Export Earnings Instability in Pakistan

Since independence, Pakistan, like many other countries, has been facing the problem of the balance-of-payments deficit. A number of policies have been introduced during different periods for rapid and continuous growth in Pakistan’s exports. These policies, like import substitution, devaluation of the rupee in 1972, export finance schemes, tax concessions, delinking of the rupee from the U.S. dollar in 1982, etc., have helped in boosting its exports to some extent but not enough to stabilise its export earnings. The fluctuations in export earnings are known to have serious consequences. Specifically, unstable export earnings affect the investment decisions by hindering the continuous import of industrial raw materials. This, in turn, impedes the growth of the industrial sector. Moreover, it causes fluctuations in the GNP and promotes uncertainty in the economy. This uncertainty plays a decisive role in the private sector’s hesitation to invest in the large-scale manufacturing industries, thereby hampering the country’s overall development. Keeping in view the possibly serious consequences of export earnings instability, a study exploring its causes is in order. Concentration of exports on a few commodities and exporting to only a few markets is among the possible explanations of the current instability in Pakistan’s export earnings. Due to commodity concentration, the chances of offsetting the impact of adverse price movements in the international market are reduced. This commodity concentration is often associated with the concentration on primary products and is, therefore, the basis for a policy of diversification away from primary products. A diversification away from primary products and towards industrial goods is desirable for another reason, not central to this paper; and that is that the terms of trade argument which claims that the relative prices of the primary products have increased slowly relative to the prices of the manufactured goods in the international market

Epidemiology of prediabetes and prehypertension-progression, regression and interaction

Background: The major portion of the non-communicable diseases is formed by cardiovascular diseases. The two major modifiable risk factors are hypertension and diabetes. The probable CVD risk with pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes, to some extent, is dependent on whether pre-HTN leads to hypertension and pre-DM leads to diabetes. Our aim was to study: the progression of prehypertension and prediabetes to overt hypertension and diabetes or to normal status, and the association of pre-obesity and obesity with prehypertension and prediabetes. Methods: A total of 1200 patients equally distributed among three groups were studied for progression or regression. Group A included 400 patients of pre-hypertension, and group B included 400 patients of pre-diabetes and group C included 400 patients of pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension. Results: Among the 400 studied patients with prediabetes 31 (7.8%) progressed to diabetes and only 9 (2.3%) progressed to hypertension over a period of two years. Patients with both prehypertension and prediabetes had a higher risk of progression to hypertension and diabetes (3% to hypertension and 15.5% to diabetes). Males were more prone to develop both pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes mellitus and progression. Obesity increased the risk of progression to hypertension and diabetes significantly. Conclusions: The screening of people for pre-diabetes mellitus and pre-hypertension should be carried out at mass levels so as to diagnose them at an early stage and hence, their progression can be either halted or modified

Transport coefficients for drifting Maxwellian plasmas: The effect of Coulomb collisions

We derive the collisional momentum and energy transport coefficients in Maxwellian plasmas with a general drift velocity with respect to the ambient magnetic field by using two approaches, the Fokker-Planck approximation and Boltzmann collision integral. We find the transport coefficients obtained from Fokker-Planck representation are similar to those obtained by using Boltzmann collision integral approach, and both results are presented in a closed form in terms of hypergeometric functions. This has been done for drifting Maxwellian plasmas with special emphasis on Coulomb collision, i.e. inverse-square force. Also, we calculate the transport coefficients for two special cases, firstly, when the drift velocity is parallel to the ambient magnetic field (i.e. u = u∥, and zero perpendicular drift velocity), and secondly, when the drift velocity is perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field (i.e. u = u⊥, and zero parallel drift velocity). It is worthy to mention that, up to our knowledge, none of the derived transport coefficients for the above mentioned case are presented in closed form and in terms of hypergeometric function

Impact of Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility on Banks’ Financial Performance and the Mediating Role of Employees’ Satisfaction and Loyalty in Pakistan

Inspired by the global increase in awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR), this paper is an attempt to explore the influence of CSR on bank employees’ satisfaction and loyalty and banks’ financial performance. It was assumed there could be differences in the perception of CSR among employees toward the CSR initiatives being undertaken by the banks they work for. Employees’ level of awareness and extent of involvement with various CSR activities could affect their satisfaction and loyalty. This study used regression analysis for hypothesis testing. Its findings reveal that CSR positively affects employee satisfaction and loyalty as well as banks’ financial performance; employee satisfaction positively affects employee loyalty; and employee loyalty positively affects banks’ financial performance. Hence, bank management should focus on CSR from the perspective of employees to contribute to employee satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately, to enhanced financial performance. Suggestions and inferences for future research and banking sector practices are suggested based on these results

Relationship of training and education with employee performance in financial institutions

The aim of this study is to investigate the training that has positive impact on employees’ performance and productivity. This paper is quantitative in nature. Data for the paper have been collected through primary source by questionnaires surveys. The data have been checked through statistical software to find the influence and relationship of training on performance of employees. There are two variable Training (Independent) and Employees' performance (Dependent). Seven conventional banks limited are selected for the study. It is concluded that training has strong positive impact on employee performance whereas education is negatively correlated with performance in the financial institution of southern Punjab. The research paper suggest that professional training is essential element of human capital development which leads to higher productivity and performance

Pragmatic failure in the realization of the speech act of responding to compliments among Yemeni EFL undergraduates

The purpose of the present study is to investigate into the possibility of pragmatic failure in the L2 production of Yemeni EFL university learners. It, in particular, tackles the L1 negative pragmatic transfer in the speech act of responding to compliments. The participants of the study are thirty Yemeni learners of English representing the target group and two baseline groups: thirty Yemeni Arabic native speakers and thirty American English native speakers. The researchers used a Discourse Completion Task as to collect the relevant data based on six complimenting scenarios. Data were codified into compliment response formulas and analysed statistically via SPSS in terms of the overall frequency counts of the semantic formulas. The results revealed that pragmatic failure is highly evident in the learners’ L2 production. L1 negative pragmatic transfer occurred in the response strategies of 'Comment Acceptance', 'Comment History', 'Praise Upgrade', 'Return', 'No Acknowledgement', 'Offer', 'Promise' and 'Wish'. They nearly represent 50% of the leaners' response utterances. The learners also showed a tendency of positively assimilating their L2 norms in the realization of compliment responses in half of their response utterances

Phytobiocidal management of bacterial wilt of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi

Phytobiocides are a good alternative to chemicals in managing bacterial diseases including bacterial wilt of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. In the present research study, finely ground dried powders of seven widely available medicinal plants/weeds species viz., Peganum harmala (esfand or wild rue), Calotropis procera (sodom apple), Melia azedarach (white cedar), Allium sativum (garlic), Adhatoda vasica (malabar nut), Tagetes patula (marigold) and Nerium oleander (oleander) were assessed for their anti-microbial activity, both in-vitro (10% w/v) and in-vivo (10, 20, 30, and 40 g/kg of potted soil) against R. solanacearum. Aqueous extracts (prepared as 10% w/v, soaking for 48-72 h and filtering) of C. procera, A. vasica, and T. patula inhibited the in-vitro growth of the bacterial pathogen over 60% of that produced by the standard antibiotic streptomycin. A. sativum, N. oleander and P. harmala aqueous extracts were less effective while M. azedarach showed no effect against R. solanacearum. The higher dose (40 g/kg of soil) of C. procera, A. vasica and T. patula decreased disease severity quite effectively and increased yield and plant growth characters as much as the standard antibiotic did. No phytotoxicity of medicinal plants powder was observed on tomato plants. Alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and terpenoids were detected in the aqueous extracts of T. patula and A. vasica whereas C. procera was found to have only alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. Our data suggest that dried powders of T. patula, C. procera and A. vasica (40 g/kg of soil) could be used as an effective component in the integrated disease management programs against bacterial wilt of tomato

Frequency of different groove patterns seen on the occlusal surface of mandibular second premolars

Background: The Mandibular second premolar has commonly three different type traits depending on the occlusal groove patterns. In addition to that they are also recognized on the basis of number of cusps. The objectives of the study were to determine the frequency of different occlusal groove patterns of mandibular second premolars and to acquire base line data for future studies in this population and field of research.Material and Methods: This study was conducted in Islamabad Dental Hospital (IDH), from September 2017 to December 2017. A total of 600 patients (1200 teeth) with fully erupted mandibular second premolars of normal occlusal morphology, in age group of 15 years and above were screened in the Out Patient Department (OPD). Groove patterns on occlusal surfaces and their anatomical variations on both sides i.e. right and left, were observed and noted in a proforma. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22.Results: Three different patterns of occlusal grooves (Y, U and H) were found in our study population. Y groove pattern was observed in 364 teeth (30.33%), U pattern in 447 teeth (37.25%) and H pattern was noted in 389 (32.41%) teeth. Among males, U pattern was predominant (43.84%) followed by H and then Y pattern. In females, H pattern grooves was found mostly (34.41%), followed by Y and U pattern.Conclusion: The most frequent occlusal groove pattern observed in our population was U followed by H and Y type

Open complete dislocation of trapezium with a vertically split fracture: a case report

Open complete dislocation of the trapezium is an extraordinarily rare injury with only a few cases reported so far in literature. The association of a vertically split fracture makes this injury even rare and hence worth reporting. A 14 year old Kashmiri boy presented to us with a history of massive trauma to the non dominant left hand sustained as a result of a blow from a heavy hammer. The thenar area was burst out and the trapezium was vertically split apart into two halves which were dislocated from the articular surfaces of the scaphoid as well as the first metacarpal. The mechanism of injury as in other such reported cases was a massive direct force localized over the carpal bone which causes its enucleation and fracture. Although some authors have recommended excision of the dislocated trapezium, open reduction of the fracture dislocation and fixation with K wires was carried out under General anesthesia. At the end of one year although there was some functional deficit in the affected thumb, especially in opposition, the patient was quite satisfied with the outcome as this was the non dominant hand

A Study of Thyroid Profile with Chronic Kidney Disease in a tertiary care hospital in northern India

Background Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) includes a spectrum of different patho-physiological events associated with abnormal renal functions and a progressive decrease in effective glomerular filtration rate. It is a condition defined by abnormalities of kidney structure or function for more than 3 months