Analyzing The Contribution of Western Acculturation to The Socio-Economic Disenfranchisement of Pakistani Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates

The impact of acculturation on the West has primarily been explored through the favorable and adverse effects of immigration. However, the conversation surrounding the impact of western acculturation on the rest of the world is relatively undeveloped. Here, on the basis that acculturation is the adoption of cultural practices and can exist without the physical presence of a dominant culture, the impact of western acculturation will be associated with the socioeconomic disenfranchisement of an overseas population: Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates. More specifically, free education and western media are identified as mechanisms of western acculturation. Both media induced and free education induced acculturation constitute a level of agreeability that acclimates workers to the social structure of the capitalistic business model employed in the UAE. Media induced acculturation directly predisposes Pakistani expatriates in the UAE to the socioeconomic disenfranchisement that accompanies the power dynamic in the social structure of the capitalistic business model. Education models in the UAE institutionalize western acculturation, possibly leading to socioeconomic disenfranchisement and deep-rooted cultural change. Deep-rooted cultural change becomes imperative when considering the promotion of globalization in that although globalization may provide a broader cultural perspective, it can also eliminate cultures via acculturation-induced cultural dominance

Wheat growth and phytoavailability of copper and zinc as affected by soil texture in saline-sodic conditions

Nutrient disorders in saline-sodic soils can adversely affect crop growth. In order to evaluate the growth response of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to Cu and Zn and the phytoavailability of these essential elements, a pot experiment was conducted in three different textured saline-sodic soils [sandy loam (SL), sandy clay loam (SCL) and clay (C)] having an ECe 8.63, 8.80, 8.98 dS m–1 and SAR 21.66, 23.48, 24.84 (mmol L–1)1/2 respectively. Seven treatments including levels of Cu (4, 6 and 8 mg kg–1) and levels of Zn (4, 6 and 8 mg kg–1) were separately applied together with a single control treatment. Dry matter yield (straw + grain) of wheat increased up to 35.2% with Cu and up to 31.2 % with Zn application relative to the control. As soil clay content increased, dry matter yield decreased up to 39.2% in SCL and up to 62.7% in C soil when compared to SL soil. Application of Cu increased the concentration in both wheat straw and grains up to 2.46 and 2.20 mg kg–1 DW respectively relative to the control. Zinc concentration in wheat straw and grains was also increased up to 29.97 and 29.40 mg kg–1 DW respectively relative to the controls. Copper application significantly increased Zn concentrations in wheat plants

Combatting Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Via Social Media

Misinformation or "fake news" has existed in society for quite a while, with healthcare related misinformation being especially problematic, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the false news circulating on the social media, many misconceptions exist about the disease and the pandemic, leading to people reacting in extreme and unrecommended ways that cause more harm than benefit. In order to combat this, the CMH Arts and Design Society took an initiative and formed a facebook page named "Pakistan Corona Virus Research Outlook" that aimed to present well researched facts regarding COVID-19 in the form of video or poster presentations, so that they could be understood easily by the general public. We also drafted an online handbook that addressed the basic concerns regarding the signs and symptoms of the disease, and the basic principles of management, so as to equip the people without medical knowledge with sufficient information for them to be able to manage mild symptoms themselves, without burdening the healthcare system. We also formed a facebook group by the name "Corona Virus (COVID-19) Free Counselling" that aimed to provide a platform to the public to ask their queries regarding COVID-19 which were then addressed by medical professionals. A post-COVID syndrome series was also initiated on these platforms that addressed the post-COVID symptoms individually and provided a follow up plan for each, based on expert guidelines

Hermite–Hadamard integral inequalities for log–convex interval–valued functions on co–ordinates

In this paper, we give the notion of interval-valued log–convex functions on the co-ordinates on the rectangle from the plane. We establish Hermite-Hadamard and related inequalities for these classes of functions. Our results are refinements of several existing results in the field of Hermite-Hadamard inequalities. Some examples are also given to justify our new results.Publisher's Versio

GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF COTTON CULTIVARS BY POLYACRYLAMIDE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS

Information about genetic diversity and relationships among the breeding materials has a signifi cant impact on crop improvement. Association between parental divergence and progeny performance has not been well documented in cotton. A cotton study was conducted in the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakaryia University, Multan, (30.2oN, 71.4oE) Pakistan and National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic diversity among selected cotton genotypes and their reciprocal crosses. Six U.S. and two local (Pakistani) cultivars all belonging to Gossypium hirsutum L were genotyped by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and compared with BioRad molecular weight markers. Cluster analysis revealed low genetic diversity among the parents and pooled the crosses with their parents, indicating success of hybridization. The present study, combined PAGE analysis with cluster analysis confi rmed the genetic similarities between parents and their crosses while it also confi rmed the dissimilarities between the parents as showed by the morphological characters

Gender difference in age at onset of schizophrenia: a cross sectional study from Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: To validate the effect of gender on age at onset of schizophrenia in a developing country METHODS: Medical records of 252 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV criteria at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan between 2002 and 2008 were reviewed using a structured questionnaire. Age at onset was defined as age at onset of psychotic symptoms, age at first contact with a health care provider and age at first hospitalization. Socio-demographic variables were reported using descriptive statistics and all measures of age at onset were compared across gender using t-test. RESULTS: There were 119 women and 133 men with mean age of 37.6 +/- 12.8 years. All three measures of age at onset of illness showed no difference between women and men. The mean age when first psychotic symptoms appeared in men was 24.86 +/- 8.83 years (n = 128) while that in women was 26.57 +/- 9.96 years (n = 111), p = 0.160. The mean age at index hospitalization for treatment of psychosis in men was 29.50 +/- 10.64 years (n = 123) and in women was 31.61 +/- 12.07 years (n = 103), p = 0.164. The mean age at first contact with any caregiver in men was 29.73 +/- 37.58 years (n = 119) and in women was 29.38 +/- 11.99 years (n = 108), p = 0.926. CONCLUSION: There is no significant difference in age at onset of schizophrenia across gender in our population. This validates a difference in epidemiology of schizophrenia in the South Asian population

Techniques for the Fabrication of Super-Hydrophobic Surfaces and Their Heat Transfer Applications

Super-hydrophobic surfaces are surfaces that have extreme water-repellent properties and show contact angle greater than 150° and sliding angle less than 5°. These surfaces play a significant role in different processes like icing delay, anti-frosting, boiling, condensation, drag reduction, self-cleaning, etc. The present study comprises of different techniques for the fabrication of super-hydrophobic surfaces. These techniques include chemical etching, solution immersion, laser electrodeposition, template deposition, spray coating, various others. Important characteristics of super-hydrophobic surfaces like durability, storability, corrosion resistance, etc. are achieved differently by different methods. Also, some methods are simple, rapid, cost-effective and versatile. Moreover, various heat transfer applications of super-hydrophobic surfaces like boiling, condensation, icing delay, drag reduction, etc. have also been discussed in this chapter

Impact of Major Political Events on Stock Market Returns of Pakistan

The purpose of this study is to check the impact of various political events on Karachi stock exchange. For this purpose nine major political events were taken under study during the period of 2007 to 2012. These events were Emergency rule of Musharaf, Benazir Bhutto Assassination, 2008 General Elections of Pakistan, Resignation of Musharaf, Restoration of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Abbotabad Operation, Salala Attack, De-seating of Prime Minister and 2012 Elections of USA. For the purpose of this study, these events were divided into two categories one is those events that caused changed in government policy and the other is those events that did not caused change in government policy. “t” statistics was used to check the significance of every event. Results showed that only those events affected the returns of Karachi stock exchange that caused change in government policy where those events which did not cause change in government policy had no effects on returns of Karachi stock exchange. Moreover it was also seen that Karachi stock exchange readjust itself very quickly i.e. effect of any news did not last for more than  two days. Keywords: Political Instability, Stock Market Returns, Financial Market, Economic Growt