Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

This study finds the relationship between FDI and other indicators of economic growth i.e. employment rate, exports and foreign reserves with GDP through Johansen cointegrration and VECM over the period of 1963-2014. Unit root was checked through ADF test and all variables are integrated at 1st different. The results confirmed that an increase in FDI has positive impact on the economic growth of Pakistan both in the short and long run. Our results are likely to provide an opportunity to frame some policy implications. Hence the authorities should positively concentrate on maximum utilization of resources to increase FDI in order to increase GDP growth rate

The Energy-Growth Nexus in Thailand: Does Trade Openness Boost up Energy Consumption?

The nexus between trade openness and energy demand is hot topic of discussion among academicians and researchers, and numerous studies are available in existing literature while investigating the nexus between trade openness and energy demand. This paper explores the relationship between energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth in case of Thailand. In doing so, we have applied Bayer and Hanck cointegration approach to test whether the long run relationship exists between the variables. Our results confirm the presence of cointegration between the variables. Energy consumption stimulates economic growth. Trade openness adds in economic growth. The causality analysis reveals that energy consumption Granger causes economic growth and in resulting, economic growth Granger causes energy consumption. Trade openness and energy consumption are interdependent i.e. trade openness Granger causes energy consumption and in return, energy consumption Granger causes trade openness. This paper openness up new directions for policy making authorities in Thailand to design a comprehensive energy and trade policies to sustain economic growth for long run

The Educational and Occupational Choice Process: The Case of Agriculture Students in Pakistan

The development of the agriculture sector is crucial to the socio-economic prosperity of Pakistan. Despite its significance, the enrolment trends in agriculture sciences and research and development in this sector have not gained substantial attention. The specific objective of this research is to draw conclusions and make recommendations through which enrolment in agriculture sciences can be facilitated, retention of agriculture graduates can be ensured and barriers in the choice process can be removed. This has been achieved through investigating the choice process of agriculture students by answering the first research questions that seek to identify stages of the choice process. Expanding the understating of the choices and the choice process, the study answers the second research question exploring the influence of various factors on the choices as well as the choice process of agriculture students in Pakistan. This qualitative study was conducted in two different cities of Pakistan where various cohorts of students at different stages of their academic and professional life were interviewed. The thematic analysis of the interview data presents a ‘multi-stage’ educational and occupational choice process detailing the definitions, characteristics, sequences and components of the stages. The outcome of the process is postulated based on the experiences of the earlier stages. The significance of practising ‘choice’ intensifies as unplanned choosers are more likely to drift away from the agriculture profession as compared to planned choosers. Furthermore, the role of locality, gender, social prestige associated with various professions and nature of parental support emerged as choice facilitators or barriers in the choice process of agriculture students. Thus, key recommendations arise for the policy makers in the education sector and in agriculture universities and establishments. Particular focus is required for establishing career guidance facilities, disseminating information at different levels, making small changes in the structure of the education system and addressing misconceptions about agriculture sciences and professions in this field

Role of Inter-Organizational Information Integration in successful E-Governance

The global emerging trends of E-Governance utilizes Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support the governance functions. It emphases on improving governance by innovating administrative processes, transforming relationships, improving public services delivery, ensuring accountability, increasing participation and collaboration among civil society, government and private sector. Whereas, E-Governance is considered a revolutionary reform of promoting good governance through greater control over state power, authority and resources to promote equality, peace and prosperity by eliminating corruption, unemployment and hunger. Pakistan had made huge investments on deploying ICTs infrastructure and human resource development in public sector but the country could not achieve the expected outcomes. The results show that public sector has adequate level of ICTs infrastructure and competent human resource to obtain the promising benefits of these initiatives. However, all these resources remained underutilized which is considered a public sector dilemma in Pakistan. Most of public sector businesses are still relying on the manual systems rather than the fully computerized or automated and the public officials are bound to exchange and processes information manually. The under-utilization of these technologies and human resource cannot reap the benefits of E-Governance and therefore could not promote transparency, accountability, equality, and participation for sustainable socio-economic growth and development of Pakistan. Full Tex

The educational and occupational choice process : the case of agriculture students in Pakistan

The development of the agriculture sector is crucial to the socio-economic prosperity of Pakistan. Despite its significance, the enrolment trends in agriculture sciences and research and development in this sector have not gained substantial attention. The specific objective of this research is to draw conclusions and make recommendations through which enrolment in agriculture sciences can be facilitated, retention of agriculture graduates can be ensured and barriers in the choice process can be removed. This has been achieved through investigating the choice process of agriculture students by answering the first research questions that seek to identify stages of the choice process. Expanding the understating of the choices and the choice process, the study answers the second research question exploring the influence of various factors on the choices as well as the choice process of agriculture students in Pakistan. This qualitative study was conducted in two different cities of Pakistan where various cohorts of students at different stages of their academic and professional life were interviewed. The thematic analysis of the interview data presents a ‘multi-stage’ educational and occupational choice process detailing the definitions, characteristics, sequences and components of the stages. The outcome of the process is postulated based on the experiences of the earlier stages. The significance of practising ‘choice’ intensifies as unplanned choosers are more likely to drift away from the agriculture profession as compared to planned choosers. Furthermore, the role of locality, gender, social prestige associated with various professions and nature of parental support emerged as choice facilitators or barriers in the choice process of agriculture students. Thus, key recommendations arise for the policy makers in the education sector and in agriculture universities and establishments. Particular focus is required for establishing career guidance facilities, disseminating information at different levels, making small changes in the structure of the education system and addressing misconceptions about agriculture sciences and professions in this field.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Prolidase deficiency

Prolidase deficiency is a rare inborn disorder of collagen metabolism characterized by chronic recurrent skin ulceration. A seven-year-old girl and her younger sibling with clinical features and laboratory criteria fulfilling the diagnosis of prolidase deficiency are presented in view of rarity of the condition

Interference of phosphane copper (I) complexes of β-carboline with quorum sensing regulated virulence functions and biofilm in foodborne pathogenic bacteria: A first report

Foodborne pathogens are one of the major cause of food-related diseases and food poisoning. Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing (QS) mechanism of cell–cell communication have also been found to be associated with several outbreaks of foodborne diseases and are great threat to food safety. Therefore, In the present study, we investigated the activity of three tetrahedrally coordinated copper(I) complexes against quorum sensing and biofilms of foodborne bacteria. All the three complexes demonstrated similar antimicrobial properties against the selected pathogens. Concentration below the MIC i.e. at sub-MICs all the three complexes interfered significantly with the quorum sensing regulated functions in C. violaceum (violacein), P. aeruginosa (elastase, pyocyanin and alginate production) and S. marcescens (prodigiosin). The complexes demonstrated potent broad-spectrum biofilm inhibition in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, Chromobacterium violaceum, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Listeria monocytogenes. Biofilm inhibition was visualized using SEM and CLSM images. Action of the copper(I) complexes on two key QS regulated functions contributing to biofilm formation i.e. EPS production and swarming motility was also studied and statistically significant reduction was recorded. These results could form the basis for development of safe anti-QS and anti-biofilm agents that can be utilized in the food industry as well as healthcare sector to prevent food-associated diseases. Keywords: Copper compounds, Biofilm, Quorum sensing, Food safety, Pathogen