Search results for: Bilal Ahmad Malik
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1226

Search results for: Bilal Ahmad Malik

1106 Investigation of Beam Defocusing Impact in Millisecond Laser Drilling for Variable Operational Currents

Authors: Saad Nawaz, Yu Gang, Baber Saeed Olakh, M. Bilal Awan

Abstract:

Owing to its exceptional performance and precision, laser drilling is being widely used in modern manufacturing industries. This experimental study mainly addressed the defocusing of laser beam along with different operational currents. The performance has been evaluated in terms of tapering phenomena, entrance and exit diameters etc. The operational currents have direct influence on laser power which ultimately affected the shape of the drilled hole. Different operational currents in low, medium and high ranges are used for laser drilling of 18CrNi8. Experiment results have depicted that there is an increase in entrance diameter with an increase in defocusing distance. However, the exit diameter first decreases and then increases with respect to increasing defocusing length. The evolution of drilled hole from tapered to straight hole has been explained with defocusing at different levels. The optimum parametric combinations for attaining perfect shape of drilled hole is proposed along with lower heat treatment effects for higher process efficiency.

Keywords: millisecond laser, defocusing beam, operational current, keyhole profile, recast layer

Procedia PDF Downloads 140
1105 The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Individual Attributes

Authors: Bilal Liaqat, Muhammad Umar, Zara Bashir, Hassan Rafique, Mohsin Abbasi, Zarak Khan

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Transformational leadership is one of the most studied topics in the organization sciences. However, the impact of transformational leadership on employee’s individual attributes have not yet been studied. Purpose: This research aims to discover the relationship between transformational leadership and employee motivation, performance and creativity. Moreover, the study will also investigate the influence of transformational leadership on employee performance through employee motivation and employee creativity. Design-Methodology-Approach: The data was collected from employees in different organization. This cross-sectional study collected data from employees and the methodology used includes survey data that were collected from employees in organizations. Structured interviews were also conducted to explain the outcomes from the survey. Findings: The results of this study reveal that transformational leadership has a positive impact on employee’s individual attributes. Research Implications: Although this study expands our knowledge about the role of learning orientation between transformational leadership and employee motivation, performance and creativity, the prospects for further research are still present.

Keywords: employee creativity, employee motivation, employee performance, transformational leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 190
1104 Structural Evidence of the Conversion of Nitric Oxide (NO) to Nitrite Ion (NO2‾) by Lactoperoxidase (LPO): Structure of the Complex of LPO with NO2‾ at 1.89å Resolution

Authors: V. Viswanathan, Md. Irshad Ahmad, Prashant K. Singh, Nayeem Ahmad, Pradeep Sharma, Sujata Sharma, Tej P Singh

Abstract:

Lactoperoxidase (LPO) is a heme containing mammalian enzyme which uses hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to catalyze the conversion of substrates into oxidized products. LPO is found in body fluids and tissues such as milk, saliva, tears, mucosa and other body secretions. The previous structural studies have shown that LPO converts substrates, thiocyanate (SCN‾) and iodide (I‾) ions into oxidized products, hypothiocyanite (OSCN‾) and hypoiodite (IO‾) ions, respectively. We report here a new structure of the complex of LPO with an oxidized product, nitrite (NO2‾). This product was generated from NO using the two step reaction of LPO by adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the solution of LPO in 0.1M phosphate buffer at pH 6.8 as the first step. In the second step, NO gas was added to the above mixture. This was crystallized using 20% (w/v) PEG-3350 and 0.2M ammonium iodide at pH 6.8. The structure determination showed the presence of NO2‾ ion in the distal heme cavity of the substrate binding site of LPO. The structure also showed that the propionate group, which is linked to pyrrole ring D of the heme moiety, was disordered. Similarly, the side chain of Asp108, which is covalently linked to heme moiety, was also split into two components. As a result of these changes, the conformation of the side chain of Arg255 was altered, allowing it to form new interactions with the disordered carboxylic group of propionate moiety. These structural changes are indicative of an intermediate state in the catalytic reaction pathway of LPO.

Keywords: lactoperoxidase, structure, nitric oxide, nitrite ion, intermediate, complex

Procedia PDF Downloads 60
1103 Contribution of Upper Body Kinematics on Tennis Serve Performance

Authors: Ikram Hussain, Fuzail Ahmad, Tawseef Ahmad Bhat

Abstract:

Tennis serve is characterized as one of the most prominent techniques pertaining to the success of winning a point. The study was aimed to explore the contributions of the upper body kinematics on the tennis performance during Davis Cup (Oceania Group). Four Indian International tennis players who participated in the Davis Cup held at Indore, India were inducted as the subjects for this study, with mean age 27 ± 4.79 Years, mean weight 186 ± 6.03 cm, mean weight 81.25 ± 7.41kg, respectively. The tennis serve was bifurcated into three phases viz, preparatory phase, force generation phase and follow through phase. The kinematic data for the study was recorded through the high speed canon camcorder having a shuttle speed of 1/2000, at a frame rate of 50 Hz. The data was analysed with the motion analysis software. The descriptive statistics and F-test was employed through SPSS version 17.0 for the determination of the undertaken kinematic parameters of the study, and was computed at a 0.05 level of significance with 46 degrees of freedom. Mean, standard deviation and correlation coefficient also employed to find out the relationship among the upper body kinematic parameter and performance. In the preparatory phase, the analysis revealed that no significant difference exists among the kinematic parameters of the players on the performance. However, in force generation phase, wrist velocity (r= 0.47), torso velocity (r= -0.53), racket velocity r= 0.60), and in follow through phase, torso acceleration r= 0.43), elbow angle (r= -0.48) play a significant role on the performance of the tennis serve. Therefore, players should ponder upon the velocities of the above segments at the time of preparation for the competitions.

Keywords: Davis Cup, kinematics, motion analysis, tennis serve

Procedia PDF Downloads 271
1102 Polycaprolactone/Thermally Exfoliated Graphene Oxide Biocomposite Films: A Promising Moisture Absorption Behavior

Authors: Neetu Malik, Sharad Shrivastava, Subrata Bandhu Ghosh

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Biocomposite materials were fabricated using mixing biodegradable polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) and Thermally Exfoliated Graphene Oxide (TEGO) through solution casting. Various samples of biocomposite films were prepared by varying the TEGO wt% composition by 0.1%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%. Thereafter, the density and water absorption of the composites were investigated with respect to immersion time in water. The moisture absorption results show that with an increase in weight percentage (from 0.1 to wt 1.5%) of TEGO within the biopolymer films, the absorption value of bio-nanocomposite films reduced rapidly from 27.4% to 14.3%. The density of hybrid composites also increased with increase in weight percentage of TEGO. These results indicate that the optimized composition of constituents in composite membrane could effectively reduce the anhydrous conditions of bio-composite film.

Keywords: thermally exfoliated graphene oxide, PCL, water absorption, density

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1101 Utilization of Waste Marble Dust as a Viscosity Modifying Agent in Self Compacting Concrete

Authors: Shams Ul Khaliq, Mushtaq Zeb, Fawad Bilal, Faizan Akbar, Syed Aamir Abbas

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Self Compacting Concrete as the name implies--is the concrete requiring a very little or no vibration to fill the form homogeneously. Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) is defined by two primary properties: Ability to flow or deform under its own weight (with or without obstructions) and the ability to remain homogeneous while doing so. Flow ability is achieved by utilizing high range water reducing admixtures and segregation resistance is ensured by introducing a chemical viscosity modifying admixture (VMA) or increasing the amount of fines in the concrete. The study explores the use waste marble dust (WMD) to increase the amount of fines and hence achieve self-compatibility in an economical way, suitable for Pakistani construction industry. The study focuses on comparison of fresh properties of SCC containing varying amounts of waste marble dust (WMD) with that containing commercially available viscosity modifying admixture. The comparison is done at different dosages of super plasticizer keeping cement, water, coarse aggregate, and fine aggregate contents constant.

Keywords: self compacting concrete, waste marble dust (WMD), flow ability, segregation resistance

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1100 Energy Budgeting, Carbon and Water Footprints Under Conventional and Conservation Tillage Practices of Rice-Wheat Double Cropping System

Authors: Ahmad Latif Virk, Naeem Ahmad, Muhammad Ishaq Asif Rehmani

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Amid the present environmental crises, developing environment-resilient and cost-effective conservation agriculture strategies to feed the world's ever-growing population is pertinent. Therefore, a field study was conducted to test the hypothesis that residue retention under no-till (NTR) would enhance energy productivity (EP) and energy use efficiency (EUE) while offsetting the carbon footprints (CF), water footprints (WF) and greenhouse gases emissions (GHGs) in rice (Oryza sativa L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) double cropping system. Two tillage systems viz., conventional tillage (CT) and conservation tillage (no-till; NT), with or without residue retention, were combined into four treatments as CT0 (puddled rice, conventional wheat - residue); CTR (puddled rice, conventional wheat + residue); NT0 (direct rice seeding, zero-tilled wheat - residue); NTR (direct rice seeding, zero-tilled wheat + residue) were evaluated. Overall, results showed that the NT system had 34.2% lower energy consumption, 1.2 times more EP than CT system. Moreover, NTR had 19.8% higher EUE than CT0. The overall system grain yield ranged from 7.8 to 9.3 Mg ha−1 under NT0 and CTR, respectively. The NTR had 56.6% and 17.9% lesser CF and WF, respectively, than CT0. The net GHGs emissions (CO2-eq kg ha−1) under CT0 were the highest, while NTR had the lowest emissions. The NTR enhanced carbon sequestration in soil that can offset half of the system's CO2 emissions. The findings of this study might help develop a suitable strategy for resource/energy conservation and higher productivity while offsetting GHGs emissions in the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

Keywords: residue, yield, indirect emissions, energy use efficiency, carbon sequestration

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1099 Demographic Factors Influence on Awareness of Islamic Financing among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Entrepreneurs in the North East Region of Nigeria

Authors: Bashir Ahmad, Daneji, Hamidu Aminu, Ahmad, Aliyu Mukhtar, Daneji, Haruna Mohammed

Abstract:

It has been established and universally agreed that vibrant Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play significant roles in economic growth and development. In Nigeria, MSMEs are not playing the expected roles. Notable among the plethora of reasons is lack of prompt and sufficient finance. Government and other stakeholders attempted in several ways at different times to provide the required finance to MSMEs but the results were not encouraging and consequently, many failed. In recent past, Islamic financing emerged world over as promising alternative source of financing. However, its awareness among MSMEs entrepreneurs in north east region of Nigeria stands to be questioned. This study explored the 'Demographic Factors Influence on Awareness of Islamic Financing among MSMEs entrepreneurs in the North East Region of Nigeria'. The primary data used in this study were collected through questionnaire. In analyzing the collected data, the study used frequency, percentages, Pearson correlation, ANOVA and test of homogeneity test (Levene’s test) parameters generated from SPSS (version 15). The findings of the study revealed that entrepreneurs’ age, state of origin, religion and educational level influence their MSMEs awareness of Islamic Financing in the north east region of Nigeria. The study recommended that Islamic Financing institutions, government and relevant agencies should do more to enhance the awareness of Islamic financing among MSMEs entrepreneurs in the north east region of Nigeria.

Keywords: awareness, demographic factors, entrepreneurs, Islamic financing

Procedia PDF Downloads 338
1098 A Qualitative Study: Teaching Fractions with Augmented Reality for 5th Grade Students in Turkey

Authors: Duygu Özdemir, Bilal Özçakır

Abstract:

Usage of augmented reality in education helps students to make sense of the three-dimensional world of mathematics. In this study, it was aimed to develop activities about fractions for 5th-grade students by augmented reality and also aimed to assess these activities in terms of students’ understanding and views. Data obtained from 60 students in a private school in Marmaris, Turkey was obtained through classroom observations, students’ worksheets and semi-structured interviews during two weeks. Data analysis was conducted by using constant-comparative analysis which leads to meaningful categories of findings. Findings of this study indicated that usage of augmented reality is a facilitator to make concretize and provide real-life application for fractions. Moreover, students’ opinions about its usage were lead to categories as benefit for learning, enjoyment and creating awareness of usage of augmented reality in mathematics education. In general, this study could be a bridge to show the contributions of augmented reality applications to mathematics education and also highlights that augmented reality could be used with subjects like fractions rather than subjects only in geometry learning domain.

Keywords: augmented reality, mathematics, fractions, students

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1097 Fabrication and Characterization of Cadmium Sulfide Nanowires on Aluminum Oxide Template

Authors: Malik Imran Afzal

Abstract:

Cadmium supplied nanowires have unique electrical and optical properties and applications. To obtain cadmium supplied nanowires with regular and good aspect ratio, they can be synthesized by template synthesis method. Porous anodized aluminum oxide is the most promising template with regular hexagonal shapes. Their aspect ratio can be controlled by controlling the pores’ depth and diameter which greatly depend on anodization voltage and temperature of the electrolyte. In this research, high purity aluminium was used to prepare nanotemplates at 5-6°C in 1M phosphoric acid and cadmium supplied was deposited electrochemically using a co-solution of thiourea, cadmium acetate and ammonium acetate. pH was maintained at 11 in a heat bath at 75°C with the help of aqueous ammonia solution. Both porous anodized alumina and cadmium supplied nanowires were characterized suing SEM. A good quality Nanowires were obtained in bunches with reasonably high aspect ratio.

Keywords: bunches, electrodeposition, hexagonal, thiourea

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1096 Predictive Maintenance of Electrical Induction Motors Using Machine Learning

Authors: Muhammad Bilal, Adil Ahmed

Abstract:

This study proposes an approach for electrical induction motor predictive maintenance utilizing machine learning algorithms. On the basis of a study of temperature data obtained from sensors put on the motor, the goal is to predict motor failures. The proposed models are trained to identify whether a motor is defective or not by utilizing machine learning algorithms like Support Vector Machines (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN). According to a thorough study of the literature, earlier research has used motor current signature analysis (MCSA) and vibration data to forecast motor failures. The temperature signal methodology, which has clear advantages over the conventional MCSA and vibration analysis methods in terms of cost-effectiveness, is the main subject of this research. The acquired results emphasize the applicability and effectiveness of the temperature-based predictive maintenance strategy by demonstrating the successful categorization of defective motors using the suggested machine learning models.

Keywords: predictive maintenance, electrical induction motors, machine learning, temperature signal methodology, motor failures

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1095 Long Term Strength Behavior of Hemp-Concrete

Authors: Elie Awwad, Bilal Hamad, Mounir Mabsout, Helmi Khatib

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The paper reports test results on the long-term behavior of sustainable hemp-concrete material prepared in research work conducted at the American University of Beirut. The tests results are in terms of compressive and splitting tensile tests conducted on standard 150x300 mm cylinders. A control mix without fibers, one polypropylene-concrete mix, and ten hemp-concrete mixes were prepared with different percentages of industrial hemp fibers and reduced coarse aggregate contents. The objective was to investigate the strength properties of hemp-reinforced concrete at 1.5 years age as compared with control mixes. The results indicated that both the compressive strength and the splitting tensile strength results of all tested cylinders increased as compared with the 28-days values. Also, the difference between the hemp-concrete samples and the control samples at 28 days was maintained at 1.5 years age indicating that hemp fibers did not exhibit any negative effect on the long-term strength properties of concrete.

Keywords: hemp-reinforced concrete, natural fibers, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength

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1094 SWOT Analysis of the Industrial Sector in Kuwait

Authors: Abdullah Al-Alaian, Ahmad Al-Enzi, Hasan Al-Herz, Ahmad Bakri, Shant Tatorian, Amr Nounou

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Kuwait is a country that has an imbalanced economy since most of its national outcome comes from the oil trade. It is so risky for a country to be dependent on a single source for income, and this increases the need to diversify its economy. In addition, according to the Public Authority for Industry, the contribution of the industrial sector to the current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kuwait is low which is about 4.33%. Therefore, the development of the industrial sector can be one of the means to diversify the economy and increase the industry's contribution to the national outcome. This is in accordance with Kuwait’s vision of 2035 which aims at increasing the contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP to 12%. In order to do so, this study aims at proposing a strategic plan that will accomplish certain objectives when implemented. It is based on analyzing the industrial sectors in Kuwait taking into consideration studying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing them. At the same time, it tends to gain from the experience of leading models and neighboring countries regarding the development of the industrial sector. In this study, the SWOT analysis technique will be conducted on all industrial sectors based on evaluation criteria in which it is determined whether any of them has a potential for improvement or not. In other words, it is determined whether the sectors are able to compete locally, regionally, or globally. Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, certain sectors will be chosen, assessed based on an assessment scheme, and their potentials for improvement will be aligned with the overall objectives. To ensure the achievement of the study’s objectives, an action plan will be proposed regarding recommendations for the related authorities, and for entrepreneurs. In addition, monitoring tools are going to be provided for the purpose of periodically checking the progress made in the implementation of the plan.

Keywords: industrial sector, SWOT analysis, productivity, competitiveness, GDP, Kuwait, economy

Procedia PDF Downloads 441
1093 A Facile and Room Temperature Growth of Pd-Pt Decorated Hexagonal-ZnO Framework and Their Selective H₂ Gas Sensing Properties

Authors: Gaurav Malik, Satyendra Mourya, Jyoti Jaiswal, Ramesh Chandra

Abstract:

The attractive and multifunctional properties of ZnO make it a promising material for the fabrication of highly sensitive and selective efficient gas sensors at room temperature. This presented article focuses on the development of highly selective and sensitive H₂ gas sensor based on the Pd-Pt decorated ZnO framework and its sensing mechanisms. The gas sensing performance of sputter made Pd-Pt/ZnO electrode on anodized porous silicon (PSi) substrate toward H₂ gas is studied under low detection limit (2–500 ppm) of H₂ in the air. The chemiresistive sensor demonstrated sublimate selectivity, good sensing response, and fast response/recovery time with excellent stability towards H₂ at low temperature operation under ambient environment. The elaborate selective measurement of Pd-Pt/ZnO/PSi structure was performed towards different oxidizing and reducing gases. This structure exhibited advance and reversible response to H₂ gas, which revealed that the acquired architecture with ZnO framework is a promising candidate for H₂ gas sensor.

Keywords: sputtering, porous silicon, ZnO framework, XPS spectra, gas sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 358
1092 Impact of Unusual Dust Event on Regional Climate in India

Authors: Kanika Taneja, V. K. Soni, Kafeel Ahmad, Shamshad Ahmad

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A severe dust storm generated from a western disturbance over north Pakistan and adjoining Afghanistan affected the north-west region of India between May 28 and 31, 2014, resulting in significant reductions in air quality and visibility. The air quality of the affected region degraded drastically. PM10 concentration peaked at a very high value of around 1018 μgm-3 during dust storm hours of May 30, 2014 at New Delhi. The present study depicts aerosol optical properties monitored during the dust days using ground based multi-wavelength Sky radiometer over the National Capital Region of India. High Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at 500 nm was observed as 1.356 ± 0.19 at New Delhi while Angstrom exponent (Alpha) dropped to 0.287 on May 30, 2014. The variation in the Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) and real n(λ) and imaginary k(λ) parts of the refractive index indicated that the dust event influences the optical state to be more absorbing. The single scattering albedo, refractive index, volume size distribution and asymmetry parameter (ASY) values suggested that dust aerosols were predominant over the anthropogenic aerosols in the urban environment of New Delhi. The large reduction in the radiative flux at the surface level caused significant cooling at the surface. Direct Aerosol Radiative Forcing (DARF) was calculated using a radiative transfer model during the dust period. A consistent increase in surface cooling was evident, ranging from -31 Wm-2 to -82 Wm-2 and an increase in heating of the atmosphere from 15 Wm-2 to 92 Wm-2 and -2 Wm-2 to 10 Wm-2 at top of the atmosphere.

Keywords: aerosol optical properties, dust storm, radiative transfer model, sky radiometer

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1091 Zeolite Supported Iron-Sensitized TIO₂ for Tetracycline Photocatalytic ‎Degradation under Visible Light: A Comparison between Doping and Ion ‎Exchange ‎

Authors: Ghadeer Jalloul, Nour Hijazi, Cassia Boyadjian, Hussein Awala, Mohammad N. Ahmad, ‎Ahmad Albadarin

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In this study, we applied Fe-sensitized TiO₂ supported over embryonic Beta zeolite (BEA) zeolite ‎for the photocatalytic degradation of Tetracycline (TC) antibiotic under visible light. Four different ‎samples having 20, 40, 60, and 100% w/w as a ratio of TiO₂/BEA were prepared. The ‎immobilization of solgel TiO₂ (33 m²/g) over BEA (390 m²/g) increased its surface area to (227 ‎m²/g) and enhanced its adsorption capacity from 8% to 19%. To expand the activity of TiO₂ ‎photocatalyst towards the visible light region (λ>380 nm), we explored two different metal ‎sensitization techniques with Iron ions (Fe³⁺). In the ion-exchange method, the substitutional cations ‎in the zeolite in TiO₂/BEA were exchanged with (Fe³⁺) in an aqueous solution of FeCl₃. In the ‎doping technique, solgel TiO₂ was doped with (Fe³⁺) from FeCl₃ precursor during its synthesis and ‎before its immobilization over BEA. (Fe-TiO₂/BEA) catalysts were characterized using SEM, XRD, ‎BET, UV-VIS DRS, and FTIR. After testing the performance of the various ion-exchanged catalysts ‎under blue and white lights, only (Fe-TiO₂/BEA 60%) showed better activity as compared to pure ‎TiO₂ under white light with 100 ppm initial catalyst concentration and 20 ppm TC concentration. As ‎compared to ion-exchanged (Fe-TiO₂/BEA), doped (Fe-TiO₂/BEA) resulted in higher photocatalytic ‎efficiencies under blue and white lights. The 3%-Fe-doped TiO₂/BEA removed 92% of TC ‎compared to 54% by TiO₂ under white light. The catalysts were also tested under real solar ‎irradiations. This improvement in the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂ was due to its higher ‎adsorption capacity due to BEA support combined with the presence of Iron ions that enhance the ‎visible light absorption and minimize the recombination effect by the charge carriers. ‎

Keywords: Tetracycline, photocatalytic degradation, immobilized TiO₂, zeolite, iron-doped TiO₂, ion-exchange

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1090 Emotional Labor Strategies and Intentions to Quit among Nurses in Pakistan

Authors: Maham Malik, Amjad Ali, Muhammad Asif

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Current study aims to examine the relationship of emotional labor strategies - deep acting and surface acting - with employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intentions to quit. The study also examines the mediating role of job satisfaction and organizational commitment for relationship of emotional labor strategies with intentions to quit. Data were conveniently collected from 307 nurses by using self-administered questionnaire. Linear regression test was applied to find the relationship between the variables. Mediation was checked through Baron and Kenny Model and Sobel test. Results prove the existence of partial mediation of job satisfaction between the emotional labor strategies and quitting intentions. The study recommends that deep acting should be promoted because it is positively associated with quality of work life, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior of employees.

Keywords: emotional labor strategies, intentions to quit, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, nursing

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1089 Efficacy of Plant and Mushroom Based Bio-Products against the Red Poultry Mite, Dermanyssus gallinae (Mesostigmata: Dermanyssidae)

Authors: Muhammad Asif Qayyoum, Bilal Saeed Khan

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Poultry red mites (Dermanyssus gallinae De Geer) are economically deleterious parasite of hens in poultry industry in all over the world. Due to lack of proper control managements and result of poor application of commercial products, D. gallinae get resistance and severe infestation in poultry birds. Laboratory experiment was planned for the control of D. gallinae by using different mushroom and plant extracts. We used control treatment (100 ml distilled water) and nine treatments (10 gr Lentinula adobas, Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus aryngii with 100 ml methanol, 1% and 2% Neemazal, 1.5% Gamma-T-ol, Echinacea Leaf , 1.5% Fungatol with neem spray and Methanol) with five replication having five mites each. Data collected after 12 and 24 hours every day till mites found dead in every treatment. The significant differences among the mean values were compared with the DUNCAN multiple range test. The efficacy (%) of each treatment was determined with the Abbott formula. All statistical analyses were conducted with the SPSS Version 12 program. Lentinula edodes (80%), Ganoderma lucidum (76%) and Fungatol+Neem spray (1.5%) (80%) were significant against D. gallinae within 3 days.

Keywords: mushroom extracts, plant extracts, D. gallinae, control

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1088 Welfare beyond the State: a Conceptual Discursive of an ‘Ihsani’ Societal-Based Welfare

Authors: Maszlee Malik

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If the contemporary notion of welfare arises from the horizontal material needs and to be structured by the vertical framework of the state, Islamic societal-based welfare is to be shaped by moral based and faith inspired ihsan (benevolence) culture in producing the ‘Ihsani’ version of the enhancement of the political participation, democratic culture, good governance and self-realisation, which eventually culminating towards the bigger picture of ‘development’. This paper will analytically investigate on how the over-arching principle of ‘ihsan’ could be an essential tool in harmonizing the social-based welfare instrument as another conceptual framework to formulate a conceptual approach towards development and poverty elevation beyond the state. Essentially, this research will employ the inductive method of exploration on Islamic epistemological sources and historical evidence, to formulate the discursive concept of non-state societal-based welfare based on the ‘ihsani’ framework.

Keywords: benevolent society, development, Hisbah, HomoIslamicus, Ihsani, islamic epistemology, state, social capital, societal-based welfare, zakat

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1087 Altasreef: Automated System of Quran Verbs for Urdu Language

Authors: Haq Nawaz, Muhammad Amjad Iqbal, Kamran Malik

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"Altasreef" is an automated system available for Web and Android users which provide facility to the users to learn the Quran verbs. It provides the facility to the users to practice the learned material and also provide facility of exams of Arabic verbs variation focusing on Quran text. Arabic is a highly inflectional language. Almost all of its words connect to roots of three, four or five letters which approach the meaning of all their inflectional forms. In Arabic, a verb is formed by inserting the consonants into one of a set of verb patterns. Suffixes and prefixes are then added to generate the meaning of number, person, and gender. The active/passive voice and perfective aspect and other patterns are than generated. This application is designed for learners of Quranic Arabic who already have learn basics of Arabic conjugation. Application also provides the facility of translation of generated patterns. These translations are generated with the help of rule-based approach to give 100% results to the learners.

Keywords: NLP, Quran, Computational Linguistics, E Learning

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1086 A Fast Chemiresistive H₂ Gas Sensor Based on Sputter Grown Nanocrystalline P-TiO₂ Thin Film Decorated with Catalytic Pd-Pt Layer on P-Si Substrate

Authors: Jyoti Jaiswal, Satyendra Mourya, Gaurav Malik, Ramesh Chandra

Abstract:

In the present work, we have fabricated and studied a resistive H₂ gas sensor based on Pd-Pt decorated room temperature sputter grown nanocrystalline porous titanium dioxide (p-TiO₂) thin film on porous silicon (p-Si) substrate for fast H₂ detection. The gas sensing performance of Pd-Pt/p-TiO₂/p-Si sensing electrode towards H₂ gas under low (10-500 ppm) detection limit and operating temperature regime (25-200 °C) was discussed. The sensor is highly sensitive even at room temperature, with response (Ra/Rg) reaching ~102 for 500 ppm H₂ in dry air and its capability of sensing H₂ concentrations as low as ~10 ppm was demonstrated. At elevated temperature of 200 ℃, the response reached more than ~103 for 500 ppm H₂. Overall the fabricated resistive gas sensor exhibited high selectivity, good sensing response, and fast response/recovery time with good stability towards H₂.

Keywords: sputtering, porous silicon (p-Si), TiO₂ thin film, hydrogen gas sensor

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1085 Comparative Study of Soliton Collisions in Uniform and Nonuniform Magnetized Plasma

Authors: Renu Tomar, Hitendra K. Malik, Raj P. Dahiya

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Similar to the sound waves in air, plasmas support the propagation of ion waves, which evolve into the solitary structures when the effect of non linearity and dispersion are balanced. The ion acoustic solitary waves have been investigated in details in homogeneous plasmas, inhomogeneous plasmas, and magnetized plasmas. The ion acoustic solitary waves are also found to reflect from a density gradient or boundary present in the plasma after propagating. Another interesting feature of the solitary waves is their collision. In the present work, we carry out analytical calculations for the head-on collision of solitary waves in a magnetized plasma which has dust grains in addition to the ions and electrons. For this, we employ Poincar´e-Lighthill-Kuo (PLK) method. To lowest nonlinear order, the problem of colliding solitary waves leads to KdV (modified KdV) equations and also yields the phase shifts that occur in the interaction. These calculations are accomplished for the uniform and nonuniform plasmas, and the results on the soliton properties are discussed in detail.

Keywords: inhomogeneous magnetized plasma, dust charging, soliton collisions, magnetized plasma

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1084 Effect of Various Durations of Type 2 Diabetes on Muscle Performance

Authors: Santosh Kumar Yadav, Shobha Keswani, Nishat Quddus, Sohrab Ahmad Khan, Zuheb Ahmad Shiddiqui, Varsha Chorsiya

Abstract:

Introduction: Early onset diabetes is more aggressive than the late onset diabetes. Diabetic individual has a greater spectrum of life period to suffer from its damage, complications, and long-term disability. This study aimed at assessing knee joint muscle performance under various durations of diabetes. Method and Materials: A total of 30 diabetic subjects (18 male and 12 females) without diabetic neuropathy were included for the study. They were divided into three groups with 5 years, 10 years and 15 years of duration of disease each. Muscle performance was evaluated through strength and flexibility. Peak torque for quadriceps muscle was measured using isokinetic dynamometer. Flexibility for quadriceps and hamstring muscles were measured through Ducan’s Elys test and 90/90 test. Results: The result showed significant difference in muscle strength (p<0.05), flexibility (p≤0.05) between groups. Discussion: Optimal muscle strength and flexibility are vital for musculoskeletal health and functional independence. Conclusion: The reduced muscle performance and functional impairment in nonneuropathic diabetic patients suggest that other mechanism besides neuropathy that contribute to altered biomechanics. These findings of this study project early management of these altered parameters through disease-specific physical therapy and assessment-based intervention. Clinical Relevance: Managing disability is more costly than managing disease. Prompt and timely identification and management strategy can dramatically reduce the cost of care for diabetic patients.

Keywords: muscle flexibility, muscle performance, muscle torque, type 2 diabetes

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1083 Classification of Precipitation Types Detected in Malaysia

Authors: K. Badron, A. F. Ismail, A. L. Asnawi, N. F. A. Malik, S. Z. Abidin, S. Dzulkifly

Abstract:

The occurrences of precipitation, also commonly referred as rain, in the form of "convective" and "stratiform" have been identified to exist worldwide. In this study, the radar return echoes or known as reflectivity values acquired from radar scans have been exploited in the process of classifying the type of rain endured. The investigation use radar data from Malaysian Meteorology Department (MMD). It is possible to discriminate the types of rain experienced in tropical region by observing the vertical characteristics of the rain structure. .Heavy rain in tropical region profoundly affects radiowave signals, causing transmission interference and signal fading. Required wireless system fade margin depends on the type of rain. Information relating to the two mentioned types of rain is critical for the system engineers and researchers in their endeavour to improve the reliability of communication links. This paper highlights the quantification of percentage occurrences over one year period in 2009.

Keywords: stratiform, convective, tropical region, attenuation radar reflectivity

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1082 Fungi Associated with Decline of Kikar (Acacia nilotica) and Red River Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) in Faisalabad

Authors: I. Ahmad, A. Hannan, S. Ahmad, M. Asif, M. F. Nawaz, M. A. Tanvir, M. F. Azhar

Abstract:

During this research, a comprehensive survey of tree growing areas of Faisalabad district of Pakistan was conducted to observe the symptoms, spectrum, occurrence and severity of A. nilotica and E. camaldulensis decline. Objective of current research was to investigate specific fungal pathogens involved in decline of A. nilotica and E. camaldulensis. For this purpose, infected roots, bark, neck portion, stem, branches, leaves and infected soils were collected to identify associated fungi. Potato dextrose agar (PDA) and Czepak dox agar media were used for isolations. Identification of isolated fungi was done microscopically and different fungi were identified. During survey of urban locations of Faisalabad, disease incidence on Kikar and Eucalyptus was recorded as 3.9-7.9% and 2.6-7.1% respectively. Survey of Agroforest zones of Faisalabad revealed decline incidence on kikar 7.5% from Sargodha road while on Satiana and Jhang road it was not planted. In eucalyptus trees, 4%, 8% and 0% disease incidence was observed on Jhang road, Sargodha road and Satiana road respectively. The maximum fungus isolated from the kikar tree was Drechslera australiensis (5.00%) from the stem part. Aspergillus flavus also gave the maximum value of (3.05%) from the bark. Alternaria alternata gave the maximum value of (2.05%) from leaves. Rhizopus and Mucor spp. were recorded minimum as compared to the Drechslera, Alternaria and Aspergillus. The maximum fungus isolated from the Eucalyptus tree was Armillaria luteobubalina (5.00%) from the stem part. The other fungi isolated were Macrophamina phaseolina and A. niger.

Keywords: decline, frequency of mycoflora, A. nilotica and E. camaldulensis, Drechslera australiensis, Armillaria luteobubalina

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1081 An Artificial Intelligence Supported QUAL2K Model for the Simulation of Various Physiochemical Parameters of Water

Authors: Mehvish Bilal, Navneet Singh, Jasir Mushtaq

Abstract:

Water pollution puts people's health at risk, and it can also impact the ecology. For practitioners of integrated water resources management (IWRM), water quality modelling may be useful for informing decisions about pollution control (such as discharge permitting) or demand management (such as abstraction permitting). To comprehend the current pollutant load, movement of effective load movement of contaminants generates effective relation between pollutants, mathematical simulation, source, and water quality is regarded as one of the best estimating tools. The current study involves the Qual2k model, which includes manual simulation of the various physiochemical characteristics of water. To this end, various sensors could be installed for the automatic simulation of various physiochemical characteristics of water. An artificial intelligence model has been proposed for the automatic simulation of water quality parameters. Models of water quality have become an effective tool for identifying worldwide water contamination, as well as the ultimate fate and behavior of contaminants in the water environment. Water quality model research is primarily conducted in Europe and other industrialized countries in the first world, where theoretical underpinnings and practical research are prioritized.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, QUAL2K, simulation, physiochemical parameters

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1080 Effect of Clay Loading on Quiescent Crystallization of Syndiotactic Polypropylene/Clay Composites

Authors: Naveed Ahmad, Farooq Ahmad, Abdul Aal Al-Khazaal

Abstract:

Rheology can be used as a tool to examine the crystallization kinetics of polymers and polymer composites, and it provides more accurate results than the commonly used conventional techniques like differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) when the crystallization kinetics are slow. Crystallization occurs when crystalline polymers are cooled below their thermodynamic melting point temperature. At the start of this process, there is a gradual change in the mechanical response of the material from the liquid to the solid state, which is due to the change at the microstructure level of the polymer and polymer composites. This is one of the main characteristics of the rheological methodology that sets it apart from the conventional DSC method. In the present work, we used both rheological and differential scanning calorimetric techniques to perform both isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization experiments on a range of syndiotactic polypropylenes/clay composites with varying doses of clay contents in order to investigate the crystallization behavior of the materials. The objective of this work is to explore the effect of clay contents on the crystallization behavior of the syndiotactic polypropylene/clay composites and to couple the rheological methods with more conventional techniques such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Time sweep tests at a constant heating rate of 40°C/minutes were used to investigate the crystallization kinetics using the Atomic Rheumetric Expansion System (ARES). Crystallization behavior was found to be strongly dependent on the clay contents of syndiotactic polypropylene/clay composites. Both melting point (Tₘ) and crystallization temperatures (T𝒸) were found to increase with an increase in clay contents. Excellent agreement is found between the results obtained by both the rheological and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) methods.

Keywords: quiescent crystallization, polymer composites, rheology, differential scanning calorimetry, syndiotactic polypropylene/clay composites

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1079 Production of Size-Selected Tin Nanoclusters for Device Applications

Authors: Ahmad I. Ayesh

Abstract:

This work reports on the fabrication of tin nanoclusters by sputtering and inert-gas condensation inside an ultra-high vacuum compatible system. This technique allows to fine tune the size and yield of nanoclusters by controlling the nanocluster source parameters. The produced nanoclusters are deposited on SiO2/Si substrate with pre-formed electrical electrodes to produce a nanocluster device. Those devices can be potentially used for gas sensor applications.

Keywords: tin, nanoclusters, inert-gas condensation, nanotechnology

Procedia PDF Downloads 334
1078 Comparison of Linear Discriminant Analysis and Support Vector Machine Classifications for Electromyography Signals Acquired at Five Positions of Elbow Joint

Authors: Amna Khan, Zareena Kausar, Saad Malik

Abstract:

Bio Mechatronics has extended applications in the field of rehabilitation. It has been contributing since World War II in improving the applicability of prosthesis and assistive devices in real life scenarios. In this paper, classification accuracies have been compared for two classifiers against five positions of elbow. Electromyography (EMG) signals analysis have been acquired directly from skeletal muscles of human forearm for each of the three defined positions and at modified extreme positions of elbow flexion and extension using 8 electrode Myo armband sensor. Features were extracted from filtered EMG signals for each position. Performance of two classifiers, support vector machine (SVM) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) has been compared by analyzing the classification accuracies. SVM illustrated classification accuracies between 90-96%, in contrast to 84-87% depicted by LDA for five defined positions of elbow keeping the number of samples and selected feature the same for both SVM and LDA.

Keywords: classification accuracies, electromyography, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Myo armband sensor, support vector machine (SVM)

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1077 Digital Watermarking Using Fractional Transform and (k,n) Halftone Visual Cryptography (HVC)

Authors: R. Rama Kishore, Sunesh Malik

Abstract:

Development in the usage of internet for different purposes in recent times creates great threat for the copy right protection of the digital images. Digital watermarking is the best way to rescue from the said problem. This paper presents detailed review of the different watermarking techniques, latest trends in the field and categorized like spatial and transform domain, blind and non-blind methods, visible and non visible techniques etc. It also discusses the different optimization techniques used in the field of watermarking in order to improve the robustness and imperceptibility of the method. Different measures are discussed to evaluate the performance of the watermarking algorithm. At the end, this paper proposes a watermarking algorithm using (k.n) shares of halftone visual cryptography (HVC) instead of (2, 2) share cryptography. (k,n) shares visual cryptography improves the security of the watermark. As halftone is a method of reprographic, it helps in improving the visual quality of watermark image. The proposed method uses fractional transformation to improve the robustness of the copyright protection of the method.

Keywords: digital watermarking, fractional transform, halftone, visual cryptography

Procedia PDF Downloads 317