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Internet technology in the classroom has become the primary demand of every student in this era. Moreover, information and communication technology aids students' learning involvement and progress by providing learning assistance by improved instructor, pupil and interactions with fellows. Using an asynchronous Web-based learning environment (WBLE) is one way to manage such assistance. This study aims to identify to what extent the asynchronous WBLE affects students' interest and motivation in learning mathematics at Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU), Khairpur.

This research uses a survey research design under a quantitative approach. Therefore, data are collected through a questionnaire about students' motivation and interest in learning mathematics via asynchronous WBLE. Data are collected from the students of four departments (BEd, BSCS, BBA, BS Mathematics) of SALU, Khairpur. However, as the nature of this study is quantitative, both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the results and discussion, and a one-way ANOVA test was used. The Cronbach alpha test was also used to assess the item's reliability, and the items were found to be acceptable.

The findings of this study discovered that asynchronous WBLE has a significant impact on students' intrinsic, extrinsic and interest levels. The results indicated that there is a positive impact based on the level of mean range of asynchronous WBLE on mathematics students.

The outcome of this study can be used as a guideline to understand and further plan or develop educational interventions based on the level of motivation and interest of mathematics students towards asynchronous WBLE in other contexts.

This is first study of its nature in the context of Khairpur district of Sindh that emphasizes on the motivation and interest of mathematics students toward asynchronous WBLE.

The purpose of this paper is to study the three dimensional, steady and incompressible flow of non-Newtonian rate type Maxwell fluid, for stagnation point flow toward an off-centered rotating disk.

The governing partial differential equations are transformed to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations by conventional similarity transformations. The non-perturbation technique, homotopy analysis method (HAM) is employed for the computation of solutions. And, the solution is computed by using the well-known software Mathematica 10.

The effects of rotational parameter and Deborah number on radial, azimuthal and induced velocity functions are investigated. The results are presented in graphical form. The convergence control parameter is also plotted for velocity profiles. The comparison with the previous results is also tabulated. The skin friction coefficients are also computed for different values of Deborah number.

This paper studies the effect of rotation and Deborah number on off-centered rotating disk has been observed and presented graphically.

The accounting system plays an important role in the company’s organizational structure. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the integration of management accounting practices is subject to coordination between external and internal factors and accounting management practices.

Therefore, the authors move to the contingency model to determine the most significant external “unexpected factors” that explain the introduction of management practices for the management of the various stages of development. The exploratory study examines a sample of Pakistani companies from various sectors.

This study reveals that the main factors of uncertainty that affect the organizational structure, environmental uncertainty, advanced production technology, just-in-time method strategy, integrated management of quality and structure findings reveal that MAP affected all process and changes all system in simple to complex system in Pakistani’s industries.

This study is to acquisition the impact of external factors on management accounting practices, to find the impact of internal factors on management accounting practices, to establish the management accounting practices undertaken by the companies in Pakistan.

The study contributes to the literature by enhancing our understanding for the impact of external and internal factors on management accounting practices in Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of organizational intellectual capital (IC) components on absorptive capacity (ACAP) such as potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) and realized absorptive capacity (RACAP). Furthermore, it attempts to investigate the mechanism through which PACAP and RACAP jointly influence innovation strategies (i.e.) exploitative and exploratory innovations.

This is an explanatory research using a deductive approach. This study uses survey data from 184 manufacturing export firms analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The results have found that the cognitive and social capital of a firm positively affects PACAP and RACAP, whereas relational capital has a significant effect on RACAP. Moreover, the study reveals that both potential and realized absorptive capacities considerably lead to the development of organizational exploitative and exploratory innovation strategies.

The research focused on two driving factors, i.e. IC components and ACAP dimensions, and overlooked how each component of IC and ACAP influences ambidextrous innovative strategy.

Providing managers with insights about the critical role of developing IC to facilitate the transfer and exchange of crucial absorptive capacity necessary for ambidextrous innovative strategy.

This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by highlighting the importance of ACAP and provides useful insights for firms in developing economies to improve their exploitative and exploratory innovation capability. This study likewise reveals the significance of the four dimensions of IC, which can facilitate bringing in knowledge from developing economies.

With recent advances in laboratory hematology automation, emphasis is now on quality assurance processes as they are indispensable for generating reliable and accurate test results. It is therefore imperative to acquire efficient measures for recognizing laboratory malfunctions and errors to improve patient safety. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Moving algorithm is a quality control process that monitors analyzer performance from historical records through a continuous process, which does not require additional expenditure, and can serve as an additional support to the laboratory quality control program.

The authors describe an important quality assurance tool, which can be easily applied in any laboratory setting, especially in cost-constrained areas where running commercial controls throughout every shift may not be a feasible option.

The authors focus on clinical laboratory quality control measures for providing reliable test results. The moving average appears to be a reasonable and applicable choice for vigilantly monitoring each result.

Two-thirds of medical decisions are based on laboratory test results. Therefore, laboratories should practice strict quality control (QC) measures. Traditional QC processes may not accurately reflect the magnitude of errors in clinical laboratories. Six Sigma is a statistical tool which provides opportunity to assess performance at the highest level of excellence. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate performance of the coagulation laboratory utilizing Sigma metrics as the highest level of quality.

Quality indicators of the coagulation laboratory from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2015, were evaluated. These QIs were categorized into pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical. Relative frequencies of errors were calculated and converted to Sigma scale to determine the extent of control over each process. The Sigma level of 4 was considered optimal performance.

During the study period, a total of 474,655 specimens were received and 890,535 analyses were performed. These include 831,760 (93.4 percent) routine and 58,775 (6.6 percent) special tests. Stat reporting was requested for 166,921 (18.7 percent). Of 7,535,146 total opportunities (sum of the total opportunities for all indicators), a total of 4,005 errors were detected. There were 2,350 (58.7 percent) pre-analytical, 11 (0.3 percent) analytical and 1,644 (41 percent) post-analytical errors. Average Sigma value obtained was 4.8 with 12 (80 percent) indicators achieving a Sigma value of 4. Three (20 percent) low-performance indicators were: unacceptable proficiency testing (3.8), failure to inform critical results (3.6) and delays in stat reporting (3.9).

This study shows that a small number of errors can decrease Sigma value to below acceptability limits. If clinical laboratories start using Sigma metrics for monitoring their performance, they can identify gaps in their performance more readily and hence can improve their performance and patient safety.

This study provides an opportunity for the laboratorians to choose and set world-class goals while assessing their performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge and belief, this study is the first of its kind that has utilized Sigma metrics as a QC tool for monitoring performance of a coagulation laboratory.

Despite burgeoning interest in knowledge hiding (KH), there are still significant gaps in the understanding of the boundary conditions under which KH is more or less likely to occur. To address this research gap, the researchers examined abusive supervision as an interpersonal antecedent of KH. In addition, this paper aims to investigate the moderating roles of negative reciprocity beliefs (NRB) and moral disengagement (MD) in the relationship between abusive supervision and KH.

Two-wave data using a non-experimental face-to-face method was collected from 257 service employees in Pakistan, which supported the hypothesized model. Considering minimum sample size requirements (i.e. n = 208) in partial least squares structural equation modeling, the researchers analyzed a two-stage approach to test the measurement model and the structural model.

The study found that abusive supervision was positively related to evasive hiding and playing dumb but not associated with rationalized hiding. Further, the results confirm the moderating roles of NRB and MD. The positive relationships between abusive supervision and evasive hiding and playing dumb are intensified at high levels of NRB and MD.

Given the complicated nature of KH, this is one of the few efforts that outstretch the boundary conditions of KH.

Drawing on the entrepreneurial event model (EEM), entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) and perceived contextual support (adapted from social cognitive career theory) and perceived contextual barriers, this study aims to unravel the differences in entrepreneurial activity among university students in higher education institutes in two diverse Asian countries.

This study uses a cross-sectional survey-based data collection technique using paper and electronic methods. The study analyzes data using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, reliability analysis and logistic regression analysis via SPSS version 25.

The findings show the positive influence of perceived desirability and feasibility on entrepreneurial intentions; however, the stronger desirability was found among university students in China and stronger feasibility toward entrepreneurial intentions among Pakistani students. The study reveals the negative significant influence of EEPs on entrepreneurial intentions, and this finding is consistent across both samples. Furthermore, the findings show that university students in both countries show insignificant impact of perceived contextual support in predicting entrepreneurial intentions. Finally, the study confirms the negative influence of perceived barriers on entrepreneurial intentions in both contexts.

This study provides differences in entrepreneurial activity by combing EEM, EEPs, perceived contextual support and barriers in two diverse Asian countries, and to the best of author’s knowledge, no previous study considered these factors in a single framework. Furthermore, the findings of the study enrich existing literature and also provide policy recommendations for practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers to financial product innovation in the Islamic banks (IBs) of Pakistan. This paper also aims to establish the relationship among the barriers and present them in a hierarchical model after classification.

This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature. A total of ten experts from the IBs and from academia have been interviewed to collect data. Literature has also been reviewed to identify the barriers. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) analysis has been used to establish relationship among the barriers, to rank and to come up with a hierarchical model of barriers.

This research paper makes out, ranks and classifies the nine most important barriers to product innovation in the IBs in Pakistan, including high innovation cost; lack of customer awareness; difference of school of thoughts between members of Shari’ah board; non-compatibility between product design department and members of Shari’ah board; lack of research and development; non-acceptability of concept of Islamic banking; lack of training regarding a new product; imitation of a new product by competitors; and the limited use of new product development tools.

This study offers originality in its nature of being qualitative and the use of ISM technique. It is also the first research project regarding identification of barriers in the IBs in Pakistan.

The purpose of this study is to explore the determinants of needle stick injuries (NSIs) suffering in terms of occupational health and safety (OHS) coverage critically for health-care workers’ rights in Pakistan.

This is a qualitative study involving the designing of a questionnaire followed by the World Health Organization’s NSI prevention assessment tool and nationally published reports covering health-care workers’ OHS rights protection. A total of 17 public and private hospitals were surveyed with a two-stage sampling method. Descriptive and inferential statistics (one-way analysis of variance with multiple comparison tests) were applied and significant results were discussed (p = 0.05 & p = 0.01). The results were discussed critically in the context of the OHS rights of health-care workers.

Analysis revealed the following significant relationships: job type and safety behavior; age group of health-care workers and safety management; injection usage per day and safety behavior; past year’s needle sticks injuries cases with safety behavior and occupational exposure; work shift and work experience with safety knowledge, safety awareness and work experience with safety management. It was also found there is no specific OHS law in the country for health-care workers.

This study is limited in terms of sampling size and quantification of NSI burden among health-care workers.

Improved OHS management practices among health-care workers can control NSIs that ultimately ensure their workplace OHS rights. Health-care workers need OHS coverage in terms of awareness about potential workplace hazards and job training accordingly. Findings from extensive studies of a similar kind can give useful policy directions for workplace health management in health-care setup at the national level.

This study highlights the importance of OHS coverage for health-care workers in hospitals. It reports different determinants of NSIs suffering causing health-care worker’s rights violations at the workplace in Pakistan.