Budget Balance through Revenue or Spending Adjustment: Evidence from Pakistan

Government cannot roll over the debt forever (ponzi game is not allowed). In the long run, inter-temporal budget constraint has to be satisfied, which is possible either through government spending adjustment or increasing government revenues. So current budget deficit calls for adjustment, in the future, in spending or revenues. There are four hypotheses, in the literature, in this regard: the tax-and-spending hypothesis, the spending-and-tax hypothesis, bi-directional causality between government revenues and government expenditures, and independence of taxes and expenditures hypothesis. The last hypothesis, however, have negative implications, in the long run, in terms of debt sustainability and inflatio

Etiology of acute undifferentiated fever in patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care center in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: Our study aimed at identifying the characteristics and etiology of various causes of acute undifferentiated fever in patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at the department of emergency medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital from January to June 2016. Adult patients presenting to Emergency department with acute undifferentiated fever were enrolled. Descriptive statistics were calculated in terms of mean±SD for continuous variables like age of the patients and duration of fever, whereas frequency and percentage were computed for categorical variables like gender and causes of fever.Results: A total of one hundred and fifty five patients were included. Out of these 97 (62.6%) were males and 58 (37.4%) were females. Most patients (25.2%, n= 39) were diagnosed as malaria followed closely by dengue fever (n=33, 21.3%) and then enteric fever (n= 10, 6.5%). while 41.9% (n=65) were diagnosed as suspected viral fever based on clinical judgment and inconclusive laboratory results.Conclusion: Malaria was found to be the most common confirmed cause of acute undifferentiated fever followed by dengue and enteric fever. The provision of accurate epidemiological data will enable resources to be directed towards key areas and will be of practical importance to clinicians

An eco-friendly dyeing of woolen yarn by Terminalia chebula extract with evaluations of kinetic and adsorption characteristics

In the present study Terminalia chebula was used as an eco-friendly natural colorant for sustainable textile coloration of woolen yarn with primary emphasis on thermodynamic and kinetic adsorption aspects of dyeing processes. Polyphenols and ellagitannins are the main coloring components of the dye extract. Assessment of the effect of pH on dye adsorption showed an increase in adsorption capacity with decreasing pH. Effect of temperature on dye adsorption showed 80 °C as optimum temperature for wool dyeing with T. chebula dye extract. Two kinetic equations, namely pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order equations, were employed to investigate the adsorption rates. Pseudo second-order model provided the best fit (R2 = 0.9908) to the experimental data. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The adsorption behavior accorded well (R2 = 0.9937) with Langmuir isotherm model. Variety of eco-friendly and sustainable shades were developed in combination with small amount of metallic mordants and assessed in terms of colorimetric (CIEL∗a∗b∗ and K/S) properties measured using spectrophotometer under D65 illuminant (10° standard observer). The fastness properties of dyed woolen yarn against light, washing, dry and wet rubbing were also evaluated

Sustainable procurement behaviour in public service: the impact of green organizational culture and commitment towards change

Globally the issues related to sustainability are recognized, and efforts are made by nations to meet the challenges. To address this issue, a new global trend of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) has emerged lately. However, in developing economies particularly in the region of South Asia the pace of implementation of SPP is low. Lack of Sustainable Procurement Behaviour (SPB) of procurers is considered as one of the major barrier for its implementation. This study investigate the effects of Personal Values (PV), Awareness (AW), Public Service Motivation (PSM) and Leadership Style (LS) on SPB in Pakistan. Moderating influences of Green Organisation Culture (GOC) and mediating effects of Commitment towards Change (CTC) on the relationship of these variables were also examined. In this quantitative study, the data were collected from 250 managers working in the government departments of Punjab in Pakistan by using a cross sectional design. The study adopted a simple random sampling technique on randomly selected respondents (procurement managers). Partial least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study hypothesis. This study found that AW and PV of managers positively influence the SPB however, LS and PSM has no influence on SPB. Furthermore PV and AW influence the level of CTC but LS has no influence on CTC. Moreover, GOC has significant moderating influence between CTC and SPB. The research findings filled the void of knowledge in the field of SPB in public sector in Pakistan. The results of this study offers important insights to policymakers, procurement managers and researchers to further understand and improve the SPB of the managers in Pakistan

A C6 approximating subdivision scheme

AbstractThe approximating subdivision scheme, recently developed by Shahid S. Siddiqi and Nadeem Ahmad [An approximating C4 stationary subdivision scheme, European Journal of Scientific Research 15 (1) (2006) 97–102], is extended. It is proved that the new scheme generates C6 curves. Its limit function has a support on [−6,5]. The smoothness of the new scheme is shown using the Laurent polynomial method, and the usefulness of the scheme is illustrated in the examples. The Hölder exponent for the scheme is calculated. It can be observed that the method developed generates curves satisfying the variation diminishing property

Dyeing studies and fastness properties of brown naphtoquinone colorant extracted from Juglans regia L on natural protein fiber using different metal salt mordants

In this study, wool fibers are dyed with a natural colorant extracted from walnut bark in presence and absence of mordants. The effect of aluminum sulfate, ferrous sulfate, and stannous chloride mordants on colorimetric and fastness properties of wool fibers was investigated. Juglone was identified as the main coloring component in walnut bark extract by UV visible and FTIR spectroscopic techniques. The results showed that pretreatment with metallic mordants substantially improved the colorimetric and fastness properties of wool fibers dyed with walnut bark extract. Ferrous sulfate and stannous chloride mordanted wool fibers shows best results than potassium aluminum sulfate mordanted and unmordanted wool fibers. This is ascribed due to strong chelating power of ferrous sulfate and stannous chloride mordants

Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Hotel Booking Intentions: The Case of Pakistan

This study is aimed at empirically investigating the influence of online consumer reviews such as realism, positive reviews, negative reviews and volume of online reviews on hotel booking intentions in Pakistan through mediational mechanism. Data was collected from 250 part-time business graduates of University of Punjab, the largest Public-Sector University of Provincial Capital of Pakistan. SPSS and AMOS were carried out to analyze the results and determine the impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions. Results indicated that realism, the volume of reviews and positive reviews are the most influential dimensions of online consumer reviews. Moreover, trust act as an intervening variable between positive reviews, the volume of reviews, realism and hotel booking intentions. Empirical analysis also indicated that negative online reviews have no direct and indirect impact on hotel booking intentions of online customers. This study is an effort in proposing a combination of online consumer reviews dimensions in determining Hotel Booking Intentions

Comparative predictive value of three prognostic markers--S-phase fraction, PCNA and mitotic count on axillary lymph node metastasis in carcinoma breast

Background: Axillary lymph node metastasis is the single most important prognostic factor in carcinoma of the breast. Therefore, prognostic markers that may reliably predict probability of lymph node (LN) metastases are of great value. This study was conducted to compare the predictive value of two novel prognostic / proliferative markers i.e. S-phase fraction (SPF) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in parallel with mitotic index. Methods: Data of consecutive cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) breast diagnosed from July 2003 to July 2004 at the section of the Histopathology, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, were reviewed. A total of 112 cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast with axillary LN sampling were selected. SPF was calculated by flow cytometry while PCNA staining was done by immunohistochemistry. Mitotic count was calculated according to modified Bloom and Richardson’s grading guidelines. Result: It was observed that the number of axillary LN metastases was increased with higher SPF (p value: 0.008). However no significant difference was found between the results of various categories of PCNA on axillary LN metastases (p value: 0.182) and mitotic count with axillary lymph node metastases (p value: 0.324). Conclusion: It was concluded that mitotic count and / PCNA alone cannot be used in predicting axillary LN metastases. SPF was found to be a more reliable marker compared to PCNA reactivity and conventional mitotic count in predicting axillary LN metastases

Essential Qualifications: Accounting Faculty Selection Trends

Colleges and universities are challenged with attracting faculty with the essential qualifications to deliver accounting degree programs that meet the accounting profession’s needs. Budget constraints and accreditation standards further influence colleges and universities hiring trends, particularly in the specialized areas of tax and audit. Before the pandemic, business schools began adjusting their hiring practices to address these challenges. Furthermore, institutions were redesigning degree programs to be consistent with the implemented changes in professional certification exams. The disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on enrollment and operational budgets have exacerbated these challenges. Consequently, institutions may need to alter their recruitment strategies to contend with faculty shortages and provide a curriculum to meet the profession’s needs. This study explored what qualifications decision-makers deemed essential for recently hired accounting faculty. Further, we investigated to what extent particular academic institutional characteristics influenced the selection of an accounting faculty candidate. Finally, this study also reports on the trend in the essential qualifications preferred for new accounting faculty hires

MANOVA with Summary Statistics: A STATA Program

Almost all available statistical packages are capable of performing Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) from raw data. Some of statistical packages have capability to perform independent sample t-test, ANOVA and some other tests of significance on summary data, but you come across not single software that has the capability to perform MANOVA directly on summary data. A STATA programme has been written to perform Multivariate ANOVA on summary data. The programme computes available statistics for Multivariate ANOVA (i.e Willk’s Lembda, Lawley’s-Hotelling trace, Pillae’s trace and Roy’s largest root). The programme is also capable to perform Box–M test for testing equality of covariance matrices on summary data. Example has been given by using the programme on summary data to perform Multivariate ANOVA