Production Possibilities in Catchment Areas Under Dharabi Dam in Chakwal

Water is a limiting factor for sustainable agriculture in Barani (Arid). However, rainfall is the only source of water the spatial and temporal variation of which is very high. Therefore conservation and management of this source is vital for agriculture development and socio-economic uplift of the area. This study was, mainly, also devised to address land distribution problems and consequent farm productivity in the study area. Furthermore, level of land distribution disparities was focused on to observe its relationship with different on-farm and socio-economic indicators including gross margins, cropping intensity, crop intensity and crop diversity, income distribution disparities and institutional credit availability etc. All of the aforesaid indicators were also assessed for small, medium and large farm size categories. The farmers were divided into two main categories irrigated and rainfed farmers. Land was observed evenly distributed in irrigated area while land distribution was found most skewed in rainfed area. The performance of most of the indicators i.e. yield, gross margins, farm income, labour productivity, income distribution, cropping intensity and crop diversity was found better in irrigated as compared to rainfed. While marginal factor productivity, irrigation productivity and rate of institutional credit availability was higher in irrigated area. However, rainfed area was always least efficient with respect to all of the quantified indicators. The findings of the research are helpful for the farmers of the study area in decision making among different farm enterprises. Hence it can alleviate poverty and help to bring food security in the deprived regions.Production Possibilities in Catchment Areas Under Dharabi Dam in Chakwal

Earnings Per Share Versus Cash Flow Per Share as Predictor of Dividend; Evidence from Non Financial Sector of Pakistan

This research study has compared the relative predictive power of earnings and cash flow in order to find out the best predictor of dividend. This study has used panel data techniques and the data has been collected from the balance sheet analysis of 104 KSE-100 index non-financial companies. This study has employed a linear mixed effect model approach to investigate the main problem. The two models (earnings based model and cash flow based model) have been compared by using log likelihood estimator and Akaiki information criteria (AIC). The results have shown that cash flow per share is a better predictor of dividend than earnings per share in term of log likelihood estimator and Akaiki information criteria (AIC). The results have also concluded that both earnings per share and cash flow per share have a significant relationship with dividend. The study also finds out that all the control variables including firm’s size (SIZE), leverage ratio (LR), market to book value (MBV) and liquidity ratio (LIQ) have a significant relationship with dividend. Keywords: Earning per share (EPS), Cash flow per share (CFPS), Dividend, Linear mixed effect model, Log likelihood estimator, Akaiki information Criteria (AIC) and KSE-100 inde

Production Possibilities in Catchment Areas Under Dharabi Dam in Chakwal

Water is a limiting factor for sustainable agriculture in Barani (Arid). However, rainfall is the only source of water the spatial and temporal variation of which is very high. Therefore conservation and management of this source is vital for agriculture development and socio-economic uplift of the area. This study was, mainly, also devised to address land distribution problems and consequent farm productivity in the study area. Furthermore, level of land distribution disparities was focused on to observe its relationship with different on-farm and socio-economic indicators including gross margins, cropping intensity, crop intensity and crop diversity, income distribution disparities and institutional credit availability etc. All of the aforesaid indicators were also assessed for small, medium and large farm size categories. The farmers were divided into two main categories irrigated and rainfed farmers. Land was observed evenly distributed in irrigated area while land distribution was found most skewed in rainfed area. The performance of most of the indicators i.e. yield, gross margins, farm income, labour productivity, income distribution, cropping intensity and crop diversity was found better in irrigated as compared to rainfed. While marginal factor productivity, irrigation productivity and rate of institutional credit availability was higher in irrigated area. However, rainfed area was always least efficient with respect to all of the quantified indicators. The findings of the research are helpful for the farmers of the study area in decision making among different farm enterprises. Hence it can alleviate poverty and help to bring food security in the deprived regions

Production Possibilities in Catchment Areas Under Dharabi Dam in Chakwal

Water is a limiting factor for sustainable agriculture in Barani (Arid). However, rainfall is the only source of water the spatial and temporal variation of which is very high. Therefore conservation and management of this source is vital for agriculture development and socio-economic uplift of the area. This study was, mainly, also devised to address land distribution problems and consequent farm productivity in the study area. Furthermore, level of land distribution disparities was focused on to observe its relationship with different on-farm and socio-economic indicators including gross margins, cropping intensity, crop intensity and crop diversity, income distribution disparities and institutional credit availability etc. All of the aforesaid indicators were also assessed for small, medium and large farm size categories. The farmers were divided into two main categories irrigated and rainfed farmers. Land was observed evenly distributed in irrigated area while land distribution was found most skewed in rainfed area. The performance of most of the indicators i.e. yield, gross margins, farm income, labour productivity, income distribution, cropping intensity and crop diversity was found better in irrigated as compared to rainfed. While marginal factor productivity, irrigation productivity and rate of institutional credit availability was higher in irrigated area. However, rainfed area was always least efficient with respect to all of the quantified indicators. The findings of the research are helpful for the farmers of the study area in decision making among different farm enterprises. Hence it can alleviate poverty and help to bring food security in the deprived regions

Uveitis in spondyloarthropathies

Background: Uveitis is associated with several systemic disorders. It may be the initial presentation or manifestation of a systemic disease. It is the most common ocular complication and is sometimes the earliest manifestation of spondyloarthropathies. This study aimed to review the current literature on spondyloarthropathies and associated uveitis. Methods: A narrative review was performed using various combinations of the keywords spondyloarthropathies, seronegative spondylarthritis-related uveitis, and human leukocyte antigen-associated uveitis using PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar from January 1, 2000, to September 30, 2022. We describe the disease mechanisms, genetics, and classification of spondyloarthropathies, the clinical patterns of their related ocular diseases, and the current modalities for the management of their ocular or systemic manifestations. Results: Seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a group of rheumatic disorders including ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease-related spondyloarthropathy, juvenile-onset spondyloarthritis, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. These are characterized by enthesitis in the absence of serum rheumatoid factor and have a strong association with human leukocyte antigen B27. The clinical courses and features of spondyloarthropathies are remarkably diverse. Ocular inflammation is common in spondyloarthropathies, often precedes the onset or diagnosis of systemic disease, and responds well to topical therapy. Timely diagnosis of systemic diseases may improve quality of life and help avoid ocular and skeletal complications. Recurrence of ocular inflammation is frequent; on occasion, it may be associated with etanercept administration. Conclusions: Eye care professionals should be able to recognize spondyloarthropathies, manage ocular disease, and collaborate with related specialties for modification of systemic treatment if associated with ocular complications. Timely referral and early management could attenuate or prevent ocular or systemic morbidities associated with spondyloarthropathies

Natural Interpretation of UML/MARTE Diagrams for System Requirements Specification

International audienceTo verify embedded systems early in the design stages, we need formal ways to requirements specification which can be as close as possible to natural language interpretation, away from the lower ESL/RTL levels. This paper proposes to contribute to the FSL (Formal Specification Level) by specifying natural language requirements graphically in the form of temporal patterns. Standard modeling artifacts like UML and MARTE are used to provide formal semantics of these graphical models allowing to eliminate ambiguity in specifications and automatic design verification at different abstraction levels using these patterns

Structural Investigation of Service Quality in Conventional and Islamic Banking in Pakistan

The objective of the study examines the determinants of expected service quality in conventional and Islamic banking in Pakistan. A convenient sample of eight hundred customers from eighty branches of five conventional and five Islamic Banks in Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa (KPK) province of Pakistan participated in the study. A self designed questionnaire was used for data collection. Total of five hundred and thirteen filled out questionnaires were returned, of which 38% were filled out by female customers and 62% by male customers, forming a rate of 64% of total distributed questionnaires. The result indicates that there is a significant relationship between expected service quality and three of their determinants i.e., bank tangibles, responsiveness and assurance, while there is a weak relationship has been observed from reliability and empathy over service quality in commercial banks. On the other hand, there is a significant relationship between expected service quality and its determinants i.e., tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy in case of Islamic banks. The results of the study are of value to both academics and policy makers. Keywords: Islamic banks; Non Islamic banks; Expected service quality; Bank's tangible; Reliability; Pakistan

A critical review of design features of LMOOCs

This project is funded by the Teaching Development Grant, the Education University of Hong Kong (T0226).There has been an exponential growth in Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs) in the past decade. LMOOCs have also become an emergent and topical area of research in CALL, in particular, vis-a-vis learners’ perceptions and experiences. However, not much attention has been paid to analysing the features of LMOOCs. We argue that a systematic investigation of LMOOC design features is vital, especially in light of recent criticisms by some CALL and language education scholars regarding the incompatibility between LMOOC designs and language teaching and learning theories and methodologies. This systematic review, which employs Hall’s (2013) framework of web-based instruction, addresses this gap by analysing instructional and assessment features of 100 LMOOCs on edX and Coursera. The synthesised findings suggest three strengths of LMOOCs: Most LMOOCs are introductory, suitable for beginning language learners (directionality). Most are easy to navigate because of their consistency in format and features. And most employ a range of multimodal instructional materials (multimodality). Three limitations are also identified: There are few opportunities for instructor-learner and learner-learner interaction (interactivity) and learner-centred, formative assessments (accountability). Besides, LMOOCs are designed with a prescribed learning sequence without addressing individual learner differences (adaptability). Based on our analysis, practical suggestions for LMOOC developers are discussed. Publisher PDFPeer reviewe