Tax Evasion in Pakistan: Determinants and Requisite Policy Interventions

Tax evasion in Pakistan is very high that has led to deteriorated economic situation and lack of public service delivery. The paper analyzes four variables of tax morale - feelings of guilt and shame; lack of trust on government; perception about others citizens paying taxes; and level of penalties - as determinants of tax evasion in Pakistan. The paper includes survey carried out through a questionnaire distributed among carefully selected sample of 400 salaried employees to gather responses that were analyzed using t-test. The findings suggest that perception about utilization of money, elements of shame, perception about other citizens’ compliance behavior and level of penalties affect tax evasion. However, variables of guilt and perception about corruption do not have significant impact on evasion behavior. Some policy interventions have been suggested to curb the menace of evasion at the end of the paper. These policies include motivating taxpayers through methods like hypothecation, imposition of fines and penalties and publishing names of defaulters through media and tax department website

Influence of Reduced Water Cement Ratio on Behaviour of Concrete Having Plastic Aggregate

The production and use of plastic bottles is increasing tremendously with passing time. These plastic bottles become a problem when they are disposed as they are non-biodegradable. This means that the waste plastic, when dumped, does not decompose naturally and stays in the environment affecting the ecological system. The use of alternative aggregates like Plastic Coarse Aggregate (PCA) is a natural step in solving part of reduction of natural aggregates as well as to solve the issue discussed above. The researchers are trying from half a century to investigate the alternative materials to be replaced in concrete mixture in place of either aggregate or cement.  In this research, the concrete made from plastic waste as coarse aggregates were investigated for compressive strength and Stress-strain relationship. Plastic coarse aggregate have been replaced in place of natural coarse aggregate by different percentages with w/c 0.5, 0.4 and 0.3. The percentage replacement of plastic aggregate in place of mineral coarse aggregate was 25%, 30%, 35% and 40 %. Using Super-plasticizer Chemrite 520-BAS. OPC-53 grade cement was used. Total of forty five Cylinders were prepared based on different combination of Percentage of Plastic aggregate replaced and W/C as discussed above and checked for compressive strength and stress-strain relationship. The compressive strength increases by about 19.25% due to the decrease in W/C from 0.5 to 0.3 for plastic percentage addition of 40%

Evaluation of Underutilised Fabrics from the Perspective of Disaster Risk; Case Study of Tehran city

Introduction: Disaster risk is increasing sharply in cities around the world that are at hazards. Within cities, especially cities in low and middle-income countries, some urban spaces are constructed to distribute risks unfairly. For example, in Tehran, the existence of threatening hazards such as earthquakes, floods, fires and many environmental challenges along with a large area of unstable fabrics has caused this city to have special conditions in terms of disaster risk management.This study utilizes the approach of integrating disaster management policies and promotion of underutilised fabrics following the zoning of these fabrics in Tehran in terms of vulnerability to various hazards and provides solutions to control and reduce the damage caused by hazards with emphasis on policy-making, planning and prevention.Data and Method: This research is applied-developmental in terms of type and its general model is descriptive-analytical and based on the evaluation method, during which the modeling, construction of a composite index and integration and superimposition of information layers and data based on the analytic hierarchy process to determine the final weight of spatial units and zoning of vulnerability of underutilised Fabrics in Tehran has been done. Indicator data and layers are also extracted from sources and various secondary data. Scoring of indices and sub-indices is based on experts' questionnaire and calculations were done in ARC GIS software.Results: In Tehran, there is a large overlap between the range of underutilised urban fabrics and higher levels of urban poverty, population concentration, and the potential for a variety of hazards. In this regard, underutilised fabrics of the southern half of Tehran, especially in regions 15, 18 and 20 in the first degree and regions 16, 17 and 19 in the second degree have the greatest potential for risk.Conclusion: In some areas of Tehran, the realities of disaster management are much more complex than existing plans and policies. The disaster management system in underutilised fabrics requires a different mechanism compared to other parts of the city. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk in these areas, it is necessary to pay special attention to the issue of reducing urban poverty and vulnerability, and in general integrating policies and measures of disaster risk management and urban planning and social and economic development programs

Implementing a lightweight Schmidt-Samoa cryptosystem (SSC) for sensory communications

One of the remarkable issues that face wireless sensor networks (WSNs) nowadays is security. WSNs should provide a way to transfer data securely particularly when employed for mission-critical purposes. In this paper, we propose an enhanced architecture and implementation for 128-bit Schmidt-Samoa cryptosystem (SSC) to secure the data communication for wireless sensor networks (WSN) against external attacks. The proposed SSC cryptosystem has been efficiently implemented and verified using FPGA modules by exploiting the maximum allowable parallelism of the SSC internal operations. To verify the proposed SSC implementation, we have synthesized our VHDL coding using Quartus II CAD tool targeting the Altera Cyclone IV FPGA EP4CGX22CF19C7 device. Hence, the synthesizer results reveal that the proposed cryptographic FPGA processor recorded an attractive result in terms of critical path delay, hardware utilization, maximum operational frequency FPGA thermal power dissipation for low-power applications such as the wireless sensor networks

Tourists’ Attitude Towards Cultural Heritage and their Willingness to Pay to Visit: a Case Study of Lahore, Pakistan

Tourists’ interest in traveling to Lahore (more specifically to the Badshahi Mosque and the Royal fort) has increased in recent years and is expected to continue. Despite this, very few facts are known about an individual's attitude towards cultural heritage. This study looks at the pre- and post- visit factors that encourage tourists to come to the cultural heritage sites and also identifies variables that help to estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) for admission to visit them. The data from 200 tourists was collected through a well-prepared questionnaire and then used in the final analysis. The contingent valuation method (CVM), considered to be the most useful, with a dichotomous choice question, was used to estimate the WTP. Two models were used in estimating the WTP, i.e. binary regression and ordinary least squares (OLS). The findings acknowledged that tourists were interested in retaining happy memories, experiences and knowledge through the visit. More than 75% of the tourists were willing to pay for cultural heritage, had a positive attitude toward it and would like to visit these destinations again. Tourists’ income was a positive and significant determiner of WTP; the total cost of the visit and environmental issues were negatively related to WTP. As tourism provides an important source of income, the findings of this study point to some practical recommendations that may be implemented in the future by local authorities.L'interesse dei turisti a recarsi a Lahore (più specificamente alla moschea di Badshahi e al Forte reale) è aumentato negli ultimi anni e l’incremento dovrebbe continuare. Nonostante ciò, si hanno pochissime informazioni sull'atteggiamento delle persone nei confronti del patrimonio culturale. Questo studio esamina i fattori pre e post visita che incoraggiano i turisti a recarsi nei siti del patrimonio culturale e identifica anche variabili che aiutano a stimare la loro disponibilità a pagare (WTP) per visitarli. I dati di 200 turisti sono stati raccolti attraverso un questionario ben preparato e poi utilizzati nell'analisi finale. Il metodo di valutazione contingente (CVM), considerato il metodo più utile, con una domanda a scelta dicotomica, è stata utilizzato per stimare il WTP. Per la stima del WTP sono stati utilizzati due modelli, ovvero la regressione binaria e i minimi quadrati ordinari (OLS). I risultati hanno evidenziato che i turisti erano interessati a conservare ricordi, esperienze e conoscenze positive durante la visita. Più del 75% dei turisti è disposto a pagare per il patrimonio culturale, ha un atteggiamento positivo nei suoi confronti e vorrebbe visitare nuovamente queste destinazioni. Il reddito dei turisti è stato un fattore positivo determinante e significativo del WTP; il costo totale della visita e le questioni ambientali erano correlate negativamente al WTP. Poiché il turismo fornisce un'importante fonte di reddito, i risultati di questo studio forniscono alcune raccomandazioni pratiche che potrebbero essere implementate in futuro dalle autorità locali

Procjena različitih razina Bacillus sp. (HCYL03) fitaze u brojlera hranjenih obrocima na bazi kukuruza i soje s niskim udjelom nefitatnog fosfora

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of various levels of phytase derived from Bacillus sp. (HCYL03) in corn-soy diets fed to broilers. Experimental treatments included a positive control (PC) with a calculated non-phytate phosphorus (nPP) level of 4.0g/kg for the 35 days of trial. The negative control (NC) diet included a reduction in nPP to 3.0g/kg during the experiment, and commercially available phytase (@500FTU/kg), as well as new bacterial phytase added to the NC diet in increasing amounts of 500, 800, and 1100FTU/kg. Treatment effects on growth performance, the apparent digestibility of P, tibia mineralization, and Ca and P status in blood plasma were evaluated on day 35. The NC diet decreased feed intake (P<0.05), body weight gain (BWG) (P<0.05), and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P<0.05) compared to the PC. Phytase addition improved all growth parameters. Birds fed the NC diet displayed lower (P<0.05) digestibility of P, reduced (P<0.05) tibial mineralization, and decreased (P<0.05) P and Ca concentrations in blood plasma compared to birds fed the PC diet. Improvements in digestibility of P, tibia mineralization, and mineral contents in blood plasma were observed with phytase addition. High level inclusion of phytase (1100FTU/kg) yielded the greatest improvement in bird performance, nutrient digestibility, and bone mineralization in the NC group and low levels of phytase treatments. It may be concluded that inorganic P incorporated in the normal-nPP diet of chickens could be effectively replaced by a Bacillus sp. (HCYL03) phytase diet without any adverse effect on the performance and nutrient use of broilers.Cilj istraživanja bio je procijeniti utjecaj različitih razina fitaze izdvojene iz Bacillus sp. (HCYL03) i dodane u obroke od kukuruza i soje kojima se hrane brojleri. Istraživanje je uključilo pozitivnu kontrolu (PC) s izračunatom razinom nefitatnog fosfora (nPP) od 4,0 g/kg tijekom 35 dana trajanja istraživanja. Prehrana brojlera u negativnoj kontroli (NC) uključila je smanjenje nPP-a na 3,0 g/kg tijekom trajanja pokusa, komercijalno dostupnu fitazu (@500FTU/kg), kao i novu bakterijsku fitazu dodanu NC prehrani, u količini koja se povećavala na 500, 800 i 1100 FTU/kg. Učinci na rast, probavljivost fosfora, mineralizaciju tibije i razinu kalcija i fosfora u krvnoj plazmi procijenjeni su 35. dan pokusa. U skupini NC smanjeni su unos hrane (P<0,05) i prirast tjelesne mase (BWG) (P<0,05), dok je stopa konverzije hrane povećana (FCR) (P<0,05) u usporedbi sa skupinom PC. Dodatak fitaze pozitivno je utjecao na sve pokazatelje rasta. Brojleri u skupini NC pokazali su manju probavljivost fosfora (P<0,05), smanjenu mineralizaciju tibije (P<0,05) te smanjenu količinu fosfora i kalcija (P<0,05) u krvnoj plazmi u usporedbi s brojlerima iz skupine PC. Utvrđeno je da dodatak fitaze poboljšava probavljivost fosfora, mineralizaciju tibije i sadržaj minerala u krvnoj plazmi. Dodatak veće količine fitaze (1100 FTU/kg) rezultirao je najvećim poboljšanjem u istraženim svojstvima brojlera, probavljivosti hrane i mineralizaciji kosti u skupini NC. Zaključeno je da bi se anorganski fosfor uključen u uobičajenu nPP prehranu pilića mogao učinkovito zamijeniti Bacillus sp. (HCYL03) fitazom, bez štetnih učinaka na prehranu i svojstva brojlera

Translating knowledge for action against stroke--using 5-minute videos for stroke survivors and caregivers to improve post-stroke outcomes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Movies4Stroke).

Background: Two thirds of the global mortality of stroke is borne by low and middle income countries (LMICs). Pakistan is the world’s sixth most populous country with a stroke-vulnerable population and is without a single dedicated chronic care center. In order to provide evidence for a viable solution responsive to this health care gap, and leveraging the existing \u3e70 % mobile phone density, we thought it rational to test the effectiveness of a mobile phone-based video intervention of short 5-minute movies to educate and support stroke survivors and their primary caregivers. Methods: Movies4Stroke will be a randomized control, outcome assessor blinded, parallel group, single center superiority trial. Participants with an acute stroke, medically stable, with mild to moderate disability and having a stable primary caregiver will be included. After obtaining informed consent the stroke survivor-caregiver dyad will be randomized. Intervention participants will have the movie program software installed in their phone, desktop, or Android device which will allow them to receive, view and repeat 5-minute videos on stroke-related topics at admission, discharge and first and third months after enrollment. The control arm will receive standard of care at an internationally accredited center with defined protocols. The primary outcome measure is medication adherence as ascertained by a locally validated Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and control of major risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar and blood cholesterol at 12 months post discharge. Secondary outcome measures are post-stroke complications and mortality, caregiver knowledge and change in functional outcomes after acute stroke at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Movies4Stroke is designed to enroll 300 participant dyads after inflating 10 % to incorporate attrition and noncompliance and has been powered at 95 % to detect a 15 % difference between intervention and usual care arm. Analysis will be done by the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: Movies4Stroke is a randomized trial testing an application aimed at supporting caregivers and stroke survivors in a LMIC with no rehabilitation or chronic support systems