Impact of corporate governance on firm performance: a case of Pakistan stock exchange

This study investigates the impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance. The corporate governance has been operationalized through eight indicators including the Board Size, Ownership Structure, CEO Duality, Independence of Audit Committee, Firm Size, Firm Age, Firm Leverage, and Firm Growth, while the Firm performance has been factored into Return on Assets, and Return on Equity. Pakistan stock exchange has been used as the unit of analysis, taking 100 public listed firms from the non-financial sector, as the sample. Data around the study variables have been collected and analyzed for a period of 10 years, i.e., 2013-2022, using suitable statistical tools. The findings reveal that lean board size, moderate leverage, CEOs serving on various boards, high independence on audit committees, large firm size, young firms, and sustainable growth positively impact the firm performance. High leverage has been found to have an adverse impact on firms’ profitability, especially in the wake of high interbank offered rates. These findings are important the practitioners, corporate regulators, and researchers. Future studies are recommended to take more indicators from the corporate governance index into account for understanding their impact on firm performance

Influencing Factors of Job Satisfaction in TechnicalOrganization

The aim of this research is to find out the core factors, which have a strong impact on Job Satisfaction in Technical Organizations in Pakistan. This study discusses the main variableslike Effective Recruitment, Rewards, and Personality of employees and Role of Leadership and their effect on job satisfaction. First hand, data was used in the research and some important recommendations were made for the improvement of Job Satisfaction of employees working at Ufone. It is expected that this study will make comprehensive note to the environment of Ufone especially and every other organization in general, how to make their working environment acceptable to the employees

Surgical Management of Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Background: To study the management patternof soft tissue sarcomas in a tertiary care settingMethods: In this descriptive study patients whowere operated for soft tissue masses were included.Intra-operative findings, procedure details andpostoperative orders were recorded. Postoperativechemo-radiotherapy records were reviewed andrecorded. Depth of the tumour was grouped asdeeper or superficial than 5 cm. The follow uprecords were accessed from the outpatientdepartment and any surgical complications wererecorded up to three years.Staging was done usingclinical and radiological criteria taking into accountthe histological grade,tumour size , depth, locallymph node invasion and metastasis.Surgicalprocedure for removal of STS are wide local excision(WLE), intralesional excision (IE) or tumordebulking, marginal excision (ME) and radicalexcision (RE).Results: Sixty eight patients with mean age of 43.0± 17.258 SD were diagnosed as cases of soft tissuesarcomas. Male to female ratio was 3.25:1.The mostcommon histopathological variety was malignantfibrous histiocytoma (35.3%) , followed byRhabdomyosarcoma(30%). Most common involvedsite was lower limbs (35.3%).Wide local excision wasperformed in majority (82.4%) . Most commonpostop complication was wound infection (10.3%)Conclusion: Clinicians must be agile about thenature of these tumours and their referral to aspecialist surgeon for further management. Promptdiagnosis, accurate investigations and earlyintervention will benefit the patients and help usunderstand this disease entity

Analysis of genetic diversity in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers

Genetic diversity of seven chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars of Pakistani origin was analyzed by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, an extremely effective method to determine the variations among the chickpea cultivars. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions were optimized for RAPD and the conditions which gave the optimized results were selected for further amplifications. Using nine random decamers for seven genotypes of chickpea, 63 bands were amplified. Out of 63 bands, 50 were polymorphic in all the seven chickpea cultivars. The numbers of RAPD fragments generated per primer ranged from 3 to 11. However, majority of the primers amplified 7 to 11 fragments. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficients ranged from 0.333 to 0.651. Maximum similarity (65.1%) was observed between PK G-3 and PK G-4 and the lowest similarity (33.3%) was observed between PK G-3 and PK G-7. A dendrogram was constructed by using the unweighted pair group arithmetic mean arrangement (UPGMA) that was based on similarity coefficients. Seven chickpea cultivars were clustered in two distinct groups of which two cultivars (PK G-6 and PK G-7) stood separately in the dendrogram. The results from this study may be useful to maximize the selection of diverse parent cultivars and to broaden the germplasm base in the future for chickpea breeding programs. The information generated from this study can also be used in identifying efficient strategies for the sustainable management of the genetic resources of chickpea crop.Keywords: Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), chickpea cultivars, genetic diversit

Efecto inmunomodulador de Pimpinella anisum L. (anís) en pollos de engorde contra la Enfermedad de Newcastle y la enfermedad viral de la Bursitis infecciosa)

Pimpinella anisum L. (Anís) se utiliza principalmente como un estimulante inmunológico, promotor del crecimiento, antifúngico, y antibacteriano, en muchos países durante siglos. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar el efecto inmunomodulador de anís contra la enfermedad de Newcastle (ND) y la enfermedad de la bursitis infecciosa (IBD). El efecto inmunomodulador de anís contra los virus ND y e IBD se determinaron mediante la modificación del ensayo de inhibición de la migración de células del bazo y recuento diferencial de leucocitos de la inmunidad celular. La inhibición de la hemaglutinación y hemaglutinación indirecta se utilizaron para la medición de la respuesta inmune humoral contra el virus de ND e IBD, respectivamente. El presente estudio sugiere que la adición de anís a la dieta basal a la tasa de 0,5 g/kg y 1 g/kg de alimentación tuvo una mejor actividad inmunomoduladora tanto para las respuestas inmunes humorales como celulares. Sin embargo, a dosis más altas de anís tuvo efectos adversos. El anís posee una importante actividad inmunomoduladora cuando se añade en dosis más bajas, es decir, 0,5 g/kg y 1 g/kg

Anticoccidial Effect of Cinnamomum verum Essential Oil and Its Impact on Hematological and Serum Biochemical Parameters in Broilers

Background: There are various synthetic anticoccidial drugs available in the market for the control and treatment of coccidiosis in broilers. However, their extensive usage has resulted in the development of drug resistance as well as the presence of drug residues in meat, thus urging scientists to find alternatives for coccidiosis control. Hence, the current research was aimed at the evaluation of the anticoccidial potential of Cinnamomum verum essential oil through the application of both the in-vitro and in-vivo methods.Methods: The bark of C. verum procured from the market was subjected to hydro-distillation procedure for extraction of the essential oil. The extracted essential oil was subjected to in-vitro evaluation in terms of percent sporulation and oocysts damage at six different concentrations (0.31, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10% v/v). Similarly, for the in-vivo trial, 72 broiler chicks were randomly divided into six equal groups (A, B, C, D, E and F). The first five groups were infected with oocysts of mixed Eimeria species while the sixth group was kept as non-infected. When the chicks were 14 days old, the infected groups were orally given 55000 oocysts per bird. On the same day 14, the groups A, B and C were given C. verum essential oil at concentrations of 1, 2 and 3% respectively in feed whereas groups D, E and F served as positive control (Toltrazuril® treated), negative control and the normal control respectively.Result: The results revealed C. verum oil to have an effect on the percent sporulation and oocysts damage. The oil also improved the FCR, lesion score, oocysts score, fecal score and serum biochemical parameters in the treated broilers. However, it had no significant positive effect on the hematological parameters like Hb, PCV and blood cells count, and the weight of internal organs in broilers. For most of the parameters, C. verum essential oil showed a dose-dependent effect.Conclusion: In nutshell, C. verum essential oil possesses significant anticoccidial potential as demonstrated by the results of both the in-vitro and the in-vivo experiments. However, further studies are required for its validation and commercialization in the poultry sector

Water quality assessment of River Kabul at Peshawar, Pakistan: industrial and urban wastewater impacts

Untreated wastewater discharges may have significant short term and long term effects on the quality of a river system. Present study was undertaken to assess the present status of the water quality of River Kabul near Peshawar in Pakistan. Seven sites were sampled upstream and downstream in River Kabul in 2009. Samples were also taken from waste water channel (Budni Drain) that carries wastewater of Peshawar Industrial Estate as well as the domestic sewers to assess the pollution contribution of these sources to River Kabul. Physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of the samples were analyzed during the study, as well as possible sources of contamination were investigated. The study showed that the pollution level in river is rising from upstream (at city entrance) to downstream (at city exit) due to discharge of domestic waste water effluents, agricultural activities, and solid waste dumping directly into the river

SOLAR ASSISTED EVAPORATIVE COOLING BASED PASSIVE AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR AGRICULTURAL AND LIVESTOCK APPLICATIONS

Solar-chimney assisted evaporative cooling based passive-air-conditioning (SCAC) system has been investigated for different climatic cities of Pakistan. Driving force of system is based on solar chimney and electric fan for day and night time operations, respectively. Ideal temperature and humidity zones are formulated for agricultural products’ storage and animals’ thermal comfort. Recent studies have proven the advancement of Maisotsenko Cycle (M-Cycle) in air-conditioning (AC) field; therefore, SCAC system utilizes M-Cycle conception in order to achieve dew-point cooling. On the basis of M-Cycle experimental data available via literature, study provides thermodynamic investigation of SCAC system for various conditions. Two simplified correlations are developed for performance evaluation of M-Cycle unit. Both correlations showed precise agreement with experimental data with R2 > 0.95. The SCAC system could achieve sensible load of AC efficiently for various applications; however, performance index varies according to climatic conditions. The SCAC system’s applicability was found limited in humid areas because of nature of M-Cycle operation. Therefore, it has been concluded that system may not be sustainable as standalone AC, but it can be a onvenient solution in order to reduce the AC load. Moreover, it can provide chilled ceiling for various applications with the low-cost operation. It can be efficiently utilized in most of the dry and moderate areas, whereas, the system’s applicability is limited in humid and water scared regions

Arsenic Induced Toxicity in Broiler Chicks and Its Amelioration with Ascorbic Acid: Clinical, Hematological and Pathological Study

This study was conducted to observe the arsenic (As) toxicity lesions in birds and to know either Vit C ameliorates these toxic effects or not. One-day-old broilers chicks (n=72) procured from a local hatchery were randomly divided into four equal groups. First group was kept as control and second group was given As (50 mg/kg BW) via crop tubing. Third group received in addition to As, Vit C (250 mg/kg BW) whereas fourth group received only Vit C. Killing by neck dislocation of randomly selected six birds from each group was carried out on experimental days 0, 16 and 32 for collection of blood and tissues specimens. Arsenic treated birds showed clinical signs of toxicity throughout the experiment than all other groups. These clinical signs included decreased body weight and feed intake, dullness, open mouth breathing, increased thirst, ruffled feathers, pale comb, skin irritation and watery diarrhea which were not significant in any other group. As treated group showed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in hematological parameters. Severe gross and histopathological changes were observed in intestines, spleen and lungs of birds fed with As than all other groups. Decreased height of villi of middle portion of small intestines was also observed in As treated birds. Villi height in Vit C treated group increased as compared to control group. It was concluded that As induces severe toxic effects in broiler birds; however, these toxic effects can be partially ameliorated by Vit C

Efecto promotor del crecimiento de Pimpinella anisum (semilla de anis) en pollos broiler

Se realizó el presente estudio para evaluar el efecto promotor del crecimiento de Pimpinella anisum L. (anís) en pollos de  engorde en términos de ganancia de peso corporal, peso de los órganos, el consumo de alimento y conversión alimenticia (FCR). Para este  propósito, cuatro niveles (0,5, 1,0, 1,5 y 2,0 gramos por kg de alimento) de anís en polvo se administraron en el pienso desde el día 0 hasta  el final del experimento (42 días de edad). La ganancia de peso corporal, consumo de alimento y FCR fueron registrados en forma semanal.  Las aves mostraron un buen rendimiento (mejor ganancia de peso, un mejor consumo de alimento y FCR) cuando el anís se alimentó en  dosis más bajas, sin embargo, las aves mostraron malos resultados en los niveles más altos de anís. Del mismo modo, se observó casi el  mismo patrón de peso de los órganos. Este estudio sugiere que el buen efecto del anís en el rendimiento de pollos de engorde en dosis más  bajas que sugiere la necesidad adicional de experimentos de la serie para conocer los niveles de seguridad mínimos de anís que se  incorporarán en la ración de pollos de engorde para obtener los resultados deseados