The Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Afghanistan and its Socio-economic Impacts on Pakistan

( Tahir Mehmood ) 순천대학교 인문학술원 2022 인문학술 Vol.8 No.-

이 논문은 9/11 테러 공격과 미국의 아프가니스탄 침공 이후 아프가니스탄의 글로벌 테러와의 전쟁(GWOT)에서 파키스탄의 역할을 다룬다. 파키스탄은 미국이 주도한 아프가니스탄 글로벌 테러와의 전쟁에 비 나토 동맹국으로 합류했으며, 인명 및 경제적 비용 측면에서 큰 대가를 치렀다. 파키스탄이 미국 진영에 합류하기로 한 결정은 파키스탄 경제와 사회에 막대한 영향을 미친 아프가니스탄 외교 정책의 유턴이었다. 파키스탄과 미국의 협력은 외국 자본의 유입을 의미했다. 다른 한편으로 분쟁은 지역을 불안정하게 만들고 국가 자체의 안보 상황을 악화시켰다. 테러리스트 공격, 갱 폭력, 밀수 등이 만연했다. 이 연구의 기본 목적은 아프가니스탄 내 글로벌 테러와의 전쟁이 파키스탄에 미친 사회적, 경제적 영향을 설명하는 것이다. 현재까지에 대한 대부분의 연구는 글로벌 테러와의 전쟁이 아프가니스탄 자체 또는 서구에 미친 영향에만 초점을 맞추면서, 나머지 지역에 미치는 파급 효과를 무시했다. 이 논문은 파키스탄이 아프가니스탄의 글로벌 테러와의 전쟁에 영향을 가장 많이 받는 국가 중 하나라고 결론내린다. This paper examines the role of Pakistan in the Global war on Terror (GWOT) in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan joined the US led GWOT as a non-NATO ally in Afghanistan and paid a heavy price in terms of human and economic costs, partially due to a perceived military threat from the US. Pakistan’s decision to join the US camp was a U-turn in its foreign policy towards Afghanistan which had a massive impact on Pakistani economy and society. On the one hand, Pakistan’s cooperation with the USA meant an influx of foreign capital. However, on the other hand, the conflict also destabilized the region and thereby worsened the security situation in the country itself. Terrorist attacks, gang violence, smuggling, and such became rampant. The basic purpose of this research is to outline the social and economic impacts of the GWOT in Afghanistan on Pakistan, because, until now, most research on the GWOT focused on the impact it had on Afghanistan itself, or on the West. It thereby neglected its spill-over effects in the rest of the region. This is primarily a descriptive historical study, employing a document-based content analysis. It concludes that Pakistan is one of the worst affected countries by the GWOT in Afghanistan, due to the instability it caused.

Variable selection of spectroscopic data through monitoring both location and dispersion of PLS loading weights

Mehmood Tahir,Turk Arslan Munir 한국통계학회 2021 Journal of the Korean Statistical Society Vol.50 No.4

High dimensional data sets against the small sample size is essential for most of the sciences. The variable selection contributes to a better prediction of real-life phenomena. A multivariate approach called partial least squares (PLS) has the potential to model the high dimensional data, where the sample size is usually smaller than the number of variables. Truncation for variables selection in PLS T−PLS is considered a reference method. T−PLS and many others only monitors the location of PLS loading weights for variable selection. In the current article, we propose to monitor both location and dispersion of PLS loading weights for variable selection over the high dimensional spectral data. The proposed PLS variants are based on location, dispersion, both location and dispersion and at least location or dispersion monitoring of PLS loading weights, and are denoted by X−PLS, S−PLS, X&S−PLS and X|S−PLS respectively. Proposed PLS variants are compared with standard PLS and T−PLS through the Monte Carlo simulation of 100 runs on simulated and real data sets which includes corn, milk, and oil contents prediction based on spectroscopic data. X&S−PLS shows the best capability in selecting the real variables over the simulated data. The validated RMSE comparison indicates X|S−PLS and X&S−PLS outperforms compared to other methods in predicting corn, milk, and oil contents. X&S−PLS selects the smallest number of variables. Interestingly, selected variables by X&S−PLS are more consistent compared to all other methods. Hence X&S−PLS appears a potential candidate for variable selection in high dimensional data.

Multivariate Procedure for Variable Selection and Classification of High Dimensional Heterogeneous Data

Mehmood, Tahir,Rasheed, Zahid The Korean Statistical Society 2015 Communications for statistical applications and me Vol.22 No.6

The development in data collection techniques results in high dimensional data sets, where discrimination is an important and commonly encountered problem that are crucial to resolve when high dimensional data is heterogeneous (non-common variance covariance structure for classes). An example of this is to classify microbial habitat preferences based on codon/bi-codon usage. Habitat preference is important to study for evolutionary genetic relationships and may help industry produce specific enzymes. Most classification procedures assume homogeneity (common variance covariance structure for all classes), which is not guaranteed in most high dimensional data sets. We have introduced regularized elimination in partial least square coupled with QDA (rePLS-QDA) for the parsimonious variable selection and classification of high dimensional heterogeneous data sets based on recently introduced regularized elimination for variable selection in partial least square (rePLS) and heterogeneous classification procedure quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). A comparison of proposed and existing methods is conducted over the simulated data set; in addition, the proposed procedure is implemented to classify microbial habitat preferences by their codon/bi-codon usage. Five bacterial habitats (Aquatic, Host Associated, Multiple, Specialized and Terrestrial) are modeled. The classification accuracy of each habitat is satisfactory and ranges from 89.1% to 100% on test data. Interesting codon/bi-codons usage, their mutual interactions influential for respective habitat preference are identified. The proposed method also produced results that concurred with known biological characteristics that will help researchers better understand divergence of species.

The Role of Pakistan and Pak-US Relations in the Afghan-Soviet War

( Tahir Mehmood ) 순천대학교 인문학술원 2021 인문학술 Vol.6 No.-

이 연구는 소련 침공의 역사적 배경과 동기, 파키스탄의 역할, 파키스탄과 미국과의 관계 등을 분석하여 소련이 아프가니스탄에서 철수하도록 파키스탄이 행했던 중요한 역할을 강조하고자 한다. 미국은 파키스탄의 원자폭탄 확산에 대한 우려에도 불구하고 파키스탄의 도움으로 아프간 반군에게 돈과 무기 지원을 결정했다. 그러나 이러한 무기를 어떻게, 언제, 어디서, 어떤 종교 그룹에 배포할지를 결정한 것은 파키스탄이었다. 파키스탄이 아프가니스탄 분쟁에서 한 세 가지 역할은 아프가니스탄 국민에 대한 국제적 정치적 지원, 아프가니스탄 반군의 독립전쟁에 대한 군사지원, 그리고 아프가니스탄 난민 세대 육성이었다. This research aims to stress the critical role Pakistan played in forcing the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan by analysing the historical background of the Soviet Intervention, followed by the Soviet motives, the role of Pakistan and Pak-US relations. America decided that Afghan rebels would be helped with money and weapons with the help of Pakistan despite the concerns about Pakistan’s atomic proliferation, but it was Pakistan that decided how , when , where and to what (religious) groups these weapons were distributed. Pakistan’s role in the conflict was threefold: political support to the Afghan people internationally, military support to Afghan rebels in their war of independence and fostered a generation of Afghan refugees.

Association of Knowledge and Cultural Perceptions of Malaysian Women with Delay in Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer: a Systematic Review

Khan, Tahir Mehmood,Leong, Jamie Pik Yan,Ming, Long Chiau,Khan, Amer Hayat Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.13

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality among women of all ethnic and age groups in Malaysia. Delay in seeking help for breast cancer symptoms is preventable and by identifying possible factors for delayed diagnosis, patient prognosis and survival rates could be improved. Objectives: This narrative review aimed to understand and evaluate the level of in-depth breast cancer knowledge in terms of clinical breast examination and breast self-examination, and other important aspects such as side-effects and risk factors in Malaysian females. Since Malaysia is multicultural, this review assessed social perceptions, cultural beliefs and help-seeking behaviour in respect to breast cancer among different ethnic groups, since these may impinge on efforts to 'avoid' the disease. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search of seven databases was performed from December 2015 to January 2015. Screening of relevant published journals was also undertaken to identify available information related to the knowledge, perception and help-seeking behaviour of Malaysian women in relation to breast cancer. Results: A total of 42 articles were appraised and included in this review. Generally, women in Malaysia had good awareness of breast cancer and its screening tools, particularly breast self-examination, but only superficial in-depth knowledge about the disease. Women in rural areas had lower levels of knowledge than those in urban areas. It was also shown that books, magazines, brochures and television were among the most common sources of breast cancer information. Delay in presentation was attributed mainly to a negative social perception of the disease, poverty, cultural and religion practices, and a strong influence of complementary and alternative medicine, rather than a lack of knowledge. Conclusions: This review highlighted the need for an intensive and in-depth breast cancer education campaigns using media and community health programmes, even with the existing good awareness of breast cancer. This is essential in order to avoid misconceptions and to frame the correct mind-set about breast cancer among women in Malaysia. Socio-cultural differences and religious practices should be taken into account by health care professionals when advising on breast cancer. Women need to be aware of the risk factors and symptoms of breast cancer so that early diagnosis can take place and the chances of survival improved.

An enhanced framework for multimedia data: Green transmission and portrayal for smart traffic system

Iqbal, Muhamad Munwar,Mehmood, Muhammad Tahir,Jabbar, Sohail,Khalid, Shehzad,Ahmad, Awais,Jeon, Gwanggil Elsevier 2018 Computers & electrical engineering Vol.67 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>The object tracking in video surveillance for intelligent traffic handling in smart cities requires an enormous amount of data called big data to be transmitted over the network using the Internet of Things. Manual monitoring and surveillance are impossible because traditional computer vision technologies are no more useful for massive processing and intelligent decision making. In this paper, a framework is proposed which enables both on spot data processing and intelligent decision making by using cloud computing. The developed application is a trained on Artificial Neural Network, which can handle different traffic techniques with congested traffic scenario and priorities traffic such as ambulance handling. The Message Queue Telemetry Transport protocol is used for green transmission with mobile access to traffic data. The results analyzed with thirty videos processed data which handle real-time data prioritization for the people for smart surveillance to fastest route and enhance the intelligent data transmission.</P>

Enhancing Activity of Anticancer Drugs in Multidrug Resistant Tumors by Modulating P-Glycoprotein through Dietary Nutraceuticals

Khan, Muhammad,Maryam, Amara,Mehmood, Tahir,Zhang, Yaofang,Ma, Tonghui Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.16

Multidrug resistance is a principal mechanism by which tumors become resistant to structurally and functionally unrelated anticancer drugs. Resistance to chemotherapy has been correlated with overexpression of p-glycoprotein (p-gp), a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of membrane transporters. P-gp mediates resistance to a broad-spectrum of anticancer drugs including doxorubicin, taxol, and vinca alkaloids by actively expelling the drugs from cells. Use of specific inhibitors/blocker of p-gp in combination with clinically important anticancer drugs has emerged as a new paradigm for overcoming multidrug resistance. The aim of this paper is to review p-gp regulation by dietary nutraceuticals and to correlate this dietary nutraceutical induced-modulation of p-gp with activity of anticancer drugs.

Polarisation insensitive multifunctional metasurfaces based on all-dielectric nanowaveguides

Mahmood, Nasir,Kim, Inki,Mehmood, Muhammad Qasim,Jeong, Heonyeong,Akbar, Ali,Lee, Dasol,Saleem, Murtaza,Zubair, Muhammad,Anwar, Muhammad Sabieh,Tahir, Farooq Ahmad,Rho, Junsuk The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018 Nanoscale Vol.10 No.38

<P>Metasurfaces, two dimensional (2D) metamaterials comprised of subwavelength features, can be used to tailor the amplitude, phase and polarisation of an incident electromagnetic wave propagating at an interface. Though many novel metasurfaces have been explored, the hunt for cost-effective, highly efficient, low-loss and polarisation insensitive applications is ongoing. In this work, we utilise an efficient and cost-effective dielectric material, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), to create a ultra-thin transmissive surface that simultaneously controls phase. This material exhibits significantly lower absorption in the visible regime compared to standard amorphous silicon, making it an ideal candidate for various on-chip applications. Our proposed design, which works on the principle of index waveguiding, integrates two distinct phase profiles, that of a lens and of a helical beam, and is versatile due to its polarisation-insensitivity. We show how this metasurface can lead to highly concentrated optical vortices in the visible domain, whose focused ring-shaped profiles carry orbital angular momentum at the miniaturised scale.</P>

Twisted non-diffracting beams through all dielectric meta-axicons

Mahmood, Nasir,Jeong, Heonyeong,Kim, Inki,Mehmood, Muhammad Qasim,Zubair, Muhammad,Akbar, Ali,Saleem, Murtaza,Anwar, Muhammad Sabieh,Tahir, Farooq Ahmad,Rho, Junsuk The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 Nanoscale Vol.11 No.43

<P>We demonstrate transmission-based all-dielectric, highly efficient (≈73.4%) and polarization-insensitive meta-axicons (for the visible wavelength of 633 nm) to generate zero and higher order Bessel beams without using additional components. The Bessel beams, owing to their diverse applications and non-diffractive properties, attract great interest from the scientific community. It is shown that the propagation length can be increased through a lower numerical aperture (∼2600 <I>λ</I> for NA = 0.1) whereas a higher full width at half maximum (< 0.5 <I>λ</I>) can be obtained for a higher numerical aperture (for NA ≥ 0.7). Our dielectric material, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), provides a significant efficiency advantage over plasmonic and other high-index all-dielectric (<I>e.g.</I>, TiO2 and GaN) metasurfaces in terms of cost, ease of fabrication, and CMOS compatibility. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique based numerically simulated and experimental results show excellent agreement. Due to the technological and scientific importance of the Bessel beams, the recommended material and meta-axicons provide an efficient and compact platform for realizing various advanced applications like optical manipulation, optical alignment, laser fabrication, imaging, and laser machining.</P>

Highly Efficient Visible Hologram through Dielectric Metasurface

Ansari, Muhammad Afnan,Waseem, Muhammad Hamza,Kim, Inki,Mahmood, Nasir,Jeong, Heongyeong,Tahir, Farooq Ahmad,Tauqeer, Tauseef,Mehmood, Muhammad Qasim,Rho, Junsuk IOP Publishing 2018 Journal of physics. Conference series Vol.1092 No.-