Economic Determinants of Unemployment: Empirical Result from Pakistan

Unemployment is one of the major issues that give birth to many economic and social problems in Pakistan economy. Keeping in view this serious problem, the author explored the factors that influence the level of employment in Pakistan. This study finds out the determinants of employment in Pakistan by applying simple multiple linear regression models using the time series data from 1990 to 2013. The result indicates that the relationship between literacy rate and population growth rate was positive and highly significant with unemployment rate while GDP was positive but insignificant impact on unemployment rate. The relationship between inflation and unemployment was negative but highly significant impact on unemployment. Keywords: Growth rate, Inflation, Unemployment, Pakista

Optimal survival trees ensemble

Selection of accurate and diverse trees based on individual and collective performance in an ensemble has recently been studied for classification and regression problems. Following this notion, the possibility of selecting optimal survival trees is considered in this work. Initially, a large set of survival trees are grown by the method of random survival forest. Using out-of-bag observations for each corresponding survival tree, the trees grown are ranked in ascending order with respect to their prediction errors. A certain number of the top ranked survival trees are selected to be assessed for their collective performance in an ensemble. An ensemble is initiated from the top ranked selected survival tree and further trees are tested one by one by adding them to the ensemble. A survival tree is selected for the final ensemble if it improves the performance by assessing on an independent training data. This ensemble is called optimal survival trees ensemble (OSTE). The proposed method is checked on 17 benchmark datasets and the results are compared with those of random survival forest, conditional inference forest, bagging and Cox proportional hazard model. In addition to improved predictive performance, the proposed method also reduces the number of survival trees in the ensemble as compared to the other tree based methods. Furthermore, the method is implemented in an $R$ package called "OSTE''

Synthesis and characterization of gold and gold-cuprous oxide nanostructures

In the past few years, substantial efforts have been invested into the synthesis and characterization of plasmonic gold nanostructures owing to their unique size and shape-dependent physical and chemical properties. Gold (Au) nanostructures (NSs) are of great interest for scientific research because of their attractive applications in numerous fields, built upon their interesting surface plasmon resonance (SPR) features and biocompatibility. Corresponding to these fascinating features, multifaceted Au NSs have been synthesized using a quaternary ammonium cationic surfactant, methyltrioctylammonium chloride (Aliquat 336), as a shaping and stabilizing agent. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy analyses confirm the existence of Aliquat 336 stabilized NSs that are demonstrated to achieve minimal ligand density in the form of monomolecular layer onto the Au surface. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments have been performed to quantify the ligand density on the surface of Au. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements are accomplished to determine the structure and binding of ligand molecules to the Au surface. Zeta potential (+24.3 mV) of the nanoparticles (NPs) shows that the particles are positively charged and sufficiently stable in nature. The quats surfactant also manipulates the growth of extremely elongated Au nanorods (aspect ratio within 10-57) and nanowires following one-step hydrothermal syntheses. A pronounced change in the shapes of Au NSs strongly depends on the growth parameters including ligand contents, reaction temperature and reaction duration. As-synthesized Au NSs i.e. multi-faceted and cubic nanoparticles are coated with cuprous oxide to form Au-Cu2O core-shell nano-morphologies in which efficient shape evolution of the Cu2O shell is achieved through fine adjustment of the ratio H2O:NH2OH∙HCl. The effect of particle morphology and shell thickness on the optical properties of truncated-octahedra, cuboctahedra and nanoflowers Au-Cu2O having sizes within 90-230 nm shows that the SPR band of the Au-core shifts progressively to red with increasing shell thickness. A comparative study to correlate the photoluminescence (PL) analyses of core-shell nanostructures with their photocatalytic activities towards the decomposition of methyl orange shows that truncated-octahedra and nanoflowers, bounded by (111) facets, are photocatalytically more active. The results are in good agreement with the PL analysis in that cuboctahedra with more (100) catalytically inactive sites reveal a comparatively sharp emission peak

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth: Empirical Results from Pakistan

The study analysed the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth of Pakistan. Time series data for 35 years from 1979-2013 is utilized in this study. Impact of inflation (CPI) on GDP is also examined. Data of FDI, GDP and inflation is collected from world data bank. Multiple linear regression model is used to find out the impact of FDI and inflation on economic growth of Pakistan. Unit root test is used for stationarity of data. Results of the study show that FDI and inflation significantly affect economic growth of Pakistan. FDI has positive relationship with GDP while inflation has negative relationship with GDP. Keywords: ECONOMIC GROWTH, FDI, GDP, INFLATION

Role of Human Resources Management in the Effectiveness of Business Process Reengineering

The main idea of the paper to presents a model with the discussion of Human resources management role with line extent of Management competency, team working, effective communication, IT and Organizational structure and there impact on the effectiveness of Business Process Reengineering. The article suggest that the use of HRM with the implementation of the BPR find the better results and support the organizational better performance Keywords: human Resources Management, business process Reengineering, Organizational performanc

Estimation of toxic elements in the samples of different cigarettes and their effect on the essential elemental status in the biological samples of Irish smoker rheumatoid arthritis consumers

Cigarette smoking interferes with the metal homeostasis of the human body, which plays a crucial role for maintaining the health. A significant flux of heavy metals, among other toxins, reaches the lungs through smoking. In the present study, the relationship between toxic element (TE) exposure via cigarette smoking and rheumatoid arthritis incidence in population living in Dublin, Ireland, is investigated. The trace {zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and selenium (Se)} and toxic elements arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) were determined in biological (scalp hair and blood) samples of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, who are smokers living in Dublin, Ireland. These results were compared with age and sex-matched healthy, nonsmoker controls. The different brands of cigarette (filler tobacco, filter, and ash) consumed by the studied population were also analyzed for As, Cd, Hg, and Pb. The concentrations of trace and TEs in biological samples and different components of cigarette were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrophotometer after microwave-assisted acid digestion. The validity and accuracy of the methodology were checked using certified reference materials. The recovery of all the studied elements was found to be in the range of 96.4–99.8 % in certified reference materials. The filler tobacco of different branded cigarettes contains Hg, As, Cd, and Pb concentrations in the ranges of 9.55–12.4 ng, 0.432– 0.727 μg, 1.70–2.12 μg, and 0.378– 1.16 μg/cigarette, respectively. The results of this study showed that the mean values of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb were significantly higher in scalp hair and blood samples of rheumatoid arthritis patients as compare to healthy controls, while Zn, Cu, Mn, and Se concentrations were found to be lowerin rheumatoid arthritis patients, the difference was significant in the case of smoker patients (p<0.001). The levels of four toxic elements were 2–3-folds higher in scalp hair and blood samples of nonrheumatoid arthritis smoker subjects as compared to nonsmoker controls. The high exposure of toxic metals as a result of cigarette smoking may be synergistic with risk factors associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Estimation of toxic elements in the samples of different cigarettes and their impact on human health of Irish hypertensive consumers

Background: Cigarette smoking interferes with the metal homeostasis of the human body, which plays a crucial role for maintaining the health. A significant flux of heavy metals, among other toxins, reaches the lungs through smoking. In the present study, the relationship between toxic element (TE) exposure via cigarette smoking and hypertension incidence in population living in Dublin, Ireland is investigated. Methods: The different brands of cigarette (filler tobacco, filter and ash) consumed by the studied population were analyzed for cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb). The concentrations of TEs in biological samples and different components of cigarette were measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer after microwave-assisted acid digestion. The validity and accuracy of the methodology were checked using certified reference materials. Results: The filler tobacco of different branded cigarettes contains Cd, Ni and Pb concentrations in the ranges of 1.73-2.02, 0.715-1.52 and 0378-1.16 pg/cigarette, respectively. The results of this study showed that the mean values of Cd, Ni and Pb were significantly higher in scalp hair and blood samples of hypertensive patients in relation to healthy controls, while the difference was significant in the case of smoker patients (p < 0.001). The levels of all the three TEs were 2-3 folds higher in scalp hair and blood samples of non-hypertensive smoker subjects as compared to nonsmoker controls. Conclusion: The high exposure of toxic metals as a result of cigarette smoking may be synergistic with risk factors associated with hypertension