Measuring Push, Pull And Personal Factors Affecting Turnover Intention: A Case Of University Teachers In Pakistan

It has been observed that professional and qualified teacher’s retention become a challenge for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan as the turnover rate has been significantly increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to access personal, push and pull factors and to find out that which factors contribute more to turnover intention. Primary data were collected from 100 teachers of 5 HEIs using questionnaire methods. The results indicate that all factors (personal, pull and push) have contributed in the employees’ turnover intentions. However, some facets of personal factor have significantly contributed in turnover intentions.Turnover, Higher Education Institution, Job Quit, Personal Factors, Push Factors, Pull Factors

Women Councilors for Women\u27s Empowerment in Pakistan

There are considerable disparities between the status of men and women in Pakistan. In Global Gender Gap Report 2014, Pakistan is ranked at 141 among 142 countries of the world and the overall gender gap calculated is 44.78%. Pakistan occupies the last place in the regional ranking of gender gap. In order to reduce this gap, empower women and reduce poverty, the government of Pakistan has adopted various social, economic, legal and political strategies and policies. The reservation of 33% seats for women at union council (village level), tehsil council (sub-district level) and district council level under the new local government plan (devolution plan) in 2000 is one of the strategies adopted for empowerment of women. This created a critical mass of 39,964 women councilors in Pakistan. In order to assess the effectiveness and impact of women councilors for women’s empowerment, a study was conducted in two selected districts of Pakistan, i.e. Abbottabad (Kyber Pakhtunkhwa Province) and Attock (Punjab Province). Primary data were collected from 54 women councilors of both the districts. The result shows that participation of women councilors in local government remained good. Hence, the economic effect was quite surprising. However, no separate funds/schemes were initiated for women. Their influence over changing polices remained weak. The women councilors in the new local government system increased awareness and coordination among women. However, they were unable to reduce violence and awaken other women regarding their rights

Exploring the Link between Poverty-Pollution-Population (3Ps) in Pakistan: Time Series Evidence

The relationship between poverty, population growth and environment has been widely debated inside the academic circles. There is a general consensus that poverty is a major cause of population growth and environmental degradation and reversely population growth is the major cause of poverty and environmental degradation. The present study examines the impact of poverty on environment (air pollution) and population and reversely the impact of population on environment (air pollution) and poverty in the specific context of Pakistan during a period of 1975-2009. Data is analyzed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression method and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach to examine the linkage. The results of the OLS test show that rapid population and air pollution has a significant contributor to poverty in Pakistan. However, the results nullify the conventional view that poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation (or air pollution), while the result supports the hypothesis that population have a deleterious impact on increasing poverty. The results of bounds test show that there is a stable long-run relationship between population, poverty and pollution in Pakistan. On the other hand, results of the causality test show that there is a unidirectional causal flow from population to carbon dioxide emission. The post reform period is observed with the estimated coefficient of the poverty dummy variable (POVDUM) which shows that poverty in Pakistan has increased due to deprived performance of federal policies on pro-poor reforms in Pakistan. The post reform period is observed with the population dummy variable (POPDUM) reflecting that population growth has increased significantly during the said reform period. Keywords: Population, Air Pollution, Poverty, Headcount Ratio, Population Dynamics, Carbon Dioxide Emission, Time Series, Bounds Test, Pakistan

The economics of paper consumption in offices

This paper explores the factors potentially responsible for the overconsumption of office paper and estimates the adverse environmental and economic impact of overconsumption. Data were collected from the employees of selected higher educational institutions in Oman. Technical factors, workplace environment, printing preferences and lack of awareness were found the main cause of overconsumption. Environmental and economic impact of the paper was estimated from the actual amount of paper consumed using standard formulas from literature. The institutions have used 5,200 reams (13 tons) of 80gm A4 size paper in one year. The economic cost of the paper was 7,800 OMR (20,280 US$). The environmental impact estimated are: cutting of 312 trees, 73,970 Ibs of CO2 gas emission, 144,742 KWh of energy consumption, solid waste produced 29,614 lbs and 247975 gallons of water were wasted. Changing printing preferences, a significant amount of economic and environmental resources to the tune of 44.8% can be saved

An Investigation of the Major Wheat Weeds in Different Zones of Dera Ismail Khan

On account of huge yield losses, weed infestation is a serious threat in wheat crops throughout the country. A comprehensive survey to find out the major weeds in wheat in Dera Ismail Khan was carried out during the crop season of 2012-13. Wheat fields at seed farms of Rakhmanghan, RakhZandani, Rata Kulachi and adjacent farmer’s fields to each seed farm were investigated. Data was collected at the peak growth stage of weeds and the quadratic method was used to record relative density (RD), relative frequency (RF), relative crowding coefficient (RCC) and importance value index (IVI). The results revealed that the major and most problematic weed of wheat at all the locations was Avena fatua (wild oat) on account of having maximum IVI at Rakh Manghan (78.51 & 77.44), Rata Kulachi (77.82 & 77.54) and Rakh Zandani (77.51 & 77.53) seed Farms and Farmer’s fields respectively. Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (Lehli) were the second and third abundantly occurring weeds at almost all the seed farms and farmer fields on account of having the second and third highest IVI values at all the locations. Therefore Avena fatua (wildoat), Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (lehli) seed were collected to find out the yield losses through further experimentation

Confirmation of root-knot nematode resistant gene Rmi1 using SSR markers

Background: The Root Knot Nematode (RKN) is a serious economic threat to various cultivated crops worldwide. It is a devastating pest of soybean and responsible to cause severe yield loss in Pakistan. The cultivation of resistant soybean varieties against this pest is the sustainable strategy to manage the heavy loss and increase yield. There is an utmost need to identify RKN resistant varieties of soybean against cultivated in Pakistan. The presented study is an attempt to identify and confirm the presence of resistant gene Rmi1 in soybean. Method: Molecular studies have been done using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) marker system to identify resistant soybean varieties against Root Knot Nematode (RKN) using fifteen (15) indigenous cultivars and four (4) US cultivars. DNA was isolated, purified, quantified and then used to employ various SSR markers. The amplified product is observed using gel documentation system after electrophoresis.  Results: Diagnostic SSR markers Satt-358 and Satt-492 have shown the presence of Rmi1 gene in all resistance carrying genotypes. Satt-358 amplified the fragment of 200 bp and Satt-492 generated 232 bp bands in all resistant genotypes. This study confirmed the Rmi gene locus (G248A-1) in all internationally confirmed resistant including six (6) native varieties.Conclusion: These investigations have identified six (6) resistant cultivars revealing the effective and informative sources that can be utilized in breeding programs for the selection of RKN resistance soybean genotypes in Pakistan.

DLSA: Delay and Link Stability Aware Routing Protocol for Flying Ad-hoc Networks (FANETs)

Flying Ad-hoc Network (FANET) is a new class of Mobile Ad-hoc Network in which the nodes move in three-dimensional (3-D) ways in the air simultaneously. These nodes are known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that are operated live remotely or by the pre-defined mechanism which involves no human personnel. Due to the high mobility of nodes and dynamic topology, link stability is a research challenge in FANET. From this viewpoint, recent research has focused on link stability with the highest threshold value by maximizing Packet Delivery Ratio and minimizing End-to-End Delay. In this paper, a hybrid scheme named Delay and Link Stability Aware (DLSA) routing scheme has been proposed with the contrast of Distributed Priority Tree-based Routing and Link Stability Estimation-based Routing FANET’s existing routing schemes. Unlike existing schemes, the proposed scheme possesses the features of collaborative data forwarding and link stability. The simulation results have shown the improved performance of the proposed DLSA routing protocol in contrast to the selected existing ones DPTR and LEPR in terms of E2ED, PDR, Network Lifetime, and Transmission Loss. The Average E2ED in milliseconds of DLSA was measured 0.457 while DPTR was 1.492 and LEPR was 1.006. Similarly, the Average PDR in %age of DLSA measured 3.106 while DPTR was 2.303 and LEPR was 0.682. The average Network Lifetime of DLSA measured 62.141 while DPTR was 23.026 and LEPR was 27.298. At finally, the Average Transmission Loss in dBm of DLSA measured 0.975 while DPTR was 1.053 and LEPR was 1.227.- Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province - grant No. 2020C01076. - National Natural Science Foundation of China - grant No. 62072403

Effect of foliar application of nano-nutrients solution on growth and biochemical attributes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) under drought stress

IntroductionDrought stress has drastically hampered the growth and yield of many crops. Therefore, environmentally safe agricultural techniques are needed to mitigate drought stress impact. To this end, foliar spray of nano-nutrients solution to (NNS) alleviate harmful aspects of drought stress.MethodsIn a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment, seedlings were transplanted into pots at 2-3 leaf stage, each filled with loam-compost- organic manure soil (3:1:1). Plants were divided into two groups. (a) control group (b) applied stress group. Plants at vegetative stage were treated with 100% FC for control group and 60% FC for drought group, and these levels were maintained until harvesting. Three treatments of NNS with four levels i.e., 0%, 1%, 3% and 5% were given to all the pots after two weeks of drought stress treatment with a gap of 5 days at vegetative stage.Results and discussionApplication of 1% of nano-nutrient solution displayed an improvement in shoot length, shoot fresh and dry weight, number of leaves and flowers. Leaf chlorophylls and carotenoids and total phenolics contents were found maximum while minimum electrolyte leakage was observed at 3% application compared to control. Further, 1% application of NNS increased the Leaf RWC%, total soluble sugars, flavonoids contents. 5% NNS application exhibited higher total free amino acids with minimum lipid peroxidation rate in leaves of tomato under drought. Antioxidant enzyme activities increased in a concentration dependent manner as gradual increase was observed at 1%, 3% and 5%, respectively. Overall, this study introduced a new insights on using nano-nutrient solutions to maintain natural resources and ensure agricultural sustainabilit

Comparitive analysis of people's paricipation in rural development projects of the government and non-gevernment organizations adopted, for sustainable development

This thesis has two parts. Part I provides an overview of various concepts and issues associated with people's participation, NGOs, sustainable development, participatory approaches/techniques and practices in development. In Part I an effort is made theoretically to find out the extent, quality, effectiveness and sustainability of developmental activities as a result of changing the direction from a top-bottom approach to a bottom-up approach. Apart from indicating the need of people's participation for sustainable development, this part also describes the role of NGOs, their emergence and recent growth as a tool for alternative development, their drawbacks/limitations, their extent of introducing and developing participatory approaches/techniques, their source of funding, etc. A comparative review/analysis of the composition of NGOs and of the government sector of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan and the extent of people's participation in their respective development projects/programmes at policy level as well as in practice, is provided in this part, in order to find out how the priorities of target populations were overlooked by the two sectors. Similarly, in Part Ι various participatory approaches/techniques used by various development agencies in various phases of their project cycle, the linkage of sustainable development with people's participation and various issues associated with sustainable development are presented. Part II contains a comparative case study of the government of NWFP, Pakistan and NGO (Sarhad Rural Support Corporation - SRSC) from the point of view of people's participation adopted in their rural development projects. This attempt is made in order to examine the participation of the target population in terms of their involvement in planning, decision-making, implementation, benefit sharing and evaluation relating to the development projects pertaining to the government of NWFP and SRSC from a comparative point of view. The main aim is to assess and analyze the impact and relevance of people's participation in the NGO-led participatory development projects and government-led participatory development initiatives. Moreover, to see the comparative advantages and the drawbacks in order to improve the livelihood of the rural communities in NWFP, in particular, and of other developing and underdeveloped countries in general. At the macro level, this study reflects the participatory approaches and experience of various donors, development agencies and NGOs. At the micro level it contains an analysis of participatory approaches adopted by the government of NWFP, Pakistan and NGOs, at policy level as well as in practice.Αυτή η διατριβή περιλαμβάνει δύο μέρη. Το πρώτο μέρος παρέχει μια επισκόπηση των διαφόρων εννοιών και ζητημάτων που συνδέονται με τη συμμετοχή των πολιτών, τους ΜΚΟ, τη βιώσιμη ανάπτυξη, τις συμμετοχικές προσεγγίσεις / τεχνικές και πρακτικές ανάπτυξης. Στο μέρος αυτό, καταβάλλεται μία προσπάθεια θεωρητικά, για να ανακαλυφθεί η έκταση, η ποιότητα, η αποτελεσματικότητα και η βιωσιμότητα των αναπτυξιακών δραστηριοτήτων, ως αποτέλεσμα της αλλαγής κατεύθυνσης, από μια από επάνω προς τα κάτω, σε μια από κάτω προς τα επάνω προσέγγιση. Εκτός από το ότι αναδεικνύει την ανάγκη της συμμετοχής των πολιτών για την επίτευξη βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης, αυτό το μέρος περιγράφει, επίσης, το ρόλο των ΜΚΟ, την εμφάνιση και πρόσφατη αύξηση τους, ως εργαλείο για εναλλακτική ανάπτυξη, τα μειονεκτήματα / περιορισμούς τους, το βαθμό στον οποίο εισήγαγαν και ανέπτυξαν τις συμμετοχικές προσεγγίσεις / τεχνικές, τις πηγές χρηματοδότησης τους, κλπ. Μια συγκριτική επισκόπηση / ανάλυση της σύνθεσης των ΜΚΟ και του κυβερνητικού τομέα της Επαρχίας Βορειοδυτικών Συνόρων (NWFP) του Πακιστάν και της έκτασης της συμμετοχής των πολιτών στα αντίστοιχα αναπτυξιακά έργα / προγράμματα τους, τόσο σε επίπεδο πολιτικών, όσο και στην πράξη, παρέχεται σε αυτό το μέρος, προκειμένου να επισημανθεί το πώς οι προτεραιότητες των πληθυσμών στόχων αγνοήθηκαν από τους δύο παραπάνω τομείς. Ομοίως, στο πρώτο μέρος, παρουσιάζονται οι διάφορες συμμετοχικές προσεγγίσεις / τεχνικές, που χρησιμοποιούνται από τους διάφορους φορείς ανάπτυξης, στις διάφορες φάσεις του κύκλου των έργων τους, η σχέση της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης με τη συμμετοχή των πολιτών, καθώς επίσης και τα διάφορα ζητήματα που συνδέονται με τη βιώσιμη ανάπτυξη. Το δεύτερο μέρος περιέχει μια συγκριτική μελέτη - περίπτωση της κυβέρνησης του NWFP, του Πακιστάν και του ΜΚΟ (Οργανισμός Αγροτικής Υποστήριξης της περιοχής Sarhad - SRSC) από την πλευρά της συμμετοχής των πολιτών στα έργα τους για αγροτική ανάπτυξη. Αυτή η προσπάθεια γίνεται προκειμένου να εξεταστεί και να συγκριθεί η συμμετοχή του πληθυσμού - στόχου στα αναπτυξιακά έργα που σχετίζονται με την κυβέρνηση του NWFP και το SRSC από την άποψη του προγραμματισμού, της λήψης αποφάσεων, της εφαρμογής, της κατανομής των οφελών και της αξιολόγησης. Ο κύριος στόχος είναι να αξιολογηθεί και να αναλυθεί ο αντίκτυπος και η σχέση της συμμετοχής των πολιτών στα καθοδηγούμενα από τους ΜΚΟ συμμετοχικά αναπτυξιακά έργα και στις καθοδηγούμενες από την κυβέρνηση συμμετοχικές αναπτυξιακές πρωτοβουλίες. Επιπλέον, ένας άλλος στόχος είναι να αναδειχθούν τα συγκριτικά πλεονεκτήματα και μειονεκτήματα, προκειμένου να βελτιωθούν οι συνθήκες διαβίωσης των αγροτικών κοινοτήτων του NWFP ειδικότερα, αλλά και άλλων περιοχών και να αναπτυχθούν οι υπανάπτυκτες χώρες γενικότερα. Σε μακρο-επίπεδο, αυτή η έρευνα απεικονίζει τις συμμετοχικές προσεγγίσεις και την εμπειρία των διάφορων χορηγών, των φορέων ανάπτυξης και των ΜΚΟ. Σε μικρο-επίπεδο περιέχει μια ανάλυση των συμμετοχικών προσεγγίσεων που υιοθετήθηκαν από την κυβέρνηση του NWFP, στο Πακιστάν και τους ΜΚΟ, τόσο σε επίπεδο πολιτικών όσο και στην πράξη

Bivariate cointegration between poverty and environment: a case study of Pakistan (1980-2009)

The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate a two-way statistical relationship between the agriculture environment and rural poverty. To recognise the relationship between the two variables, a time series, co-integration and Granger causality tests have been employed. Secondary data pertaining to Pakistan from 1980-2009 on rural poverty and environmental factors (such as commercial energy consumption, water availability and total cropped area) have been used for the analysis. The empirical results only moderately support the conventional view that rural poverty has a significant long-term casual effect on environmental proxies in Pakistan. The present study finds evidence of uni-directional causality between poverty and the environment in the context of the agriculture sector in Pakistan.rural poverty, environmental degradation, cointegration, uni-directional, bi-directional, Granger causality test,