A Study of Risk Disclosures in the Annual Reports of Pakistani Companies: A Content Analysis

Increasing complexity of business environment, operations and regulatory sanctions have fostered the demand for firms to provide a higher level of disclosure. Corporate risk information plays an important role in the decision making process and improve the stakeholder’s ability to make precise valuation of firm. This paper explores the main risks disclosed by largest Pakistani companies and analyse the firm characteristics that are linked to the provision of corporate risk information. The content analysis of risk disclosure statements provided in annual reports reveal that firms are providing disclosure for both mandatory(financial) and voluntary (non-financial) risks. Financial risks are the most disclosed risks followed by strategic and operations risks. We use multiple theoretical framework to explain the variation in the extent of corporate risk disclosure. Among the firm characteristics, corporate size is significantly and positively related with risk disclosure sentences and explains variation in corporate risk disclosure. Large companies are politically sensitive and are likely to disclose more risk related information in explaining their level of return. Leverage and profitability are not significant drivers of corporate risk disclosure. Effective audit environment plays a significant role in enhancing corporate risk disclosure and firms operating in the same industry provide similar level of risk disclosure. Keywords: Corporate disclosure, Mandatory Risk, Voluntary Risk, Content Analysi

Synthesis of New Iminocoumarins Bearing Parabanic Moieties

The synthesis of novel substituted 3-p-nitro-phenyliminocoumarins and corresponding N-ureaiminocoumarins is described. The condensation of these materials with oxalyl chloride leads to the corresponding N-parabanic iminocoumarins, which have not previously been described, in moderate or good yields and high selectivity. The structures were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, 1H and 13C NMR, and elemental analysis

Risk governance and bank risk-taking behavior:Evidence from Asian banks

We investigate how risk committee and Chief Risk Officer’s characteristics affect the risk-taking behavior of Asian commercial banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Using a sample of 1480 observations representing 185 banks from year 2010 to 2017, we find evidence of a negative and significant link between the risk governance mechanisms and risk-taking. This link is however more pronounced for privately-owned banks (POBs) than for state-owned banks (SOBs). Moreover, risk governance mechanisms positively influence the performance of POBs but have no impact on performance of SOBs. Overall, our results show the role of risk governance mechanisms in curbing excessive risk-taking and improving risk management effectiveness and performance of Asian banks, with some differences across the SOBs and POBs

Experience with the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist

Despite years of efforts by organizations throughout the world “wrong site” surgery has proven to be a resilient opponent. The purpose of present review article is to revisit the various tools that have been designed specially the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSCL), the purpose of which is to improve patient safety and prevent errors in the site of surgery. Three items were the corner stone of this review. Firstly effectiveness of the tools specially the WHO SSCL, secondly approach of those responsible for implementation and thirdly adherence by organizations to the provided guideline. A general review of the available data showed a clear improvement in patient safety. As a whole medical personnel considered SSCl and other tools as a good addition but these tools have yet to prove their worth in the prevention of “wrong site” surgery. There is a need to strive continuously for improving patient safety and to capitalize on the advances made in this regard to prevent this menace. At our Rawalpindi Medical University affiliated Holy Family Hospital efforts are in place for improving ways and developing protocols to curb the evil of wrong site surgery. We currently adopted a new way proposed by Ragusa et al in which we experimented with keeping the surgical instruments and trolley outside the OR away from the surgery team members. Thus preventing distraction of team members till the completion of SSCl. Additionally the Anesthetist took the responsibility of the implementation of the SSCL. This method also prevented the hierarchal style seen in the operation theatres. 1,2 These sentinel events policy was published in 1996.3 By the Joint Commission. This commission is an independent body which has 20,500 health care facilities accredited with it in the USA. The aim of this policy was to help individuals and organizations to learn from their mistakes and achieve the objective of patient safety and zero rate of wrong site surgery4. Wrong site surgery mean surgery done on the wrong patient, surgery on the wrong site or may be a wrong surgery on the wrong patient.4 After review of the record the American Academy of Orthopedics claimed that the orthopedic surgeons have a 25% likelihood of operating a wrong site during their careers. After this claim a campaign “Sign Your Site” was started which proposed that surgeons should sign the surgical site before surgery is done.5 A similar scheme known as the “SMaX” which stands for signing, marking and X-ray of the spine segment was launched by the North American Spine Society in 2001.6     In 2004 The Joint Commission proposed a Universal Protocol. The Commission made it compulsory for all medical facilities under its accreditation to adopt it.7 This document included confirmation of patient and surgical site, its marking and time out before any elective surgery. The World Health Organization (WHO) a subsidiary of the United Nations, which is charged with managing the global health affairs, developed the “surgical Safety Checklist” in the year 2008. This checklist was a product of the “Safe Surgery Saves Lives” campaign. According to this document three phases have been identified in any surgery,. i.e., “Sign In” prior to the anesthesia induction, “Time Out” before incision and “Sign Out” before the patient leaves the operating room. 8-10 Unfortunately in 2009 Stahel et al found an increased number of wrong site surgery.  11 This was preceded by the Joint Commission report  with similar findings.10 Following these disappointing results the Commission further augmented the importance given to the issue by declaring the Universal Protocol as the National patient Safety Goal.12,13 This review article goes through the studies and literature recently published as SSCL and similar tools that have been developed over time to prevent wrong site surgery and improve patient care. The aim was to identify how effective is the SSCL in achieving its goals. Hurdles in the achieving maximum results were also identified. The thinking and view point of those involved in the implementation were sought, emphasis was also placed on how thoroughly organizations comply with the provided guideline

Internal And External Radiation Exposure Evaluation Amongst Selected Workers And Locations In Iraq

There are many changes that have affected badly the environment and people’s life in Iraq during the last two decades as a result of wars and suspected used of prohibited weapons and what ways these reveal dangerous diseases. The objectives of the present work was to measure the uranium concentration in urine taken from workers in factories and hospitals by using Fission Track Analysis (FTA) technique, analyze the specific activities of radionuclides analysis in soil using high purity germanium (HPGe) detector, and determining radon concentration in air using Nuclear Track Detectors (NTDs) LR-115 type II. Also, Alphaguard water borne radon detector was used to determine radon concentration in water samples. Air, water and soil samples were taken from factories and hospitals in selected regions of Iraq after the 2003 Gulf war. The results shown that the highest uranium concentration was 3.39±0.43 μg/L for urine samples of workers from the Phosphate factory and the lowest uranium concentration was 1.31±0.24 μg/L for X-ray workers in hospitals. The uranium concentration in the urine samples increases with number of working years. The uranium concentration in urine samples of male, sick, addicted and smoking workers are higher than female, healthy, non addicted and non smoking workers, respectively. Soil samples from the Phosphate factory have the maximum values of Raeq, Hin, Hex, ADRA, and the annual effective indoor and outdoor doses were 744.71 Bq/kg, 4.07, 2.06, 353.39 nGy/h, 1.734 and 0.433, respectively compared to other factories and hospitals

Knowing and Designing: Understanding Information Use in Open Source Design Through the Lens of Information Archetypes

The early phases of the product design process are crucial to the success of design outcomes. While information utilized during idea development has tremendous potential to impact the final design, there is a lack of understanding about the types of information utilized in industry, making it challenging to develop and teach methodologies that support the design of competitive products. As a first step in understanding this process, this study focuses on developing a framework of Information Archetypes utilized by designers in industry. This was accomplished through in-depth analysis of qualitative interviews with large software engineering companies. The results reveal two archetypes of information utilized by decision-makers within these companies during the development of new products and services. The findings of this study allow for future research that investigates the role of information during the product design process

STG-MTL: Scalable Task Grouping for Multi-Task Learning Using Data Map

Multi-Task Learning (MTL) is a powerful technique that has gained popularity due to its performance improvement over traditional Single-Task Learning (STL). However, MTL is often challenging because there is an exponential number of possible task groupings, which can make it difficult to choose the best one, and some groupings might produce performance degradation due to negative interference between tasks. Furthermore, existing solutions are severely suffering from scalability issues, limiting any practical application. In our paper, we propose a new data-driven method that addresses these challenges and provides a scalable and modular solution for classification task grouping based on hand-crafted features, specifically Data Maps, which capture the training behavior for each classification task during the MTL training. We experiment with the method demonstrating its effectiveness, even on an unprecedented number of tasks (up to 100).Comment: Accepted submission to DMLR workshop @ ICML 2

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

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON RELATIONSHIP OF DIABETES MELLITUS (TYPE 2) AND OBESITY IN PAKISTAN

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most common public health issues worldwide and its incidence is on the rise, particularly in middle-income and low-income countries. Objectives of the study: The main objective of the study is to analyze the relationship of diabetes mellitus (type 2) and obesity in Pakistan. Methodology of the study: The cross sectional study was conducted at Allied Hospital Faisalabad during March 2018 till August 2018 The data was collected from 200 diabetic patients who visited the OPD of the hospital. The data was collected through a questionnaire. We assess the nutritional and economic health of patients by asking some survey questions. From the large pool of data we select health status, diet quality, lifestyle, food culture, food security, and demographic information of the selected patients. The economic and health status describe the level of awareness regarding disease. Results: The data were collected from 200 diabetic patients. We also collect the basic characteristics of patients and compared these values with normal values. So we can find that diseases person have more blood pressure value as compared to normal. The demographical conditions of the patients explains the co-efficient and standard error values. The level of confidence interval is 90 and 95 in this table for the significant value. Conclusion: It is concluded that T2DM patients require reinforcement of DM education including dietary management through stakeholders (health-care providers, health facilities, etc.) to encourage them to understand the disease management better, for more appropriate self-care and better quality of life

Finite element analysis of R.C. Arches with openings strengthened by CFRP laminates

The main objective of this research is to present an analytical study to investigate the behavior and performance of reinforced concrete arches with and without openings , un-strengthened and strengthened (externally by CFRP laminates or internally by steel reinforcement)and comparison with experimental results. Twelve tested reinforced concrete semi-circular arches with and without web openings were analyzed with cross-section of (150*250mm) and inner diameter (1500mm) and outer diameter (2000mm).The variables considered in this research included: curvature forces , location of opening through profile of arch, and type of strengthening.ANSYS computer program (version 11, 2007) was performed throughout this study. Full bond was assumed between the CFRP and concrete and between steel reinforcement and concrete. Brick elements SOLID 65 and SOLID 45 was used to represent concrete element and steel plate, respectively. While LINK8 and SHELL 41 were used to represent steel reinforcement and CFRP laminates, respectively. In general, a good agreement between the finite element and experimental results has been obtained concerning load –deflection response and mode of failure , where cracking and ultimate loads with average difference about 5.83% and 3.92%,respectively