Impact of Financial Risk on Financial Performance of Banks in Pakistan; the Mediating Role of Capital Adequacy Ratio

Financial risks, cover credit, liquidity and operational risks, are the risks which banks face during their operations and all these risks have severe impact on the profitability of banks. The Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) introduces Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) to overcome uncertainties and possible losses (Risk) to the banks. In this context, the aim in this study is to identify impact of financial risk on financial performance of banks in Pakistan with mediating role of Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR). The findings show that credit and liquidity risks have negative relationship with financial performance, whereas operational risk has a positive relationship with financial performance and capital adequacy ratio of banks in Pakistan. This study is useful in devising the rules and regulations by the regulators (Basel Committee and State Bank of Pakistan) for risk measurement and management by the banking sector.&nbsp

INVESTIGATION OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY POTENTIAL USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY SURVEY AND CHEMICAL GEOTHERMOMETERS: A STUDY OF THE MANGHOPIR HOT SPRING KARACHI, SINDH PAKISTAN

Electrical resistivity survey and chemical geothermometers methods were used to find the geothermal gradient energy potential of the Manghopir hot spring which is located in Karachi, Sindh. Schlumberger electrode configurations were used to demarcate the two shallow potential subsurface aquifers. At various depths, three lithological units were encountered: alluvium, sandstone, and shale. The first thermal water aquifer lies below at the average depth of 10m and average thickness of 9 m lies in sandstone lithology of Nari Formation of Oligocene age. The second thermal water aquifer encountered at the average depth of 68 m and the average thickness of aquifer was 40.5m in sandstone lithology of Nari Formation. The surface water temperature was calculated with digital thermometer which shows the range in between 48 °C to 50 °C and subsurface temperature was calculated with the help of chemical geothermometers. The Na–K geothermometers indicate the subsurface equilibrium reservoir temperature in the range of 135.52 °C,125.54 °C, 172.964 °C and 184.08°C and the Na-K-Ca chemical geothermometers indicate the subsurface reservoir temperature 148.493°C. The Na-K-Ca geothermometers show a high temperature, but the reservoir temperature appears to be lower due to the mixing of sea water with the chemical composition of hot spring water within the subsurface aquifers

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Intestinal Parasitic Infection among Children in an Urban Slum of Karachi

Background:Intestinal parasitic infections are endemic worldwide and have been described as constituting the greatest single worldwide cause of illness and disease. Poverty, illiteracy, poor hygiene, lack of access to potable water and hot and humid tropical climate are the factors associated with intestinal parasitic infections. The study aimed to estimate prevalence and identify factors associated with intestinal parasitic infections among 1 to 5 years old children residing in an urban slum of Karachi Pakistan. Methods And PrincipalFindings:A cross sectional survey was conducted from February to June 2006 in Ghosia Colony Gulshan Town Karachi, Pakistan. A simple random sample of 350 children aged 1-5 years was collected. The study used structured pre-tested questionnaire, anthropometric tools and stool tests to obtain epidemiological and disease data. Data were analyzed using appropriate descriptive, univariate and multivariable logistic regression methods. The mean age of participants was 2.8 years and 53% were male. The proportions of wasted, stunted and underweight children were 10.4%, 58.9% and 32.7% respectively. The prevalence of Intestinal parasitic infections was estimated to be 52.8% (95% CI: 46.1, 59.4). Giardia lamblia was the most common parasite followed by Ascaris lumbricoides, Blastocystis hominis and Hymenolepis nana. About 43% children were infected with single parasite and 10% with multiple parasites. Age {Adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.9}, living in rented households (aOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.0, 3.9) and history of excessive crying (aOR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.0, 3.4) were significantly associated with intestinal parasitic infections.Conclusion:Intestinal parasites are highly prevalent in this setting and poverty was implicated as an important risk factor for infection. Effective poverty reduction programmes and promotion of deworming could reduce intestinal parasite carriage. There is a need for mass scale campaigns to create awareness about health and hygiene

East meets west: when the Islamic and Gregorian calendars coincide

Recent research has documented that at the time of religious celebrations in Muslim countries, such as Ramadan, there is a “festival” effect in share returns. In the Gregorian calendar, December is also a time of celebration and festivities which may be associated with patterns in the behaviour of security prices. Further, the first month of the year in the Islamic calendar, Muharram, is a time of sadness and mourning for some believers, and there may be an effect when the Islamic first month of the year overlaps with the first month of the Gregorian year - January. Over a 33-year cycle, each Islamic month falls in a Gregorian month for about 5–6 consecutive years; when this happens, an Islamic (Eastern) calendar effect may interact with a Gregorian (Western) calendar effect. The current paper addresses this issue by examining the behaviour of share returns and volatility for individual companies listed in Muslim countries’ stock exchanges when the two calendars coincide for: (i) religious festival effects; (ii) first-month-of-the-year effects; and (iii) the two most common effects reported in the Islamic and Gregorian calendars (Ramadan and January). The results show that the Western and Eastern effects interact more prominently in larger companies and in larger or more developed markets

Estrogen-induced chromatin decondensation and nuclear re-organization linked to regional epigenetic regulation in breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Epigenetic changes are being increasingly recognized as a prominent feature of cancer. This occurs not only at individual genes, but also over larger chromosomal domains. To investigate this, we set out to identify large chromosomal domains of epigenetic dysregulation in breast cancers. RESULTS: We identify large regions of coordinate down-regulation of gene expression, and other regions of coordinate activation, in breast cancers and show that these regions are linked to tumor subtype. In particular we show that a group of coordinately regulated regions are expressed in luminal, estrogen-receptor positive breast tumors and cell lines. For one of these regions of coordinate gene activation, we show that regional epigenetic regulation is accompanied by visible unfolding of large-scale chromatin structure and a repositioning of the region within the nucleus. In MCF7 cells, we show that this depends on the presence of estrogen. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the liganded estrogen receptor is linked to long-range changes in higher-order chromatin organization and epigenetic dysregulation in cancer. This may suggest that as well as drugs targeting histone modifications, it will be valuable to investigate the inhibition of protein complexes involved in chromatin folding in cancer cells. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0719-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Sonochemical synthesis of aluminium and aluminium hybrids for remediation of toxic metals.

Spherical shaped nano-size aluminium oxide and its hybrids with indole and indole derivatives have been synthesized using sol-gel and post grafting methods coupled with sonication (Branson Digital SonifierS-250D; 20 kHz; 40%) for the remediation of toxic metals (lead and mercury). Different spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, SEM, BET, XRD, and XPS) have been applied to assess the properties of synthesized aluminium oxide and its hybrids. FTIR spectra showed the absorption bands of aluminium oxide (Al-O-Al) and aluminium hybrids (Al-O-C) at 800-400 cm-1 and 1650-1100 cm-1 region, respectively. SEM showed spherical shaped clusters of aluminium oxide which changed into the net-shape structure after the hybrid synthesis. It is worth noting that sonication energy increases the total surface area of aluminium oxide when it gets hybridized with indole and its derivatives from 82 m2/g to 167 m2/g; it also improved the product yield from 68% to 78%. Simultaneously, FTIR, SEM and BET analysis of non-sonicated aluminium oxide and its hybrids were also recorded for comparison. While XRD and XPS analysis were only conducted for sonicated aluminium oxide and its hybrids to manifest the structural and compositional properties. XRD patterns indexed as the cubic crystal system with an average 41 nm crystallite size of sonicated aluminium oxide which remains unaffected after hybrid synthesis. A survey scan under XPS confirmed the presence of all expected elements (aluminium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen) and deconvolution of each recorded peak showed binding of element with its neighboring elements. The performance of aluminium oxide and its hybrids synthesize with and without sonication are also evaluated using a time-dependent batch adsorption protocol optimize for one hour. The maximum adsorption of lead (37%) and mercury (40%) are found onto sonicated aluminium oxide. The sonicated aluminium hybrids showed 43-63% of lead and 55-67% of mercury at pH 7. The fitness of experimental data using adsorption kinetics and isotherms revealed that adsorption follows Pseudo-second-order kinetic, Langmuir, and Freundlich isotherms

On the Behavior of Newly Synthesized Functionalized Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids for Highly Efficient Extraction and Separation of Pirimicarb from Orchard Real Wastewater

The presence of pirimicarb compounds as pollutants in orchard wastewater has sparked rising worries about their detrimental impacts on the ecosystem and human health, and their removal is critical for Pakistan’s aquatic environment. It not only contaminates fruit, but it also leaches into the soil and contaminates groundwater. However, there is little data on the effective removal of pirimicarb from orchard wastewater. The main purpose of this study is to create a novel family of functionalized imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) using a simple chemical process, which will be utilized for the first time to extract pirimicarb from orchard wastewater in an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally acceptable manner. FTIR, SEM, XRD, TGA, BET, and 1H NMR spectroscopy were used to characterize the functionalized samples. The impact of the IL substituent on the separation capacity was studied. In addition, the extraction and separation of pirimicarb from orchard wastewater were investigated under a variety of conditions (time, concentration, and temperature) in order to better understand the adsorption behaviors of distinct ILs in an aqueous solution. The adsorption equilibrium was reached in 30 minutes, and the maximum removal of pirimicarb was achieved utilizing the synthesized [C2im][C3H6NH2]Br-, according to the data. The pseudo-first-order model and the Langmuir model both suit well with the adsorption mechanism of pirimicarb with very good adsorptive capacities. Thermodynamic analyses indicated spontaneous, endothermic, and entropy-driven adsorption processes. The synthesized imidazolium-based ILs have good regeneration capability and recycling at least for six adsorption-desorption runs and have also been used to successfully detect pirimicarb orchard wastewater samples. The superior safety of the proposed method nominates it as a promising future strategy for pollution prevention. Consequently, this work has proven that the pirimicarb adsorption to various imidazolium-based ILs was dependent on the structures of the produced imidazolium-based ILs, which specifies its potential for practical applications in water pollutant removal and environmental remediation

Determinants of Liquidity Considering Role of Market Competition; Evidence from Pakistan’s Banking Sector

Current study empirically analyzes bank specific factors and macroeconomic factors that determine the liquidity reserves of banks functioning in Pakistan. To highlight the association, current study performed random effects estimates on a data set of 20 banks from 2006 to 2016.  Bank specific factors include bank size, capital and credit Risk. GDP and Inflation are the macroeconomic factors that were considered. Market competition has been measured through HHI. Based on panel data analysis, current study suggests that bank specific factors (except capital), macroeconomic factors and market competition significantly affect liquidity reserves of banks in Pakistan. These factors include bank size, credit risk, market competition, GDP and inflation. In addition, bank size, credit risk, GDP and Inflation revealed a negative effect on bank liquidity. On the other hand, market competition revealed a positive effect on bank liquidity. Capital showed an insignificant effect on bank liquidity

Computational Modeling of Gas Liquid Interfaces Using Different Multiphase Models

A time dependent Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of gas jets impinging onto liquid pools has been conducted. The aim of the study is to obtain a better understanding of highly complex, and industrially relevant flows in jetting system. Three different multiphase models, i.e., The Eulerian model, the volume of fluid model and the mixture model are used to analyze the surface deformations namely dimpling, splashing and penetration. The Standard k-? model is used to incorporate the Turbulence in the continuous phase. Two-dimensional axisymmetric geometries with different dimensions have been used in the study. Simulations are performed using commercial CFD code Fluent 6.1. PISO (pressure- implicit with splitting of operators) algorithm was employed to compute the pressure velocity coupling. The computed results are compared with experimental and theoretical data reported in the literature. Also the results of the study highlight and compare the discrepancies between the three multiphase models in capturing the flow structure and cavities formed at gas-liquid interfaces