Personal Characteristics as determinants of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy among University Students in Pakistan

Entrepreneurship is considered as a solution to unemployment. It is believed that Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE) is imperative for a person to be an entrepreneur. This study aims to examine the determinants of ESE among university students in Pakistan. This is one of the fundamental constructs in the psychology of entrepreneurship research and often integrated in entrepreneurial intentions models to explain why some persons are more likely than others to become entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Scale prepared by Chen, Greene, and Crick (1998) was used in this study for collecting data. Total 800 questionnaires were distributed among conveniently selected students out of which 742 completely filled questionnaires were returned with a response rate of 92.75%. The results revealed a significant difference between bachelor and master class students in terms of ESE. The model R-squared indicated that 5.7 percent of the variation in the ESE is explained by the personal characteristics. The paper concludes by pointing out some limitations of the study and discussing the possible effect of personal characteristics on ESE

Quantifying Urban Karachi’s Air Quality Effect on Human Health and Policy Recommendations

Today’s environmental issues are systematic in nature and cannot be tackled in isolation from man-made activities and impacts. The change in land use and land cover resulting from urbanization has aggravated air quality in urban centers of the country. One of the main sources of air pollution is the use of automobiles in human populated regions resulting in an excess of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen compounds. The emission of greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide from 1990 to 2005 showed an increase of 97.4%. The main source of this increment were vehicular and industrial emissions due to which Pakistan is facing glacier melt in northern areas, earthquakes, flooding and lack of fresh water availability. The authors analyze the effects of vehicular emission on human health; this study is focused on the commercial and industrial areas of Karachi where the flow of heavy traffic and heavy vehicular exhaust emissions are common. The sampled areas are Port Qasim, University Road, Korangi and Mosmiyat. The purpose of this study is to evaluate perceptions of health factors due to air borne pollution in 4 different localities in Karachi. The results showed predominance of headache which is due to an excessive quantity of carbon monoxide and air borne dust in the survey areas as slight exposure of Carbon monoxide affiliated with headache, the second highest complain from respondents is the  Eye Irritation, the exposure of NO2 has acute health effects which include eye irritation, cough and asthma. Based on the above study, recommendations are made to reduce GHG and other pollutants

Teaching children road safety using a simulated environment

The importance of road safety education is widely acknowledged; however, there is a lack of consistency in road safety interventions currently being used in UK schools. Furthermore, the majority of road safety educational programmes use knowledge-based methods, which do not necessarily translate to improved behaviour in real traffic environments. The use of virtual reality is starting to emerge as a viable option, as it allows for repeated risk-free practice. This study aimed to test the efficacy and playability of a virtual reality road crossing iPad-based game with children aged 7-9 years. A total of 137 children from primary school years 3 and 4 completed the study. The game comprised ten levels increasing in complexity. Participants navigated to a target using a magic portal into the virtual world (the iPad position matching the direction of travel). Remote, anonymous in-game data were collected and the results suggested that performance was significantly better on their final attempt compared to their first attempt, regardless of age of gender. Overall, the results suggest that the iPad-based game allowed the children to practice road crossing in an immersive environment, without risk, and could provide a useful, evidence-based addition to current road safety education in UK schools

Conducting Narrative Studies in Pakistan: Reflections from the Field

This reflective paper emerges from the reflections on my experience to carry out narrative studies in Pakistan —a country where narrative research in education is still very young. Field-notes, reflective journals and research memos were the key sources of triggering reflections on my learning to take the identity of a narrative researcher in a context where this approach is very young.  My reflections show the learning experience in conceptualising and practicing narrative studies in the country. The paper shows that I took the roles of an insider, co-constructor of stories, and trust-builder while taking up the identity of a narrative researcher in Pakistan. In addition, becoming a gender sensitive and knowing language and culture of the research participants enabled me to take up the role smoothly.  Findings have pertinent implications for life history research studies in Pakistan and elsewhere

Competency Assurance Management System: Enhancement of Assessment and Verification Process

The paper addresses Competency Assurance Management Systems (CAMS): design, developing and implementing of learning programs. Competency Development Framework (DFW) skills profile of a specific job consists of set of components: competencies, levels of proficiency, and Performance Criteria -Behavior Indicators. To implement CAMS DFWs successfully, the learning development programs need to meet the SMART principles. One of which is to be measurable through mapping real work tasks to a specific Key performance Indicator(s) and achievable through mapping them to a specific competence(s). Competencies achievement may be ensured though conducting assessments. The paper explores the quality of assessment and verification (A&V) process that make CAMS DFW implementation more effective and reliable. It focuses on technical coaching as a main stage of the A&V process and how to enhance its quality and the outcome of the CAMS system accordingly

Stover’s Augmented Proximate Determinants of Fertility: A Regional Analysis In Pakistan

The significant drop of fertility levels is a recognized fact in Pakistan, however; regional disparities are yet observed, that is conditioned to ruling unequal growth of regions and its consequence in local demographic condition. The current study emphasizes regional appraisal of direct determinants of fertility reduction, as a means for quality understanding the projected population problems. Stover augmented model (1998) is being employed to analyze the effects of sexual activity, contraception, induced abortion, post-partum infertility and secondary sterility on different fertility levels, using three data sets of Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys, 1990-91, 2006-07 and 2012-13. In early 90, secondary sterility showed higher inhibiting effects but afterwards; its value increased gradually, putting lesser weight on fertility levels. Sexual activity and post-partum infertility came out as other highly contributing factors whereas, contraception and induced abortion; though increased over time comparatively showed less influence on fertility drop. The study suggests that in prevailing orthodoxy Muslim society; free dialogues on women’s reproductive health and family planning should be supported via government movement. Furthermore; for directing and promoting population cut spouses should give the confidence to go for sterilization after reaching preferred family size

Analyzing Hotel Customer Experience through Big Data Method: Samples from Hotels in Antalya and Istanbul

In order to ensure customer satisfaction in hotel business, it is required to have a good understanding of customers’ preferences, to foresee customer expectations, to find factors affecting customer experience. In this way, with increasing use of social media and user generated content over internet, there has been a tendency to use big data tools in service sector research studies. This study deals with the use of big data for analyzing 4 and 5 star hotel’s customer experiences in Antalya and İstanbul. Non-structural data, namely customer reviews, were analyzed and most used words in hotel comments have been taken. After filtering and elimination process, it is revealed that accommodation and staff are the factors that impact hotel customer experience

Measurement of Essential Skills in Mathematics: A Comparative Analysis of SSC (Grade-X) and GCE (O-Level) Exam Papers

The basic aim of any education system is the development of overall personality of a child but major focus of school education remains on the intellectual development of students. Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum and is very effective in cognitive development, but, it does so if taught and assessed properly. SSC exams are very important for students as they are gauged on the basis of their results in these exams. Due to the importance of these exams, the major focus of teaching/learning process in the schools remains on achieving the highest possible grades in the exams. It is therefore, very important to have a deep investigation of the exam papers in order to know weather the items of these papers are measuring essential mathematical skills or not. To achieve the purpose, this study has scrutinized the papers of SSC (Grade-10) for the years 2014/2015, set by Board of Secondary Education Karachi. Items used in these papers were examined and categorized according to the levels of Mathematical Assessment Task Hierarchy (MATH) taxonomy. These items were then compared with the items of GCE (O-Level) mathematics papers, serving as benchmark papers in this study, to highlight the shortcomings. The results of the study revealed that the items of SSC papers are highly biased towards A1 (Factual Knowledge) and A2 (Routine Procedures) categories of the taxonomy. The study concluded that these items assess knowledge of facts and algorithms only and do not measure essential mathematical skills (involvement of higher levels of thinking processes) of students. As, the papers of board exams highly affect teaching/learning process, it is recommended to improve the items of papers so that essential mathematical skills can be measured. The study recommends focusing on application and problem solving skills rather than the capacity of memorization because with this practice thinking habits can not be inculcated among students which are necessary to compete with other nations in this era of globalization

Perceptions of International Student Mobility: A Qualitative Case Study of Pakistan

International Student Mobility (ISM) is progressively becoming a significant aspect of the higher education scenario. The universal higher education milieu has undergone a tremendous change due to ISM as the number of students going abroad for higher education is growing incessantly with every passing year. Pakistan is a developing country that has experienced increasing ISM in the last forty years. Despite all academic and professional opportunities available to students, they desire to go abroad for higher education and settle down there, causing brain drain in the country. This research study attempts to identify the determinants of international student mobility from the perspective of either students, who are in the process of enrolling in international universities or those who are aspiring to go abroad for higher studies. This study used qualitative research approach based on interpretivism paradigm. A total of 14 students from different public and private sector universities participated, out of which nine were male and five were female with ages between 18 and 24 years approximately. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the subjective data. The findings brought to light key academic, professional and social motivations of individuals for studying abroad. These findings can act as a guideline for higher education institutions and national policy makers to draft policies and strategies that might enable reversal of the vicious phenomena of brain drain

Identification of key issues and challenges in mobile app development: An insight in to Pakistan industry

With the rapid growth in usage of mobile phones specifically the smart phones, there is an ever increasing demand for latest mobile apps. With this demand, comes the challenge for developers to build apps in such a way as to provide security, easy navigation, efficient memory utilization and reliability to the end users. To find out these and other challenges that are commonly faced by developers, a survey was conducted specifically for the Pakistan industry. It was found that time and budget constraints play vital role in delivering apps to customers at right time. As far as features are concerned security and integration with third party API provide a challenge to the developers