474 research outputs found
Participation as the means to assess the effectiveness of the poverty reduction Strategy Paper for Pakistan
No full textCentral-local government relations in Pakistan since 1979
No full textThis thesis explores the pattern of relationship of local government institutions in Pakistan with the higher level of governments, particularly with the provincial governments, under whose jurisdictional purview they fall. Pakistan is a federation where the provinces are empowered to legislate on various aspects of the working of local councils. Despite being a provincial subject, the influence of the central government under both the military and civilian regimes has also been immense. To analyse this, field work was undertaken in two provinces of Pakistan (the Punjab and the N-W. F. P). In each a district was selected (Gujrat and Mardan respectively) and the working of their municipalities and district councils were studied in the context of the impact of party-politics, the administrative control exercised, and the implications of financial decisions taken by the higher levels of government.
Part one of the thesis describes the origin and development of local government in the South Asian sub-continent, particularly an analysis of the initiatives taken for
their growth by military and civilian regimes during the years preceding independence.
Part two consists of the case studies of four local councils and an analysis of the provincial-local government relations under the present Local Government Ordinance of
1979 introduced by General Mohammad Zia-ul Haque.
Part three reflects the concerns and recommendations of experts and those involved in the working of local government in Pakistan.
The conclusions drawn from the thesis material show that, though local government institutions have been operating in an environment of political expediency and without assistance from the general political cultural background, they have been able to make positive contributions to the development of democracy and to the provision of local services for the general welfare of the people.
Local government in Pakistan has suffered from gaps between theory and practice, public statements and practical realities, and a pervasive political context which has neglected the development of services. There has been a tendency to proclaim the virtues of local government in theory and to make promises to support local institutions but in practice to do much less and to continue with practices which do not enable local government and its services to flourish.
The clearest exemplification of this is that periods of martial law, where democracy at a national level has been imperilled, have seen the positive encouragement
of local government and local democracy as a means of gaining popular support for the regime. In contrast, in periods of democratic central government, local institutions have proved to be obstacles to central authority, and they have been neglected or abused in
favour of a more bureaucratic mode of governing. Both military and civilian rulers have manipulated local institutions for their own benefit. The outcome has been that the relationship between centre and provinces and the provinces and the local institutions has never been balanced or fully articulated.
At the local level, as illustrated in the case studies, the consequences has been a lower level of civic amenity than is either desirable or what local persons know is
practicable with a more stable institutional base. The past record of the cases studied shows that, despite the impact of local and national politics, real progress had been
made in services and in developing local democrac
CFD modelling of carbon capture in large-scale for structured packed bed column.
No full textIn this Ph.D. thesis, a novel 3D numerical model is developed to solve multiphase flow
problem for carbon capture. The model solves the Navier-Stokes equations with commercial
solver Ansys Fluent with higher accuracy and much better prediction. The proposed
model was at first developed to solve the hydrodynamics problem inside the structured
packed bed. In the hydrodynamic part, viscous resistance and inertia resistance for both
gas and liquid were taken into account and were implemented by the User Defined Function
(UDF). The structured mesh was done using ICEM-CFD. In this part, dispersion
forces were also included by UDF. Hydrodynamics of the structured packed bed was validated
in terms of liquid volume fraction and, a higher degree of accuracy was achieved.
This achievement was done by implementing drag law in a novel way. Dispersion of the
liquid inside the packed bed was modelled both by mechanical dispersion and by spread
tensor. Pressure drop is a very important part of designing structured packing and, it
has to be kept to a minimum. In the hydrodynamics study, this pressure drop was kept
minimum, and a good distribution of gas and liquid was achieved.
The second part of the model is the chemical reactions. In this case, all the five reactions
that occur in carbon capture were taken into account along with the hydrodynamics.
Few studies like the effect of solvent concentration, the effect of pressure were studied
by using this part of the model. Another novel aspect of the model is that it can predict
gas-liquid interfacial area and enhancement factor for chemical reactions. As a result, it
has become much easier to understand chemical reactions and calculate carbon removal
easily.
The third part of the model is the heat transfer effect. Heat transfer effect was included
by changing gas and liquid temperature and it was found that liquid temperature has a
wider impact on carbon capture.
All the contributions to the knowledge were summarized in Chapter 7.PhD in Energy and Powe
Correction to: Evaluation of serum 25-Hydroxy vitamin D levels in children with autism Spectrum disorder
No full textThe original article [1] contained an error in author Mohammad Taghi Mansouri’s name
From Feedback to Insights: Analyzing User Reviews of BRPL Power Utility App
No full textMobile applications have become essential interfaces between consumers and service providers, and the energy sector is rapidly adopting these digital platforms. User reviews in app stores provide valuable insights into consumer experiences, yet they remain underutilized in the context of power utilities. This study examines user feedback on the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) app, one of Delhi's largest electricity distribution companies. By analyzing thousands of reviews from Android and iOS platforms, we identify dominant themes in user perceptions, ranging from frustrations with login and billing to appreciation of convenience features. The findings reveal highly polarized sentiment, with strong clusters of both praise and criticism, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of digital service delivery in the utility sector. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of user reviews for an Indian power app, offering insights that can guide service design, customer engagement, and the digital transformation of electricity distribution
Comprehensive Fault Analysis in Transmission Lines Using Artificial Intelligence
No full textReliable fault detection, classification, and localization are critical for ensuring the stability and protection of high-voltage power transmission systems. This paper presents a unified multilabel framework that addresses these tasks simultaneously, providing a practical alternative to approaches that treat them independently. Using stratified evaluation to ensure balanced performance across fault types, the study demonstrates near-perfect accuracy and F1-scores in detecting and classifying faults, with equally strong performance in identifying faulted lines. Fault position localization, while more challenging due to overlapping feature distributions, achieves promising accuracy and highlights areas for further improvement. The proposed framework offers a scalable and efficient solution suitable for real-time deployment, contributing to enhanced grid reliability, reduced downtime, and improved operational efficiency in modern power systems
Abu Syed Abd al-Hay bin Dahhak, the author of Zeen al-Akhbar
No full textAbdul Hai Gardizi is the author of Zain al-Akhbar or Tarikh Gardizi, one of the most famous historians of Afghanistan. He is considered among the last historians of the first Ghaznavid period and his work, Zain al-Akhbar, is one of the important sources of the country\u27s history. In this article, we have tried to briefly introduce Gardizi and the book Zain al-Akhbar and to evaluate Gardizi\u27s historiographical method in writing Zain al-Akhbar as much as possible. The useful information it provides about the events of the first Ghaznavid period are very important and valuable in the history of Afghanistan. Gardizi has also dealt with social and ethnological topics and issues and has presented valuable and useful reports in this field, which distinguishes him from other historians. Gardizi was less religiously prejudiced than his contemporary historians and to some extent provided valuable information about the religions and rituals of Hindus, Jews, Christians and followers of other religions
Emerging Role of Vitamin D and its Associated Molecules in Pathways Related to Pathogenesis of Thrombosis
No full textVitamin D, besides having an essential role in calcium and bone metabolism, also acts as a mediator of many non-calcemic effects through modulations of several biological responses. Vitamin D exists in its two major forms, vitamin D2, or commonly known as ergocalciferol, and vitamin D3, or commonly known as cholecalciferol. Both of these forms bind to vitamin D-binding protein to get transported to all vital target organs, where it serves as a natural ligand to vitamin D receptors for enabling their biological actions. Clinical reports corroborating vitamin D deficiency with an increase in thrombotic episodes implicate the role of vitamin D and its associated molecule in the regulation of thrombosis-related pathways. Thrombosis is the formation and propagation of a blood clot, known as thrombus. It can occur either in the arterial or the venous system resulting in many severe complications, including myocardial infarction, stroke, ischemia, and venous thromboembolism. Vitamin D, directly or indirectly, controls the expression of several genes responsible for the regulation of cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. All of these are the processes of potential relevance to thrombotic disorders. This review, thus, discussed the effects of vitamin D on pathways involved in thrombosis, such as hemostatic process, inflammatory pathway, and endothelial cell activation, with a focus on the molecular mechanisms associated with them
Electricity Theft Detection Using Data-Driven Approach
No full textElectricity theft poses a significant challenge to power utilities, resulting in substantial financial losses and compromising the reliability of the power system. Effective Electricity Theft Detection (ETD) is crucial for minimizing financial losses and ensuring the economic operation of the power system. This paper proposes a predictive ETD framework based on consumer load profiles. Statistical features, such as the mean and standard deviation of monthly energy consumption, are used to distinguish between normal and abnormal usage patterns. Several machine learning algorithms are applied to classify consumption behavior, and the model's performance is evaluated using metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC). The results demonstrate that the proposed feature-based approach enhances detection accuracy, validating the framework's effectiveness in identifying electricity theft
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