Impact of education on poverty reduction

Poverty is a stumbling block in the way of achieving economic development. Cognizant of the essence of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ‘Education for All’ program, education is promulgated as the primary weapon against poverty prevalence. Hence it is important to seek out the effect of different levels of education upon poverty in Pakistan. This study evaluates the effect of different levels of education, experience and gender of the employed individuals (employers, self-employed, wage earners and unpaid family workers) as the determinants of poverty. The data for this task comes from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) for the years 1998-99 and 2001-02. A logistic regression model is estimated based on this data, with the probability of an individual being poor as the dependent variable and a set of educational levels, experience and gender as explanatory variables. It is found that experience and educational achievement is negatively related with the poverty incidence in both years. Also as we go for the higher levels of education the chances of a person being non-poor increases. Moreover, being a male person provides an advantage in retaining a position above poverty level.Poverty, Education, Pakistan

Analysing Econometric Bias and Non-linearity in Returns to Education of Pakistan

This study estimates the returns to education while controlling endogeneity and sample selection biases in Pakistan, over a time period using Ordinary Least Square (OLS), simultaneous approach using both Heckman Sample Selection and Instrumental Variable, and Fixed Effect techniques. Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) data for 2004-05 and 2011-12 time periods have been used in this study. The returns to education have been found downward biased in OLS estimates for both time periods. The unbiased real returns to education have increased on average for wage workers over time period. Landholding and Non-earned income have been used as exclusion restrictions to control for sample selection bias in the Heckman Sample Selection technique. The endogeneity bias has been controlled for with the help of parental education as instrument in Instrumental Variable technique. Both techniques have also been used collectively or simultaneously to get more efficient estimate in simultaneous approach. Household Fixed Effect technique has also been used with the assumption that ability and family characteristics largely remain same within family or household. The increase in the unbiased and real returns to education shows that profitability still exists in investing in education whereas experience via skill enhancement reinforces this rise in wage. Sadly, the historic gender and regional discriminations persist or aggravate in wage market. Married persons are getting more in returns relative to the unmarried individuals. Having negative implications for income inequality, Convexity in education-earning relationship in Pakistan has been confirmed by Indicator Function technique for both time periods. Low education prompt low-earning workers who would be unable to bear the schooling cost of their children. This seriously inhibits earning potential making income inequality worse. JEL Classification: I26, I24, J24 Keywords: Returns to Education, Human Capita

ROLE OF PAKISTANI FEMALE PEACEKEEPERS IN ENHANCING INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the effectiveness of an all-gender-inclusive approach to peacekeeping missions in conflict zones, as highlighted in the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. UN has acknowledged the importance of female peacekeepers as potential role models for girls in male-dominated societies and has taken steps to increase their numbers. Pakistan has been a significant contributor to UN Peacekeeping missions over the past six decades and has also achieved the target of deploying female soldiers in its contingent forces. This study uses qualitative methods, primarily focus group discussions, to evaluate the constructive impact of UN female peacekeepers and their potential to enhance passive compliance towards International Humanitarian Law in conflict zones. It also explores whether female peacekeepers make a unique contribution and investigates the existing gap in research on their performance and the challenges they face in the field. The study highlights the need for further research and support to address the social and cultural factors that continue to restrict the contribution of female peacekeepers, particularly from countries like Pakistan, where women face significant challenges in the security sector.   Bibliography Entry Malik, Salma, Ahmed Hasan Awan and Talha Ibrahim. 2023. "Role of Pakistani Female Peacekeepers in Enhancing International Humanitarian Law: Opportunities and Challenges." Margalla Papers 27 (1): 186-198

Macroeconomic Shocks: Short-Run versus Long-Run Perspectives

Shocks that stem from goods and money markets are supposed to be influential as it takes some time for economic agents to realize their true impacts. Therefore, these shocks can induce uncertainty about key macroeconomic variables such as CPI inflation and real GDP growth. Impacts of nominal and real shocks are computed, evaluated and compared under short-run as well as under long-run restrictions for CPI inflation and real GDP. Furthermore, different countries with varying resource structures are incorporated to achieve a comprehensive and generalized analysis. Structural VAR models are employed in order to functionalize short-run and long-run restrictions. Impulse response analysis is done to analyze effects of nominal and real shocks on CPI inflation and real GDP in short-run as well as in long-run. Variance decompositions are done to locate main sources of uncertainties in CPI inflation and real GDP. Shocks from product market appeared to be more pervasive in comparison to shocks from money market

Smart handoff technique for internet of vehicles communication using dynamic edge-backup node

© 2020 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9030524A vehicular adhoc network (VANET) recently emerged in the the Internet of Vehicles (IoV); it involves the computational processing of moving vehicles. Nowadays, IoV has turned into an interesting field of research as vehicles can be equipped with processors, sensors, and communication devices. IoV gives rise to handoff, which involves changing the connection points during the online communication session. This presents a major challenge for which many standardized solutions are recommended. Although there are various proposed techniques and methods to support seamless handover procedure in IoV, there are still some open research issues, such as unavoidable packet loss rate and latency. On the other hand, the emerged concept of edge mobile computing has gained crucial attention by researchers that could help in reducing computational complexities and decreasing communication delay. Hence, this paper specifically studies the handoff challenges in cluster based handoff using new concept of dynamic edge-backup node. The outcomes are evaluated and contrasted with the network mobility method, our proposed technique, and other cluster-based technologies. The results show that coherence in communication during the handoff method can be upgraded, enhanced, and improved utilizing the proposed technique.Published onlin

Evaluation of social personalized adaptive E-Learning environments : end-user point of view

The use of adaptations, along with the social affordances of collaboration and networking, carries a great potential for improving e-learning experiences. However, the review of the previous work indicates current e-learning systems have only marginally explored the integration of social features and adaptation techniques. The overall aim of this research, therefore, is to address this gap by evaluating a system developed to foster social personalized adaptive e-learning experiences. We have developed our first prototype system, Topolor, based on the concepts of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia and Social E-Learning. We have also conducted an experimental case study for the evaluation of the prototype system from different perspectives. The results show a considerably high satisfaction of the end users. This paper reports the evaluation results from end user point of view, and generalizes our method to a component-based evaluation framework

Macroeconomic Shocks: Short-Run versus Long-Run Perspectives

Shocks that stem from goods and money markets are supposed to be influential as it takes some time for economic agents to realize their true impacts. Therefore, these shocks can induce uncertainty about key macroeconomic variables such as CPI inflation and real GDP growth. Impacts of nominal and real shocks are computed, evaluated and compared under short-run as well as under long-run restrictions for CPI inflation and real GDP. Furthermore, different countries with varying resource structures are incorporated to achieve a comprehensive and generalized analysis. Structural VAR models are employed in order to functionalize short-run and long-run restrictions. Impulse response analysis is done to analyze effects of nominal and real shocks on CPI inflation and real GDP in short-run as well as in long-run. Variance decompositions are done to locate main sources of uncertainties in CPI inflation and real GDP. Shocks from product market appeared to be more pervasive in comparison to shocks from money market

Evaluation of Social Personalized Adaptive E-Learning Environments: End-User Point of View

The use of adaptations, along with the social affordances of collaboration and networking, carries a great potential for improving e-learning experiences. However, the review of the previous work indicates current e-learning systems have only marginally explored the integration of social features and adaptation techniques. The overall aim of this research, therefore, is to address this gap by evaluating a system developed to foster social personalized adaptive e-learning experiences. We have developed our first prototype system, Topolor, based on the concepts of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia and Social E-Learning. We have also conducted an experimental case study for the evaluation of the prototype system from different perspectives. The results show a considerably high satisfaction of the end users. This paper reports the evaluation results from end user point of view, and generalizes our method to a component-based evaluation framework

Role of Work Family Conflict on Organizational Commitment and Organizational Effectiveness

This research study explores the relationship of work family conflicts with organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness. Mainly the study was conducted in service sector of two cities of Pakistan including D. G. Khan and Multan. Target sample included University Teachers and personnel of banking institutions within these two cities. There were one predictor variable, work family conflict and two criterion variables, organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness. For the purpose of data collection a structured questionnaire was used and seven point Likert scale was applied to measure the response of 306 respondents. The questionnaire was consisting of a total of 46 questions. Total 400 questionnaires were distributed among different respondents of these two cities out of which 306 were returned from respondents those were useable for data analysis. So response rate for this study was 77 percent. SPSS v.20 was incorporated for data analysis. Different statistical techniques were used like factor loading (As a data reduction technique), Reliability analysis (To check the consistency among the different questions of a variable), Descriptive statistics (To check the central tendency), Correlation analysis (To check the relationship among variables) and regression analysis including model summary and ANOVA (To check the cause and effect relationship among variables). Results found that work family conflict is negatively related with organizational effectiveness and same was found true for organizational commitment so work family conflict is a significant predictor for organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness. It is suggested that managers of organizations should consider the factors of work family conflicts in policy making and should take reasonable proper steps to improve organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness and to reduce work family conflicts. Keywords: work family conflict, organizational commitment, organizational effectivenes

Awareness and approach to headache: A survey of family physicians in Pakistan

Headache is one of the most common complaints in the general population and the most common symptom for a neurology out-patient visit. According to the WHO, the prevalence of adults complaining of recent headache (at least one episode within the last year) is 47%. Despite the large burden of disease, headaches are often overlooked, underdiagnosed and under-resourced. There are several reasons that include lack of awareness among the general public and healthcare professionals and lack of training at both undergraduate and post-graduate level. There is limited data available from many third world countries including Pakistan. Family Physicians (FPs) equivalent to primary care physician in the UK (GP) see the vast majority of headache disorders in Pakistan, their competency in recognizing headache disorders bears huge impact on the care received by the patients