An Analysis of Reproductive Health Issues in Pakistan

Population programmes in many developing countries have emphasised on family planning services driven largely by numbers and demographic targets. With the advent of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, it has been recognised to move beyond a narrow focus on family planning to a more comprehensive concern of reproductive health oriented towards meeting the needs of individuals and families. This advocated shift in population and development strategy, especially in health emphasises that services be offered to women, men and adolescents with a special focus on fulfilling women’s health needs, safeguarding their reproductive rights and involving men as equal partners in meeting the goal of responsible parenthood [United Nations (1995)]. In response to ICPD’s mandate, Pakistan’s population programme has increasingly been focussed on various aspects of reproductive health and is in the process of broadening the scope of services for a transition to reproductive health without losing focus on achieving fertility reduction goal. In this regard, the government has adopted a comprehensive population and development policy incorporating an array of reproductive health services and has integrated population and health departments and their activities in dealing with RH problems.

Towards Linking Four Emerging Paradigms in Economic Theory—Regulationist, Institutionalist, Post-modernist, and Post-development

This paper is an epistemological attempt to synthesise four emerging paradigms in economic theory. These paradigms are the regulationist, the institutionalist, the post-modernist, and the post-development. Arguably, these are paradigms rather than models of behaviour because they each presents an analytical framework for examining different economic phenomena. We shall attempt to show that the four paradigms are useful, complementary, and can be symbiotically linked into a broader paradigm especially to examine the phenomenon of low growth in the region. If we use a modified Kuhnian (1970) model for paradigmatic shifts in a discipline, we can argue that there are three dominating, competing, normal paradigms in economic theory: neoclassical, Marxist, and development theory. In Kuhnian fashion, these three dominant paradigms are pressured by several crises of inability to explain phenomena. Many of these explanational crises are about Less Industrialised Countries (LICs), but increasingly these crises are also about the inability to explain change in the Industrialised Countries (ICs) and the Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs). One, these three paradigms have to explain the differential growth rates of economies. They have to explain the low growth of LICs relative to both the old NICs (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong) and the new NICs (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and China). The collapse of the Soviet model also has to be explained. Two, these paradigms have to explain the coexistence of significant levels of poverty with affluence in the LIs, and NICs, and now emergent poverty in the ICs. Three, these paradigms also increasingly have to explain why in a country growth and distribution is biased in favour of particular ethnic and social groups, excluding others, fuelling ethnic and social conflicts within countries and across countries globally. Four, these paradigms have to establish whether the IC market-determined patterns of consumption demand can be satisfied globally.

Gender Dimensions of Demographic Change in Pakistan

The achieving of equality and equity between men and women in different spheres of life is essential for the attainment of sustainable development goals. In this context, the need for enhancement of women’s participation in national development programmes and their full integration into the development process has been widely recognised in various global and regional forums. More recently, the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development at Cairo in 1994 reaffirmed and elaborated the role of women in national development, and endorsed a new strategy that emphasises “gender equality, equity and empowerment of women”. In this context, the Programme of Action recommends that countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women by providing them with more choices through expanded access to education and health services, skill development and employment, and eliminating all practices that discriminate against women [United Nations (1995)]. Pursuant to these principles, it is of interest to study the gender related aspects of population and development with a particular focus on the current situation and role of women in the family. While it is true that men are viewed as head of the family in almost all social structures who participate more in the formal economic and social affairs and decision making in the community, it is equally true that women tend to play a major role in household affairs, in forming production and consumption patterns and in generating income for the family.

A methodology for testing fault-tolerant software

A methodology for testing fault tolerant software is presented. There are problems associated with testing fault tolerant software because many errors are masked or corrected by voters, limiter, or automatic channel synchronization. This methodology illustrates how the same strategies used for testing fault tolerant hardware can be applied to testing fault tolerant software. For example, one strategy used in testing fault tolerant hardware is to disable the redundancy during testing. A similar testing strategy is proposed for software, namely, to move the major emphasis on testing earlier in the development cycle (before the redundancy is in place) thus reducing the possibility that undetected errors will be masked when limiters and voters are added

Executable assertions and flight software

Executable assertions are used to test flight control software. The techniques used for testing flight software; however, are different from the techniques used to test other kinds of software. This is because of the redundant nature of flight software. An experimental setup for testing flight software using executable assertions is described. Techniques for writing and using executable assertions to test flight software are presented. The error detection capability of assertions is studied and many examples of assertions are given. The issues of placement and complexity of assertions and the language features to support efficient use of assertions are discussed

Dynamic assertion testing of flight control software

Digital Flight Control System (DFCS) software was used as a test case for assertion testing. The assertions were written and embedded in the code, then errors were inserted (seeded) one at a time and the code executed. Results indicate that assertion testing is an effective and efficient method of detecting errors in flight software. Most errors are eliminate at an earlier stage in the development than before

Homogeneous alignment of nematic liquid crystals by ion beam etched surfaces

A wide range of ion beam etch parameters capable of producing uniform homogeneous alignment of nematic liquid crystals on SiO2 films are discussed. The alignment surfaces were generated by obliquely incident (angles of 5 to 25 deg) argon ions with energies in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 KeV, ion current densities of 0.1 to 0.6 mA sq cm and etch times of 1 to 9 min. A smaller range of ion beam parameters (2.0 KeV, 0.2 mA sq cm, 5 to 10 deg and 1 to 5 min.) were also investigated with ZrO2 films and found suitable for homogeneous alignment. Extinction ratios were very high (1000), twist angles were small ( or = 3 deg) and tilt-bias angles very small ( or = 1 deg). Preliminary scanning electron microscopy results indicate a parallel oriented surface structure on the ion beam etched surfaces which may determine alignment

Dynamic assertion testing of flight control software

An experiment in using assertions to dynamically test fault tolerant flight software is described. The experiment showed that 87% of typical errors introduced into the program would be detected by assertions. Detailed analysis of the test data showed that the number of assertions needed to detect those errors could be reduced to a minimal set. The analysis also revealed that the most effective assertions tested program parameters that provided greater indirect (collateral) testing of other parameters

A study of trends and techniques for space base electronics

A sputtering system was developed to deposit aluminum and aluminum alloys by the dc sputtering technique. This system is designed for a high level of cleanliness and for monitoring the deposition parameters during film preparation. This system is now ready for studying the deposition and annealing parameters upon double-level metal preparation. A technique recently applied for semiconductor analysis, the finite element method, was studied for use in the computer modeling of two dimensional MOS transistor structures. It was concluded that the method has not been sufficiently well developed for confident use at this time. An algorithm was developed for confident use at this time. An algorithm was developed for implementing a computer study which is based upon the finite difference method. The program which was developed was modified and used to calculate redistribution data for boron and phosphorous which had been predeposited by ion implantation with range and straggle conditions. Data were generated for 111 oriented SOS films with redistribution in N2, dry O2 and steam ambients