POWER REALIGNMENT IN SOUTH ASIA – AN OUTCOME OF BRI (CPEC)

Pakistan and China, through CPEC, have uplifted decade’s old and time-tested bondage to the zenith of economic cooperation on a win-win basis. In the Chinese equation, BRI (CPEC – an integral part of BRI) is an initiative for the economic integration of the global community in the 21st century. In contrast, the US endeavours to ensure the implementation of international order at sea through its Indo-Pacific strategy. Considerable academic work has been undertaken distinctly on the US Indo-Pacific strategy and BRI (CPEC); however, scanty academic efforts have been made on future power realignment in South Asia. By employing Mahan’s theory of sea power, this paper explains the future maritime scenario in South Asia, which will evolve due to the power contestation of global players in the Indian Ocean and the formulation of two distinct power blocks with the US and China as leading players. It also answers how Indian Ocean littorals will align themselves in this great powers’ contestation. An in-depth understanding of the economic interests of Indian Ocean littorals through BRI and gaining benefits through a strategic partnership with the US will provide insight into future power realignment in South Asia. The paper concludes that China will likely formulate collaborative maritime security arrangements with BRI partners who will become Chinese allies to secure energy requirements. Likewise, India, Japan, South Korea and the US (under QUAD) will endeavour to impede China's economic progress, forming a power block in the Indian Ocean region.   Bibliography Entry Khawaja, Asma Shakir, and Imran Raza. 2022. "Power Realignment in South Asia – An Outcome of BRI (CPEC)." Margalla Papers 26 (1): 85-97

How has Outsourcing Human Resource (HR) Services within National Health Services (NHS) Impacted upon Staff Turnover and Wider Local Economy in UK?

This paper critically investigates how outsourcing human resource (HR) services within National Health Services (NHS) have affected staff turnover and wider local economy of UK. Interviews were structured with the view to investigate this issue. The research shows that despite the pressure of outsourcing by Department of Health (DoH), NHS acute trusts are reluctant to outsource their HR functions. Those who outsourced have done this with some strategic planning. Reverse trend of outsourcing has also been observed. Outsourcing HR functions have not lost as many jobs as it was expected. No direct relationship was observed in the wider local economy and outsourcing in NHS trusts. According to findings of the research HR outsourcing has not drastic effects on wider local economy if observed on small scale

Van Der Knaap Disease in a 3-year-old Male Child: A Case Report

Van der Knaap disease or megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts is a leukodystrophy with autosomal-recessive inheritance caused by mutation in the gene MLC1 which is localized on chromosome 22q. It is characterized by macrocephaly, motor developmental delay, seizures, spasticity, ataxia, and mild mental deterioration. On neuroimaging, involvement of cerebral white matter along with subcortical cysts in frontal and temporal lobes are hallmarks of the disease. There is no definite treatment of this disease. We report a case of Van Der Knaap disease in a 3-year-old male child who presented with seizures and delayed developmental milestones

Relationship Of Academic, Physical And Social Self-Concepts Of Students With Their Academic Achievement

This study investigated relationship between self-concept and academic achievement of bachelor degree students. Female students at bacholar were considered the target population. A sample of 1500 students was selected by using two stage cluster sampling technique. An amended form of Self-Descriptive Questionnaire developed by Marsh (1985) was used as tool of research. Factor analysis was employed to explore the pattern of inter-item correlations of the questionnaire. Kendall’s-Tau-b technique of corrrelation was applied to correlate responses obtained on academic, physical and social self concepts related items with the academic achievement scores of students  Physical self-concept and social self-concepts were found unrelated to academic achievement. However, a significant but weak correlation was found between academic self-concept and academic achievement

Emotional Exhaustion as Stressor agent for Job Stress in Call Centers: Empirical evidence from perspective of Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention as Work Outcomes

The purpose of the study is to analyze job burnout component emotional exhaustion as a probable stressor agent that causes job stress and their impact on job satisfaction and turnover intention as work outcomes. The scales were adapted from that measure to analyze the effect of emotional exhaustion causing job stress, also highlights the evidence in support of the conceptual model. Data was collected by the survey that generated 220 respondents. The sample chosen for this research are employees working in telecommunication call centers of Lahore city region in Pakistan. SPSS regression analysis was employed for data analysis. The results showed that emotional exhaustion carried negative and significant relation with job satisfaction (β= -.354,p<.05) and significant positive relation with turnover intention (β= .290, p<.05) also significant relation between dependent variables followed by mediating effect of two dimensions of job stress analyzed by PROCESS procedure of bootstrapping technique contained no and full mediation between emotional exhaustion in relation with job satisfaction and turnover intention respectively. Outcome from the conducted study depicted that stress did not affected the level of satisfaction of employees as they are well trained and informed that job stress is the part of their work activities in call centers and the stress in organizations is needed to be dealt with

Antioxidant, biofilm inhibition and mutagenic activities of newly substituted fibrates

Purpose: A series of benzylidene-2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl propane hydrazides (1-10) were synthesized and assay them for their biofilm inhibition, antioxidant and mutagenic. Methods: All derivatives were prepared by condensation of various substituted benzaldehyde and acetophenones with 2-(4-bromorophenoxy)-2-methyl propane hydrazide, which was itself prepared by hydrazinolysis of ethyl-2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl propanoate and were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR 13C NMR, mass spectrometry. They were screened for their in-vitro anti-oxidant, biofilm inhibition and mutagenicity by established methods. Results: Anti-oxidant results revealed that the electron donating group enhanced the scavenging ability of the compounds as seen in compounds 4b, 4h and 4i. In biofilm inhibition studies, all compounds were more active against Gram –ive bacterial strain when compared to gram +ive strain. The mutagenicity assay results indicate that the compound having chloro group substitution is mutagenic. Conclusion: The benzylidine compounds of 2-(4-bromophenoxy)-2-methyl hydrazide possessing electron donating substituents exhibit superior activities to the electron withdrawing group substituents

Emerging Contours of Transatlantic Relationship under Trump Administration

With the election of US President Donald Trump, the very essence of transatlantic relations, embedded in the shared ideologies of liberalism, democracy, human rights and globalization has begun to erode. The already strained United States-Europe relationship is now at the lowest ebb under the Trump administration. This rift is visible since long and is continuously widening due to divergence of economic, security, political and environmental interests of the United States (US) and its European allies. This paper discusses the reasons for divergence between the two old partners who have traditionally identified themselves collectively as the ‘West’ and the impact it has had on their partnership. This paper examines the evolution of the US-Europe relations, crisis under Trump's Jacksonian politics leading to divergences on core issues, namely Russia as a threat and energy supplier, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), climate change and Iran. In addition, it deliberates on the future trajectory of transatlantic partnership under Trump administration and offers policy options

SPASMOLYTIC, BRONCHODILATOR AND VASORELAXANT ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF TEPHROSIA PURPUREA

The methanolic extract of the whole plant of Tephrosia pupurea, Linn. was subjected to find out itspossible therapeutic utility to validate its folkloric use in native systems of medicine. The extract on applicationto spontaneous contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum preparations exerted a concentration dependent(0.003-3.0 mg/mL) relaxant effect. The extract also caused concentration dependent relaxation of K+ (80 mM)-induced spastic contractions. These findings were further supported by the observations that the extract causeda concentration dependent right ward shift of the Ca2+ response curves in manner similar to that of verapamil.The extract exhibited a relaxant effect on carbachol and high K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions of isolated rabbittracheal preparations in a manner similar to verapamil. The observed non-specific bronchodilator responseis possibly mediated through Ca2+ channel blockade. Moreover, the extract also exhibited a dose dependentrelaxant effect on phenylephrine (1 μM) and K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions in a manner similar to verapamil.On the basis of the above-mentioned findings, it can be concluded that the use of Tephrosia purpurea, in gastrointestinalspasm, asthma and hypertension is likely to be mediated through calcium channel blockage