A gendered analysis of teaching employment in Pakistan

This thesis aims to identify the relationships, structures and actors shaping the gender composition of the teaching workforce in Pakistan, with attention to the societal (or macro) level and through the experiences and interpretations of women and of men employed in school teaching and in higher education. In addition, the thesis compares the rewards of teaching for men and for women in different sectors of education and at different levels, and explores women and men teachers’ perceptions of the status of the teaching profession. The methodological approach is that of a multi-level analysis, so as to understand women teachers’ experiences of employment in the education sector at different levels as well as those of male teachers within the broader cultural, political and economic context of Pakistan. The thesis draws on secondary data sources including published research, statistical employment data and documentary evidence to address state policy in respect to education provision and employment policies and practices in public and private educational institutions. The original data is collected through semi-structured interviews – 70 in total - with women and men school teachers and university faculty in Lahore.The findings demonstrate that the feminisation of teaching is relative, not absolute in Pakistan. The private teaching sector is feminised to a larger extent and the public sector remains male-dominated. Women and men referred to teaching as respectable employment for women, which cohered with societal expectations of women and conserved the propriety of the household. Working hours in the teaching profession were thought of as accommodative of women’s ‘homemaker’ role and an incentive, for men, to hold multiple paid job-roles. Pay, while commonly thought of as inadequate for teachers in general, was typically better in the public sector compared to the private sector. The occupational status of teaching varied in respect to the level of teaching and sector. The public sector with standard pre-service credential requirements and career advancement opportunities is seen as a better employer compared to the private sector. On the one hand, the feminisation of teaching depicts gender segregation of society while associating teaching with ‘women’s work’. On the other hand, it presents women with an opportunity to gain entry into a socially and culturally respected and accepted profession while empowering them through reducing their economic dependability

Impact of Micro Hydropower Projects on Household Income, Expenditure and Diversification of Livelihood Strategies in Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The study examines the impact of Micro Hydropower (MHP) projects on households’ income, consumption and diversification of livelihood strategies in District Hattian Bala, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. A multinomial logistic model is used to investigate the possible role of MHP and other control variables on households’ adoption of livelihood strategies. The Results show that MHP-micro hydropower has a positive significant effect on household’s adoption of non-farm and diversified livelihood strategies. These findings suggest that MHP projects in Northern areas of Pakistan could help in improving household’s income and consumption through adoption of high income livelihood strategies. Keywords: Micro Hydropower (MHP), Livelihood Strategies, Income and Expenditures, Poverty Alleviation, Multinomial Logistic Mode

Characterization of metabolic gene targets in response to chromosomal instability

CIN is frequently present in advanced tumours and associated with tumorigenesis and poor clinical outcomes. CIN is thought to contribute to the development of resistance against anti-cancer drugs. CIN is specific to cancer cells, so our lab is exploiting the idea of targeting CIN itself in order to develop novel therapies that kill CIN cells. We have developed Drosophila melanogaster induced-CIN models for in vivo screening and characterization and used RNAi lines to knock down candidates in a CIN background (Chapter 2). From our screening of phosphatase and kinase knockdowns that kill CIN cells, we identified some interesting metabolic candidates that caused lethality via apoptosis in CIN background. These metabolic changes generate elevated ROS levels, DNA damage, mitochondrial hyperactivity in CIN background, showing CIN cells are sensitive to redox stress. Subsequently, we investigated the effect of these metabolic candidates in our Drosophila tumour model and found a gluconeogenic protein, PEPCK, needed for proliferation of CIN tumours. PEPCK deficiency supressed the tumour growth by increasing the cytoplasmic NADH and ROS levels. Our data demonstrated that in PEPCK deficient tumours, the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle produced high levels of ROS. High NADH and ROS production stopped the tumour growth (Chapter 3). We also found that the purine biosynthesis pathway is needed to tolerate CIN. Depletion of nucleotide synthesis candidates altered the level of adenine nucleotides which led to DNA damage which in turn activated PARP for DNA repair, further depleting ATP levels. We found increased numbers of lysosomes in nucleotide deficient CIN cells and if their formation was blocked, CIN cells died, which suggested that autophagy is activated and required for CIN cell survival (Chapter 4). In conclusion, our findings reveal that CIN is sensitive to metabolic aberrations. Several metabolic pathways including glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and nucleotide biosynthesis pathways are activated in response to CIN. Increasing understanding of these pathways that make CIN cell survive or die may ultimately allow the design of cancer-specific drug targets for cancer therapy.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences, 201

How Can Countries Protect Vulnerable Groups Against Gender Based Violence (GBV)?

Develop an understanding about the different international treaties that exist to protect vulnerable groups against GBV

Selection of a Survey Research Instrument: Impediments of Personality Inventory in Non-English Speaking Countries like Pakistan.

This paper aims to share the experiences of using two empirically-related yet conceptually distinct instruments i.e., Goldberg’s IP-IP and Costa and McCrae’s NEO-PI-R to measure the respondent’s personality factors and facets. This research paper presents findings on six methodological issues i.e., sampling, validity, reliability, data collection, screening confirmatory factor analyses. For validity concerns both instruments reached to obsolescence as these were developed ages ago and not updated with pace of human development. For replication in non-English countries Goldberg’s IP-IP has edge over Costa & McCrae’s NEO-PI-R for three counts; (a) it has less words and relatively simple syntax made it really easy for participant with linguistic barriers; (b) shows no sign of US cultural specificity in terms of places, slang or implicit meanings made it closer to participants in a non-English speaking country like Pakistan and (c) it takes less than half time to complete the survey. For reliability issues NEO-PI-R represented better results. For both instruments consistency might be compromised while replicating these instruments in non English speaking country. IP-IP does not provide any guideline for data screening while NEO-PI-R provides a very detailed data screening process. During factor analyses it was revealed both instruments replicated five factor model at both levels i.e., first order factor analyses resulting in facets and second order factor analyses provided the factors but during the NEO-PI-R factor analyses it was observed that a large number of items were dropped out from the analyses that raised the question of item validity in non-English speaking countries. Keywords: Goldberg’s IP-IP, Costa & McCrae’s NEO-PI-R, Research Instrument, personality Inventory

Women are More Utilitarian for their Credit Card Usage

This paper aims to present the individual differences among credit card users with reference to their age and Sex. Data for the research were collected through a survey of customers of Credit Card users in Pakistan.  The results show that some age and Sex differences exist in the credit card usage. The research focuses on credit card services in Pakistan; further research from dispersed geographic areas may be necessary before generalization can be made on the entire service industry. Service providers can use this model for their market segmentation and targeting activities leading to better positioning their products/services in the competitive banking services. Although there are studies on individual differences of services; research on individual differences on credit cards is very limited; this research adds significant value on the subject area. Keywords: Age differences, Sex differences, Consumer Behaviour, Credit Card, Service

Corporate Social Responsibility and its Nexus with Firm Performance and Institutional Ownership: An Emerging Market Context

Either corporate social responsibility (CSR) is paramount for the firms or not, is a matter of  question since long. The present study analyzes this relationship in the context of moderating  role of Institutional ownership (IO). Firm performance is measured through accounting and  market value measures. Leverage, firm age, firm size, and log of sales revenue used as a control  variables. Through applying panel data techniques, findings demonstrate insignificant positive  association between CSR and firm performance. It shows that stakeholder could not assign value  to firms spending as a CSR. This could be the reason that customers are not much aware about  firms CSR activities hence, firms fail to capitalize their spending as an investment. Institutional  Ownership (IO) reveals negative insignificant association with all profitability measures except  Tobin’s Q where this relationship is significant. This significant negative relationship supports  the agency theory and presence of strategic alliance hypotheses between influential institutional  owners and internal management that leads to lower firm performance. The interaction variable  of CSR and IO show positive but insignificant relationship with firm performance by all means.&nbsp

PRIMARY BILATERAL BREAST LYMPHOMA: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND REPORT OF FOUR CASES FROM A SINGLE CENTRE

Primary breast lymphoma is a rare entity and carries poor prognosis, bilateral breast lymphoma is even rarer and carries worst prognosis. Bilateral breast lymphoma is a rare disease and lacks treatment. Out of the 2766 cases of non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma registered at our institute from 1994 to 2013, 31 cases of breast lymphoma were found, of which four cases had bilateral involvement. In this review, we describe clinical presentation, histopathological subtypes, treatment administered and outcome of those four cases retrospectively. All patients were female with a median age of 31 years (range 24–64 years). Three patients were diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma detected in one patient. Chemotherapy remained the main treatment modality and surgery (excision biopsy) was reserved for diagnostic purpose only, none of the patients received radiation therapy. Key words: Breast lymphoma, histopathological subtypes, palliation

Industry-School Interface: Following Professional Education Model to Impart Pragmatic Business Edification

This intercourse aims to identify means by which the business education system can be aided to effectively meet the needs of the business-operating environment. Despite of the popularity of business and management education critics have been talking about business education to be less relevant to business needs. This study focuses on exploring the modes of exchange of knowledge between business schools and industry to facilitate practical learning. It mainly aims to get a holistic view of the extent to which an industry and school collaboration based system can ensure pragmatism in business education along with promises, issues and challenges such industry school interface can offer. The data collection for this hypothesized model will be collected from business executives, business school management and alumni. This intercourse will offer new insight into the business education system. The study results will be valuable towards bringing improvements to the existing business education system. Keywords: Business Education, Management, School - Industry Interface, Pragmatism, Industr

Designing of Next Generation Motor Drive Control for Electric Vehicle Application

In order to achieve a mission of zero emission, as most automotive industries around the world are pledging to, the research and production of efficient and eco-friendly electrified vehicles (EVs) is a necessary goal to pursue. They are of high interest to governments and research facilities across the world as they have higher efficiency levels and are more environmentally friendly than current gasoline vehicles. At the core of electric vehicle application, electric motor drives act an important role to direct the motor to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and provide electrical control of the processes. Therefore, it is required for researchers to make the motor drive more energy-efficient and have bi-directional power flow capability to ensure the improvement of motor performance and be flexible regarding controllability. The goal of the author is to investigate the development of a better motor-drive to achieve a control that provides a superior control of the traction motor. This requires improving the existing flux weakening motor control that is used for traction application. The improved control is programmed and hard coded into a Digital signal processor which is embedded in the control drive board. In a conventional inverter, this drive unit controls the gate drivers which in turn controls the IGBTs, there by enabling variation in operating performance of the motor. Currently, there is a lack of unified program that can operate any kind of traction motor like permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) or induction motors(IM). This is leading automotive industries to invest a lot of resources in research and development in this field of work so that the future vehicles can be swapped with any motor as per requirement. The authors are currently working on developing this motor control and also reducing the complexity of the code and real-time operation on the microcontroller. This will be implemented in future on existing and new-generation inverters to test the control on various motor and inverter setups