Papers by Muhammad Bilal Bilal
POLITICS AND RELIGION JOURNAL, 2021
In the post-9/11 scenario, the rise of the Taliban and their coalition with Al-Qaeda have engende... more In the post-9/11 scenario, the rise of the Taliban and their coalition with Al-Qaeda have engendered new discourses about Islam and Pakistan. In this paper, I present a multi-sited ethnography of Bari Imam, a popular Sufi shrine in Pakistan while re-evaluating certain suppositions, claims and theories about popular Islam in the country. Have militarization, Shariatisation, and resurgence movements such as the Taliban been overzealously discussed and presented as the representative imageries of Islam? I also explore the Sufi dynamics of living Islam, which I will suggest continue to shape the lives and practices of the vast majority of Pakistani Muslims. The study suggests that general unfamiliarity of people outside the subcontinent with the Sufi attributes of living Islam, together with their lack of knowledge of the varieties of identification, observance and experience of Islam among Pakistanis, limit not only their understanding of the land of Pakistan, but also their perception...
IEEE Access, 2019
A compact 3-dimensional dual-element, multiband antenna for Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) appli... more A compact 3-dimensional dual-element, multiband antenna for Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) applications is proposed in this paper. Folding technique along with various impedance matching structures are employed for miniaturization and multiband operation while maintaining the desired S-parameter performance. A grid of Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) patch based decoupling structure is introduced to achieve measured isolation of more than 30 dB between antenna ports. In addition to this decoupling structure, a meandered line based defected ground plane configuration helps to retain the multiband response while maintaining the optimum isolation performance. This 3D-MIMO antenna is fabricated and measured for its performance in different bands of WLAN, WiMAX, 5G cellular and 5G Wi-Fi along with different MIMO performance parameters. The reported design is a suitable option for multiband MIMO applications for future wireless technologies.
PLOS ONE, 2015
The aim of present paper is to study the series solution of time dependent MHD second grade incom... more The aim of present paper is to study the series solution of time dependent MHD second grade incompressible nanofluid towards a stretching sheet. The effects of mixed convection and thermal radiation are also taken into account. Because of nanofluid model, effects Brownian motion and thermophoresis are encountered. The resulting nonlinear momentum, heat and concentration equations are simplified using appropriate transformations. Series solutions have been obtained for velocity, temperature and nanoparticle fraction profiles using Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). Convergence of the acquired solution is discussed critically. Behavior of velocity, temperature and concentration profiles on the prominent parameters is depicted and argued graphically. It is observed that temperature and concentration profiles show similar behavior for thermophoresis parameter Nt but opposite tendency is noted in case of Brownian motion parameter Nb. It is further analyzed that suction parameter S and Hartman number Μ depict decreasing behavior on velocity profile.
Journal of Clean Energy Technologies, 2015
Wind energy in cold climate offers challenges that include among others, the icing on the turbine... more Wind energy in cold climate offers challenges that include among others, the icing on the turbine blades that affects the power output of the turbines. We investigate the presence of high winds at the Nygårdsfjell wind farm that is situated in north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. The data is taken from three 2.3 MW Siemens wind turbines (SWT-2.3-93) that were installed at Nygårdsfjell during the fall of 2005. There are total of 185 high winds events detected consisting of 1737 hours during the observation period May 2008 until April 2009. Out of these 1737 hours of high winds, 269 hours occurred during May 2008 until October 2008 and 1468 hours occurred during November 2008 until April 2009 that is 84.5% of total high winds hours. That shows the majority of high winds events occurring during the colder periods. The ten leading high winds events showed the presence of wind speeds ranging from 16 m/s to 19 m/s with maximum up to 24 m/s. The analysis established the existence of high winds at Nygårdsfjell during colder times.
2013 ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA), 2013
As the primary concern in conventional steganography techniques is to make the algorithm immune t... more As the primary concern in conventional steganography techniques is to make the algorithm immune to steganalysis, their primary focus is on imperceptibility. This paper discusses Zero-steganography, an imperceptible and undetectable data hiding technique that does not require any steganalysis. The proposed algorithm hides the data based on a relationship between characteristic matrix of the cover image, chaotic sequence and payload; however, no change is made to the cover image. The proposed algorithm is analyzed for robustness against three attacks-low-pass filtering, noise and JPEG compression. Our results show that the proposed algorithm is robust against these attacks with Bit Error Rate (BER) below 20% even for the highest attack intensities.
2010 International Conference on Information and Emerging Technologies, 2010
In this paper, a novel Extended Cognitive Mobile Terminal (ExCogNet-MT) scheme is presented. In t... more In this paper, a novel Extended Cognitive Mobile Terminal (ExCogNet-MT) scheme is presented. In this scheme, a "test bench" at receiver's Mobile Terminal (MT) can estimate the channel Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and can detect the jamming signal. The estimation scheme compares the Standard Deviation (SD) of received signal and processed signal, and on the bases of this comparison the "test bench" can determine the BER and corresponding SNR value of the channel. Simulation results demonstrated that under certain scenarios estimated SNR value can be helpful for tuning the parameters of protocol stack of 802.11a and WiMaxm.
Urban Informatics, 2021
This chapter depicts the state of the art in remote sensing for urban pollution monitoring, inclu... more This chapter depicts the state of the art in remote sensing for urban pollution monitoring, including urban heat islands, urban air quality, and water quality around urban coastlines. Recent developments in spatial and temporal resolutions of modern sensors, and in retrieval methodologies and gap-filling routines, have increased the applicability of remote sensing for urban areas. However, capturing the spatial heterogeneity of urban areas is still challenging, given the spatial resolution limitations of aerosol retrieval algorithms for air-quality monitoring, and of modern thermal sensors for urban heat island analysis. For urban coastal applications, water-quality parameters can now be retrieved with adequate spatial and temporal detail even for localized phenomena such as algal blooms, pollution plumes, and point pollution sources. The chapter reviews the main sensors used, and developments in retrieval algorithms. For urban air quality the MODIS Dark Target (DT), Deep Blue (DB),...
Remote Sensing of Environment, 2021
Luqman et al. (2021) Air pollution scenario over Pakistan: characterization and ranking of extrem... more Luqman et al. (2021) Air pollution scenario over Pakistan: characterization and ranking of extremely polluted cities using long-term concentrations of aerosols and trace gases. Remote Sensing of Environment, 264. a112617 1-28.
In view of powerful antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and antioxidant properties of Allium sativu... more In view of powerful antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and antioxidant properties of Allium sativum (garlic), the present study was conducted to appraise the effects of garlic extract on glycation end product formation. Different concentrations of inhibitor (I 1 = pure extract, I 2 = 0.5 times, I 3 = 0.1 times diluted) and glucose (G 1 = 50 mM, G 2 = 25 mM, G 3 = 5.5 mM) were used. Thirty two combinations were made and incubated at 37 o C for five weeks. Human normal plasma was used as a protein source. Glycation evaluated by TBA (thio-barbituric acid) method, revealed that glycation was maximum in 2 nd week of incubation with G 1, while I 2 showed maximum inhibition at 4 th week of incubation with all concentrations of glucose. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), analyzed by ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) showed that AGEs formation was maximum at 2 nd week with all the glucose concentrations (G 1 , G 2 , G 3), while I 2 showed effective inhibition after 4 th week of incubation with G 1. From results, it is concluded that that garlic extracts has inhibitory effect on advanced glycation end product formation and may be helpful in diabetes and cardiovascular complications reduction.
Production of sustainable concrete is the most crucial factor to be considered in construction fi... more Production of sustainable concrete is the most crucial factor to be considered in construction fields. The utilization of waste treated crumb rubber and steel fiber can mitigate the problematic issues of Normal Concrete (NC) which is brittle, low tensile, and low damping performance. The purpose of this research was to compare the experimental results of Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) subjected to earthquake loading with finite element Modelling by using ABAQUS. Three-dimensional finite element analysis of concrete lumped mass column of 35 MPa and having base 275 mm x 80 mm; column 40 mm x 500 mm lumped mass column 120 mm x 190 mm is developed using ABAQUS and subjected to numbers of earthquake loadings. The test specimen was characterized, concrete mix (10%, of rubber particles content), The result of finite element analysis is validated using experimental data. Overall, this research demonstrates the potential use of treated crumb rubber as sustainable concrete that can enhance the d...
Catalysis Science & Technology, 2012
ABSTRACT In this study a low-loaded 0.2% Ru/alumina catalyst was tested over a range of temperatu... more ABSTRACT In this study a low-loaded 0.2% Ru/alumina catalyst was tested over a range of temperatures (773–873 K) at 20 barg with a 5:1 steam to ethanol ratio. Ruthenium was found to produce significant amounts of ethene, although in the steady state hydrogen was always the main product. Significant levels of methane and carbon dioxide were formed at 873 K. Hydrogenation of ethene to ethane was inhibited and an activation energy comparable with low temperature studies was obtained. Liquid products such as acetaldehyde, diethyl ether and acetone were also produced at low levels (<12%). Temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO), Raman spectroscopy, powder XRD, BET and SEM analysis were used to characterise the nature of the coke species for reactions at 773 K, 823 K and 873 K. The TPO results indicate that different types of coke are deposited on the catalyst during ethanol steam reforming (ESR). Carbon nanotubes and filamentous coke were observed on the catalyst after ESR at 873 K. Powder XRD and Raman analysis revealed that the coke deposited on the catalysts was graphitic in nature and the disorder in the graphitic type coke generally increased with in an increase in the reaction temperature.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2015
The Leeds Beckett repository holds a wide range of publications, each of which has been checked f... more The Leeds Beckett repository holds a wide range of publications, each of which has been checked for copyright and the relevant embargo period has been applied by the Research Services team. We operate on a standard take-down policy. If you are the author or publisher of an output and you would like it removed from the repository, please contact us and we will investigate on a case-by-case basis.
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013
ABSTRACT In this study 0.2% Rh/alumina and 0.2% Pt/alumina catalysts were tested for ethanol stea... more ABSTRACT In this study 0.2% Rh/alumina and 0.2% Pt/alumina catalysts were tested for ethanol steam reforming (ESR) over a range of temperatures (773–873 K) at 20 barg with a 5:1 steam to ethanol ratio. Hydrogen was always the main product over Rh/Al2O3 although liquid products such as acetaldehyde, diethyl ether and acetone were also produced (<12%). Pt/Al2O3 also produced hydrogen as the main product but at 773 K significant levels of ethene were formed. Less liquid product was formed over the Pt/Al2O3 (<5%). Hydrogenation of ethene to ethane was inhibited and an activation energy comparable with low temperature studies was obtained for rhodium (42 kJ mol−1) however the platinum catalyst gave a low activation energy more typical of a diffusion controlled system (20 kJ mol−1). At 873 K the platinum catalyst is more active (90% conversion cf. 60%) and gives a higher hydrogen selectivity (55% cf. 49%) than the rhodium catalyst. Temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO), Raman spectroscopy, BET and SEM analysis were used to characterise the nature of the coke species for reactions at 773 K, 823 K and 873 K. The TPO results indicated that different types of coke were deposited on both catalysts during ESR. Carbon nanotubes and filamentous coke were observed on the catalysts after ESR at 873 K. Raman analysis revealed that the coke deposited on the catalysts was graphitic in nature and the disorder in the graphitic type coke generally increased with an increase in the reaction temperature.
Gastroenterology, 2009
Background: While 5 year survival and tumor progression after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and t... more Background: While 5 year survival and tumor progression after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been studied, data on cost-effectiveness (CE) comparing these 2 procedures are lacking. Using Markov models, we assessed whether RFA or TACE was more costeffective. Methods: Clinical and financial data were obtained for RFA or TACE patients from June 2006-June 2008. Patient's age, gender, tumor size, treatment course, and direct costs were recorded. Costs of complications were excluded when entering direct procedure costs into the model. Probabilities of tumor progression after RFA or TACE were obtained from published studies. Data was analyzed using TreeAge Pro 2008 Suite 1.2 (TreeAge Software Inc, Williamstown, MA). A Markov model was developed to compare costs and survival outcomes over 5 years, and sensitivity analyses assessed whether model results were stable within plausible ranges of the estimated components. Results: 95 patients were evaluated, 16 received RFA (age = 62.5 ± 11.4 yrs; 10M), and 79 received TACE (age = 64.4 ± 10.6 yrs; 58M). Average tumor size for RFA was 2.23 x 1.84 cm ± 0.96 x 0.83 cm, while for TACE was 3.02 x 2.43 cm ± 1.38 x 1.31 cm. The baseline estimate of the probability of tumor progression after RFA was 0.056 (range = 0.036-0.06) and with TACE was 0.43 (range = 0.19-0.68).
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Papers by Muhammad Bilal Bilal