| 1. |
- Mallhi, Tauqeer Hussain, et al.
(författare)
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Atypical Complications during the Course of COVID-19 : A Comprehensive Review
- 2024
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Ingår i: Medicina. - : MDPI. - 1010-660X .- 1648-9144. ; 60:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory disease, but numerous studies have indicated the involvement of various organ systems during the course of illness. We conducted a comprehensive review of atypical complications of COVID-19 with their incidence range (IR) and their impact on hospitalization and mortality rates. We identified 97 studies, including 55 research articles and 42 case studies. We reviewed four major body organ systems for various types of atypical complications: (i) Gastro-intestinal (GI) and hepatobiliary system, e.g., bowel ischemia/infarction (IR: 1.49-83.87%), GI bleeding/hemorrhage (IR: 0.47-10.6%), hepatic ischemia (IR: 1.0-7.4%); (ii) Neurological system, e.g., acute ischemic stroke/cerebral venous sinus thrombosis/cerebral hemorrhage (IR: 0.5-90.9%), anosmia (IR: 4.9-79.6%), dysgeusia (IR: 2.8-83.38%), encephalopathy/encephalitis with or without fever and hypoxia (IR: 0.19-35.2%); (iii) Renal system, e.g., acute kidney injury (AKI)/acute renal failure (IR: 0.5-68.8%); (iv) Cardiovascular system, e.g., acute cardiac injury/non-coronary myocardial injury (IR: 7.2-55.56%), arrhythmia/ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (IR: 5.9-16.7%), and coagulopathy/venous thromboembolism (IR: 19-34.4%). This review encourages and informs healthcare practitioners to keenly monitor COVID-19 survivors for these atypical complications in all major organ systems and not only treat the respiratory symptoms of patients. Post-COVID effects should be monitored, and follow-up of patients should be performed on a regular basis to check for long-term complications.
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| 2. |
- Yu, Hua, et al.
(författare)
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A contemporary issue of micro-foundation of csr, employee pro-environmental behavior and environmental performance toward energy saving, carbon emission reduction and recycling
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The contemporary literature has largely addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the macro or institutional level, whereas its effect at the micro-level is largely ignored. In addition, contemporary researchers have also ignored the importance of employee pro-environmental behavior to reduce the environmental footprint of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With this back-ground, the present study attempts to decrease the environmental footprint of the SME sector of China by implementing CSR at the micro-level through the involvement of employees because employees spend a significant amount of their time at workplaces, and hence their environment-related behavior may significantly contribute to improve the natural environment. In this regard, here we examined the impact of the micro-foundation of CSR on SMEs' environmental performance with mediating effect of employees’ pro-environmental behavior. The data were collected from the different organizations in China. Our sample constitutes a supervisor–subordinate dyad from which we collected 562 filled questionnaires (281 from each). We used the structural equation modeling technique using AMOS software for data analysis, the results show that CSR, directly and indirectly, through employee’s pro-environmental behavior affects the environmental performance of SMEs, and employee pro-environmental behavior partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the present study are helpful for policymakers of the SME sector of China to address widespread environmental issues caused by their business operations.
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| 3. |
- Anwar, Muhammad Waseem, et al.
(författare)
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A Model-Driven Framework for Design and Analysis of Vehicle Suspension Systems
- 2022
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Ingår i: <em>Communications in Computer and Information Science</em>. - Cham : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 9783031163012 ; , s. 197-208
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The design and implementation of vehicle suspension systems is complex and time-consuming process that usually leads to production delays. Although different Model Driven Engineering (MDE) technologies like EAST-ADL/AUTOSAR are frequently applied to expedite vehicle development process, a framework particularly dealing with design and analysis of vehicle suspension is hard to find in literature. This rises the need of a framework that not only supports the analysis of suspension system at higher abstraction level but also complements the existing standards like EAST-ADL. In this article, a Model driven framework for Vehicle Suspension System (MVSS) is proposed. Particularly, a meta-model containing major vehicle suspension aspects is introduced. Subsequently, a modeling editor is developed using Eclipse Sirius platform. This allows the modeling of both simple as well as complex vehicle suspension systems with simplicity. Moreover, Object Constraint Language (OCL) is utilized to perform early system analysis in modeling phase. Furthermore, the target MATLAB-Simulink models are generated from source models, using model-to-text transformations, to perform advanced system analysis. The application of proposed framework is demonstrated through real life Audi A6L Hydraulic active suspension use case. The initial results indicate that proposed framework is highly effective for the design and analysis of vehicle suspension systems. In addition to this, the analysis results could be propagated to EAST-ADL toolchains to support full vehicle development workflow.
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| 4. |
- Khan, Owais, et al.
(författare)
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A Novel Densely Packed 4 × 4 MIMO Antenna Design for UWB Wireless Applications
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sensors. - : MDPI AG. - 1424-8220. ; 23:21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, a compact 4-port UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna is proposed. A low profile FR-4 substrate is used as a dielectric material with the dimensions of 58 × 58 mm2 (0.52λ × 0.52λ) at 2.8 GHz and a standard thickness of 1.6 mm. The proposed design characterizes an impedance bandwidth starting from 2.8 to 12.1 GHz (124.1%). Each of the four elements of the proposed MIMO antenna configuration consists of a monopole antenna with PG (partial ground) that has a slot at its center. The corner of each patch (radiator) and ground slot are rounded for impedance matching. Each unit cell is in an orthogonal orientation, forming a quad-port MIMO antenna system. For reference, the partial ground of each unit cell is connected meticulously with the others. The simulated results of the proposed quad-port MIMO antenna design were configured and validated by fabrication and testing. The proposed Quad-port MIMO design has a 6.57 dBi peak gain and 97% radiation efficiency. The proposed design has good isolation below 15 dB in the lower frequency range and below 20 dB in the higher frequency range. The design has a measured ECC (Envelop Correlation Co-efficient) of 0.03 and DG (Diversity Gain) of 10 dB. The value of TARC (Total Active Reflection Coefficient) over the entire operating band is less than 10 dB. Moreover, the design maintained CCL (Channel Capacity Loss) < 0.4 bits/sec/Hz and MEG (Mean Effective Gain) < 3 dB. Based on the obtained results, the proposed design is suitable for the intended high data rate UWB wireless communication portable devices.
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| 5. |
- Malik, Yashpal S., et al.
(författare)
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SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Extrapolation for COVID Diagnosis and Vaccine Development
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2296-889X. ; 8
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) led to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affecting nearly 71.2 million humans in more than 191 countries, with more than 1.6 million mortalities as of 12 December, 2020. The spike glycoprotein (S-protein), anchored onto the virus envelope, is the trimer of S-protein comprised of S1 and S2 domains which interacts with host cell receptors and facilitates virus-cell membrane fusion. The S1 domain comprises of a receptor binding domain (RBD) possessing an N-terminal domain and two subdomains (SD1 and SD2). Certain regions of S-protein of SARS-CoV-2 such as S2 domain and fragment of the RBD remain conserved despite the high selection pressure. These conserved regions of the S-protein are extrapolated as the potential target for developing molecular diagnostic techniques. Further, the S-protein acts as an antigenic target for different serological assay platforms for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Virus-specific IgM and IgG antibodies can be used to detect viral proteins in ELISA and lateral flow immunoassays. The S-protein of SARS-CoV-2 has very high sequence similarity to SARS-CoV-1, and the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against SARS-CoV-1 cross-react with S-protein of SARS-CoV-2 and neutralize its activity. Furthermore, in vitro studies have demonstrated that polyclonal antibodies targeted against the RBD of S-protein of SARS-CoV-1 can neutralize SARS-CoV-2 thus inhibiting its infectivity in permissive cell lines. Research on coronaviral S-proteins paves the way for the development of vaccines that may prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and alleviate the current global coronavirus pandemic. However, specific neutralizing mAbs against SARS-CoV-2 are in clinical development. Therefore, neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 S-protein are promising specific antiviral therapeutics for pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We hereby review the approaches taken by researchers across the world to use spike gene and S-glycoprotein for the development of effective diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics against SARA-CoV-2 infection the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| 6. |
- Safdar, Aqsa, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of EKFC, Pakistani CKD-EPI and 2021 Race-Free CKD-EPI creatinine equations in South Asian CKD population : A study from Pakistani CKD community cohort
- 2024
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 19:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionSouth Asian individuals possess a high risk of chronic kidney disease. There is a need to study, evaluate, and compare the newly suggested glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations for accurate CKD diagnosis, staging, and drug dosing. This study aimed to (1) evaluate the European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC), Pakistani CKD-EPI, and 2021 Race-Free CKD-EPI creatinine equation in the South Asian population with CKD and (2) to examine the expected implications on both CKD classification as well as End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) prevalence across these equations in South Asian population.MethodsWe carried out a cross-sectional investigation on 385 participants, a CKD cohort ≥ 18 years, at Allama Iqbal Medical College, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Serum creatinine was measured by Jaffe’s method and rGFR was measured by inulin clearance.ResultsPakistani CKD-EPI has a lower median difference at -1.33 ml/min/1.73m2 elevated precision (IQR) at 2.33 (-2.36, -0.03) and higher P30 value at 89.35% than 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC equations. The mean difference (ml/min/1.73m2), 95% agreement limits (ml/min/1.73m2) of CKD-EPI PK: -1.18, -6.14, 2021 CKD-EPI: -5.98, -13.24 and EKFC: -5.62, -13.01 (P <0.001). These equations highly correlated to rGFR (P <0.001). An upward re-classification in GFR categories was shown by 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC compared to the Pakistani CKD-EPI equation. However, there was an exception regarding the G5 category, where an elevated count of 217 (56.36%) was shown for CKD-EPI PK. The prevalence of ESRD was seen in entire age groups and prevailed among females more than in males overall equations.ConclusionsPakistani CKD-EPI exhibited outstanding performance, while 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC demonstrated poor performances and could not show an adequate advantage for both CKD classification and prevalence of ESRD compared to Pakistani CKD-EPI. Therefore, Pakistani CKD-EPI appears optimal for this region and warrants future validation in other South Asian countries. In contrast, suitable measures must be implemented in Pakistani laboratories.
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| 7. |
- Safdar, A., et al.
(författare)
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MoDLF-A Model-Driven Deep Learning Framework for Autonomous Vehicle Perception (AVP)
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings - 25th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2022. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. - 9781450394666 ; , s. 187-198
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Modern vehicles are extremely complex embedded systems that integrate software and hardware from a large set of contributors. Modeling standards like EAST-ADL have shown promising results to reduce complexity and expedite system development. However, such standards are unable to cope with the growing demands of the automotive industry. A typical example of this phenomenon is autonomous vehicle perception (AVP) where deep learning architectures (DLA) are required for computer vision (CV) tasks like real-time object recognition and detection. However, existing modeling standards in the automotive industry are unable to manage such CV tasks at a higher abstraction level. Consequently, system development is currently accomplished through modeling approaches like EAST-ADL while DLA-based CV features for AVP are implemented in isolation at a lower abstraction level. This significantly compromises productivity due to integration challenges. In this article, we introduce MoDLF-A Model-Driven Deep learning Framework to design deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) architectures for AVP tasks. Particularly, Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is leveraged to propose a metamodel along with a conformant graphical modeling workbench to model DCNNs for CV tasks in AVP at a higher abstraction level. Furthermore, Model-To-Text (M2T) transformations are provided to generate executable code for MATLAB® and Python. The framework is validated via two case studies on benchmark datasets for key AVP tasks. The results prove that MoDLF effectively enables model-driven architectural exploration of deep convnets for AVP system development while supporting integration with renowned existing standards like EAST-ADL.
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| 8. |
- Ullah, Zia, et al.
(författare)
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Achieving organizational social sustainability through electronic performance appraisal systems : The moderating influence of transformational leadership
- 2021
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Ingår i: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organizational sustainability is the reality which is considered essential for the success of all kind of organizations. Researchers and academicians struggle to conceptualize this phenomenon while practitioners endeavor to achieve it on the ground. Much has been done in resource-affluent countries of the world, whereas in the least developed countries, social sustainability is now becoming a new normal. The purpose of this research was to understand the social perspective of organizational sustainability and the roles of electronic performance appraisal and transformational leadership in shaping it. Data were collected from the healthcare sector through the administration of close-ended questionnaires to a randomly selected sample; 320 out of 400 questionnaires with an acceptable degree of accuracy were selected for statistical treatment. Inferential statistics were applied using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results confirmed the existence of definite contributions of the electronic performance appraisal system and transformational leadership towards organizational sustainability. However, our findings surprisingly ruled out the moderating role of transformational leadership on the cause and effect relationship between electronic performance appraisal and organizational social sustainability. In the face of a scarcity of related literature in the given context and due to the partial novelty of the model, the findings of this study add significantly to the existing bank of literature in the field. It will also be handy for the guidance of practitioners who are engaged in sustainability management.
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