Assessing Water Charges under Changing Institutional Irrigation Management in Pakistan: A Methodological Framework

The Government of Pakistan has opted for institutional reforms for canal irrigation system of the country with a view to undertaking efficient operation and maintenance of the system and improving cost recovery. In the new reforms, the Farmers’ Organisations will manage distributaries and minors and pay the cost of upstream water in full. The complex hierarchy of the system poses serious challenges for working out the cost of water delivery for various channels. The paper presents a methodological framework for assessing the recoverable O&M costs from the farmers benefiting from an irrigation network. Hakra 4-R Distributary in the Eastern Sadiqia Canal serves as an illustration. The methodology shows how the beneficiary farmers can share the costs of the system. Simple methods are provided for working out water rates on the basis of volume of water received, commanded area, and duration of the irrigation turn. Out of the three methods, the area-based and time-based water rates have comparative advantage over the volumetric water rates owing to the resource endowments of the farmers.

Fiscal Decentralisation and Economic Growth in Pakistan

Fiscal decentralisation is seen as a means to enhance the economic efficiency of the government and also promote economic growth. Fiscal decentralisation is the empowerment of fiscal responsibilities to the sub-national governments, involving devolution of powers to tax and spend along with arrangements for correcting the imbalances between resources and obligations. The effectiveness of fiscal decentralisation depends upon: (a) appropriate expenditure assignments—with division of functions among different levels of government depending upon their comparative advantage (called the principle of subsidiarity); (b) appropriate tax or revenue assignments; and (c) the efficient design of a system of transfers and its proper implementation [Kardar (2006)]

Impact of Health on Labour Productivity: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

Health status has been given wide spread weight age across many Sustainable Development Goals. This study would reinforce its significance by quantifying the impact of health status on workers’ productivity in Pakistan. The current study attempts to examine the role of health status on workers’ productivity by employing Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach by Pesaran and Shin (1999) and Pesaran et al. (2001) using data from 1980 to 2010 for Pakistan. It has been found that 1% improvement in health status would result in around 13.39% rise in worker productivity. The coefficient of education is positively related to worker productivity at 1% level of significance and indicates that worker productivity will increase by 0.18% due 1% increase in education. Inflation has negative relationship with worker productivity whereas the association between worker productivity and Foreign Direct Investment, being proxy of technology transfer, is positive but statistically insignificant which shows that technology transfer has no effect on productivity in case of Pakistan. Education and experience have often been observed as determinants of worker productivity in empirical analysis of Pakistan. However, this study is a first endeavor to quantify the impact of health status upon worker’s productivity for Pakistan

Adaptation to Climate Change and Mitigation of its Effects in the Arid Region of Pakistan (1961-2015)

This research explains the weather and climate fluctuation adaptation and easing of its effects in dry climate region of Pakistan, based on weather data obtained from 40 weather observatories for the time duration of 55 years (1960-2015).The area of study is covering about 77 percent of the entire country, characterized by hot dry long summers and short warm moist winters. Pakistan has been dynamic on international and local scales to espouse a steadfast climate change strategy for the lessening of climate change effects in the arid region. The existing policy of the country, regarding adaptation to weather change in the dry lands, has not fulfilled the obligations and it is required to appraise it sporadically as per the country’s economic, environmental and social desires. The main sectors that call for mitigation in the dry lands on national level are; surface and underground water, coastal management, overgrazing, deforestation, agriculture and livestock, drought and desertification, public awareness, emergency response, early warning system and monitoring, landuse change, waterlogging, energy and power resources, and health issues. The hydrological sector is more vulnerable to the effects of climate and weather changes in the study area. These effects will be reduced by means of fresh hydro-reservoirs, local dams, and waterway embankments to save the existing flow from swamping. It will also bring perfection in the sanitation and irrigation schemes, policy for flood water consumption, appraisal of the hydro-management policy, implementation, research and development funds

Clinical Outcome of Percutaneous Radiofrequency Rhizotomy for Trigeminal Neuralgia at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: - Trigeminal neuralgia is a disease typically characterized by involuntary attacks of lancinating pain in the distribution of the trigeminal nerve that are activated by non-noxious stimuli. Numerous anticonvulsants, either alone or in combination, remain the first choice in the medical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.3If the disease becomes non responsive, there are numerous surgical options like micro vascular decompression or minimally invasive percutaneous lesioning of the trigeminal nerve, such as glycerol rhizolysis, Radiofrequency Rhizotomy, and balloon compression. Objective: - To determine efficacy of percutaneous Radiofrequency Rhizotomy for trigeminal neuralgia in terms of early pain relief in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: -  62 patients with refractory trigeminal neuralgia or lancinating, recurrent episodes of pain in the distribution of Ophthalmic (V1) and Mandibular (V3) branches of trigeminal nerve, not responsive to 6 months of conservative treatment were included. Study was completed in one year i.e. from March 2015 to Feb 2016. Result: - In our study population, 62 included patients were had mean age 56.08 ± 7.39 years. 44 patients (71%) were male. Our treatment was effective in 58 patients (93.5%) while there was recurrence among 4 (6.5%) only. Conclusion: - It is concluded that the efficacy of percutaneous Radiofrequency Rhizotomy for trigeminal neuralgia in terms of complete relief of pain with intact sensations in treated branch region is excellent (93.5%)

Community Based Flood Catastrophe Preparedness, Vulnerability, Management and Response of Layyah District, Punjab, Pakistan (1990-2015)

The study articulates the society supported flood disaster preparedness, vulnerability, management, and response in the Layyah district, southern Punjab, Pakistan. The area has recorded high summer temperature, low rainfall and an arid climate with an optimistic departure of one centimeter. At Taunsa barrage, the Indus river, as well as the Thal canal, show a decline in the annual flow, while it remains high at Chashma barrage having a heavy flow from July to October. Historically, the foremost disasters experienced in Layyah district are floods, earthquakes, droughts, epidemics, and fires. About 81 Potwar areas have been affected every year by flood disaster consisting of 36 medium and 45 high risks units. Obviously, the locals are the primary instrument to fight any catastrophe for their safety at the initial stage as they are admirable arbitrators of risk assessment, vulnerability, rehabilitation, excavation, and can acquire consistent estimations for their safety. The joint endeavors of the locals and government during predisaster and a post-disaster stage will make certain that how to provide crucial support as well as services to the distressed community throughout the Layyah district. The social or anthropogenic level arrangements for flood catastrophes are appreciated mutually at national and international levels

Outcome of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease in Terms of Improvement in MDS-UPDRS Scale Over 5 Years

Background & Objective:  Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common Neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. There are several surgical procedures for advanced PD, but amongst all deep brain stimulation has proven to be safest and effective. The objective of this study was to see the outcome of DBS for the treatment of PD in terms of improvement in MDS UPDRS over 5 years. Material and Methods:  44 patients were included in study from Oct 2014 to Sep 2019. History, examination was carried out, and preoperative MDS-UPDRS (Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) was recorded. Postoperative improvement in MDS-UPDRS score was assessed at first Programming, 2nd week, and 6th week and at 3rd month. Results:  At baseline the mean, the MDS – UPDRS (Part-I) score was 14.20 ± 0.61 and at the end of 3rd month, the mean score was 11.18 ± 0.47 respectively. At baseline the mean, the MDS – UPDRS (part-II) score was 18.99 ± 0.70 and at the end of 3rd month, the mean score was 13.01 ± 0.57, respectively. At baseline the mean, the MDS – UPDRS (part-III) score was 45.19 ± 0.90 and at the end of 3rd month, the mean score was 25.15 ± 1.20 respectively. At baseline the mean, the MDS – UPDRS (part-IV) score was 10.18 ± 0.87 and at the end of 3rd month, the mean score was 3.85 ± 1.03, respectively.  Conclusion:  The Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is safe and effective in the management of PD

A Review on Synthesis of Silicon Nanowires by Laser Ablation

Silicon (Si) is the most widely used semiconductor since many decades. Due to the developments in the synthesis and manufacturing technology new semiconductor materials have been introduced in semiconductor industry. Along with the newly developed semiconductors, Si is still considered the most reliable and durable semiconductor. The synthesis techniques of the Si have also been affected by the technological revolution and different Si based materials engineered at the nano-scale have been synthesized. Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are one of the newly developed semiconductors of Si. SiNWs have interesting features due to their high aspect ratio and small size. The chemical, mechanical and electrical properties of SiNWs have opened new ways for the research in this field. Especially the charge carrying abilities and quantum confinement effects have gathered much attention of the scientific community. Different efforts have been made to synthesize SiNWs over the course of few years. Synthesis of SiNWs by laser ablation is one of the methods widely used due to its simplicity and good control over the parameters of the process. Different modifications have been made in this synthesis process by different researchers. The variations in laser ablation synthesis process and its outputs have been analyzed in this review paper. And effect of different parameters on the properties of SiNWs has been discussed. Keywords: Laser ablation, Nanowires, Supersaturation, Vapor liquid solid mechanism, Lithography, Catalys