117 research outputs found
First Death Anniversary of Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam khan (1932-2023)
No full textProf. Dr. Muhammad Aslamkhan died peacefully on February 20, 2023, in Lahore, Pakistan. Prof. Aslamkhan was the founding head of the Human Genetics and Molecular Biology Department of the University of Health Sciences Lahore (UHS). He was also a Director of Sports and cocurricular activities at the UHS. His services to UHS were brought by the Higher Education Commission’s project entitled “strengthening of basic medical sciences at UHS, ” commonly known as SBMS as a project director. This project not only brought a lot of funding for the establishment of research facilities at the UHS but also employment opportunities for young people.
Prof. Aslamkhan received his Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) in Genetics and Anthropology from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, in 1963, after his master's degree from Punjab University (1953). He was among the founding fellows of the Biological Society of Pakistan (1956) and the Zoological Society of Pakistan (1968). In 1968, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London. Later, the Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences awarded him a fellowship in 1985. His professional services include academic and research affiliations with the provincial bodies of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
He served as Deputy Chief for the Division of Medical Entomology of the International Center for Medical Research and Training (ICMRT) at the Pakistan Medical Research Center, Lahore. Later, he became the Chief of Malaria Vector Research at ICMRT. This was the time when he studied the bionomics of mosquito species in Pakistan, which serves as a reference (1). While affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, he extended his research towards vector-borne diseases of public health importance (2-10). After retirement from the University of Maryland, he worked as an independent consultant for several national and international bodies. Later, he joined the Higher Education Commission’s project SBMS as Project Director. During this affiliation, he also launched the first department of Human Genetics in the country at UHS Lahore. This department is still operational and produces many PhDs in human genetics, working at various reputable organizations in and outside the country. The department’s objective was to study the basics of genetic diseases in the country, and it has been doing very well until today. Prof. Aslamkhan’s research on genetic diseases has mainly focused on the role of consanguinity in gene pooling in the Pakistani population (11-13). Over the past several years, he has also voluntarily offered genetic counselling to patients with hemoglobinopathies at Sundas Foundation Lahore. He also studied the public health dynamics of blood donors at the Sundas Foundation in addition to genetic counselling (14, 15). He was also recognized as an Eminent Professor of Genetics by Higher Education Commission.
In 2017, he founded The International Journal of Frontier Sciences and became its first editor-in-chief until he died last year. I am publishing this obituary at his first death anniversary on February 20, 2024, praying for his eternal peace.
I wish him to rest in peace in his life in hereafter. Ameen
Improved Group Acceptance Sampling Plan for Dagum Distribution under Percentiles Lifetime
No full textRelationship between intellectual capital and financial performance: The moderating role of knowledge assets
No full textBeyond the recent studies on intellectual capital (IC), we investigate whether knowledge assets (KA) moderate the relationship between IC and firm performance (FP). We use the recent data of all Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies. To test the developed hypotheses, we use structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. After ensuring the validity and reliability of measurement model, we find reliable evidence that KA strengthens the relationship between IC and FP, which suggest that the value of Australian listed firms can be synergized with IC and KA. In addition, our results show that IC and its components are positively associated with firms' financial performance. Similarly, KA is also positively associated with improved firm performance. This study contributes towards the literatures because this is the first study that explores the moderating role of KA in measuring the impact of intellectual capital on the firm's financial performance
A Multistage CNN with Branch Concatenation for Classification of Dementia Using MRI Data
No full textAlzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia and is caused by the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. Worldwide cases of dementia are expected to triple by 2050, which underscores the importance of early diagnosis. In our work, we proposed a multibranched CNN with three concatenations among the branches and tested the method on a dataset accessed from Kaggle. We also implement the SMOTE algorithm on the dataset to overcome class imbalance. The proposed CNN achieved 99.64% accuracy and 99.89% F1-Score on test data and outperformed the various existing methods. The proposed architecture is special because of its ability to extract intricate features at finer levels. The research paves the pathway for improved treatment plans and better prognosis of AD
Linking Environmental Management Practices to Environmental Performance: The Interactive Role of Environmental Audit
No full textDrawing on institutional theory using data of S&P 500 listed firms over the period 2007 to 2018, this study examines the role of external environmental audit between environmental management practices (EMP) and environmental performance. In particular, we explore whether the integration of environmental audit with environmental management practices contribute to desire environmental performance. This study adopts generalized least squares (GLS), linear regression with random effects to examine the relationship among variables. Empirical findings suggest that firms adopting the external environmental audit instrument with the internal mechanism of EMP are found more effective to exhibit better environmental performance. Furthermore, the findings also confirm that the internal instrument of environmental management practices have valuable capability to produce better environmental performance. Finally, the results show that the operational implications of environmental audit need to be more focused by researchers
Linking environmental management practices to environmental performance: The interactive role of environmental audit
No full textDrawing on institutional theory using data of S&P 500 listed firms over the period 2007 to 2018, this study examines the role of external environmental audit between environmental management practices (EMP) and environmental performance. In particular, we explore whether the integration of environmental audit with environmental management practices contribute to desire environmental performance. This study adopts generalized least squares (GLS), linear regression with random effects to examine the relationship among variables. Empirical findings suggest that firms adopting the external environmental audit instrument with the internal mechanism of EMP are found more effective to exhibit better environmental performance. Furthermore, the findings also confirm that the internal instrument of environmental management practices have valuable capability to produce better environmental performance. Finally, the results show that the operational implicationsof environmental audit need to be more focused byresearcher
Sustainable Agricultural Finance: Bibliometric Insights into Current Research and Emerging Themes
No full textSustainable agricultural finance (SAF) has undergone significant evolution, reflecting the growing importance of sustainable farming practices and the need for financial mechanisms to support these initiatives. Since its inception, a comprehensive literature review has been lacking, hindering the creation of an in-depth understanding of the topic, including theoretical developments, existing trends, and identifying underexplored areas for future inquiry. Therefore, the current study conducted a bibliometric analysis to present a structured overview of SAF, mapping its intellectual structure and thematic evolution. Data were collected from the Scopus database from 1994 to 2023. The study identifies three distinct developmental phases: an early fragmented period, a consolidation phase, and recent shifts toward interdisciplinary and climate-resilient finance. The analysis highlights recurring themes, including microfinance, green lending, stakeholder engagement, and risk mitigation. It also reveals underexplored areas, such as Islamic green finance, climate risk tools, and sustainability performance metrics. The study provides a structured understanding of the SAF knowledge base by synthesizing theoretical frameworks, including institutional theory, finance theory, and stakeholder theory. It contributes to future research planning and helps inform the development of financial systems tailored to sustainable agriculture
Strain engineering effect on surprising magnetic semiconducting behavior in zigzag arsenene nanoribbons
No full textThe enduring goal in condensed matter physics is to search for controlled magnetism in semiconducting materials. Based on first principles DFT calculations, we systematically investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of zigzag arsenene nanoribbons (ZAsNRs). We find that metallic edge states originate in the middle of bulk band gap for different widths of ZAsNRs due to electronic instability. Besides, edge magnetism for different magnetic configurations of ZAsNRs, have been investigated to remove these instabilities. There occurs a transition from non-magnetic to magnetic and metallic to semi-conducting edge states and as a result an intra-edge antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconducting ground state has been found. In order to tune the edge states, strain engineering is employed on magnetic ground state and found that at critical value of compressive strains (-6%), there happens a transition from magnetic to nonmagnetic (NM) and semiconductor to metal. We expect that these semiconducting properties can be controlled by edge magnetism and strain engineering and make ZAsNRs a best semiconducting material which can be used as promising candidate for device applications in semiconducting industry. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.SCI(E)ARTICLE185-19013
Sustainability of Solid Waste Management System in Urban Areas of Pakistan: Stakeholders Perspective
No full textInfluence of Team Identification on Proactive Work Behavior and Task Performance: The Mediating Role of Team Support for Innovation
No full textThis study aims to investigate a model that applies team support for innovation as a mediating mechanism for the association of team identification (TI) with task performance (TP) and proactive work behavior (PWB) in the software companies. The sample encompasses 92 teams working in software companies in Pakistan. Data were collected from two sources: team identification, team support for innovation (TSI), and task performance data were collected from employees, while PWB data were collected from the team supervisor. Multi-level data was analyzed using structural equation modelling technique through Mplus, AMOS and SPSS software. Findings of the study revealed that team support for innovation plays an intervening role between team identification and its outcomes (PWB and TP). This study proposes that team support for innovation can effectively encourage PWB and TP. Therefore, managers and leaders of software companies who aim to achieve PWB and TP need to encourage team identification among the team members. The present paper links a gap relating to factors and antecedents that impact proactive work behavior and task performance in a multi-level research design
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