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The purpose of this research study is to extract and identify named entities from Hadith literature. Named entity recognition (NER) refers to the identification of the named entities in a computer readable text having an annotation of categorization tags for information extraction. NER is an active research area in information management and information retrieval systems. NER serves as a baseline for machines to understand the context of a given content and helps in knowledge extraction. Although NER is considered as a solved task in major languages such as English, in languages such as Urdu, NER is still a challenging task. Moreover, NER depends on the language and domain of study; thus, it is gaining the attention of researchers in different domains.

This paper proposes a knowledge extraction framework using finite-state transducers (FSTs) – KEFST – to extract the named entities. KEFST consists of five steps: content extraction, tokenization, part of speech tagging, multi-word detection and NER. An extensive empirical analysis using the data corpus of Urdu translation of Sahih Al-Bukhari, a widely known hadith book, reveals that the proposed method effectively recognizes the entities to obtain better results.

The significant performance in terms of f-measure, precision and recall validates that the proposed model outperforms the existing methods for NER in the relevant literature.

This research is novel in this regard that no previous work is proposed in the Urdu language to extract named entities using FSTs and no previous work is proposed for Urdu hadith data NER.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the indigenous need for public health challenges being faced by the patients in Pakistan because of vertigo symptoms. Vertigo or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is described as short episodes of dizziness (spinning sensations) that are caused because of movements of head in varying directions. Various published accounts have linked vertigo to psychological and psychiatric symptoms, which include stress, anxiety and depression. The aim of present study is to examine the validity and reliability of Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) Urdu version that is vital in the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of patients coming in hospitals.

This present study included two segments, namely, preliminary and main study. Preliminary study results indicated that the overall scale had high internal consistency of DHI Urdu version α = 0.95. The overall scale retained a high test-retest correlation tested over a period of 15 days (r = 0.93). Main study was performed on 222 vestibulocochlear disorder patients having chief complaints of tinnitus and vertigo, age ranged from 18 to 89 (M = 46.14; SD = 16.64) and recruited from various hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Purposive sampling technique was applied based on cross-sectional design.

Significant correlations were noted between dizziness symptoms rating on the translated scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the structure of the scales; an orthogonal rotation (Varimax) was conducted on the data collected from patients. A three-factor solution was obtained for DHI, the factors obtained were associated to the subscales vestibular handicap, vestibular disability and visuo-vestibular disability, demonstrating a strong factorial validity in the Pakistani cultural context.

Vertigo is a symptom that initiates various psychological issues among vestibulocochlear disorder patients (patients having ear related problems) around the world and therefore the investigated inventory offers an initial assessment for the severity of dizziness. Current research will help in the development of indigenous measures to ascertain the severity of the symptoms triggering various other mental health-related issues.

The purpose of this study is to examine Indian language journals published in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) included in the UGC-CARE list, which is an initiative of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India. This study argues that although these journals do not appear in international databases, they are valuable because they frequently publish and have published for years, opinions, memoirs and critical review articles, especially the local culture.

This study examines 298 journals categorised into two groups: monolingual (189) and multilingual (109). The first group included 189 journals published in 15 Indian languages. Monolingual journals were examined using five criteria: year of publication, subject area, frequency, language and geographical zone of the publisher. Multilingual journals analysed as per languages covered.

The analysis reveals that the UGC-CARE List includes journals published between 1899 and 2019. The most common languages are Hindi (67), Urdu (31), Sanskrit (9) and Marathi (26). The frequency of majority (114) of journals is quarterly. Associations, universities, individual publishers and learned societies as publishers are dominant. Analysis of multilingual journals indicated that the highest number of journals (34) are published in English and Hindi.

Journals that fulfil the stringer criteria of three UGC-CARE journal analysis protocols find a place in the CARE List. The list is dynamic and is updated quarterly to maintain its currency and therefore its credibility. The list is available at http://ugccare.unipune.ac.in and is the list preferred by Indian Higher Education Institutes.

UGC-CARE List includes journals published by Indian publishers especially in the fields of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It is the first initiative to battle against the predatory journals and effort to bring the Indian legacy of journals on the world map of journals and periodicals.

With the rapid emergence and explosion of the internet and the trend of globalization, a tremendous number of textual documents written in different languages are electronically accessible online from the world wide web. Efficiently and effectively managing these documents written in different languages is important to organizations and individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose letter frequency neural networks to enhance the performance of language identification.

Initially, the paper analyzes the feasibility of using a windowing algorithm in order to find the best method in selecting the features of Arabic script documents language identification using backpropagation neural networks. Previously, it had been found that the sliding window and non‐sliding window algorithm used as feature selection methods in the experiments did not yield a good result. Therefore, this paper proposes, a language identification of Arabic script documents based on letter frequency using a backpropagation neural network and used the datasets belonging to Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Pashto language documents which are all Arabic script languages.

The experiments have shown that the average root mean squared error of Arabic script document language identification based on letter frequency feature selection algorithm is lower than the windowing algorithm.

This paper highlights the fact that using neural networks with proper feature selection methods will increase the performance of language identification.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the indigenous need to counter self-harm behavior in Pakistan and establish the reliability and validity of scale with translation, adaptation and cross-language validation of the inventory of statements about self-injury (ISAS) for future health studies (Klonsky and Glenn, 2009).

The present study was a cross-sectional study using a quantitative method. Response items rating is made from three-point Likert-type scales ranging from the 0-not relevant, 1-somewhat relevant or 2-very relevant. ISAS has been comprised of 13 potential functions of deliberate self-harm (DSH) and all subscales have been translated from the English language into the Urdu language with a sample of 30 individuals and further applied on 200 samples of DSH patients for factorial validation. The standard back-translation method was used for translation and adaptation of the scale (Anderson and Brislin, 1976; Brislin, 1976; Hambleton, 1994).

The overall scale has good internal consistency reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to confirm the factorial validity of ISAS. Results revealed that all the items have confirmed strong factorial validity in the context of Pakistani culture and quite helpful in hospital settings to address this health issue.

Self-harm is considered as a major health issue in the young population of the world and therefore, the investigated scale provides an assessment of DSH and intentions of performing self-injury to achieve a better understanding of such behaviors in DSH patients, which will help further to develop measures to prevent such behavior.

Economics, entrepreneurship, pricing and marketing strategy, print industry in Pakistan.

Undergraduate and first-year graduate level.

The main theme of the case revolves around decision-making by the publisher, Bilal Lakhani, as he operates in conditions of an oligopolistic market. The case focuses on the set-up of a major English-language newspaper, The Express Tribune, in conjunction with the internationally branded and well-regarded International Herald Tribune by a well-known business group of Pakistan. The group already has a major Urdu newspaper, which has been operational for 15 years, and three television channels, as well as a host of other non-media-related businesses. The case tries to go behind the reasons for setting up an English-language newspaper in a market which already has at least five major existing ones and where literacy is not that widespread. Also, experience in much of the rest of the world would suggest that newspapers – i.e. the print media – are in decline, especially because of the rise of the Internet and social media as means for providing news, information and entertainment. The case is set in Karachi, Pakistan's media capital and, in particular, in an organization that has been involved in the business of media for several years. It currently runs the country's second most-circulated Urdu newspaper, Daily Express. Specifically, the time period is three weeks after the paper, The Express Tribune, was launched into a market with a few competitors and high brand loyalty for existing competitors. The publisher of the paper, Bilal Lakhani, is questioning his pricing decision right after the launch of the paper and there are a series of reasons he is looking into on how he set the original price and why should he reduce the price of the paper now.

Students should be able to see, understand and analyze: challenges faced by entrepreneurs of starting an initiative which has a largely unreliable and untested audience; the extent of interdependence in an oligopolistic industry and how it influences the current and future decision-makings of an entrepreneur or any other firm for that matter, especially in a developing economy; the personnel, financial production and regulation issues involved in setting up assembly/ delivery systems that deliver a product for mass use, i.e. a newspaper; and the pricing and marketing strategies involved in the launch and subsequent successful operation of a product, in this case, a newspaper.

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The purpose of this paper is to establish the reliability and validity of an expended scale with translation, adaptation and cross-language validation of the student: thinking about my homework (STP) (Bareno, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 1999; Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 2005).

Response items rating are made from four-point Likert-type scales ranging from the 1 (never) to 4 (always). This study includes two versions of the scale: mother’s school involvement version (STPM) and father’s school Involvement version (STPF). Both versions have been translated from English language into Urdu language with a sample of 200 students. Standard back translation method was used for translation and adaption of the scale (Brislin, 1976; Hambleton, 1994). The ages of the students ranged from 12 to 18 years.

The overall scale has good internal consistency reliability. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to explore covert and novel configuration of these versions (father’s school involvement and mother’s school involvement). Results revealed that mother’s school involvement consisted of 21 items, and father’s school involvement consisted of 22 items.

The investigated scale provides assessment of father’s and mother’s school involvement, respectively, in order to achieve better understanding of family’s role in academics.

Understanding linguistic profiling and its substantial consequences on employee career development is essential in diverse workplaces. This study utilizes Levinson’s eras and career development theories to analyze the complicated relationship between linguistic profiling and biases, which hamper employee career development.

This study used an interpretive methodology and conducted thematic data analysis. It documented lessons learned from diverse viewpoints through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants conducted in November and December 2022.

The study demonstrates that linguistic discrimination occurs in diverse workplaces. After data exploration, four intriguing themes appeared. The first theme was related to employees who were discriminated against because of various languages. This shows how often language choice affects employees. The second theme examined how linguistic profiling intersected with marginalized groups, increasing discrimination. The third theme, linguistic profiling and career development showed that bias had a huge influence on career progression. The fourth theme emphasizes organizational policies for preventing language discrimination, promoting career growth and inclusive organizations.

This study advances the understanding of linguistic profiling and career development in a multilingual society. In addition, it furthers discourse and provides ways to minimize biases, creating a more inclusive workplace environment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of post content, post media and post scheduling strategies on online engagement on Twitter in context of micro celebrities in Pakistan.

For this research, micro celebrities of Pakistan have been defined as the target population. Secondary data consisting of 464 tweets from walls of six micro celebrities belonging to both genders and diverse set of socio-political fields was collected. Tweedie estimation analysis was run to accept or reject the hypotheses. Mean values with standard deviations were utilized to analyze the different engagement patterns of dichotomous variables (content type, content language, mentions, hashtags, text, images, links, videos, hour of the day and day of the week) on online engagement.

Content type, content language, content length, hashtags, mentions, images, links, videos, hour of the day and day of the week have been found to have a significant relationship with online engagement on Twitter.

First, the study has been conducted in context of micro celebrities on Twitter. It did not include influencers on other social media networks. Second, study considered only quantitative aspects of engagement based on secondary data ignoring qualitative aspects of phenomenon due to time and methodology constraints. Third, study did not include link clicks as a measure of engagement as clicks data is not publicly available on the posts.

The study contributes significantly to find out valuable “micro celebrity” strategies in Pakistan. The study suggests micro celebrities to tweet soft content in Urdu language along with relevant hashtags and mentions to get higher engagement on their tweets. Further, tweets should contain maximum number of characters. Micro celebrities should not insert images, links and videos in their tweets as these media types result in lower engagement on Twitter. Micro celebrities should tweet at low hours and weekends.

As this study focuses on investigation of better engagement practices for micro celebrities, it will help general public to express themselves more effectively through social media.

First, this is the first study that investigates the online engagement model for micro celebrities. Second, the online engagement model designed in this study has yet not been investigated to best of our knowledge. The theoretical model combines multiple engagement factors discussed in previous studies conducted on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

Chronic pain is a global community health and human rights issue. Proper health care is an important necessity for every human being and access for treatment is every human’s right. Likewise, it is significant that proper instruments should be administered to assess these clinical issues. It is equally necessary to reassess these tools accordingly to diverse cultures, especially subjective tools to check their validity and cultural specification. The purpose of this study is to adapt and examine the factorial structure of 20 items and three-factor structure, pain anxiety symptoms scale (McCracken and Dhingra, 2002). As literature evidence suggested of a three-factor structure (Cho, 2010).

Primarily, the scale was translated into Urdu language using the forward-backward method. Afterward, a reliability assessment and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity, on an osteoporosis patients’ sample (N = 250) was performed. Subsequently, an Obliman method exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on an osteoporosis sample (N = 500) for factor structuring followed by validity and reliability analysis.

The initial findings demonstrated a high internal consistency of the translated version of the scale (α = 0.85) and an acceptable test-retest reliability (r = 0.69). CFA displayed a high inter-correlation between scale and its subscales. However, CFA suggested a three-factor model. Consequently, EFA proposed a three-factor, 19 item scale, namely, behavioral; cognitive; and physical subscale, which demonstrated high alpha reliability (α.= 0.86). Other results indicated the scale to have a significant predictive and convergent validity for depression and positive and negative affect.

The present study is novel in its approach as the present study not only tried to adapt the original Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale to Pakistani culture but has also checked the factorial structure of the original scale. The results achieved in the process suggested a three-factor structure scale with 19 items in opposition to the original four structured, 20 items scale.