From development authorities to democratic institutions: Studies in planning and management transition in the Karachi Metropolitan Region

Karachi is a relatively young metropolis. The city is about three centuries old, founded as a port by local Hindu merchants and traders. The British conquered the city in 1839, occupied the entire principality of Sindh in 1843 and designated Karachi as headquarters of the territory. The city experienced different phases of growth. When Pakistan came into being in 1947, a large number of refugees entered the city and the population jumped from 435,000 in 1947 to 1,050,000 in 1951. Karachi has remained the primate city of Pakistan, with a high annual growth rate of 5-7 percent per annum (Ahmed 1998). Current estimates suggest that the city has about 17 million inhabitants.Karachi houses 7 per cent of the total population and 23 per cent of the urban population of Pakistan. Its current rate of growth is estimated at around 5 per cent, of which 3 per cent is due to natural increase and 2 per cent to migration from the other parts of the country. Karachi provides 25 per cent of federal revenue and 15 per cent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP). In addition, 50 per cent of the country’s bank deposits and 72 per cent of all issued capital is contributed by the city (Hasan 2010; CDGK 2008). It houses the country’s largest stock market and about 26 per cent of the total national industrial establishments

Efficiency of the foreign exchange markets in South Asian Countries

This paper examines the weak form efficiency of the foreign exchange markets in seven SAARC countries using monthly return series for each of these markets over a period of 21 years (1985-2005). We applied a battery of unit root tests and variance ratio tests (individual and multiple) to see whether the return series (and also, the raw data) follow random walk process. Our results suggest that the increments of the return series are not serially correlated. Therefore, we conclude that foreign exchange markets in SAARC countries are weak form efficient.

Alternative arrangements for water supply in urban areas: case studies from Karachi, Pakistan

Urban water supply, normally managed by the utilities, is conventionally facilitated through underground piped system. In most of the developing countries, the piped water supply is not sufficient to fulfil the need of communities. Communities in such localities resort to the usage of alternative modes of supply. These modes include boreholes, water tankers, vending through donkey carts, suction pumps or informal drawing from water mains. These alternative modes are used in different arrangements which extend service to consumers through ways and means not formally integrated in the conventional procedures. Studies on urban water supply have cover the supply modes, procedures, projects and programmes undertaken by the utilities. Literature is available on water vending in urban and peri urban areas. However there appears a knowledge gap in literature related to the alternative arrangements of water supply. This dissertation explores the research question as to why and how consumers in urban areas resort to the usage of alternative arrangements in water supply. [Continues.

Reappraising International Business in a Digital Arena: Barriers, Strategies, and Context for Internationalization of Digital Innovations

This dissertation builds on the eclectic paradigm to explore internationalization strategies in the burgeoning digital economy through a rigorous empirical analysis of a unique big data archive tracking international penetrations of more than 1.5 million mobile apps across 58 countries. While traditional firms internationalize by internalizing physical assets to reap location advantages from foreign markets, many digital businesses internationalize by orchestrating networks of information flows across borders. Such digital internationalization may not be constrained by cross-national distance or lack of resources as digital businesses leverage globally disperse knowledge and innovation networks to develop scale free digital innovations and seamlessly transmit them across the world via global platforms. Incorporating such unique dynamics of digital internationalization in extant literature, I extend beyond the current research focus on firm resources and internalization of physical assets to evaluate how digital businesses internalize networks across multiple locations to virtually internationalize their scale free digital innovations. First, I argue that despite lower barriers to foreign market entries in digital world, digital internationalization is still subject to user adoption barriers that emanate from differences in user preferences. However, digital businesses may overcome user adoption barriers despite their limited resources by internalizing demand-side networks, particularly users, across countries. Next, I distinguish demand-side networks based on their potential of contributing knowledge and innovation ideas to facilitate the internationalization of their digital innovations. I draw attention to the critical role of lead markets in a digital context by showing that establishing demand-side networks in lead markets can facilitate digital businesses in upgrading their innovations to penetrate multiple countries. Hence, I advocate expanding eclectic paradigm to incorporate demand-side networks in lead markets as important location advantages. Finally, as location of networks plays a pivotal role in setting the course of digital internationalization, I emphasize the need for categorizing countries across the world based on their network characteristics. I develop two indices, virtual distance and virtual clout, which measure how networks across countries differ from and connect with each other in the virtual world. My dissertation takes an initial but important step toward developing a more rigorous, quantifiable, and generalizable understanding of the new rules of digital internationalization by not only proposing important theoretical extensions but also subjecting them to sophisticated empirical investigations

Molecular Basis of Blood Glucose Regulation

Blood glucose level is regulated by multiple pancreatic hormones, which regulate it by different pathways in normal and abnormal conditions by expressing or suppressing multiple genes or molecular or cellular targets. Multiple synthetic drugs and therapies are used to cure glucose regulatory problems, while many of them are used to cure other health issues, which arise due to disturbance in blood glucose regulations. Many new approaches are used for the development of phytochemical-based drugs to cure blood glucose regulation problems, and many of the compounds have been isolated and identified to cure insulin resistance or regulate beta cell function or glucose absorption in the guts or GLP-1 homoeostasis or two/more pathways (e.g., either cure hyperglycemia or raise insulin resistance or cure pancreatic beta cell regeneration or augmentation of GLP-1, production of islet cell, production and increased insulin receptor signaling and insulin secretion or decreased insulin tolerance or gluconeogenesis and insulin-mimetic action or production of α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitor or conserve islet mass or activate protein kinase A (PKA) and extracellular signal regulated kinases (ERK) or activate AMPK and reduce insulin sensitivity or suppress α-glucosidase activity and activate AMPK and downstream molecules or prevents cell death of pancreatic β-cell and activates SIRT1 or lower blood glucose due to their insulin-like chemical structures or decrease lipid peroxidation

Public private partnerships and the poor - case report 2: bulk water consumers of the Karachi water and sewerage board

The purpose of the project Public Private Partnerships and the Poor in Water and Sanitation is to determine workable processes whereby the needs of the poor are promoted in strategies which encourage public-private partnerships (PPP) in the provision of water supply and sanitation services. One of the key objectives is to fill some of the gaps which exist in evidence-based reporting of the facts and issues around the impacts of PPP on poor consumers. This report presents the case report from Karachi, Pakistan

Urban organic waste management in Karachi, Pakistan

Inadequate collection and disposal of waste poses a serious health risk to the population and is an obvious cause of environmental degradation in most cities of the developing world. Mixed municipal solid waste is dumped either indiscriminately in the neighbourhood or, if collected by a waste collection service, disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsites. The organic fraction of this waste, often contributing to more than 50% of the total waste amount, threatens the health of residents as the indiscriminate waste dumps attract rodents and other disease carrying vectors. Organic waste is also responsible for pollution of soil and water bodies through leachate, and in the process of uncontrolled anaerobic degradation it contributes to global warming by the production of methane. A possible step in mitigating these detrimental effects is enhancing resourcerecovering activities of the organic waste fraction. An obvious treatment and recovery option for organic waste is composting. However, before strategies can be developed on how to proceed, it is necessary to understand the existing organic waste management practices and try to assess current and potential markets for the converted organic waste

Public private partnerships and the poor - case report 4: awami tanks revisited. Study of current working and stakeholders’ response: Orangi, Baldia and Surjani Towns, Karachi

The purpose of the project Public Private Partnerships and the Poor in Water and Sanitation is to determine workable processes whereby the needs of the poor are promoted in strategies which encourage public-private partnerships (PPP) in the provision of water supply and sanitation services. One of the key objectives is to fill some of the gaps which exist in evidence-based reporting of the facts and issues around the impacts of PPP on poor consumers. This report presents the case report from Karachi, Pakistan

THE UNDERUSE OF SPIROMETERY IN ROUTINE MEDICAL PRACTICE FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) PATIENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed. KEYWORDS: Pulmonary function tests; Specialist; Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1); Forced vital capacity (FVC)

THE UNDERUSE OF SPIROMETERY IN ROUTINE MEDICAL PRACTICE FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) PATIENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed. KEYWORDS: Pulmonary function tests; Specialist; Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1); Forced vital capacity (FVC)