Fluid populations, immobile assets: Synchronizing infrastructure investments with Shifting democracy

Atif Ansar,Martin Pohlers 한국외국어대학교 국제지역연구센터 2014 International Area Studies Review Vol.17 No.2

In this article we reconstruct and test conventional economic theory’s deductive claims aboutthe nature of infrastructure assets and the demography of end-users who demand infrastructureoutputs. We find that the conventional theory puts forward three mutually reinforcingpropositions: that infrastructure assets have a natural tendency towards monopoly owing totechnical economies of scale; that infrastructure outputs (such as cubic metres of water orkilowatt–hours of electricity) and end-users of these outputs are essentially homogenous; andthat future demand of infrastructure is predictable with a reasonable degree of certainty. Theseconventional propositions in practice have promulgated a ‘bigger is better’ paradigm in the planningof infrastructure assets and networks that has entrenched the practice of building large immobileinfrastructure assets. In contrast, building on evidence from multiple cases – Berlin water authority(Berliner Wasserbetriebe) and World Bank-financed water supply projects in six developingcountries – we show that conventional economics theory has led to the development of poorplanning practices that are yielding unfavourable outcomes in infrastructure investments. Wefind that the heterogeneous populations of end-users (individuals, households and organizations)are fluid across space and time. This fluidity makes immobile assets subject to frequent andcostly obsolescence. Instead of being theorized as large immobile (and monopoly tending) assets,infrastructure assets should be viewed as modular, plug-and-play, increments. These modules canbe flexibly assembled over time to expand or contract capacity in specific places for specific users.

Economic Globalisation and Youth Unemployment – Evidence from African countries

Atif Awad 한국국제경제학회 2019 International Economic Journal Vol.33 No.2

The present study seeks to examine the impact of economic globalisation on youth unemployment for 50 African countries between the period 1994 and 2013. In addition to the economic globalisation measurements, the present study controlled the variables that represent the fluctuations in economic activates; demographic changes, a country’s economic size; the quality of governmental institutions; and labour market regulation. The results of the Arellano-Bond (AB) GMM technique showed that greater openness to global markets would reflect in a lower youth unemployment rate. Furthermore, the results revealed that rigidity in labour market regulations seemed to reduce the youth unemployment rate. In addition, urbanisation seemed to raise the youth unemployment rate. The findings supported contemporary calls to participate in international trade to facilitate the job creation process.

Geometric Correction for Uneven Quadric Projection Surfaces Using Recursive Subdivision of Bézier Patches

Atif Ahmed,Rehan Hafiz,Muhammad Murtaza Khan,조용주,차지훈 한국전자통신연구원 2013 ETRI Journal Vol.35 No.6

This paper presents a scheme for geometric correction of projected content for planar and quadratic projection surfaces. The scheme does not require the projection surface to be perfectly quadratic or planar and is therefore suitable for uneven low-cost commercial and home projection surfaces. An approach based on the recursive subdivision of second-order Bézier patches is proposed for the estimation of projection distortion owing to surface imperfections. Unlike existing schemes, the proposed scheme is completely automatic, requires no prior knowledge of the projection surface, and uses a single uncalibrated camera without requiring any physical markers on the projection surface. Furthermore, the scheme is scalable for geometric calibration of multiprojector setups. The efficacy of the proposed scheme is demonstrated using simulations and via practical experiments on various surfaces. A relative distortion error metric is also introduced that provides a quantitative measure of the suppression of geometric distortions, which occurs as the result of an imperfect projection surface.

Genetic Diversity in Wild Rose (Rosa) Species

Atif Riaz,Adnan Younis,Muhammad Aslam,Asif Ali 한국원예학회 2006 한국원예학회 기타간행물 Vol.- No.-

Prediction Impulsive Observer for Sampled-Data Linear Systems

Atif Qayyum 제어로봇시스템학회 2018 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2018 No.10

This paper introduces the novel idea of using a prediction type impulsive observer for sampled-data linear time invariant systems. After the successful introduction of the current impulsive observer, this new technique is a logical extension as existing in the case of discrete systems. Despite having only discrete output measurements at the sampling points, the continuous states of the plant are estimated. The proposed estimation is able to achieve deadbeat convergence for any non-pathological sampling time. The approach is simulated through a numerical example for its efficacy and applicability.

In vivo demonstration of enhanced binding between β-clamp and DnaE of pol III bearing consensus i-CBM

Atif A. Patoli,Bushra B. Patoli 한국유전학회 2019 Genes & Genomics Vol.41 No.6

Background Among several key protein–protein and protein–DNA interactions within the replisome, the interaction between β-clamp and the DNA polymerase (Pol) III is of crucial importance. This interaction is mediated by a five or six-residue conserved sequence of the DnaE subunit of Pol III, referred to as the Clamp Binding Motif (CBM). In E. coli, DnaE contains two CBMs designated as e-CBM and i-CBM. A consensus sequence (QL[S/D]LF) for the CBMs has previously been proposed and studies involving mutagenesis of both the CBMs have evaluated their protein-binding properties. Surface Plasmon Resonance has been used to show that replacing i-CBM in DnaE with the consensus sequence enhances its binding to β-clamp 120-fold. Objective The current study was aimed to evaluate in vivo interaction between DnaE bearing the consensus i-CBM and β-clamp. Method The C-terminal 405 residues of DnaE, bearing either the consensus i-CBM or the WT i-CBM, with β-clamp were co-expressed in E. coli followed by co-purification of the protein complexes. The interaction was assessed by the ability of the co-expressed proteins to form stable complexes during both affinity and gel filtration chromatography. Result The interaction of β-clamp with DnaEΔ755M containing the consensus i-CBM was found to be more stable than with WT DnaEΔ755, consistent with the in vitro data previously reported. Conclusion The presence of the pieces of sheared DNA generated during sonication promote the interaction of DnaEΔ755M with β-clamp by binding the OB-fold of DnaEΔ755M and β-clamp and serves as a bridge between them.

A new anti-Helicobacter pylori juglone from Reynoutria japonica

Atif Ali Khan Khalil,박우성,Jeehoon Lee,김혜진,Kazi Marjahan Akter,Young-Min Goo,Ji-Yeong Bae,Man-Seog Chun,Junghwan Kim,Mi-Jeong Ahn 대한약학회 2019 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.42 No.6

A 70% ethanol extract from the root portion of Reynoutria japonica afforded one new and three known juglone derivatives, namely, 2-methoxy-6-acetyl-7-methyljuglone (1), 2-ethoxy-6-acetyl-7-methyljuglone (2), 2-methoxy-7-acetonyljuglone (3), and 3-acetyl-7-methoxy-2-methyljuglone (4) together with two phenolics (5 and 6), an anthraquinone (7), a stilbene (8) and a phthalide (9). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic studies including IR, MS, and 1H, 13C, 2D NMR spectra. Compound 3 is a new compound in nature, and compounds 4–6 have been isolated for the first time from R. japonica. The isolates were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against three strains (43504, 51, and 26695) of Helicobacter pylori. The four isolated juglone derivatives (1–4) showed potent growth inhibitory activity. Among them, compounds 1–3 exhibited stronger inhibitory activity than those of the positive controls, juglone and metronidazole, for the three strains and that of another reference, clarithromycin, for the 43504 and 51 strains. Specifically, the new juglone compound 3 displayed the most potent antibacterial activity against all three strains, 43504, 51, and 26695, with MIC values of 0.06, 0.06 and 0.13 μM, respectively, and MIC50 values of 0.14, 0.11 and 0.15 μM, respectively.

Biowall for Indoor Air Quality Management

Atif Mustafa,Sadia Khan,Qazi Muneeb Ur Rehman 한국대기환경학회 2021 한국대기환경학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2021 No.10

Globally, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been recognized as potential risk for dwellers as poor IAQ has a direct impact on overall health and productivity of occupants. With the onset of Covid-19 pandemic people spend 95-99% of their time indoors. Engineering control strategies for IAQ management include ventilation and air purification using filters. Biowall is a botanical air filter that utilizes the natural capability of plants to purify indoor air by reducing pollutants. A biowall was locally designed, fabricated and tested for IAQ management at NED University campus. Indoor air quality can be monitored in real-time and biowall components like fans and pumps can be controlled by application of Internet of Things (IoT). Real-time monitoring includes on-site display of air quality parameters: total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon dioxide (CO₂), humidity and temperature. The real-time air quality can also be viewed using a specially developed mobile application. Initial results showed that the locally manufactured biowall improved the indoor air quality TVOCs (40% reduction) and CO₂ (5% reduction).

COVID-Beat: a low-cost breath monitoring approach for people in quarantine during the pandemic

Atif Muhammad,Muralidharan Shapna,Ko Heedong,Yoo Byounghyun 한국CDE학회 2022 Journal of computational design and engineering Vol.9 No.3

Due to COVID-19, people have to adapt to the new lifestyle until scientists develop a permanent solution for this pandemic. Monitoring the respiration rate is very important for a COVID-infected person because the Coronavirus infects the pulmonary system of the person. Two problems that arise while monitoring the breath rate are: sensors are contact based and expensive for mass deployment. A conventional wearable breath rate monitoring system burdens the COVID-affected patient and exposes the caregivers to possible transmission. A contactless low-cost breath monitoring system is required, which monitors and records the breath rate continuously. This paper proposes a breath rate monitoring system called COVID-Beat, a wireless, low-cost, and contactless Wi-Fi-based continuous breath monitoring system. This sensor is developed using off-the-shelf commonly available embedded Internet of Thing device ESP32, and the performance is validated by conducting extensive experimentation. The breath rate is estimated by extracting the channel state information of the subcarriers. The system estimates the breath rate with a maximum accuracy of 99% and a minimum accuracy of 91%, achieved by advanced subcarrier selection and fusion method. The experimental results show superior performance over the existing breath rate monitoring technologies.

Techno-Economic Evaluation of the Centralized Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Off-Grid Rural Electrification

Atif Naveed Khan,Pervaiz Akhter,Gussan Maaz Mufti 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Smart Home Vol.10 No.5

Pakistan is an energy deficient country and the current power crisis of Pakistan is hampering its economic development. Pakistan is naturally benefitted with different renewable energy resources; out of which solar and wind energy are the main highlights. This research work will provide an assessment of the renewable energy potential of the Baluchistan region. A comparison of the economic and financial analysis for a centralized hybrid renewable energy system has been simulated by using Homer software. Three cases have been proposed in which centralized standalone solar PV system, centralized standalone wind energy system and a hybrid combination of both centralized standalone solar and wind energy system have been studied. Homer software has been used to devise the most optimal solution. The simulations confirm that the best optimal solution is the hybrid renewable energy system for the rural electrification of the proposed region.