GESTATION LENGTH OF KARI SHEEP

Previously, the concept of a gestation period of sheep shorter than 121 days was unheard of in the field of sheep biology. Our findings during a farmers’ survey in the Lotkho area of Chitral, Pakistan, revealed that the sheep native to the region, locally called “Kari”, gestates for a period of only three months. This duration is 25-40% short of the usual gestation length and is shorter than ever recorded for the species. The mean and mode gestation length (GL) was 110 and 92 days respectively and was concentrated in three distinct clusters: day 87-95, 120-123 and 151-153, accounting for 52% of all observations. GL was influenced by location, season of conception and lambing and the interaction of location with season; had an estimated repeatability of zero. The mean lambing interval was 224.7 ±5.24 days, ranging between 109 and 467 days. During a trial conducted in a controlled environment, only three out of the 27 copulated ewes conceived, and gestated in 113, 125 and 145 days respectively. Gestation length during the trial supported field findings. The results suggest that GL in Kari sheep is unusual as many ewes gestated in three months, with variations of up to 5 months. Genotype by environment interaction is a possibility. However, reasons for the findings are still not clear and further controlled studies should be carried out to establish and further explore the factor(s) responsible for this unusual and unique manifestation of the Kari with regards to its gestation length

URBAN INDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE: MITIGATION STRATEGIES TOWARDS INCLUSIVE GROWTH

Climate change has been emerged as a major challenge for the sustainable human settlement. The recent studies have established scientific evidences for climate change. This paper presents impacts of climate change in the urban India, which has about 30 percent of population and expected to grow over 800 million by next 50 years. Citizens are already facing adverse impact of climate change, which is evenly spread throughout the country and mostly to vulnerable citizens. India’s expenditure on adaptation measures was exceeded 2.6 percent of the GDP in 2006-07 shows the magnitude of monetary loss by climate change. Due to complexity of issues, systematic strategies are needed for adaptation and mitigation. In the light of ‘National Action Plan on Climate Change’ two urban sectors viz. urban transportation and municipal solid waste management are assessed and suggestions have been made for mitigation strategies. This study is broadly based on published researches and documents. Findings reveal that yet the climate change is not taken seriously by policy makers, hence blue print for mitigation haven’t placed. Findings suggest systematic mitigation measures for sustainable development which will lead to inclusive growth too. The need for collaborative planning among various stakeholders is emphasized.Climate change, urban India, mitigation, urban transportation, municipal waste management.

Sustainable Neighbourhood Development in Emerging Economies: A Review

This study reviews the literature on sustainable development focusing at the neighbourhood level, including relevant assessment frameworks and indicators, with emphasis on the emerging economies. The review briefly comments on the influence of built-environment characteristics on sustainable outcomes. In comparison to advanced economies, neighbourhoods of emerging economies are understudied. Existing studies focus at the city level with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. Given different development trajectories, results from the advanced economies cannot be applied without appropriate calibration. There is, therefore, a need for further study to provide evidence-based interventions for sustainable urban neighbourhood development in consideration of multiple dimensions

Sustainable Neighbourhood Development in Emerging Economies: A Review

This study reviews the literature on sustainable development focusing at the neighbourhood level, including relevant assessment frameworks and indicators, with emphasis on the emerging economies. The review briefly comments on the influence of built-environment characteristics on sustainable outcomes. In comparison to advanced economies, neighbourhoods of emerging economies are understudied. Existing studies focus at the city level with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. Given different development trajectories, results from the advanced economies cannot be applied without appropriate calibration. There is, therefore, a need for further study to provide evidence-based interventions for sustainable urban neighbourhood development in consideration of multiple dimensions

Customer Perception towards Imported Cosmetics

The purpose of this research is to examine the factors influencing customer’s perception towards imported cosmetic goods, to find the role of trust & security in establishing favorable perception in the customer’s mind toward imported cosmetics and ultimately to know the customer’s perception and views about imported cosmetics.Multiple Regression and Correlation are used to test hypothesized relationships amongst the variables. The questionnaire is used to collect the data from a sample 150 respondents. The findings show that imported cosmetics have a positive influence on a customer's perception. We find that creating  trust and feelings of security in customer’s  minds can greatly facilitate the development of a positive and favorable perception towards imported cosmetics.  These findings strengthen the customer's perception about brand consciousness and establish a baseline study for future research. Keywords: Customer perception, Trust, Ease of use and Security, imported cosmetics

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u27s government and new teacher induction policy: Is the government in harmony with national and international trends in teacher education?

Role of competent teachers is fundamental in improving quality of education, therefore we find more organized and rigorous teacher education programs in those countries which have better quality of education. Quality teachers can be produced from quality pre-service teacher education programs. In Pakistan, raising teachers’ status and competency received a remarkable attention for the last two decades. There has been consistent emphasis on improving quality of teacher education almost in all the National Education Policies in Pakistan. And this emphasis was translated into various reforms and development initiatives such the initiation of B.Ed. (Hons.) and ADE programs. Although due to various causes the targets have not been achieved most of the time, however the need for improvement has been continuously highlighted and solutions have always been proposed. Similar guidelines for the improvement of teacher education are provided in both of the recent National Education policies of Pakistan 2009 and 2017. However this time, one of the obstacles before the initiatives of the policies, especially the new teacher education programs is the provincial autonomy. For example, the new teacher induction policy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is in direct contradiction with the recommendations of the national education policies and international standards of teachers. This paper attempts to raise various critiqued questions on the new teacher induction policy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, specifically on the fact that the policy has eliminated the requirement of professional educational degrees for all teaching posts. This new induction policy is most likely to create imbalance in the education system by devaluing pre-service teacher education programs in the province. Resultantly, the struggles for raising the quality of education will remain fractional. Therefore, in order to effectively materialize the reforms of quality education, the KP’s government needs to revise this induction policy and give weightage to pre-service teacher education degrees (B.Ed. Hons & ADE). Because these professional teacher education degree holders have the competency to improve the quality of classroom learning along with overall education system

Spatially contextualized analysis of energy use for commuting in India

India's land transport GHG emissions are small in international comparison, but growing exponentially. Understanding of geographically-specific determinants of GHG emissions is crucial to devise low-carbon sustainable development strategies. However, previous studies on transport patterns have been limited to socio-economic context in linear and stationary settings, and with limited spatial scope. Here, we develop a nested typology that categorizes all 640 Indian districts according to the econometrically identified drivers of their commuting emissions. Results reveal that per capita commuting emissions significantly vary over space, after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, and are strongly influenced by built environment (e.g., urbanization, and road density), and mobility-related variables (e.g., travel distance and travel modes). The commuting emissions of districts are characterized by unique, place-specific combinations of drivers. We find that income and urbanization are dominant classifiers of commuting emissions, while we explain more fine-grained patterns with mode choice and travel distance. Surprisingly the most urbanized areas with highest population density are also associated with the highest transport GHG emissions, a result that is explained by high car ownership. This result contrasts with insights from OECD countries, where commuting emissions are associated with low-density urban sprawl. Our findings demonstrate that low-carbon commuting in India is best advanced with spatially differentiated strategies

A QUALITATIVE STUDY EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF STIGMA IN THE LIVES OF ADULT ASTHMA PATIENTS IN SELANGOR MALAYSIA

Objective: This study aimed to address and explore the issue of stigmatization and its dynamics in asthma patients from hospital and community pharmacy settings.Methods: The qualitative study approach was used to explore the issues of stigma thoroughly and deeply in asthma patients. In this study, eighteen adult asthma patients were approached for interview from two different healthcare service settings i.e. academic hospital and community pharmacy from Selangor, Malaysia. Patients' responses were recorded manually as well as electronically. The tapes were verified for accuracy of transcription. Data obtained was coded independently for the relevant themes.Results: The majority of the interviewees were Malays i.e. 10, 55.6% and remaining 5 (27.7%) and 3 (16.7%) were Indians and Chinese respectively. The mean±SD age of the patients was 49.3 (±11.02) and among these majority were females (n=12, 66.7%). The main findings of study defined three main themes that included stigma of asthma in terms of extent of disclosure about diagnosis status; discrimination felt in the society; patients' feelings affected by stigma and different ways adapted to tackle stigma of asthma.Conclusion: The patients' experiences of stigmatization were common in both study settings i.e. community pharmacy and hospitals. The patients' adaptation to asthma needs to be given an in-depth consideration to deal the psychosocial concerns of stigma. The support from the healthcare professionals, family members, friends and co-workers is the right strategy and way forward to improve psychosocial wellbeing of the asthma patients.Â

Diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration cytology in parotid tumors

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of parotid gland tumors.Methods: We reviewed files of all patients who underwent parotidectomy for various parotid pathologies at Aga Khan University Hospital. Study design included a comparison between results of preoperative FNAC with final histopathological diagnosis. Galen & Ganbino method was used to calculate sensitivity and specificity of FNAC.Results: Among 50 patients reviewed, there was one false positive and 3 false negative results reported on FNAC. This gives a sensitivity of FNAC for reporting malignancy to be 74% and specificity to rule out malignancy 97%. No significant complications were reported while performing the procedure.CONCLUSION: FNAC is a safe and effective modality in diagnosis and treatment planning of patients with parotid tumors