Specific heat measurements using the A.C. technique on the chevrel phase superconductor Pb(_1-x)Gd(_x)Mo(_6)S(_8) in high magnetic fields

We have developed a probe to measure specific heat of Gd-doped PbMo(_6)S(_8), at low temperatures in high magnetic fields up to 12.5 T using a heat pulse method and an a.c. technique. Comparison between these heat capacity measurements and transport measurements provides critical complimentary information about fundamental thermodynamic properties and granularity m superconductors. We have used a tiny, robust, highly sensitive and broadly field independent Cemox thermometer (CX-1030), eliminating the use of bulky gas thermometry or capacitance thermometry. The diameter of the probe is 20 min which facilitates use in our 17 T high field magnet and in free-standing cryostats. Experiments include accurate measurement of temperature oscillations of 10(^-6)K. The measurements and analysis of the data were made fully computer controlled. Measurements on Cu and NbTi demonstrate we achieved an accuracy of ±0.2 K in temperature and a typical accuracy of -10% m the specific heat values quoted. Gd-doped Lead Chevrel phase material Pb(_1-x)Gd(_x)Mo(_6)S(_8) has been fabricated in a controlled environment using simple sintering methods and a Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) operating at pressures up to 2000 atmospheres. Cp has been measured and the properties of the materials including B(_c2)(T) have been determined. HIP processing improves the materials, increasing Tc ~ 15 K and B(_c2)(0) ~ 60 T. These values are amongst the best reported values for the Chevrel phase materials to date. I am personally responsible for taking all the data and its analysis. The modification of the probe were also undertaken by me. The fabrication of the samples was not my wor

Trade costs and potential: removing barriers to growth in Pakistan

Reducing trade costs and barriers remains an important means of accelerating the economic growth of a country. Today’s blog illustrates the concept of trade costs and compares Pakistan’s trade cost indicators with those of its regional neighbours

Estimation of Technical Efficiency of Open Shed Broiler Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

This study was conducted to estimate the level of technical efficiency of open shed broiler farmers in Punjab, Pakistan. Data was randomly collected from 60 broiler farmers using multistage sampling technique during January-February, 2014. Stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas production function was used for analysis of data. Maximum likelihood estimation technique was employed for estimation. The analysis revealed that the mean technical efficiency of open shed broiler farmers was 0.880 ranging from 0.440 to 0.985.  This means that if the average broiler farmer in the sample was to achieve the technical efficiency level of its most efficient counterpart than the average farmer could realize 10.50 per cent cost savings. In other words, with the same available resources and technology, an average broiler farmer could increase broiler production by 10.50 per cent. Similarly the most technically inefficient broiler farmer could reveal cost savings of 54.50 per cent. Results further showed that number of day old chicks, feed and labor positively and significantly affected broiler production while the effect of vaccination was negative and that of capacity of shed was positive but statistically insignificant. Results of technical inefficiency effect model revealed that with the increase in age, education and membership with association, technical efficiency of broiler farmers increased. Based upon these findings it is suggested that government and extension workers should educate open shed broiler farmers to use high quality day old chicks and feed for highest possible output and cost savings. Education programs for awareness among broiler farmers to use vaccinated day old chicks and quality resources for enhancing broiler production in the country is also a good policy option. Keywords:Open Shed Broiler Farmers, Technical Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier, Cobb-Douglas Production Function, MLE, Punjab, Pakista

An anatomy of the impact of COVID-19 on the global and intra-Commonwealth trade in goods

This article employs gravity modeling to examine the effect of COVID-19 on global and intra-Commonwealth trade. It uses bilateral monthly exports, number of COVID-19 cases and deaths and the stringency of measures. The main novelty is the use of price indices as proxies for multilateral resistance terms, which allow us to identify, supply, and demand effects of COVID-19 on bilateral trade. The incidence of COVID-19 impacts Commonwealth trade flows, the effect varies with the development level. High numbers of COVID-19 cases, including deaths, in low-income importers reduced Commonwealth exports unlike high-income importers that show higher exports. The incidence of COVID in an exporters' neighbouring countries impacted trade and restrictions in high-income countries increased Commonwealth trade. Short-term trends project a negative change in both exports and imports of Commonwealth countries

Trade costs in international trade

This thesis explores the effects of trade costs on international trade at macro and micro levels. It focuses on traditional and non-traditional sources of trade costs that imped trade flows at various phases of a typical export shipment: behind the borders, at the borders and beyond the borders. It initially examines the connection between trade costs and the composition of developing countries’ exports and then explores the responses of firms to additional costs associated with the security of supply chain imposed on Pakistan’s firms in the wake of events of 9/11. Following this, it investigates the differential effects of domestic and international transportation distance on the reactions of firm-level trade flows and multiple margins of trade. Finally, it considers the effects of exchange rate movement on agricultural exports. The thesis primarily uses micro-level information from administrative datasets of exports and intra-country trade (VAT dataset) from Pakistan. It also benefits from international data sources, such as the WB-UNESCAP trade costs dataset, WITS, WTO tariff profiles and the World Development Indicators (WDI). This thesis comprises four core chapters (2 to 5), excluding the introduction and conclusion. The analysis at a macro level (Chapter 2) finds the trade costs negatively affect the composition of developing countries exports in that the industries located in higher trade cost countries gain a relative smaller share of manufactured exports in the country’s overall exports. The effect is relatively greater for high trade cost sensitive industries (such as automobiles, electronics) and for high trade cost regions, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. The evaluation of trade effect of US security policy on Pakistan’s exports (Chapter 3) shows that following the implementation of Integrated Cargo Containers Control (IC3) programme, Pakistan’s exports to the US relative to the EU dropped by 15%, on average. Pakistan’s firms that were forced to switch from various export-processing stations to the one specific sea port equipped with the intrusive scanning and live monitoring technologies of the export cargos, experienced the largest decline. The subsequent policy interventions aimed at facilitating the process moderated this effect to some extent. The examination of differential effects of domestic and international distances on trade flows (Chapter 4) reveals that the marginal effect of inland distance to sea ports is much larger than that of international distance from sea ports to export markets. Moreover, both distances have heterogeneous effects along trade margins. Domestic distance impedes exports primarily through extensive margins (EM) of firms and product, whereas international distance restricts these mainly through quantity margins, in addition to constricting the EM. Although the trade-impeding effects of both components of distance have reduced over time, the drop has been relatively greater for the international leg. Finally, the investigation of response of agricultural exports to the exchange rate movement (Chapter 5) indicates that the domestic currency depreciation positively affects both intensive and extensive margins (IM and EM). The increase in the IM operates mainly through the channel of prices (75%), whereas the response of quantities is relatively smaller (25%). Similarly, the increase in extensive margins operates through widening of export basket and expansion of firms’ client base within existing markets. These responses however vary widely across products, markets, firms’ exporting experience, exchange rate regimes type and invoicing currency use. Four key policy implications emerge from the thesis. First, reducing trade costs could increase manufacturing exports from high trade cost regions, and the response would be larger in high trade cost sensitive industries. Second, improving access to trade-processing infrastructure could incentivise entry of more firms into exporting and encourage widening of export basket. Third, the unintended effects of response to potential threats to supply chain could offset the trade facilitating aspect of these scanning technologies and further restrict trade flows across national borders. Finally, the policy makers need to be cautious in using domestic currency depreciation as a policy tool to promote the growth of agricultural exports as the trade response might not be commensurate with the level of depreciation

The factors influencing students' performance at Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah, Malaysia

Many studies are carried out to explore factors affecting students’ performance (academic achievement). The purpose of this research is to identify and examine factors that affect students’ performance at UiTM Kedah. A set of questionnaires was distributed to the respective respondents. Several factors that being discussed in this research are demographic, active learning, students’ attendance, involvement in extracurricular activities, peer influence and course assessment. The data is analyzed using descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability testing and Pearson correlation of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). After conducting factor analysis, all variables are grouped into five factors which exclude peer influence. The researchers found that four factors are positively related to students’ performance that are demographic, active learning, students’ attendance and involvement in extracurricular activities. However, course assessment was found to be negatively related to students’ performance. Further research on students’ performance can be conducted on a larger scale including all UiTM to obtain better result

What makes a woman an entrepreneur? / Zuraidah Mohamed Isa...[et al.]

Statistics show that there are significantly increasing number of women started their own business over the years. The work flexibility offered by entrepreneurship encourages women to enter the business world. The flexibility or working hours as well as working at home are among reasons why women are interested in joining and owning a business. Other factors such as motivation, personality characteristics, and encouragement from the government, economic condition, political condition and family support motivate them to develop their own business. Although there are many barriers especially when starting a new business, majority of them still survive as per their self-reliant, initiative and never ending give-up. This paper attempts to discuss the factors that contribute to the involvement of women in entrepreneurship

Electrochemical Exfoliation of 2D Advanced Carbon Derivatives

Advanced 2D carbon materials such as graphene and derivatives are basic building blocks for future nanostructured generation in electronics and energy horizons owing to their remarkable physical and chemical properties. In this context, production scalability of 2D materials having high purity with distinctive and multi-functionalities, that facilitate in fundamental research and advanced studies as well as in industrial applications. A variety of techniques have been employed to develop 2D advanced carbon materials, amongst state-of-the-art synthetic protocols, electrochemical is deliberated as a promising approach that provides high yield, great performance, low cost, and excellent up-scalability. Notably, playing with electrochemical parameters not only allows tunable properties but also enhances the content variety from graphene to a wide spectrum of 2D semiconductors. In this chapter, a succinct and comprehensive survey of recent progress in electrochemical exfoliation routes and presents the processing techniques, strategic design for exfoliations, mechanisms, and electrochemistry of graphene

Serum lipid profile and retinol in rats fed micronutrient rich edible vegetable oil blend

Khan HN, Farooqi H, Ali S, Khan JS. 2010. Serum lipid profile and retinol in rats fed micronutrient rich edible vegetable oil blend. Nusantara Bioscience 2: 109-116. The animal rats were given 10% oil mixed in fat free diet for one month or six months. In the experiment, the groups of rats were fed with the micronutrient (MN) rich blends mixed previously with 1% cholesterol, and their effects were tested on serum lipid profile. Most significant changes in the High Dencity Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were observed in one-month study where HDL increased from 24 mg/dl in group to 64 mg/dl in the Mustard palm olein oil blend (MP); in mustard oil (MO) alone fed rats, the HDL was 36 mg/dl. Serum retinol was analyzed as one of the important MN in rats receiving the diet mixed with the blend for various duration of time. The results assume great significance as MO or palm olein oil (PO) alone could not bring the maximum beneficial effects, and the blends appear to have more merit as health oils in alleviating adverse health condition such as coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes, obesity and hypertension

The response of pre-inflammatory cytokines factors to different exercises (endurance, resistance, concurrent) in overweight men

Applying several energy systems and concurrent performing of various training models have a more effective role in preventing precocious occurrence of many diseases compared to training single energy system. This can be seen in case of physiologic and metabolic adaptations of the human body too. The present study attempted to investigate the effect of endurance, resistance and concurrent (endurance–resistance) training on pre-inflammatory cytokines in overweight men. Accordingly, 43 healthy overweight (BMI = 28.56± 2.67) young (23.7± 3.3 yr) students were volunteered to participate and randomly divided into three experimental (n= 11) and one control (n= 10) groups. The experimental groups performed 3 days/wk endurance, resistance and concurrent training for 8 weeks. Also, prior to and after the training, a blood sample was collected from the subjects in order to measure pre-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1b, IL-6 and TNF-a). Following 8 week training, repeated measure ANOVA results showed a significant difference in IL-1b (P =0.046) and IL-6 (P = 0.009) compared to baseline. However, this was not the case with the TNF-a. Furthermore, between group comparisons showed significant difference in IL-6 (P =0.020) between endurance and resistance groups. Within group comparisons (depended t student test) also showed a significant difference in IL-1b and IL-6 of endurance and concurrent groups compared to baseline. Generally, it can be concluded that endurance and concurrent exercise training in part has a positive effect on pre-inflammatory cytokines