Land Utilization, Development Expenditure, Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

The main purpose of this study was investigates and explores the association between land utilization, development expenditure, agricultural production and economic growth in Pakistan based on the time series data over the year of 1983 to 2014. Data were analyzed applying the Phillips-Perron (P-P) unit root test, and results were interpreted implying the cointegration test. OLS was adopted to assess the effect of land utilization, development expenditure and agricultural productivity on economic growth of Pakistan. The estimated results of cointegration test show that there presence a long-run association among development expenditure for agricultural sector, land utilization, agricultural productivity and economic growth in Pakistan. The results of OLS regression analysis show that development expenditure and agricultural productivity have a significant impact on economic growth of Pakistan while land utilization (total land used for crops) has a positive relation with economic growth but found statistically insignificant. This study suggested that the government should increase expenditure development for growth and development of agricultural sector that will enhance the economic growth of Pakistan

Secrecy Results for Compound Wiretap Channels

We derive a lower bound on the secrecy capacity of the compound wiretap channel with channel state information at the transmitter which matches the general upper bound on the secrecy capacity of general compound wiretap channels given by Liang et al. and thus establishing a full coding theorem in this case. We achieve this with a stronger secrecy criterion and the maximum error probability criterion, and with a decoder that is robust against the effect of randomisation in the encoding. This relieves us from the need of decoding the randomisation parameter which is in general not possible within this model. Moreover we prove a lower bound on the secrecy capacity of the compound wiretap channel without channel state information and derive a multi-letter expression for the capacity in this communication scenario.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in the journal "Problems of Information Transmission". Some of the results were presented at the ITW 2011 Paraty [arXiv:1103.0135] and published in the conference paper available at the IEEE Xplor

Incidence of vulvovaginal candidiasis associated with Candida albicans among pregnant women attending Gombe State Specialist Hospital, Gombe, Nigeria

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common cause of vaginitis during pregnancy. It is a source of great physical and psychological discomfort as well as suffering. Samples of endocervical and high vaginal swab were collected from 150 women attending Gombe specialist hospital and were inoculated on Saboraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) incorporated with  Chloramphenicol to rid the culture of bacterial contaminants. Gram’s staining technique and Germ tube test were employed for the identification, as, Candida albicans is positive for both. The gram positive ones were 132 (88%) and were also subjected to germ tube test. 18 (12%) were found to be gram negative. Of the gram positive ones, 120 (91%) were also positive for germ tube test; confirming the presence of Candidaalbicans. Antifungal susceptibility testing revealed that Ketoconazole was more effective at concentrations of 20, 50 and 100ìg/disc with zones of inhibitions of 18.50, 23.50 and 35.50mm respectively, than Griseofulvin (Fulcin) with only 26.00mm zone of inhibition at 100ìg/disc concentration.Keywords: Vulvovaginal, Endocervical, High vaginal swab, Antifungal susceptibility, Candida albicans

Quantum state conversion by cross-Kerr interaction

A generalized Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer equipped with cross-Kerr elements is proposed to convert N-photon truncated single-mode quantum states into (N+1)-mode single-photon states, which are suitable for further state manipulation by means of beam splitter arrays and ON/OFF-detections, and vice versa. Applications to the realization of unitary and non-unitary transformations, quantum state reconstruction, and quantum telemanipulation are studied.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, using a4.st

Incontinence, bladder neck mobility, and sphincter ruptures in primiparous women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To compare the function of the pelvic floor in primiparae before and during pregnancy with the status post partum concerning symptoms of incontinence, sphincter ruptures, bladder-neck mobility and the influence of the different modes of deliveries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Questionnaire evaluating symptoms of urinary and anal incontinence in nulliparous women before and after delivery and correlating these symptoms with functional changes of the pelvic floor based on a careful gynaecologic examination as well as perineal and endoanal ultrasound.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>112 women were included in our study and came for the first visit, 99 women returned for follow-up 6 months after childbirth. Stress and flatus incontinence significantly increased from before pregnancy (3 and 12%) to after childbirth (21 and 28%) in women with spontaneous delivery or vacuum extraction. No new symptoms occurred after c-section. There was no significant difference between the bladder neck position before and after delivery. The mobility of the bladder neck was significantly higher after vaginal delivery using a vacuum extraction compared to spontaneous delivery or c-section.</p> <p>The bladder neck in women with post partum urinary stress incontinence was significantly more mobile than in continent controls. The endoanal ultrasound detected seven occult sphincter defects without any correlation to symptoms of anal incontinence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Several statistically significant changes of the pelvic floor after delivery were demonstrated. Spontaneous vaginal delivery or vacuum extraction increases the risk for stress or anal incontinence, delivery with vacuum extraction leads to higher bladder neck mobility and stress incontinent women have more mobile bladder necks than continent women.</p

55-Week Treatment of Mice with the Unani and Ayurvedic Medicine Pomegranate Flower Ameliorates Ageing-Associated Insulin Resistance and Skin Abnormalities

PPARs play a pivotal role in regulating lipid and glucose homeostasis and are involved in diverse biological activities in skin. Pomegranate flower (PGF, an antidiabetic therapy in Unani and Ayurvedic medicines) has been previously demonstrated to activate both PPARalpha/gamma. Here, we found that treatment of mice with the diet containing PGF powder over 55 weeks attenuated ageing-induced abnormal increases in the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, glucose concentrations during oral glucose tolerance test, and adipose insulin resistance index. The diet tended to decrease the excessive peri-ovary fat mass. It, however, increased the thinned subcutaneous fat thickness. In addition, the diet restored decreases in skin water content, epidermis thickness, and collagen density in corium. Thus, our results demonstrate that long-term treatment with the Unani and Ayurvedic therapy ameliorates ageing-induced insulin resistance, which is associated with reversal of ageing-induced fat redistribution. Further, PGF attenuates ageing-mediated undesirable skin abnormalities

Sandpiles on multiplex networks

We introduce the sandpile model on multiplex networks with more than one type of edge and investigate its scaling and dynamical behaviors. We find that the introduction of multiplexity does not alter the scaling behavior of avalanche dynamics; the system is critical with an asymptotic power-law avalanche size distribution with an exponent $\tau = 3/2$ on duplex random networks. The detailed cascade dynamics, however, is affected by the multiplex coupling. For example, higher-degree nodes such as hubs in scale-free networks fail more often in the multiplex dynamics than in the simplex network counterpart in which different types of edges are simply aggregated. Our results suggest that multiplex modeling would be necessary in order to gain a better understanding of cascading failure phenomena of real-world multiplex complex systems, such as the global economic crisis.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

The experience of expectant fathers : a literature review

2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

A qualitative research on expectant fathers’ experiences and nursing needs in Macau

2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe