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The paper shed light on the topic " The attention of rhetorical faces in the Tafsīr of Ibn Āshoor: metaphor as a model (Rhetorical explanatory study)" The article contains an introduction that defines the topic, discusses its importance, reviews previous studies, and presents preliminary questions. The article is divided into two parts. The first discusses rhetorical methods of ibn e Āshoor in his tafsīr, covering eight types such as brevity, simile, metaphor, alignment, separation, connection, suitability, eloquence and incorporation and the second part discusses different types of metaphors and its rhetorical purposes with examples from the tafsīr "Al- Tahrīr wa al-Tanwīr," written by the contemporary commentator Ibn Āshoor in an eloquent and appealing manner. It is worth mentioning that the types of metaphors are also briefly explained in this article. Finally, the article concludes with a summary, references and a bibliography. I hope it proves to be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between the practices of B.Ed. Training Program which prepares these ESL Teachers at secondary school level. The sample size of 150 was taken. Different government girls and boys high schools of Muzaffarabad Division were selected including 80 males and 70 females took part in the research. A Questionnaire consisting of 31 items was distributed among participants. Non Probability convenience sampling was used. Besides checking reliability of the questionnaire study had reported useful descriptive features of data through descriptive analysis. The finding of study include that not only Faulty B.Ed. Training Program is responsible for poor performance of ESL Teachers teaching English at Secondary School Level but there are other factors including trainings given by private colleges, Conventional GTM method, lack of English speaking in classroom, class room settings and environment and conventional examination system for B.Ed. Trainees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis, a bacterial disease caused by the intracellular pathogen. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and it is accounted for two to three million deaths per year. Causative agents are mostly localized in lymph nodes and are not easily controlled. The basic purpose of this review was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of computer simulation modeling as a screening tool for implementation in health care sectors. Therapeutics have limited scope for the treatment of Tuberculosis because they are composed of multiple drugs that retard the essential cellular pathways in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Modeling Tools are effectual and widely used for designing control strategies. Onset of disease, epidemiological conditions, prophylactic, and genesis of disease is analyzed by simulation modeling. CAD software is used in lung segmentation. Meta-Disc is used for the exploration of heterogeneity. Artificial neural network is a three-layered back progression network having Matlab 7.0 version and it works like a brain for the detection of smear-negative samples. Constraint-based modeling provides a narrative approach to examine microbial metabolism but has not yet been applied to genome-scale modeling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Active case finding simulation tools are remarkably used to minimize the case detection-gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychological issues are common among university students now days, which need immediate concern for their better education and future employment. The trained counselors are thus a necessary investment in academic organization for better outcomes. Aims: To find out the prevalence ratio of psychological problems more specifically depression among university students in Rawalpindi and Islamabad with reference to demographic factors of students including gender, family structure and socioeconomic status. Methodology: Cross sectional survey design was used to gather data, from 200 university students (m=100; f=100). They were selected through convenient sampling from various universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, their age range was 19 to 25 years with mean age of 21.79 (±2.970). Severity Measures for Depression-Adult (DMS-5, 2013) was used to measure the level of depression. Results & Conclusion: Results reflect higher Depression reported by Male students as compared to Female Students; however, no significant differences were found between students who belong to nuclear and joint family structure. Also for Socioeconomic status overall results reflect no significant difference across the three classes but post hoc analysis reflects that Upper class students appeared to have lower level of depression than middle and lower classes. Implications: It is implicated that university students especially male students need counseling services as they are having high rate of psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of present study was to investigate serum homocysteine levels in apparently healthy vegetarians and ominvores in Mithi, district Tharparker, Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Basic Medical Sciences Institute (BMSI), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi and blood samples were collected from Mithi, district Tharparker, Sindh, Pakistan, in 2012. One hundred vegetarian and one hundred omnivores (age ranging from 20-40 years) were enrolled for this study. Serum homocysteine levels were measured by the chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay method. Results: Serum homocysteine (Hcy) level was considerably higher (p<0.001) in vegetarian group compared to omnivores. We further grouped and analyzed our study subjects according to their gender and according to Hcy level (greater than or lower than 15µmol/L). A considerable number of vegetarian subjects 30% were having Hcy >15µmol/L compared to omnivores 6%, (p<0.001). Gender-wise comparison showed that 27.02% male and 38.46% females had >15µmol/L serum Hcy level in vegetarian group and 6.9% male and 3.5% females had >15μmol/L serum Hcy level in omnivores group, but the difference was not significant in any group. Conclusion: Vegetarians are more prone to develop hyperhomocysteinemia, so they are at high risk to develop cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become a prominent imaging technique in medicine. MRI contrast agents are used to increase the sensitivity of this technique. Recently, a new method for cancer treatment with a less side effect called photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been introduced. In this method cancer tissues are selectively destroyed without injuring the surrounding healthy cells. However, for the successful use of this method, the selection of an appropriate photosensitizer is important. Hence, diagnosis-treat union of MRI and PDT will be significantly promoted if a new family of bi-functional agents is found, which would combine the effects of a contrast agent in MRI and of a photosensitizer in PDT. It will bring great improvement to the cancer diagnosis and treatment. Porphyrins have proved to be useful photosensitizing agents in PDT due to their promising photophysical efficiency and a less side effect. This work briefly describes the research development of porphyrins as a photosensitizer applied in PDT, and also highlights the recent progress in the research on bi-functional agents of MRI-PDT. Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) units are incorporated at a meso-position of the porphyrin ring to synthesize new bi-functional agents of MRI-PDT with sufficient water solubility and high relaxation potency. Gd complexes are prepared by the reaction of the high molecular weight porphyrin-based ligand with GdCl·6HO. The longitudinal relaxivity measurement indicates 154% and 251% enhancement compared to that of the widely used MRI contrast agent Gd-DTPA. These results indicate that the two complexes could possibly be used as bi-functional agents of MRI-PDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objectives of the study was to determine different microorganisms responsible for causing urinary tract infections UTI in children and to evaluate sensitivity and resistance pattern of different antibiotics used in UTIs. Setting: Study was conducted in Children Hospital Complex (CHCM), Multan, Pakistan. Methods: Total 125 children having UTI were taken to determine the antibiotic sensitivity and resistance pattern against microorganisms causing urinary tract infections in children. The urine samples were collected in urine bottles and smears were made within 2 hours of sample collection. Urine sample was inoculated on agar media and then incubated for 24 hours. A smear was prepared on a slide form culture of microorganisms and gram testing was conducted. The microorganisms were then characterized by use of API (Analytical Profile Index) MICROBACT TM 24E of Oxoid England. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing of various antibiotics was performed by disc diffusion method. Results and Conclusions: The percentage of Gram +ve bacteria causing urinary tract infections in children was 28%, Gram -ve 62.4% and Yeast 9.6%. The most prevailing species are S. aureus, S. epidermidis and E.coli. Results showed that female children are more prone to UTI than male children. Norfloxacin is effective in S. Aureus UTI while cefaclor is effective in S.epidermidis UTI. Amikacin, Norfloxacin and Cefuroxime are effective in UTI caused by E.coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in most developing countries, incidence of cancer is also increasing in Pakistan. It is important that information on the frequency and epidemiology of malignant tumors be updated, as it is the basis of future health planning for the population at risk. This retrospective study was carried out to find the prevalence of various cancers in the population of Sargodha district (central Punjab, Pakistan) and to compare the regional and international studies, so as to plan and develop the oncology setup of Sargodha Medical College on a rationalized basis of disease prevalence. Data from July 2010 to June 2013 was retrieved from the department of statistics of the hospital and variables of interest were collected and analyzed using SPSS 10.0. It was observed that the most frequent cancer in our patients was breast cancer (n=172) while carcinoma of lungs was the most frequent carcinoma in male population (n=24). However our observations were a bit different from the international studies published on the subject, the probable reason being the availability of treatment facility and easier access in the nearby districts of Faisalabad and Lahore where many patients still go directly. More over the illiterate and poorer faction of the society does not come to the hospitals for management of the disease but rather go to the quakes and faith healers to relieve them of their sufferings. It is concluded that the department of clinical oncology should arrange cancer awareness programs for the general population to avoid delays in getting consultation, as at present they report to the hospital when the disease is quite advance and surgery is often not possible. Our study also revealed a somewhat different pattern of malignancies in our community raising a need for further studies to evaluate the reasons for this changed pattern in relation to various etiological factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Complex injuries of the lower extremity pose a therapeutic challenge owing to limited availability of local soft tissue for coverage. One option in this region is the pedicled fasciocutaneous flap based on perforators of the peroneal artery. In this case series, we present our experience of the peroneal island pedicled flap for reconstruction of lower extremity wounds. Methods: Records of 18 cases of peroneal island flap admitted consecutively to the Section of Orthopedics at Aga Khan University Hospital from January 1996 to December of 2009 were studied and their outcomes determined. Results: The most common indication for coverage was open wounds due to a road traffic accident (n = 10), followed by burns (n = 3). The most common area exposed was the lower third of the leg followed by the middle third. The tibia was exposed in 11 patients. The flaps ranged in size from 35 cm² to over 200 cm². In 13 patients, the flaps healed uneventfully, while in the remaining five there was partial flap necrosis. In four of the latter patients, the residual wound healed with conservative measures only, but the fifth patient required further surgery to achieve acceptable coverage. Conclusion: The peroneal artery flap appears to be a simple, useful, and reliable flap in the armamentarium of the surgeon when planning soft tissue coverage of the lower extremity. Keywords: leg injuries, surgical flaps, lower extremity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the Triplet Based Architecture, TriBA - a new idea in chip multiprocessor architectures and a class of Direct Interconnection Network (DIN). TriBA consists of a 2D grid of small, programmable processing units, each physically connected to its three neighbors so that advantageous features of group locality can be fully and efficiently utilized. Any communication model can be well characterized by locality properties and, any topology has its intrinsic, structural, locality characteristics. We propose a new criterion in performance evaluation that is based on the concept of locality in an interconnection network, the "lower layer complete connect". Our proposed criterion depicts how completely a processing node is connected to all its neighbors. TriBA is compared with 2D Mesh and Binary Tree as static interconnection network. The comparison / evaluation is enumerated from three orthogonal view points, viz., computational speed, physical layout and cost. Our analysis concludes that TriBA is computationally efficient interconnection strategy that exploits group locality in processing nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The defense and peace literature have focused mainly on the military-growth nexus, with little attention paid to the environmental sustainability agenda, which is impacted by increased global arms transfers. The supply of lead-containing ammunition generates complex gas mixtures (including CO2 emissions) and particulates that harm the healthcare sustainability agenda. Based on the significance of the subject matter, the study uses the Indian economy as a case study, with a significant rate of arms transfers associated with higher carbon emissions. The study analyzed data from more than four decades, from 1975 to 2020. Data on arms imports, military personnel, and military expenditures are used to evaluate the 'ammunition emissions function'. It corresponds to the three research hypotheses, namely, the 'emissions-defense burden hypothesis' (arms transfers increase carbon emissions), the 'emissions-cleaner hypothesis' (arms transfers reduce carbon emissions), and the 'emissions-asymmetric hypothesis' (positive and negative shocks of arms transfers either support the 'defense burden hypothesis' or 'cleaner hypothesis'). The non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) results confirmed the 'emissions-defense burden hypothesis' in the long run, as positive and negative shocks from arms imports increase carbon emissions. However, in the short run, positive arms imports increase carbon emissions while negative arms imports decrease carbon emissions. Furthermore, the findings supported the 'emissions-cleaner hypothesis' in the relationship between armed forces personnel and carbon emissions. The findings imply that the positive and negative shocks experienced by armed forces personnel reduce carbon emissions in the short and long run. Positive shocks to military spending support the 'emissions-defense burden hypothesis' in the short run; however, the results vanished when negative shocks to military spending supported the 'emissions-spillover hypothesis' (lowering military spending reduces carbon emissions and increases economic productivity) in the short and long run. The country's unsustainable economic activities are viewed as a negative factor contributing to long-term carbon emissions increases. The negative shocks of armed forces personnel and positive arms imports would almost certainly have a significant long-term impact on carbon emissions. As a result, the 'treadmill theory of destruction' has been confirmed in a country. The study concludes that lead-free ammunition and managing ammunition safety are beneficial to a country's environmental sustainability agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate English teachers' attitudes and perceptions about integration of technology in English classrooms of district Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (henceforth AJK). It also highlights the factors that obstruct the integration of technology in English classrooms in AJK. The sample for current study consisted of 30 English language teachers that were selected through purposive convenient sampling technique from six secondary schools of district Muzaffarabad. The data was collected under two stages, starting with quantitative data collection with the help of questionnaires, followed by qualitative data collection through interviews. The collected data has been analyzed statistically through percentages. It has been found that English teachers in AJK are well cognizant about the importance of integration of technology. Also, they showed an optimistic response towards integration of technology, but they have failed to integrate technology in their classrooms due to some obstructing factors and challenges. The study identified that lack of information about how to use technological equipment and programs, lack of budget, unavailability of technology, Lack of training courses and lack of appropriate resources are the challenges that discourage the English teachers from integrating technology into their English classes. It was also found that the school views about technology do not affect the use of technology in English classrooms. The finding of this study may assist the policy makers to understand the factors that hinder the integration of technology in English classes in AJK. Finally, this study gives some recommendations such as providing enough funds for technological instruments and training courses for teachers that are needed to ensure technology integration in English classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was a qualitative study conducted to evaluate the effects of television viewing on social behavior of elementary school students. This study addressed the current situation in an explanatory way. Therefore, it was of descriptive nature and adopted the survey approach to collect qualitative data. Elementary school teachers (who were teaching in Grade-VI to Grade-VIII) of government boy's elementary and secondary schools of Bahawalpur division comprised the population of the study. Sampling consisted of two stages i.e. firstly 70 schools were selected randomly, and secondly, 140 teachers (two teachers from each of the sampled school) were selected purposively. The data were collected through an interview protocol which was prepared after literature review, piloted and finalized. Five data collectors who were trained for the purpose during pilot testing of the tool also facilitated in data collection. Interview sessions were organized with prior consent of the respondents. The data collectors took notes of the responses of respondents during interview. After data collection, the notes of the interviews were categorized thematically by means of qualitative content analysis in a report writing style. The study demonstrates that television viewing has both the positive and negative effects on social behavior of elementary school students. The positive effects include adopting pro-social behaviors and social values, awareness creation and making them informed citizens, communicating and living with others, learning ethics and etiquettes, knowing gender roles and relationships, becoming aware of the health and physique for positive body image of self and so on. Whereas, the negative effects consist of aggression and violence, antisocial behaviors and negative body images when idealizing models on the screen. However, learning and learning performance is affected positively and as well as negatively; and therefore, it that is television viewing should be controlled and selected programs should be allowed for viewing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of current research was to highlight the abilities of patients to understand and follow prescription. Study design: Cross sectional study. Setting: District Head Quarter (DHQ) hospital Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. Duration: Data was collected between April to June, 2015. Methods: Study was conducted by well-trained pharmacists regarding prescription understanding and following. A well structured questionnaire was designed to gather information from 150 patients that comprised of questions based on all factors to be evaluated for prescription understanding and following. Results: The findings of this critique reveal that, 30% of patients understood instructions given on prescription where as, 12% of patients were able to comprehend physicians writing and 23% were those who even didn't understand prescription abbreviations. Similarly, correct method of drug administration, compliance with frequency of dose and dosage form and accurate dose intake were acknowledged by 66%, 65%, 73% and 80% patients, respectively while, 28% patients were able to make clear understanding with precautions written on prescription. However, 20% of patients reported that medicines have disturbed their routine life, 29% recognized their dependency on prescribed medications, 22% consulted with a third person for prescription interpretation, 36% reduced their dose to half due to side effects, 35% stated that prescribed brands were available to them and 65% missed their doses due to high cost of brands. Moreover, 76% patients showed consciousness regarding value of therapy and only 31% patients acknowledged that prescribed brands were economical. Conclusion: There is a lot of room for improvement in factors related to prescription understanding and following. Enhanced literacy rate, generic prescribing practices and cost-effectiveness should be considered for prescription consideration. Most important from Pakistan's point of view, role of pharmacist should be implemented in every health sector of country to mimic most of prescription related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at studying the association between university students' English learning anxiety and their academic performance. The study selected 380 students from universities of the capital of Pakistan, using purposive sampling technique. It utilized the following two instruments to collect the relevant information: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale poll (FLCAS) in order to decide the students' level of uneasiness on a Likert scale which had five-point; and the academic performance which was managed at the completion of the final exams (CGPA). The quantifiable assessments showed a significant association between the students' academic performance and their Anxiety in their English Classes, the anxiety scale test, and the scale of communication anxiety and the fear of negative assessment. The study concludes that with the increase in the students' anxiety level their academic performance decreases. The research recommends that educational counselor need to intervene regularly to help students in reducing English learning anxiety and thus enhancing their academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • 38 novel (S)-tryptamine derivatives containing allyl group and aryl sulfonamide units were synthesized as anticancer agents. • Anticancer activities of these compounds were evaluated in four cancer cell lines. • Most of these compounds exhibited moderate to good activity. • Compound 6ag induce apoptosis and arrest HepG2 cell at G1 phase. Abstract A series of (S)-tryptamine derivatives containing an allyl group and an aryl sulfonamide unit were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their potential application as anticancer agents. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and ESI-MS spectral analyses. The target compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against HepG2, HeLa, CNE1 and A549 human cancer cell lines. Some of the synthesized compounds showed moderate to good anticancer activities against four selected cancer cell lines, among of which 6ag was found to be the most active analogue possessing IC 50 values 16.5–18.7 μM. Further mechanism studies revealed that compound 6ag could significantly induce HepG2 cell cycle arrest at G1 phase, promote cell apoptosis, and inhibit the colony formation as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the problem of an accurate fault location in the transmission line is addressed. The proposed solution is based on sparse current and voltage measurements along with a resistive superconducting fault current limiter (RSFCL). In the proposed technique, the phasor current of non-faulty lines and the faulty line voltages are used. The proposed scheme has the following salient features; (1) no load flow information is needed, (2) it is robust against fault impedance and load variation, (3) improves the fault location accuracy by limiting the effect of CT saturation by using RSFCL along with the current measurement. IEEE 14-bus and two-area 4-bus systems have been used to verify the performance of the proposed technique. It is noticeable from the results that the technique proposed in this manuscript successfully locates the transmission line faults under different circumstances. Finally, the results obtained with the proposed technique are compared with the existing techniques. It is evident from the comparison results that the accuracy of the proposed technique is better than existing ones in the literature. • Synchronized sparse current measurements and voltage measurements along with RSFCL used to find the fault location. • No load flow information is needed • Robust against fault impedance and load variation. • Encounters the effect of current transformer saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Taking sophoridine as a lead compound, 58 sophoridine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity in the HepG2 cancer cell line. Among the 58 compounds, 33 compounds showed potent antiproliferative activity with IC 50 less than 10 μM. Compound 5w showed the most potent anti-proliferative activity in the HepG2 cancer cell line. Thus, we further extended our characterization of the antiproliferative activity of 5w in six cancer cell lines (HepG2, SMMC-7721, Hela, CNE1, CNE2 and MCF7). The representative compound 5w displayed robust anti-proliferative activities in all the tested cell lines with IC 50 values in range of 0.93–1.89 μM which were much lower than that of sophoridine. Here, we report the structure–activity relationships (SAR) in a sophoridine series of compounds, which indicated that introduction of N-benzyl indole group on the 14-carbon atom of sophoridine can significantly enhance the antiproliferative activity. By molecular docking and enzymatic assay, compound 5w was found to be able to inhibit the activity of DNA Topo I. Furthermore, apoptosis assay displayed that compound 5w could significantly induce the apoptosis of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner by activating caspase-3, increasing expression of cleaved caspase-3 and reducing the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax. The in vivo antitumor assay demonstrated that 5w suppressed the growth of HepG2 xenografts in nude mice without any obvious side effects. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • 58 sophoridine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated. • 5w exhibited potent antitumor activity in vitro. • 5w inhibited the activity of DNA Topo I. • 5w arrested tumor growth in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using matrine ( 1 ) as the lead compound, a series of new 14-( N -substituted-2-pyrrolemethylene) matrine and 14-( N -substituted-indolemethylene) matrine derivatives was designed and synthesized for their potential application as anticancer agents. The structure of these compounds was characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and ESI-MS spectral analyses. The target compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against three human cancer cell lines (SMMC-7721, A549 and CNE2). The results revealed that compound A6 and B21 displayed the most significant anticancer activity against three cancer cell lines with IC 50 values in range of 3.42–8.05 μM, which showed better activity than the parent compound (Matrine) and positive control Cisplatin. Furthermore, the Annexin V-FITC/PI dual staining assay revealed that compound A6 and B21 could significantly induce the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 and CNE2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The cell cycle analysis also revealed that compound A6 could cause cell cycle arrest of SMMC-7721 and CNE2 cells at G2/M phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate drug prescribing practices at Medical Unit, ICU and Nephrology Unit, using WHO prescribing indicators, in order to promote rational drug use. Study Design: A retrospective cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta, Pakistan, from July to December 2015. Methodology: Drug prescribing trends in 218 prescriptions were scrutinized thoroughly. Data was collected by well-trained pharmacy personals by using prescriptions and prescription registration books of patients. Descriptive statistics were calculated on SPSS version 16.0. Results: The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription were 4.11 whereas, WHO recommends that it should be 2.00 or less. Alternatively, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and from an essential drug list were 14.73% and 78.35% while, in accordance with WHO it must be 100% and 70% correspondingly. On the other hand, percentage of encounters having antibiotics or injections prescribed were 18.33% and 32.79% but according to WHO it should be20% or less and 10%respectively. Nevertheless, proper diagnosis was stated in 89.44% of prescriptions and 72.11% prescriptions had complete relevance between treatment and diagnosis. Along with, appropriate drug dosage and their administration was instituted in 65.16% of prescriptions and 73.21% of prescriptions had accurate duration of therapy. Conclusion: The prescribing patterns in Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta reflect the practice of polypharmacy, which is more of an irrational type in contrast to WHO recommendations. Thus, there is an urge to bring about some interventions to improve the pharmacotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green digital marketing encourages consumers to make ethical purchases and pressures businesses to up their sustainability game via digital channels. Although helping economic development, the increased demand for internet things in Asia negatively impacts the environment. Using the PMG-ARDL and fixed effect models, this research looks at the effects of e-commerce on the environment in five developed Asian nations from 1990 to 2020. According to the findings, online shopping has a favourable short-term effect on carbon emissions but a negative long-term impact. Long-term increases in carbon emissions are attributable to R&D spending and trade-in services, but shorter-term reductions in emissions are attributable to trade-in services. Carbon emissions fall as economies expand. Economic growth is estimated to be a Granger cause of e-commerce and trade-in services. In contrast, e-commerce is estimated to be a Granger cause of renewable energy and service trade. E-commerce, demand for renewable energy sources, R&D expenditures, and international trade in services are projected to have the largest influence on carbon emissions over the next decade, according to a variance decomposition analysis (VDA). Investment in R&D should be increased, eco-friendly e-commerce projects should be subsidized, and targets should be established for the development of renewable energy sources in order to enhance environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Network-on-Chip (NoC) architectures have been adopted by chip multi-processors (CMPs) as a flexible solution to the increasing delay in the deep sub-micron regime. However, the shrinking feature size limits the performance of NoCs due to power and area constraints. In this paper, we propose three 3D floorplanning methods for a Triplet-based Hierarchical Interconnection Network (THIN) which is a new high performance NoC. The proposed floorplanning methods use both Manhattan and Y-architecture routing architectures so as to improve the performance, reduce the power consumption and area requirement of THIN. A cycle accurate simulator was developed based on Noxim NoC simulator and ORION 2.0 energy model. The proposed floorplanning methods show up to 24.69% energy and 8.84% area reduction at best compared with 3D Mesh. Our analysis concludes that THIN is not only a feasible but also a low-power and area-efficient NoC at physical level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Echelon utilization of waste power batteries in new energy vehicles has high market potential in China. However, bottlenecks, such as product standards, echelon utilization technology, and recycling network systems, have given rise to the urgent need for policy improvement. This study uses content analysis to code policies and investigate the central and local policies on the echelon utilization of waste power batteries in China from two dimensions, namely, basic policy instruments and industrial chain processes. Results show that in terms of basic policy instruments, central policies focus on structural mandatory instruments, whereas local policies focus on contractual inducement, which tend to be diversified. Interactive impact instruments are the least frequently used in both central and local policies. From the perspective of the recycling industry chain, central and local policy instruments concentrate mainly on the echelon utilization and detection and evaluation stages and focus less on the collection and transportation stages. Suggestions are offered as follows. (1) Increase the use of interactive impact instruments and optimize their classification. (2) Emphasize the matching between basic policy instruments and the recycling industry chain.(3) The policy instrument combination of "one place, one policy" could be implemented. • Content analysis is used to review policies of waste battery-to-echelon utilization. • Two dimensions as basic policy instrument and industrial chain process are focused. • Policies of central government emphasize structural mandatory instrument. • Interactive impact instruments are the least frequently employed. • Less consideration is given to the stage of collection and transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]