The War on Terror is a War on Women: The Impact of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism on Women\u27s Education in Swat, Khyber Pukhtunkhwah (Pakistan)

This article was derived from the author’s Postdoctoral Study, ‘The War on Terror is a War on Women in Swat Valley: Women’s Education under Terror and Displacement (2006-2011). Women’s education was affected the most during periods of terrorism in Swat Valley. The main targets of the militants were women’s educational institutes. The situation further worsened when the state government launched military operations in the name of the war on terror (counter-terrorism), which forced a huge number of local inhabitants to leave the valley and utterly blocked their educational accessibility for a long time. This study addresses how those women experienced or somehow challenged terrorism and counter-terrorism for their continuation or discontinuation of education. The study is based primarily on the qualitative data analysis of seven in-depth semi-structured interviews from the seven tehsils (sub-districts) of Swat. The study examines the actual role of women under conditions of patriarchal-peace, armed conflicts (terrorism and counter-terrorism), and displacement. This includes the local politics of Tanzeem-i-Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM), and the influence of patriarchal culture on the country’s politics are further analysed. While addressing the above issues, this study also highlights the need to embark on further in-depth research on Swat with special reference to women’s education; such research can be used to support Swati women in their struggle for education, well-being, and empowerment

The Role of Management Practices of Higher Education Institutions in Knowledge Storage and Knowledge Accessibility

This study aims to explore the management practices of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with regard to knowledge storage and knowledge accessibility. Data were gathered from public sector HEIs in Peshawar using semi-structured interviews. Based on previous studies, themes and management practices were identified for knowledge storage and knowledge accessibility. Data were analyzed using content analysis, wherein matching themes and emergent themes were identified. The findings of the study revealed that emergent themes in technological perspective for knowledge storage were MOODLE platform, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), databases for storage of HEIs’ own journals, Campus Management Solution (CMS), faculty members’ and students’ email groups, and social media. While emergent themes in non-technological perspective for knowledge storage were libraries of HEIs at their central and departmental levels. Similarly, emergent themes in technological perspective of knowledge accessibility were MOODLE, HEC smart university project, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), databases for accessibility of HEIs’ own journals, firewall deployment for internet, Campus Management Solution (CMS), faculty members’ and students’ email groups, and social media. While emergent themes in non-technological perspective for knowledge accessibility were libraries of HEIs at their central and departmental levels. Finally, it was found that there are some management practices for knowledge storage and knowledge accessibility which need to be followed by the HEIs for effective knowledge storage and accessibility.&nbsp

Investigating English Speaking Problems of Lawyers in Court Proceedings

Lawyers of Pakistan are facing numerous challenges while performing at their workplaces. One of the major challenges is proficiency in English language which plays the key role in getting justice. The aim of this paper is to investigate the English-speaking problems faced by the lawyers in court proceedings of Hyderabad, Sindh. For this purpose, qualitative methodology has been used in which Semi-structured interviews were conducted from (n = 5) lawyers. Convenient sampling was used to select the participants based on their convenience. Thematic analysis was done for analyzation of the data. Findings of the data revealed that lawyers were facing numerous English-speaking problems such as grammatical mistakes, vocabulary error, inappropriate use of sentences and so on. Keywords: English-speaking, Lawyers, Court Proceedings, Problems. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/83-02 Publication date: November 30th 202

The Impact of Children on Parental Purchasing Behavior

Children have a major influence on their parents' purchases of similar products. Children are a dominant market for marketers to consider when making strategy choices since they are part of a family unit. This market is active in three ways: first, it is a large market in and of itself; second, it is a key influencer in facilitating purchasing decisions; and third, it is a possible future market. The focus of this research is on children's second position. They become the focal point of family expectations, and parents are more receptive to their recommendations when making purchases. This research study explains the effect of children on parental purchase behavior in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi using a survey as a data collection method. Parents are among the participants in this research. The relationship between parental purchase behavior (PPB) and age of child (AOC), importance of child (IOC), product category (PC), communication pattern (CP), and family orientation is revealed by multiple regression analysis (FO). The age of the child (AOC), family orientation (FO), and Product Category (PC) are the three most significant factors that affect parental buying behavior. The paper concludes that children have a major influence on their parents' decisions

Exploring Language Attitudes of Undergraduate English Language Learners Towards Sindhi (L1) and English (L2)

The aim of this paper was to investigate the language attitudes of undergraduate English language learners (ELLs) towards Sindhi (their mother tongue) and English language which were affected through dominant discourse of language policy. The participants for the current study were selected from the Institute of English language and Literature, University of Sindh, Jamshoro. The study used semi structured interviews in order to collect the in-depth data about language attitudes of students towards Sindhi and English language. The researcher used purposive sampling, total number of the participants considered in the study were (n=10). Thematic analysis was used for analysisng the data of the study. The findings of the study revealed that undergraduate English language learners (ELLs) have more positive attitudes towards English language than Sindhi language (their mother tongue). The participants perceived that their personalities are grooming. They are being encouraged and considered educated when they speak English language. On the other hand talking about language attitudes towards Sindhi language participants shared that they don’t feel any change in their personalities. They are discouraged to speak Sindhi language and considered as less hard working and less intelligent when they speak Sindhi language. Keywords: Language attitude, English language learners, Sindhi, English, language policy. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/84-02 Publication date: December 31st 202

Violence against Women: A case of Sindhi Press

This study aims to identify the cases and nature of violence perpetrated against women to communicate information to the international community for creating a supportive environment and mobilizing social pressure to help end violence against women in Sindh. This analysis covers all cases reported for Sindh province, in major Sindhi Daily newspapers 'Kawish and Awami Awaz' in the year 2016. Findings show that out of the 858 cases reported most of the cases were of murders, 228 cases others included 199 abductions, 157 honour killings, , 108 rapes and 166 suicides. The weapon mostly used (in 60-70% of the cases) was the rifle or gun, followed by axe. The findings also provide support for the policy/law-making and institutional mechanism so that a strict implementation could be made in Pakistan to end violence against women

What matters when examining the performance of salespersons? Analyzing the boundary conditions of personal dispositional factor

PurposeThis study intended to examine the effect of developmental and evaluative purposes of performance appraisal (PA) on job meaningfulness (JM). Furthermore, the study also aimed to assess the moderating effect of personal dispositional factors, that is, internal and external loci of control between developmental and evaluative PA and JM.Design/Methodology/ApproachA total of 295 questionnaires were received from salespersons working in national and multinational pharmaceutical companies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Data were gathered using a time lag study design using a convenience sampling technique. Data collected via questionnaires were analyzed using PLS-SEM to assess measurement and structural models for testing hypotheses.FindingsResults revealed that developmental PA significantly influenced JM, while evaluative PA failed to influence JM. Furthermore, there was a moderating effect of the external locus of control (ELOC) on the relationship between developmental PA and JM, while the rest of moderating hypotheses failed to influence the relationship of developmental and evaluative PA with JM.Practical implicationsThe results can be used as a building block in order to bring positive work outcomes in the form of meaningful work. Organizations should use their PA as a development tool, instead of instrumental or evaluative PA, for making the work more meaningful to the employees.Originality/ValueThe extant literature is limited in terms of assessing the dimensions of PA (developmental and evaluative) in predicting workplace outcomes. Also, examinations of multidimensions of the locus of control are limited in the existing literature between HR practices and work outcomes. The current study has filled these gaps in the contemporary literature

AFLES’s Inspirations and Its ASEAN Youth Community Development (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit)

This article is discussing about experiences of conducting AFLES (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit), which started in 2013 with the collaboration between Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (PSU). AFLES is an action-packed summit meant for ASEAN youth with exciting forums, discussions, lectures, team-work, outdoor activities, community work, services, sight-seeing and cultural events. With the main objectives of developing ASEAN youth community in terms of their leadership skills and to serve as a platform for ASEAN youth to get together and connected to each other, AFLES for the last sixth term (2013-2018), has evolved to be a looking after summit to participate by ASEAN university student leaders. Over the years AFLES has developed and progressed with a few more collaborators, namely AKEPT (Malaysia Higher Education Leadership Academy), UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA), UUM (Universiti Utara Malaysia) and UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia). Community development, ASEAN unity and harmonization, and Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions in ASEAN are discussed regarding to the sustainability of AFLES in conducting an international program for youth across ASEAN region

Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Post-partum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Early administration of tranexamic acid reduces deaths due to bleeding in trauma patients. We aimed to assess the effects of early administration of tranexamic acid on death, hysterectomy, and other relevant outcomes in women with post-partum haemorrhage. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited women aged 16 years and older with a clinical diagnosis of post-partum haemorrhage after a vaginal birth or caesarean section from 193 hospitals in 21 countries. We randomly assigned women to receive either 1 g intravenous tranexamic acid or matching placebo in addition to usual care. If bleeding continued after 30 min, or stopped and restarted within 24 h of the first dose, a second dose of 1 g of tranexamic acid or placebo could be given. Patients were assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight numbered packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Participants, care givers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. We originally planned to enrol 15 000 women with a composite primary endpoint of death from all-causes or hysterectomy within 42 days of giving birth. However, during the trial it became apparent that the decision to conduct a hysterectomy was often made at the same time as randomisation. Although tranexamic acid could influence the risk of death in these cases, it could not affect the risk of hysterectomy. We therefore increased the sample size from 15 000 to 20 000 women in order to estimate the effect of tranexamic acid on the risk of death from post-partum haemorrhage. All analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN76912190 (Dec 8, 2008); ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00872469; and PACTR201007000192283. Findings Between March, 2010, and April, 2016, 20 060 women were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive tranexamic acid (n=10 051) or placebo (n=10 009), of whom 10 036 and 9985, respectively, were included in the analysis. Death due to bleeding was significantly reduced in women given tranexamic acid (155 [1·5%] of 10 036 patients vs 191 [1·9%] of 9985 in the placebo group, risk ratio [RR] 0·81, 95% CI 0·65–1·00; p=0·045), especially in women given treatment within 3 h of giving birth (89 [1·2%] in the tranexamic acid group vs 127 [1·7%] in the placebo group, RR 0·69, 95% CI 0·52–0·91; p=0·008). All other causes of death did not differ significantly by group. Hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (358 [3·6%] patients in the tranexamic acid group vs 351 [3·5%] in the placebo group, RR 1·02, 95% CI 0·88–1·07; p=0·84). The composite primary endpoint of death from all causes or hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (534 [5·3%] deaths or hysterectomies in the tranexamic acid group vs 546 [5·5%] in the placebo group, RR 0·97, 95% CI 0·87-1·09; p=0·65). Adverse events (including thromboembolic events) did not differ significantly in the tranexamic acid versus placebo group. Interpretation Tranexamic acid reduces death due to bleeding in women with post-partum haemorrhage with no adverse effects. When used as a treatment for postpartum haemorrhage, tranexamic acid should be given as soon as possible after bleeding onset. Funding London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Pfizer, UK Department of Health, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation