Digital Divide: An Econometric Study of the Determinants in Information-poor Countries

There can not be two opinions on the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for economic development. However, real disparities exist in access to and use of ICT across countries. The digital divide is a complicated matter of varying levels of access, basic usage, and applications of ICT among countries and peoples. Using the Gompertz Technology Diffusion model, this paper attempts to measure the contribution of factors such as affordability, knowledge, infrastructure, human capital, trade openness, and economic and social environment in the technology diffusion process, specially in the case of information-poor countries.Digital Divide, Information and Communication Technologies, ICT, Gompertz Model, ICT Diffusion, Economic Development, ICT Infrastructure

Digital Divide: An Econometric Study of the Determinants in Information-poor Countries

There can not be two opinions on the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for economic development. However, real disparities exist in access to and use of ICT across countries. The digital divide is a complicated matter of varying levels of access, basic usage, and applications of ICT among countries and peoples. Using the Gompertz Technology Diffusion model, this paper attempts to measure the contribution of factors such as affordability, knowledge, infrastructure, human capital, trade openness, and economic and social environment in the technology diffusion process, specially in the case of information-poor countries

Distinctive Cultural and Geographical Legacy of Bahawalpur

This article will throw light on unique cultural and geographical heritage of Bahawalpur, in the context of regional heritage. This place has pedigree in Ancient world, yet to discover its ancestor age. This region was integral part of Hakra civilization, which underwent Alexander and Hindus domination afterwards. Nevertheless, Bahawalpur sustains its importance when it was a Princely state, and even when it merged with Pakistan in 1954. Its culture is amalgamation of customs of urban and rural areas which also consist of plain and desert lives’ time-honored traditions. Geographically, it has three shads; it comprises desert, Bar or Pat (high land) and fertile land. All of these have their own norms, mores and ethnicities. But they are also silhouetted by a united culture of Bahawalpur. The adherence of Islam in day to day life and regional language (Sariki) are significantly important binding force of the natives of this vicinity. Â

BERT-Embedding and Citation Network Analysis based Query Expansion Technique for Scholarly Search

The enormous growth of research publications has made it challenging for academic search engines to bring the most relevant papers against the given search query. Numerous solutions have been proposed over the years to improve the effectiveness of academic search, including exploiting query expansion and citation analysis. Query expansion techniques mitigate the mismatch between the language used in a query and indexed documents. However, these techniques can suffer from introducing non-relevant information while expanding the original query. Recently, contextualized model BERT to document retrieval has been quite successful in query expansion. Motivated by such issues and inspired by the success of BERT, this paper proposes a novel approach called QeBERT. QeBERT exploits BERT-based embedding and Citation Network Analysis (CNA) in query expansion for improving scholarly search. Specifically, we use the context-aware BERT-embedding and CNA for query expansion in Pseudo-Relevance Feedback (PRF) fash-ion. Initial experimental results on the ACL dataset show that BERT-embedding can provide a valuable augmentation to query expansion and improve search relevance when combined with CNA.Comment: 1

Studying Customer Attitudes towards Advertising in Pakistan

The purpose of the paper is to examine the customer attitudes towards advertising in Pakistan. In this study researcher examine the different dimensions of attitudes towards advertising economics beliefs, social beliefs, regulation beliefs, and personal usefulness and ethical beliefs. Data for the study collected from the customers in twin cities of Pakistan. Final analysis performed on 116 valid responses. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to check the reliability of the scale. Correlation and regression analysis were used to test the hypothesis and check the variance. The findings of the descriptive analysis show that customer’s regulation and ethics beliefs towards advertising are not better and Economic beliefs, Social beliefs and Personal usefulness about advertising are better. The current policies of advertisers are not according to customer’s regulation beliefs and ethics beliefs. The data was collected just from students and used a small sample of 116 respondents however it may affect to generality. The study provides significant practical implications for the marketing managers as well as advertisers to adjust their advertising plans or policies in Pakistan with respect to the different dimensionality of consumer’s attitudes toward advertising.&nbsp

Per-Operative External Ventricular Drainage Results in Children with Posterior Fossa Tumors and Hydrocephalus

Objective:  We determined the outcome of per operational external ventricular drainage in pediatric patients with posterior fossa tumors and hydrocephalus. Material And Methods:  54 patients included presenting with posterior fossa tumors and mild to moderate hydrocephalous were considered for per operative external ventricular drainage. The external ventricular drain was then weaned off in one week. If it cannot be removed due to persistent hydrocephalous it was converted into a permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Results:  In the study, the mean age was 7 years. Twenty-seven children had ependymoma, 19% of children had medulloblastoma, and 54% of children had pilocytic astrocytoma. Moreover, 67% of children had weaned off and 33% of children had converted to VP shunt. There existed an insignificant difference in the outcome (yes/ no) concerning age groups, gender, and tumor type. Conclusion:  Our study concludes that the outcome of per operative external ventricular drainage was weaned off (67%) and converted to VP shunt (33%) in pediatrics with posterior fossa tumors and hydrocephalous

OUTCOME OF DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPY IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY CHILDREN: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT

Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the non-progressive disorder of motor and posture with associated delayed development in areas of cognition, perception, behavior and sensation, due to insult to immature brain. Improvement in all developmental domains of CP patients depends upon early institution of rehabilitation programs involving all multidisciplinary approach. The portage early education program (PEEP) is a worldwide, effective and early interventional method, for developmentally delayed children.   Objective: To determine the outcome of developmental therapy in children with CP by using PEEP.  Study Design: Experimental research design (within group)  Settings: The children hospital and the institute of child health Multan.  Methodology: 156 patients of 2 to 10 years of age, both gender from January 2020 to December 2020, diagnosed as CP were enrolled for this study. All children were assessed by using PEEP and GMFM (Gross Motor Function Measure) twice 6 months apart. A trained clinical psychologist administered PEEP to all the children. All the Patients were advised regular weekly sessions at hospital by multidisciplinary team and at least 2 hours per day for continuation of these therapies at home. At the end of 6 months we found that all families had not followed this. The patient who visited >2times/month were considered compliant and those visited <2times/month were considered non-compliant. Data was analyzed by using SSPS version 16. Paired t test was used to compare the developmental outcome of compliant and non-compliant groups.  Results: Out of 156 participants, 58(37%) were in compliant and 98(63%) non-compliant. Male subjects were prominent 42(72.41%) and 67(68.37%) respectively. Most of the participants belonged to 3-6 years of age in both groups28(48.29%) and 51(52.04%) respectively. Spastic quadriplegia (26(44.83%), 57 (58.16%)), and level 5 on GMFM  24(42.86) and 52(53.06%) respectively was commonly presents in both patient groups. The mean comparison of DQ of Compliant CP Children at initial stage and after six months in areas of GM, C, SH, S, L and GMFM was found statistically significant.   Conclusion: CP children should be on regular follow up for developmental therapy for long time for better outcome. PEEP is an excellent system for the assessment, training and rehabilitation of children with delayed development. 

Fan Industry of Pakistan: Growth Dynamics of Small, Medium and Large Enterprises

Executive Summary This research report ‘Fan Industry of Pakistan: Growth Dynamics of Small, Medium and Large Enterprises’ explores the various dimensions of growth dynamics of small, medium and large size firms in this specific industry. The fan industry landscape is, as typical of a developing economy, full of inter-firm resource heterogeneity and ‘technological dualism’, where larger, and some medium scale enterprises use more modern methods of production and business, and the small scale firms reply upon the traditional processes. Based on the information and data gathered through field surveys, this research attempted to formally analyse the pattern and determinants of the performance of fan making firms. The information and data comprised of various dimensions of entrepreneurial competence, business operation, skill sets, technological capabilities, as well as input-output dynamics. Starting from the development of industry specific classifications of firm sizes, based on number of workers, output range, number and types of machines, the research has analysed various issues related with firm performance across and within firms of different sizes. Other characteristics of firms like targeted income groups, types of markets (local and/or international), outsourcing practices, product diversification, R&D practices, product testing, nature and sources of skills acquisition, technological upgradation, over-time and advertisement practices have also been used for deeper and broader evaluation of industry and firm-size specific dynamics. The research has contributed to literature in terms of its industry specific findings, and also by developing an estimate of ‘growth orientation’ of different sized firms and their determinants. A low-growth oriented firm is characterised by fewer intentions and actions to expand vis-à-vis a more growth oriented firm. The how and why questions of this growth orientation have been dealt with in detail. One important general findings is that firms with higher growth orientation are more active in terms of investment, technological up-gradation, certifications, and product diversification. They usually analyse key factors shaping the demand and production processes etc. formally, though with less sophisticated methods and techniques. On the other hand, low growth oriented firms lack the relevant resources and hence are unable to overcome the barriers to growth. The resource heterogeneity hints towards what is often referred to as ‘technological dualism’ within the industry. The real challenge for any policy for technological up-gradation and also for skill development, at firm and industry levels, is to address this issue effectively. It is hoped that the further research may discover new horizons in our understanding of the SMEs in Pakistani context

Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Adjustment among Doctors and Nurses in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Rawalpindi-Pakistan: A Cross Sectional Study

Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationship between EI and the quality of nursing care from the viewpoint of nurses and patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a public sector tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, over 6 months from November 2019 to April 2020. The convenience sampling technique was employed. The study groups were qualified practising doctors and nurses including nursing assistants and paramedics. Study groups were provided with a self-administered questionnaire that was filled out after getting consent from the study participants. Data analysis was done by entering it into SPSS version 22. The relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological adjustments among the two groups was assessed by applying an independent T-test. Results: The current study explored that doctors were emotionally intelligent and psychologically well-adjusted as compared to nurses. Females were more emotionally intelligent than males; however, males were better adjusted psychologically. Years of experience had no significant results between both groups, while there was a positive correlation between the department of practice and psychological well-being. Conclusions: It shows that harmonious work environments and friendly interpersonal relationships positively affect the well-being of HCWs and patients. What this indicates is a need to bring about changes within work environments to produce friendly interpersonal relationships and a positive impact on the well-being of HCWs and patients.