Agricultural Input Subsidies in Pakistan: Nature and Impact

Pakistan has a history of subsidising agricultural inputs. Although none of the agricultural inputs were subsidised during the early 1950s, the process was initiated in the second half of the decade by subsidising chemical fertilisers in order to popularise their use [Niaz (1984)]. The list of subsidised inputs and the rate structure of the subsidies were expanded considerably throughout the Sixties. Towards the end of the Sixties, it was noted that almost all the agricultural inputs including fertilisers, insecticides, seeds, irrigation water, tubewell installations, and the operation and purchase of tractors and tractor-related equipment were subsidised in one form or another [Aresvik (1967) and Kuhnen (1989)]. In the 1970s, some curtailment of subsidies occurred as a result of input price increases which followed the worldwide recession, a major oil shock, the credit crunch, the war with India, and the consequent steep devaluation of Pakistani Rupee [Chaudhry (1982)]. Although the subsidies had survived the onslaught of the Seventies and tended to persist on most inputs, the government became totally committed to their removal beginning with the 1980s, under pressures from the IMF and the World Bank [Government of Pakistan (1980)]. As a consequence, there was a total withdrawal of subsidy from seeds, insecticides, tubewells, and tractors. A phased-out withdrawal of fertiliser subsidy, culminating in 1984-85 in the case of nitrogenous fertilisers and in 1989-90 in the case of phosphatic and potash fertilisers, was also to be undertaken [World Bank (1986)]. The purpose of the present paper is to highlight the progress of withdrawal of input subsidies in Pakistan, to study the nature of the input subsidies and possibly analyse the impact of the withdrawal of subsidies on the farm sector. Needless to add that the study is also intended to make policy recommendations on the various aspects of subsidy withdrawal.

Transient postnatal pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cytoskeletal disassembly and its functional implications.

In the human at birth the flow of blood through the pulmonary arteries increases ten-fold as a consequence of an acute fall in pulmonary vascular resistance followed by a gradual remodelling of vessels which occurs over the first weeks of life These changes are essential for normal gaseous exchange to occur in the lungs. The initial part of the process may be halted by perinatal hypoxia, acidosis, or sepsis and causes the clinical syndrome of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). This thesis explores the changes in the cytoskeleton of the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) which help mediate the normal fall in pulmonary vascular resistance and are abnormal in PPHN. These studies were carried out using normal pigs and a hypobaric hypoxic model of PPHN. A series of cytoskeletal SMC phenotypes were identified within the intact intrapulmonary artery wall dependant upon different combinations of certain cytoskeletal proteins (α smooth muscle actin, β actin, γ actin SMI myosin heavy chain isoform, calponin, caldesmon and desmin). This classification demonstrated an outer to inner medial progression of SMC phenotype during development This was punctuated by a transient reduction in a smooth muscle actin, p actin and calponin staining at three days of age, which was considered to represent phenotypic modulation of the SMC phenotype. The total actin content and the proportion present in the monomeric form was found to remain constant during this time, using a highly specific fluorometric DNAse I inhibition assay. However, using simultaneously permeabilised and phalloidin treated preparations, the filamentous actin cytoskeleton of the SMCs was shown to re-organise to finer filaments after birth which may help explain the change in staining pattern within the inner media at three days. Functional studies using isolated segments of intrapulmonary artery indicated that the reorganisation of the actin cytoskeleton after birth was not associated with a significant reduction in contractile potential. Studies on the vessels from fetal and full term piglets indicated that changes in the actin organisation occurred within minutes of the onset of breathing and were associated with significant increases in contractile potential. The possibility that changes in morphologically distinct SMC phenotypes could be responsible for the cytoskeletal changes seen in the intact vessel was investigated by primary cell culture. Epithelioid and spindle-shaped SMC phenotypes were isolated from intrapulmonary arteries throughout development and from both inner and outer parts of the media. Although not responsible for the changes within the inner media of the intact vessel wall at three days of age, an increase in the proportion of epithelioid cells was noted to occur following birth. Spindle-shaped and epithelioid SMCs were obtained by dilutional cloning from intrapulmonary arteries from normal 14 day old and neonatal piglets exposed to hypobaric hypoxia. These cell lines were then characterised in terms of cytoskeletal protein content, replication properties, contractile properties and migrational potential. Distinct differences between the different morphological phenotypes were observed, suggesting differences in function within the intact vessel wall and perturbation of normal function following hypobaric hypoxia

VIP: Incorporating Human Cognitive Biases in a Probabilistic Model of Retweeting

Information spread in social media depends on a number of factors, including how the site displays information, how users navigate it to find items of interest, users' tastes, and the `virality' of information, i.e., its propensity to be adopted, or retweeted, upon exposure. Probabilistic models can learn users' tastes from the history of their item adoptions and recommend new items to users. However, current models ignore cognitive biases that are known to affect behavior. Specifically, people pay more attention to items at the top of a list than those in lower positions. As a consequence, items near the top of a user's social media stream have higher visibility, and are more likely to be seen and adopted, than those appearing below. Another bias is due to the item's fitness: some items have a high propensity to spread upon exposure regardless of the interests of adopting users. We propose a probabilistic model that incorporates human cognitive biases and personal relevance in the generative model of information spread. We use the model to predict how messages containing URLs spread on Twitter. Our work shows that models of user behavior that account for cognitive factors can better describe and predict user behavior in social media.Comment: SBP 201

Can You Please Put Your Phone Away? Examining how the FOMO phenomenon and mobile phone addiction affect human relationships

This study attempts to identify how attachment to social media as well as attachment to other forms of communication technology can lead to addiction to mobile devices and affect non-virtual interpersonal communication. I examined the phenomenon known as the fear of missing out, or FOMO, which can be defined as apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. Experiencing FOMO can lead to overuse of and even addiction to social media, another category I examined, because addicted individuals want to stay more up-to-date with social networks and social media is the most efficient way to do so. This, by default, also connects to overuse of mobile devices due to ease of access with mobile social networking applications. This addiction is linked to loneliness and depression in and of itself, but the general overuse of mobile devices also has negative effects on interpersonal face-to-face communication, the final category that I researched. Numerous studies showed that the use or even mere presence of a mobile phone decreased interpersonal trust in conversation partners. Therefore it can be inferred that excessive social media use can lead to loss of non-virtual connections. Further research into the psychological impact of virtual communication addiction is needed to explore these incredibly new phenomena and help to prevent addiction and negative associations with new technologies.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1146/thumbnail.jp

How good is the orthopaedic literature?

Randomized trials constitute approximately 3% of the orthopaedic literature Concerns regarding quality of the orthopaedic literature stem from a widespread notion that the overall quality of the surgical literature is in need of improvement. Limitations in surgical research arises primarily from two pervasive issues: 1) A reliance on low levels of evidence to advance surgical knowledge, and 2) Poor reporting quality among the high level surgical evidence that is available. The scarcity of randomized trials may be largely attributable to several unique challenges which make them difficult to conduct. We present characteristics of the orthopaedic literature and address the challenges of conducting randomized trials in surgery

Size - Productivity Relationship in Pakistan's Agriculture in the Seventies

A large majority of the less developed countries, including Pakistan, suffer from low levels of productivity in agriculture. In view of the scarcity of farm land and the limitations of intensive margins of cultivation, the importance of raising these levels may not be underestimated in terms of a more judicious use of labour force, rapid growth of agricultural production and increased availability of funds for industrial development. Productivity gains favouring well-to-do farmers, however, may produce undesirable results such as deterioration of income inequalities, political instability and social unrest, and must be avoided as far as possible. It is in this context that the distribution of productivity gains among various size groups should be taken to be as important as the aggregate growth of farm productivity, if not more

Drivers of Microbial Risk for Direct Potable Reuse and de Facto Reuse Treatment Schemes: The Impacts of Source Water Quality and Blending.

Although reclaimed water for potable applications has many potential benefits, it poses concerns for chemical and microbial risks to consumers. We present a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) Monte Carlo framework to compare a de facto water reuse scenario (treated wastewater-impacted surface water) with four hypothetical Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) scenarios for Norovirus, Cryptosporidium, and Salmonella. Consumer microbial risks of surface source water quality (impacted by 0-100% treated wastewater effluent) were assessed. Additionally, we assessed risks for different blending ratios (0-100% surface water blended into advanced-treated DPR water) when source surface water consisted of 50% wastewater effluent. De facto reuse risks exceeded the yearly 10-4 infections risk benchmark while all modeled DPR risks were significantly lower. Contamination with 1% or more wastewater effluent in the source water, and blending 1% or more wastewater-impacted surface water into the advanced-treated DPR water drove the risk closer to the 10-4 benchmark. We demonstrate that de facto reuse by itself, or as an input into DPR, drives microbial risks more so than the advanced-treated DPR water. When applied using location-specific inputs, this framework can contribute to project design and public awareness campaigns to build legitimacy for DPR