The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

The paper empirically identifies the determinants of growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan over the period 1961–2003. Our main interest is to study how different variables or indicators reflecting the trade, fiscal, and financial sector liberalisation attract FDI in Pakistan. The study uses the cointegration and error-correction techniques to identify the variables in explaining the FDI in Pakistan. The study considers the tariff rate, exchange rate, tax rate, credit to private sector, and index of general share price variables to see if they may explain the inflow of foreign direct investment. Also included are wages and per capita GDP to test for the relative demand for labour and market size hypotheses. All variables indicate correct signs and are statistically significant except for wage rate and share price index. The study clearly emphasises the role of these policy variables in attracting FDI and determining its growth in both short- and long-run in Pakistan, and also indicates a positive and significant impact of reforms on FDI in Pakistan.Foreign Investment, Pakistan

The Twin Deficits Phenomenon: Evidence from Pakistan

Like most developing countries a steady budget deficit in Pakistan is the primary cause of all major ills of the economy. It has varied between 5.4 to 8.7 percent during last two decades. On the other hand the current account deficit varied between 2.7 to 7.2 percent during the same period. The variations in fiscal policy can lead to predictable developments in an open economy’s performance on current account, remains a controversial issue. An important aspect of this issue concerns what is termed as twin deficit analysis, according to which fiscal deficits and current account balances are very closely related so that reductions in the former are both necessary and sufficient to obtain improved performance in the later. Theoretical work on the relationship that exist between variations in fiscal policy and the current account balance has been based upon two types of models. These models are constructed from postulated behavioural relationships that purport to describe how the economy works in aggregate without explaining the behaviour of agents who make up the economy.

The isolation of cDNA clones for human fibrinogen

Imperial Users onl

Patriarchy and Religion: The Relationship Between Muslim Youth Attitudes Towards Patriarchal Power and Their Religious Commitment

This study aims to explain the relationship between patriarchy and religion. This relation was deduced from the literature of psychology, anthropology, sociology, religious writings and historical literatures related to patriarchy and religion. Patriarchy and religion are abstract variables and thus difficult to measure. The relationship between them is also abstract. As such this study derived operational variables to design measurable operational proposition. The variables are ‘patriarchal power’(PP) and ‘religious commitment’ (RC), while the operational proposition is “the relationship between Muslim youth attitudes towards patriarchal power and their religious commitment’. Smelser’s social action theory was used to derive both variables of the new proposition through design models of patriarchal social action and Islamic social action.This study used the operational variables’ definitions to construct scales of youth attitudes towards patriarchal power and youth religious commitment. The Likert method was used to construct both scales. Both of them were deemed successful according to the Likert method. Both scales were used to quantify the operational variables and then to quantify the relationship between both of them. This method provided feedback to understand the relationship between patriarchy and religion because the operational proposition was derived from the abstract one. The methodological approach of the field study used was analytic and descriptive while the method was sampling social survey. The stratified sample was chosen randomly. The unit of sampling was youth between 18-30 years old. Methodological instrument was questionnaire consisting of general information concerning socio cultural characteristics of the respondents and two scales, one for religious commitment and another for patriarchal power. Based on the results of T-test, regression and ANOVA, the main results of the field study can be summarized as follows: 1) This study showed an arithmetic mean of the respondents in RC scale of 178.21 while the standard deviation was 23.403. The hypothetical mean of the scale was 134 which was less than mean of the sample. The T–test value between both means was 42.236. It was significantly above than the 0.05 level.2) This study stated that the arithmetic mean of the respondents in PP scale was 79.61 while the standard deviation was 14.53. The study showed a hypothetical mean of 80 which is higher than mean of the sample. The T –test value between both means was – 0.599. It was not significant at the 0.05 level. 3) The study showed a significant relationship between RC and PP. So the operational proposition was significant in terms of the simple linear Regression test where Beta coefficient is 0.387, which is significantly higher than 0.0001 level. 4) The following results according to the hypotheses tested by the Univariate ANOVA tests: a) There are no significant differences between youth in their attitudes towards patriarchal power in terms of the interaction between their religious commitment levels and their gender, family background, inhabitancy area, family type, religious commitment of the fathers and parents educational levels. b) There are significant differences between youths in their attitudes towards patriarchal power in terms of the interaction between family type and religious commitment levels at 0.09 where the F value is 2.418. c) There are significant differences between youths in their attitudes towards patriarchal power in terms of the interaction between educational levels of fathers and their religious commitment levels at 0.08 where the F value is 1.604. d) There are significant differences between youths in their attitudes towards patriarchal power in terms of the interaction between family size and religious commitment levels at 0.005 where the F value is 3.753. The main conclusion of this study is that, there is positive relationship between patriarchy and religion in Arabian Muslim society. This result supports the assumption of some writers like Freud, Sharabi, Zieur, and Halim Barakat who emphasized the relationship between patriarchy and religion. But the researcher suspects that this relationship is decreasing because the Beta coefficient of the relationship between religious commitment and patriarchal power is not very high

Measuring the orientations of hidden subvertical joints in highways rock cuts using ground penetrating radar in combination with LIDAR

Mapping discontinuities in rock cuts and measuring their orientations is crucial in assessing the stability of rock masses. This can be done usually using manual methods such as scanline or advanced techniques such as LIDAR. However, these methods are used only to map exposed discontinuities which may cause underestimation for slope stability. Accordingly, ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been recently used to detect such hidden discontinuities. The used 400 MHz monostatic GPR antenna was significantly able to detect and map hidden subvertical joints within 4 m depths in five sandstone highways rock cuts and within 3 m depths in two ignimbrite highways rock cuts in the State of Missouri. Manual 2D migration was done to estimate, in 2D and 3D radiograms, the slope face-perpendicular depths which was measured from three coplanar etched points, the three index points , at each rock cut surface to the corresponding points on each plane of the detected subvertical joints. The orientations of the detected hidden joints were then determined based on the 3-point equation and using the calibrated LIDAR coordinates. Some of these measurements were confirmed by very close-results of field verification measurements. The results of this GPR-and-LIDAR based investigation demonstrate that our new proposed approach using these techniques is straightforward, understandable, and can be valuable in some rock engineering applications and rock cuts design in terms of the orientations of joints, in addition to the number of joint sets which may build a more clear view about the rock cut stability than before --Abstract, page iii

The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

The significance of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows is well documented in literature for both the developing and developed countries. Over the last decade foreign direct investment have grown at least twice as rapidly as trade Meyer, (2003). As there is shortage of capital in the developing countries, which need capital for their development process, the marginal productivity of capital is higher in these countries. On the other hand investors in the developed world seek high returns for their capital. Hence there is a mutual benefit in the international movement of capital

The Twin Deficits Phenomenon: Evidence from Pakistan

Like most developing countries a steady budget deficit in Pakistan is the primary cause of all major ills of the economy. It has varied between 5.4 to 8.7 percent during last two decades. On the other hand the current account deficit varied between 2.7 to 7.2 percent during the same period. The variations in fiscal policy can lead to predictable developments in an open economy’s performance on current account, remains a controversial issue. An important aspect of this issue concerns what is termed as twin deficit analysis, according to which fiscal deficits and current account balances are very closely related so that reductions in the former are both necessary and sufficient to obtain improved performance in the later. Theoretical work on the relationship that exist between variations in fiscal policy and the current account balance has been based upon two types of models. These models are constructed from postulated behavioural relationships that purport to describe how the economy works in aggregate without explaining the behaviour of agents who make up the economy [Mundel (1963); Branson (1976); Dornbusch (1976); Kawai (1985) and Marston (1985)]. The second type of model, derives the important macroeconomic relationships from the microfoundations of individual optimising behaviour [Dixit (1978); Neary (1980); Obstfeld (1981); Persson (1982); Kimbrough (1985); Frenkel and Razin (1986); Cuddington and Vinals (1985, 1986a) and Moore (1989)]. However, both of these approaches have yielded divergent results

Behavior of Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete Two-Way Slabs under Static and Repeated Load

This paper studies the behavior of reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static and repeated load. The experimental program included testing six simply supported RPC two-way slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. All the tested specimens were identical in their material properties, and reinforcement details except their steel fibers content. They were cast in three pairs, each one had a different steel fibers ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %) respectively. In each pair, one specimen was tested under static load and the other under five cycles of repeated load (loading-unloading). Static test results revealed that increasing steel fibres volume fraction from 0.5 % to 1 % and from 1% to 1.5%, led to an increase in the: first crack load by (32.2 % and 52.3 %), ultimate load by (36.1 % and 17.0 %), ultimate deflection by (33.6 % and 3.4 %), absorbed energy by (128 % and 20.2 %), and the ultimate strain by (1.1 % and 6.73 %). It also increased the stiffness and the ductility of the specimens especially at the final stages of loading. Additionally, it delayed the propagation of the cracks, controlled their growth, kept the integrity of the specimens at post cracking stage, and avoided their ruin at the failure stage through its “bridging” effect. For the repeated load test, applying five cycles of repeated load to the steel fiber reinforced RPC two-way slab specimens led to a decreasing in the ultimate load capacity, ultimate deflection, ultimate strain, and absorbed energy in a comparison with the corresponding static test specimens, and that because of the loading-unloading process which causes a fluctuation of stresses and more damages in concrete. Increasing the steel fibers volume fractions decreased the dissipated energy of the specimens that subjected to a repeated load, where the difference percent of dissipated energy between the first and second cycles of (R0.5 %, R1 %, and R1.5 %) specimens were (68.0 %, 46.2%, and 32.4%) respectively

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLEX PCR BASED ASSAY FOR THE CONCURRENT DETECTION OF PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS

Salmonella enterica is an important enteric pathogen which causes gastroenteritis and enteric fever in humans and is widely spread in nature. Outbreaks of Salmonella infections are frequently reported in both developed and developing countries, as this pathogen spreads very rapidly by means of water and the food chain. A multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay was developed for the detection of multiple Salmonella serotypes in different kind of food products. To increase specificity of this molecular method, three sets of oligonucleotide primer were used to detect the most prevalent salmonella species. Different primer pairs were used for the optimization of the multiplex PCR. The primer pair, ST FW and ST RV, was specific to Salmonella typhi and targeted a randomly selected sequence of 600bp. The primer pair SPFW and SPRV specific to Salmonella paratyphi for a sequence of 800bp in length. Likewise, the primers pairs SEFW and SERV were designed to amplify a sequence of about 1000bp from S. enterica. The Salmonella strains tested in this study were Salmonella typhi, Salmonella enterica and Salmonella Paratyphi. The STFW/STRV primer pair amplified 600bp DNA fragments when the DNA templates from Salmonella typhi, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella enterica and Salmonella paratyphi were tested. The DNA template of Salmonella paratyphi specifically amplified 800-bp fragments. Likewise, the DNA template for Salmonella enterica amplified 1000-bp fragment. This technique can be used routinely for the rapid detection of Salmonella spp. in food materials at low level of contamination with an enrichment time that depend in complexity of food product