FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, DETERMINANTS AND POLICY ANALYSIS: CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

The objective of this study is to understand the determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows and to quantify relevant policy shocks in dynamic econometric model for Pakistan economy. The study has highlighted the degree of attraction of cost related factors, investment environment factors, development strategy factors with ownership and internalization factors and other risk factors of recent FDI flows to Pakistan economy. The results show the investment environment improving factors-openness is statistically significant in short-run. While long run dynamics between FDI, openness and macro economic factors show consistency with short run results. The stable macro economic indicators, country’s risk profile followed by cost related and investment environment improving factors are real determinants to attract FDI.

Microbial Colonisation and Degradation of Plastic Pollution in the Marine Environment

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in the world’s oceans and is predicted to increase by an order of magnitude by 2025. The environmental impacts of plastic pollution are well documented in terms of its effects on marine animals however, the impact plastic has on the natural physicochemical characteristics of seawater and the microbial composition of the world’s oceans remains largely unknown. In particular, the role that microbial communities play in the early stages of colonisation and decomposition requires more attention. In response to this knowledge gap, both laboratory-based and field work experiments were undertaken in order to gain further insights. A microcosm experiment using natural seawater amended with range of plastics, both synthetic and biodegradable, was carried out to evaluate the impact of these plastics on the marine microbial communities. To complement this, a one-year field exposure trial was undertaken to measure biofilm formation and growth, as well as changes in polymer characteristics resulting from degradation. Finally, a biodegradation study was undertaken to identify bacteria within seawater that may degrade plastic. The characterisation of marine bacterial communities revealed major shifts in composition when plastics were introduced into seawater. These microbiological shifts were due to changes in the concentration of dissolved organic carbon, pH and total nitrogen due to the degradation of plastic materials. Furthermore, the long-term field work exposure experiment showed that different plastic substrates selected for distinct colonising communities on their surfaces. The analysis of the biofilm communities revealed the presence of bacteria that could possibly be involved in the degradation of plastics. However, no significant degradation was measured for the in situ tested plastics, suggesting that biofilm formation may have limited degradation. An exploration of plastic degradation using distinct bacterial consortia isolated from seawater resulted in biodegradation (mineralisation) figures of 16, 9 and 7 % for polyvinyl chloride, high-density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate respectively. In summary, results from this thesis suggest that the presence of plastic in seawater affects the microbial community by changing the inherent chemical and biological properties of the water. In addition, plastics were shown to select for distinct colonising communities, which did not contribute to the plastic degradation. However, enriched marine bacterial communities demonstrated biodegradation ability that could be explored further in the future to gain additional insights into underlying biodegradation mechanisms

Impact of Organizational Commitment on Employee Turnover: A Case Study of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

Current research aims to understand the impact of organizational commitment on employee turnover among the employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).By reviewing the previous literature researcher has identified the antecedents of organizational commitment that are likely to influence the turnover intention of employees in organizations. To collect the first hand data from the employees of PIA a questionnaire was used. Data was analyzed using multiple regression. Findings of the study revealed that motivation to learn, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, availability of training programs, job autonomy and organizational learning culture have significant positive relationship with organizational commitment. While job involvement does not significantly contributes towards organizational commitment. According to the results organizational commitment is significantly negatively related to the turnover intention of employees. The findings of this study may help the policy makers and practitioners to understand as how they can reduce turnover intention of employees by increasing organizational commitment. Keywords: Organizational commitment, Turnover intention, Availability of training, Percieved organizational support, Job autonomy, Job Involvemen

Comparative Analysis of Rote Learning on High and Low Achievers in Graduate and Undergraduate Programs

A survey was conducted to study the preferred learning strategies; that is, surface learning or deep learning of undergraduate and graduate male and female students and the impact of the preferred strategy on their academic performance. Both learning strategies help university students to get good scores in their examinations to meet the demands of industry in workforce. Quantitative research method was used to determine the impact of learning strategy on academic achievements. The R-SPQ2F questionnaire was sent to 103 students through Google forms and hard copies through snowball sampling technique. The results show that rote learning and academic performance are inversely related to each other. In high achievers, deep learning is significant as compared to low achievers. Furthermore, comparative analysis of learning styleson males and females showed that both preferred deep learning strategy equally. Learning strategy is not related to education level of students because there is no difference among preferred learning strategies of graduate and undergraduate students

Amniotic fluid embolism

Amniotic fluid embolism is a rare and severe problem in obstetric patients. We experienced a 21-year primigravida who underwent emergency cesarean section due to sudden collapse and fetal distress after rupture of membranes in labour. Subsequently, she developed intraoperative coagulopathy, hemorrhage, hypotension, and respiratory collapse requiring ventilation. Both maternal and neonatal lives were saved with full recovery and discharged in stable condition. The clinical diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) was made, which is a very rare complication of pregnancy/puerperium with varying presentation, ranging from cardiac arrest, circulatory collapse and death through mild degrees of organ system dysfunction with or without coagulopathy. AFE has no definitive test for its diagnosis; the detection of fetal elements in the maternal vasculature is non-specific. The treatment is largely supportive and there is no specific therapy. However, mortality of this condition remains high, if not timely intervened

An Empirical Study for Achieving Economies of Scale by Utilization of (HHO) Hydrogen Hydroxy Gas as Additional Fuel

The scarcity of fossil fuel and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has made every 2nd fuel user to think on some alternative resources, or at least devise some sort of technique to overcome the shortage of fuel during CNG holidays. Thus this study covers an overview of HHO gas production, principles behind the reactions and statistical examples, observations of many engineers and observers who determined to make a use of HHO as additional fuel source. Up to now studies reveals that it is possible to produce burnable vapors of HHO gas in result of hydrolysis of distilled water with combination of some electrolyte sodium or potassium hydro oxides. That Mixture is   generally called Hydrogen-Hydro oxide mixture (H-OH) can give 25%-28% efficiency to fuel combustion if used with fossil fuel. With thermodynamics advantages, by hydrolysis of steam and using different materials as electrode, using 1.3volt to 1.7volt at 0.4 A/cm² the total efficiency can be increased to 40-50% to enhance its utilization for industry use. But need to refine the misconceptions HHO gas is a standalone replacement of fossil fuel for a practical use in cars, scoters and other means of transport. This study suggest policy makers and entrepreneurs to take some supportive actions to promote HHO gas generators/ kits production because this is a low cost solution to cover the shortage of fossil fuel. Keywords: HHO, Hydrogen, Hydroxy, Brown gas, Fuel efficiency.

Investigating the neuroprotective potential of short-term 5-HT7 receptor activation against neuronal excitotoxicity

The pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia or acute ischemic stroke involves what is called neuronal "excitotoxicity", where an initial failure in intracellular energy metabolism causes excessive pre-synaptic glutamate release that over-stimulates ionotropic receptors, particularly the N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Pharmaceutical research endeavours in the past decade that developed and tested therapeutics against glutamate neurotoxicity have exhibited dose-limiting adverse CNS effects in several large scale stroke clinical trials. Given their involvement in glutamatergic neurotransmission, serotoninergic compounds offer a method to modulate glutamate neurotoxicity without evoking unacceptable side effects. A novel neuroprotective mechanism against NMDA induced excitotoxicity involves cross-talk between 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) type 7 (5-HT7) receptor and a growth factor receptor called the platelet-derived growth factor β receptor (PDGFRβ). In primary hippocampal neurons, long-term (24 hour) activation of the 5-HT7 receptor by small molecule ligands increase the expression of PDGFRβ that in turn phosphorylates a downstream effector which differentially regulates NMDA receptor subunit expression to prevent NMDA-induced neurotoxicity. Direct activation of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)β receptors in primary hippocampal and cortical neurons inhibits NMDA receptor activity and attenuates NMDA receptor-induced toxicity. This study aimed to determine if such a neuroprotective pathway could be active with short-term application of a 5-HT7 receptor agonist. Western blot analysis revealed that 2 to 4 h activation of 5-HT7 receptors in primary hippocampal neurons increased tyrosine 1021 phosphorylation (PLCγ binding site responsible for down regulating NR2B containing NMDA receptors), as well as TrkB-FL receptor expression and phosphorylation. In addition, sustained increases in PLCγ1 expression and Akt activation were observed. Cell viability assays performed in primary hippocampal neurons showed that 2 and 4 h pre-treatment with LP 12 was neuroprotective against NMDA insults. Similar results were observed in HT22 cells. After extensive characterization of the cell line, we determined that differentiated HT22 cells were susceptible to NMDA-induced excitotoxicity. Similar to primary neurons, HT22 cells treated with 4 h LP 12 resulted in an increase in tyrosine 1021, ERK1/2, PLCγ1, and Akt threonine 308 phosphorylation. MTT viability assays in differentiated HT-22 cells suggested that neuroprotection against NMDA can be observed with 4 h LP 12 pre-treatment and that a sustained rise in 5-HT7 receptor expression occurs during neuronal excitotoxicity. These findings expand the potential role of 5-HT7 receptors as a drug target beyond neuropsychiatric illnesses and provide further evidence for the possibility of producing growth factor receptor-dependent neuroprotective effects using small-molecule ligands of G protein-coupled receptors for neuronal excitotoxicity