Impact of Export Subsidies on Pakistan’s Exports

Throughout Pakistan’s history, policy has sought to promote exports through government support and incentives. The government machinery is geared to export promotion especially through direct and indirect subsidies. Surprisingly, these policies have been continued without serious examination. This paper makes a first attempt to evaluate these policies by estimating the impact of two such schemes—export financing and rebate/refund schemes—on export performance. Our analysis shows that, over the long run, the export financing scheme had a negative effect on exports while the rebate/refund scheme affected exports insignificantly. Subsidy schemes clearly do not seem to work, yet they have been retained for many years.Rebate, Duty Drawback, Export Financing, Exports, Trade, Exchange Rate, Co-integration, Vector Error Correction, Pakistan

Effect of Market Orientation on Channel Strategy- An Empirical Analysis of Pesticide Industry

Research in market orientation has overlooked the importance of its impact on various aspects of marketing strategy, especially on distribution channel strategy. Using Kohli & Jaworski's framework of measuring market orientation (MO) and pesticide industry of Pakistan as a context, this article explores the relationship between various constructs of MO with channel strategy. This paper draws survey data from the pesticide industry in Pakistan. Given the low response rate, a norm in developing countries, bootstrapping technique is employed and tests are run. The results reveal that level MO has an impact on how channel strategies are formulated. Findings of the research indicate that higher level of MO is associated with selective channel strategy involving low intensity of distribution and higher channel control. The results also suggest that the right channel strategy helps an organization to create differentiation and to improve performance in a commodity marke

Functionalization, compatibilization and properties of polyolefin composites with natural fibers

The article is focused on analyzing the effect of functionalization and reactive processing on the morphological, thermal, rheological and mechanical properties of composites of isotactic polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (EVA), with cellulose fibers, hemp or oat as natural fillers. Both polymers and fibers were modified with bi-functional monomers (glycidyl methacrylate, GMA; maleic anhydride, MA) capable of facilitating chemical reactions between the components during melt mixing. Polyolefin copolymers containing reactive groups (PP-g-GMA, SEBS-g-MA, PS-co-MA, etc.) were used as compatibilizers. Optical and SEM microscopy, FTIR, RX, DSC, TGA, DMTA, rheological and mechanical tests were employed for the composites characterization. The properties of binary and ternary systems have been analyzed as a function of both fiber and compatibilizer content. All compatibilized systems showed enhanced fiber dispersion and interfacial adhesion. The phase behavior and the thermal stability of the composites were affected by the chemical modification of the fibers. Marked changes in the overall crystallization processes and crystal morphology of PP composites were observed owing to the nucleating effect of the fibers. The tensile mechanical behavior of the compatibilized composites generally resulted in a higher stiffness, depending on the fiber amount and the structure and concentration of compatibilizer.Fil: Pracella, Mariano. Institute of Composite and Biomedical Materials; ItaliaFil: Minhaz-Ul Haque, M.. Universita Degli Studi Di Pisa; ItaliaFil: Alvarez, Vera Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Molecular analysis of genetic diversity in elite II synthetic hexaploid wheat screened against Barley yellow dwarf virus

The presence of sufficient genetic diversity in the germplam is an important prerequisite for the improve-ment and efficient use of available material. Traditionally, the data on agronomic, morphological and physiological plants traits are used to estimate the genetic diversity. But now molecular markers are available for authenticated and reliable studies for genetic diversity. The present study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity of Elite-II synthetic hexaploid (SH) wheat by genome DNA fingerprinting as revealed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Ten decamer RAPD primers (OPG-1, OPG-2, OPG-3, OPG-4, OPG-5, OPA-3, OPA-4, OPA-5, OPA-8, and OPA-15) were used to evaluate the diversity profile of the selected SH entries. Primers OPG-2 andOPA-4 gave the highly polymorphic results. The pair wise similarity values shows that genotypes 1, 20 and 30 have most closest relationship with highest similarity values i.e., 100% while genotypes 9and 13 show dictinct relationship with minimum similarity value that is, 54%. Therefore, the allelic variation of the SH resistance germplasm is a potent means to enrich and improve bread wheat cultivars where BYDV is a production threat and these can be used in future wheat breeding programme

Seed-borne mycoflora of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and their impact on seed germination

The incidence and frequency of fungi on safflower seed with their role in seed germination was investigated. Three samples each of five safflower cultivars/lines were collected from National Oil Development Programme (NODP), NARC Islamabad. Eleven different fungal species belonging to seven genera i.e., Alternaria, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Curvularia, Fusarium, Helminthosporium and Rhizopus were observed. The incidence and frequency of these fungi varied with cultivar and lines with maximum fungal prevalence in Thori-78 (7.7) and minimum in Dholka Sindh (5.4). Maximum germination was noticed on Dholka Sindh (85%) with least fungal incidence (23%) and minimum seed germination was observed on Thori-78 (60%) with higher fungal incidence (55%)

Involvement of Mycoplasma synoviae in Respiratory Distress Cases of Broilers

Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) is an important pathogen of poultry worldwide, causing respiratory tract infection and infectious synovitis in chickens and turkeys. The study was designed to detect M. synoviae through serology, culture isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to document the involvement of MS infection in respiratory distress cases of broiler birds. The validated PCR assay amplifying the conserved gene region of 16SrRNA gene was applied for the detection of M. synoviae from culture as well as in clinical samples. The results indicated that 04 out of total 17 commercial broiler flocks showing respiratory distress signs were found positive with M. synoviae infection indicating 76.57% sero-positivity as, determined with rapid serum agglutination (RSA) test. Out of 85 clinical specimens (collected from sero-positive birds); M. synoviae culture isolation was successfully attained in 36 (42.35%) samples. Whereas, PCR test has detected 84 (98.82%) positive cases. The prevalence of MS in broiler birds was observed maximum as measured through PCR. It is suggested that the true prevalence of MS may best be reflected by combining RSA and PCR test findings