National University of Sciences and Technology

Unemployment Insurance for All? Social Preferences Evolution in Europe Since the Lifting of the Iron Curtain

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution of social preferences over government unemployment insurance in Europe. We find an ‘East‐West divide’ in attitudes towards this role of government policy, with lower support in Eastern Europe for government action to correct adverse labo...

Competing dynamics of brand love and addiction: implications for consumer behavior

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationships between brand love and brand addiction on consumers’ adverse behaviors: impulsive buying, compulsive buying, social comparison and narcissism. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 350 young Chinese fashion b...

A hybrid data-driven and qualitative approach for critical factor identification in pharmaceutical supplier selection: safeguarding the continuity of pharmaceutical in disruption-prone settings

Purpose This study aims to develop a comprehensive and integrated approach for identifying and prioritizing critical factors influencing pharmaceutical supplier selection and supply chain performance, with direct implications for health system resilience and access to essential m...

Porous coordination polymer-derived CeO2-SnO2@S-C heterojunction nanocomposite for supercapacitor and oxygen evolution reaction

Porous coordination polymers (PCPs) and derived nanocomposites have attained substantial attention for electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies owing to their tunable frameworks and favorable electrochemical characteristics. Here, we present a route for preparin...

Strengthening of Recycled Aggregate Concrete with Novel Natural Banana Fiber Rope Confinement

This study investigates the effectiveness of banana rope confinement, a biodegradable and low-cost natural fiber technique, in enhancing the compressive behavior and seismic performance of concrete incorporating recycled materials. An experimental program was conducted on cylindr...

Effect of gas temperature on neutral and ionic carbon containing species in CH4/O2/Ar capacitive coupled plasma: A two dimensional fluid simulation study

Methane ( C H 4 ) conversion using plasma technology is of significant interest for understanding C H 4 activation pathways, reaction mechanisms and carbon chemistry, while enabling the production of value-added carbon containing compounds and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions....

Global, regional, and national burden of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease attributable to high BMI: temporal trends from 1990 to 2021 and forecasts to 2035

Abstract Background Lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a significant vascular complication that is increasingly correlated with a high body mass index (BMI). Understanding its spatio-temporal trends is vital for efficacious prevention and management. This study...

Enhancing ERP security through threat modelling, digitization, and external integrations: a comprehensive empirical analysis

Today, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems form the backbone of the operations of almost any business, and this reliance has come at a high cost: cloud-based ERP and third-party integrations have increased attack surface way beyond what perimeter defenses ever addressed. T...

Resilient localization for mobile robots using multi-sensor fusion and a hybrid learning-filtering framework

Abstract Accurate and resilient localization is important for autonomous mobile robots in the real world along with diverse environments. Single-sensor approaches are vulnerable to noise and failures and unreliability for diverse environments. In this study, a novel technique is...

A Robust Masked Painter Framework for Gene Selection in Binary Classification of High-Dimensional Functional Genomic Data

High-dimensional gene expression datasets in chemometric and biomedical research present significant challenges for machine learning because the number of genes greatly exceeds the number of available samples, increasing the risk of overfitting and reducing classification reliabi...

Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Machinability Responses in Meso-Scale Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted End Milling (UVAEM) of Inconel 718 Superalloy: A Comparative Study of GPR, SVR, Random Forest, and Ridge Regression

Meso-scale ultrasonic vibration-assisted end milling (UVAEM) is an advanced manufacturing technique. UVAEM of Inconel 718 superalloy presents significant modeling challenges due to complex thermo-mechanical interactions and meso-scale size effects. This study introduces a machine...

Probing dark matter and phantom field effects on neutrino oscillations around black holes

Abstract This study investigates how dark matter in the background of the phantom field (DMPF) near a black hole influences neutrino flavor oscillations using a two-flavor model. It is found that gravitational effects are cancelled for radially moving neutrinos, causing the oscil...

Leaf-inspired ZnO-Cr2O3/epoxy coatings with tailored visible–NIR reflectance for spectral camouflage applications

The difference in spectral response between the target and the background is very crucial to avoid target detection by surveillance systems in the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectral regions. In this study, ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 /epoxy composite coatings were developed using co...

From redox chemistry to device integration: next-generation supercapacitors engineered from metal telluride, sulfide, and selenide heterostructures with MXenes and MOFs comparison, progress, challenges, and prospects

Metal chalcogenides, including tellurides, sulfides, and selenides, have become promising materials for high-performance supercapacitors due to their redox activity, high theoretical capacity, and tunable structures. This review discusses challenges, architectural design, synthes...

Women entrepreneurial adaptation through resilience and innovation in patriarchal contexts

This study explores the journeys of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, focusing on their resilience, social capital, and innovation while navigating gendered expectations. This research focuses on entrepreneurship as a socially embedded process, using a qualitative, phenomenologica...

Data and context matter: towards generalizing AI-based software vulnerability detection

AI-based solutions demonstrate remarkable results in identifying vulnerabilities in software, but research has consistently found that this performance does not generalize to unseen codebases. In this paper, we specifically investigate the impact of model architecture, parameter...

Breast Cancer Knowledge and Screening Barriers Among Female University Students of Pakistan

Breast cancer is a leading public health concern among low- and middle-income countries, primarily due to inadequate knowledge and lack of early detection practices. This study aimed to assess knowledge about the signs and symptoms, risk factors, and screening procedures for brea...

Longitudinal Joint Quality Assurance: Threshold for Dielectric-Based Index

Abstract Compaction quality at longitudinal joints (LJ) is critical for hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement durability. Traditional quality assurance (QA) methods, relying on pavement cores, are labor-intensive, time-consuming, costly, and limited in coverage. The Dielectric Profiling...

The impact of rainfall characteristics on slope stability and the mitigation through sand pile reinforcement: a finite element analysis in tropical residual soils

Abstract Rainfall-induced slope failures are widespread in tropical regions where residual soils predominate, largely due to elevated pore water pressures and the loss of matric suction during infiltration. Although numerous studies have examined rainfall-triggered instability, l...

Nanopore-ConfinedSub-Nanometer Co and Ni Specieson Porous Carbon Nitride for Efficient Water Electrolysis

Abstract Electrochemical water splitting is a promising route in clean energy production. Therefore, the development of efficient, stable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts remains highly desirable. Here, we report a facile nanopore-confinement strategy for growing well-dispers...