Economic Determinants of Non-Performing Loans: Perception of Pakistani Bankers

This study provides the perception of Pakistani bankers regarding the economic factors causing non-performing loans in the Pakistani banking sector since 2006. This is the first time that any study is conducted in Pakistan to highlight the economic factors of NPLs via primary data collection from loan providing and approving authorities of Pakistani banking industry. This study was conducted via a well structured questionnaire and data was collected from 201 bankers who are involved in the lending decisions or analyze the credit risk or handling non-performing loans portfolio. Correlation and regression analysis was carried out to analyze the impact of selected independent variables (Interest Rate, Energy Crisis, Unemployment, Inflation, GDP Growth, and Exchange Rate) on the non-performing loans of Pakistani banking sector. Top 10 Pakistani banks were selected as a sample. According to the results Pakistani bankers perceive that Interest Rate, Energy Crisis, Unemployment, Inflation, and Exchange Rate has a significant positive relationship with the non-performing loans of Pakistani banking sector while GDP growth has significant negative relationship with the non-performing loans of Pakistani banking sector. This study also discusses how good loans are turning into bad loans due to disaster in energy sector of Pakistan and how these energy crisis are badly affecting the banking sector of Pakistan. In future social determinants of non-performing loans should be studied. This study is first of its kind opening door for further primary research on NPLS of Pakistani banking sector. Key words: Non-performing loan; perception of Pakistani bankers; energy crisis; Economic determinants of Non-performing loan

Genome-wide analyses of the mung bean NAC gene family reveals orthologs, co-expression networking and expression profiling under abiotic and biotic stresses

Background Mung bean is a short-duration and essential food crop owing to its cash prominence in Asia. Mung bean seeds are rich in protein, fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. The NAC transcription factors (TFs) family is a large plant-specific family, participating in tissue development regulation and abiotic and biotic stresses. Results In this study, we perform genome-wide comparisons of VrNAC with their homologs from Arabidopsis. We identified 81 NAC transcription factors (TFs) in mung bean genome and named as per their chromosome location. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that VrNACs are broadly distributed in nine groups. Moreover, we identified 20 conserved motifs across the VrNACs highlighting their roles in different biological process. Based on the gene structure of the putative VrNAC and segmental duplication events might be playing a vital role in the expansion of mung bean genome. A comparative phylogenetic analysis of mung bean NAC together with homologs from Arabidopsis allowed us to classify NAC genes into 13 groups, each containing several orthologs and paralogs. Gene ontology (GO) analysis categorized the VrNACs into biological process, cellular components and molecular functions, explaining the functions in different plant physiology processes. A gene co-expression network analysis identified 173 genes involved in the transcriptional network of putative VrNAC genes. We also investigated how miRNAs potentially target VrNACs and shape their interactions with proteins. VrNAC1.4 (Vradi01g03390.1) was targeted by the Vra-miR165 family, including 9 miRNAs. Vra-miR165 contributes to leaf development and drought tolerance. We also performed qRT-PCR on 22 randomly selected VrNAC genes to assess their expression patterns in the NM-98 genotype, widely known for being tolerant to drought and bacterial leaf spot disease. Conclusions This genome-wide investigation of VrNACs provides a unique resource for further detailed investigations aimed at predicting orthologs functions and what role the play under abiotic and biotic stress, with the ultimate aim to improve mung bean production under diverse environmental conditions

Trichogramma chilonis, an effective egg parasitoid for control of white stem borer Scirpophaga innotata (Walker), (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in rice

Rice an important staple food crop of the world, which is attacked by the various insect pests, among them the stem borers are the most destructive pests, distributed in all rice growing areas of the world and cause the severe losses. This research investigated the efficacy of the parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) to control the white stem borer (Scirpophaga innotata) in rice. In this respect the field studies were conducted in lower Sindh, Pakistan for the year, Kharif - 2017 and 2018. Trichogramma egg parasitoid over 230 species are reported to have been remained in biological control of insect pests of over 200 insect species belonging to 70 different families, mainly the order Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Orthroptera and Thysnoptera, in order to manage the white stem borer of rice the Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) was used as a bio-control agent. The Studies revealed that T. chilonis proved an effective biocontrol strategy against white stem borer of rice. The result of this study could be useful in an integrated pest management program for the management of white stem borer of rice the Trichogramma chilonis.            

Yield performance with heritability measurements of half sib families obtained from maize variety Azam

This study evaluated the performance of 64 half sib families (HSF) derived from “Azam” variety of maize using partially balanced lattice square design with two replications. Data were recorded on grain yield and other agronomic traits. Observations showed difference in half-sib families for studied traits. Among the 64 half-sib families, minimum days to 50% tasseling (51 days) were observed for HS-49 while maximum (57 days) for HS-63. Minimum days to 50% silking (56 days) were counted for HS-6 while maximum (63 days) for HS-23. Minimum days to 50% anthesis (55 days) were counted for HS-1 and HS-6 while maximum (62 days) for HS-23. Similarly, minimum ASI (-2 days) were observed in HS-1, HS-15, HS-16, HS-28 and HS-63 while maximum (2 days) in HS-48. Minimum (60 cm) ear height was recorded for HS-11 and maximum (93.5 cm) for HS-28. Minimum fresh ear weight (1.3 kg) was weighted for HS-17 while maximum (3.2 kg) for HS-21. Grain moisture was recorded minimum (19.35 %) for HS-19 and maximum (31.25%) for HS-2. HS-42 showed minimum (28 g) 100 kernel weight while HS-5 showed maximum (47 g). Grain yield was minimum (2323 kg ha-1) for HS-17 and maximum (5742 kg ha-1) for HS-21. Maximum heritability estimate (0.92) was recorded for fresh ear weight, while minimum (0.41) was observed for ear height

An Effective Wireless Sensor Network Routing Protocol Based on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

Improving wireless communication and artificial intelligence technologies by using Internet of Things (Itoh) paradigm has been contributed in developing a wide range of different applications. However, the exponential growth of smart phones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is becoming an emerging challenge that adds some limitations on Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. End-to-end latency, energy consumption, and packet loss during transmission are the main QoS requirements that could be affected by increasing the number of IoT applications connected through WSNs. To address these limitations, an effective routing protocol needs to be designed for boosting the performance of WSNs and QoS metrics. In this paper, an optimization approach using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed to develop a multipath protocol, called a Particle Swarm Optimization Routing Protocol (MPSORP). The MPSORP is used for WSN-based IoT applications with a large volume of traffic loads and unfairness in network flow. For evaluating the developed protocol, an experiment is conducted using NS-2 simulator with different configurations and parameters. Furthermore, the performance of MPSORP is compared with AODV and DSDV routing protocols. The experimental results of this comparison demonstrated that the proposed approach achieves several advantages such as saving energy, low end-to-end delay, high packet delivery ratio, high throughput, and low normalization load.publishedVersio

Socio-Psycho Impacts of Unemployment on Educated Youth: A Case Study of Lahore City

The rationale of this paper is to look into the social and psychological impacts of unemployment on educated youth. Unemployment is devastatingly hitting our youth’s potential and they suffer from socio psychological effects. This research paper highlights chronic impact of unemployment among educated youth. Primary data was collected from a sample of n=100; the age interval of the respondents was (20-31) from Lahore city, Pakistan. The gender distribution was 71% males and 29% females. All participants were educated and unemployed. This research shows that due to unemployment youth is confronting problems such as increasing level of discomfort, contraction in social circle, inferiority complex, hindrance in personal growth, low self-esteem, increasing level of anxiety, unhappiness and mental health problems. Regression analysis shows dependant variables of socio-psychological impacts including level of discomfort, contraction in social circle, social stigmatisation, job search effectiveness, inferiority complex, family goals, unconfident and unhappiness has significant relation with independent variable (unemployment duration)

In silico computation of functional SNPs of CYP2U1 protein leading to hereditary spastic paraplegia

Hereditary spastic paraplegia is a genetically heterogeneous neurological disease mainly characterized by growing spasticity in a lower limb area. Spastic paraplegia 56 (SPG56) causes the autosomal recessive form of hereditary spastic paraplegia. Over time, many attempts have been made to find heterogeneity in the genome to identify the major carriers of genetic disorders. In this work, computational tools were employed to identify the pathogenic missense variants of SPG56 (Spastic paraplegia 56) that can essentially cause HSP. Various in silico tools were utilized to perform variation analysis. A variant list containing 428 variants was retrieved from gnomAD, which was later passed through several phases of stringent analysis. Furthermore, the data was cross-checked to eventually determine the highly pathogenic missense variants of SPG56. Consequently, 12 missense variants were obtained which are predicted to induce highly damaging effects on the structural and functional characteristics of CYP2U1

Virtual Screening of Phytochemicals by Targeting HR1 Domain of SARS-CoV-2 S Protein: Molecular Docking, Molecular Dynamics Simulations, and DFT Studies

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly the whole world due to its high morbidity and mortality rate. Thus, scientists around the globe are working to find potent drugs and designing an effective vaccine against COVID-19. Phytochemicals from medicinal plants are known to have a long history for the treatment of various pathogens and infections; thus, keeping this in mind, this study was performed to explore the potential of different phytochemicals as candidate inhibitors of the HR1 domain in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by using computer-aided drug discovery methods. Initially, the pharmacological assessment was performed to study the drug-likeness properties of the phytochemicals for their safe human administration. Suitable compounds were subjected to molecular docking to screen strongly binding phytochemicals with HR1 while the stability of ligand binding was analyzed using molecular dynamics simulations. Quantum computation-based density functional theory (DFT) analysis was constituted to analyze the reactivity of these compounds with the receptor. Through analysis, 108 phytochemicals passed the pharmacological assessment and upon docking of these 108 phytochemicals, 36 were screened passing a threshold of -8.5 kcal/mol. After analyzing stability and reactivity, 5 phytochemicals, i.e., SilybinC, Isopomiferin, Lycopene, SilydianinB, and Silydianin are identified as novel and potent candidates for the inhibition of HR1 domain in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Based on these results, it is concluded that these compounds can play an important role in the design and development of a drug against COVID-19, after an exhaustive in vitro and in vivo examination of these compounds, in future

Do Financial Development and Economic Openness Matter for Economic Progress in an Emerging Country? Seeking a Sustainable Development Path

While emerging economies face the challenge of competing with developed nations, they are capable of catching up to the developed world. In this context, financial development and the degree of economic openness may provide better living conditions for the current generation without giving up future generations’ prosperity. Therefore, this research’s prime intention is to investigate the impact of economic openness and financial development on economic progress, employing Pakistan’s time-series data from 1975–2018. To examine the long-term association between economic openness, financial development, and economic progress, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration tests were performed and the results present a long-term association between these variables. Findings from ARDL estimates indicate that the relationship between financial development and economic progress is significantly positive in the long term. Contrastingly, the relationship between economic openness and economic progress is significantly positive in the short term. A fully modified ordinary least square technique was applied to check the robustness of the long-term links. The Granger causality test revealed that economic progress is motivated by both economic openness and financial development in an emerging economy such as Pakistan. Thus, policies boosting financial development and economic openness are proposed to put the emerging economies on a path of sustainable economic development