Environmental consequences of economic growth and foreign direct investment: evidence from panel data analysis

This paper is aimed at investigating non-linear relationship between foreign direct investment and environmental degradation using panel data of 110 developed and developing economies. The results indicated that environmental Kuznets curve exists and foreign direct investment increases environmental degradation.Economic Growth, FDI, Environment

Evaluation of the Assessment Criteria of English Language at Higher Secondary Level in Pakistan

The present research aimed to explore the weaknesses of the assessment criteria in relevance to the performance of the student in the subject English of grade XI-XII. The research was conducted to analyze the theoretical framework of assessment and practical pattern, practiced in public Examinations. The data have been collected from the handbook of National Curriculum document, 2006, up-to-date papers of the English subject (2007-2010), experts, teachers and students of respective classes. The mixed method approach was used for the interpretation of data. The major issues regarding the nature of assessment and its relevance with curriculum objectives has been studied. Comparison about the content, teaching methods, evaluation and objectives at intermediate level in the opinions of experts, teachers and student was analyzed. A descriptive and qualitative analysis was used. The findings of the study exposed that there is need to improve the quality of assessment to fulfill the desired learning outcomes. Assessment system suffers from multiple deficiencies like rote learning and assessing lower level skills. Methods of assessment have not been shifted from theory to performance in Pakistan. Key Words: Assessment, criteria, desired learning outcomes, Examination, English Language

A Hybrid Approach to Detect Driver Drowsiness Utilizing Physiological Signals to Improve System Performance and Wearability

Driver drowsiness is a major cause of fatal accidents, injury, and property damage, and has become an area of substantial research attention in recent years. The present study proposes a method to detect drowsiness in drivers which integrates features of electrocardiography (ECG) and electroencephalography (EEG) to improve detection performance. The study measures differences between the alert and drowsy states from physiological data collected from 22 healthy subjects in a driving simulator-based study. A monotonous driving environment is used to induce drowsiness in the participants. Various time and frequency domain feature were extracted from EEG including time domain statistical descriptors, complexity measures and power spectral measures. Features extracted from the ECG signal included heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), including low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and LF/HF ratio. Furthermore, subjective sleepiness scale is also assessed to study its relationship with drowsiness. We used paired t-tests to select only statistically significant features (p < 0.05), that can differentiate between the alert and drowsy states effectively. Significant features of both modalities (EEG and ECG) are then combined to investigate the improvement in performance using support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The other main contribution of this paper is the study on channel reduction and its impact to the performance of detection. The proposed method demonstrated that combining EEG and ECG has improved the system’s performance in discriminating between alert and drowsy states, instead of using them alone. Our channel reduction analysis revealed that an acceptable level of accuracy (80%) could be achieved by combining just two electrodes (one EEG and one ECG), indicating the feasibility of a system with improved wearability compared with existing systems involving many electrodes. Overall, our results demonstrate that the proposed method can be a viable solution for a practical driver drowsiness system that is both accurate and comfortable to wear

Report on proposed new interior design scheme of Harley Davidson’s Clubhouse for Naza Prestige Bikers Sdn. Bhd. at Jalan Pekeliling Tasek, 31400 Ipoh, Perak / Muhammad Nasreen Zulimi

Project report is one of the vital subject that every semester 06 Diploma of Interior Design or final year in order to graduate. The objective of the report is to give student an oppurtunity to understand spatial design studies through drawings and plan language. The subject requires students to conduct researches based on their semester 06. This project report is on proposing a new design scheme of Harley Davidson’s Clubhouse for NAZA Prestige Bikers at Jalan Pekeliling, 31400 Ipoh, Perak. Internet is one of the source for information in this study. Other than that, interviews with one of the general manager in NAZA prestige Bikers also proves fruitful in the research. This clubhouse serves as a service center and lounges for Harley Davidson aficionados or what we call as HOGs in acronym of Harley Owners Group. In addition, the clubhouse also serves as sales and event place. This clubhouse also as a stepping stone for NAZA in order to widen the Harley Davidson business opportunity in Perak. In this paper we describe the meaning of clubhouse, services, space requirement at academy and many more . The focus is to design a clubhouse that is functional, attractive and according to the biker’s interests

Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies, Reading Practices and Academic Attainments of University Students

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARS), and academic attainments (AA) of undergraduate business students. It also investigated the relationship between reading practices (RP) and MARS. There are three different categories of MARS – global, problem solving, and support reading strategies. The Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), developed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) was used as the instrument for this study where the sample consisted of 571 male and female students of undergraduate business program from private and public universities of Karachi. The results showed Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies significantly predicts academic attainments of university students. The findings suggest that conducting workshops or training sessions for promoting MARS may be helpful to enhance students’ concentration towards the reading process that may affect their learning. Keywords: academic attainments, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, reading practices, undergraduate students

How Do Financial Globalization, Institutions and Economic Growth Impact Financial Sector Development in European Countries?

This paper examines the role of financial globalization, institutions and economic growth on the development of financial sector in European countries. We use panel data covering the period of 1989-2016. Using the composite index of financial development covers various dimensions of financial market, that is, depth, access and efficiency and four-way classification of institutions as suggested by Rodrick (2005) and Law et al. (2018), the empirical results indicate that economic growth and institutional quality are positively associated with financial development. Contrarily, financial globalization hinders the process of financial sector development. The results are robust to using alternative proxies of economic growth, institutional indicators and capturing the period of financial crisis. These empirical findings suggest policy guidelines to develop financial sector by using globalization, institutional quality and economic growth as economic tools

Policy Formulation for an Optimal Level of Savings in a Dynamic Setting

Objective: Previous literature on optimal savings relies on specific utility and production technology functional forms which might not be able to produce robust results as different utility/production functions may lead to dramatically different or opposing results. This paper derives an optimal savings policy based on parameters (such as slopes of demand and supply curves) which can be empirically estimated and provides a unique and robust result irrespective of shape and form of individual utilities/production functions. Furthermore, existing literature does not consider welfare loss when savings market is adjusting to final equilibrium after a shock while deriving an optimal savings policy. In addition to that, number of savers (all public and private saving entities, including households, firms, etc.,) and saving rate are vital parameters for savings in an economy, and while deriving an optimal savings policy, it is necessary to take into consideration these parameters to ensure that quantum of savings due to interest rate movement gets adjusted in target time duration, without which there may be additional efficiency loss than that envisioned while deriving an optimal savings policy for an economy. Methods: This research project designs a dynamical model for savings market and extends that to a three-dimensional savings system in an economy by taking into consideration number of savers, saving rate, and interest rate; and based on that derives an optimal comprehensive savings policy while accounting for efficiency losses when savings market, saving rate, and number of savers are adjusting to final equilibrium, in addition to the welfare loss on account of equilibrium shift. Results: Without consideration of welfare loss/gain while savings market is adjusting after implementation of a savings policy, welfare picture remains incomplete, and the optimal savings policy based on partial welfare cannot be considered as optimal in true sense. Traditionally, welfare of only producer and consumer is taken into consideration without accounting for welfare of production factors. An expression of efficiency loss/gain as a result of savings policy based on welfare including those of production factors has been presented and optimal savings policies have been derived by minimizing efficiency losses and presented as a final result in the form of mathematical expressions. This paper demonstrates that both supply and demand shocks operate through a common channel, i.e., inventory of funds in savings market as both kinds of shock affect inventory of funds and hence can be categorized just as an inventory shock. Conclusion: For optimal welfare gains, practitioners/policy makers must estimate theoretically derived optimal savings policies based on the dynamic model developed in this paper and presented in the form of mathematical expressions from real world relevant data for implementation

Politics of Social Reformation in NWFP (KPK)- An Estimate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan(1890-1988)’s Educational Philosophy

In the history of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through 18th Amendment on 15 April 2010), many renowned personalities played their role for the awakening of the masses. Among them, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (alias Bacha Khan) occupies a prominent place. The history of KPK would remain incomplete without the notion of services rendered by Bacha Khan. He played his role in a dignified manner in politics, social and educational field. It is a matter of fact that continuous invasions over Pakhtuns region greatly reduced the literacy rate among Pakhtuns which resulted in backwardness of the province. Consequently intermingling of evil customs into Pakhtun society in the name of Islam became the fate of the society. They were having a little knowledge of the religion. Mullahs, the religious leaders, also did nothing for the revival of Islam and Pakhtun society. Pakhtuns were living miserably and none was ready to come forward for the revival of this society. At the same time there came Bacha Khan on the scene and he accepted the challenge of the revival of Pakhtun society. This article highlights the facts that how Bacha Khan used education as a weapon for the revival of Pakhtun society of KPK. He not only made steps to flourish education among Pakhtuns but also tried his best to refrain the Pakhtuns from believing the evil customs and their practices. This article also mentions the institutions which were established by Bacha Khan to achieve his motives

Review of Catalytic Transesterification Methods for Biodiesel Production

Attempts for improving the synthesis procedure of catalysts for fatty acid methyl ester production have been progressing for a considerable length of time. Biodiesel lessens net carbon dioxide emissions up to 78% with reference to conventional fuel. That is the reason for the improvement of new and operative solid catalysts necessary for inexhaustible and efficient fuel production. Homogenous base catalysts for transesterification is risky in light of the fact that its produces soap as byproduct, which makes difficult issues like product separation and not temperate for industrial application. In comparison, heterogeneous process gives higher quality FAME which can be effectively isolated and facilitate costly refining operations that are not required. A focus of this review article is to study and compare various biodiesel synthesis techniques that are being researched. The catalytic strength of numerous heterogeneous solid catalysts (acid and base), specially earth and transition metal oxides were also appraised. It was observed that catalytic proficiency relied upon a few factors, for example, specific surface area, pore size, volume and active site concentration at catalyst surface. This review article will give assistance in assortment of appropriate catalysts and the ideal conditions for biodiesel generation

Environmental consequences of economic growth and foreign direct investment: evidence from panel data analysis

This paper is aimed at investigating non-linear relationship between foreign direct investment and environmental degradation using panel data of 110 developed and developing economies. The results indicated that environmental Kuznets curve exists and foreign direct investment increases environmental degradation