43 research outputs found
Book Review: Stig Jarle Hansen (Ed.), Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group
No full text Stig Jarle Hansen (Ed.), Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group, Oxford University Press, New York, 2013, 208 pp., $37.50, ISBN: 978-0-199-32787-4. </jats:p
Thermal conductance of interfaces between titanium nitride and group IV semiconductors at high temperatures
No full textThis article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Samreen Khan, Xinping Shi, Joseph Feser, Richard Wilson; Thermal conductance of interfaces between titanium nitride and group IV semiconductors at high temperatures. Appl. Phys. Lett. 22 July 2024; 125 (4): 041601. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0220124 and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0220124.
© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.
This article will be embargoed until 07/22/2025.Measuring the temperature dependence of material properties is a standard method for better understanding the microscopic origins for that property. Surprisingly, only a few experimental studies of thermal boundary conductance at high temperatures exist. This lack of high temperature data makes it difficult to evaluate competing theories for how inelastic processes contribute to thermal conductance. To address this, we report time domain thermoreflectance measurements of the thermal boundary conductance for TiN on diamond, silicon-carbide, silicon, and germanium between 120 and 1000 K. In all systems, the interface conductance increases monotonically without stagnating at higher temperatures. For TiN/SiC interfaces, ranges from 330 to 1000 MW/m2-K, with a room temperature conductance of 750 MW/m2-K. The interface conductance for TiN/diamond ranges from 140 to 950 MW/m2-K. Notably, for all four interfacial systems, the conductance continues to increase with temperature even after all phonon modes in the vibrationally soft material are thermally excited. This observation suggests that inelastic processes are significant contributors to the thermal conductance in all four interfacial systems, regardless of whether the materials forming the interface are vibrationally similar or dissimilar. Our study fills a notable gap in the literature for how interfacial conductance evolves at high temperatures and tests burgeoning theories for the role of inelastic processes in interfacial thermal transport.This work was supported as part of ULTRA, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0021230
Isolation and Characterization of Agarolytic Bacteria from Marine Environment
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
The role of consumer multiple identities in bank choice in Pakistan.
No full textIdentity via consumption has received much attention in academic research, however fewer studies are found on the role of multiple identities in consumption. This gap becomes wider when it comes to financial services consumption (banking in particular). Further, components of these multiple identities (personal, role and group) are yet to be explored in relation to consumer choice. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the theory of multiple identities by classifying and defining the components of each consumer multiple identities and exploring the role each of these identities play in consumers’ bank choice. The choice motivation between Islamic and Non-Islamic banks is explored in this regard, where Islamic banks provide the same services as Non-Islamic banks but with an exception of paying/earning any interest. Previous studies have found culture and religion to play a strong role in the formation of multiple identities, thus the author will also investigate the influence of culture (role of family) and religion (religious beliefs, commitment and affiliation) on consumers’ multiple identities and hence on their bank choice. Pakistan is chosen as the context of this study because 1) the presence of Islamic and Non-Islamic banks; 2) Pakistan is a country which was found in the name of religion and thus there is strong presence of religious values in the country; and 3) Pakistan is considered to be an under researched country in the area of consumption, which made it the best suited context for this study. Adopting a qualitative approach, the author conducted 39 semi-structured interviews with Pakistani bank consumers, and the data was analysed thematically using NVIVO 10. Data analyses revealed four key findings. First, religious identity, role of being son/daughter and career identity were the salient consumer identities in relation to bank choice. Second, while defining the components of these multiple identities, the author found that; religious identity was comprised of religious beliefs, role of religion and spirituality. Parents’ happiness, importance of parents and father vs mother made up the role identity of being son/daughter. Whereas moving out, ambitious; future oriented, and making parents proud were grouped under career identity. Third, the role identity of son/daughter was considered to be the most relevant in terms of the consumption of the services of Islamic banks. Fourth, the overlapping nature of cultural and religious influences gave rise to identity conflict in participants’ lives. The author therefore found two types of identity conflict in relation to participants’ bank choice: inter and intra identity conflict. This study contributes to the theory of multiple identities, consumption and financial services literature. First, by investigating different level of identities enacted by consumers via their consumption behaviour. Second, by identifying components of each of these multiple identities. Third, the author discovered a conflict among and between multiple identities, labelled inter and intra identity conflict for the purpose of this study. The fourth contribution to the theory of multiple identities is on what made some identities salient over the others. Similarly, this study also contributes to the existing debate of the precedence of religion over culture and vice versa in the consumption research. Finally, this is one of the first studies to explore the topic of multiple identities in the context of financial services, hence contributing to the consumption literature of banking choice. This study has implications for the banking sector in Pakistan. Islamic banks should design their communication strategies using sound Islamic tangible cues to improve the congruence between their banks and consumers. This will also help to address consumers’ identity conflict. Future research can further explore the identities of Islamic banks and its alignment with consumer identities utilising big sample data
The twin cell model and its excellence in determining the glass transition temperature of thin film metallic glass
No full textImpact of Changes in Reserve Requirement on Banks Profitability: A Case of Commercial Banks in Pakistan
No full textThis study examines the relationship between Reserve Requirement Ratio and Banks Profitability in Pakistan. It emphasizes on the effect of changes in CRR on commercial banking profitability and how it affects the ROE and ROA. The data collected for the research was secondary and quantitative time series data for the ten year period 2005-2014. Using correlation analysis followed by Linear Regression carries the empirical analysis of the study. The finding of study reveal that CRR taken as measure for Reserve Requirement has significant inverse relationship on banks’ financial performance, which is measured by ROA and ROE
Diagnosis of Stage II Rheumatoid Arthritis through Functional Evaluation of Wrist and Hand among Adult Females
No full textBackground:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a commonly prevailing disease among women. Disease progression deformities such as ulnar and radial shift of the wrist, Boutonnière, swan neck deformity and mallet finger become evident, which results in marked limitation of hand function. Patients usually lose the ability to hold, grasp and pinch thus activities of daily living are compromised. This study aimed to diagnose stage II Rheumatoid Arthritis through assessing the limitations of hand functions in adult females.
Methods:
A sample of 37 adult females with Stage II RA presenting to the rheumatology department of National hospital, Lahore and Combined Military Hospital, Lahore were recruited in the study. Patients with clinically diagnosed Stage II RA presenting with pain and dysfunction of the hands and wrist joints were included. Patients with any traumatic condition or any other bone disease that limits hand function were excluded from the study. The scale used for the assessment was Patient Rated Wrist/Hand Evaluation (PRWHE) with the reliability of >0.75 and validity of 0.7.
Results:
In a sample of adult women with a mean age of 42, 39% reported moderate pain and 61% had severe pain whereas the functional limitations was reported to be moderate in 47.3% while 52.7% had severe limitation of hand function. These results prove that there is a negative impact of hand malformations on hand function.
Conclusion:
The adult females with stage II Rheumatoid Arthritis had severely limited hand function. The functional limitations of hand were increased with disease progression especially in adult females
A LITERATURE REVIEW ON ORAL HYPOGLYCEMIC DRUGS – MECHANISTIC ASPECTS
No full textDiabetes mellitus (DM) is a worldwide rising concern that leads to an increased rate of morbidity, mortality, and health-care costs. DM is a chronic, endocrine disorder associated with hyperglycemia. The current estimated DM prevalence is over 422 million and has been progressively increasing over the past decades. Consequently, it is considered a significant problem in health-care settings. Health-care professionals who deal with such patients need to have an adequate information and drug therapy management including drugs and its regimen that are presently available in the market. This review provides an overview of potential diabetic drugs and their mechanisms. Hence, it will be proved beneficial for health-care professionals
Comparative Analysis of HtrA3 and NGAL as Viable Biomarkers for Pre-eclampsia
No full textPre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-associated condition, which is characterized by the onset of hypertension and proteinuria. It is one of the leading causes of maternal and neonatal mortality and this affliction has been recorded in around 8% of all pregnancies in the world. In addition to this, the etiopathology of this condition is very less understood and the resources available to diagnose and treat it are limited. Prior studies suggest more than a hundred possible diagnostic biomarkers that could be used to detect this disease early on. However, most of them are not feasible due to several reasons including stability, cost, safety, etc. Here two biomarkers HtrA3 (high-temperature requirement A3) and NGAL (Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin) are selected for the detection of pre-eclampsia, and we compare their efficacy in the detection of pre-eclampsia based on their specificity, ease of use, speed, stage of detection and source (invasiveness). We found that these two biomarkers are efficient under some parameters, and inefficient under others. The scoring system used in the current study suggests that NGAL is a superior biomarker. The results of this study help to develop a stronger understanding of both these biomarkers in the short and long term to classify the biomarkers more efficiently and understand the complicated pathologies of pre-eclampsia
A pedagogy for success: two stories from STEM
No full textDisclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). All data supporting this study are provided in the ‘two cases, two STEM stories’ section of this paper.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This paper aims to debate the need to change our discussions from the pedagogy of success to pedagogy for success. In justifying the prepositional shift, we discussed our understanding of success and pedagogy using some relevant literature, followed by the five key features which formulate our pedagogy for success. These features are the web of relations with people, learning objectives established subjectively (or not), the flow from knowledge patterns and streams, the experiential texture and the self and/or situationally ascribed evaluative tone. Each of the five features exhibits no set recipe of particular proportions that a teacher, student or professional can use to become successful in STEM or a toolkit that has certain STEM-based specific skills, abilities and knowledge leading to a successful STEM life. Instead, the pedagogy for success challenges the set criteria of success, by highlighting the ideology of personalised non-hierarchal successes from a variety of sources and spaces. Practically, using the five-featured theoretical framework, we have showcased the STEM stories of Amna and Samreen from our 2021 qualitative, entre-deux, autobioracy-styled data collection. Finally, discussing pedagogy for success using five crosscutting themes that exhibit a non-linear and long-lasting acquisition of a successful STEM life
