A genre analysis of paid obituary announcements in selected Pakistani English newspapers

Newspaper paid obituary announcements are contextualized generic structures with religious and socio-cultural communicative functions. This generic structure reflects differences among people from various social strata to project their social status. The analysis in the Pakistani milieu was conducted due to a lack of studies which explore these announcements to determine local socio-cultural and socio-economic factors which influence their communicative intents. A genre analysis was conducted to determine the communicative purposes, stylistic devices, gender representation, content selection and non-linguistic features of this genre. Data were obtained by describing, investigating and analysing the discourse generic modes. The data comprises 601 printed paid obituaries selected from Pakistani English newspapers; The Dawn and The News International. A total of 30 respondents from various background were interviewed. A methodological framework of Al-Ali in 2005 which was an adapted form of Swales in 1990 moves analysis model, is used as a prototypical. Moves analysis and inductive reasoning lead towards the structural and informational understanding of these announcements. Procedural steps involving trilateral phases: identification, comprehension and validation have been adopted. The findings show a blend of similarities and dissimilarities with the similarly produced genre globally. It was also found that the communicational load of the textual moves of this genre is dependent on the contextualized societal and religious practices, and personalized intentions of the discourse community. The findings of this study could serve as an abstract model of guidance for the professional and unprofessional writers of this genre in Pakistan. It also helps to create awareness towards using appropriate linguistic forms among practitioners of English in Pakistan, and provides a theoretical model for future researches dealing with a similar subject matte

Web-based Services in University Libraries: A Pakistani Perspective

This study is a content analysis of websites of 56 General University Libraries (GULs) of Pakistan. Content included existence of library website, hyperlink on university home page, type (static or dynamic) of library website, and six categories of library and information services. The six categories included general information, web OPAC, reference service, collection, circulation, and document delivery service/Inter Library Loan. Results indicate that web-based services in GULs of Pakistan are in their infancy. LIS professionals must recognize the significance of web-based library services and take initiative provide web services to library users. Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), LIS educators, and professional associations should provide training opportunities to librarians to develop required skills

Impact of Climate Change on Electricity Demand: A Case Study of Pakistan

The energy sector is sensitive to changing weather patterns and Pakistan is one of those countries where temperature rise induced by climate change is expected to be above the world average. In this backdrop the present study aims at finding the impact of climate change on electricity demand in Pakistan at the regional and national level. Using monthly data on temperatures to find heating and cooling degree days, the relationship between monthly electricity demand and temperature is explored which is then used to find the impact of projected climate change on electricity demand. The results suggest surging peak loads in summer season due to climatic effect which calls for capacity instalments over and above that needed to cater to rise in electricity demand attributable to economic growth. JEL Classification: Q47, Q54 Keywords: Energy, Climate Change, Electricity Demand, Degree Days, Pakista

Association of long term sodium valproate monotherapy and vitamin D3 levels in epileptic children

Objective: To determine the association of long term sodium valproate monotherapy and vitamin D3 levels in epileptic children Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pediatrics, Children Hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad for six months from 15th February 2019 to 14th August 2019. A total of one hundred and thirty (n=130) children and adolescents of either gender between age 3-18 years who had a history of two seizures at least 24 hours apart in their life and were on sodium valproate monotherapy for more than one year were enrolled in this study through non-probability, consecutive sampling. Serum vitamin D3 (25-hydroxy vitamin D) levels were measured in all the patients at the time of enrolment into the study. All the demographic data and laboratory investigations were entered on the predesigned proforma and analyzed through SPSS version 17. Results: Vitamin D3 deficiency was found in 47 (36.2%) children which were significantly higher among patients with older age and longer duration of treatment (P<0.05) while gender and BMI of the patients did not show any significant difference (P>0.05). Conclusion: Significant percentage of epileptic children on sodium valproate monotherapy was found to have vitamin D3 deficiency. Therefore we recommend routine screening of vitamin D3 deficiency in all the epileptic children on long-term sodium valproate therapy followed by vitamin D supplementation in deficient patients. &nbsp

Impact of Climate Change on Electricity Demand: A Case Study of Karachi District

Out of the climatic variables such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, etc., electricity demand has been found most responsive to changes in temperature [Parkpoom and Harrison (2008); Al-Hamadi and Soliman (2005); Hor, et al. (2005)]. According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the decade from 2001 to 2010 was the warmest worldwide while the rise in surface temperatures of South Asia region by the end of the century is projected around 3.3oC average annually (IPCC);1 not only are the average temperatures rising but the range of extreme temperatures is also widening. Increase in temperatures can affect human lives significantly; the present study focusses on examining the impact of climate change on demand for electricity in Pakistan

Hookah smoking and cancer: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in exclusive/ever hookah smokers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have recently published some work on CEA levels in hookah (also called narghile, shisha elsewhere) and cigarette smokers. Hookah smokers had higher levels of CEA than non-smokers although mean levels were low compared to cigarette smokers. However some of them were also users of other tobacco products (cigarettes, bidis, etc.).</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To find serum CEA levels in ever/exclusive hookah smokers, i.e. those who smoked only hookah (no cigarettes, bidis, etc.), prepared between 1 and 4 times a day with a quantity of up to 120 g of a tobacco-molasses mixture each (i.e. the tobacco weight equivalent of up to 60 cigarettes of 1 g each) and consumed in 1 to 8 sessions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Enhanced chemiluminescent immunometric technique was applied to measure CEA levels in serum samples from 59 exclusive male smokers with age ranging from 20–80 years (mean = 58.8 ± 14.7 years) and 8–65 years of smoking (mean = 37.7 ± 16.8). 36 non-smokers served as controls. Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to the number of preparations; the number of sessions and the total daily smoking time: Light (1; 1; ≤ 20 minutes); Medium (1–3; 1–3; >20 min to ≤ 2 hrs) and Heavy smokers (2–4; 3–8; >2 hrs to ≤ 6 hrs). Because of the nature of distribution of CEA levels among our individuals, Wilcoxon's rank sum two-sample test was applied to compare the variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall CEA levels in exclusive hookah smokers (mean: 3.58 ± 2.61 ng/ml; n = 59) were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.0937) from the levels in non-smokers (2.35 ± 0.71 ng/ml). Mean levels in light, medium and heavy smokers were: 1.06 ± 0.492 ng/ml (n = 5); 2.52 ± 1.15 ng/ml (n = 28) and 5.11 ± 3.08 ng/ml (n = 26) respectively. The levels in medium smokers and non-smokers were also not significantly different (p ≤ 0.9138). In heavy smokers, the CEA levels were significantly higher than in non-smokers (p ≤ 0.0001567).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall CEA levels in exclusive hookah smokers were low compared to cigarette smokers. However, heavy hookah smoking substantially raises CEA levels. Low-nitrosamines smokeless tobacco of the SNUS Swedish type could be envisaged as an alternative to smoking for this category of users and also, in a broad harm reduction perspective, to the prevalent low-quality moist snuff called naswar.</p