An Analysis of Exports and Growth in Pakistan

The paper examines the export-led growth (ELG) paradigm for Pakistan, using data of the period from 1970-71 to 2003-04. The paper uses a number of analytical tools, including Unit Root Test, Phillips- Perron Tests, Co-integration Johansen Test, and the Granger Tests. The paper sets three hypotheses for testing the ELG paradigm for Pakistan; (a) whether GDP and exports are cointegrated, (b) whether exports Granger cause growth, and (c) whether exports Granger cause investment. The time series data on GDP growth, export growth and investment GDP ratio (proxy for capital formation), and the labour employed were used. The data were tested for stationarity using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and Phillips-Perron test (1988), and then the relationship between GDP growth rate and the growth rate of other variables was determined using OLS with AR (1). The major finding of the present study is that growth rate of export, total investment, and labour employed have positively affected the GDP growth rate

An Analysis of Exports and Growth in Pakistan

Trade is presumed to act as a catalyst of economic growth and the growth in exports leads to increase in the incomes of factors of production, which in turn increases the demand for input for further expansion in production. The resultant pressure on domestic capacity may stimulate technological change and investment opportunities. Also increase in demand due to raising incomes of the factors of production on account of exports may spill over into other sectors of the economy. A part of such growths could also be diffused abroad through technical assistance and aid. According to Emery (1967) empirically proved that higher rates of exports growth leads to higher economic growth. Traditionally, a developing country had the choice of two alternative trade strategies for supporting industrial development, export promotion or import substitution. A consensus has emerged among many development economists that an export expansion policy by permitting resource exploitation according to comparative advantage and by allowing for utilisation and exploitation of economies of scale leads to higher growth rates of output and employment, greater technological progress and availability of foreign exchange. These in turn enable the countries with export oriented policies to attain higher rates of growth of GNP vis-à-vis countries following import substituting industrialisation [Donges and Muller-Ohlsen (1978)]

The Odd Inverse Rayleigh Family of Distributions: Simulation & Application to Real Data

A new family of inverse probability distributions named inverse Rayleigh family is introduced to generate many continuous distributions. The shapes of probability density and hazard rate functions are investigated. Some Statistical measures of the new generator including moments, quantile and generating functions, entropy measures and order statistics are derived. The Estimation of the model parameters is performed by the maximum likelihood estimation method. Furthermore, a simulation study is used to estimate the parameters of one of the members of the new family. The data application shows that the new family models can be useful to provide better fits than other lifetime models

Short-course versus long-course antibiotic therapy for non-severe community-acquired pneumonia in children aged 2 months to 59 months

Background: Pneumonia is the leading cause of mortality in children under five years of age. Treatment of pneumonia requires an effective antibiotic used in adequate doses for an appropriate duration. Recommended duration of treatment ranges between 7 and 14 days, but this is not based on any empirical evidence. Shorter duration of therapy, if found to be effective, could be particularly important in resource-poor settings where there is a high risk of death, poor access to medicines and health care, and limited budgets for medicines.Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of short- course versus long-course therapy with the same antibiotic for non-severe community-acquired pneumonia in children aged 2 to 59 months. Search strategy: We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials ( CENTRAL), the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects ( DARE) ( The Cochrane Library, 2007, Issue 3), MEDLINE ( OVID) ( January 1966 to September 2007), EMBASE ( Embase. com) ( 1974 to September 2007), and LILACS ( 1982 to September 2007).Selection criteria: All randomized controlled trials ( RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of short- course versus long-course therapy using the same antibiotic for non- severe community-acquired pneumonia in children.Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted the data.Main results: Three studies ( 5763 children) were included. Analysis of three days versus five days of treatment with the same antibiotic for non-severe pneumonia in children showed non-significant differences in rates of clinical cure at the end of treatment (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.01), treatment failure at the end of treatment ( RR 1.07, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.25) and relapse rate after seven days of clinical cure ( RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.42). Subgroup analysis evaluating the impact of different antibiotics showed non- significant differences for these outcomes with different durations of therapy. Authors\u27 conclusions: The evidence of this review suggests that a short course ( three days) of antibiotic therapy is as effective as a longer treatment ( five days) for non- severe pneumonia in children under five years of age. However, there is a need for more well-designed RCTs to support our review findings

Sub-terahertz microstrip antenna array for future communication

In this article, a microstrip patch antenna array has been designed for sub-terahertz application. The designed antenna array consists of four rectangular-shaped radiating patches which are fed using the microstrip line feeding technique. The dielectric material utilized as a substrate is Roger RO3010 which has an epsilon value of 11.2, responsible for compact antenna size, it also exhibits minimal energy absorption and dissipation. The designed antenna has achieved acceptable simulated results of important parameters which include radiation pattern, Gain, and return loss, Bandwidth, current distribution, and impedance matching of the antenna. The designed antenna array offers increased bandwidth, enabling higher data rates and ultra-low latency. The proposed Sub-terahertz antenna array can support the deployment of high-speed, low-latency wireless networks for applications such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), autonomous vehicles, and smart cities

U-Shaped terahertz microstrip patch antenna for 6G future communications

In this article a terahertz antenna has been proposed which is designed on Rogers RO3010 substrate, with a standard thickness 10 µm having relative dielectric constant (Ɛr) = 11.2 and thermal conductivity of 0.66 W/K/m. A dielectric material with a high epsilon value is used, the effective wavelength of the electromagnetic wave is reduced within the material, resulting in a reduction of the physical size of the antenna. The designed antenna is compact light weight and is fed using a microstrip line feeding technique which provides ease of integration inside the device. The resonating frequency of the designed antenna is 0.854 THz with a return loss -19.5 dB offering a high bandwidth of 44 GHz. High bandwidth application of the future communication requirements is achieved by the modelled antenna

Interferon lambda-3 polymorphism and response to pegylated interferon in patients with hepatitis D

Background: Specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interferon lambda-3 (IFNλ3) gene (formerly interleukin 28B) influence the response to treatment with interferon in hepatitis C patients. We aimed to investigate such an influence in hepatitis D patients.Methods: The study population consisted of hepatitis D patients who were previously treated with pegylated interferon for one year and who were spontaneous clearers of the virus post recent superinfection. The SNP of IFNλ3, rs12979860, was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism protocol.Results: The total number of patients was 64; median age was 30.5 years and 53 were male. The number of patients with sustained virological response 1 year post-treatment was 17, non-responders 29, relapsers 11 and spontaneous clearers post superinfection 7. Cirrhosis was present in 28 (44%). IFNλ3, rs12979860 genotype CC, was present in 41 (64.1%), CT in 21 (32.8%) and TT in 2 (3.1%). There was no difference in the body mass index, baseline alanine aminotransferase, hepatitis B e antigen and HBV DNA status among patients with sustained response and response failure (no response or relapse). The median age of response failures was 33.5 years compared to 26 in responders (P=0.024). They had higher gamma glutamyl transferase levels (P=0.030) and cirrhosis (P=0.003). Genotype CC was present in 29/40 of response failures compared to 9/17 of the responders (P=0.152). Logistic regression analysis showed that cirrhosis was the independent risk factor for failure to have a response (P=0.001). 4/7 patients with spontaneous clearance had genotype CC.Conclusions: IFNλ3 rs12979860 SNP does not have any significant influence on long-term hepatitis D clearance. Presence of cirrhosis may influence the response

Assessment of Optimal Production Through Assembly Line-Balancing and Product-Mix Flexibility

Timely accomplishment of production targets is a challenging task in low volume–high variety environment. Assessment of the manufacturing flexibility of a production system assists in achieving the desired objectives. In this research, the operational flexibility of a production system is investigated which operates under the low-volume high-variety production scenario. Prospective dimensions of theproduction flexibility are studied to analyze its interface with the integrated functional units. It was analyzed that with a low-volumeoperational flexibility (OF) varies rationally despite high job varieties. Line-balancing and queuing techniques are applied to ascertain theoptimum productivity. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the critical parameters that affect the OF and productivity level.OF index of the production system was estimated by means of the optimized production parameters. A comparative analysis is performedto evaluate the flexibility in conventional and flexible production cells. Analytical and computational results show a close approximationand validate the implemented schemes