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Negotiation means reaching a mutual consensus with the aim of resolving the disputes with acceptable solutions for all the parties. Negotiation is common in day-to-day affairs, but is of more significance in the areas, like contracts, business deals and domestic problems. The literature shows that negotiation is a communication process and provides a medium for the opposite sides to sit across the table and resolve the disputes and conflicts. Contrary to this, the available literature emphasis more on the decision-making aspect of the negotiation, but lacks discussion on the communication processes, which can in fact make or break a deal, project, or a contract. To address this issue, the aim of this study was to investigate the communication processes in an actual negotiation scenario. For this purpose, the communication processes in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) were studied and 30 interviews were conducted from the project team and the affected persons. Data was analyzed using applications of constructivist grounded theory which leads to the formation of Communication as a major theme of study. The results exhibit that communication serves as a medium for exchange of information and has an integral part in negotiation processes. Meetings, interactions, discussions, and networking emerged as major themes of communication in this study, and it mediates the negotiation process and leads to the resolution of disputes. Therefore, effective communication plays a significant role in negotiation, reaching agreements and resolving disputes. This research studied negotiation and communication in BRT project only. Further studies could analyze the negotiation processes in other projects and scenarios to further elaborate mediation of communication in negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the awareness, attitude and knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among university-enrolled medical and non-medical undergraduate students of Pakistan. Methods: Cross-sectional online survey-based study was conducted across institutes in Pakistan from December, 2022 to January, 2023. The study involved university-enrolled undergraduate students across the country. The structured questionnaire was disseminated via Google forms. For statistical analysis, SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data by applying independent sample t-tests and ANOVA. Results: A total of 249 responses were received. After the exclusion of two responses, the overall awareness score of participants was found to be 2.49 ± 1.33, attitude score of 4.09 ± 1.74, and knowledge score of 3.51 ± 2.13. Female respondents, medical students, unmarried (single), private institutes, and respondents with educated parents achieved relatively higher scores. The overall difference in awareness scores among different regions of Pakistan was also significant (p <0.05). Gender, region, and parental literacy rate also showed effects on participants' basic life support (BLS) and CPR knowledge (p <0.05). Conclusions: Overall knowledge and awareness were unsatisfactory and inadequate in university-enrolled undergraduate students, with no one getting a complete score on very basic knowledge questions. Significant differences in awareness, attitude, and knowledge among different regions, genders, and parental literacy rates were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) is a widely used brominated flame retardant; however, it is a persistent organic pollutant as well as affects the human thyroid hormones and causes cancer. However, the degradation of HBCD has received little attention from researchers. Due to its bioaccumulative and hazardous properties, an appropriate strategy for its remediation is required. In this study, we investigated the biodegradation of HBCD using Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 under optimized conditions. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) was implemented for the optimization of the physical degradation parameters of HBCD. S. oneidensis MR-1 showed the best degradation performance at a temperature of 30 °C, pH 7, and agitation speed of 115 rpm, with an HBCD concentration of 1125 μg/L in mineral salt medium (MSM). The strain tolerated up to 2000 μg/L HBCD. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis identified three intermediates, including 2-bromo dodecane, 2,7,10-trimethyldodecane, and 4-methyl-1-decene. The results provide an insightful understanding of the biodegradation of HBCD by S. oneidensis MR-1 under optimized conditions and could pave the way for further eco-friendly applications. Key points: • HBCD biodegradation by Shewanella oneidensis • Optimization of HBCD biodegradation by the Box-Behnken analysis • Identification of useful metabolites from HBCD degradation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless communications, the Ambient Backscatter Communication (AmBC) technique is a promising approach, detecting user presence accurately at low power levels. At low power or a low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), there is no dedicated power for the users. Instead, they can transmit information by reflecting the ambient Radio Frequency (RF) signals in the spectrum. Therefore, it is essential to detect user presence in the spectrum for the transmission of data without loss or without collision at a specific time. In this paper, the authors proposed a novel SpectrumSensing (SS) detection technique in the Cognitive Radio (CR) spectrum, by developing the AmBC. Novel Matched Filter Detection with Inverse covariance (MFDI), Cyclostationary Feature Detection with Inverse covariance (CFDI) and Hybrid Filter Detection with Inverse covariance (HFDI) approaches are used with AmBC to detect the presence of users at low power levels. The performance of the three detection techniques is measured using the parameters of Probability of Detection (PD), Probability of False Alarms (Pfa), Probability of Missed Detection (Pmd), sensing time and throughput at low power or low SNR. The results show that there is a significant improvement via the HFDI technique for all the parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision making under exigencies and extreme circumstances are faced by almost all firms, businesses and individuals. Smart organizations have a backup and contingency plan that is crafted for if the original plan fails to deliver. The beauty of improvisation is that it enables one to act on the spot, without any homework. The purpose of the study is to know how employees, managers and decisions makers react to challenging situations when the routine plan does not work, what is their reaction to uncertainties and if they deviate from standard operating procedures, what cost do they pay for it. Decision makers from organizations with different functions, objectives and goals were investigated. Interviews were conducted with the decision-makers and employees of diverse organizations. The data shows that improvisation, training and resources affect decision making process in unexpected situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybrid cloud is a secure alternative for enterprises to exploit the benefits of cloud computing to overcome the privacy and security concerns of data in IoT networks. However, in hybrid cloud IoT, sensitive items such as keys in the private cloud can become compromised due to internal attacks. Once these keys are compromised, the encrypted data in the public cloud are no longer secure. This work proposes a secure multilevel privacy-protection scheme based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) for hybrid cloud IoT. The scheme secures sensitive information in the private cloud against internal compromises. GAN is used to generate a mask with the input of sensory data-transformation values and a trapdoor key. GAN's effectiveness is thoroughly assessed using Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), computation time, retrieval time, and storage overhead frameworks. The obtained results reveal that the security scheme being proposed is found to require a negligible storage overhead and a 4% overhead for upload/retrieval compared to the existing works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cutting-edge technologies, such as MIMO, cognitive radio, multi-carrier modulation, and network coding, have been proposed for wireless communication to satisfy needs for a higher data rate in the upcoming time, leading to improved quality of service (QoS) regardless of the weather. Orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiple access techniques are two categories into which multiple access technologies can be subdivided. Large networking with effective implementation of wireless devices is supported by non-orthogonal multiple access techniques. Massive NOMA has been implemented to advance access efficiency by permitting several users to share a similar spectrum. Because of the robust co-channel interference between mobile users presented by NOMA, it offers important tasks for system model and resources management. In this study, two additional sets of demanding codes are explored. Multi-user shared access methods and expanded multi-user shared access (EMUSA) methods are both employed. In the MUSA technique, an algorithm is used for the allocation of resources to achieve minimum intercorrelation to the maximum extent in 5G networks. A novel idea proposed in this paper is to create complex codes starting from PN codes (i.e., ePN), thereby achieving promising results in the overall system performance. The first part of this paper describes the fundamental principles of MUSA, and in the next part the main idea of the proposed technique will be studied in detail. Using Monte-Carlo MATLAB simulation, the performance of the suggested approach is assessed in terms of BER vs. SNR. The efficiency of the proposed approach is evaluated in various settings, and the outcomes are contrasted with those of the traditional CDMA technique, using parameters, such as the number of active users and antennas at the receiver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]