The Gendered Nature of Language in English Textbooks in Pakistan

Tariq Mahmood 숙명여자대학교 아시아여성연구원 2021 Asian Women Vol.37 No.2

Gender bias manifests in a number of ways in textbooks, both linguistic and non-linguistic. Linguistic prejudice is more subtle and ingrained in the language, hence difficult to discover. Moreover, such bias can have a negative impact, especially on female learners. Against this backdrop, the researcher analyzed linguistic bias in English textbooks in Pakistan. Specifically, the textbooks used in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at college level (grades XI & XII) were investigated to determine how gender is portrayed in them. Based on the framework employed by Porreca, the categories of analysis used were order of mention (firstness), masculine generic constructions, and the nouns and adjectives used for male and female genders. Content analysis was used as a methodological framework of analysis. The results revealed that regarding order of mention, in most cases the male gender was mentioned first and the female second. In the category of generic male expressions, it was found that almost all the instances of generic expressions were male-referenced. The nouns for males such as “father,” “man,” and “grandfather” were used in greater numbers than their female counterparts, such as “mother,” “woman,” and “grandmother.” With reference to the use of adjectives, whereas males were variously described, females were often described as physically attractive and emotional. The study concludes by recommending inclusive language for both genders to overcome linguistic bias in English textbooks.

In vitro Callogenesis and Detection of Somaclonal Variations in Plantago ovata L.

Tariq Mahmood,Aysha Jameel,Bilal Haider Abbasi,Faiza Munir,Syed Muhammad Saqlan Naqvi 한국작물학회 2012 Journal of crop science and biotechnology Vol.15 No.4

Planago ovata L. is an economically important species in the monotypic genus Plantago. It is a short-stemmed annual herb. The seed husk of this plant is commonly called psyllium or isabgol which is important in pharmaceutical formulation and food industry. In this study, callus induction was optimized using different explants of Plantago ovata. Callus DNA was utilized to access the somaclonal variations using the Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The maximum callus growth was observed in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 4 mg L-1 2,4-D concentration for shoots, 0.5 mg L-1 for seeds and 2 mg L-1for roots. Moreover, the effect of culture age was considered in assessing genetic variability. Maximum genetic variability was observed in the DNA samples of callus at the concentration of 2 mg L-1 2,4-D for all explants (roots, shoots, and seeds). Cluster analysis was performed based on 1) similarity coefficient between samples and 2) molecular data using the Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System (NTSYS) PC version 2.01; similarity index was generated by similarity for Quantitative Data (SIMQUAL). Our study indicated that Random Amplified Polymorphic DNAs can successfully be used to explore polymorphism among callus samples at different hormonal concentrations. This study can be useful for the production of callus from Plantago ovata and estimation of genetic variations due to tissue culture conditions. Evaluation of genetic variations can display novel features and manipulate genetic bottlenecks in Plantago ovata. New genetic variations in somaclones can bring vital insight for plant improvement.

Software Performance Assessment Using Goal-Question-Metric Approach

Tariq Mahmood,Man-Gon Park 한국멀티미디어학회 2008 멀티미디어학회논문지 Vol.11 No.6

Developing Software Metrics for Performance Assessment of an In-house Built Software System

Tariq Mahmood,Young-Bong Kim,Man-Gon Park 한국멀티미디어학회 2008 한국멀티미디어학회 국제학술대회 Vol.2008 No.-

Software metrics are necessary to assess the quality and performance of software products, processes and resources. A proper measurement system provides the management, developers and the users a good source to evaluate the performance of the operational software system and undertake appropriate action for enhancing its functionality, usability, efficiency and effectiveness and other quality characteristics. The in-house software systems are developed by the individuals or teams within the organizations for specific purposes which need to be evaluated on all essential aspects to improve their performance. This paper reports the experience of use of software metrics program for assessment of an in-house built software system in Colombo Plan Staff College revealing the promising results.

Female Teachers’ Perceptions of Gender Bias in Pakistani English Textbooks

Tariq Mahmood,Ghazala Kausar 숙명여자대학교 아시아여성연구원 2019 Asian Women Vol.35 No.4

Biased textbooks can have a negative impact on students and may lead to the construction of gender stereotypes. This is why researchers have analyzed gender bias in various textbooks at different levels. Teachers’ perceptions about gender bias, however, have rarely been explored in Pakistan, even in the case of female teachers. Based on this gap, the present study analyzed the perceptions of female teachers regarding gender bias in English textbooks at secondary-school level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data, which were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings revealed that teachers are not aware of the adverse effects of gender bias in textbooks and therefore could not suggest any strategies to address it, though they considered English textbooks more biased in terms of dominant male characters than in language. The respondents, however, agreed that the textbooks need revision for both content and language. The study adds to the existing literature on the presence of gender discrimination in textbooks. Its findings are all the more significant in that they highlight teachers’ lack of awareness regarding gender bias in the textbooks and its effect on the learners.

Focus measure based on the energy of high-frequency components in the S transform.

Mahmood, Muhammad Tariq,Choi, Tae-Sun Optical Society of America 2010 Optics letters Vol.35 No.8

<P>Focus measure plays a fundamental role in the shape from focus technique. In this Letter, we suggest a focus measure in the S-transform domain that is based on the energy of high-frequency components. A localized spectrum by using variable window size provides a more accurate method of measuring image sharpness as compared to other focus measures proposed in spectral domains. An optimal focus measure is obtained by selecting an appropriate frequency-dependent window width. The performance of the proposed focus measure is compared with those of existing focus measures in terms of three-dimensional shape recovery. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed focus measure.</P>

Technological Achievements and Economic Development

Tariq Mahmood Ali 과학기술정책연구원 2017 STI Policy Review Vol.8 No.1

Although technological progress is considered a key element for economic growth and development of a country, strong empirical evidence in this regard is not available yet. Therefore, to establish the empirical link between technology progress and economic development, it is advisable to carry out a time series analysis. In this regard, the Technology Achievement Index (TAI) of 100 top economies has been developed to examine the position of countries’ technological progress for the 21 years spanning 1995 to 2015. Countries have been ranked on their TAI which is based on four pillars; technology creation, diffusion of older innovations, diffusion of recent innovations, and development of human skills. As well, this current study re-calculates the Humane Development Index (HDI) of 100 top economies for the 21 years from 1995 to 2015. Ranking of countries’ HDI values reflects three dimensions: A long lifespan (life expectancy index), knowledge (Education Index) and a decent standard of living (Gross National Income Index, or GNI). The Standard Deviation (SD) technique has been used to investigate the technological gap between individual countries and groups of countries or regions. For a more meaningful assessment, technological gaps from the maximum achievement value (i.e., one of the countries under study) are presented as well. To investigate the impact of technological progress on economic development, this study introduces a model in which the HDI is used as the dependent variable and the TAI and Gross Capital Formation (GCF) are used as independent variables. The HDI, TAI and GCF are used in this model as proxy variables for economic development, technological progress and capital respectively. Econometric techniques have been used to show the impact of technological progress on economic development. The results show that long-term associations exist between technology progress and economic development; the impact of technology progress on economic development is 13.2% while the impact is 4.3% higher in eight selected East South Asian countries, at 13.5%, than in eight selected highly developed countries (9.2%).

Blur Detection through Multinomial Logistic Regression based Adaptive Threshold

Mahmood, Muhammad Tariq,Siddiqui, Shahbaz Ahmed,Choi, Young Kyu The Korean Society Of SemiconductorDisplay Technol 2019 반도체디스플레이기술학회지 Vol.18 No.4

Blur detection and segmentation play vital role in many computer vision applications. Among various methods, local binary pattern based methods provide reasonable blur detection results. However, in conventional local binary pattern based methods, the blur map is computed by using a fixed threshold irrespective of the type and level of blur. It may not be suitable for images with variations in imaging conditions and blur. In this paper we propose an effective method based on local binary pattern with adaptive threshold for blur detection. The adaptive threshold is computed based on the model learned through the multinomial logistic regression. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using different datasets. The comparative analysis not only demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method but also exhibits it superiority over the existing methods.

In vitro Callogenesis and Detection of Somaclonal Variations in Plantago ovata L.

Mahmood, Tariq,Jameel, Aysha,Abbasi, Bilal Haider,Munir, Faiza,Naqvi, Syed Muhammad Saqlan 한국작물학회 2012 Journal of crop science and biotechnology Vol.15 No.4

Planago ovata L. is an economically important species in the monotypic genus Plantago. It is a short-stemmed annual herb. The seed husk of this plant is commonly called psyllium or isabgol which is important in pharmaceutical formulation and food industry. In this study, callus induction was optimized using different explants of Plantago ovata. Callus DNA was utilized to access the somaclonal variations using the Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The maximum callus growth was observed in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 4 mg $L^{-1}$ 2,4-D concentration for shoots, 0.5 mg $L^{-1}$ for seeds and 2 mg $L^{-1}$ for roots. Moreover, the effect of culture age was considered in assessing genetic variability. Maximum genetic variability was observed in the DNA samples of callus at the concentration of 2 mg $L^{-1}$ 2,4-D for all explants (roots, shoots, and seeds). Cluster analysis was performed based on 1) similarity coefficient between samples and 2) molecular data using the Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System (NTSYS) PC version 2.01; similarity index was generated by similarity for Quantitative Data (SIMQUAL). Our study indicated that Random Amplified Polymorphic DNAs can successfully be used to explore polymorphism among callus samples at different hormonal concentrations. This study can be useful for the production of callus from Plantago ovata and estimation of genetic variations due to tissue culture conditions. Evaluation of genetic variations can display novel features and manipulate genetic bottlenecks in Plantago ovata. New genetic variations in somaclones can bring vital insight for plant improvement.

Software Performance Assessment Using Goal-Question-Metric Approach

Mahmood, Tariq,Park, Man-Gon Korea Multimedia Society 2008 멀티미디어학회논문지 Vol.11 No.6

The software once developed enters in to the $2^{nd}$ phase of its useful operational life, where it performs its functions for which it has been developed. This is an important phase of software life, wherein the developers and users have to assess the performance of the software to prolong its operational life with efficiency, effectiveness and economy. Performance of the software is based on the measurement of the quality characteristics to ascertain that it is meeting or exceeding the needs of customers in terms of its functionality, usability, efficiency, reliability, availability, maintainability, portability etc. These software quality attributes defined under ISO 9126 provide an overall good framework for assessing the performance of the software. This paper describes a Software Performance Assessment (SPA) model using the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) paradigm which has been applied to the operational software in real context with successful results.