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This study aimed to examine the impact of reflective teaching practices of university teacher son the academic achievement of students. The research question was, do reflective teaching practices affect the academic achievement of students? The research study is quantitative, predictive non-experimental in nature, and data was collected by survey method. The sample of the study consisted of330 students by using a simple random sampling technique. One questionnaire was used to collect data from students. A tool made validated and made reliable through pilot testing. The data was collected from the respondents. Afterwards, the data was analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 16. It can be concluded that the use of reflective teaching practices affects the academic achievement of students. Therefore, it can be recommended that university authorities may initiate such programs that involve the teaching faculty to learn more about reflective teaching practices.

This study aims to identify and compare students orientations of motivation for learning English language at tertiary level. The quantitative techniques were used to collect and analyze data. The sample of the study was randomly selected from twelve undergraduate programs four universities. The sample was comprised of 500 students, twenty (20) students,from each program of the above three universities of the sample. The researcher developed a questionnaire comprised of 16 items having students integrative (4 items), instrumental (6 items), resultative (3 items),and intrinsic orientations of motivation (3 items). The collected data were tabulated and analyzed in terms of frequency of responses for each statement of the questionnaire. The mean scores, standard deviation,standard error of mean and ANOVA for comparison.The levels of students integrative, instrumental,resultative and intrinsic orientations of motivation are high for learning English language because of their more inclination to learn English at university level.

This study reports on a highly miniaturised polarisation selective surface (PSS) for dual-band Wi-Fi and WLAN applications. The proposed unit cell consists of two independently tuneable square loops. The outer loop is split with a gap of 0.2 mm to introduce polarisation selectivity and miniaturisation for lower-frequency band of 2.5 GHz. The inner square loop is inductively loaded with arms to suppress 5.45 GHz frequency band. These configurations have resulted in a unit element size of λ ∘ / 14 at 2.5 GHz, which is not presented before to the best of the authors' knowledge. A wide rejection bandwidth ( − 10 dB ) of more than 600 and 1180 MHz is obtained around 2.5 and 5.45 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed PSS exhibits an excellent polarisation selective characteristic by generating two stopbands at 2.5 and 5.45 GHz when illuminated by horizontal (TM) incident waves, whereas vertically (TE) polarised incident waves result in the generation of passbands for these two frequencies. Numerical validation through equivalent circuit modelling of the proposed PSS has also been carried out. A finite prototype containing 31 × 33 elements is fabricated and tested. The measured results demonstrated that the PSS has excellent potential for applications that employ polarisation separators and wave generators.

An eight element, compact Ultra Wideband- Multiple Input Multiple Output (UWB-MIMO) antenna capable of providing high data rates for future Fifth Generation (5G) terminal equipments along with the provision of necessary bandwidth for Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) communications that accomplishes band rejection from 4.85 to 6.35 GHz by deploying a Inductor Capacitor (LC) stub on the ground plane is presented. The incorporated stub also provides flexibility to reject any selected band as well as bandwidth control. The orthogonal placement of the printed monopoles permits polarization diversity and provides high isolation. In the proposed eight element UWB-MIMO/diversity antenna, monopole pair 3-4 are 1800 mirrored transform of monopole pair 1-2 which lie on the opposite corners of a planar 50 × 50 mm2 substrate. Four additional monopoles are then placed perpendicularly to the same board leading to a total size of 50 × 50 × 25 mm3 only. The simulated results are validated by comparing the measurements of a fabricated prototype. It was concluded that the design meets the target specifications over the entire bandwidth of 2 to 12 GHz with a reflection coefficient better than -10 dB (except the rejected band), isolation more than 17 dB, low envelope correlation, low gain variation, stable radiation pattern, and strong rejection of the signals in the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) band. Overall, compact and reduced complexity of the proposed eight element architecture, strengthens its practical viability for the diversity applications in future 5G terminal equipments amongst other MIMO antennas designs present in the literature.

This study aimed to determine the effect of peer tutoring (PT) in enhancing students’ writing skills during English textbook taught to the students of Grade XI. The true experimental research pre/post-test design was used. The sample of the study comprised of 70 male and 58 female students containing each 35 male peer tutoring group (PTG) and non-peer tutoring group NPTG as well as each 29 female PTG and NPTG after matched before intervention. MCQs related to writing skills developed as a tool for data collection process. The tool is used in both pre and post-test for PTG and NPTG. The difference in both groups was calculated using statistical analysis. Linear regression predicted the effect size of male PTG 16.376 points higher (r = 0.860) than NPTG as well as female PTG 12.183 points higher (r = 0.813) than NPTG. These results indicated that PT technique enhanced students’ academic achievement.

English is a global language and it plays its role as the second and official language in many countries. Untrained teachers, rote learning, grammar translation method and overcrowded classrooms are the factors which affect the process of language learning in the school sector. The study was designed to analyze reading preferences of literary and language habits of Teacher Educators of RITE colleges and faculty members. The sample of the study comprised 119 faculty members i.e. teachers' educators of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Responses were collected through a questionnaire. It was found that reading material has a positive relationship with the preferences of faculty members and teacher educators. It is suggested that faculty members may be provided with a variety of reading material and sources for their professional grooming of teaching.

Bladder cancers rarely are non-urothelial in origin. We present here, possibly the youngest case of a 35-year-old White female presenting with shortness of breath. She was found to have a malignant pleural effusion with unknown primary, eventually confirmed with genetic testing as metastatic adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder with brain and lung metastasis. She was scheduled for palliative chemotherapy, however, passed away before it could be started. We highlight this rare case because of its unique presentation. Owing to similarity in receptors between adenocarcinoma and enteric cancer, similar chemotherapy regimens may be used for both. Unfortunately, treatment of metastatic disease remains highly controversial and needs to be studied further if there is an actual survival benefit to this or not.

Purpose: To use clinical audit in improving the outcomes of manual small incision cataract surgery technique Study Design: Clinical audit. Place and Duration: Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust Eye hospital Karachi, from September 2019 to December 2019. Methods: Two hundred patients who had undergone Manual Small Incision Cataract surgery were selected. Cases with traumatic cataract, weak zonules, pseudoexfoliation, and more than 1 diopter difference in keratometric readings, corneal and retinal pathologies were excluded. Surgical complications and visual outcomes were recorded on the 7th postoperative day. Refractive data was recorded from subjective refraction. Data was analyzed by University Hospital Bristol formula. Standards were set using international literature. Deficiencies were noted and technique was modified to improve the outcome. The audit was repeated after 2 months to see whether modifications had improved the outcome. Results: In the first audit, posterior capsular rupture rate was 1%, corrected visual acuity of 6/12 or better was achieved in 85.36% and surgically induced cylinder of less than 2 DC was achieved in 75.60% of the patients. In the second audit all standards were achieved. Posterior capsular rupture did not occur. Corrected visual acuity of 6/12 or better was achieved in 90.50% and induced cylinder of less than 2 DC was achieved in 87.05% of the patients. Conclusion: Clinical audit of the surgical procedures is a good technique in improving the outcomes of manual small incision cataract surgery. Key Words: Cataract extraction, clinical audit, posterior capsular rupture, astigmatism, visual acuity.

Aim and objective The study aims to analyze fasting glucagon in patients with type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance and correlate it with anthropometric and biochemical parameters in a large proportion of Pakistani people with diabetes. Methodology The participants of the study were categorized into three groups based on oral glucose tolerance test, as per American Diabetes Association guidelines. Group A consisted of normal glucose tolerance subjects (n=30), Group B consisted of subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (n=30), and Group C had full-blown subjects with type 2 diabetes (n=30). Biochemical parameters, such as fasting glucagon, fasting plasma and 2-hour glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and lipid profile, and anthropometric parameters, such as body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, were measured. Results The mean values of fasting glucagon level in Group A, Group B, and Group C were 39.24±4.5, 44.5±8.25, and 49.02±9.15 pg/ml, respectively. Statistically significant difference was not found in fasting glucagon level among these groups (p-value 0.614). Fasting glucagon was positively and independently correlated with 2-hour plasma glucose, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, hip and waist circumference, and hip-to-waist ratio in Group C. In Group B, fasting glucagon was positively correlated with 2-hour plasma glucose, BMI, and hip circumference, while it was not correlated with fasting plasma glucose in both groups. In Group A, fasting glucagon found positively correlated with systolic blood pressure and hip circumference. Conclusion Our observation suggests that fasting plasma glucose is not concomitant with glucagon levels; however, glucagon suppression, after glucose intake, was dysregulated in type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. Moreover, glucagon is associated with central obesity in type 2 diabetic patients. .

Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA) is an advanced and evidence-based pedagogical approach for science and mathematics teaching using a classroom response system. Question-driven instruction, dialogical discourse, formative assessment, and meta-level communication are four core principles on which TEFA is built upon. These are implemented through a question cycle in the classroom. Eight weeks duration intervention study was carried out in two urban high schools, one from each stratum (i.e., boys and girls) using a non-equivalent comparison group quasi-experimental design on a sample of 183 participants. The study participants included 42 girls and 47 boys in the experimental group, whereas 54 girls and 40 boys in the control group from the 8th-grade mathematics class. Students' mathematics motivation survey using IMI (i.e., intrinsic motivation inventory) was used to measure students' mathematics learning motivation levels. Two-way ANOVA was conducted to assess the motivation level of the students. Analysis of the results showed that the experimental group motivation level was significantly higher than the control group.

The study was designed for critical analysis of research scholar expectations in higher education at UOH. The main objective of the study was to find out research scholars expectations from university and to explore the need of enrolling themselves in higher education and the important objective is to assess the educational background of research scholar. 101 students of M. The Phil program and 15 students of Ph.D. program from the department of (education, agriculture, environmental, mathematics, forestry, management, microbiology) were chosen as the sample of the study. one questionnaire was used for collection of data. A questionnaire was used for collection of data. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items which was further divided into four sections. The first section of the questionnaire consists of the educational background of scholar, the second section consists of personal information about the scholars, the third section consists of the economic status of the scholars and the fourth most important section consist of expectations of the scholar. Open ended questions also included at the end of the questionnaire. Research was descriptive in nature and type was research was survey design the researcher personally collected data from the departments of the University of Haripur through a questionnaire.

The management of heart failure patients via the implantation of cardiac pacemakers has become a well-known therapy. However, the complications associated with traditional cardiac pacemakers are usually related to finite-battery life, transvenous pacing leads, and subcutaneous device pocket. In this paper, we propose a wearable RF-powered leadless pacing system, which can be implanted directly inside the heart and powered via RF energy, without any batteries or pacing leads. More specifically, we have realized a prototype rectenna-based leadless pacemaker (LP), the implant, which consists of an implantable rectenna, charging and pacing circuits, as well as the pacing electrodes. In addition, a wearable transmit-antenna array was designed, developed, and fabricated for RF energy transmission into the body. In an acute animal study, using ovine models, the proposed LP was implanted at the left ventricular apex by thoracotomy. Using the prototype wearable transmit-antenna array, the prototype LP was powered wirelessly and as a result, leadless pacing was successfully demonstrated in the in vivo ECG results. Besides measuring the efficiency of the rectenna, the computations of specific absorption rate (SAR) are presented and found to be under the IEEE recommended limits. We conclude that a wearable RF-powered leadless pacing system is realizable with the SAR under the safe levels. Thus, the proposed leadless pacing method has the potential to be significantly safer as it completely eliminates the battery, leads, and device pocket and all the associated complications.

This study is intended to examine the correlation between working memory of students and their academic performance in Mathematics. Specifically, it was aimed to determine the degree of relationship between working memory capacity and academic achievement of students in mathematics studying at secondary school. A sample of 800 students studying in grade 10 was randomly selected from forty government and private secondary schools (girls and boys) situated in Hazara division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Both Urdu and English mediums of instruction schools were included in the sample. The researcher used digits span backwards test (DSBT) to find out the working memory capacity of the students associated with their academic performance in mathematics. This study revealed that girls have outperformed boys very markedly in examination scores of mathematics at secondary level. Contrarily, boys have performed well in working memory capacity than girls at the secondary level. However a very small gender difference is observed in this study. It is also noticed that private secondary schools showed higher performance in examination scores of mathematics and in working memory capacity than government secondary schoolsl.

In this paper, a single layer Coplanar Waveguide-fed microstrip patch antenna array is presented for biomedical applications. The proposed antenna array is realized on a transparent and flexible Polyethylene Terephthalate substrate. The design has 4 radiating elements with single CPW feed and measures only 280 × 192 mm2. The antenna array resonates at 2.68 GHz and has a peak gain of 10 dBi. A prototype is fabricated using cost effective adhesive copper foils instead of conventional copper or silver nanoparticle ink. The corresponding measured results agree well with the simulated results. The proposed low-profile and cost-efficient transmit antenna array has the potential for wearable applications, including wireless powering of implantable medical devices.

This paper presents a highly compact frequency-selective surface (FSS) that has the potential to switch between the X-band (8 GHz–12 GHz) and C-band (4 GHz–8 GHz) for RF shielding applications. The proposed FSS is composed of a square conducting loop with inward-extended arms loaded with curved extensions. The symmetric geometry allows the RF shield to perform equally for transverse electric (TE), transverse magnetic (TM), and 45∘ polarizations. The unit cell has a dimension of 0.176 λ0 and has excellent angular stability up to 60∘. The resonance mechanism was investigated using equivalent circuit models of the shield. The design of the unit element allowed incorporation of PIN diodes between adjacent elements for switching to a lower C-band spectrum at 6.6 GHz. The biasing network is on the bottom layer of the substrate to avoid effects on the shielding performance. A PIN diode configuration for the switching operation was also proposed. In simulations, the PIN diode model was incorporated to observe the switchable operation. Two prototypes were fabricated, and the switchable operation was demonstrated by etching copper strips on one fabricated prototype between adjacent unit cells (in lieu of PIN diodes) as a proof of the design prototypes. Comparisons among the results confirmed that the design offers high angular stability and excellent performance in both bands.

Conformal antennas placed on complex surfaces are receiving more attention as a method to increase the coverage of modern wireless communication systems. Furthermore, frequency reconfigurable antennas are being used in the development of multi-band multi-radio wireless platforms to simplify designs. In this study, theoretical development and a new 1 × 4 frequency reconfigurable self-adapting conformal antenna array that can be attached to changing conformal surfaces is presented. This conformal array consists of four reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna elements, a reconfigurable sensor circuit used to measure the curvature of the conformal surface and voltage controlled phase shifters. These phase shifters are controlled by the reconfigurable sensing circuit to implement phase-compensation to autonomously recover the pattern in both bands of the reconfigurable 1 × 4 array as the wedge- and cylindrical-shaped surface on which the array is attached upon change in shape. Throughout this study, analytical computations, simulations and measurements are compared and shown to agree.

Goal : The aim of this study is to develop a novel fully wireless and batteryless technology for cardiac pacing. Methods : This technology uses radio frequency (RF) energy to power the implanted electrode in the heart. An implantable electrode antenna was designed for 1.2 GHz; then, it was tested in vitro and, subsequently, integrated with the rectifier and pacing circuit to make a complete electrode. The prototype implanted electrode was tested in vivo in an ovine subject, implanting it on the epicardial surface of the left ventricle. The RF energy, however, was transmitted to the implanted electrode using a horn antenna positioned 25 cm above the thorax of the sheep. Results : It was demonstrated that a small implanted electrode can capture and harvest enough safe recommended RF energy to achieve pacing. Electrocardiogram signals were recorded during the experiments, which demonstrated asynchronous pacing achieved at three different rates. Conclusion : These results show that the proposed method has a great potential to be used for stimulating the heart and provides pacing, without requiring any leads or batteries. It hence has the advantage of potentially lasting indefinitely and may never require replacement during the life of the patient. Significance : The proposed method brings forward transformational possibilities in wireless cardiac pacing, and also in powering up the implantable devices.

Accurate classification of human activities is significant particularly for remote monitoring of patients requiring orthopedic treatment and therapies in case of various injuries. Previously, we presented a Local Energy-based Shape Histogram (LESH) based approach that considers the energy expenditure for various activities and differentiates among the activities on the basis of energy level. Although the approach effectively recognized various activities, the recognition accuracy for the activities, such as walking forward, walk forward left circle, and walk forward right circle was significantly low. In this paper, we present a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based approach for recognizing human activities with sufficiently high accuracy. The experiments are conducted on the Wearable Action Recognition Database (WARD) dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the CNN based approach (in general) not only achieves high recognition accuracy for all of the activities but also performed extremely well for the activities requiring frequent inter-posture transitions. Another important contribution of this research is that the CNN based approach is capable of finding a single combination of sensors to identify thirteen different activities with sufficiently high accuracy.

Bimetallic Cu–Ni/TiO2 photocatalysts were prepared using a wet impregnation method. The physicochemical and morphological properties of the photocatalysts were studied using different characterization techniques. FTIR analysis showed the nitrate peaks are still present but did not show an effect on the catalytic performance of the photocatalysts. Photocatalysts were of nanosize and their morphologies are spherical and slightly agglomerated. From DR-UV-visible analysis, it was proved that incorporation of Cu and Ni onto TiO2 has successfully shifted the optical absorption to the visible region with reduced bandgap energies. Furthermore, by increasing the calcination temperature the bandgap energy was reduced. The lowest band gap energy (2.74 eV) was reported for 9Cu:1Ni-300. Photocatalytic degradation of Orange II was studied under visible light. The photocatalyst performance of bimetallic Cu–Ni/TiO2 for Orange II decoloration and mineralization is promising compared to bare TiO2 and the monometallic photocatalysts. Compared to other Cu:Ni mass compositions, results for photodegradation studies showed that a 9Cu:1Ni mass composition was observed with 100% Orange II decoloration and 89.8% and 100% TOC removal in 1 h and 1.5 h of irradiation duration, respectively. The optimum pH value was 6.8. The main identified intermediates and by-products of Orange II photodegradation under visible light irradiation during reaction as a function of time were oxalic acid, formic acid, formaldehyde, benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde as measured by HPLC analysis.

A new compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array is presented. The antenna array initially consisted of two monopoles placed side by side at a distance of 4 mm. A strong mutual coupling was observed so the design was modified by rotating the second radiator at 90° at a distance of 1 mm. Wideband isolation is achieved by exploiting polarisation diversity of antenna elements. Simulation in HFSS and printed prototype results validate the high isolation, over 21 dB on the entire 2.5–12 GHz frequency range. A prototype was fabricated on a low loss substrate of Rogers TMM4 measuring 23 × 39.8 mm2. To evaluate the diversity performance, the envelope correlation coefficient was calculated resulting below −20 dB, thus ensuring good diversity performance. The compactness of the proposed UWB-MIMO design is finally compared against alternative solutions already present in the literature.

(Bi 1.5 Zn 0 .1 Ca 0.4 )(Zn 0.5 Nb 1.5 )O 7 (BZNCa) thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Si substrates at room temperature. The as-deposited films and films post-annealed from 100 °C to 175 °C for 10 min in air are all amorphous. The influence of the post-annealing process on structural and electrical properties was investigated. The surface morphology of BZNCa films remains almost same with the annealing temperature. While the dielectric and leakage-current properties of the films are strongly influenced by the annealing temperature. The film deposited at O 2 pressure of 4 Pa and then post-annealed at 150 °C shows the improved dielectric and leakage-current characteristics. The dielectric constant and loss tangent are 67.2 and 0.03 at 100 kHz, respectively. The leakage current density is less than 1 µA/cm 2 at an applied bias electric field of 400 kV/cm. The results indicate that calcium doped BZN thin films have potential applications for embedded capacitors.

The projection method (PM) is a simple and low-cost pattern recovery technique that already proved its effectiveness in retrieving the radiation properties of different types of arrays that change shape in time. However, when dealing with deformable beam-tilting arrays, this method requires to compute new compensating phase shifts every time that the main lobe is steered, since these shifts depend on both the deformation geometry and the steering angle. This tight requirement causes additional signal processing and complicates the prediction of the array behavior, especially if the deformation geometry is not a priori known: this can be an issue since the PM is mainly used for simple and low-cost systems. In this letter, we propose a simplification of this technique for beam-tilting arrays that requires only basic signal processing. In fact the phase shifts that we use are the sum of two components: one can be directly extracted from strain sensor data that measure surface deformation and the other one can be precomputed according to basic antenna theory. The effectiveness of our approach has been tested on two antennas: a 4 × 4 array (trough full-wave simulations and measurements) and on an 8 × 8 array (trough full-wave simulations) placed on a doubly wedge-shaped surface with a beam tilt up to 40 degrees.

As the concerns regarding Zika virus (ZIKV) are mostly of neurological disorders, especially in neonates and infants, other possible threats of the virus may have been overlooked. Our study focuses on the potential threat that ZIKV may pose to the heart like that of similar arboviral diseases. We conducted a literature search of multiple terms in March 2017 using the search engines, PubMed, Embase, and SCOPUS. Articles were then reviewed by two independent reviewers, adhering strictly to our review criteria. No discriminations were made whether the studies were conducted on human or non-human subjects. Three relevant studies were shortlisted and finalized. The nature of the studies is as follows: prospective observational multicenter study (n = 9), case report (n = 1), and animal studies (n = 5). The studies suggested an association between cardiovascular complications and ZIKV in the acute phase of the infection. We recognize the limitations of our study owing to the paucity of the sample size of our literature review. However, the significant findings have also proved the dire need to conduct more research to further back the possibility of ZIKV's influence on the cardiac cells. Closely studying these associations can eventually help develop a vaccine for ZIKV in the near future.

Heart failure (HF) is a pressing health concern as the expense of hospitalization financially burdens the health care system. Hemodynamic monitoring has the potential to detect increases in intracardiac filling pressures weeks before clinical deterioration; hence, preliminary findings of volume overload with the use of these devices may prevent the progression of disease and lead to a reduction in HF-associated hospitalizations. We extensively searched PubMed, Ovid SP, Embase, and Cochrane databases to identify all the possible studies that assess the effect of hemodynamic monitoring on hospitalizations in HF patients. The main outcomes considered were the rate of HF hospitalization, mortality, quality of life, and improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class in the monitored group. Seven studies met all the eligibility criteria and were incorporated in our systematic review. Out of the seven studies we reviewed, three studies inserted the sensor in the pulmonary artery, three in the right ventricle, and only one in the left atrium. On an average, the single study on the left atrium showed the highest reduction (59.0%) in HF hospitalization followed by the pulmonary artery (56.3%) and right ventricle (31.0%), respectively. Our systematic review demonstrates that the use of hemodynamic sensors in HF patients helps to reduce HF-related hospitalizations. Therefore, a combination of outpatient monitoring via the use of hemodynamic sensors and fluid management is needed to reduce HF hospitalizations and improve outcomes in HF patients.

The effects of low dose rivaroxaban (2.5 mg BID) on patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) receiving background antiplatelet therapy remains uncertain. Five randomized controlled trials reporting CV outcomes in ≥500 patients at ≥ 1 year were selected using MEDELINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL

Acute oesophageal necrosis, also known as ‘black oesophagus’, is a rare condition characterised by the black discolouration of the oesophageal mucosa on endoscopy and involves the distal oesophagus in majority of cases but may also extend proximally. A number of conditions are found to be associated with it and it is thought to occur due to a combination of hypovolaemia and inadequate oesophageal protective mucosal barrier function. Gastric secretions may have a direct effect on the oesophageal mucosa. We present a case of a woman who presented with haematemesis and significant hypotension after a session of haemodialysis. Black oesophagus was confirmed on esophagogastroduodenoscopy. She was given two units of packed red blood cells and one unit of platelets, and started on a pantoprazole infusion. However, despite rigorous attempts at resuscitation the patient failed to recover.

A compact planar UWB-MIMO antenna array with WLAN band rejection is presented. The array consists of four monopole radiators and a common ground plane. These monopoles are placed in such a way that the polarisation diversity of nearly placed radiators is exploited, resulting in high isolation. The proposed MIMO antenna array is electrically small (50 × 39.8 mm2), printed on a low loss 1.524 mm thick Rogers TMM4 laminate with a dielectric constant of 4.5 and a loss tangent of 0.002. A band-stop design was inserted on the ground plane to behave similar to a LC band-stop filter and reject the WLAN band. Simulation and measurement results satisfy the return loss requirement of better than 10 dB and isolation better than 17 dB over the entire 2.7–5.1 and 5.9–12 GHz bandwidths.

The system design of an integrated microwave imaging radar for the diagnostic screening of breasts cancer is presented. A custom integrated circuit implemented in a 65-nm CMOS technology and a pair of patch antennas realized on a planar laminate are proposed as the basic module of the imaging antenna array. The radar operates on the broad frequency range from 2 to 16 GHz with a dynamic range of 107 dB. Imaging experiments carried out on a realistic breast phantom show that the system is capable of detecting tumor targets with a resolution of 3 mm.

An ultra-compact dual-polarised ultra-wideband multi-input multi-output antenna made with a single-shared-radiating element and two meandered feeding lines are proposed. Miniaturisation is achieved by using a combination of techniques, including a resonant stub connected to the ground through which shorts the excessive coupled energy before it reaches the other port and minimises coupling, slots etched in the radiator that also help minimise mutual coupling, while the meandered lines allow to bring the antenna closer to the greatly reduce the overall size of the antenna. Slots etched in the radiator and the use of a stub connected to the ground through, help to minimise the mutual coupling. The formation of orthogonal surface currents provides the necessary dual polarisation. Simulated and measured results demonstrate the wideband impedance matching, low mutual coupling and low envelope correlation coefficient. This antenna has an extremely compact size (22 × 24.3 mm2, including the ground plane) that makes it an excellent candidate for portable and handheld devices.

A research was conducted to explore the effect of yellow, white and transparent polyethylene packaging on storage life extension of plum fruit stored at ambient temperature (25± o C) and refrigeration temperature (1-4 o C). Experiment was designed with simple randomized complete block design. The fruits were washed with tap water and surface dried under a fan. The fruits were divided into six polyethylene bags of different colors and the samples were numbered as T0, YR, WR, TR, YF, WF and TF. YR, WR and TR were stored at room temperature in yellow, white and transparent polyethylene packaging respectively. YF, WF and TF were stored at refrigerated temperature in yellow, white and transparent polyethylene packaging respectively. In our research study significant effect of polyethylene packaging and storage intervals was observed on most of the parameters. Samples were analyzed for its firmness, acidity, total soluble solids, weight loss, decay index and ascorbic acid. Highest mean values of weight loss (5.79), decay index (22.11), total soluble solids (9.92 o Brix) and acidity (0.78) were found in sample T0 while lowest mean values of weight loss (1.64), decay index (4.73), total soluble solids (8.34 o Brix) and acidity (0.65) were found in TF. Maximum ascorbic acid (5.95 mg/100g) content was determined in YR while minimum ascorbic acid (5.05 mg/100g) was recorded in TF. Firmness (3.50 kg) of the sample was highest in TF and lowest in YR. Samples were also studied for their sensory characteristics such as texture, flavor, color and overall acceptability. TF obtained maximum mean score of judges for color (6.92), flavor (6.37), texture (6.37) and overall acceptability (7.03) while minimum score rate was obtained by sample T0. Treatment TF (transparent colored packaging at refrigerated temperature) retained maximum quality attributes and also got maximum score for organoleptic evaluation. Statistical analysis showed that treatments and storage intervals had a significant (P

Natural resources, infrastructure and human resources play an important role in the development of a country. It is a worldwide proven fact that the development of a nation depends on availability of natural resources (24%), infrastructure (16%) and human resources that add 60%. In the present sociopolitical and economic scenario of the world, the block of Muslim countries is recognized as developing or under developed despite being rich in the natural resources on the Earth as well as being blessed with abundant human resources. This paper gives a full reflection of natural resources, infrastructure and human resources of the Muslim world as compared to the rest of the world. It highlights the root causes for the prevalent miserable state of theMuslim Ummah. It also presents a model for the training, retraining and development of human resources of the Muslim world as a remedial measure to stand as part of the developed world

An ultra-compact planar antenna aiming to be part of an imaging antenna array operating in the broad 3–18 GHz frequency range is presented. The antenna is made of two closely packed wide-band monopoles for simultaneous transmission and reception functionalities. A high isolation ( >20 dB) between the two patches is achieved through the insertion of a structured ground plane (decoupling structure). A prototype was fabricated on a Roger R4003c laminate measuring 58 × 33 mm2 and used in inverse synthetic array radar configuration for detecting a steel object with sub-centimetre spatial resolution.

Many studies have been performed on exploring the effects of radio-frequency (RF) energy on biological function in vivo. In particular, gene expression results have been inconclusive due, in part, to a lack of a standardized experimental procedure. This research describes a new far field RF exposure system for unrestrained murine models that reduces experimental error. The experimental procedure includes the materials used, the creation of a patch antenna, the uncertainty analysis of the equipment, characterization of the test room, experimental equipment used and setup, power density and specific absorption rate experiment, and discussion. The result of this research is an experimental exposure system to be applied to future biological studies.

Presented are two different frequency reconfigurable ultra-wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array designs capable of rejecting on-demand all WLAN communications in the 4.8 to 6.2 GHz range. Both arrays consist of two monopole UWB radiators placed orthogonally with respect to each other to introduce polarisation diversity and a quarter-wave stub connected to the ground plane via pin diodes is used to introduce the on-demand band rejection feature. One array design has separate ground planes and the other has two ground planes connected with a printed conductor (i.e. shared). For both cases, an isolation better than 20 dB between the elements is achieved in the 2 to 12 GHz frequency range with simulations and a manufactured prototype.

A compact planar ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input–multiple-output antenna array with two radiating elements is proposed in this work. Elements separation is kept at 5.5 mm and the isolation is achieved with a floating parasitic decoupling structure not known for UWB diversity antennas previously. The antenna system performs very well over the entire UWB frequency range of 3.1–10.6 GHz. The mutual coupling between the radiating elements is below −20 dB in most of the band. The decoupling structure is investigated in detail and the diversity analysis of the antenna in Rayleigh fading environment for indoor and outdoor propagations is also presented by computing envelope correlation coefficients. The proposed antenna array measures 33 × 45.5 mm2 only and it is suitable for handheld devices, personal digital assistant (PDA)s, next generation home entertainment systems and robots.

The major purpose of the study was to explore the impact of modular teaching on the achievements of students. The study was experimental type. Equivalent group study design was used. The collected data of both groups were analyzed and interpreted using mean, standard deviation and t-test, and conclusions were drawn. The results of the study were in the favor of modular teaching approach, therefore, it is suggested that this approach should be widely used in conventional classroom at various levels of education.

Low literacy rate and poor quality of education are the major drawbacks of the educational system in Pakistan. Our education is influenced by a number of factors that cause this downfall. Some of them are more prominent, such as low enrollment and high dropout rate at the primary level, different standards of education, low budget allocation for education sector, political interference, low quality of curricula and textbooks, rapid growth in population, poverty and unemployment, poor quality of teachers and irrelevant induction of duties, and our substandard evaluation system. Although the government claims for some bold steps to overcome these problems, there is still room for improvement.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine current in-service training needs of university faculty of N.W.F.P in Pakistan. A survey/descriptive research methodology was used to conduct the study. The target population of the study consisted of all faculty members working in public sector universities of N.W.F.P. The study assessed teachers’ priorities for National Teaching standards and their competence with thirty professional competencies using a self developed research instrument. The overall in-service training needs were analyzed and teaching standards were ranked using mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA. The top four in-service training needs by university faculties included assessment skills, use of information technologies in educational setting, communication skills, and classroom management skills. The result of this study has practical implications for developing teachers’ training programmes in Pakistan. The government and donor agencies programs should study how the top in-service areas can be addressed in training workshops. Further needs assessment studies need to be conducted across public universities in Pakistan in order to build a baseline of research data, which may be used by the policy makers before training workshops designed.

This study examined parental involvement in their children academic motivation with the objectives; to investigate the morally and financially involvement of the parents in their children academic motivation in rural areas at primary level. It was concluded that most of the parents are not well aware of their role for their children education. In addition their attitude is of irresponsible type, they do not take interest in their children education even they do not help children in their homework or making arrangements for their tuition and as well as children participation is not encouraged in co-curricular activities. Instead of positive reinforcements negative reinforcements are used to motivate children towards education. It is recommended that proper tuition should be arranged for children and they should also be helped in their homework and as well as they should also be encouraged for participation in co-curricular activities in the school. Positive reinforcement sources like gifts, prizes, curse of their favorite/desirable places, should be used to improve children performance. They should also be assisted in their daily life needs.