U.S.-China Trade War: Phase One Agreement and Self-Enforcing Contracts

Sino-American bilateral trade relations have increased significantly in the past four decades since China started its economic reforms in 1978. The bilateral expansion in trade has been accompanied by increased complexity and tensions, which emerged in the form of a trade war during the President Trump administration. After a series of tit-for-tat tariff increases, in an attempt to address concerns through negotiations, both sides reached a Phase One agreement. However, the commitments made in the agreement were not delivered. In my thesis, I use the “self-enforcing contracts” theory to analyze the status of Phase One deal. The examination indicates that the agreement lacks components of self-enforcing contracts, providing players with other profitable strategies. The thesis digs deep into the causes of the U.S.-China trade imbalance as one of the main drivers of the trade war. It concludes that addressing the U.S. trade deficit with China needs structural policy changes and cannot be solved through arbitrary trade expansion commitments made in the Phase One agreement

Comparison of fentanyl and nalbuphine in total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA)

Objective: To compare Nalbuphine and fentanyl as total intravenous anaesthesia with propofol infusion in laproscopic cholecystectomy cases.STUDY Design: Double blind randomised.Methods: Changes in haemodynamic variables greater than twenty percent above or below the baseline and recovery profile were observed.Results: Blood pressure remained within 20% of baseline in either group. Nine patients in fentanyl and fifteen in nalbuphine group required an additional bolus of propofol intraoperatively. Heart rate response after tracheal intubation was significantly higher in the nalbuphine group (25%). No difference was observed in the incidence of nausea and vomiting in the recovery room. Twenty-seven percent patients in the nalbuphine group required analgesia in the recovery in comparison to 87% in the fentanyl group. Patients in the fentanyl group required analgesia earlier (37 minutes vs. 62 minutes).CONCLUSION: Fentanyl provided better intraoperative haemodynamic stability in comparison to nalbuphine when used as the analgesic component in total intravenous anaesthesia with propofol. The recovery profile with both drugs was similar. Lesser number of patients required analgesia in the recovery in the nalbuphine group

Modeling and Analysis for Surface roughness in Machining EN-31 steel using Response Surface Methodology

This paper utilizes the regression modeling in turning process of En-31 steel using response surface methodology (RSM) with factorial design of experiments. A first-order and second-order surface roughness predicting models were developed by using the experimental data and analysis of the relationship between the cutting conditions and response (surface roughness). In the development of predictive models, cutting parameters of cutting velocity, feed rate, depth of cut, tool nose radius and concentration of lubricants were considered as model variables, surface roughness were considered as response variable. Further, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the influence of process parameters and their interaction during machining. From the analysis, it is observed that feed rate is the most significant factor on the surface roughness followed by cutting speed and depth of cut at 95% confidence level. Tool nose radius and concentration of lubricants seem to be statistically less significant at 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the interaction of cutting velocity/feed rate, cutting velocity/ nose radius and depth of cut/nose radius were found to be statistically significant on the surface finish because their p-values are smaller than 5%. The predicted surface roughness values of the samples have been found to lie close to that of the experimentally observed values

The Cultural Codes of Pashto in Khushal Khan’s Poetry

Khushal Khan Khattak is a prolific writer, poet, politician, and community leader of Pashtun nation. He, as a leader, understood the spirit and soul of the Pashtuns at that time. So, his poems have all the cultural codes of the Pashtun nation. For example: Challenge, honor, masculinity, hospitality, shame, modesty, honesty, unity and love. A few hundred years ago, the cultural codes, which described in his poems, are almost still present in the Pashtun community. The main reason being the backwardness of the Pashtun nation and their society, is because the cultural codes change as society changes. The society of Pashtun nation does not chance until today. It has its old shape as two or three hundred year ago. There are a lot of codes that we can find in both, also in the poems of Khushal Khan Khatak and in the space of Pashtun nation. There are not the most of the codes in Western societies nowadays, because these codes that are often considered in Islamic countries

Data Mining Techniques in Telecommunication Company

Due to emerging of amalgam amount of data from variety sources, the data mining has become a hot trend in field of Computer Science. Data mining extracts useful pattern and information from huge amount of existing data with the help of machine learning algorithms that can be helpful in solving many sophisticated problems. Telecommunication companies also generates big amount of data from providing services to their customers, besides that telecommunication companies suffers from many problems like fraud, Customer churn and …etc. The generated amount of data from these companies can help them to address the solution for their problems such as Customer Churn. Customer churn indicates to the event when a customer stops using the service of a company and starts to use the service of another company. Churning of a Customer plays a vital role in having a sustainable business development for a telecommunication company since attracting new customers do not profit a company without retaining the old ones. Data mining can address the problem by predicting the occurrence of customer churn in Telecom Company, which helps the company to be proactive in this event and can have the chance to retain them before the churn occurs. In this study, I have chosen two open Telecom Churn data sets and have applied Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression and Decision Tree Machine Learning Algorithms on each data sets independently, which conclude my work to six experiments. I have used k-fold cross validation as validation technique during my experiments and confusion matrix for calculating the accuracy of each algorithm, the result of experiments will provide the accuracy of each algorithm in churn prediction for each data set. At the end we will have a general comparison table from all six experiments which will show the algorithms performance summary and will indicate which algorithm will outperform the others

Anatomical variations of internal jugular vein as seen by site rite II ultrasound machine--an initial experience in Pakistani population

Objective: To determine the anatomical variations of the internal jugular vein (IJV) in Pakistani adult population with the help of Site Rite II ultrasound machine.Material and Method: The right IJV relation to the carotid artery was visualized at four different landmarks (angle of the mandible, thyroid cartilage, cricoid cartilage, and the supraclavicular area). Size of IJV in comparison to carotid artery was also seen. Results: In 49 cases the IJV was found in aberrant relation to carotid artery at the angle of the mandible (p value Conclusion:Care should be taken while cannulating IJV at the angle of the mandible and supra clavicular area by external landmark guided technique. Ultrasound guided technique should be used in every anticipated difficult cas

Assessment of Asphalt Binders and Hot Mix Asphalt Modified with Nanomaterials

In the recent times, asphalt binder modification has emerged an inevitable alternative in the paving industry to ensure better performing pavements against the distresses caused by common factors such as; moisture susceptibility and high-temperature sensitivity of asphalt binders. Nanomaterials, as asphalt-modifiers, have proved to be the most promising materials in the industry owing to their higher active surface area and small particle size. This study was devoted to assessing the modification influence of three different types of nanomaterials, including nano-Bentonite, nano-CaCO3, and ZycoTherm, on the properties of asphalt binder and HMA. Conventional and rheological tests on asphalt binders, as well as, Marshall mix design and modified Lottman test on laboratory-prepared HMA specimens were conducted in order to signify the influence of nanomodification. The research findings suggested that nanomaterials can potentially enhance the high-temperature susceptibility resistance, storage stability, and rheological properties of asphalt binder samples. Mix design results revealed that the optimum binder contents decreased and Marshall stabilities were slightly improved with nanomodification. Moreover, the modified Lottman test results indicated that 0.1 % of ZycoTherm increased the TSR by 22 % as compared to the control mixture that infers its efficiency in terms of improving the HMA resistance against the moisture-induced damages

The Impact of Microfinance on Growth of Women Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

The study examines the tendency of low growth of entrepreneurship in women who take a small loan from microfinance institutions. In this context, 100 borrowers were selected, and through the questionnaire, the data was gathered to measure the impact of microfinance on women entrepreneurial growth in Pakistan. The main parameters of this research were the trend of the startup of the business, the limit of the amount of loan, and training of entrepreneurship. The one sample t-test and Pearson correlation statistical techniques were selected to analyze the data through SPSS. It is concluded that; about 80% women do not start a business, the credit limit is low that ranges from Rs2000 to 40000, there is dire need of Women Entrepreneurial Training (WET) an upsurge in the limit of loan that directly correlates with the growth of a female enterprise. Moreover, the establishment of the Women Entrepreneurial Cooperative Society (WECS) can address the low growth of women entrepreneurship issue effectively. The study was conducted during the months of October 2014 to February 2015. Research paper Keywords: Small Loan Borrowers; Women; Microfinance; Entrepreneurship; Women Entrepreneurial Cooperative Society Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Yousfani, K., Aslam, Y., Mahar, Q. & Kazi, H. (2019). The Impact of Microfinance on Growth of Women Entrepreneurship in Pakistan, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, 7(1), 133–152

The Impact of Microfinance on Growth of Women Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

The study examines the tendency of low growth of entrepreneurship in women who take a small loan from microfinance institutions. In this context, 100 borrowers were selected, and through the questionnaire, the data was gathered to measure the impact of microfinance on women entrepreneurial growth in Pakistan. The main parameters of this research were the trend of the startup of the business, the limit of the amount of loan, and training of entrepreneurship. The one sample t-test and Pearson correlation statistical techniques were selected to analyze the data through SPSS. It is concluded that; about 80% women do not start a business, the credit limit is low that ranges from Rs2000 to 40000, there is dire need of Women Entrepreneurial Training (WET) an upsurge in the limit of loan that directly correlates with the growth of a female enterprise. Moreover, the establishment of the Women Entrepreneurial Cooperative Society (WECS) can address the low growth of women entrepreneurship issue effectively. The study was conducted during the months of October 2014 to February 2015. Research paper Keywords: Small Loan Borrowers; Women; Microfinance; Entrepreneurship; Women Entrepreneurial Cooperative Society Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Yousfani, K., Aslam, Y., Mahar, Q. & Kazi, H. (2019). The Impact of Microfinance on Growth of Women Entrepreneurship in Pakistan, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, 7(1), 133–152

APACHE II analysis of a surgical intensive care unit population in a tertiary care hospital in Karachi (Pakistan)

Purpose: Performance of prognostic models deteriorates over time by changes in case-mix and clinical practice. This study was conducted to describe the case-mix of a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and assess the performance of APACHE II scoring system in this cohort. Methodology: We analyzed 213adult patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) of Aga Khan University Hospital, from January 2011 to December 2012 and the performance of APACHE II scoring system was assessed in this population. Results: The mean age of patients was 46.31 years (SD ±18.43), 67.1% patients were male and mean length of ICU stay was 6.54 days (SD ± 7.18).Admissions to SICU were from seven service departments with the highest admissions from general surgery followed by trauma and neurosurgery. The mean APACHE II score of this SICU population was 15.89 (SD ±8.06), 12.88 (SD ±6.29) in survivors and 22.24 (SD ±7.66) in non-survivors (p Conclusion: APACHE II scoring system allows meaningful analysis of SICU population, therefore, it is recommend, that this simple and cost effective scoring system should be used to identify patients with high risk of death to justify the decisions of withholding expensive therapies in resource limited settings