61 research outputs found
sj-docx-2-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 - Supplemental material for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-2-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever by Asad Mehmood, Muhammad Waqas Afzal, Muhammad Ahmad, Mahreen Mufti, Jahanzeb Malik and Syed Muhammad Jawad Zaidi in Tropical Doctor</p
sj-tiff-1-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 - Supplemental material for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever
No full textSupplemental material, sj-tiff-1-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever by Asad Mehmood, Muhammad Waqas Afzal, Muhammad Ahmad, Mahreen Mufti, Jahanzeb Malik and Syed Muhammad Jawad Zaidi in Tropical Doctor</p
sj-pdf-3-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 - Supplemental material for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pdf-3-tdo-10.1177_00494755221127355 for Respiratory sequelae of dengue fever by Asad Mehmood, Muhammad Waqas Afzal, Muhammad Ahmad, Mahreen Mufti, Jahanzeb Malik and Syed Muhammad Jawad Zaidi in Tropical Doctor</p
Estimating Passenger Car Equivalent Factors for Heterogeneous Traffic Using Occupancy-Density Linear Regression Model
No full textA variety of methods have been proposed in the existing literature for the estimation of passenger car equivalent (PCE) factors. These methods are based on the comparison of selected attributes of different vehicles. This research, for the first time, utilizes the basic notion of the linear relationship between road area occupancy and density for the estimation of PCE factors for different vehicle types in heterogeneous traffic. Aerial photographs obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were analyzed to estimate the road area occupancy and the number of vehicles classified in seven selected groups. A linear least-squares regression model was developed between road area occupancy and classified vehicle count. The coefficients of the occupancy-density linear regression model were used to estimate PCE and motorcycle equivalent (MCE) factors. The comparison of the estimated set of PCE values with the values reported in the literature shows that PCE factors estimated using the proposed method are reasonable and produce a better occupancy-density relationship than the other studies. In comparison with the existing methods that rely on lane-based measurements, the proposed method is well suited for traffic with weak/no lane discipline, as it considers the entire road width and the dynamics of lateral movement of different types of vehicles. The proposed method does not need extensive traffic data of speeds, headways, flow rates, and so forth, and is applicable on aerial photographs obtained from other sources, such as satellites.Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported with funding from Exascale Open Data Analytics Lab, National Center for Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC) and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to research students Syed Hassan Ali, Haseeb Ahmed, Zohaib Ahmed, Aqib Abbasi, Asad Rehan, Mirza Ali Haider, Syed Abbas Hasan Zaidi, and Omema for their help in this research
Wheat Markets and Price Stabilisation in Pakistan: An Analysis of Policy Options
No full textThis article provides a quantitative analysis of the effects of Pakistan government domestic wheat procurement, sales, and trade policies on wheat supply, demand, prices, and overall inflation. Analysis of price multipliers indicates that increases in wheat procurement prices (one means of promoting domestic procurement) have relatively small effects on overall price levels. Partial equilibrium analysis of wheat markets suggests that fluctuations in production, rather than market manipulation, are plausible explanations for price increases in recent years. Comparisons of domestic and international prices suggest that promoting private sector imports is one alternative for increasing supply and stabilising market prices, particularly in years of production shortfalls. Overall, this paper concludes that market forces play a dominant role in price determination in Pakistan, and that policies that promote the private sector wheat trade can both increase price stability and reduce fiscal costsWheat, Agricultural prices, Pakistan
Wheat Markets and Price Stabilisation in Pakistan: An Analysis of Policy Options
No full textThis article provides a quantitative analysis of the effects of Pakistan government domestic wheat procurement, sales, and trade policies on wheat supply, demand, prices, and overall inflation. Analysis of price multipliers indicates that increases in wheat procurement prices (one means of promoting domestic procurement) have relatively small effects on overall price levels. Partial equilibrium analysis of wheat markets suggests that fluctuations in production, rather than market manipulation, are plausible explanations for price increases in recent years. Comparisons of domestic and international prices suggest that promoting private sector imports is one alternative for increasing supply and stabilising market prices, particularly in years of production shortfalls. Overall, this paper concludes that market forces play a dominant role in price determination in Pakistan, and that policies that promote the private sector wheat trade can both increase price stability and reduce fiscal costs.Wheat; Agricultural prices; Pakistan
Mobility management in multi-RAT multiI-band heterogeneous networks
No full textSupport for user mobility is the raison d'etre of mobile cellular networks. However, mounting pressure for more capacity is leading to adaption of multi-band multi-RAT ultra-dense network design, particularly with the increased use of mmWave based small cells. While such design for emerging cellular networks is expected to offer manyfold more capacity, it gives rise to a new set of challenges in user mobility management. Among others, frequent handovers (HO) and thus higher impact of poor mobility management on quality of user experience (QoE) as well as link capacity, lack of an intelligent solution to manage dual connectivity (of user with both 4G and 5G cells) activation/deactivation, and mmWave cell discovery are the most critical challenges. In this dissertation, I propose and evaluate a set of solutions to address the aforementioned challenges.
The beginning outcome of our investigations into the aforementioned problems is the first ever taxonomy of mobility related 3GPP defined network parameters and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) followed by a tutorial on 3GPP-based 5G mobility management procedures. The first major contribution of the thesis here is a novel framework to characterize the relationship between the 28 critical mobility-related network parameters and 8 most vital KPIs.
A critical hurdle in addressing all mobility related challenges in emerging networks is the complexity of modeling realistic mobility and HO process. Mathematical models are not suitable here as they cannot capture the dynamics as well as the myriad parameters and KPIs involved. Existing simulators also mostly either omit or overly abstract the HO and user mobility, chiefly because the problems caused by poor HO management had relatively less impact on overall performance in legacy networks as they were not multi-RAT multi-band and therefore incurred much smaller number of HOs compared to emerging networks. The second key contribution of this dissertation is development of a first of its kind system level simulator, called SyntheticNET that can help the research community in overcoming the hurdle of realistic mobility and HO process modeling. SyntheticNET is the very first python-based simulator that fully conforms to 3GPP Release 15 5G standard. Compared to the existing simulators, SyntheticNET includes a modular structure, flexible propagation modeling, adaptive numerology, realistic mobility patterns, and detailed HO evaluation criteria. SyntheticNET’s python-based platform allows the effective application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to various network functionalities.
Another key challenge in emerging multi-RAT technologies is the lack of an intelligent solution to manage dual connectivity with 4G as well 5G cell needed by a user to access 5G infrastructure. The 3rd contribution of this thesis is a solution to address this challenge. I present a QoE-aware E-UTRAN New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) activation scheme where AI is leveraged to develop a model that can accurately predict radio link failure (RLF) and voice muting using the low-level measurements collected from a real network. The insights from the AI based RLF and mute prediction models are then leveraged to configure sets of 3GPP parameters to maximize EN-DC activation while keeping the QoE-affecting RLF and mute anomalies to minimum.
The last contribution of this dissertation is a novel solution to address mmWave cell discovery problem. This problem stems from the highly directional nature of mmWave transmission. The proposed mmWave cell discovery scheme builds upon a joint search method where mmWave cells exploit an overlay coverage layer from macro cells sharing the UE location to the mmWave cell. The proposed scheme is made more practical by investigating and developing solutions for the data sparsity issue in model training. Ability to work with sparse data makes the proposed scheme feasible in realistic scenarios where user density is often not high enough to provide coverage reports from each bin of the coverage area. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme, efficiently activates EN-DC to a nearby mmWave 5G cell and thus substantially reduces the mmWave cell discovery failures compared to the state of the art cell discovery methods
Optimizing the phosphorus use in cotton by using CSM-CROPGRO-cotton model for semi-arid climate of Vehari-Punjab, Pakistan
No full textRahman, Muhammad Habib ur/0000-0002-2823-9959; Jabran, Khawar/0000-0001-8512-3330; Hakeem, Khalid Rehman/0000-0001-7824-4695; Amin, Asad/0000-0003-2242-8377; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Jatoi, Ghulam Hussain/0000-0002-7266-1567; Rehmani, M.I.A./0000-0001-7922-1233; Bajwa, Ali/0000-0002-7171-3118; Nadeem, Muhammad/0000-0002-7426-1196; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Ameen, Asif/0000-0002-3982-7000; Islam, Faisal/0000-0002-1471-1570WOS: 000397013000067PubMed: 28054268Crop nutrient management is an essential component of any cropping system. With increasing concerns over environmental protection, improvement in fertilizer use efficiencies has become a prime goal in global agriculture system. Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important nutrients, and strategies are required to optimize its use in important arable crops like cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) that has great significance. Sustainable P use in crop production could significantly avoid environmental hazards resulting from over-P fertilization. Crop growth modeling has emerged as an effective tool to assess and predict the optimal nutrient requirements for different crops. In present study, Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) sub-model CSM-CROPGRO- Cotton-P was evaluated to estimate the observed and simulated P use in two cotton cultivars grown at three P application rates under the semi-arid climate of southern Punjab, Pakistan. The results revealed that both the cultivars performed best at medium rate of P application (57 kg ha(-1)) in terms of days to anthesis, days to maturity, seed cotton yield, total dry matter production, and harvest index during 2013 and 2014. Cultivar FH-142 performed better than MNH-886 in terms of different yield components. There was a good agreement between observed and simulated days to anthesis (0 to 1 day), days to maturity (0 to 2 days), seed cotton yield, total dry matter, and harvest index with an error of -4.4 to 15%, 12-7.5%, and 13-9.5% in MNH-886 and for FH-142, 4-16%, 19-11%, and 16-8.3% for growing years 2013 and 2014, respectively. CROPGRO-Cotton-P would be a useful tool to forecast cotton yield under different levels of P in cotton production system of the semi-arid climate of Southern Punjab.Government of Australia [4915_2015]; Higher Education Commission (HEC) of PakistanHigher Education Commission of PakistanThe first author is grateful to the International Global Change Institute (IGCI) Hamilton, New Zealand, for providing the software (SimCLIM2013) and the required climatic dataset for future projections with for southern Punjab, Pakistan. The first author is thankful to Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hoogenboom (Ex-Director, AgWeatherNet, Washington State University, USA; Currently: University of Florida-USA), for his technical guidance and support during the entire period of study and modeling work. Furthermore, first author is highly thankful from NASA for weather data of respective years (which was obtained from website http://power.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/cgiwrap). The corresponding author (Wajid NASIM) is highly thankful to Government of Australia, for Endeavor Research Award/Fellowship (No. 4915_2015) to The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Sustainable Agriculture, National Research Flagship, Toowoomba-QLD 4350, Australia. Furthermore, co-authors (Wajid NASIM and Shakeel AHMAD) are highly thankful for Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for partial funding
Optimization of performance of PV panels and selection of best site for solar park in Pakistan
No full textTo incorporate solar energy efficiently into a country, it is needed to know the optimal tilt and azimuth angle of the solar collectors' location. Also, to build a solar park, it is necessary to know the most suitable and high-energy generating place inside a country, thus saving time and money. This study analyzed collector geometry for Karachi in particular and Pakistan in general. Karachi has the potential of 339.36 kW-hr/m2/annum energy at an annually optimal fixed tilt of 26. In case collector geometry had to be changed in Karachi, a range of 40 azimuth angle and 20 tilt angle from its maximum value is available. The power produced in this case would only have a difference of 1%. Optimal yearly and monthly tilt of most of the locations of Pakistan (300+) were calculated. Through them, it was revealed that the Optimal Tilt of Pakistan follows the value of latitude closely. Generally, changing the tilt angle monthly is recommended for areas that produce more energy, while fixed annual tilt could be suitable for low energy-producing regions. Effects of temperature were also incorporated while finding the energy produced by the photovoltaic (PV) panels.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Estimativa do tempo de fadiga para diferentes configurações geométricas de juntas cruciformes portantes usando ABAQUS e Fe-Safe
No full textThis research paper focuses on the fatigue analysis of load-carrying cruciform joints made up of thick plates, which are crucial components in ship structures. The study investigates the fatigue life of fillet welded cruciform joints using both 2D and 3D geometries. Various loading conditions and boundary conditions are considered, and an elastic-plastic finite element analysis is conducted using ABAQUS 2021. The number of cycles to failure is estimated using Fe-Safe and the strain-based Brown Miller Morrow model. The results, presented through contour plots, Log Life repeats, and Load Range vs. Number of Cycles graphs, reveal the fatigue behavior and failure locations. Additionally, the methodology is validated against experimental data from literature, demonstrating its applicability. The findings provide insights into the fatigue characteristics of load-carrying cruciform joints in thick plates, contributing to enhanced design and reliability in the shipbuilding industry.Este trabajo de investigación se centra en el análisis de fatiga de uniones cruciformes portadoras de carga formadas por placas gruesas, que son componentes cruciales en las estructuras de los barcos. El estudio investiga la vida a fatiga de uniones cruciformes soldadas en ángulo utilizando geometrías 2D y 3D. Se consideran varias condiciones de carga y condiciones de contorno, y se realiza un análisis de elementos finitos elástico-plástico utilizando ABAQUS 2021. El número de ciclos hasta la falla se estima utilizando Fe-Safe y el modelo Brown Miller Morrow basado en deformaciones. Los resultados, presentados a través de gráficos de contorno, repeticiones de registro de vida y gráficos de rango de carga versus número de ciclos, revelan el comportamiento de fatiga y las ubicaciones de falla. Además, la metodología está validada con datos experimentales de la literatura, lo que demuestra su aplicabilidad. Los hallazgos proporcionan información sobre las características de fatiga de las uniones cruciformes que soportan carga en placas gruesas, lo que contribuye a mejorar el diseño y la confiabilidad en la industria de la construcción naval.Este trabalho de pesquisa concentra-se na análise de fadiga de juntas cruciformes de suporte de carga compostas por placas espessas, que são componentes cruciais em estruturas de navios. O estudo investiga a vida à fadiga de juntas cruciformes soldadas em ângulo usando geometrias 2D e 3D. Várias condições de carregamento e condições de contorno são consideradas, e uma análise de elementos finitos elástico-plásticos é conduzida usando ABAQUS 2021. O número de ciclos até a falha é estimado usando Fe-Safe e o modelo Brown Miller Morrow baseado em deformação. Os resultados, apresentados através de gráficos de contorno, repetições de log de vida útil e gráficos de faixa de carga versus número de ciclos, revelam o comportamento da fadiga e os locais de falha. Adicionalmente, a metodologia é validada frente a dados experimentais da literatura, demonstrando sua aplicabilidade. As descobertas fornecem informações sobre as características de fadiga das juntas cruciformes de suporte de carga em chapas grossas, contribuindo para melhorar o design e a confiabilidade na indústria de construção naval
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