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In the present research, a biopolymer Chitosan (C) grafted with ethylenediamine (EDA) and methyl acrylate (MA) were compared for the adsorption of Congo red dye from aqueous phase. The grafted chitosan product was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and point of zero charge to study the change in mechanical and thermal properties. The effects of process variables like adsorbent loading, initial dye concentration, initial solution pH, contact time and temperature on adsorption phenomena were investigated. The equilibrium isotherm data was analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, and the adsorption followed the Langmuir isotherm model (R2 = 0.992 and 0.991 for EDAC and MAC, respectively). The maximum adsorption capacity of EDAC and MAC for Congo red uptake calculated from Langmuir isotherm model was 1607 mg/g and 1143 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption kinetics was studied using pseudo 1st and 2nd order models. Pseudo second order rate model provided the best fit for both grafted adsorbents with R2 ≥0.99. The values of Gibbs free energy (−9.628 and −8.878 kJ/mol), enthalpy (44.9 and 42.2 kJ/mol) and entropy (0.18 and 0.17 J/mol·K) revealed spontaneous and endothermic adsorption of Congo red onto EDAC and MAC surface. The pollutant adsorption test indicated that chitosan grafting with ethylenediamine is superior to Methyl acrylate grafting agent.

In this work, a novel approach is used to synthesize an iron oxide doped carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane, with the goal of fully utilizing the unique properties of CNTs. No binder is used for the synthesis of the membrane; instead, iron oxide particles serve as a binding agent for holding the CNTs together after sintering at high temperature. The produced membrane exhibited a high water flux and strong fouling resistance. In the first step, CNTs were impregnated with various loadings of iron oxide (1, 10, 20, 30 and 50%) via wet chemistry techniques. Impregnated CNTs were then compacted at 200 MPa and sintered at 1350 °C for 5 h to form a compact disc. The membranes were analysed by measuring their porosity, contact angle, diametrical compression test and water flux. The flux of pure water was observed to increase with an increase in iron oxide content. The permeate flux and rejection rate of sodium alginate (SA) were determined to predict the antifouling behaviour of the membrane. A maximum removal of 90 and 88% of SA was achieved for membranes with a 10 and 1% iron oxide content, respectively, after 3 h. A minor decline in the permeate flux was observed for all membranes after 4 h of operation. Keywords: Membrane, Iron oxide, Water treatment, Carbon nanotubes, Sodium alginate

The scarcity of water, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world is exerting great pressure on resources and establishing more need to provide good quality water for human and other consumptions. Water recovery/recycle/reuse has proven to be effective and successful in creating a new and reliable water supply. Accordingly, attention is being paid to the effective treatment of alternative sources of water (apart from fresh water) such as seawater, storm water, wastewater (e.g. treated sewage water), and industrial wastewater. In this review, the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), member of the fullerene structural family, is considered with special focus on the removal of heavy metals from water (lead, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, copper, zinc and nickel). A critical review into the adsorption behavior and use of the CNTs is given with attention being paid to the effects of surface modifications on the adsorption behavior and subsequent heavy metal removal. A review of the effect of a number of key variables including pH, CNTs dosage, time, ionic strength, temperature and surface charge are given. It will be demonstrated that, surface modification enhances positively the adsorption capacity of CNTs towards cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, copper, zinc, cobalt and nickel as did the solution pH. CNTs have been proven to an excellent adsorbent for the removal of different heavy metals from water. However, most of the applications of CNTs are on lab scale in batch experiments. In spite of high costs, CNTs are expected to be a promising adsorbent in the future due to its high adsorption capacity compared to many traditional adsorbents. Researchers are also in quest of novel environment friendly techniques for the surface modification of CNTs to further improve their properties. Still, the feasibility of CNTs application in large scale treatment needs to be further studied. Effective techniques for regeneration/reuse of CNTs also need to be explored yet. One of the main hurdles that limit the applications of CNTs in large scale operation is the cost of CNTs. Future research works on developing a cost-effective way of CNT production and testing the toxicity of CNTs and CNT-related materials are recommended.

In this paper, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) impregnated with iron oxide nanoparticles were employed for the removal of benzene from water. The adsorbents were characterized using scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, BET surface area, and thermogravimetric analysis. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to study the adsorptive removal of benzene and the effect of parameters such as pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosage. The maximum removal of benzene was 61% with iron oxide impregnated CNTs at an adsorbent dosage 100 mg, shaking speed 200 rpm, contact time 2 hours, initial concentration 1 ppm, and pH 6. However, raw CNTs showed only 53% removal under same experimental conditions. Pseudo-first-order kinetic model was found well to describe the obtained data on benzene removal from water. Initial concentration was varied from 1 to 200 mg/L for isotherms study. Langmuir isotherm model was observed to best describe the adsorption data. The maximum adsorption capacities were 987.58 mg/g and 517.27 mg/g for iron oxide impregnated CNTs and raw CNTs, respectively. Experimental results revealed that impregnation with iron oxide nanoparticles significantly increased the removal efficiency of CNTs.

Lifting lugs are often used as lifting arrangement for heavy objects such as transformers and containers. Failure of lugs can incur significant loss of money and possibly lives of the factory personnel. A lug was mismanufactured which led to the concern over its structural integrity to withstand the lifting loads. The structural integrity of the lug to the lifting loads was to be assessed by FEA, but the actual factory lifting condition is different from the vertical lifting force usually assumed in the hand calculations. With this in view, it becomes necessary to account for the lateral forces acting on the lug to assess the structural integrity of the lug. In this work, analytical expressions for calculating the lateral loads acting on the lug were derived. The necessary parameters were used to perform the FEA. Further, dynamic load considerations were also incorporated into the design calculations. Marked difference was found in the response of the lifting lug to the vertical and the actual loads experienced by the lug indicating that neglect of lateral loads can cause permanent deformation and possibly failure of the lifting lug. To the best of author’s knowledge, there is no previous publication in the literature to calculate the lateral forces acting on the lug in all three directions.

Deciding the boundary conditions is the most difficult part of developing an effective finite element model. Incorrect boundary conditions can cause significant errors in analysis. The finite element analysis has become a popular method of design validation for the transformer tank but the boundary conditions to be used for simulating the pressure test by finite element analysis are not clear. The pressure test analysis is carried out by assuming the bottom surface of the transformer tank to be fixed. This common practice has not been validated and requires verification. In this work, a generalized model of the transformer tank under the pressure was solved to eliminate the assumption, and the results were compared with those of the usual practice. It was found that there was significant difference in the results of the two models indicating the incorrectness of the usual practice.

The current study aims to examine the influence of brand portfolio strategy in increased firm’s performance in pharmaceutical sector in Pakistan. The study proposes brand scope, intra-portfolio competition, and brand positioning as the key determinants of brand portfolio strategy. The main reason for considering intra-portfolio competition to mingle with brand portfolio strategy is because of the increased inter-organizational competition in organizations i.e. in pharmaceutical sector, there are two types of major competitions; i) inter-organizational ii) intra-organizational (inter-portfolio). Thus, inter-portfolio competition addresses and helps organizations to design and manage their brand portfolios. The study finds strong and promising integration of all the three key determinants of brand portfolio in delivering increased firm’s performance. For instance, there is a positive correlation between brand scope (number of brands and number of market segments) with increased firm’s performance. Also, there is a positive correlation between intra-portfolio competition and firm’s performance. Finally, the study finds positive association between brand positioning (high-quality and low-price) and firm’s performance. The study uses quantitative approach for data analysis. To analyze data, the researcher distributed 300 research questionnaires in pharmaceutical sector in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and Lahore. The researcher found 267 completely filled research questionnaires from the respondents. For analysis, the study uses SPSS 17.0 and AMOS 20.0 for analysis. Co-variance, Cronbach’s alpha, descriptive statistics, correlations analysis, structural equation model (SEM) and regression weights are generated using SPSS 17.0 and AMOS 20.0. The study based on theoretical and empirical investigations provided ample recommendations for practitioners and marketing/product managers to consider brand portfolio strategy as an important policy to consider in their organizational missions so that the goals and objectives can be successfully achieved. Finally, the study proposes its limitation as its conducted in pharmaceutical sector only therefore, the similar model can be applied and analyzed in other industries.

In this study, the adsorption behavior of waste boiler fly ash has been explored for purification of nickel heavy metal ion bearing water. The raw boiler fly ash (RBFA) was alkali modified to improve the adsorption characteristics. The modified boiler fly ash (MBFA) was characterized using the SEM, XRF, XRD, BET, and TGA analyzers to confirm the improved textural, mineralogical, porosity and thermal characteristics of the adsorbent. The adsorption studies were conducted in a batch mode by varying different operational parameters like pH, contact time, heavy metal ion concentration, and time. The MBFA showed higher adsorption capacity (~ 86 mg/g) as compared to RBFA (~ 64.8 mg/g) at optimized conditions. The equilibrium data for Ni(II) sorption were analyzed using Langmuir, Sips, and Freundlich isotherm models. Sips model proves to be superior with R2 = 0.99. Thermodynamics of Ni(II) removal showed that the process of adsorption is endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Enthalpy calculated was 2.95 and 18.65 kJ/mol for RBFA and MBFA, respectively. The adsorption kinetics of Ni(II) by both RBFA and MBFA were modeled using pseudo-first-order, fractional order, and intra-particle diffusion equations. The results indicate that the fractional order kinetic equation and intra-particle diffusion model were suitable to describe the nickel adsorption.

If employee of the industry is giving superior services to the customer, that customer will be progressively pleased so there is great importance if internal marketing. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of internal marketing (Marketing mix approach) on affective commitment of employees in Islamic banks of Punjab, Pakistan. A model was made to examine the factors affecting affective commitment and it was tested empirically using a sample of 543. All the respondents were branch managers of different Islamic banks. The questionnaire strategy was used for this research. SPSS was used to run regression. The paper found "internal price", "internal promotion", "internal physical evidence", "internal people", "internal product" and "internal place" to be the most effective components of the internal marketing construct of the research model, making them key influencers of affective commitment. This study is confined to two things one is organizational commitment “Affective commitment” and other is internal marketing. The scope of this study is limited and it is case from the Islamic banks of Punjab, Pakistan. Practical implications – The paper outlines ways to effectively use internal marketing (Marketing Mix Approach) for making employees committed to bank. A marketing manager or policy maker can follow these outlines for making policy for employees.

One anastomosisgastric bypass(OAGB) is currently known as a standard bariatric procedure worldwide. A rare event after OAGB is internal hernia throgh the Petersen's defect.

A novel approach was used to synthesize a silver doped-CNT membrane, with the aim of fully utilizing the anti-toxic properties of CNTs and silver. No binder was used for the synthesis of the membrane; instead, silver particles served as a binding material for the CNTs after sintering at high temperature. In the first step, CNTs were impregnated with different loadings of silver (1, 10 and 20 wt.%) via a wet chemistry technique. Impregnated CNTs were then compacted at 200 MPa and sintered at 800 °C for 3 h to form a compact disk (membrane). The powder materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis, while the membranes were characterized by measuring their porosity, contact angle, diametrical compression test, pure water permeate flux and antibacterial properties. The affinity of the membranes to biofouling was studied using Escherichia coli (E. coli). The produced membrane showed a high water permeate flux and exhibited strong antibacterial properties. All of the membranes with different silver loadings were able to remove/kill 100% of the bacteria tested; however, the CNT membrane with 10% silver showed a superior performance to the others. All bacteria were removed/killed by the membrane with 10% silver loading after the suspension had passed for only 60 min. These membranes would be advantageous in a continuous filtration system for the removal of different contaminants from water via desalination, adsorption and sieving.

Different methodologies and routes have been adopted to enhance compatibility and applications of conjugated polymers since two decades. In this project we have adopted a novel method to synthesize polyaniline nanocomposite films with different weight percentages of nickel sulphide nanoparticles. These nanocomposite films were than subjected to various characterizations such as X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and standard four probe method to study the effect of various weight percentages of nanoparticles on structural and electrical properties.

Long working hours affects the life of both men and women. However, the impact of long working hours has greater impact on the women as compared to man. Women who are associated with long working hours experience physical symptoms of stress such as fatigue, irritability, headaches and depression than men. The aim of the study was to find out how the working woman are socially affected by long working hours and how long working hour’s effects the relationship with husband and children. Study has also analyzed how long working hours have affected the life of working women and its impact on the relationship of spouses and children. In order to assess the Impact of long working hour’s women on relationship with husband and children. We recruited 160 respondents through multistage sampling technique from Dera Ghazi Khan. The data has been analyzed through SPSS. Results of the study indicates, that about 64.3% of the women are of the view that job requirements including completing the task is a main factor responsible for working long hours. Meanwhile 11.9% of the respondents said that work place and industry culture is another main factor responsible for working long hours while 15% of the respondents said that to achieve better rewards they work for long hours. Results shows that impact of long working hours have brought about significant changes in the life of working women and it has a significant effects on the relationship of husband and children. The results indicated that there was significant association between long working hours of women and less children’s’ grooming and socialization.

To determine the clinical features and patterns of interstitial lung disease.This retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised record of patients diagnosed with interstitial lung disease from January 2005 to December 2015. All patients aged 16 years and above diagnosed with interstitial lung disease on the basis of clinical features, radiological features on high-resolution computed tomography of the chest, and lung biopsies were included. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.Of the 537 patients, 324(60.3%) of the participants were females. The overall mean age was 60.5±14.9 years. The most common co-morbid condition was diabetes mellitus in 72(13.4%) patients, followed by hypertension in 48(8.9%) and ischaemic heart disease in 21(3.9%). The most common interstitial lung disease was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 217(40.4%) patients, followed by non-specific interstitial pneumonia in 106(19.7%), sarcoidosis in 82(15.3%) and connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease in 56(10.4%) patients.Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was found to be the most common interstitial lung disease subtype followed by non-specific interstitial pneumonia, sarcoidosis and connective tissue disease-related-interstitial lung disease.

Notions of masculinity, which promote the role of men as providers and decision-makers, alongside men's opposition to modern forms of contraception, have long been assumed to be a barrier to women's use of contraception in Pakistan. There has been little in-depth exploration of varieties of masculinity and how these may influence men's views of child-bearing or fertility preferences. This study used Participatory Ethnographic and Evaluation Research to explore married men's (aged 18 to 45 years) perceptions of marriage, child-bearing and fertility control. A total of 31 men were recruited as researchers in two provinces (Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), who, in turn, each interviewed two male friends. Men overall supported a 'smaller' family size and use of contraceptive methods. Drivers of this preference included perceived economic constraints, the desire to invest in children's education, and wider acceptability of contraceptive use. Limiting family size was associated with both the value of competent male providers taking care of their children, as well as being poor. Men wanted to have better access to information through a range of channels. Understanding the sociocultural contexts in which masculinities are constructed is essential before involving men in family planning programmes, so that gender inequalities are not reinforced.

Multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and iron oxide impregnated carbon nanotubes (CNTs-iron oxide) were investigated for the adsorption of hazardous toluene and paraxylene (p-xylene) from aqueous solution. Pure CNTs were impregnated with iron oxides nanoparticles using wet impregnation technique. Various characterization techniques including thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, elemental dispersion spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and nitrogen adsorption analysis were used to study the thermal degradation, surface morphology, purity, and surface area of the materials. Batch adsorption experiments show that iron oxide impregnated CNTs have higher degree of removal of p-xylene (i.e., 90%) compared with toluene (i.e., 70%), for soaking time 2 h, with pollutant initial concentration 100 ppm, at pH 6 and shaking speed of 200 rpm at 25°C. Pseudo-second-order model provides better fitting for the toluene and p-xylene adsorption. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models demonstrate good fitting for the adsorption data of toluene and p-xylene.

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD) that predominantly affects older adults . IPF has the highest mortality burden of all ILDs. Data on mortality in patients with IPF is limited in developing countries. Objectives: To identify factors associated with mortality in patients with IPF at a tertiary care center in Pakistan. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, Pakistan from January 2005 to December 2015. Patients were assessed for smoking status, clinical onset of disease, pulmonary hypertension, disease severity based on spirometry, and hypoxemia. Results: A total of 239 cases were reviewed, of which 103 were nonsurvivors. A total of 45 (18%) were current smokers and 71 (29.7%) were ex smokers. Smoking was more common in non-survivors (56.3% p=

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a specific form of chronic progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause. It is common in adults and caries a poor prognosis. Very limited data is available from South East Asia on IPF. OBJECTIVES: To determine the clinical features and management of IPF in at tertiary care center of Pakistan METHODS: This is a retrospective study conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi Pakistan from January 2005 till December 2015 .All patients with the diagnosis of IPF on the basis of clinical, radiological features on HRCT and lung biopsy (where available) were included. The information regarding demographic variables, clinical presentation, and spirometry were recorded on preformed performa. RESULTS: 217 patients with diagnosed IPF were reviewed. 50.7% were males with a man age of 67±12 years. 192 (88%) were presented with cough and dyspnea as presenting symptoms.47 (21%) patients had diabetes and 39 (17%) were hypertensive.115(52%) were smoker.11(6%) patients were presented with subacute symptoms . 38 (17.5%) patients had clubbing.15(6.9%) were with COPD. On spirometry almost all had restrictive pattern. PAH is identified in 56 (25%) of patients. HRCT showed basilar involvement in almost all patients . Before 2012 137(63%) patients were on steroids and immunosuppressants. 35% (n=77) patients are on pirfenidone since its available in 2012. SUMMARY: This is the first largest study on IPF at tertiaty care centre in Pakistan that describes the clinical features, presentation and management of IPF.Further multicentre studies are required for further understanding and enhancing knowledge of the disease.

Background.Stroke is an important morbidity for low and middle income countries like Bangladesh. We established the first stroke registry in Bangladesh.Methods.Data was collected from stroke patients who were admitted in Department of Neurology of BIRDEM with first ever stroke, aged between 30 and 90 years. Patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhage, and posttrauma features were excluded.Results.Data was gathered from 679 stroke patients. Mean age was 60.6 years. Almost 68% of patients were male. Small vessel strokes were the most common accounting for 45.4% of all the patients followed by large vessel getting affected in 32.5% of the cases. Only 16 (2.4%) died during treatment, and 436 (64.2%) patients had their mRS score of 3 to 5. Age greater than 70 years was associated with poor outcome on discharge [OR 1.79 (95% CI: 1.05 to 3.06)] adjusting for gender, duration of hospital stay, HDL, and pneumonia. Age, mRS, systolic blood pressure, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and stroke severity explained the Barthel score.Conclusion.Mortality was low but most of patient had moderate to severe disability at discharge. Age, mRS, systolic blood pressure, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and stroke severity influenced the Barthel score.

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is a serious event in patients with liver cirrhosis and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Most common causative organisms of SBP are E.coli, streptococcus pneumonia and klebsiella. Liver cirrhosis has multifactorial etiology and the most common causes in our country are hepatitis C and hepatitis B. Objectives: (1) To observe the culture and sensitivity pattern of ascitic fluid in patients with liver cirrhosis. (2) To examine the resistance against various antibiotics. Period: 6 months. Setting: Study was conducted in department of Gastroenterology Hepatology in collaboration with department of microbiology of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. Materials and Methods: Sample size; 80 patients of liver cirrhosis with ascites. Sampling technique, Non probability purposive technique was adopted. Sample selection; By Inclusion and Exclusion criteria. Data collection procedure; Eighty patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites diagnosed on the basis of history, examination and ultrasound findings. After detailed history examination and full aseptic measures at least 10 ml of ascitic fluid in 20ml syringe with 16G needle was drawn in blood culture bottle at bed side and was sent to microbiology laboratory for culture and sensitivity and record of resistance and sensitivity against various antibiotics used to treat SBP. Data analysis procedure; Data was analyzed by SPSS version 10.Quantitative variables and were recorded as mean + S.D and qualitative variables, were recorded as frequencies and percentages. Results: Out of 80 patients with suspected SBP 38(47.5%) were culture positive while 42(52.5%) were culture negative. Among these 14(36.84%) showed gram positive growth and 20(52.63%) gram negative growth while 4(10.52%) showed anaerobes. Most of the organisms were resistant to ceftazidim, cefoperazone & augmentin while sensitive to levofloxacin, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and ciprofloxacin. Highest resistance was against ceoftazidim which was 36(95%) followed by cefoperazone 35(92%). Conclusions: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is devastating complication of liver cirrhosis and ascites and is a leading cause of disability and death in patients with chronic liver disease. Early diagnosis and treatment with proper antibiotics and dosage are necessary for better outcome.

AIM To study the effect of itopride on gastric accommodation, gastric emptying and drinking capacity in functional dyspepsia (FD). METHODS Randomized controlled trial was conducted to check the effect of itopride on gastric accommodation, gastric emptying, capacity of tolerating nutrient liquid and symptoms of FD. We recruited a total of 31 patients having FD on the basis of ROME III criteria. After randomization, itopride was received by 15 patients while 16 patients received placebo. Gastric accommodation was determined using Gastric Scintigraphy. 13C labeled octanoic breadth test was performed to assess gastric emptying. Capacity of tolerating nutrient liquid drink was checked using satiety drinking capacity test. The intervention group comprised of 150 mg itopride. Patients in both arms were followed for 4 wk. RESULTS Mean age of the recruited participant 33 years (SD = 7.6) and most of the recruited individuals, i.e., 21 (67.7%) were males. We found that there was no effect of itopride on gastric accommodation as measured at different in volumes in the itopride and control group with the empty stomach (P = 0.14), at 20 min (P = 0.38), 30 min (P = 0.30), 40 min (P = 0.43), 50 min (P = 0.50), 60 min (P = 0.81), 90 min (P = 0.25) and 120 min (P = 0.67). Gastric emptying done on a sub sample (n = 11) showed no significant difference (P = 0.58) between itopride and placebo group. There was no significant improvement in the capacity to tolerate liquid in the itopride group as compared to placebo (P = 0.51). Similarly there was no significant improvement of symptoms as assessed through a composite symptom score (P = 0.74). The change in QT interval in itopride group was not significantly different from placebo (0.10). CONCLUSION Our study found no effect of itopride on gastric accommodation, gastric emptying and maximum tolerated volume in patients with FD.

An electrical lug has to satisfy the design load bearing considerations. In order to validate the load bearing capability of the lug design finite element analysis with material nonlinearity is required while performing a limit design analysis. This requires considerable amount of time and computing resources. An alternate method of estimating the non linear response with the help of the linear analysis results by applying Neuber's rule thus saving significant amount of time and computational resources is explored and conditions for the applicability of the Neuber's rule are stated. The results from the full nonlinear analysis modeling the material nonlinearity and the materially nonlinear results obtained by applying the Neuber's rule to the linear analysis results are compared. The correlation is almost perfect at some regions while being approximate in other regions. The phenomenon is explored in detail and the causes for deviation from the predictions of Neuber's rule are gauged and the feasibility of using Neuber's rule for simplifying the materially nonlinear calculations is evaluated.

The transformer tank is designed to withstand pressure and vacuum loads as required by the standards and customer requirements. The analysis of the design requires finite element analysis since closed form solutions are not available for the transformer tank type structures. The transformer tank failure is usually due to excessive permanent deformation but sometimes the tank also develops cracks under pressure loads. Materially nonlinear analysis is required because rarely, if ever does transformer tank not sustain permanent deformations which are caused by material nonlinearity. But the analysts often resort to linear analysis as the nonlinear analyses are very time consuming. Generally Localized high stresses due to stress concentrations are often ignored since the steel used for tank is ductile and localized plasticity is usually alleviated by the plastic deformation of the plates. This analysis procedure poses problems as the stress concentration can sometimes cause local cracking of the tank. In this work, this phenomenon is investigated and guidelines to deal with the same are formulated. Also a case study is presented implementing the same.

Controlling behavior is often manifested as monitoring, coercing or threatening the partner. Globally, it has been experienced by the women (in range of 5.2% to 56.6%) and often results in their physical and mental ill health. To the best of our knowledge there is no published research on controlling behaviors. Therefore, a cross sectional study was conducted to measure the magnitude of the controlling behaviors and its association to some physical stress symptoms of women. The study was conducted in urban settings of Karachi, Pakistan, using simple random sampling technique. The data was collected by trained midwifes from the 759 married women of aged 25 to 60 years. The data was entered in Epi Info version 6 and analyzed on SPSS version 11. The study showed that the prevalence of pastyear physical and sexual violence is 68% while controlling behavior was experienced by 51.6% of the women. Among the different types of controlling behavior, refusal of the husband to give money for the household chores was the most common. The results of the bi-variate analysis showed that there was a significant association between women who had past-year physical or sexual violence experience with shoulder and neck pain, feeling worthlessness and suicidal thoughts. This study identified that most women in middle and lower socioeconomic groups are exposed to physical, sexual and psychological violence. Furthermore, we found that in addition to exposure to violence, women face controlling behaviors from their partner which restrict their decisions making toward their health.

Disasters, both natural and manmade, of colossal proportions have continued to beleaguer Pakistan especially over the last 3 decades. Response of the government agencies and that of the general community has improved with time but still can be best described as “reactive”. In the aftermath of the devastating 2005 earthquake corporate sector played its role as a key partner in disaster management. However, corporate sectors role has always been limited to contributions in the post disaster management efforts. The corporate sector possesses huge resources- human, material, technical and financial - and has significant presence in every region of the country. If effectively planned and encouraged the corporate sector can play a significant role in all the three phases i.e. Pre-disaster, disaster and post-disaster. This paper focuses on approaches executives can take to join forces with the relief organizations. A holistic strategy has been devised, that provides an effective framework of cooperation between the corporate sector and disaster management agencies for dealing with all the three disaster management phases. The study consists of discussions with the team leaders and members of disaster management agencies along with representatives of the corporate sector who had been actively involved in coordinating relief activities. Three major areas of public-private cooperation and partnership decisions have been identified over the life cycle of disaster management process i.e. awareness generation, disaster preparedness and mitigation planning for better disaster management.

General anxiety disorder is a chronic disorder. The prevalence of GAD is variable in different part of world, with some region having higher figure than others. It's uncertain to quote if the variation is due to genetic loading or environmental factors. It is twice more common in females than males. It has constituted substantial burden on global economy as well as over all quality of life of an individual suffering from GAD. The prognosis of GAD is mainly correlated with the environmental constraints. However, the efficacy of response to pharmacological intervention is better explained on biological model. Certain studies are done to widen the ground of genesis of GAD. Although, by and large it still remains debatable about distinctive gene causing GAD. Nonetheless, the alteration of gene coding of 5-HTTLPR of serotonin is relatively favorable finding in studies, both independently done on GAD and in parallel to other anxiety disorders and psychiatric morbidities.

BACKGROUND: Depression is projected to become the 2nd worldwide leading cause of disability by 2020. Marriage is one of the principal facets when it comes to interpersonal context of Depression. There is evidence supporting bidirectional casual effect between Depression and marital satisfaction. However the phenomenon of marital adjustment and its related variable has not been given much attention in the Pakistan. AIM OF THE STUDY: The primary objective is to determine the frequency of marital adjustment by using validated Urdu version of Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale in patients with Depression, who are under treatment at Psychiatry outpatient clinics at tertiary care hospital in Karachi. METHOD: Patient presenting in outpatient clinic and diagnosed with Depression for at least last 6 months according to ICD-10 criteria by Consultant psychiatrist, who were aged between 15-65 were included. Patients who had documented co morbid of substance use or any unstable serious general medical condition were excluded. The severity of Depression was evaluated by using Urdu validated Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Marital adjustment is determined by using Urdu validated version of Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. RESULT: Only 8.6% were well adjusted in their marital life, and all were females; most of them were living in nuclear setting, unemployed, severely depressed, educated above intermediate, aged above 30 years, and had duration of illness more than 12 months. The association of marital adjustment and severity of Depression is insignificant. It further revealed to have insubstantial difference on KANSAS scale between both genders. The odd ratio of duration of illness was 7.6, which indicated that the longer the duration of illness, the more positively it is interrelated to the marital adjustment. Being employed and above 30 years of age were inversely related to marital satisfaction with odd ratio of 6.1 and 5.4 respectively. However, the correlation between other independent variables and marital adjustment were insignificant in both genders. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the presence of high frequency i.e. 91.4% of marital dissatisfaction in Depression in both male and females, irrespective of their severity of Depression. No substantial difference was established between both the genders based on KANSAS score. Longer duration of illness, unemployment, and above 30 age have protective effect on quality of marital life. Key words: Marital adjustment, Depression, KANSAS scale for marital satisfaction, Hamilton Depression Rating scale Language: en