On the capture and representation of fonts

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The commercial need to capture, process and represent the shape and form of an outline has lead to the development of a number of spline routines. These use a mathematical curve format that approximates the contours of a given shape. The modelled outline lends itself to be used on, and for, a variety of purposes. These include graphic screens, laser printers and numerically controlled machines. The latter can be employed for cutting foil, metal. plastic and stone. One of the most widely used software design packages has been the lKARUS system. This, developed by URW of Hamburg (Gennany), employs a number of mathematical descriptions that facilitate the process of both modelling and representation of font characters. It uses a variety of curve formats, including Bezier cubics, general conics and parabolics. The work reported in this dissertation focuses on developing improved techniques, primarily. for the lKARUS system. This includes two algorithms which allow a Bezier cubic description, two for a general conic representation and, yet another, two for the parabolic case. In addition, a number of algorithms are presented which promote conversions between these mathematical forms; for example, Bezier cubics to a general conic form. Furthennore, algorithms are developed to assist the process of rasterising both cubic and quadratic arcs.This study was partly funded by the Science and Education Research Council (SERC)

Fighting Governmental Corruption in Pakistan: An Evaluation of Anti-Corruption Strategies

Corruption remains a persistent problem in both developed and developing countries. Statistics provide evidence that Pakistan faces the menace of corruption. The recently released Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2019 by Transparency International (TI) ranks Pakistan as the 120th country out of a total of 180. In 1995 Pakistan used to be the second most corrupt country in the world. Moreover, TI’s Global Corruption Barometer for 2017 shows that 40–50 per cent of the respondents have given a bribe to get a public service in Pakistan. The Global Competitiveness Reports (2016, 2017, and 2018) released by the World Economic Forum in Switzerland have declared corruption to be the topmost problematic factor when doing business in Pakistan. Corruption is a public problem and relevant academic literature holds the dominant view that it obstructs economic development. It increases the direct costs of firms through bribery. It encourages bureaucratic red tape and corrupts the institutions of contract enforcement and property rights protection. Although corruption and anti-corruption have long been research topics in the social sciences, little has been done about the evaluation of anti-corruption strategies. Anti-corruption efforts are required where corruption prevails. With this in view, the study aims to ascertain the opinion of policy professionals regarding different anti-corruption strategies. Data on 26 anti-corruption strategies were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 100 policy professionals working in 12 different policy institutes. The results have found slight differences between the mean scores for anti-corruption strategies, depicting a certain level of effectiveness for each strategy. Harsher punishments for corrupt persons and legal protection for whistleblowers informing about persons involved in corruption are the strategies that had the highest mean scores of 4.07 and 4.04 respectively. Policy professionals rated the category of “Political, legal and judicial strategies” with the highest mean value of 3.90 as the most effective anti-corruption typology. A holistic approach is required in Pakistan to eradicate corruption from governmental offices

Are Defense Expenditures Pro Poor or Anti Poor in Pakistan? An Empirical Investigation

Recent increase in defense expenditure (Dexp hereinafter) in Pakistan due to increase in internal security and terrorism is an issue of concern to many Pakistani and other stakeholders in the Pakistan economy. Presently, internal security issues especially that of the increasingly violent homegrown terrorism is forcing increasing financial cost on government‘s expenditure towards defense sector. According to Budget documents, defense budget amounts to Rs 700. 2 billion for the 2014-15 fiscal year compared with Rs 627.2 billion allocated in the preceding fiscal year, showing an increase of Rs 73 billion. However, these figures do not include Rs 163.4 billion allocated for pensions of the military personnel.1 In addition to this, military would also be given Rs 165 billion under the contingent liability and Rs 85 billion under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF). This means that in reality Rs 1113 billion has been allocated for the military which is about 28.2 percent of the country‘s total budget [Sheikh and Yousaf (2014)]. This has led to diversion of the money needed for much-needed development projects, as the share of current expenditure in total budgetary outlay for 2014-15 is 80.5 percent.2 This diversion of funds has economic implication since some social sectors are likely to suffer in Pakista

Social Media and Policy Making in Pakistan

The study highlights the role of social media and policy making in Pakistan. For this purpose, case study methodology has been employed. The study examines trend analysis of different public problems being discussed on social media (Twitter). Four cases have been selected purposefully. The trend analysis of selected public problems show that twitter users expressing their views. Transgender case of Alisha was identified highlighted by social media. Consequently, the KPK government took the notice of the case and allocated Rs. 200 million for the transgender community. The issue of Panama leak has been debated inside and outside of the Parliament of Pakistan. Social media users have also participated in the discussion and have floated their suggestion to resolve the issue. The problem of malnutrition in Baluchistan was also identified and highlighted on social media. Subsequently, the government of Baluchistan took the notice of the problem and introduced the ‘Scaling up Nutrition’ for malnutrition women and children in Baluchistan. Honor killing cases have been the hot topics among social media users. The case of Zeenat Bibi was also debated on social media. Parliament of Pakistan has taken up the issue and passed a law related to honor killing. Social media is vibrant, dynamic medi

Role of Media and Judiciary in Public Policy Making in Pakistan: Evidence from Suo Moto Cases based on Media Reports

The role of mass media in policy agenda setting has been considered by an array of researchers. The mass media is not sole factor behind the policy agenda, but it is an important factor among several others. The agenda-setting theory assumes that the media possess the capability to relocate their agenda to the public agenda. Judiciary in Pakistan also seem to be influenced by the agenda-setting function of mass media. The study aims to examine the indirect influence of mass media on public policy by critically analysing the influence of judicial interventions in the form of suo motu on policy making in Pakistan. The time period of the study ranges from 2008 to 2013. The unit of analysis is a single case based on sou motu action taken by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP). All the suo motu actions taken by the SCP based on media reports during the time period have been analysed. The data have been collected from the archives of the SCP and by overviewing the original court files of the cases. The contents analysis reveals that the SCP taken total 90 suo motu cases during the period, and out of these cases, 56 cases were based on media reports. The study further analyses the decisions in these cases influencing the policy making in Pakistan. The findings reveal that 19 court cases based on media reports have influenced the public policy making in Pakistan

Strong and ∆-Convergence Results for Generalized Multi-valued Non-expansive Maps in CAT (0) Spaces

Abstract In this paper, we establish strong convergence and ∆-convergence theorems for the class of generalized non-expansive multi-valued maps in a CAT(0) space. Our work extends and improves some recent results announced in the current literature

Safety of percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting in patients with obstructive jaundice

OBJECTIVE: To determine the safety of percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting (PTBS) in patients with obstructive jaundice. STUDY DESIGN: A case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Radiology, The Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan, from February 2012 to April 2013. METHODOLOGY: Patients with obstructive jaundice due to any cause referred for percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting were included in the study. Patients were excluded if they had undergone previous ERCP, had guided transhepatic biliary stenting, previous percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting and were lost to follow-up. Follow-up was taken at a 2, 4 and 6 week interval and clinical outcome was assessed as the difference between the bilirubin levels at base line and 6 weeks after PTBS, which was measured using Freidman\u27s test. RESULTS: A total of 102 patients were included; 59 (58%) were males and 43 (42%) were females. The age ranged from 21 to 89 years. A total of 30 patients experienced complications making an overall complication rate of 29.4%; 20 experienced minor and 10 experienced major complications. Pain was the most frequent minor complication (n=15 patients, 14.7%) followed by biliary leakage, fever and cholangitis. Major complications included death in 10 (10%) patients followed by biliary peritonitis and septicemia. CONCLUSION: PTBS achieved satisfactory palliation with a low complication rate in patients with obstructive jaundic

Profitability and Working Capital Management Nexus: Evidence from Food & Personal Care Products Sector Firms Listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange

Working capital management (WCM) usually have an essential role to play in a firm’s overall performance, especially those of manufacturing sector. The key aim of the current research work is to find the empirical association amid profitability and working capital management of the Food & Personal Care Product sector Pakistani firms. Eight companies are selected randomly as a sample from the firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange. Secondary data for six years, that is, 2010 - 2016 is gathered from the financial reports of these companies and evaluated through Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis techniques, using STATA software. The results prove that Return on Assets (ROA) is negatively correlated with Average Collection Period (ACP) and positively correlated with Inventory Turnover in Days (ITID), Average Payment Period (APP), Current Ratio (CR) and Sales Growth (SG). All the relationships are significant except ITID and SG one

Policy Input on Human Rights Issues by the Supreme Judiciary in Pakistan: Application of Stage Model of Public Policy

 The researches have revealed the legislature as the policy or law-making body and the executive branch as the policy implementing body whereas the third pillar of the state, the judiciary, is considered as a legal institute working as an arbitrator in all legal matters. However, the increasing pieces of evidence depict that the judiciary not only acts as an arbitrator in all legal controversies but also plays a role in public policymaking and politics. It is one of the official actors that plays its role in policy processes. This paper examines the role of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) in generating policy input at different stages of policy making. Content and thematic analysis methods have been used on all judicial verdicts given by the SCP on Human Rights Cases (HRCs). The time period ranges from 2009 to 2019. Purposive sampling technique is utilized to draw a sample containing HRCs from the population of judicial verdicts given by SC during the last ten years. The analysis reveals that the Supreme Judiciary provides its policy input and impacts policy process. It has the power to play its significant role in policymaking by giving policy input in problem identification and agenda-setting, policy formulation, policy adoption, and policy evaluation. The policy input given by SCP should be utilized in an effective way to reduce human rights issues and alleviate the infringement of fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan