National Defence University, Pakistan

About: National Defence University, Pakistan is a education organization based out in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Decision support system & Population. The organization has 802 authors who have published 816 publications receiving 3701 citations. The organization is also known as: National Defence University of Pakistan & National Defence University Islamabad.

Role of hydrogen in affecting the growth trend of CNT on micron spherical silica gel

Abstract: Grafting CNTs onto substrates such as fibres and microparticles offers an alternative approach to tackle the issues associated with dispersion in a composite matrix, as well as additional benefits (hybrid effects) provided by these dual-filler systems. One approach to obtain such hybrid systems is the direct growth of nanotubes on the supporting fibre or particles. Previous study has shown that the CNTs would grow on the silica microparticles with the morphology closely related to the operating conditions such as temperature and time. However, the role of hydrogen in affecting the tube's morphology was not explored before. The particles were synthesized via chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method. Spherical silica gel with 40 − 75 μm diameter was used as the substrate. Toluene and ferrocene were used as the hydrocarbon and catalyst source, respectively. The reaction time was kept for four hours while the temperature was maintained at 850°C. The FESEM and TEM investigation proved that the flow hydrogen during reaction caused a tremendous difference in the outer diameter of the synthesized CNTs. Relatively thin CNT was observed under 50 ml/min of hydrogen flow compared to the particles synthesized without hydrogen. Raman spectroscopy of the CNTs revealed three bands; the disorder-induced D mode (~1321 cm−1), the tangential G mode (~1570 cm−1) and second order G' mode (~2642 cm−1). Raman analysis shows that the synthesized CNTs exhibited all these peaks, confirming the existence of CNTs. As G peak is more intense than D peak for all samples synthesized under hydrogen flow, it can be concluded that CNTs synthesized is indeed of high quality. It can be confirmed that hydrogen plays an important role in influencing the morphology of the synthesized tubes.

Economic Growth, Foreign Direct Investment and the Environment: An Empirical Investigation for SAARC Countries

Abstract: The study tests the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for SAARC countries by using closed and open economy Models. The Peroni Panel Cointegration technique along with FMOLS estimation techniques have been used for empirical analysis by using the data from 1972-2015. The long run and short run estimates of the closed economy model reveals positive and significant relationship between Per capita GDP, per capita GDP2 and the carbon emissions that deny the existence of EKC. The findings of open economy model signify that FDI not only helps to transfer cleaner technologies, but it enables the producers to use less pollutant technologies for the production purposes. Moreover, an increase in the forest area is helpful for reducing the carbon emissions. Finally, population density and energy consumption are proved significant contributors of carbon emissions. The study suggests that effective policies should be followed for reducing emissions, regulating FDI-environment and per capita GDP environment relationship.

A Trust Holding Based Secure Seamless Handover in Space Information Network

Abstract: Reducing handover delay at the same time of maintaining high level of handover security is always a challenging issue, especially for secure handover in space information network where resources are limited and links are highly exposed and intermittent connected. To address this issue, this paper focuses on reducing handover authentication delay and adopts the secure context transfer method as a replace for handover authentication. To achieve this purpose, a trust holding based secure seamless handover scheme is proposed. In this scheme, a full trust holding mechanism based on finite state machine is firstly proposed to build a light-weighted trust system. Then a secure trust state context transfer method is given based on the full trust holding mechanism. Instead of handover authentication, if a mobile node is trusted by current AP, history trust state information is sent to target AP to verify MN’s identity. A pre-authentication method is introduced as a complement to cope with the situation where MN is not trusted by current AP. With these, a node can easily build a trust relationship with target APs while handover begins. Security proofs and performance analysis demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency.

Great powerplay in the indian ocean: implications for the region

Abstract: The Indian Ocean is important due to its strategic location, geopolitical significance and trade activities being performed through it. The United States of America is attaining energy, and other resources have a deep interest in the region. China, through its "string of pearls strategy", is encountering the American goals in the regional by the promotion of its economic activities, securing its dominance in the region, thus posing a constant challenge to the later as well as a regional power i.e. India. Contending interests of regional and international powers in the Indian Ocean Region has led to power projection, affected the security environment, fuelling the issues. The necessity to preserve the available energy resources for survival and to meet future needs is attracting great powers to the Indian Ocean Region. The close alliance between the US and India and dwindling relations between the US and Pakistan are leading towards close ties between Pakistan and China.

Effects of adding tocotrienol-tocopherol mixed fraction and vitamin C supplementation on coronary risk biomarkers in patients with hypercholesterolaemia with moderate coronary risk.

Abstract: Article history: Received on: 07/01/2016 Revised on: 07/02/2016 Accepted on: 24/03/2016 Available online: 30/04/2016 This study was a prospective clinical trial to investigate the effects of adding combined tocotrienol-tocopherol mixed fraction (TTMF) and vitamin C (TTMF+C) supplementation on coronary biomarkers in non-statin and statin treated patients with hypercholesterolaemia (HC) with moderate coronary risk. A total of 35 patients were randomised at baseline into one of two groups, (G1) TTMF+C (320mg TTMF plus 500mg vitamin C) alone daily and (G2) TTMF+C (320mg TTMF plus 500mg vitamin C) plus atorvastatin 10 mg daily. The entire supplementation were taken for 12 months. Fasting serum samples were taken at baseline, 2weeks, 3months, 6months and 12months post-randomisation and analysed for inflammatory biomarkers; high sensitivity Creactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 (IL6). Combination of TTMF and vitamin C supplementation leads to neutral effects on lipid profiles and inflammation; with no added benefit in statin-treated HC patients with moderate coronary risk. This neutral effects may be attributed to the tocopherol composition in TTMF which could possibly attenuate any potential beneficial effects of tocotrienols. Clinical studies using pure tocotrienols in the absence of tocopherols would further confirm this.