Impact of risk management strategies on the credit risk faced by commercial banks of Balochistan

This study aims to identify risk management strategies undertaken by the commercial banks of Balochistan,Pakistan,to mitigate or eliminate credit risk.The findings of the study are significant as commercial banks will understand the effectiveness of various risk management strategies and may apply them for minimizing credit risk.This explanatory study analyses the opinions of the employees of selected commercial banks about which strategies are useful for mitigating credit risk.Quantitative data was collected from 250 employees of commercial banks to perform multiple regression analyses,which were used for the analysis.The results identified four areas of impact on credit risk management(CRM):corporate governance exerts the greatest impact,followed by diversification,which plays a significant role,hedging and,finally,the bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio.This study highlights these four risk management strategies,which are critical for commercial banks to resolve their credit risk.

Recent advances in titanium carbide MXene-based nanotextures with influential effect of synthesis parameters for solar CO_(2)reduction and H_(2)production:A critical review

Photocatalytic solar to energy conversion is considered an attractive approach for overcoming energy crises and environmental concerns.Recently,titanium carbide(Ti_(3)C_(2))MXenes have been recognized as promising cocatalysts based on their metallic conductivity,excessive active reaction sites,and enlarged surface area.The current review focuses on the properties and applications of Ti_(3)C_(2)MXenes useful in the field of photocatalysis.More specifically,surface modification of Ti_(3)C_(2)MXenes by varying synthesis parameters to get pure materials and also composites with the role of functional groups towards solar energy conversion applications is highlighted in this review.The effect of etching and oxidizing pathways to get an efficient cocatalyst has been discussed in detail.Considering the significant effect of parameters,optimum synthesis conditions such as etchant type,concentration,time and type of intercalant in both the Ti_(3)C_(2)synthesis approaches for improved photoactivity are discussed.Additionally,the surface modification of Ti_(3)C_(2)through oxidation for TiO2growth on its surface is deliberated with a detailed discussion on etchant type,concentration,etching time,and environmental factors.The optimum oxidation condition,including temperature,time,and environment for thermal treatment of Ti_(3)C_(2),were also included.Lastly,the review summarizes the conclusion and future perspectives for solar energy conversion applications.

Experimental Evaluation of Trilateration-Based Outdoor Localizationwith LoRaWAN

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) in the Internet ofThings (IoT) domain has been the subject of interest for researchers. Thereis an increasing demand to localize these IoT devices using LoRaWAN dueto the quickly growing number of IoT devices. LoRaWAN is well suited tosupport localization applications in IoTs due to its low power consumptionand long range. Multiple approaches have been proposed to solve the localizationproblem using LoRaWAN. The Expected Signal Power (ESP) basedtrilateration algorithm has the significant potential for localization becauseESP can identify the signal’s energy below the noise floor with no additionalhardware requirements and ease of implementation. This research articleoffers the technical evaluation of the trilateration technique, its efficiency,and its limitations for the localization using LoRa ESP in a large outdoorpopulated campus environment. Additionally, experimental evaluations areconducted to determine the effects of frequency hopping, outlier removal, andincreasing the number of gateways on localization accuracy. Results obtainedfrom the experiment show the importance of calculating the path loss exponentfor every frequency to circumvent the high localization error because ofthe frequency hopping, thus improving the localization performance withoutthe need of using only a single frequency.

Impulsive Noise Cancellation in OFDM System Using Low Density Parity Check

An effective communication application necessitates the cancellation of Impulsive Noise(IN)from Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM),which is widely used for wireless applications due to its higher data rate and greater spectral efficiency.The OFDM system is typically corrupted by Impulsive Noise,which is an unwanted short-duration pulse with random amplitude and duration.Impulsive noise is created by humans and has non-Gaussian characteristics,causing problems in communication systems such as high capacity loss and poor error rate performance.Several techniques have been introduced in the literature to solve this type of problem,but they still have many issues that affect the performance of the presented methods.As a result,developing a new hybridization-based method is critical for accurate method performance.In this paper,we present a hybrid of a state space adaptive filter and an information coding technique for cancelling impulsive noise from OFDM.The proposed method is also compared to Least Mean Square(LMS),Normalized Least Mean Square(NLMS),and Recursive Least Square(RLS)adaptive filters.It has also been tested using the binary phase-shift keyed(BPSK),four quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM),sixteen QAM,and thirty-two QAM modulation techniques.Bit error Rate(BER)simulations are used to evaluate system performance,and improved performance is obtained.Furthermore,the proposed method is more effective than recent methods.

Recent Developments in Authentication Schemes Used in Machine-Type Communication Devices in Machine-to-Machine Communication: Issues and Challenges

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication plays a fundamental role in autonomous IoT (Internet of Things)-based infrastructure, a vital part of the fourth industrial revolution. Machine-type communication devices(MTCDs) regularly share extensive data without human intervention while making all types of decisions. Thesedecisions may involve controlling sensitive ventilation systems maintaining uniform temperature, live heartbeatmonitoring, and several different alert systems. Many of these devices simultaneously share data to form anautomated system. The data shared between machine-type communication devices (MTCDs) is prone to risk dueto limited computational power, internal memory, and energy capacity. Therefore, securing the data and devicesbecomes challenging due to factors such as dynamic operational environments, remoteness, harsh conditions,and areas where human physical access is difficult. One of the crucial parts of securing MTCDs and data isauthentication, where each devicemust be verified before data transmission. SeveralM2Mauthentication schemeshave been proposed in the literature, however, the literature lacks a comprehensive overview of current M2Mauthentication techniques and the challenges associated with them. To utilize a suitable authentication schemefor specific scenarios, it is important to understand the challenges associated with it. Therefore, this article fillsthis gap by reviewing the state-of-the-art research on authentication schemes in MTCDs specifically concerningapplication categories, security provisions, and performance efficiency.

Effects of bismuth on structural and dielectric properties of cobalt-cadmium spinel ferrites fabricated via micro-emulsion route

Spinel ferrites have a significant role in high-tech applications.In the present work nano-crystalline ferrites having general formula Co0.5Cd0.5BixFe2-xO4 with(x=0.0,0.05,0.1,0.15,0.2,and 0.25)are synthesized via micro-emulsion route.Powder x-ray diffraction(XRD)studies discover the FCC spinel structure.Crystalline size is calculated in a range of 11 nm-15 nm.Lattice parameter calculations are reduced due to its substitution which leads to the exchange of large ionic radius of Fe^3+for small ionic radius of Bi^3+.The x-ray density is analyzed to increase with doping.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)is performed to analyze absorption band spectra.The two absorption bands are observed in a range of 400 cm^-1-600 cm^-1,and they are the characteristic feature of spinel structure.Thermo-gravimetric analysis(TGA)reveals the total weight loss of nearly 1.98%.Dielectric analysis is carried out by impedance analyzer in a frequency span from 1 MHz to 3 GHz by using the Maxwell Wagner model.Dielectric studies reveal the decrease of dielectric parameters.The alternating current(AC)conductivity exhibits a plane behavior in a low frequency range and it increases with the applied frequency increasing.This is attributed to the grain effects in a high frequency range or may be due to the reduction of porosity.Real and imaginary part of impedance show the decreasing trend which corresponds to the grain boundary action.The imaginary modulus shows the occurrence of peak that helps to understand the interfacial polarization.Cole-Cole graph shows a single semicircle which confirms that the conduction mechanism is due to the grain boundaries at low frequency.Dielectric studies reveal the applicability of these ferrites in high frequency equipment,microwave applications,high storage media,and semiconductor devices.

Two-Mode Biomedical Sensor Build-up:Characterization of Optical Amplifier

Intracavity absorption spectroscopy is a strikingly sensitive technique that has been integrated with a two-wavelength setup to develop a sensor for human breath.Various factors are considered in such a scenario,out of which Relative Intensity Noise(RIN)has been exploited as an important parameter to characterize and calibrate the said setup.During the performance of an electrical based assessment arrangement which has been developed in the laboratory as an alternative to the expensive Agilent setup,the optical amplifier plays a pivotal role in its development and operation,along with other components and their significance.Therefore,the investigation and technical analysis of the amplifier in the system has been explored in detail.The algorithm developed for the automatic measurements of the system has been effectively deployed in terms of the laser’s performance.With this in perspective,a frequency dependent calibration has been pursued in depth with this scheme which enhances the sensor’s efficiency in terms of its sensitivity.In this way,our investigation helps us in a better understanding and implementation perspective of the proposed system,as the outcomes of our analysis adds to the precision and accuracy of the entire system.

Comparative analysis of bacterial contamination in tap and groundwater: A case study on water quality of Quetta City, an arid zone in Pakistan

Water is an essential element on earth,which provides human a variety of services in domestic use,agriculture,or industries.However,some serious health risks of drinking water are associated with microbial contamination,particularly with fecal matter.Therefore,microbial quality assessment is considered to be a necessary component of water quality assessment.This study investigates microbial contamination of water distributary system around the city by comparing groundwater(GW)and tap water(TW)quality in Quetta city.31 GW samples and 31 TW samples were collected in the study area during the months of September,October,and November.Fecal coliform test was carried out in laboratory and their average total coliform contamination was computed.Results showed that the TW sample were all contaminated by coliform except for Chiltan town,hence are not considered suitable for drinking without any treatment according to WHO drinking water quality standards.The average coliform concentrations were 12 in Quetta main city,11.6 in Jinnah town,5.3 in Satallite town,10 in Shahbaz town and 5 in Brewery town(0/100 mL CFU)and the TW samples from the three towns were even more contaminated with E.coli.Whereas among the GW,average microbial concentrations were 1.8 in Quetta main city,2 in Satallite town,1.4 in Shahbaz town,and 0.4 in Chiltan town(0/100 mL CFU),respectively,which shows that the contamination is occurring within the water distributary pipeline system when the water flows through the pipelines.Moreover,this research will be valuable for researchers and administrative authorities to conduct elaborative studies,and develop new policies to prevent further deterioration of drinking water in the water distribution system by pathogenic microorganisms and ensure safe drinking water to the public of Quetta city.

Numerical Solution of Casson Fluid Flow under Viscous Dissipation and Radiation Phenomenon

This article numerically investigates the 2D, steady, laminar, incompressible fluid flow, mass and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian fluid model induced by stretching surface. A Casson fluid model is considered to study the non-Newtonian behavior of the flowing fluid. The magnetic field and a porous medium are considered in the flow momentum, whereas the viscous dissipation is also taken into account in the energy transport phenomena. To see the fluid concentration, the concentration equation is used. Furthermore, the Nusselt number coefficient and skin friction are modified with the addition of nonlinear stretching and radiation parameters. With the similarity transformation, the nonlinear governing partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations and then numerically solved using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme with the shooting method. The relevant parameters of interest are interpreted for graphical results. The results illustrate that the fluid energy increases effectively with an increase in the Eckert number, radiation parameter, and heat source parameter, while it decreases by increasing the Prandtl number and heat sink parameter. Both the wall skin friction and the wall Nusselt number coefficient decelerate with an increase in the Casson parameter.

Deep Learning-Based Trees Disease Recognition and Classification Using Hyperspectral Data

Crop diseases have a significant impact on plant growth and can lead to reduced yields.Traditional methods of disease detection rely on the expertise of plant protection experts,which can be subjective and dependent on individual experience and knowledge.To address this,the use of digital image recognition technology and deep learning algorithms has emerged as a promising approach for automating plant disease identification.In this paper,we propose a novel approach that utilizes a convolutional neural network(CNN)model in conjunction with Inception v3 to identify plant leaf diseases.The research focuses on developing a mobile application that leverages this mechanism to identify diseases in plants and provide recommendations for overcoming specific diseases.The models were trained using a dataset consisting of 80,848 images representing 21 different plant leaves categorized into 60 distinct classes.Through rigorous training and evaluation,the proposed system achieved an impressive accuracy rate of 99%.This mobile application serves as a convenient and valuable advisory tool,providing early detection and guidance in real agricultural environments.The significance of this research lies in its potential to revolutionize plant disease detection and management practices.By automating the identification process through deep learning algorithms,the proposed system eliminates the subjective nature of expert-based diagnosis and reduces dependence on individual expertise.The integration of mobile technology further enhances accessibility and enables farmers and agricultural practitioners to swiftly and accurately identify diseases in their crops.

Mechanical performance of cold mix asphalt containing cup lump rubber as a sustainable bio-modifier

The road construction industry aims to contribute to the protection of already compromised environment.Cold mix asphalt(CMA)is a measure initiated by the road industry to protect the environment and preserve energy.Despite having additional benefits,CMA has attracted little attention due to its inferior performance.CMA's performance is enhanced using a sustainable binder bio-modifier,natural cup lump rubber(CLR)is one of them.This study evaluated the tensile properties,rutting,moisture susceptibility,and adhesion properties of CLR-modified CMA(CMA-CR).The tensile property was enhanced by 26%due to CLR modification.CMA-CR had excellent rutting resistance of less than 2 mm rut depth at 10,000 load cycles,showing 70%improvement compared with conventional CMA.Moisture susceptibility evaluation indicated that CMA-CR had tensile strength ratio(TSR)value of 104%,satisfying the minimum 80%requirement of AASHTO T283.It also retained more than 96%bitumen coating.The moisture damage resistance was improved by 12%and 10%in terms of TSR and stripping,respectively.The durability results revealed that the CMA-CR mixture prevented higher mass loss,representing 14%improvement compared with conventional CMA.

An Efficient Impersonation Attack Detection Method in Fog Computing

Fog computing paradigm extends computing,communication,storage,and network resources to the network’s edge.As the fog layer is located between cloud and end-users,it can provide more convenience and timely services to end-users.However,in fog computing(FC),attackers can behave as real fog nodes or end-users to provide malicious services in the network.The attacker acts as an impersonator to impersonate other legitimate users.Therefore,in this work,we present a detection technique to secure the FC environment.First,we model a physical layer key generation based on wireless channel characteristics.To generate the secret keys between the legitimate users and avoid impersonators,we then consider a Double Sarsa technique to identify the impersonators at the receiver end.We compare our proposed Double Sarsa technique with the other two methods to validate our work,i.e.,Sarsa and Q-learning.The simulation results demonstrate that the method based on Double Sarsa outperforms Sarsa and Q-learning approaches in terms of false alarm rate(FAR),miss detection rate(MDR),and average error rate(AER).

Petrogenesis of Middle Triassic Volcaniclastic Rocks from Balochistan,Pakistan:Implications for the Break-Up of Gondwanaland

Basaltic volcanic conglomerates near the Wulgai village in Balochistan occur in the undivided sedimentary rock unit of the Bagh complex which is the mélange zone beneath the Muslim Bagh ophiolite. The presence of Middle Triassic grey radiolarian chert within the upper and lower horizon of the conglomerates suggests that the lavas, from which these conglomerates were principally derived, were eroded and re-deposited in the Middle Triassic. The Wulgai conglomerate contains several textural and mineralogical varieties of volcanic rocks, such as porphyritic, glomerophyric, intersertal and vitrophyric basalts. The main minerals identified in these samples are augite, olivine, plagioclase（An35–78） leucite and nosean, with apatite ilmenite, magnetite and hematite occurring as accessory minerals. These rocks are mildly to strongly-alkaline with low Mg~# and low Cr, Ni and Co contents suggesting that their parent magma had undergone considerable fractionation prior to eruption. Trace element-enriched mantle-normalized patterns with marked positive Nb anomalies are consistent with 10%–15% melting of an enriched mantle source in a within-plate tectonic setting. It is proposed that this Middle Triassic intra-plate volcanism may represent mantle plume-derived melts related to the Late Triassic rifting of micro-continental blocks（including Afghan, Iran, Karakorum and Lhasa） from the northern margin of Gondwana.

Moving Personal-Cell Network: Characteristics and Performance Evaluation

Recent years have witnessed a huge demand for ubiquitous communications services from continuously moving users. In order to provide seamless network services to high-mobility users, one of the promising solution proposed by 3 GPP is the deployment of moving-relays. In this article, we introduce the concept of Moving-Personal-Cell(mPC), which is a type of moving-relays. mPC is a user-centric network, which aims to provide reliable network services to moving users. A mPC receives data-traffic from eNB and its neighboring mPCs via wireless backhaul and sidehual links respectively and forwards the received data to its serving users. In addition to this, mPC can also increase the network capacity by caching and distributing the popular contents to its serving users. Besides these pros, the mPC also has some limitations, as its performance is highly affected by cross-tier and co-tier interferences. In this article, we analyze the effect of these interferences on mPCs performance. Our results show that the performance of mPC network is equally affected by the capacity of wireless backhaul, sidehaul, and access links. Moreover, since mPCs accommodate data traffic from wireless backhaul, sidehaul links, and content cache, their performance is also affected by the ratio of data-traffic delivered via these links.

A Rule Based System for Speech Language Context Understanding

Speech or Natural language contents are major tools of communication. This research paper presents a natural language processing based automated system for understanding speech language text. A new rule based model has been presented for analyzing the natural languages and extracting the relative meanings from the given text. User writes the natural language text in simple English in a few paragraphs and the designed system has a sound ability of analyzing the given script by the user. After composite analysis and extraction of associated information, the designed system gives particular meanings to an assortment of speech language text on the basis of its context. The designed system uses standard speech language rules that are clearly defined for all speech languages as English, Urdu, Chinese, Arabic, French, etc. The designed system provides a quick and reliable way to comprehend speech language context and generate respective meanings.

Linearly Polarized Millimeter Wave Reflectarray with Mutual Coupling Optimization

This work provides the design and analysis of a single layer,linearly polarized millimeter wave reflectarray antenna with mutual coupling optimization.Detailed analysis was carried out at 26GHz design frequency using the simulations of the reflectarray unit cells as well as the periodic reflectarray antenna.The simulated results were verified by the scattering parameter and far-fieldmeasurements of the unit cell and periodic arrays,respectively.Aclose agreement between the simulated and measured results was observed in all the cases.Apart from the unit cells and reflectarray,the waveguide and horn antenna were also fabricated to be used in the measurements.The measured scattering parameter results of the proposed circular ring unit cells provided a maximum reflection loss of 2.8 dB with phase errors below 10°.On the other hand,the measured far-field results of the 20×20 reflectarray antenna provided a maximum gain of 26.45 dB with a maximum 3 dB beam width of 12°and 1 dB gain drop bandwidth of 13.1%.The performance demonstrated by the proposed reflectarray antenna makes it a potential candidate to be used in modern-day applications such as 5th Generation(5G)and 6th Generation(6G)communication systems.

Applications of beneficial plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and mycorrhizae in rhizosphere and plant growth:A review

Because of climate change and the highly growing world population,it becomes a huge challenge to feed the whole population.To overcome this challenge and increase the crop yield,a large number of fertilizers are applied but these have many side effects.Instead of these,scientists have discovered beneficial rhizobacteria,which are environmentally friendly and may increase crop yield and plant growth.The microbial population of the rhizosphere shows a pivotal role in plant development by inducing its physiology.Plant depends upon the valuable interactions among the roots and microbes for the growth,nutrients availability,growth promotion,disease suppression and other important roles for plants.Recently numerous secrets of microbes in the rhizosphere have been revealed due to huge development in molecular and microscopic technologies.This review illustrated and discussed the current knowledge on the development,maintenance,interactions of rhizobacterial populations and various proposed mechanisms normally used by PGPR in the rhizosphere that encouraging the plant growth and alleviating the stress conditions.In addition,this research reviewed the role of single and combination of PGPR,mycorrhizal fungi in plant development and modulation of the stress as well as factors affecting the microbiome in the rhizosphere.

Performance Evaluation of Energy Meters Under Nonlinear Loads

Due to rapid advancements in power electronics, the utilization of electronically switched loads and nonlinear loads is increasing gradually in the electrical power system. These loads create problems of measuring instruments, when connected to the power distribution systems. In this paper, an experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the performance of single-phase watt-hour(induction and electronic types) energy meters that are being used in Pakistan. The accuracy of the energy meters has been tested under different household nonlinear loads, at various power factors and also at different supply voltage levels. Power factor and total harmonic distortion(THD) of different household loads are also recorded in the experimental work.A hardware based experimental setup has been designed to perform the experimental work. The experimental results have been compared to Water and Power Development Authority(WAPDA) standards for energy meters.

Genesis of Manganese Deposits in the Ali Khanzai Block of the Zhob Ophiolite,Pakistan:Inferences from Geochemistry and Mineralogy

The Zhob ophiolite comprises the Naweoba, Omzha and Ali Khanzai blocks, which are surrounded by the sediments of the Alozai Group and Loralai Formation. The Ali Khanzai Block contains metamorphic, ultramafic, gabbroic, volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks with associated chert. The Zhob manganese deposits found in the Ali Khanzai Block, occur in banded, lenticular and massive forms within red to brown coloured metachert. Braunite and pyrolusite are the main constituent manganese-bearing minerals with minor hausmannite, hematite and barite while quartz is the major gangue mineral with some carbonate minerals. Geochemical evidence from the major oxides indicates that the manganese mineralization and associated metachert at Zhob were formed by hydrothermal activity with little contribution from contemporaneous volcanic materials and this is confirmed by high Fe/Mn and low Co/Zn ratios and trace element patterns. These deposits formed along with seafloor spreading centres and were later obducted as part of Ali Khanzai Block of Zhob ophiolite.

Highly aligned reduced graphene oxide in alumina composites for strengthening,toughening,and electromagnetic interference shielding

Engineering ceramics with high strength,toughness and electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding effectiveness(SE)are highly desirable as electromagnetic protecting material in harsh environment.Herein,we show that both excellent mechanical and EMI shielding performance can be realized in alumina composites embedded with highly aligned reduced graphene oxide(RGO),which are readily prepared via sintering of core-shell structured RGO@Al_(2)O_(3)nanoplates with pressure.Compared to monolithic Al_(2)O_(3),the highly aligned RGO/Al_(2)O_(3)composites show simultaneously improved strength and toughness up to~26.1%and~60.2%,respectively.The steeply rising R-curve behavior proves the better crack tolerance in the highly aligned structure with respect to randomly oriented one.Moreover,the RGO/Al_(2)O_(3)composites also exhibit a high specific EMI SE reaching~34 dB/mm in K band,due to the reflection and highly enhanced absorption after percolation in the out-of-plane direction.These findings provide a novel strategy of designing mechanically reliable engineering ceramic for EMI shielding.