Protection of foreign direct investment in Pakistan: is it time to address the deterring factors?

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of BedfordshireForeign direct investment (“FDI”) is one of the significant sources of social and economic change in developing countries. It can be used in terms of transferring capital, technology and administrative skills to the host country. The Board of Investment of Pakistan (“BOI”) emphasizes that due to Pakistan’s cheap manpower and low production cost coupled with many other reasons, it is a perfect market and location for FDI. This study has examined several aspects of FDI in Pakistan’s context, such as the role it has played in the growth of Pakistan’s economy and may well play in the future. The factors which play motivational and decisive role in foreign investors’ decisions to invest or withdraw their capital such as economic attractions, deterring factors and legal protections afforded to FDI in Pakistan. Existence of deterring factors requires the host State to adopt special measures and offer added protection to foreign investors such as protection through bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”), investment agreements and domestic laws. Therefore, the main concern of this study is the legal protection afforded to FDI in Pakistan. The study has investigated three fundamental factors, directly related to protection of FDI in Pakistan their role and aftermaths; the BITs, the role of higher judiciary and legal protection under domestic statutes. To investigate the first factor, a number of BITs executed by Pakistan have been selected and examined in the light of old and new treaty arbitration cases against Pakistan. It has been revealed that successive Pakistani governments have used BITs as political publicity vehicle and executed this instrument in a haphazard manner, without meaningful negotiations and without understanding the full legal implications. An absolute lack of competency, skills and know-how to negotiate and draft BITs on the part of the Government of Pakistan (“GOP”) has been revealed. The investigation on the role of judiciary, has found a powerful judiciary the Supreme Court of Pakistan (“SCP”) which has emerged as an assertive organ of the State. In last about one decade the SCP has expended the scope of public interest litigation (“PIL”) for enforcement of fundamental rights under unique ‘suo moto’ jurisdiction and endlessly interfered directly in commercial and FDI matters. The current study differentiates judicial activism and judicial interference and argues that, there is a very thin line between these two, and that encroaching on the sphere of other State organs may possibly convert judicial activism into judicial interference. The study has also examined several domestic statutes related to FDI and has found weak legal protection afforded to FDI under domestic laws of Pakistan. It has revealed that all three factors have exposed Pakistan to costly international arbitration initiated by foreign investors, shattered their confidence which in turn affected inward flow of FDI. To enable GOP to attract the required FDI in the desired sectors this thesis recommends reforms to address these deterring factors and also adopting a pragmatic balanced approach insuring respect of sovereignty of Pakistan and protection of assets of foreign investors

A Review of Electrically Conductive Cement Concrete Pavement for Sustainable Snow-Removal and Deicing: Road Safety in Cold Regions

Within cold U.S. regions, winter storms can cause interruptions in transportation networks, affecting transportation entities’ revenue streams. Conventional snow-removal methods on roadways efficiently remove snow and ice, yet their adverse environmental impacts further make winter maintenance more challenging. In response to these concerns, electrically conductive cement concrete (ECCC) pavement has become an effective alternative for deicing and snow melting on road surfaces. ECCC utilizes the Joule heating principles to effectively melt snow and ice by incorporating conductive elements into conventional concrete. This paper comprehensively reviews the current literature on ECCC pavement. Previous studies have diligently explored various aspects of ECCC pavement, including concrete conductivity enhancement, heat transfer processes, and meticulous performance assessments, ranging from controlled laboratory scale experiments to small-scale field evaluations. The conclusions drawn from these investigations highlight the potential of ECCC pavement to considerably enhance winter road maintenance, consequently improving road safety and minimizing traffic interruptions during winter storms. The present review emphasizes ECCC pavement as a promising paradigm for effectively addressing the complexities associated with winter road maintenance in colder regions. Moreover, its environmentally friendly deicing capabilities present a sustainable departure from conventional methodologies. However, certain limitations currently impede widespread adoption of ECCC pavement, mainly concerning optimizing cost-effective construction techniques, ensuring long-lasting durability, and enhancing energy efficiency. Addressing these limitations could accelerate the broader adoption of ECCC pavement, promoting safer and more sustainable winter transportation practices

Towards Sustainability: A New Construction Method for Electrically Heated Rigid Pavement System

Snow and ice damage to U.S. airport pavements, particularly in colder regions, poses an ongoing challenge, resulting in significant annual economic losses. Traditional snow removal methods are often perceived as cost-prohibitive, driving the quest for cost-effective alternatives to mitigate the adverse impacts on pavement sustainability. In response, this research investigates an innovative construction approach utilizing an electrically conductive composite (ECC) comprised of waterborne polyurethane (WPU) and graphite (Gp). The ECC is applied to a portland cement concrete (PCC) substrate using the parallel stripe technique, safeguarded by an additional layer of conventional concrete to withstand the friction caused by tires. This study rigorously assesses the resistive heating performance of two types of specimens: exposed and sandwiched under varying conditions. Some critical factors that affect the results include Gp concentrations in ECC preparation, ECC thickness, spacing between ECC stripes, applied voltages, and testing at both room temperature and the challenging -17°C freezing temperature. The ECC with a Gp content of 22.5\% Vol. emerges as the most promising ECC for the sustainable construction of heated pavement systems (HPS). The exposed specimen demonstrates an impressive 19.94°C/hr increase in surface temperature, while the sandwiched specimen shows a substantial 15.46°C/hr increase, representing a promising outcome. The results challenge the conventional HPS practice of modifying pavement materials with embedded heating elements and underscore the potential of a more sustainable construction method. This study provides innovative insights and highlights the feasibility of economically viable, enduring solutions to address winter weather challenges on airport runways. By emphasizing that this construction method can minimize the potential annual costs associated with snow removal from the pavement, this research paves the way for developing more sustainable strategies

Relationship between the Competitive Strategies and Supply Chain Management of Financial Companies for Securities

Competitive strategies are essentially designed to exploit the competitive advantage of the organization. The competitive strategy is in business practices to attract customers by meeting their expectations, facing competitive pressures and enhancing market positioning. It is noted that the choice of competitive strategy and supply chain management affects the performance of the company, whether financial or non-financial and that the Iraqi financial system consists of a wide range of institutions that have been listed in the Iraqi market for securities.In the fierce market competition, the transformation of market competition based on price and quality of the original product competition gradually shifts to the time of the supply chain competition, which makes scholars begin to study the supply chain based on time competition and enterprises especially in automobile industry begin to explore suitable time-based supply chain. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between the performance of the financial sector companies listed in the Iraqi market for securities and the supply chain impacts on competitive strategies adopted in the last three years. A questionnaire was the main tool used to collect primary data while secondary data were used to supplement the main tool and the results were analyzed using regression analysis. The study found that companies have improved along organizational performance requirements measured across different indicators.Performance has been guided by both financial and non-financial performance measures. The study concluded that the performance was determined to some extent by different strategies adopted by each firm in its operations over the past three years and that there was no specific single strategy, but was often a combination of many competitive strategies. The study recommends expanding its market coverage with different products. It is also recommended that the government also protects the financial sector companies listed in the national labor market from intense competition from international companies through international policies

Case study of TV spectrum sensing model based on machine learning techniques

Spectrum sensing is an essential component in cognitive radios (CR). Machine learning (ML) algorithms are powerful techniques for designing a promising spectrum sensing model. In this work, the supervised ML algorithms, support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (kNN), and decision tree (DT) are applied to detect the existence of primary users (PU) over the TV band. Moreover, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is incorporated to speed up the learning of the classifiers. Furthermore, the ensemble classification-based approach is employed to enhance the classifier predictivity and performance. Simulation results have shown that the highest performance is achieved by the ensemble classifier. Moreover, simulation results have shown that employing PCA reduces the duration of training while maintaining the performance

Developing Multiple Intelligences through Different Learning Styles: An Integrated Approach to Learner-centered Pedagogy

The present paper deals with the theoretical underpinnings of various learning styles by Carl Jung and the different types of intelligences by Howard Gardner. The purpose of this paper is to integrate various learning styles with different types of intelligences. The main concern here is to understand how each learning style could be incorporated with every intelligence so as to make the pedagogy a learner-centered approach

Economic Feasibility of Stand-Alone Wind Energy Hybrid with Bioenergy from Anaerobic Digestion for Electrification of Remote Area of Pakistan

Hybrid Renewable Energy systems (HRES) are gaining importance throughout the world because of the finite sources of oil and gas reservoirs. These have the great ability in the production of electrical energy and cleaning the environment. It is difficult to get grid electricity in the remote areas where no infrastructure exists. The utilization of renewable sources is the ultimate solution for the generation of electricity. In this paper, the economic modeling of Hybrid system consisting of Wind/biomass is explored for the remote area ‘Jangiah’ of Balochistan province, Pakistan. Anaerobic Digestion of biomass is used to get biogas. This source is used to complement the uncertainties in the wind production. Homer is used to simulate the hybrid model. Economic analysis is performed to get the net present value (NPV) and cost of energy. It is observed that wind/biomass alone is capable to meet the demand of community which consumes 60 kW peak daily along with the storage backup. This system is the most economical with COE equal to 0.118 US$/kWh following the hybrid biomass/wind/diesel system with COE 0.202 US$/kWh. The sensitivity analysis is carried out and shows that the proposed system is sensitive to the prices of fossil fuel and project lifespan. The net present value increases as the lifetime of the project increases from 15 years to 30 years. It can also be concluded that if the price of the diesel drops below 0.8 US$/liter, the traditional system using fossil fuels will become the most suitable system for the generation of electricity in remote areas

A Study on The Use of Smartphone Applications in English Language Learning with Special Reference to Covid-19 Pandemic

Technology and education are essential concepts in the current world. The societies of the world are heading towards technology and education very rapidly. Both the concepts indicate the hasty development taking place everywhere. The progress in the field of technology and education can be taken as a sign of growth in a particular society. The present study aims at explaining the use of smartphone applications to improve English language skills and translation and vocabulary improvement. This paper also seeks to demonstrate the significant role played by smartphone applications amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the present study, it has been demonstrated that smartphone applications aid in improving language skills, translation, and enriching vocabulary. Moreover, smartphone applications have been used virally amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a significant role in online teaching and learning. They act as a personal teacher who works 24/7

Use of pefloxacin as a surrogate marker to detect ciprofloxacin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica serotypes typhi and paratyphi A

Objective: To determine the use of pefloxacin as a surrogate marker to detect fluoroquinolone (ciprofloxacin) susceptibility against Salmonella enterica serotypes Typhi and Paratyphi A.Methods: The prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from September 2016 to March 2018, and comprised Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A isolates of blood cultures. Disk susceptibility tests and broth microdilution to test minimum inhibitory concentration were performed as per standard guidelines. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.Results: Of the 138 isolates, 91(66%) were intermediate resistant to ciprofloxacin but were resistant to pefloxacin, 42(30%) were resistant to both ciprofloxacin and pefloxacin, and 5(4%) were susceptible to both ciprofloxacin and pefloxacin. Of the isolates that were intermediate resistant to ciprofloxacin, 85(93%) had minimum inhibitory concentration range0.12-0.5mg\L, while 6(7%) had MIC\u3e1mg\L (p\u3c0.0001).Conclusions: Pefloxacin disk diffusion test was found to be reliable in detecting fluoroquinolone resistance among enteric fever causing Salmonella

Teaching the English Language to Slow Learners: A Comprehensive Study

Slow learners are poor at achieving academic skills and are often ignored by teachers. Slow learners lag behind other students in academics and in the areas of social, emotional, and psychological well-being. The present study aims to find out the English language teachers' perspective on teaching the English language to slow learners and how far they feel the need to modify the present curriculum on the basis of learners' ability. To serve the desired purpose, 20 teachers working at the Faculty of Arts and Women’s College, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, have been selected as study subjects. The researchers have used a five-point Likert scale to determine their perspectives. The findings aim to identify slow learners and help them critically evaluate their learning, gain confidence and develop strategies that facilitate them to overcome fear.