Somalia: The Challenges of Rebuilding Public Services in a Collapsed State

Public service of each country stands out the foremost instrument of government formulation and implementation of public policies. It transforms government programs into concrete goods and services for the use and benefit of the citizens. Public services are vital in human life and are the obligation of each government on the world to provide services in order to protect the wellbeing of its people. Once a state collapses, the fragmentation of the structure, authority, law and order inside the state occurs. Collapsed states are referred to those which can’t perform the functions anticipated of a state. But, after the collapse of the Somalia’s central government, the country has faced many problems such as social, political, economic, environmental and technological. More than twenty years of civil war, lack of government, violence, poverty, drought cause society more vulnerable to everything. Since the beginning of 2000 until now, Somalia has had its own government, but it failed to restore the delivery of public services. On the other hand, these services remained in the hands of private sector. This paper aims to explain the challenges of rebuilding public services in Somalia and how to restore these public services in a collapsed state

Unsupervised String Transformation Learning for Entity Consolidation

Data integration has been a long-standing challenge in data management with many applications. A key step in data integration is entity consolidation. It takes a collection of clusters of duplicate records as input and produces a single "golden record" for each cluster, which contains the canonical value for each attribute. Truth discovery and data fusion methods, as well as Master Data Management (MDM) systems, can be used for entity consolidation. However, to achieve better results, the variant values (i.e., values that are logically the same with different formats) in the clusters need to be consolidated before applying these methods. For this purpose, we propose a data-driven method to standardize the variant values based on two observations: (1) the variant values usually can be transformed to the same representation (e.g., "Mary Lee" and "Lee, Mary") and (2) the same transformation often appears repeatedly across different clusters (e.g., transpose the first and last name). Our approach first uses an unsupervised method to generate groups of value pairs that can be transformed in the same way (i.e., they share a transformation). Then the groups are presented to a human for verification and the approved ones are used to standardize the data. In a real-world dataset with 17,497 records, our method achieved 75% recall and 99.5% precision in standardizing variant values by asking a human 100 yes/no questions, which completely outperformed a state of the art data wrangling tool

The Impact of Exchange Rate Depreciation on Economic and Business Growth in Pakistan

Depreciation remained a common factor in Pakistani economic history in different regimes, which affected different economic variables, especially the growth and business sector. We have linked depreciation with economic and business growth for Pakistan in this paper. Using time series data from 1976 to 2010 and employing cointegration followed by the Error Correction Model, we find that exchange rate depreciation has adversely affected growth in the business sector, notably Investment and FDI, while net export has a positive association with the exchange rate. All these findings reveal that depreciation is not a good practice because it has negative impact for growth in the business sector. The present scenario of the flexible exchange rate doesn't allow the corresponding authorities to set desirable exchange rates, however, the government must reinforce the real sector in order to ensure a stable exchange rate and hence macroeconomic stability. Keywords: Foreign Exchange; General; Open Economy Macroeconomics; Economic Growth of Open Economie

Fasting headache, a cross-sectional study

Headache is a predominant disorder in general population and is classified into primary and secondary forms by the International Headache Society. Fasting headache is currently classified in Group 10 of ICHD-III as “Headache attributed to disorders of homeostasis”. In spite of continuing research, there is still indistinctness regarding the exact cause of fasting headache. Hypoglycaemia, previous history of headache, stress, caffeine withdrawal, lack of sleep and female gender have been speculated as causative factors. Our rationale for this study is to find out what percentage of the population experiences fasting headache and to find out any link between the occurrence of this phenomenon and any associated factors

Redistributive Effects of Fiscal Policy across the Income Groups in the Urban-Rural Areas of Pakistan

There exist a large number of studies related to the estimates of government budgetary redistributive effects and its related problems with regard to different countries of the world.1 Studies of the impacts of government expenditures and taxes in Pakistan have been conducted within the framework of either incidence of taxes or the impact of expenditures across the income groups. The studies carried out by Azfar (1972); Jeetun (1978); Alauddin and Raza (1981) Malik and Saqib (1985, 1989) cover different aspects of taxation—tax incidence, progressivity or regressivity of the tax system across the income groups/individuals and regions. These studies did not discuss the expenditure side of the budget. Shirazi (1996) analysed the impact of government transfer programmes (Zakat and Ushr) across the income deciles. Ghaus (1989) studied the incidence of provincial and municipal government service-related expenditure benefits in Karachi metropolitan and therefore, the scope of her study was limited to one city only. Despite the existence of a rich bibliography on the subject of government redistrbutive budgetary effects and its related problems, no study is available which covers the overall redistributive impacts of government budgetary policy in Pakistan. This study explores the impacts of government expenditures and taxes on the distribution of income across various income groups along with net fiscal impacts in the urban-rural areas of Pakistan. The rest of our study is organised as follows. In the following section, Part II, we describe the methodology and data set. In Part III, the results of the study are presented. The Part IV concludes the paper

Characterization of Gamma Hemirings by Generalized Fuzzy Gamma Ideals

This paper has explored theoretical methods of evaluation in the identification of the boundedness of the generalized fuzzy gamma ideals. A functional approach was used to undertake a characterization of this structure leading to a determination of some interesting gamma hemirings theoretic properties of the generated structures. Gamma hemirings are the generalization of the classical agebraic structure of hemirings. Our aim is to extend this idea and, to introduce the concept of generalized fuzzy gamma ideals, generalized fuzzy prime (semiprime) gamma ideals, generalized fuzzy h -gamma ideals and generalized fuzzy k - gamma ideals of gamma hemirings and related properties are investigated. We have shown that intersection of any family of generalized fuzzy (left, right) h - gamma ideals (k-gamma ideals) of a hemiring is a generalized fuzzy (left, right) h -gamma ideal (k-gamma ideal) of H. Similarly we proved that the intersection of any family of generalized fuzzy prime (resp. semiprime) gamma ideals of H is a generalized fuzzy prime (resp. semiprime) gamma ideal of H. We have proved that a fuzzy subset μ of H is fuzzy h -gamma ideal (k-gamma ideal) if and only if μ is a generalized fuzzy h -gamma ideal (k-gamma ideal) of H. Further level cuts provide a useful linkage betwean the classical set theorey and the fuzzy set theorey. Here we use this linkage to investigate some useful aspects of gamma hemirings and characterize the gamma hemmirings through level cuts in terms of generalized fuzzy (left, right, prime, semiprime) gamma ideals of gamma hemirings. We have also used the concept of support of a fuzzy set in order to obtain some interesting results of gamma hemirings using the generalized fuzzy (left, right, prime, semiprime) gamma ideals of hemirings

The socio-cultural dynamics of Antibiotic misuse in Hyderabad city, India

Introduction: Antibiotic resistance and antibiotic-associated adverse events are rapidly escalating and considered as a global health threat and public health problem. There is poor evidence base on the contextual specificities and everyday use of antibiotics in public health dentistry and pharmacy dispensing practices. The study explores the socio-cultural dynamics emergent around antimicrobials in the Indian Public dentistry and pharmacy practice in India. Methods: Using purposive sampling, dentists and pharmacists were recruited for the study in Hyderabad City, Telangana State, India. Using semi-structured interviews, dentists and pharmacists were asked about how antibiotics were prescribed and dispensed, perceptions of antibiotic use in community and socio-cultural norms prevailing in the use of the antimicrobial practice. Results: The dominant themes, emerged by both dentists and pharmacists, was the avoidance of dentist visit on encountering dental infection, reliance on self-medication, use of over-the-counter antibiotics and easy accessibility of antibiotics without prescription as a primary driver of antibiotic misuse and development of antimicrobial resistance, which is associated with socio-cultural practices and economic problems.  Conclusion: The speculations of qualitative responses to antimicrobial resistance are profoundly entangled in the specificities of dental infection management across cultures and locales in daily life. This study emphasizes the need for enforcement of regulatory mechanisms on antibiotic dispensing over the counters, educating dental patients in avoiding self-medication, educational and training initiatives are necessary to sensitize and rationalize dentist and pharmacist in the use of antibiotics.  Key-words: India, antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance, qualitative interviews, dentist and pharmacist. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jkahs.v2i3.2665

Biohydrolysis of Saccharum spontaneum for cellulase production by Aspergillus terreus

Saccharum spontaneum, a wasteland weed, is utilized for cellulase production by Aspergillus terreus in solid state fermentation. S. spontaneum served as good carbon source and solid support. Various process parameters including optimal nitrogen source, initial moisture level, incubation time, initial pH, incubation temperature and inoculum size were evaluated. The maximum cellulase production was attained at 70% of initial moisture with incubation of 96 h at 30±2°C, and pH 4.5. Ammonium sulphate in concentration of 0.2% (w/w) was the most preferable nitrogen source among all tested nitrogen sources. The results indicate that S. spontaneum could be utilized as a substrate in solid state fermentation (SSF) for economic production of cellulase.Key words: Cellulase, solid state fermentation, Saccharum spontaneum, Aspergillus terreus

Corporate Governance Attributes and Firm Value: Evidence from Pakistan

A sound corporate governancemechanism is associated with significant and positive effect on firm’s value, increasingproductivity and earnings, decreasing systematic risks and easier access to capital.This paper aims to examine the difference in quality of firm level governance characteristicsand its impact on firm performance for companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchangeduring the years from 2010 to 2013. Empirical analysis was made between firm’s valueas measured by Tobins Q and Corporate Governance characteristics: Board Size, BoardMembers, CEO Duality and Audit Committee independence. The results indicate thatthere is a relationship between corporate governance attributes and firm performancein Pakistan. Members on the Board can add to companies’ activities by ensuring properimplementation of policies. We found positive significant relationship between AuditCommittee Independence and firm performance. CEO duality does affect firm performancebut its value is not significant. We could not find significant relationship betweenboard independence and firm performance. Presence of female directors and familydirectors on the board affects firm performance negatively.Keywords: CorporateGovernance, Firm Performance, Tobins Q, Pakistan, Female Directo

High glucose disrupts oligosaccharide recognition function via competitive inhibition : a potential mechanism for immune dysregulation in diabetes mellitus

Diabetic complications include infection and cardiovascular disease. Within the immune system, host-pathogen and regulatory host-host interactions operate through binding of oligosaccharides by C-type lectin. A number of C-type lectins recognise oligosaccharides rich in mannose and fucose – sugars with similar structures to glucose. This raises the possibility that high glucose conditions in diabetes affect protein-oligosaccharide interactions via competitive inhibition. Mannose binding lectin, soluble DC-SIGN & DC-SIGNR, and surfactant protein D, were tested for carbohydrate binding in the presence of glucose concentrations typical of diabetes, via surface plasmon resonance and affinity chromatography. Complement activation assays were performed in high glucose. DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR expression in adipose tissues was examined via immunohistochemistry. High glucose inhibited C-type lectin binding to high-mannose glycoprotein and binding of DC-SIGN to fucosylated ligand (blood group B) was abrogated in high glucose. Complement activation via the lectin pathway was inhibited in high glucose and also in high trehalose - a nonreducing sugar with glucoside stereochemistry. DC-SIGN staining was seen on cells with DC morphology within omental and subcutaneous adipose tissues. We conclude that high glucose disrupts C-type lectin function, potentially illuminating new perspectives on susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory disease in diabetes. Mechanisms involve competitive inhibition of carbohydrate-binding within sets of defined proteins, in contrast to broadly indiscriminate, irreversible glycation of proteins