The ever-increasing demand for electricity has presented a grave threat to traditional energy sources, which are finite, rapidly depleting, and have a detrimental environmental impact. These ...shortcomings of conventional energy resources have caused the globe to switch from traditional to renewable energy sources. Wind power significantly contributes to carbon-free energy because it is widely accessible, inexpensive, and produces no harmful emissions. Better and more efficient renewable wind power production relies on accurate wind speed predictions. Accurate short-term wind speed forecasting is essential for effectively handling unsteady wind power generation and ensuring that wind turbines operate safely. The significant stochastic nature of the wind speed and its dynamic unpredictability makes it difficult to forecast. This paper develops a hybrid model, L-LG-S, for precise short-term wind speed forecasting to address problems in wind speed forecasting. In this research, state-of-the-art machine learning and deep learning algorithms employed in wind speed forecasting are compared with the proposed approach. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid model is tested using real-world wind speed data from a wind turbine located in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. Moreover, the mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) are used as accuracy evaluation indices. Experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art legacy models in terms of accuracy for short-term wind speed in training, validation and test predictions by 98% respectively.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Fog computing extends mobile cloud computing facilities at the network edge, yielding low-latency application execution. To supplement cloud services, computationally intensive applications can be ...distributed on resource-constrained mobile devices by leveraging underutilized nearby resources to meet the latency and bandwidth requirements of application execution. Building upon this premise, it is necessary to investigate idle or underutilized resources that are present at the edge of the network. The utilization of a microservice architecture in IoT application development, with its increased granularity in service breakdown, provides opportunities for improved scalability, maintainability, and extensibility. In this research, the proposed schedule tackles the latency requirements of applications by identifying suitable upward migration of microservices within a multi-tiered fog computing infrastructure. This approach enables optimal utilization of network edge resources. Experimental validation is performed using the iFogSim2 simulator and the results are compared with existing baselines. The results demonstrate that compared to the edgewards approach, our proposed technique significantly improves the latency requirements of application execution, network usage, and energy consumption by 66.92%, 69.83%, and 4.16%, respectively.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Endophytic bacteria have not been reported widely for their lipolytic abilities, so they are not used for large‐scale lipase production. The purpose of this study was to explore an endophytic ...bacterium for the production of lipase implementing cost‐effective techniques, including the use of Cassia fistula seeds, as a substrate in the production medium and stem pieces of Phragmites karka as the immobilization matrix. The endophytic strain Bacillus sp. E4 was originally isolated from the halophytic plant Arthrocnemum macrostachyum. Bacillus sp. E4 produced 6.05 IU mL−1 lipase in the presence of powdered seeds of Cassia fistula (golden shower tree). Initial trial experiments using a one‐factor‐at‐a‐time approach led to an improvement in lipase titers to 10.05 IU mL−1. Consequently, investigations using the Plackett–Burman design suggested the influence of three significant factors – incubation period, inoculum size, and substrate concentration – on lipase production. They were optimized using the Box–Behnken design (BBD). In the response optimization experiment, strain E4 yielded 52.35 IU mL−1 lipase, which was in accordance with the predicted yield and indicated an overall 8.65 fold improvement in lipase production. To investigate the use of free cells, strain E4 was immobilized on the stem pieces of a halophytic plant, Phragmites karka, which was used for the first time as an immobilization matrix. The immobilized cells retained lipase production ability for up to six cycles with the highest yield of 110 IU mL−1, which corresponded to an improvement of more than eighteenfold. Scanning electron micrographs confirmed the colonization of E4 cells in the matrix and demonstrated the utilization of C. fistula seeds. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy affirmed the utilization of components including fatty acids by the immobilized E4 cells. The study suggests that endophytic bacterial strains could be applied for the production of lipase with the utilization of nontraditional oil sources.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
•A taxonomy discussing application execution strategies in fog computing.•A comprehensive discussion about components of application execution in fog computing.•Critical analysis providing in detail ...information about key aspects of application execution strategies.•Identifying research gaps and highlight new research directions which needs to be addressed in the future.
With tremendous advancements in smart phone industry and IoT devices, edge computing has emerged to provide computational services at edge of the network. As a result, applications can be executed in a distributive manner to meet the latency requirements of applications. Despite these advancements, these devices are still considered to have limited energy, memory and computational resources compared to stationary standalone devices. Mobile edge computing extends mobile cloud computing close to end-users, decreasing latency and bandwidth utilisation by offloading tasks to edge servers. Fog computing places nodes between cloud and edge servers. A challenging approach in these paradigms is establishing offloading decision to edge/fog server, and distributed application execution at run time for heterogeneous devices. This paper reviews execution of resource-intensive tasks on mobile devices in distributed frameworks. The objective is to identify research gaps and highlight new research directions that can be pursued in future. Application execution involves application partitioning, task allocation, task execution and task resumption. In this paper, we propose a separate taxonomy for each step in application execution, reviews state-of-the-art techniques, and analyses critical aspects of application execution in a distributed manner. It further investigates similarities and differences among these techniques based on each step of application execution.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Due to the precarious underwater environment, many tasks are impossible to carry out with manned vehicles. It is due to the development of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that exploration, ...surveillance, and research have been carried out like never before. AUVs are now extensively used for lengthy missions but face challenges in maintaining an accurate position over a larger operational area due to water currents and oceanic complexities. Hence, more sophisticated navigation systems are required for AUVs. As global positioning systems (GPS) and radio signals are attenuated under water, it becomes difficult to navigate subsea areas. In this research work, we propose the accurate position estimation of an AUV by a Kalman filter using an inertial navigation system (INS). In the MATLAB environment, a sample of the INS accelerometer’s data is simulated to determine position from acceleration using the Kalman filter, and the double integration method of determining position is contrasted. Our experimental results imply that our suggested method produces better outcomes.
In the context of tropical monsoonal dwarf forest restoration, it is well known that the interaction between soil properties and plant functional traits influences the dynamics and forest composition ...of plant communities. The main aim of this study was to determine the relationships and variations between the plant functional traits and environmental variables in tropical coastal secondary forests. However, it is undisputed whether trait variation is coordinated and whether there is a relationship between the community-weighted mean (CWM) traits and soil variables. TNNR conducted a ground survey to collect actual ground data on the biophysical characteristics of individual trees and shrubs, along with soil sample data. All soil samples and plant materials were collected at the end of June, in the 2020 growing season (July and August), in each quadrat with a 400-m
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area. To gain insight into these questions, a total of 4 plant functional traits of 167 species and 5 soil nutrients from 128 soil samples were analyzed from 128 plots in a tropical evergreen monsoon forest on Hainan Island. Using SMA (standardized major axis), wood density (WD), and leaf thickness (LT), as well as specific leaf area (SLA) and relative leaf water content (RLWC), were significantly positively correlated. Using Pearson correlation analysis, leaf thickness (LT) was significantly positively correlated with soil organic matter (OM). Using principal component analysis (PCA), we also found that soil TN and OM were the strongest predictors for functional traits, i.e., WD and LT. Moreover, using path analysis, OM and TN have a major impact on plant CWM traits, e.g., SLA and RLWC. Our results show a significant relationship between functional traits and soil pH and soil nutrients in tropical coastal secondary forests. Our results highlight that plant traits can be used to predict specific soil nutrients and ecosystem functioning in tropical secondary forests, but we are concerned about how variation in the physical structure of plant affect ecosystem function in forest communities. This research can help us to better understand the restoration of habitats and green infrastructure design, suggesting that selecting different species across multiple trait axes can help ensure functionality at the maximum level.
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•Synthesis of pure tungsten oxide (WO3), its doping series with activated carbon (AC) and copper sulfide (CUS).•The WO3 based AC was co-doped with CuS composites and their ...photocatalytic activity of Aspirin.•Various techniques have been used to characterize the prepared samples.•Photocatalytic performance of WO3 based AC co-doped of 15% CuS have the highest degradation efficiency (97%).•The 15% CuS composite can be utilized as a photo-catalyst.
This research work reports the simple synthesis of pure tungsten trioxide (WO3), its doping series with activated carbon (AC) in addition to pure copper sulfide (CuS). Then, WO3 based AC was co-doped with CuS composites, prepared through the facile hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Aspirin is reported here. The percentage of CuS was varied as 10% and 15% in the 2% AC doped WO3 sample. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy techniques have been used to characterized the prepared samples. Photocatalytic performance was investigated for the time period of 150 min for degradation of the Aspirin drug. Here in this research, Aspirin has been used as a as a model organic pollutant. The photocatalytic study revealed that WO3 based AC co-doped 15% CuS have the highest degradation efficiency (97%) following by first-order pseudo reaction rate. It is observed that the same sample is photo-stable, anti-photo corrosive and has been proved to be environmental friendly. This is also reusable after many cycles of activity. These results suggested that 15% CuS composite can be utilized as a photo-catalyst for the degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants without causing any other secondary pollutant.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The aim of the study was to analyze the performance of selected banks before merger and after merger in terms of Return on Assets and Return on Equity, of Pakistan. The study took data from the ...published annual reports of the selected banks: Summit Bank, Faysal Bank, Samba Bank, Al Baraka Bank, Standard Chartered Bank. The data was collected 2 years before merger and 4 to 5 years after merger. To analyze the data Independent Samples t Test was used on the SPSS software, to check the significance of the hypotheses as well. The analysis and results proved that there is no such positive outcome after the merger of banks of Pakistan. It concluded that ROA and ROE did not get impacted after the merger. The outcome of this research may help the decision makers to focus on the places where there is a lack of knowledge for mergers and how to make merger successful. As Pakistan is a developing country, mergers are not a good option here to create any synergy but if importance and attention would be given on the strategies so maybe one day merger will be successful.
Abstract
Aim and objectives
The aim of our study is to enhance patient risk stratification which can potentially influence the treatment strategy. Our objective is to evaluate the correlation of the ...Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score, the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score and their use combined with the extent and severity of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS).
Patients and Methods
This study included two hundred and two patients who presented with NSTE-ACS and were planned for coronary angiography in Ain Shams University hospitals during the period from September 2020 to February 2021. The GRACE score was calculated for all patients and they were divided into 3 groups according to the predicted in-hospital and post-discharge to 6 months mortality risk. Patients then underwent coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS) using computed tomography (CT) and were divided into 4 groups according to their Agatston score. Following invasive coronary angiography, patients were divided into 2 groups depending on whether or not there was at least one significant stenosis. Patients who had significant stenosis were then divided into 4 subgroups according to the number of vessels affected; one-vessel disease, two-vessel disease, multi-vessel disease and left main CAD. A receiveroperating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted for the CAC score, the GRACE score and for the CAC score combined with the GRACE score. It was used to suggest a cut-off value for each score below which obstructive CAD can be excluded in patients presenting with NSTE-ACS.
Results
The CAC score and the GRACE score were significantly higher in patients with obstructive CAD detected on invasive coronary angiography. Both, the CAC score and the GRACE score positively correlated with the number of affected coronaries. It was also detected that a CAC score of zero had a highly significant relationship with the absence of significant stenosis on invasive coronary angiography (p value <0.001). A CAC score of zero had a negative predictive value of 84.8% 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 72.4% to 92.2%, a positive predictive value of 73.7(95% CI: 69.3% to 77.7%), a sensitivity of 94.3 %( 95% CI: 88.5% to 97.7 %), and a specificity of 48.8% (95% CI: 37.4% to 60.2%). In addition, tested the use of zero CAC to exclude obstructive CAD in patients with low inhospital and post discharge mortality risk had a higher sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. From the ROC curve, it could be concluded that the use of CACS in combination with the GRACE score improves the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value in comparison to the use of the GRACE score alone.
Conclusion
CAC score as detected by CT is predictive of obstructive CAD and correlates with its extent or in other words, the number of affected coronaries. The low radiation dose and absence of contrast exposure in CACS make it an attractive candidate for the on-going research regarding the noninvasive tools for prediction of CAD. In addition to the role of GRACE score in predicting the risk of mortality in ACS, it can be also used to predict the severity and extent of obstructive CAD. It can be hypothesized that its combination with CAC score improves its reliability as a predictor of obstructive CAD.
Pakistan is the sixth largest populated country estimated to have 200 million persons. Nearly half of its population is comprised of Women. Pakistani Women are contributing to advancement of this ...country by playing a vital role in core fields. But there are some areas where women are facing challenges like gender discrimination, limited access to education, domestic violence etc. Islam bestowed women a significance value in Islamic community. It is Islam that transforms women from symbol of shame to mark of an honor in Man dominated society. Beside this Glory there are also certain limits for women described by Islam. Muslim Women of Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) era is the perfect exemplary Models for us. Besides being a dutiful Mother, Wife, Daughter and sister they did engage in worldly affairs too. It is true that home and family should be women’s first priority but in present time importance of women role cannot be denied in particular fields. Constitution of Pakistan provides equal rights to women. In 21st century we need a balanced and practical vision that ensures socio-economic development of Pakistani women without disturbing social Islamic structure. Briefly In this article these issues will be analyzed with practical approach by concluding applicable proposals.
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