BackgroundIt has been seen that despite the increasing incidence of benign testicular disorders (BTDs), little work has been done towards its awareness among the male populace. Also, the trend of not seeking help in this regard is concerning. In this study, we aim to better perceive the level of understanding and common practices regarding BTDs among educated young men.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out among two groups of ages 14-20 and 21-28 years. The inclusion criterion was that of educated males in an urban setting. Data were collected through a standardized questionnaire using cluster sampling by independent interviewers. The questionnaire consisted of four parts dealing with demographics, knowledge, attitudes and practices. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test were used as the primary statistical tests.ResultsThe sample population consisted of an equal number of participants between the ages of 14 and 20, and between 21 and 28 years (n = 200, 50%). About half the participants (n = 215, 53.8%) were not familiar with the term BTDs. The majority (n = 324, 78.8%) of participants were not aware of symptoms of BTDs. Three-fourth of the participants believed that the subject is considered taboo in Pakistan (n = 307, 73.6%) while a majority of participants (n = 340, 85%) believed media coverage can help spread awareness of BTDs. A huge number (n = 268, 67%) thought that BTDs can cause fertility problems while one-third of them would not perform testicular self-examination (TSE) in case of pain or swelling in the scrotal region (n = 119, 29.8). The level of education and age were significantly associated with the knowledge regarding symptoms and types of BTDs.ConclusionKnowledge of BTDs and practices of TSE in the young educated men of Karachi are alarmingly poor. Therefore, there is an urgent need to create awareness at all levels using different strategies and platforms.

The purpose of the study was to provide an overview of the present situation of the Colgate toothpaste brand in comparison with other brands on the market such as Forhans, Macleans, and others. The trust for the brand in the market provides an opportunity to examine different theoretical and practical propositions. In this research Customers segmental differences in the use of intrinsic and extrinsic product cues (physical quality, design, brand name, and price) on consumers evaluations and purchase intentions for an apparel product in Karachi market are investigated. Our findings revealed that design, brand, taste, flavor, performance, promotion were product attributes that impact product evaluations and marketing position. However, design, brand name, and performance were the main factors in attracting the customers.

Magnetization of a Current Transformer (CT) is a non-linear characteristic, which can cause distortion in its secondary waveform, causing malfunction of protective relay. In this paper, two algorithms based on mathematical morphology, morphological gradient and improved morphological gradient have been compared for detection of CT saturation. The improved morphological gradient is effective in removing noise and separating transient information from the signal. Starting and end time of saturation can be detected using this algorithm.

Abstract. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) costs ( log )O N N for transforming a signal of length N. Previously researchers introduced the sparse fast Fourier transform (sFFT) with computational complexity ( log ) O K N for exactly K-sparse signal and ( log log( )) O K N N K for generally K-sparse signal. In this paper, a new method to fast compute DFT of generally sparse signals is presented. Firstly, the original signal is downsampled with different time shifts, and the discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs) of downsampled signals are calculated by FFT. Then the DFTs are used to determine and measure the K non-zero (significant) freq. grids by combining the moment preserving problem (MPP) with the BigBand method. The proposed method is hardware-friendly, and simulation results show that proposed method has better recovery performance compared with other methods.