Class Politics in the Era of Neoliberalism: The Case of Karachi, Pakistan

In one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and the biggest city in Pakistan, Karachi, the question of political praxis has seldom been addressed in academic literature beyond the received wisdom of various 'primordial' identities. Politics in the city, which until at least the 1980s had a vibrant trade/labour union movement, has become increasingly fragmented along ethnic and religious sectarian identities. This paper examines the various contours of neoliberal urbanism as it manifests itself in the context of Karachi and the political praxis it generates. The approach draws upon a Gramscian spatial historicism to look at the constitution of 'historical situations as a confluence of multiple, spatially mediated temporal rhythms' (Kipfer, 2012: 86). In doing so, it will look at the combined effects of neoliberal praxis, formal neo-imperialism and Pakistan's continually evolving post-colonial state, on the emergence (or lack thereof) of working class politics in Karachi. Thus, the historically and geographically specific ensemble of forces at multiple scales (local, national and international) which act to impede and, in several cases, co-opt any forms of horizontal political praxis in the city will be elaborated upon. Light will also be shed upon the unresolved dialectic between residential and working spaces for Marxist praxis in urban areas. Thus, through local level analyses of the multi-scalar workings of state and capital, the paper argues that a dialectic of coercion and patronage animates - and restricts - the political choices made by Karachi's working class subjects. In doing so, the paper also advocates for an understanding of class (and the process of class formation) being as much an objective category as a subjective, lived phenomenon which operates over multiple spaces (i.e. both residential and working spaces) and is necessarily shaped by forces operating over multiple scales. The paper will draw upon the author's fieldwork in one residential and one industrial area of Karachi while combining insights from existing literature on class-based political praxis in other urban areas (especially in global South contexts) and current literature on Pakistan and its 'over-developing' state

The Impact of High Involvement Work Practices on Job Demands and Employees Burnout

Current study investigates how HIWPs affect employee burnout and job demands in Pakistan's banking industry. Hence, we predicted that HIWPs would have a bad impact on staff burnout as well as requests. Employees of commercial banks listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange who work in the banking sector provided the information. In five regions in the Punjab, self-administered questionnaires were provided to both Islamic and conventional banks. The study's findings were consistent with the model associations that were hypothesized, which indicated that high engagement work practices had a negative impact on all aspects of job demands. The outcome was the same for all employee burnout dimensions and high involvement work practices. In a stressed-out banking sector setting where turnover is high and maintaining qualified employees is a big concern, this study offers novel insights into the field of human resource literature. It also covers how managers may retain and develop their important workforce. The Asian setting was largely disregarded in earlier studies, necessitating additional empirical data from different cultural contexts. The paradigm utilized in this study had never been applied to Pakistan before. Hence, research on the connection between high involvement work practices, job demands, and burnout in Pakistan's banking sector was necessary

Electrokinetic Desalination of Compound Building Materials by Applying Electric Field

Damaging of building materials is directly connected to the salt crystallization. The present research is based on removal of NaCl from compound building materials, where a direct current (DC) electric field was applied to the mortar plus bricks system. The main objective of this work is to investigate the electrokinetic desalination methodology that can provide sufficient removal of salts. pH neutralization in the surrounding of mortar plus bricks system is crucial to obtain sufficient desalination. For this purpose, the electrodes across the brick were inserted in kaolin clay mixed with buffer agents to suppress the pH changes. Most of the experiments were performed with kaolin clay and sponge. The concentration of chloride ions and sodium ions in all the segments and clay poultice was measured using argentometric titration method and flame photometer, whereas the pH variations in the entire system was measured by using pH indicator papers. The electrokinetic desalination was found to be an efficient method as 86 % removal of chloride and 80 % removal of sodium was achieved

Studies on the Measurement and Availability of Major Plant Nutrients in Farm Animal Wastes

The work of this thesis covers analytical aspects of the determination of ammonium-N using the Technicon AutoAnalyzer II, evaluation of farm animal wastes - algal pond effluent (Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive, Ayr) and farmyard manure (Pakistan)

Strengthening SMEs through Rapid Prototyping to Meet Future Challenges - Why & How?

In the current scenario of the global economic crisis, market uncertainty, layoffs, shrinkage in market size are some common issues which the business is facing and at the same time looking for some way outs. This situation demands the reconfiguration of existing theories, models or frameworks so that innovative solutions can be developed to ease the situation. Technology like Rapid Prototyping have the potential to meet certain future challenges, but there is a dire need to blend the technology and strategy together to end up with a viable solution, unfortunately there is no one and simple solution, but joint efforts by different stakeholders is the need of time. A recent trend is the globalization of the production operations in which the manufacturing is done basically in the developing countries largely through SMEs but the question is that are these small to medium entrepreneurs ready to take the challenge of the fast changing requirements and is it possible to meet these challenges without building the capacity of the these small companies? This paper take a closer look of the SMEs by giving an in depth analysis of the inherent problems and challenges such companies are facing and how the technology like RP can assist them to come out of this situation. The paper also highlights the role of the stakeholders including both government and non government organisations including universities and provides valuable recommendations for the capacity building of these small to medium companies, which will not only boost the local economies but will also facilitate the international production & operations management in a better and most effective way

Methamphetamine-Induced Cardiomyopathy (MACM) in a Middle-Aged Man; a Case Report

The development of methamphetamine-associated cardiomyopathy (MACM) represents a severe complication of chronic methamphetamine abuse. MACM-induced irreversible structural and functional changes in the heart can eventually lead to decompensated heart failure, ultimately requiring heart transplantation. In this case report we present a 47-year old male with a previous history of chronic amphetamine abuse who presented to the emergency room with severe dyspnea at rest associated with mild substernal non-radiating chest pain. He denied any previous cardiac history but had a positive urinary toxicology for methamphetamine. A complete cardiac workup ruled out all other etiologies. The patient required a 3-week intensive pharmacotherapy intervention to stabilize acute heart failure symptoms. At discharge he was classified as having New York Association Class III (NYHA-III) heart failure. His medical symptoms did not improve and he was considered for heart transplantation. With the increase in availability and abuse of methamphetamine, case of MACM such as ours are more frequently being encountered in the emergency departments. In addition to raising awareness, our case provides an outline of how MACM patients likely may present and the subsequent morbid sequela. Clinicians should maintain a high degree of suspicion when assessing all patients with a history of methamphetamine abuse. Early cardiac evaluation can help identify ventricular compromise in asymptomatic patients providing an opportunity to intervene prior to the development of irreversible MACM

1-Ammonio­naphthalene-2-sulfonate

In the mol­ecule of the zwitterionic title compound, C10H9NO3S, an intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond results in the formation of an almost planar six-membered ring (r.m.s daviation = 0.0150 Å), which is oriented at a dihedral angle of 1.63 (3)° with respect to the naphthalene ring system. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into a two-dimensional network