Understanding business school deans’ role as leaders of teaching and learning – Perceptions of students, teachers and deans in Pakistani universities

This doctoral thesis is motivated by the theoretical, practical, and policy imperative to better understand business school deans’ role as leaders of teaching and learning. Business school education claims to produce future leaders. However, research about the leader responsible to run the business school, i.e. the Dean, is limited. Research also suggests taking into account the needs and expectations of main stakeholders. The study therefore seeks to investigate the perceptions that key stakeholders, mainly students and teachers as well as deans themselves have on academic leadership and on teaching and learning. The empirical investigation was carried out using qualitative methods on nine purposefully selected business schools in two cities of Pakistan, three each belonging to public, private and military sectors. The developing country context of Pakistan offers a unique setting where higher education is growing significantly since the turn of this century with significant investments in human resource and infrastructure development. The study reveals similarities and differences within and across the three sectors as well as across the three stakeholders. A long list of attributes or roles associated with academic leadership and specifically teaching and learning is compiled pertaining to Pakistani higher education. The findings are discussed to elucidate the extent to which mainstream leadership theories are supported or extended. The leadership styles and theories, mainly transformational leadership and instructional leadership, are juxtaposed with each other to help explain the commonalities and variations found in the findings. Implications and recommendations for theory, practice and policy are proposed based on the evidence which was collected, analysed, and is presented in a transparent way. To extend this thesis and overcome limitations, further research opportunities are suggested based on alternative research paradigms and methods as well as through empirical studies on different educational contexts, organisational forms, and leadership roles

A qualitative study on leadership and corporate social responsibility in an emerging economy

The previous research relating to CSR and mindfulness leadership, for the purposes of this study, provides an intersection where both backgrounds come together to invite an opportunity for collaboration. The most critical factor in the implementation of CSR is the development of leaders for a sustainable global society as mindfulness should be relevant to the achievement of organizational and leadership objectives. It is here that we find the inspiration for the current study and the relevance of the research query endeavoring to discover if the framework of mindfulness leadership could prove an effective driver for CSR? For this reason, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted from the middle level managers working in an emerging economy - Pakistan. The conceptual framework of leadership theory guided this study’s investigation as it brought to the forefront certain challenges facing organizational leaders endeavoring to facilitate CSR objectives; and explored if the application of mindfulness leadership could prove an effective leadership framework for successful CSR engagement. This supporting data coupled with the study’s interview of executive leaders, across industry lines, familiar with CSR initiatives, lent to certain analytical insight that identified mindfulness leadership as a framework for organizations to facilitate the accomplishment of CSR objectives

Using Live Cases to Learn Scenario Planning – How the Purpose Matters for Impact and Meaningfulness

The Oxford Scenarios Programme (OSP) is an executive education programme at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford that uses ‘reflective practice’ (Schön 1983) to help individuals alone and in groups learn by doing and reflecting. Since 2007 this experiential learning (Markulis 1985) has been helped by deploying “live client case studies” to ground the learning in a real, still-unfolding, setting. Our designing executive education as an inquiring system (Churchman 1971) includes wider stakeholder engagement as a foundation for learning. The main purpose of the OSP is to help participants to improve the effectiveness of their scenario planning by understanding the epistemology, theories and methodology that underpin choices of methods (techniques, practices, tools) used in any scenario planning engagement. Grounding this in a real engagement with live ‘clients’ helps learners but little is known about how it helps or is meaningful to clients and their organizations. It is this experience with clients we analyze in this paper. The OSP has been a week-long programme since 2007 occurring twice each year. The clashes between theory and practice that this programme design surfaced has helped faculty to produce research that clarifies methodological and epistemological misunderstandings (e.g., Ramirez and Wilkinson 2014, 2016). The stable format offers laboratory-like conditions to allow comparison of how live case client executives benefit from a limited exposure (set up brief, three hours Monday evening, one on Wednesday, and 90 minutes on Friday) to scenario planning applied on an issue that matters to their organisation. We used abduction (Suddaby 2006) and interpretative research (Gephardt 2004) to study 22 live case clients drawn from 15 OSPs since 2007. We designed, tested, and used a questionnaire to explore dependent variables on (i) how actual values derived from claims in scenario planning literature were met and (ii) how purpose expectations compared with outcome. As engaged scholarship (Trist, Murray, and Trist 1990; Van de Ven 2007) that links theory and practice, our findings suggest the ‘impact’ of executive education and development can extend to the executives of a large number of organisations beyond the executives attending the programme and thereby extend the meaningfulness of business schools. Findings inform the literatures on (a) management education and (b) scenario planning

Anti-MRSA potential and metabolic fingerprinting of actinobacteria from Cholistan desert, Pakistan

Purpose: To investigate the actinomycetes from an extreme environment for their inhibitory potential against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and the metabolic fingerprinting of the active strains.Methods: A total of 80 actinomycetes strains were recovered from Cholistan desert, Pakistan. The isolated strains were identified by morphological, biochemical and physiological characterization and by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The antimicrobial activity of the selected actinomycetes strains against MRSA was determined by agar well and disc diffusion assays. All the strains were screened against MRSA for the identification of potent antimicrobial producers. Further, validation of MRSA, strains was carried out using a portion of mec-A gene (533bp) of five strains including A1, A6, A7, A8 and A9, amplified and sequenced.Results: The desert actinomycetes strains exhibited promising antimicrobial activity against MRSA with zone of inhibition of up to 25 mm recorded in agar diffusion and disc diffusion assays. The MRSA strains also showed maximum genetic similarity with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in GenBank. Most of the actinobacterial strains exhibited 99 % genetic similarity with the genus Streptomyces, including strains AFD6, AFD12, AFD23, AFD25, and AFD26 while isolate AFD18 has 100 % similarity with a Pseudonocardia, named Saccharothrix xinjiangensis.Conclusion: The results reveal that actinomycetes from the desert ecosystem studied are significant producers of useful antimicrobial agents, and should be explored further for novel drug candidates against MRSA.Keywords: Anti-MRSA potential, Actinomycetes, Extreme environments, Metabolic fingerprinting, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, Mec-A gene characterizatio

Evaluation of bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA encoding Clinical Isolates from Chronic Tonsillitis using Phenotypic and Molecular Technique: First report from Pakistan

Objective: To evaluate bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA encoding clinical isolates in chronic tonsillitis using phenotypic and molecular techniques.Place and Duration:  The study was conducted in Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Punjab, Lahore from August 2016 to August 2017.Methodology: Sample processing, identification and characterization of isolates was done by using (CLSI, 2016) criteria. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by using disc diffusion assay and biofilm forming ability was analyzed by ring test and slime production test. Combination disc test was used for phenotypic detection of antibiotic resistance genes. Multiplex-PCR assay was used to check the presence of bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA genes. 16S rRNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was performed.Results: Here, variable resistance pattern was observed against applied antibiotics. 100 % resistance towards azotreonam and penicillin was observed. While 60-85 % resistances were observed against cephalosporins. Biofilm formation increased with the passage of time. 77% strains indicated positive combination disc test. Multiplex-PCR indicated 60% strains harbored tested genes. 40 % bla SHV genes, 30 % bla TEM genes and 60% bla OXA genes were observed among selected isolates. GenBank Accession number obtained for Klebsiella pneumoniae was KY810693 and for S. aureus was KY810692.Conclusion: In conclusion, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus came out to be common causative agents of tonsillitis in the current study. Resistance towards multiple classes of antibiotics and strong biofilms of these micro-organisms explain the chronicity and recurrent nature of the infection. bla OXA genes were frequent among genes tested

Mobile Application Usability Evaluation : A Study Based on Demography

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Distribution of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase and Metallo-β-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is an important bacterial pathogen most frequently associated with nosocomial infections, especially in immuno-compromised patients. Early detection of these life threatening, β-lactamase producing bacteria is essential for infection control and to prevent their dissemination. The aim of our study was to detect the presence of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) and Metallo-β-Lactamase (MBL) strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Material and Methods: Eighty-eight identified strains of P. aeruginosa were collected from Chughtai Laboratories, Combined Military Hospital and Children Hospital, Lahore. These strains were sub-cultured and after confirming the cultural characteristics by Gram staining and colony morphology, manual biochemical identification was done. Susceptibility to various antibiotics and production of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) were determined using modified Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method, double disk synergy test, combined disk synergy test (CDST) and inhibitor-potentiated disk diffusion test (IPD) respectively.Results: Out of eighty-eight strains tested, three were ESBL producers (3.4%) and eleven strains (12.5%) were found to be resistant to carbapenems. Of these, eight were MBL producers (72.7%). All these β-lactamase producing strains (14 strains) were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Piperacillin and piperacillin/tazobactam proved to be the most effective antibiotics in both types of β-lactamase producing strains.Conclusion: Our study shows noticeable emergence of β-lactamases (ESBLs & MBLs) in P. aeruginosa. All of these strains were MDR. It reveals a correlation of these β-lactamases with multidrug resistant genes

Detection of carbapenemases blaOXA48-blaKPC-blaNDM-blaVIM and extended-spectrum-β-lactamase blaOXA1-blaSHV-blaTEM genes in Gram-negative bacterial isolates from ICU burns patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Burn patients are highly susceptible to invasion by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) through post-burn damage. The prevalence of MDR-GNB isolated from burns patients has increased dramatically in the last decade, representing a serious risk to patients admitted to burns units worldwide. The challenges of managing infected burns patients are exacerbated in poor resource settings. This study was designed to develop a pathway for the rapid diagnosis of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative infections and identify the bacterial genes including blaOXA1, blaTEM, and blaSHV encoding ESBLs and blaOXA48, blaKPC, blaNDM, and blaVIM encoding carbapenemases from the patient of post burns infection.  METHODS: Clinical isolates were collected (August 2017 to August 2018) from Intensive care unit (ICU) of Burn Centre. Antibiotic susceptibility testing and phenotypic detection of ESBLs and carbapenemases was performed by disk diffusion, double disk synergy test (DDST), combination disk test (CDT), and Imipenem + EDTA combined disk test (IMP + EDTA CDT). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection was performed for ESBLs blaOXA1-blaSHV-blaTEM and carbapenemases genes blaOXA48-blaKPC-blaNDM-blaVIM RESULTS: In total, of 170 Gram-negative isolates, 104 (61.2%) were confirmed as multidrug-resistant (MDR); Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the most prevalent 43/104 (41.4%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 17/104 (16.4%), Acinetobacter baumannii12/104 (11.5%), and 6/104 Proteus mirabilis (5.8%). All isolates (100%) were resistant to cefotaxime and ceftazidime, while the meropenem resistance was 58.7%. ESBL and carbapenemase genotypes were found to be associated with higher MAR index (0.65-0.88) and MIC (> 32 µg/ml) values P. aeruginosa was the major ESBL and carbapenemase producer as determined by phenotypic testing and PCR. blaTEM positive isolates among ESBLs producers were predominant 81.8% (27/33), followed by 27.3% blaOXA1 and blaSHV, respectively. blaVIM positive isolates among carbapenemase producers were predominant 47.7% (21/44), followed by 27.3% blaKPC, 20.5% blaOXA48, and 11.4% blaNDM positive isolates. CONCLUSIONS: The predominant organism causing burn infections was ESBL and carbapenemase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There are only limited effective antibiotics against such strains. blaVIM and blaTEM individually and in co-existence with blaKPC, blaOXA48, blaSHV, and blaOXA1 confer antimicrobial resistance in burns patients. Rapid detection of ESBL and carbapenemase genes will inform treatment strategies improving the outcome for post-burn patients in ICU

HEMATOLOGICAL VARIATIONS AND ASSESMENT OF HEAVY METALS IN SINDH SPARROW (PASSER PYRRHONOTUS) AS A BIOINDICATOR IN PUNJAB AREAS OF PAKISTAN

Sindh sparrows, prevalent in Sindh region of Pakistan, are non-migratory birds abundant in human-inhabited areas globally, except Antarctica. Given their close association with human settlements, these birds serve as crucial indicators for biological monitoring in regions affected by pollution. This study focused on assessing the hematological parameters and heavy metal concentrations in various organs of Sindh sparrows in the Punjab regions of Pakistan. The collected blood samples underwent analysis for hematological indices and heavy metal concentrations. The results indicated variability in hematological analysis of sparrows. Fluctuations were observed in the concentrations of different heavy metals, with significant differences in zinc and iron, while chromium, cadmium, and nickel concentrations showed non-significant differences. The patterns of heavy metal accumulation revealed higher concentrations of chromium, nickel, and iron in the liver, contrasting with the cadmium and zinc in kidneys. In conclusion, significant correlations were observed among the concentrations of Zinc, Chromium, Cadmium, Nickel, and Iron in kidney, liver, and muscles of both male and female Sindh sparrows. The findings underscore the need for further comprehensive studies to assess heavy metal accumulation in birds, highlighting the urgency to address environmental pollution that poses risks to avian species and human populations worldwide

Impact of Web 2.0 on digital divide in AJ&K Pakistan

Abstract—Digital divide is normally measured in terms of gap between those who can efficiently use new technological tools, such as internet, and those who cannot. It was also hypothesized that web 2.0 tools motivate people to use technology i.e. social networking sites can play an important role in bridging digital gap. The study was conducted to determine the presence of digital divide in urban and rural areas of district Muzaffrabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted involving 384 respondents from city Muzaffrabad and village Garhi Doppta. The existence of digital divide was assessed on the basis of the questionnaires given. Chi- square test was applied to find the association of different demographic and ICT related factors with internet usage. Despite the growing awareness there are possibilities of gender, age and area based digital divide. Outcomes of the survey affirmed that web 2.0 based web-sites are becoming popular and attracting people to use internet