclone. In the case of Cyclone Amphan, Hudhud, Phailin it shows a rise up to 0.12 mg/m3 in productivity which decreases gradually taking around the period of two months. On a whole this paper signifies the changes in chlorophyll concentration caused by numerous cyclones and its different characteristics that regulates these changes.

Keywords: tropical cyclone, chlorophyll-a concentration, mixed layer depth, translation speed

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Authors: Eid Badshah, Amjad Naseer, Muhammad Ashraf

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In this paper full-scale brick masonry room along with the veranda of a typical school building was subjected to eight successive blast tests with increasing charge weights ranging from 0.5kg to 16.02kg at 3.66m fixed stand-off distance. Pressure-time histories were obtained by data acquisition system from pressure sensors, installed on different points of room as well as veranda columns. The resulting damage pattern of different locations was observed during each test. Weak zones of masonry room were identified. Scaled distances for different damage levels in masonry room were experimentally obtained. The results provided a basis for determining the response of masonry room building against blast loading in a specific threat scenario.

Keywords: peak pressure, composition-B, TNT, pressure sensor, scaled distance, masonry

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Authors: Muhammad Ahsan

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The effective decommissioning of oil and gas fields and related assets is one of the most important challenges facing the oil and gas industry today and in the future. Decommissioning decisions can no longer be avoided by the operators and the industry as a whole. Decommissioning yields no return on investment and carries significant regulatory liabilities. The main objective of this paper is to provide an approach and mechanism for the estimation of emissions associated with decommissioning of Oil and Gas fields. The model uses gate to gate approach and considers field life from development phase up to asset end life. The model incorporates decommissioning processes which includes; well plugging, plant dismantling, wellhead, and pipeline dismantling, cutting and temporary fabrication, new manufacturing from raw material and recycling of metals. The results of the GHG emissions during decommissioning phase are 2.31x10-2 Kg CO2 Eq. per Mcf of the produced natural gas. Well plug and abandonment evolved to be the most GHG emitting activity with 84.7% of total field decommissioning operational emissions.

Keywords: LCA (life cycle analysis), gas field, decommissioning, emissions

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Authors: Sufyan Muhammad

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Recently, in achieving highly efficient but at the same time highly accurate solutions has become the major target of numerical analyst community. The concept is termed as compact schemes and has gained great popularity and consequently, we construct compact schemes for fourth order parabolic differential equations used to study vibrations in structures. For the superiority of newly constructed schemes, we consider range of examples. We have achieved followings i.e. (a) numerical scheme utilizes minimum number of stencil points (which means new scheme is compact); (b) numerical scheme is highly accurate (which means new scheme is reliable) and (c) numerical scheme is highly efficient (which means new scheme is fast).

Keywords: central finite differences, compact schemes, Bernoulli's equations, finite differences

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Authors: Abdolghader Pourali, Mohammad V. Malakooti, Muhammad Hussein Yektaie

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A mobile payment system in mobile e-commerce generally have high security so that the user can trust it for doing business deals, sales, paying financial transactions, etc. in the mobile payment system. Since an architecture or payment model in e-commerce only shows the way of interaction and collaboration among users and mortgagers and does not present any evaluation of effectiveness and confidence about financial transactions to stakeholders. In this paper, we try to present a detailed assessment of the reliability of a mobile payment model in the mobile e-commerce using formal models and colored Petri nets. Finally, we demonstrate that the reliability of this system has high value (case study: a secure payment model in mobile commerce.

Keywords: reliability, colored Petri net, assessment, payment models, m-commerce

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Authors: Hazri Jamil, Munir Shuib, Farhah Muhammad

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In line with the 27th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit 2015 principles in Kuala Lumpur on higher education, synergised collaboration is aimed to promote resilience and vibrancy between institutions and academia. Hence, this paper aims to discuss matters concerning collaboration among ASEAN Universities derived from the perspectives of academics from the universities in ASEAN countries. The data were collected from 234 respondents of nine universities in ASEAN using questionnaires and online survey analyzed using purposive sampling. The findings revealed that more than half of the respondents in this survey were optimistic that the ASEAN universities have a great potential in collaboration among academics in ASEAN countries. The findings also indicated that collaboration among ASEAN universities will have a positive impact on the ASEAN economy and society. Finally, to enhance collaboration among the universities in ASEAN, educational improvement and exchanges as well as environmental issues are among the noteworthy aspects which need to be taken into account.

Keywords: academics, ASEAN, collaboration, higher education, universities

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Authors: Mumtaz Begum Mustafa, Siti Salwah Salim, Feizal Dani Rahman

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Recently, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems were used to assist children in language acquisition as it has the ability to detect human speech signal. Despite the benefits offered by the ASR system, there is a lack of ASR systems for Malay-speaking children. One of the contributing factors for this is the lack of continuous speech database for the target users. Though cross-lingual adaptation is a common solution for developing ASR systems for under-resourced language, it is not viable for children as there are very limited speech databases as a source model. In this research, we propose a two-stage adaptation for the development of ASR system for Malay-speaking children using a very limited database. The two stage adaptation comprises the cross-lingual adaptation (first stage) and cross-age adaptation. For the first stage, a well-known speech database that is phonetically rich and balanced, is adapted to the medium-sized Malay adults using supervised MLLR. The second stage adaptation uses the speech acoustic model generated from the first adaptation, and the target database is a small-sized database of the target users. We have measured the performance of the proposed technique using word error rate, and then compare them with the conventional benchmark adaptation. The two stage adaptation proposed in this research has better recognition accuracy as compared to the benchmark adaptation in recognizing children’s speech.

Keywords: Automatic Speech Recognition System, children speech, adaptation, Malay

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Authors: Muhammad Azmain Abdullah, Ar Rashedul, Mohammad Ali

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This paper scrutinizes the influences of turbulence on heat transport rate, Nusselt number. The subject matter of this investigation also deals with the improvement of heat transfer efficiency of the swirl flow obtained by rotating a twisted tape in a circular pipe. The conditions to be fulfilled to observe the impact of Reynolds number and rotational speed of twisted tape are: a uniform temperature on the outer surface of the pipe, the magnitude of velocity of water varying from 0.1 m/s to 0.7 m/s in order to alter Reynolds number and a rotational speed of 200 rpm to 600 rpm. The gyration of twisted tape increase by 17%. It is also observed that heat transfer is exactly proportional to inlet gauge pressure and reciprocally proportional to increase of twist ratio.

Keywords: swirl flow, twisted tape, twist ratio, heat transfer

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Authors: Muhammad Azeem Qureshi, Hammad Tahir, Fawwad Mahmood Butt

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Purpose: This study examines empirically the effect of brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand experience on brand loyalty which can be helpful to retain and increase customer base and satisfying customer needs as well. Methodology: Data has been collected on convenient sampling method and cause and effect among variables has been measured by applying regression analysis technique. Findings: Finding of this study have supported the proposed hypotheses and results show that brand loyalty is significantly explained by brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand experience. Practical Implications: The outcome of this study provides a useful framework and importance of brand loyalty culture in Pakistan. Marketers can be benefited trough the findings of this study.

Keywords: brand experience, brand satisfaction, brand trust, brand loyalty, hair-care products

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Authors: Huma Naeem, Saif-Ur-Rehman Kashif, Muhammad Nawaz Chaudhry

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Milk plays a significant role in the dietary requirements of human beings as it is a single source that provides various essential nutrients. A study was conducted to evaluate the heavy metal concentration in the raw milk marketed in Data Gunj Baksh Town of Lahore. A total of 180 samples of raw milk were collected in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon season from five colonies of Data Gunj Baksh Town, Lahore. The milk samples were subjected to heavy metal analysis (Cr, Cu) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results indicated high levels of Cr and Cu in post-monsoon seasons. Heavy metals were detected in milk in all samples under study and exceeded the standards given by FAO.

Keywords: atomic absorption spectrophotometer, chromium, copper, heavy metal

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Authors: Muhammad Mufakkar, Ghulam Hussain Bhatti, Maryem Rana

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The study of the coordination behavior of thiones is of considerable interest due to the similarity of their binding sites to those in living systems. The complexation of thiones towards Copper(I) has also received considerable attraction in view of their variable bonding modes, structural diversity and promising biological implications. Copper (I) complexes of thioureas of the general formula: CuLCl, CuL2Cl and CuL3Cl [where L= Thiourea and its N- and N, N/- mono and di alkyl and phenyl derivatives] have been prepared using Cu(I)CN in the presence of HCl. The complexes have been characterized by thermal, IR and NMR(1H and 13C) spectroscopy. An upfield shift in 13C NMR and downfield shifts in 1H NMR are consistent with the sulfur coordination to Copper(I). The disappearance of a band around 2200 cm⁻¹ in IR and a resonance around 146 ppm in 13C NMR indicates that during the course of reaction the cyanide group of the Copper(I) salt has been replaced by chloride leading to the formation of chlorido complexes.

Keywords: Thiones, complexation, spectra, TGA, thermogram, chemical shifts, deshielding, resonance

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Authors: Muhammad A. Ado, Intan S. Ismail, Hasanah M. Ghazali, Faridah Abas

Abstract:

In this study, we have investigated the phytochemical constituents of soluble fractions of dichloromethane (DCM) of methanolic leaves extract of the Callicarpa maingayi. The phytochemicals investigation has resulted in the isolation of three triterpenoids (euscaphic acid (1), arjunic acid (2), and ursolic acid (3)) together with two flavones apigenin (4) and acacetin (5)), two phytosterols (stigmasterol 3-O-β-glycopyranoside (6) and sitosterol 3-O-β-glycopyranoside (7)), and one fatty acid (n-hexacosanoic acid (8)). Six (6) compounds isolated from this species were isolated for the first time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8). Their structures were elucidated and identified by spectral methods of one and two-dimensional NMR techniques, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and comparison with the previously reported literature. The biological activity of three compounds (1-3) was carried out on acetylcholinesterase inhibition activity. Compound (3) was found to displayed good inhibition against AChE with an IC₅₀ value of 21.5 ± 0.022 μM.

Keywords: acetylcholinesterase, Callicarpa maingayi, euscaphic acid, ursolic acid

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