Showing papers by "National Defence University, Pakistan published in 2017"

How Does Authentic Leadership Influence Planned Organizational Change? The Role of Employees’ Perceptions: Integration of Theory of Planned Behavior and Lewin's Three Step Model

Abstract: Kurt Lewin has been regarded as the father of planned change. His classical three-step model though has provided the basis for different models of change, yet has been criticized for its linearity, unsuitability for continuous change and inability to incorporate leader–follower relationship dynamics. This study has responded to various criticisms by introducing new three-step model as a replica of the three-step model while integrating it with the theory of planned behaviour. For leader–follower relationship dynamics, this study tested the impact of well-needed authentic leadership on employee perceptions during change. Following positivistic approach and deductive reasoning, this study used causal design to collect primary data through Questionnaire survey based on simple random sampling technique. The data were collected from 258 employees of three public sector hospitals of Pakistan undergoing restructuring and analysed through structural equation modelling using AMOS. The results suggest that ...

A Global Declaration on Appropriate Use of Antimicrobial Agents across the Surgical Pathway

Abstract: This declaration, signed by an interdisciplinary task force of 234 experts from 83 different countries with different backgrounds, highlights the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance and the need for appropriate use of antibiotic agents and antifungal agents in hospitals worldwide especially focusing on surgical infections. As such, it is our intent to raise awareness among healthcare workers and improve antimicrobial prescribing. To facilitate its dissemination, the declaration was translated in different languages.

Melatonin ameliorates the adverse effects of leptin on sperm

Abstract: This study examined the effects of melatonin on leptin-induced changes in sperm parameters in adult rats. Five groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with either leptin or leptin and melatonin or melatonin for 6 weeks. Leptin was given daily via the intraperitoneal route (60 μg kg-1 body weight) and melatonin was given in drinking water (10 mg kg-1 or 20 mg kg-1 body weight per day). Upon completion, sperm count, sperm morphology, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine, Comet assay, TUNEL assay, gene expression profiles of antioxidant enzymes, respiratory chain reaction enzymes, DNA damage, and apoptosis genes were estimated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA. Sperm count was significantly lower whereas the fraction of sperm with abnormal morphology, the level of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine, and sperm DNA fragmentation were significantly higher in rats treated with leptin only. Microarray analysis revealed significant upregulation of apoptosis-inducing factor, histone acetyl transferase, respiratory chain reaction enzyme, cell necrosis and DNA repair genes, and downregulation of antioxidant enzyme genes in leptin-treated rats. Real-time polymerase chain reaction showed significant decreases in glutathione peroxidase 1 expression with increases in the expression of apoptosis-inducing factor and histone acetyl transferase in leptin-treated rats. There was no change in the gene expression of caspase-3 (CASP-3). In conclusion, the adverse effects of leptin on sperm can be prevented by concurrent melatonin administration.

The Impact of Employees’ Core Self-Evaluation Personality Trait, Management Support, Co-worker Support on Job Satisfaction, and Innovative Work Behaviour

Abstract: The study was aimed to investigate the effect of personality trait and supportive work environment on employee’s job satisfaction as well as his/her innovative work behaviour. The current work supports previous prerogatives regarding the importance of supportive work environment for the formation of satisfaction that enhances innovation and change. A sample size of 251 respondents (N = 251) comprised of 133 male and 118 female employees selected from NGOs, banking, and telecom sector from twin cities (i.e., Islamabad and Rawalpindi). Data were gathered through structured questionnaire based on convenient sampling technique. Data was analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS 22.0. Findings indicated that positive and direct relationship among core self-evaluation (as personality trait), supportive work environment (management and co-worker support), and job satisfaction. Similarly, employees’ job satisfaction had positive and direct impact on innovative work behaviour. Furthermore, findings of the study proposed that mangers and HRM professionals could play a pivotal role in exploiting and guaranteeing every employee trait that they possessed and for development of work environment that motivated employees to perceive things with innovation.

Examining the public sector recruitment and selection, in relation to job analysis in Pakistan

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study the recruitment and selection practices in public sector of Pakistan with respect to job analysis. Job analysis is the most essential part of human resourc...

Architecture of Micro Energy Harvesting Using Hybrid Input of RF, Thermal and Vibration for Semi-Active RFID Tag

Abstract: This research work presents a novel architecture of Hybrid Input Energy Harvester (HIEH) system for semi-active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. The proposed architecture consists of three input sources of energy which are radio frequency signal, thermal and vibration. The main purpose is to solve the semi-active RFID tags limited lifespan issues due to the need for batteries to power their circuitries. The focus will be on the rectifiers and DC-DC converter circuits with an ultra-low power design to ensure low power consumption in the system. The design architecture will be modelled and simulated using PSpice software, Verilog coding using Mentor Graphics and real-time verification using field-programmable gate array board before being implemented in a 0.13 μm CMOS technology. Our expectations of the results from this architecture are it can deliver 3.3 V of output voltage, 6.5 mW of output power and 90% of efficiency when all input sources are simultaneously harvested. The contribution of this work is it able to extend the lifetime of semi-active tag by supplying electrical energy continuously to the device. Thus, this will indirectly reduce the energy limitation problem, eliminate the dependency on batteries and make it possible to achieve a batteryless device.

Disaster risk management in agriculture: tragedies of the smallholders

Abstract: Agriculture sector is exposed to a variety of risks and uncertainties which can lead to sizeable losses in crop yields and alter farm incomes. Risk management is, therefore, an essential element of the overall farm management process. Farmers have number of options in managing farm risks; however, smallholders, due to their small operations and limited financial capabilities, find it difficult to adopt sophisticated risk management strategies to overcome yield and income instabilities at farm level. This study is, therefore, designed to investigate the enabling environment for small farmers to manage climatic risks at farm level. A total of 330 sampled respondents from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan are randomly selected for the study using multistage sampling technique. Analysis of variance technique is employed to compare the risk management adoption decision of small, medium and large farmers. A post hoc analysis is also performed to highlight the difference in means and the magnitude of differences. The results indicate that smallholders have significantly lower access to credit (both formal and informal), formal information sources along with significantly higher perceptions of pest and diseases. Smallholders are also at the tail end in the adoption of precautionary savings and agricultural credit to manage climatic risk at farm level. The study urges for risk management policies particularly in favor of the small farmers and intervention in the existing information and credit provision programs to facilitate smallholders in managing farm risks.

Image Smoothing via Truncated Total Variation

Abstract: We present a new regularizer for image smoothing which is particularly effective for diminishing insignificant details, while preserving salient edges. The proposed regularizer relates in spirit to total variation which penalizes all the gradients, while our method just penalizes part of the gradients and leaves the significant edges unchanged. Though the proposed regularizer is a piecewise function, which is hard to optimize, we can unify it to a mathematically sound penalty. The unified penalty term is easy to optimize using recent fast solvers and hard thresholding operation. We show some potential applications of the proposed regularizer, including texture removal and compression artifact restoration. The results show the efficiency of the proposed regularizer.

A Review of Ethical Leadership and Other Ethics- Related Leadership Theories

Abstract: The role of ethics in leadership studies is very important for organizations. Leadership without ethics and integrity can be harmful both for the organizational stakeholders and society. The high-profiled scandals and the leadership involvement in unethical activities caused increase attention of the scholars and mainstream media in the leadership ethics (Hartog, 2015). This resulted a growing research in the field of ethical leadership behavior. For this reason, the present study review ethics-related leadership including ethical leadership and other ethic-related leadership theories to better understand the importance of the ethics and morality in these leadership constructs. This study also presented a comprehensive review on ethical leadership and its similarities and differences with other related leadership styles. Another focus of this study was to present the definitions of each leadership style and their scales, and to establish that how ethical leadership is distinct from each leadership style. Future directions and conclusion are presented in the last of the paper.

Medicine promotional literature as a source of updated information in Bangladesh: Do those advertising literature promote continued medical education or deceptive advertising?

Abstract: Background: Drug promotional literature (DPLs) is an integral part of pharmaceutical marketing strategy. This marketing approach influences, a physician to prescribe definite variety of medicine from a particular company. Many physicians bank on exclusively in DPLs. This research was intended to appraise the DPLs available in Bangladesh for accuracy, consistency, and validity of the information in accordance with the WHO rules and regulations. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study was conducted in Uttara Adhunik Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh after collecting DPLs from the different outpatient department. The data was analyzed Microsoft Excel 2016. Results: None of the national and multinational DPLs fulfilled all the WHO criteria. Among the national and multinational DPLs, 94.7% and 100% presented with claims respectively. Out of 284 national and multinational DPLs references citation were presented in 82.04% and 100% respectively. Among the DPLs of national and multinational companies' relevant, irrelevant, and partially relevant pictures were presented in 48.79%, 24.65%, 26.76% and 31.58%, 26.32%, and 42.11%, respectively. Conclusion: DPLs of Bangladesh did not comply with the WHO guidelines while promoting their products. Evidence provided in those DPLs were mostly biased and persuasive since it is focusing mainly on the positive aspect of drug therapy. Accordingly, studied DPLs were principally aiming to maximizes industries' financial benefit rather than fulfill the educational aspects. The Government of Bangladesh should develop very stringent policy and practices regarding DPLs based on science and the WHO guideline as the literature very often act as a primary source of information among medical doctors.

Klf8 regulates left-right asymmetric patterning through modulation of Kupffer's vesicle morphogenesis and spaw expression.

Abstract: Although vertebrates are bilaterally symmetric organisms, their internal organs are distributed asymmetrically along a left-right axis. Disruption of left-right axis asymmetric patterning often occurs in human genetic disorders. In zebrafish embryos, Kupffer’s vesicle, like the mouse node, breaks symmetry by inducing asymmetric expression of the Nodal-related gene, spaw, in the left lateral plate mesoderm (LPM). Spaw then stimulates transcription of itself and downstream genes, including lft1, lft2, and pitx2, specifically in the left side of the diencephalon, heart and LPM. This developmental step is essential to establish subsequent asymmetric organ positioning. In this study, we evaluated the role of kruppel-like factor 8 (klf8) in regulating left-right asymmetric patterning in zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish klf8 expression was disrupted by both morpholino antisense oligomer-mediated knockdown and a CRISPR-Cas9 system. Whole-mount in situ hybridization was conducted to evaluate gene expression patterns of Nodal signalling components and the positions of heart and visceral organs. Dorsal forerunner cell number was evaluated in Tg(sox17:gfp) embryos and the length and number of cilia in Kupffer’s vesicle were analyzed by immunocytochemistry using an acetylated tubulin antibody. Heart jogging, looping and visceral organ positioning were all defective in zebrafish klf8 morphants. At the 18–22 s stages, klf8 morphants showed reduced expression of genes encoding Nodal signalling components (spaw, lft1, lft2, and pitx2) in the left LPM, diencephalon, and heart. Co-injection of klf8 mRNA with klf8 morpholino partially rescued spaw expression. Furthermore, klf8 but not klf8△zf overexpressing embryos showed dysregulated bilateral expression of Nodal signalling components at late somite stages. At the 10s stage, klf8 morphants exhibited reductions in length and number of cilia in Kupffer’s vesicle, while at 75% epiboly, fewer dorsal forerunner cells were observed. Interestingly, klf8 mutant embryos, generated by a CRISPR-Cas9 system, showed bilateral spaw expression in the LPM at late somite stages. This observation may be partly attributed to compensatory upregulation of klf12b, because klf12b knockdown reduced the percentage of klf8 mutants exhibiting bilateral spaw expression. Our results demonstrate that zebrafish Klf8 regulates left-right asymmetric patterning by modulating both Kupffer’s vesicle morphogenesis and spaw expression in the left LPM.

Corrosion inhibition of mild steel in hydrochloric acid solution using fatty acid derivatives

Abstract: The inhibitive actions of fatty acid derivatives namely palmitate hydrazide (PH), N-ethylidene palmitate hydrazide (EPH) and N-phenylmethylidene palmitate hydrazide (PPH) on mild steel in 1 M hydrochloric acid were investigated using open circuit potential, linear polarisation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. It was observed that the percentage of inhibition efficiency (η%) increased with increasing concentrations of inhibitor and temperature of test medium. The maximum η% approaches 85% in the presence of 200 mg litre-1 of inhibitors EPH and PPH at 308 ± 1K. The inhibitor efficiencies were found to be in the following order: PPH>EPH>PH. The adsorption of these inhibitors on mild steel surface obeys Langmuir adsorption isotherm. They act as mixed-type inhibitors. Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) was also carried out on polished mild steel coupons and those immersed in the test medium with the absence and presence of 200 mg litre-1 of the inhibitors studied.

Implementation of the Flipped Classroom Model in the Scientific Ethics Course

Abstract: In the present study, the purpose was to determine students’ views about the application of Flipped Classroom Model (FL), in which, different from the traditional method, homework is replaced by in-class activities and which has frequently been mentioned recently. The study was carried out with 24 students from the department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies within the scope of the Scientific Ethics Course for in a period of 11 weeks in 2016. In the research process, stud groups were formed to let the students carry out the in-class applications collaboratively. In the study, the research data were collected via structured observation form, observation, structured interview form and focus group interview. The study was carried out on qualitative basis with quantitative support. In the quantitative dimension of the study, descriptive statistics was applied, and in the qualitative dimension, thematic analysis method was used. In the study, for the collection and analysis of the data, Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory was used as the theoretical framework. In this respect, with the data collected from the participants, the advantages and disadvantages of the FL model were determined. The findings obtained in the study revealed that the participants had positive views about their collaborative learning thanks to the FL model within the scope of the Scientific Ethics Course; that the model increased their motivations; that the model should be used more commonly; and that they wanted to prefer to teach with this model in their future professional lives.

Erratum: Antimicrobials: A global alliance for optimizing their rational use in intra-abdominal infections (AGORA). [World J Emerg Surg. 11, (2016) (33)] DOI: 10.1186/s13017-016-0089-y

Abstract: The original article [1] contains an error whereby a co-author, Boris Sakakushev has their family name spelt incorrectly as 'Sakakhushev'. The authors would therefore like it known that the correct spelling of the family name is 'Sakakushev'.

Innovation in airport design

Abstract: This article discusses the issue of innovation in airport design which is supported by aviation project management. This is why the decision making process on innovation in an airport’s design shou...

Statistical analysis for validating ACO-KNN algorithm as feature selection in sentiment analysis

Abstract: This research paper aims to propose a hybrid of ant colony optimization (ACO) and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithms as feature selections for selecting and choosing relevant features from customer review datasets. Information gain (IG), genetic algorithm (GA), and rough set attribute reduction (RSAR) were used as baseline algorithms in a performance comparison with the proposed algorithm. This paper will also discuss the significance test, which was used to evaluate the performance differences between the ACO-KNN, IG-GA, and IG-RSAR algorithms. This study evaluated the performance of the ACO-KNN algorithm using precision, recall, and F-score, which were validated using the parametric statistical significance tests. The evaluation process has statistically proven that this ACO-KNN algorithm has been significantly improved compared to the baseline algorithms. The evaluation process has statistically proven that this ACO-KNN algorithm has been significantly improved compared to the baseline algorithms. In ...

Studies on graphene zinc-oxide nanocomposites photoanodes for high-efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract: A dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using a nanocomposite (NC) semiconductor film, consisting of graphene layer and ZnO nanosheets (Gr-ZnO) is fabricated by electrodeposition process. The DSSCs based on Gr-ZnO NC were determined via electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS), UV–Visible diffused reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and photovoltaic performances J-V curves to substantiate the explanations. Impedance spectra shows that a smaller charge transport time constant occurs in DSSCs based on Gr-ZnO NC comparing to ZnO. This improved the electron collecting efficiency significantly, resulting in high open circuit voltage. Moreover, Gr-ZnO NC shows an efficient photoinduced charge separation and transportation can be achieved at the interface thus exhibit excellent potential for photocurrent generation compared with sole ZnO. Gr-ZnO NC obtained a maximum photocurrent response for an open-circuit voltage and a power conversion efficiency of 0.96 V and 7.01% respectively, which is doubled from sole ZnO. Th...

Impact of oil price volatility and macroeconomic variables on economic growth of pakistan

Abstract: This research analyses the effect of oil price volatility and macroeconomic variables (Trade balance, private sector investment and public sector investment) on economic growth of Pakistan. Linear regression describes the Public sector investment and Trade Balance has significant and oil price volatility and private sector investment has insignificant effect on gross domestic production of Pakistan. Johenson co integration test described the long run relation among the variables. Vector Autoregression, impulse response function and variance decomposition conclude that effect of variables was stable within 10 years and the major part on the variable is due to itself rather than other variables.

(Penyingkiran besi dan mangan oleh membran penurasan-nano dan penurasan-ultra: Pengaruh pelarasan pH)

Abstract: Iron and manganese present naturally in groundwater. Both metallic ions at excessive amounts normally contribute to rusty taste and reddish color to the water. Membrane technology may improve the conventional groundwater treatment method which commonly requires a large area and a lot of manpower. The present experimental work focused on membrane filtration of iron and manganese in order to study the influence of pH adjustment to the prepared artificial groundwater based on the permeate quality and membrane performances. In this study, two commercially available polyamide nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membranes (PA-NF, PA-UF) were tested to examine their capabilities in treating groundwater for drinking water resources. In order to achieve WHO drinking water standard, permeate quality of the artificial groundwater is considered satisfy if concentration of iron and manganese has reached 0.3 and 0.1 mg/L, respectively. Experimental results showed that pH at a range of 3-11 have significantly improved membrane performance in terms of their rejection. Rejection of iron at a feed concentration of 100 mg/L increased as pH of the feed solution increased for all tested membranes. However, the manganese rejection with a feed concentration at 50 mg/L showed various pattern of performance for each membrane. The pH of feed solution played an important role in changing the membrane surface properties and also, the characteristic of solute. This concludes that solutemembrane interaction mechanism has improved the performance of the tested membranes.

Clear-water scour at long skewed bridge piers

Abstract: The results of an experimental study on clear-water scour at long skewed rectangular piers under steady flows at threshold velocity are presented. The scour mechanisms due to skewness effects with a wide range of angle of attack, α, and two sizes of uniform cohesionless bed sediment (d50 = 0.23 and d50 = 0.80 mm) have been investigated in a 50-m-long, 1.5-m-wide, and 2.0-m-deep flume. Empirical relation to demonstrate the effects of skewness in terms of dimensionless variables, such as aspect ratio (L/b), the angle of attack (α), flow shallowness (y/Bα), sediment coarseness (Bα/d50), the sediment gradation coefficient (σg), on scour depth is presented. The empirical relation is focused on predicting the angle of attack factor, Kα. The experimental data obtained in this study and data available from the literature were used to validate the predictions of existing methods and the accuracy of the proposed method. The proposed method gives reasonable scour depth predictions and was verified with stati...

The North Caucasus: from mass mobilization to international terrorism

Abstract: Insurgencies have proven to be highly adaptive movements that exploit their environments and change and mutate in order to survive States and international actors have long grappled with ways to t

Reduction of Molybdenum Trioxide by Using Hydrogen

Abstract: Metallic molybdenum was synthesized through reduction of molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) by using hydrogen as a reducing agent. The reduction behavior of MoO3 were investigated by using temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The reduced phases were characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD). The XRD results indicate that the reduction of MoO3 proceed in two steps reduction (MoO3 → MoO2 → Mo) with formation of intermediate phases of Mo4O11 during first step of reduction. However, the TPR results showed only one broad peak that correspond to all reduction step that was merge into one peak. It seem that, increasing the temperature cause the rapid reduction that correlated with thermodynamic consideration data that show the formation of metallic molybdenum is become feasible by increasing the temperature.

Public sector appointments, political influence and performance: perceptions of the situation in Pakistan

Abstract: Appointment processes are integral to the performance of an organisation and its staff, with competent people needing to be appointed and to have their performance valued and assessed appropriately...

Differentiating case-based learning from problem-based learning after a two-day introductory workshop on case-based learning

Abstract: Background Considerable overlap exists between case-based learning (CBL) and problem-based learning (PBL) and differentiating between the two can be difficult for a lot of the academicians.

Magnetocaloric effect and temperature-dependent magnetoresistance in Cu-doped FeCoNiBSiNb amorphous alloys

Abstract: In this work, magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance properties of Fe-based (Fe 0402 Co 0201 Ni 0067 B 0227 Si 0053 Nb 005 ) 100 - x Cu x (x = 0, 05, 075, 1) amorphous ribbons formed by melt-spinning method and the effect of Cu on these properties were investigated Curie temperature ( T C ) was not changed with the addition of Cu up to 05% to the composition On the other hand, for Fe-based (Fe 0402 Co 0201 Ni 0067 B 0227 Si 0053 Nb 005 ) 100−x Cu x (x = 075 and 1), T C increased from 505 K (for x = 05) to 526 K (for x = 075) and almost remain constant for x = 1 Maximum magnetic entropy change (−Δ S M ) max and refrigeration capacity (RC) values were found to be in the range of 062–125 Jkg − 1 K − 1 and 62–15875 Jkg − 1 respectively for (Fe 0402 Co 0201 Ni 0067 B 0227 Si 0053 Nb 005 ) 100 − x Cu x (x = 0, 05, 075, 1) amorphous ribbons under a maximum field of 2 T These values are comparable with those of previously studied Fe-based metallic glasses In addition, the maximum temperature dependent magnetoresistance (MR (%)) values for (Fe 0402 Co 0201 Ni 0067 B 0227 Si 0053 Nb 005 ) 100 − x Cu x (x = 0, 05, 075, 1) were found to be 125, 17, 7, and 1% around the Curie temperatures under an applied field of 1 T, respectively The magnetoresistance values of Cu-free Fe-based glassy alloy are higher than those of Cu-doped alloys The results show that appropriate amount of Cu substitution (x = 075, 1) can enhance the RC and (−Δ S M ) max The suitable RC, large magnetoresistance, good thermal stability, and negligible hysteresis offer that these Fe-based glassy alloys exhibit promising applications as high-temperature magnetic refrigerants and multi-functional materials working in the temperature range of 400–600 K

Applying circular economy innovation theory in business process modeling and analysis

Abstract: The overall aim of this paper is to develop a new conceptual framework for business process modeling and analysis using circular economy innovative theory as a source for business knowledge management. The last part of the paper presents an author's proposed basic structure for a new business models applying circular economy innovation theories. For people working on new innovative business models in the field of the circular economy this paper provides new ideas for clustering their concepts.

Mishal: A Case Study of a Deradicalization and Emancipation Program in SWAT Valley, Pakistan

Abstract: Nestled in the SWAT valley lies Pakistan’s earliest known deradicalization initiative for former militants, the Mishal Deradicalization and Emancipation Program (DREP). The Deradicalization program was launched following a military operation in 2009 against the Pakistan wing of the Taliban, namely, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The program aimed to deradicalize and rehabilitate arrested militants, with what officials claim is a 99 percent success rate and with more than 2,500 former Taliban fighters now ‘reformed’. The program abides by a ‘no blood on hand’ policy, whereby it only takes in militants who have not caused any bodily harm to others. In this paper, we analyze the deradicalization program and highlight the limits and challenges it faces. The paper also highlights the common individual and environmental factors among the beneficiary population of the deradicalization program. This study finds that most participants of the program belonged to large or broken families with weak socio-economic profiles. Additionally, these individuals had very little technical knowledge of religion. This study also finds that the program is more oriented towards re-integration rather than deradicalization due to its policy of inducting only low and mid-level cadre militants. The program also has other severe limitations including lack of credible religious scholars, limited financial and human resources.

Threshold-Based Bit Error Rate for Stopping Iterative Turbo Decoding in a Varying SNR Environment

Abstract: Online bit error rate (BER) estimation (OBE) has been used as a stopping iterative turbo decoding criterion. However, the stopping criteria only work at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and fail to have early termination at low SNRs, which contributes to an additional iteration number and an increase in computational complexity. The failure of the stopping criteria is caused by the unsuitable BER threshold, which is obtained by estimating the expected BER performance at high SNRs, and this threshold does not indicate the correct termination according to convergence and non-convergence outputs (CNCO). Hence, in this paper, the threshold computation based on the BER of CNCO is proposed for an OBE stopping criterion (OBEsc). From the results, OBEsc is capable of terminating early in a varying SNR environment. The optimum number of iterations achieved by the OBEsc allows huge savings in decoding iteration number and decreasing the delay of turbo iterative decoding.

Effect of Nigella sativa supplementation on human lipids: Systematic review

Abstract: 1 Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Selangor, Malaysia, 2 Faculty of Medicine and Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia. (UPNM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 3 Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia), Malaysia, 4 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia, 5 College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.