Organizational Culture and Performance: An Empirical Study of SMEs in Pakistan

This study aims to identify the prevailing type of culture and its relationship with performance in SMEs operating in Pakistan. Using competing value framework, the cultural profile and dominant characteristics of SMEs are identified and investigated to ascertain their implied relationship with organizational performance on the basis of certain self-assessment variables. For this purpose, primary data was collected form SME employees through a self-administered survey questionnaire. The results revealed that ‘hierarchy’ culture is the prevailing type of culture and a statistically significant relationship exists between organizational culture and performance among the sampled SMEs. The study concludes with certain important insinuations for theory and practice especially concerned with SMEs

Pollination of Brassica campestris (Cruciferae) by Andrena savignyi (Andrenidae: Hymenoptera): Female vs. Male Pollination

Female and male solitary bees usually differ in their behavioral and morphological attributes and consequently in their pollination effectiveness. The current study was carried out at the research farm of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, to compare the foraging behavior and pollination efficiency of female and male Andrena savignyi Spinola, 1838 on Brassica campestris. The impact of different environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, light intensity and wind speed) on foraging behavior was also studied. Andrena savignyi was the most abundant floral visitor of B. campestris and comprised 52.17% of the floral visitors. Female individuals fed on both nectar and pollen while male fed on nectar. Visitation frequency, visitation rate, pollen harvest and pollen deposition of females were significantly higher than that of males because of their larger size and more dry weight. The maximum abundance of females was recorded at 12:00 pm followed by a sharp decline until 4:00 pm whereas males attained their maximum abundance at 2:00 pm. The female pollinated flowers resulted in greater pod weight, pod length, number of seeds per pod, seed weight per pod and germination percentage than the males. Our results suggest that females of A. savignyi deliver better pollination of B. campestris than males in terms of its reproductivesuccess and germination percentage. Future studies should emphasis on exploring the biology and ecology of A. savignyi with special focus of its artificial nesting

Yearlong association of Apis dorsata and Apis florea with flowering plants: planted forest vs. agricultural landscape

The yearlong association of two native honey bee species (Apis dorsata and A. florea) with 49 plant species was recorded in a planted forest and adjacent agricultural landscape at Multan, Pakistan. The study resulted in 588 interactions of A. dorsata with 40 plant species and 454 interactions of A. florea on 38 plant species. The most visited plants species by A. dorsata included Helianthus annuus, Citrus reticulata, Trifolium alexandrinum, Moringa oleifera and Calotropis procera, while the most visited plant species by A. florea included C. procera, Mangifera indica, T. alexandrinum, Coriandrum sativum and H. annuus. The peak abundance of bees and floral resources (i.e. number of plant species in flowering and abundance of floral units) was recorded during early March to late May followed by a gradual decline until December. Monthly abundance of both bee species was positively related to the floral resources, negatively related to relative humidity while it was not significantly related to temperature. The current study may serve as a baseline to track the degradation in ecosystem service of cross pollination and making new conservation strategies at local scale while future research should focus on tempo-spatial variations in foraging preferences, floral constancy and effect of foraging competition on crop pollination in different ecological regions of Pakistan

Reliability and Validity of Scales Assessing Anxiety Associated with Information Related Tasks: A Systematic Review

This research carried out a systematic review of the evidence of reliability and validity of scales available in studies reporting surveys of individuals to assess anxiety associated with information related tasks such as library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety. A systematic search using keywords ‘library anxiety’, ‘information anxiety’, \u27information seeking anxiety\u27, and \u27information seeking\u27 AND \u27anxiety\u27 was carried in Web of Science, Scopus, LISA, and LISTA to identify the relevant literature. This review included those studies reporting the use of any scale assessing information related anxiety, and published in the English language, and included all type of documents (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, thesis/dissertations, reports). The two-phase screening process, title/abstract screening, and full-text screening resulted in 85 eligible studies reviewed in this paper. The data extracted from each eligible study included author names, year of publication, scale title, type of constructed assessed, sample characteristics, number of items in the scale, types of reliability and validity reported. The results revealed that most of the empirical studies did not report the reliability and validity of scales used for data collection. Eight instruments assessing information related anxieties were identified. These scales were heterogeneous in the number of statements and subscales and homogenous in the type of scale options. An internal consistency coefficient such as Cronbach\u27s alpha was the widely used reliability measure. Face validity, content validity, and construct validity either through exploratory factor analysis or confirmatory factor analysis were the most used validity measures. These results quite had serious implications on the inferences drawn by the practitioners and researchers based on the results of existing studies. The use of good-quality measures for assessing information related anxieties needs to be promoted not only by academicians but also by journal referees and editors. This review would be a worthy contribution in the existing research on information related anxieties as no such study appeared so far in this area

Pollination of Grewia asiatica (Malvaceae) by Megachile cephalotes (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae): Male vs. Female Pollination

Phalsa, Grewia asiatica is a multi-purpose crop while cross-pollination can significantly improve its reproductive success. Megachile bees (Megachilidae) are the most important group of pollinators of G. asiatica. In this study we observed the foraging behavior of Megachile cephalotes and its ultimate impact on reproductive success of phalsa at Bahawalpur (Punjab), Pakistan. Although visitation rate and stay time were statistically similar in both the sexes but visitation frequency (2.06±0.14 individuals/120 seconds) and pollen deposition (39.35±3.17 pollen grains /stigma/visit) of females were significantly higher than that of males (0.44±0.06 individuals/120 seconds and 12.05±1.19 pollen grains/stigma/visit, respectively). The environmental factors (i.e. ambient temperature, relative humidity, sunlight intensity and wind speed) greatly influenced -either positively or negatively- both the sexes (Pearson’s correlation). Female pollinated fruits were significantly greater in weight (0.41±0.017 g) followed by open (0.31±0.012 g) and male (0.27±0.011 g) pollinated fruits. Percent weight loss remained significantly lower in female pollinated fruits than open and male pollinated fruits until12 hours after harvest. Fruit wrinkling significantly increased with the increase in post-harvest intervals in open, female and male pollinated fruits while fruit color changed only in female pollinated fruits. The results of present study suggest female M. cephalotes as the efficient pollinators of G. asiatica in terms of it reproductive success and post-harvest parameters. Future studies should focus biology and ecology of M. cephalotes with special focus on its artificial nesting

Development of Threshold Levels and a Climate-Sensitivity Model of the Hydrological Regime of the High-Altitude Catchment of the Western Himalayas, Pakistan

Water shortages in Pakistan are among the most severe in the world, and its water resources are decreasing significantly due to the prevailing hydro-meteorological conditions. We assessed variations in meteorological and hydrological variables using innovative trend analysis (ITA) and traditional trend analysis methods at a practical significance level, which is also of practical interest. We developed threshold levels of hydrological variables and developed a non-parametric climate-sensitivity model of the high-altitude catchment of the western Himalayas. The runoff of Zone I decreased, while the temperature increased and the precipitation increased significantly. In Zone II, the runoff and temperature increased but the precipitation decreased. A two-dimensional visualization of the Pardé coefficient showed extreme drought events, and indicated greater sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature than to precipitation. The threshold levels of runoff for Zones I and II were 320 and 363 mm using the Q80 fixed method, while the mean runoff amounts were estimated to be 79.95 and 55.61 mm, respectively. The transient threshold levels varied by month, and the duration of droughts in Zones I and II ranged from 26.39 to 78.98 days. The sensitivity of the hydrological regime was estimated based on a modified climate-elasticity model (εp = 0.11–0.23, εt = −0.04–2.39) for Zones I and II, respectively. These results highlight the sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature, which influences the melting process. However, it is important to establish thresholds for hydrological variables and understand the climate sensitivity of the hydrological regime of the entire basin, so that policy makers and water managers can make sustainable water-resource-management decisions for this region

IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ BEHAVIOR ON THE MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL: EMPIRICAL STUDY OF DISTRICT HYDERABAD, SINDH, PAKISTAN

Education is considered as an authentic tool for rapid nation building, empowerment, prosperity and economic development. The quality of education remained main issue for Policy makers and curriculum designer. Policy makers have dedicated huge amount of time and energy to provide quality education. Mainly focus of quality betterment relies was associated with infrastructural development like, buildings, furniture, laboratories, libraries and play grounds. In this relation, curriculum designing, hiring of new trained teacher, external environment, nutrition, poverty alleviation also remained priority for betterment of education. But the major element of education is related with student psychology. One major factor is being over shadowed; the motivation of the students, even with the best administrators, highly qualified faculty, curriculum and materials in place, if students are not motivated, to learn and excel, the achievement of goal will become difficult. Therefore, current study major purpose was to investigate the impact of teacher’s behavior on the motivation of students at high school. The study based on inductive approach. The quantitative technique was employed for data collection. The data were analyzed through statistical package for social science 24 version for windows. The findings of study revealed that impact of teacher’s behavior on the motivation of students is positively associated. The teacher motivation has great impact on student attitude, learning, understanding and mental development. Therefore, policy makers, curriculum designers should focus on motivation of students. Article visualizations

Early Versus Delayed Feeding in Paediatric Patients Following Stoma Reversal in a Resource Limited Environment

Introduction: Institution of early enteral nutrition is essential after stoma reversal. There is no consensus on the time feeding should be started after closure of a stoma in children. It is established that after stoma reversal early achievement of full feed and early discharge affects the overall cost in resource limited countries. Materials and Methods: This Randomized control trial was conducted in the Paediatric Surgery Department of Services Hospital, Lahore. Over a period of 1 year, from April 2016 to March 2017, a total of 100 cases were included.  In group A, early feeding (after 36 to 48hours) and in group B delayed (after 5days) feeding was given to the patients. Time for restoration of full feed and length of hospital stay and complications were compared in both groups. Each patient was observed in the ward till discharge and followed up to 30 days in the out-patient department. The data was recorded and analyzed in SPSS version 20. Independent sample t-test was applied to obtain the p-value for comparing the means. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results:  In both groups age, weight and etiology of stoma was comparable.  The full feed was achieved within 56.66 ± 7.77 hours in group A and 156.76 ± 7.96 hours in group B (P<0.005). Mean length of hospital stay was 5.84 ± 0.84 days in group A, while it was 9.50 ± 0.76 days in group B (P<0.005). Conclusion: Early enteral feeding after stoma reversal is well tolerated and beneficial. It is suggested that early feeding protocol should be encouraged in a resource limited environment

Insular Glioma Esoteric Precinct

Background and Objective:  The complex insular anatomy and its proximity to eloquent areas make this area almost inaccessible for safe surgical resection of Glioma. Aim of our study is to determine outcome assessment after surgical resection. Materials & Methods:  This was a retrospective analysis of 59 patients over a period of 5 years from July 2013 till June 2018. All patients of insular Glioma were included in our study irrespective of age and sex. Degree of surgical resection, Post-operative neurological deficits and complications were assessed. They were followed in the outpatient department at 3, 6 and 12 months. Results:  Total 59 patients were included 38 (64.40%) male and 21 (35.59%) females. 36 (61%) patients had right sided insular Glioma and 23 (38.98%) have left sided. Seizures were main presentation in 46(77.96%) patients. Trans-sylvian route adopted in 34 (57.6%) patients followed by transcortical route. Near total Resection was Possible in 30 (50.84%) patients and partial in 29 (49.15%) patients. Focal neurological deficits the motor weakness & dysphasia were main post-operative complications in 18 (30.5%) patients. Three (5.08%) patients died. In all grade II and grade III Gliomas no increase in size was discovered on MRI Brain at 6 and 12 months. Conclusion:  Maximum safe resection of insular Glioma with acceptable morbidity is possible with improved overall survival and disease free interval

Coronary calcium scoring: are the results comparable to computed tomography coronary angiography for screening coronary artery disease in a South Asian population?

Background: The need of having feasible screening tools like Coronary Calcium Scoring (CCS) and CT Coronary Artery (CTCA) for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) has become paramount. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of CCS in determining the degree of stenosis of coronary vessels as compared to that determined by CTCA in a South Asian population. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at The Aga Khan University Hospital. A total of 539 patient records were reviewed who had undergone CCS and CTCA between 2008 and 2010. Patient records were reviewed by comparing their CCS and CTCA results. Results: About 268 out of 301 (89%) patients with a CCS of 0-9 were found to be free of stenosis on CTCA. On a CCS of 10-99, 110 out of 121 (91%) patients were either free of stenosis or had mild stenosis. About 66 out of 79 (84%) patients had moderate or severe stenosis with a calcium score of 100-400 while none of the patients were free of stenosis. Around 28 out of 38 (74%) patients with a CCS of more than 400 had severe stenosis. However, only 04 patients (11%) were found to have mild stenosis. Spearman\u27s rho revealed a correlation coefficient of 0.791 with a p-value of \u3c0.001. Conclusion: Our study reaffirms that in South Asian population, low CCS (\u3c100) is associated with no or minimal stenosis while high CCS warrants further investigation; hence, making it a reliable tool for screening patients with CAD