INUMDC 2018: Iqra National University Multi-Disciplinary conference

"INUMDC-2018 Conference Papers "

COMPARISON OF FUNGAL SPECIES FOR LEAD TOLERANCE AND PLANT GROWTH PROMOTION IN CONTAMINATED SOIL[ ]


The following study have been designed to investigate the beneficial role of lead tolerant fungal strains for plant growth promotion in lead contaminated soil. Five fungal strains including Trichoderma harzianum, Penicillium simplicissimum, Aspergillus flavous, Aspergillus niger and Mucor spp. were examined for tolerance against lead. Multiple heavy metal tolerance of tested fungi was also recorded. Afterwards the effect of lead tolerant fungi upon plant growth was monitored under different soil Pb concentrations (0, 1000 & 1500 mg kg-1). Parameters including, germination percentage, root shoot length, dry biomass, number of leaves were monitored. The results indicated that application of heavy metal tolerant strains significantly improved the growth of plants even under high metal stress condition. Among tested strains Aspergillus niger significantly improved plant growth as compared to other strains and control. The root shoot length was increased by 1.175 and 1.26 -folds as compared to control. Root shoot biomass was increased by 1.45 and 1.2 -folds. No significant difference was observed in number of leaves when compared to plants treated with other fungal strains however significant difference was observed when compared to control. Results suggested that Aspergillus niger has shown a high level of tolerance to all metals tested and promoted plant growth under elevated concentrations of Pb in soil which makes it attractive potential candidate for further investigation regarding plant growth promoting characteristics under elevated Pb concentrations.

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Scheduling Based Dynamic Power Management Technique for offline Optimization of Energy in Multi Core Processors[ ]


The criteria to judge the capacity of computational systems is changing with the advancement in technology. Earlier, they were judged only on the basis of computational capacity but now a day, power and energy optimization is one of the key parameters for their selection. The purpose of energy optimization is to prolong the battery life of all the battery operated devices especially in embedded systems. An Offline Scheduling Algorithm technique is proposed that migrate task load to the core that has less thermal values in response to a threshold temperature this technique also considers other thermal problems which affects the power, reliability and performance of multi-core system. Hardware technique on their own is insufficient so it must be combined with other software techniques to decide when and where optimization policies are applied to minimum energy consumption. This paper focuses on most popular optimization techniques Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), Dynamic Power Management (DPM) and Dynamic Thermal Management (DTM) and their extensions. The paper also includes the thermal issues which are raised due to high temperature in multi-core platforms. It also highlights that how energy efficient techniques can be used beyond simple energy saving The simulation results shows that the proposed technique reduces almost 4.3℃ temperatures at 17% utilization and the energy utilization is 240.43 J which is 5.21 % improved as compare to the global EDF Scheduling technique used previously.

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Electronic Birds Eggs incubation System With 360 o rotation[ ]


Major aim of our research is the design and development of a system of an egg incubator. This system will capable for incubating egg and called by the system of Smart Egg Incubator. The Smart Egg Incubator System will fill-up by moisture/humidity and temperature sensors for measuring the state of incubator to vary by self to an appropriate state for eggs. For growth of the eggs embryo, the health of eggs is most essential. Inappropriate state denotes too high or low moisture/humidity or temperature. According to this research light warmer is used for providing a proper temperature to eggs. We can make sure the moisture/humidity and temperature’s normal state by use of controlled fan and water. The overall situation in Smart Egg Incubating System displays on a screen/LCD. A DC motor is used for rotating the steely rode at bottom side that changes the eggs position which makes sure those entire parts of eggs gaining proper heat of warmer. An integrated circuit is also used that isprogram embedded for controlling the whole elements. A type of microcontroller called Atmel controller which processes sensors sensed data and also performs control elements to modify Smart Egg Incubator System state. This research is an enough productive as this System is portable.

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IOT BASED HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM USING ARDUINO UNO, GSM SIM900D MODULE ANDWIFI MODULE ESP8266[ ]


The health related problems especially in remote area of Pakistan is one of the major issue. This deadlock issue has created the tremendous resistances to control the health related diseases. As it is the evident that the remote areas are devoid from hospitals. It is not easy to visit hospitals in big cities due to travelling, manpower, and cost issues. Such health related issues can be reduced to a certain limits by introducing and implementing a sophisticated patient health monitoring system based on internet of things. In this paper we have proposed such a patient monitoring system which is practically easy to implement and cost effective as well. The IOT based Health Monitoring system is atomized system consist of different modules to monitor various types of test parameters such as temperature, heart beats, blood pressure, Electrocardiography. The major modules of proposed system are GSM module, WiFi module, temperature sensor module, heart beat sensor sensing module, blood pressure sensor module and ECG sensor. These sensors collect necessary diagnostic test information and that is transferred to the concerned doctor through Wifi module. This paper presents both proposed design of the patient management system and which is validated by the simulation results and the hardware prototype.

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Challenges been faced by Mobile Operators in Pakistan for transition from 2G to 3G & 4G Mobile Services[ ]


Mobile communication has been transformed in Pakistan by issuance of Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) licenses. Introduction of new technologies has changed the mobile users existing lust for more data and at an extremely high transmission rate. The third and fourth generation technology transitions have enormously improved network performance as compared to old and legacy Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology. Especially, the Long Term Evolution wireless network is all set to convert the existing mobile networks into end-to-end IP networks. In this paper, it will be considered what challenges are been faced by the mobile companies in Pakistan for migration of mobile wireless networks from existing technology to 3G CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and 4G LTE (Orthogonal frequency division multiplex) networks. The main challenges faced by managers for shifting from existing 2G infra-structures to new 3G and 4G infra-structures are network planning and achieving Quality of Service (QoS) parameter’s for this transition.

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Smart Grid; The Next-Generation Smart Network of Power[ ]


Smart grid comprises of bidirectional power flow and information to produce a broadly distributed automated energy delivery system. Smart Grid is such an intellectual technology of modern era in which the consumers are connected with the utility through a system of networks. 20th century advanced and optimal power grid in principle is Smart Grid. As per demand, Smart Grid is more responsive and much optimal. The importance of Smart Grid is discussed in this paper. The main discussion that has been undertaken in this article is about surveying the literature on enabling technologies for the smart grid. Also various problems which are faced by the current grid system are also discussed. The solutions to these problems are given by implementing Smart Grid technology. This research paper also discusses the Smart Grid significant component such as Advance Metering Infrastructure, Personal Energy Management and Distribution Automation. Furthermore the environmental benefits of smart grid are also discussed.

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Smart Net Energy Metering System[ ]


With the proliferation of distributed generation technologies and renewable energy electric power system is becoming more complex. In traditional grid system and current energy metering infrastructure line losses are growing day by day. This project will enable smart net energy metering by using GSM technology, user will not only able to view real time usage of energy but also will be able to sell excessive energy to utility which is produced in the vicinity of user. Either Renewable or nonrenewable energy resources can be utilized and controlled remotely through mobile application, the energy sold out to utility will be deducted from energy consumed from utility which enables dual way smart net energy metering system. Electricity Net Metering System makes residential and distributed solar energy system ownership more attractive and reasonable for many consumers. It can save consumers hundreds extra rupees on their utility bills, and also it can make the procedure of accounting energy simpler and easy to evaluate.

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PROTOTYPE DESIGN OF SMART BIO-GAS PLANT FOR GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY[ ]


A number of non-conventional energy resources are studied worldwide due to the increase demand of fossil fuels and environmental risks. Biogas generation plants are becoming more popular due to benefits associated with it i.e. low pollution, renewable resource and low cost. Biogas plants are already used in many applications i.e. heating, transport etc. Biogas plant needs high degree of monitoring and control process. The plant with better monitoring and control process will generate more electricity and in a less time and is known as smart bio-gas plants. An attempt has been made to generate the gas from the biogas plant in a less time and in accurate form. For this, the temperature sensor is used which check the temperature of slurry, if temperature will fall from the mentioned, a microcontroller will switch on the motor to start the reaction again. Digester is also designed by calculating the output energy. This gas is then stored in a storage tank to fed to the Internal Combustion Engine, which is converted to electrical energy. The main objective of this paper is to examine biogas generation and factors affecting the biogas generation from cow dunk as an organic matter by the biological breakdown. The calculated energy is applied by designing the digester.

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Adaptive Thresholding using Median Base Filtering for Quality Improvement of Signal[ ]


Speech signal segmental framing and scaling factor according to the low distortion of original speech signal is basis for speech recognition process as first step. The next followed step is existing noise reduction in the recognized speech signal for quality improvement. In this work, the noise reduction is done using newly proposed adaptive median based filtering. Comparison of the observations based on adaptive median filtering with Minimum Mean-Square Error Short-time Spectral Amplitude (MMSE-STSA) and Minimum Mean-Square Error (MMSE) based noise reduction reveal a list of worthy to mention relevant observations. The drawn conclusion also accumulates possible contributions by the proposed adaptive median based filtering technique. Lastly is mentioning of Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as the primary metric for observations collection for the newly proposed adaptive median based filtering technique analysis.

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IMPACT AND DETECTION OF GPS JAMMERS AND COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST JAMMING[ ]


Most of the systems that we use in our daily life, including critical sectors like, military, civilian forums, aviation and commercial industries are widely dependent on GPS services. Despite of providing countless services, GPS system under certain circumstances are vulnerable to both intentional and unintentional interferences. GPS jamming is the act of intentionally transmitting electromagnetic waves of same spectral band like GPS, with a high power in the direction of a victim GPS receiver, with the intention of denying the operation of GPS services. This paper describes a detailed evaluation of currently available GPS jammers and their impact on various GPS receiver stages. The case of intermediate power jamming is also evaluated, which is the most critical case, since user is still able to find a navigational solution. Various GPS jamming incidents of real life are also described and a review of jamming detection measures is also given. At the end a review of possible methods of jamming countermeasure and possible future work is stated.

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Categorizing Different Insulators With Respect to Withstand Voltage Under Same Environmental Conditions[ ]


Dielectric properties of insulators changes with respect to the variation in voltage ap-plied Insulating material plays its very important role as its selection is considered ,important design parameter, in order to maximize its robustness, withstand maximum potential capacity during different environmental conditions. In this paper simulations are performed with a voltage of 11kV being applied on insulators in order to identify good insulating material with maximum withstands voltage capacity. It has been found that glass insulator has good dielectric strength in terms of high withstand voltage capacity during instantaneous light flashovers and certain overvoltage conditions. It is proposed that glass insulators can be used in trans-mission system as a robust insulator in worst weather conditions because of its reliability of withstand voltage for pro-long period.

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Supervised Monaural Speech Separation using Computational Auditory Scene Analysis[ ]


Monaural speech separation based on computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) is studied in many speech processing applications to separate a speech of the interest from the interfering backgrounds. Customarily, this task of separating a target speech from the background is considered as a signal processing problem. Recently speech separation approach is formulated as a supervised learning problem and discriminative patterns of speech, speakers, and background noises are learned from some input training data. This paper presents a monaural supervised speech separation method that is based on the principle of ideal binary mask (IBM) computation. In presented method, the system is trained with a set clean speech utterances and during the separation the SNR is estimated in time-frequency units and compared to a threshold. The time-frequency units satisfying the threshold are retained while time-frequency units violating the threshold are discarded to construct a binary mask. The estimated mask is than applied to mixture speech spectra to acquire the target speech by using the phase of mixture speech. Our experimental results across three mixtures situations: two-talkers, three-talkers, and four-talkers at SNRs: -5dB, 0dB, 5dB and 10dB reported that presented CASA based supervised mask outperformed the competing approaches: Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), Non-negative dynamical system (NNDS) and log minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimation in terms of short time objective intelligibility (STOI) and Segmental SNR and Perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) metrics.

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A Printed Monopole Antenna with DGS for Multiband Wireless Communication[ ]


In this paper, a multiband antenna having a variety of application in portable wireless communication devices is presented. The proposed multiband antenna resonates at five different frequencies including the wireless portable devices band and an X- band. The type of antenna is having truncated T-Shaped having FR4 material used as a substrate with dimension of (56×44×0.8〖mm〗^3). The truncated T-Shaped multiband antenna operates at five different frequencies such as (1.525-1.599), (2.334-2.445), (3.136-3.854), (7.131-7.545) and (10.013-11.301) GHz. These bands cover (GPS at 1.56 GHz, Wi-Fi at 2.402 GHz, WIMAX at 3.32 GHz, 7.3 GHz and X bands 10.7 GHz). The simulation result shows good agreement with measured result and the simulated results of Return loss, Gain, directivity and radiation pattern are within the acceptable range. The antenna designing and simulation is performed in CST MWS 2015 solely.

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Energy Harvesting in Clustering-based Routing Scheme for UWSNs (EH-CDBR)[ ]


Underwater Wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) contains number of sensor nodes deployed in predefined region of interest for specific purpose of natural and environmental events like temperature, pressure, humidity etc. Nodes are battery operated and loaded with specific purpose sensor. Low bandwidth, high bit error ratio, large propagation delay and more specifically the limited available supply of energy to the sensor nodes in UWSNS are all time hot topics for researchers. A new routing approach EH-CDBR has been presented in this paper. Routing in EEDBR took place through a node having low depth, thus energy of those very specific nodes drains off early, creating a communication hole. Although CDBR have rationalized the load on the nodes near to the sink by introducing clustering approach but the issue remains up to some extent. We in our work have considered both depth and residual energy of the nodes for the Cluster Head (CHs) selection. Similarly a Best-Fit function has been introduced to select a suitable relay CH node to forward data towards the sink located at the surface of water. Moreover, an energy harvesting mechanism has been devised with sensor nodes. We have compared our scheme with current state of art UWSNs routing protocols of “Energy Efficient Depth Based Routing Protocol (EEDBR)” and “Clustering Depth Based Routing Protocol (CDBR)”. Simulation results shows that our proposed approach have efficient results in End-to-End delay, Number of Alive Nodes and Transmission loss as compared to EEDBR and CDBR.

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Missing Link Prediction in Complex Networks[ ]


Real world complex networks are indirect representation of complex systems. They grow over time. These networks are fragmented and raucous in practice. The important concern about complex network is link prediction. The crux of link prediction is to determine the possibility of probable edges. The link prediction demand is very often spotted in recommendation systems, such as recommending new friends on social networks, or recommending shopping cart based on earlier online product associated searches and purchases. In this research we study link prediction approaches. We compare different link prediction setup in term of their prediction performance using various performance metrics, such as True Positive, False positive, and Area Under Curve (AUC). Our results on real world complex network data shows that most of openly identified attributes are very easy to quantify and surprisingly effective in link prediction problem. Common Neighbor and Distance outperforms other algorithm with narrow margin in variety of different performance measures. During link prediction a small batch of attributes always plays a remarkable role in the link prediction job.

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Performance Evaluation using Adaptive Playout Buffer Algorithm in Voice Communication Over IP (VOIP)[ ]


Real time voice communication is a major challenge in today’s internet demand for better Quality of Service. The communication quality is reduced by unnecessary delay and jitter. This paper describes an understanding of threats in Voice communication over IP (VOIP) and how Real Time Protocol (RTP) works in conjunction with Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP). RTCP packet header and delay measurement issues are analyzed with transmission interval and delay of the packets at the receiver end. Further, the end-to-end control of the timestamp in RTP and RTCP is evaluated. An adaptive playout buffering scheme is proposed to improve real-time voice communication over IP networks. Simulation results shows that the tradeoff between buffering delay and late loss can be improved significantly.

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Survey on Security Attacks in Virtual Organization[ ]


Virtual Organization (VO) involves workers from different organizations. These workers work together to achieve a common task. The workers of VO communicate and perform activities using the cyber infrastructure. Since VO involves the use of cyber infrastructure which is vulnerable to different security attacks. This research identifies the possible vulnerabilities to VO, evaluates different security attacks as well as their consequences and mitigation plan. Moreover there are some proposed guidelines to VO administrators and users to improve the overall security of VO.

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HYBRID APPROACH FOR REQUIREMENT PRIORITIZATION[ ]


The quality of a product is established by the ability to satisfy the needs of the customers and users. Since elicitation of the right requirements and releasing the most appropriate and suitable set of requirements will lead to success of product. If the wrong chunk of requirement is implemented, the user will resist using the software. Requirements Prioritization plays vital role in selecting the ‘right’ requirements. It is a crucial step, that lead to resolve problems regarding choosing the best set of requirements. The main purpose of the requirement prioritization is to select the ‘right’ requirements from bunches of requirements. It assists people to select the most desirable requirements. It is considered to be one of the most challenging and difficult task as Lubars stated in his report that none of the companies knew how to assign and communicate priorities. Different stakeholders are involved in assigning priority to each requirement. In requirement prioritization, various aspects are considered such as cost, time, risk, importance, urgency etc. It is very difficult to consider all the aspects for assigning priority. There are many techniques in market for prioritizing requirements such as MoSCoW, voting, numerical assignment etc. but there is not any significant evidence of requirement prioritization technique that will solve the problem of requirement in large chunks. However MoSCow works better than many other techniques for assigning priorities. In this paper, a hybrid approach for requirement prioritization is proposed by combining Important and urgency factors (Eisen Hower Matrix) with MoSCoW. The proposed approach will help to resolve the problem of assigning priorities of requirements in larger sets.

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Sensor Based Smart Stick for Blind Person Navigation[ ]


God's perception of people is an important part of our lives. Only in this way, happy and unhappy people can distinguish the Blessings of God. On the other side, blind people choose to rely on others to travel and other bodily functions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and hardware model that combines the latest technology to provide effective and intelligent electronic help for those with no vision. We use an ultrasonic sensor to help the blind by observing obstacles around him and use a color detection sensor to measure the specific path they will use. A Bluetooth module using GPS technology and the blind Android mobile app will provide the required location and, in the event of a panic, send an SMS alert to the registered contact number. The system will provide the blind with practical and simple navigation aids that will help with artificial vision.

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Traffic Crash Prevention in the context of Analysis & Management[ ]


Amongst various health and risk associated issues, Road safety is also now treated as Public health problem as per the recommendations of World Health Organization (WHO). This is so particularly due to significant increase in number of traffic injuries. Pakistan is adversely affected with the problem of fatalities. It is the common practice that issues of crash prevention is not given consideration in the context of effective management. The safety issues are only dependent on imbalanced Police data governing general cause over speeding which is surely not at all.The research focuses on the operational model for mega city Karachi. The idea is designed to emphasize the trends including severity in road crashes, victims, and on major arterials. The idea integrates a connection between Engineering and Management with the help of exemplary system and provision of suitable infrastructure. Different year’s data record is manipulated only to hit way forward actions that can be chosen for prevention. Trauma surveillance model is also discussed as a guideline in recommendations.

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Behavior of reinforced mud sandwich panel under flexure loading[ ]


Reinforced sandwich panels are used as a walls, slabs and floors in construction of buildings. Majorly Wythe’s of these panels are made of concrete. This research focus on using stabilized mud as Wythe’s for Reinforced sandwich panels. Load-midpoint deformation was determine under flexure loading. Three Reinforced mud sandwich panels were casted having core of EPS and Wythe’s were made of stabilized mud. Results shows that greater deformation was observed before failure of panel. Hence the panel depict ductile behavior. Ultimate load was observed to be 10270N, 7640N and 10270N for panel 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

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Role of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Building Design Industry[ ]


Due to unawareness and non-familiarity with technology among building design industries in Pakistan almost all draftsman are providing their architecture design in AutoCAD which have a lot of flaws. Structural Engineer are preparing structural models for design and analysis based on these drawings. After design draftsman will prepare detailing of design in AutoCAD which may have a lot of mistakes. Then further time are also required for preparing schedules and BOQ which may have possible errors. The Architecture Engineer and Construction(AEC)trades needs such techniques to drop project rate, delivery time and increase quality, efficiency and productivity. Building information modeling is a technique to achieve the above mention parameters. Using BIM technology an accurate model known as building information model is constructed in software which is used for planning, designing and construction of the facility. As BIM create 3D model so this model will then help engineers, architect and constructors to visually observe and built this model in a simulated environment. In this paper BIM tools Revit and Robot are used for design and analysis. Four Storey commercial building design is selected for study. 3D Building information modeling (BIM) model is shaped by Revit then it is pass on to Robot structural analysis professional software for analysis and design. This building is also analyzed and designed in ETABS 9.7.4 for cross check. Drawings and BOQ reports are created at the end.

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Extended source simulation as seismic early warning tool for Pakistan[ ]


Pakistan is one of the seismically active regions, continuously being under threat of seismic activities. Seismic early warning system can be very useful in directing rescue efforts in proper direction. There is a need to step into sustainability and avoid the spring backs of development, like 2005 Earthquake, we need focus on this undeniable need, and so to keep in the race as different earthquake early warning systems have evolved and are evolving throughout the world.This study demonstrates an approach, that is feasible, economical and a good starter, to implement an earthquake early warning system in Peshawar, Pakistan. Historical data of earthquakes was obtained and the relevant data was extracted according to our requirements along with defining an approach for selecting the Grid points, to house the sensors, using QGIS. Furthermore, the data is refined for input into the simulation code EXIM (Boore), which is used because of its good comparison with the results obtained from a ground motion prediction equation. At last, an exceedance time code, to calculate exceedance time between grid points and the target city, is developed. The use of micro genetic algorithm will make the system affordable. Finally, unlike many of the early warning systems throughout the world, this allows choosing sparse number of station’s locations with more reliability to bring in easy modification, if needed in future, and economy, however, to carry out this approach with high resolution require quite high computational power.

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Strength Assessment of Concrete Using Synergy of Bagasse Ash and Fume-Silica[ ]


The reason for the test contemplate to be discover impact regarding fume –Sio2 (FS) & B-A lying on quality characteristics of cement. An industrialized production just as B-A & fume-Sio2 are used while halfway extra of bond. Presently current test examine bond be mostly including 10 percent & 20 percent regarding B- fiery debris & fume-Sio2 (1, 2 & 3) percent by means of weight ,effect regarding shared use of B- cinder & fume- Sio2 on crushing quality , review of concrete is examined. The explore test eventual outcomes of concrete arranged usage the diverse degrees of B- fiery remains & fume- Sio2 are analyzed against restricted concrete, distinction regarding various examination aftereffects of concrete masterminded amid a few extents of B- fiery debris & fume-Sio2 demonstrates comparable pattern. In view of examination outcomes, might have been resolved a concrete arranged among 10% B-powder & 2% fume- Sio2 blend saves superior qualities contrasted against restricted concrete. S-E-M investigation be completed acquiring knowledge about bond qualities in concrete sample.

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Confining Effects on Subgrade Properties of Surface Sand[ ]


Dry surface sand is not usually used for the foundation of buildings and for the foundation of roads in the form of subgrade because of no confinement or cohesion. Although it is rich with interparticles friction angle (phi). According to Terzaghi formula for bearing capacity of soils, the bearing capacity of surface sand is zero because cohesion (c) and depth of footing base (D) are both zero. To enhance the confinement effect, some cohesion is added to the sand mixing it with cement of 3% to 7% by dry weight of sand and cured for 7 days in water not to allow it to get hard. Direct shear and CBR tests are conducted in the laboratory on these samples of cemented sand. Results show enhanced cohesion from zero kPa of pure sand to about 700kPa for 7% cement mixed sand with drop of angle of internal friction from 35­o of pure sand to about11o for 7% cemented sand. The CBR value increases from about 22% of pure sand to about 50% for 7% cement mixed sand. The category of the composite upgrades from that of subgrade to that of sub base.

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Gradation effects on hot mix asphalt[ ]


Well gradation in hot mix asphalt (HMA) is as important as in soil. It is measured in density of a material and is the interlocking of particles. The strength of these particulate masses is dependent on it. If the material is strong enough but its gradation is poor, slippage over amongst the particles occurs leading to settlement and compression which is criterion for failure if limit is exceeded. In flexible pavements, this settlement in riding surface or wearing course occurs which is called rutting, a permanent or plastic deformation of HMA of poor gradation. An HMA generally consists of 85% to 90 % of coarse aggregates and sand; the rest being filler, binder and air. In this study, effect of gradation – variations of aggregates is focused to measure its strength in terms of Marshall Stability and wheel tracking test measuring the amount of or depth of ruts, a newly developed apparatus. Five gradations of the aggregates are considered and tested in the laboratory for the two mentioned tests in addition to other routine tests on aggregate, binder / bitumen. Results show that one of the five gradations, proves to be strongest; giving highest Marshal Strength of 1420kg, the lowest flow of 8.3 mm and the lowest rut depth 5.4 mm as compared to the one giving maximum of 17.5 mm under 5tons wheel load with 12000 number of passes with a frequency of 50 passes / min.

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Experimental Analysis of Concrete Having Partial Replacement of Coarse Aggregate by Capsulated Polystyrene Aggregate[ ]


The demand for construction materials is increasing every day. Due to this, there is a need to utilize alternative materials for better sustainable development. An idea of using capsulated polystyrene aggregates in concrete is adopted to minimize the use of natural resources and environmental pollution. Capsulated polystyrene aggregate were used in concrete as a partial replacement of conventional coarse aggregate with 15%, 30%, 45% and 60%. This study holds the comparison of density test, compressive strength test, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength with the controlled mix concrete cured for 28 days. Results showed that concrete having capsulated polystyrene concrete is lighter than normal concrete, with ample strength parameters. Concrete having 30% of the capsulated polystyrene aggregate is recommended for showing better strength with enhancement of workability of concrete as well.

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Paper Aggregate a Leap towards Environmental Friendly Concrete[ ]


The research examined the use of waste paper into the development of lightweight concrete and brick. Lightweight aggregate and lightweight concrete have density less than 1120 kg/m3 and 1850 kg/m3 respectively. Paper aggregates were prepared by mixing of Cement, Paper Pulp and Glue. The properties of Paper Aggregates were tested through laboratory tests. Paper aggregates are in category of lightweight. Concrete and Brick samples were casted with partially and wholly replacement of conventional coarse aggregate by paper aggregate. The mechanical behavior of concrete and brick was determined after 28 days of curing period. Concrete and Brick having paper aggregates are lightweight with ample strength parameters. Chemical analysis and Environmental effects of concrete and brick having paper aggregates are recommended, along with testing of concrete slabs and beams.

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An investigation of factors affecting traffic flow on urban highways in Pakistan and their remedial measures[ ]


Congestion free efficient transportation system plays vibrant role in economic development of any country. Significant traffic increase in recent past years has demanded the implementation of traffic improvement plans in major cities of the Pakistan. Pakistan is a country with very extensive and varied transportation system. In past attempts have been made to investigate the factors that causes interruptions to traffic flow in urban environments. As different cities of Pakistan are changing rapidly, they are facing traffic management problems that need to be address and rectified in time. Peshawar is increasingly transformation into a city of congestion and traffic problems due to mushroom vehicular growth along with lack of expansion in the existing roads infrastructure. The impact of poor traffic management in combination with ill planning causes congestion daily on main routes in the city. As compared to freeway networks, urban networks are; defined by shorter links, intersections control delays and levels of service. Besides this, urban highways in Pakistan are highly congested due to various other factors including unauthorized parking, irregular location, use of unauthorized U-turns, use of wrong-way, predominance of three-wheelers, formation of virtual lanes and illegal business spots. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting traffic flow on urban highways in Peshawar city of Pakistan and the remedial measurements that are to be taken for improvement of better and sustainable road infrastructure.

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ANALYSIS OF PVC AND PET WASTE REPLACEMENT AS A COARSE AGGREGATE IN CONCRETE[ ]


Concrete is a universal mixture commonly used in recent era for construction of different structures. Due to rapid increase of concrete the aggregates decreasing rapidly. So there must be an alternative aggregate to replace convectional aggregate. Plastic use is increasing day by day, although steps were taken to reduce plastic consumption. Concrete cylindrical samples partial replacement of coarse aggregate with 0%, 5%, 15% and 25% of shredded PVC & PET waste were casted and then cured for 28 days. After completion of the curing period, concrete cylindrical specimens were tested for compressive and split tensile strength. The results showed that, Based on specific gravity of PVC & PET, lightweight concrete is produced. Results of Tensile strength increases with increase in PVC & PET replacement upto 25%, however at 25% PET replacement tensile strength was maximum. The data trends revealed that compressive strength test results of 5%, 15% and 25% PVC replacement were in comparison with control sample. Results of compressive strength of PET replacement decreases with increase in PET amount upto 25%.

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TO EVALUATE MECHANICAL PROPERITIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE BLOCKS MASONRY[ ]


In an age when there is a growing demand for high strength but light in weight, lightweight concrete blocks masonry has become an important aspect in reducing the dead load of a structure. As for the earthquake damage is concerned the dead load of the multistory buildings made up of lightweight concrete blocks masonry have half weight than that made of normal concrete blocks masonry. So the masonry of lightweight concrete block gives us better results. Using lightweight concrete blocks masonry proves to save money and man power. Experimental program was carried out on Lightweight Concrete Blocks Masonry. All the results met very favorably with the ASTM specifications for structural concrete. Because of its lightweight property, Lightweight Concrete Blocks Masonry is proved to be used for multi-story buildings in the areas where the soil bearing capacity is weak. This research contains many experimentally proved properties of lightweight concrete blocks masonry. And also the comparison of lightweight concrete blocks masonry & normal weight concrete blocks masonry is given with the experimental proofs.

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Determinants of Risk Taking Behavior of Stock Brokers: The role of Demographic Characteristics of Stock Brokers on Portfolio Management[ ]


Behavioral finance focuses on psychological factors—such as risk perception and portfolio management that play a crucial role in investors’ financial decision making. The study investigates the risk-taking behavior of the brokers with respect to the demographic factors namely age, education and experience while making investment decisions. This study has used three demographic factors namely Age, Education and Experience of broker’s and their risk-taking behavior has been used while making investment. The population of the study is 305 brokers registered in Pakistan Stock Exchange in which sample size of 170 brokers filled up questionnaires. Questionnaire was shared via Google doc with all 305 brokers and time to time reminders were given to them, so they could response soon. Survey methodology has been used in this study. Each respondent (Broker) had been given a questionnaire to be filled up in which 170 questionnaire forms received back. The survey forms contained 16 questions related to age, education, and experience and risk behavior of the brokers while making investment. Descriptive statistics and ONE-WAY ANOVA used for the purpose of analysis. The study concluded that brokers risk taking behavior has a relationship with the demographic factors (age, education and experience) while making investment decisions so the brokers have not been completely rational individuals as assumed by the traditional theory of finance.

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Determinants of Employee’s Proactive Behavior among Staff of Services Handling Contractor Firms in the United Arab Emirates[ ]


Airport service handling firms operating at UAE airports are facing severe challenges such as heavy competition, compliance issues, regulatory pressure, and changing technology. By giving importance to the human resource issues and strategically utilizing staff capabilities, firms in this sector can better addresses such challenges. In this context, in current study, our objective was to test the high performance work system (HPWS) as predictor of employee’s proactive behavior. Primary data for this study is collected using the survey measure adapted from previous sources. Through convenience sampling, data is collected from staff from selected contractors operating in two main airports of UAE (n=177). Findings indicate that HPWS dimensions including training and compensation have positive and significant effects on employee’s proactive behavior. Our findings have implications for the management of the airport services handling contracting firms.

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The influence of managerial leadership style on employee job satisfaction; case of private universities in Peshawar[ ]


This study conducted with the prime objective to evaluate the relationship between autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership style and employee job satisfaction in business administration department lecturers of private sector universities in Peshawar (Pakistan). In order to collect the data 150 questionnaires were distributed among employees and 108 questionnaires return back. The finding of the study concluded the democratic is positively related to employee job satisfaction while the autocratic and laissez-faire leadership styles are negatively associated with employee job satisfaction.

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Investigating Discriminative Meager Family Support and Unconducive Financial Institutions Funding towards Women Entrepreneur Growth in Balochistan: A Women Entrepreneur Perception[ ]


The aim of this study was to assess the association between discriminative meager family support and unconducive financial institutions funding for women entrepreneur growth in Balochistan according to the women entrepreneur perception. The study was constructed in various districts of Balochistan during March-August, 2017. As the study pointed out the key issues relating to various factors which hinder women entrepreneurs of Balochistan. It was a descriptive and casual research with self-administered questionnaires. The contribution of women in this sector is the essence of development of province therefore, this research was conducted to determine the causes that constraints women entrepreneurs due to lack institution and family support in Balochistan, and do not let women to avail business opportunities. The findings reveal that the women entrepreneurs’ growth is constraints by meager financial institution and family support as the cultural restriction does not let the women entrepreneur to work with ease and to flourish their business.

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Possibilities of crowd funding; an alternative source of financing for entrepreneur in Balochistan; Review paper[ ]


The purpose of this paper is to find out the possibilities of crowd-funding for entrepreneur in Balochistan, a province of Pakistan. Crowd-funding is one of the methods of raising capital through the collective effort of friends, family, customers, and individual investors. This approach taps into the collective efforts of a large pool of individuals—mostly online through social media and other crowd-funding platforms or different networks for doing of business. It is another source of finance to various businesses. It is largely something opposite of traditional sources of finance in traditional support of any business idea.In Balochistan, there is sufficient internet connectivity in most parts, hence, whenever the feasibility analysis is conducted then the ventures go towards the limited options of banks, credit institutions and informal loan sources in the province. Crowd funding the ventures are open to all communities to have fundsfrom vast network of connectivity of internet. This research paper is undertaken as a qualitative study where all the previous reviews were studied to draft about entrepreneurship and the impact of the crowd funding on it. Crowd-funding has proved to be avery supportive and innovative source for fund raising and boosting entrepreneurship across the globe. This study is undertaken to review all the relevant studies to determine that how the new trend of financial sources is useful for the entrepreneur in Balochistan.

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The Effects of Authentic Leadership on Employees’ Interpersonal Trust; Case of Employees of Private Commercial Banks in Peshawar City[ ]


Authentic leadership is an important concept gaining attention in the Western literature. The extent of presence of authentic leadership in Pakistani banking sector context and its outcomes are not studied much. In current study, the objective was to test the effects of authentic leadership on employee’s attitude (interpersonal trust). The context of the study was commercial banks in the city of Peshawar. Survey method is used to collect data from staff from five commercial banks branches (n=129). Descriptive statistics indicate that in the sample, the perception of authentic leadership including self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective was high. The level of interpersonal trust was also high. Regression analysis indicated that authentic leadership dimensions of self-awareness, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective had positive and significant influence on staff interpersonal trust.It is recommended that commercial banks should useauthentic leadership style as a criteria during the recruitment, selection, training, performance management, and rewarding of managerial staff.

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Impact of Employee Involvement and their Relationship at work on Green Organizational Performance in Educational Institutes of district Attock[ ]


Green management is charm of the day due to increasing focus on organizational social responsiveness. The aim of this research is to check the impact of high-involvement green HR practices and employee relationship at work on organizational performance in educational institutes of district Attock, Pakistan. The base theory is best practices approach. This is checked through correlation and linear regression analysis where the findings confirmed that there exists positive relationship between dependent variable and each of the two independent variables. R²=0.718 shows reasonable portion of organizational performance being explained by independent variables. The findings overlay the path for adoption of high-involvement green HR practices and establishment of employee relationship at workplace in order to get high organizational outcomes and better performance.

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Established SMEs Growth: Exploring firms and innovation[ ]


Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship of established SMEs growth by focusing on role of innovation practices for growth of the firm as well as role of entrepreneur’s growth ambition.Design: Study was designed for established SMEs growth in KPK. Scale was adopted for innovation and Entrepreneur ambitions and for growth scale was developed. A total of 250 respondents were included in the study from established manufacturing SMEs in KPK, Pakistan.Findings: The results showed that there is a positive relationship among the variables of study and they have a significant role in the growth of established SMEs.

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Relationship between Marketing Mix Strategies and Fashion Consumer’s Purchase Intention[ ]


In todays globalized world each and every fashion firm tries its level best to develop competitive marketing strategies to achieve market leadership and also to have a competitive edge. The study has been conducted on R-sheen stores located in Peshawar. The data has been collected with help of questionnaires. A regressions analysis has been exercised in order to examine the association b/w R-Sheen’s Marketing Mix tactics & consumer buying intention. A Positive association b/w Product, price, Place & Promotional strategies & fashion consumer buying intention has been explored through the study whereas the relation b/w pricing strategy and buying intention has been found weaker as compare to the product, placement and promotional strategies of R-sheen.

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A Systematic Literature Review And Case Study On Influencing Factor And Consequences Of Freelancing In Pakistan[ ]


With the passage of time, the scope of freelancing is increasing and so many people tend to prefer freelancing over a permanent job due to the ease it offers. Freelancing is helpful in earning additional money without going through the social biasness which is common in traditional organizational environment. In this paper, we performed a systematic literature review and conducted in-depth interviews to analyze the influencing factors for freelancing and the consequences people face when they do freelancing in Pakistan.

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