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The idea of learner autonomy (LA) has been widely referred to in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) for more than three decades. Only limited work has been conducted on the teacher's perception of LA. The present study was conducted to focus on this gap. It investigated Pakistani English university teachers' beliefs about LA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 16 teachers from four public universities of Punjab. Content analysis informed that majority of teachers had a little familiarity with the concept. Learner autonomy was defined as learner independence in terms of ability or authority to take control of their learning, as the learner's responsibility alone or shared, as a technique and as a process. Teachers' opinion was divided upon the idea of the innate nature of autonomy. However, the majority found autonomy supportive learning environment quite crucial to learner's autonomy. It can be implied that teachers need an awareness of the nature and significance of autonomy in their learners for successful language learning.

Cystic Echinococcosis is a parasitic disease caused by the larvae of Echinococcus granulosus. The transmission of E. granulosus is affected by environmental changes and anthropogenic factors, which are in turn influenced by changes in the spatial and population dynamics of animals. The deterministic model can be extended stochastically to address the low prevalence rate, which is often observed in small mammal host populations, and to account for complex processes that reflect the highly widespread disease reservoirs and non-random mixing, such as the heterogeneous contact patterns of susceptible hosts with infectious materials. In this study, a mathematical model based on a set of differential equations that define the continuous transition between different classes was used is not regulated by host. The findings indicate that each protoscolex has an equal chance of developing into a worm and creating a dispersed population. Empirical modeling can be used to represent the frequency distribution of the number of parasites in each host using the negative binomial distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensory impaired individuals often face mental disorders which threatens theirpsychological wellbeing. This research explored subjective wellbeing, social support and resilience among sensory impaired individuals. Crosssectional research design along with quantitative research methodology was utilized. Sample of 50 individuals was recruited through convenience sampling technique. Individuals with mild sensory impairment and both genders were enlisted as sample. The participants with severe impairment were excluded. The self-developed standardized scales were utilized for the data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of data. Results revealed that there is positive correlation between subjective wellbeing (R=.712, P=.000) and social support (R=.487, P=.000). While positive correlation was revealed amid resilience (R=.282, P=.000) & social support (R=.485, P=.000). The outcome of linear regression analysis, elucidated by an R-squared value of 0.596. The research findings show a significant influence of social support & resilience on subjective wellbeing of sensory impaired individuals, fostering deeper comprehension on their inter relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learner autonomy has been a focus of research for last more than three decades. Teachers are considered a potential instrument in bringing change but their role, however, received little space which is observed recently, particularly in developing learner autonomy in language classrooms. This paper examines the beliefs of Pakistani English teachers about the feasibility of autonomy in learners at BS level and investigates the potential socio-cultural constraints restricting the development of learner autonomy. A sample of 16 English language teachers was selected from four public universities and data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Data were later analysed thematically. Pakistani learners and teachers believed that learner autonomy is a new concept. Culture has been found playing a major role in limiting the role of learner autonomy. The present study indicates that perceived barriers should be removed for successful promotion of autonomy in learners.

The smart wearable devices that can track the fitness activities are getting famous these days due to their easy-to-use features. The fitness trackers can work for an individual in a promising manner, provided that the user is well familiar with the device and is committed with the timelines. Several reports have provided evidence that these smart wearable devices have not showed promising results and in most of the cases, people have stopped using them, few weeks after the purchase. There are several reasons linked with this response. During this research, we have worked on the correlations of weight loss via smart device with the age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and ideal body weight (IBW), with the aid of gradient boosted decision trees (XGBoost) and support vector machine (SVM) learning tools. XGBoost and SVM are capable of dealing with complex datasets, with higher frequencies, and for data emerging from multiple sources. These machine learning tools use kernel functions for the clustering and other classification measures, and are thus better as compared to the logistic methods. Next, the time series forecasting tools are discussed with the Bayesian hyperparametric optimization. The time series of the weight loss monitoring of each individual, depicted in this manner, provided complex fractal patterns, with reduction in amplitude, with the passage of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wedding Invitation is one of the significant text genres. Following genre analysis approach and discourse analysis (DA), the present research analysed the wedding invitation genres in Pakistan to explore generic structures, as well as the role played by the broader socio-cultural norms and values in shaping this genre. Therefore, a corpus of 50 wedding invitations in Urdu and English was randomly selected from cards received from January to June 2018. The results of this genre analysis revealed seven obligatory and one optional move in Urdu, while six obligatory and one optional move in English invitations. Through discourse analysis, it has been uncovered how religious association and cultural influence in Pakistani society shape textual selection. Little variation was displayed in the invitations of the two languages, presumably due to regional cultural reflections and recent influence of western values. A comparison of Pakistani and UK invitations showed differences not only in move selection but also in lexical choices which are shaped by the respective cultures.