An overview of musculoskeletal ultrasound – A thirteen years experience in Pakistan

SummaryObjective(1) To provide an overview on 13 years experience on patients with musculoskeletal disorders in Pakistan. (2) To assess accuracy of ultrasound in musculoskeletal disorders. (3) To determine percentage of different regional pathologies referred for musculoskeletal ultrasound.Material and methodsWe scanned 25,437 patients coming from all over Pakistan including 18,715 males and 6722 females from 1 month to 85 years of age.We used two ultrasound equipments with a multi-frequency (6–14MHz) linear probe to perform studies in patients with possible musculoskeletal system problems.ResultsAll patients with different joint or specific problems of musculoskeletal system were scanned, the total number of patients of any specific disorder was calculated and the accuracy of ultrasound was compared with MRI in a given percentage of patients.DiscussionIn all musculoskeletal disorders ultrasound was found to be accurate in about 84.8%. It was 83.5% accurate in the cases which went for MRI, its accuracy with other lab tests was 81.2% and that with surgery was 93.3%.ConclusionMusculoskeletal ultrasound is a very useful tool in almost all disorders of musculoskeletal system and shall be a necessary tool of a physicians, specially a family physician, orthopedic surgeon, physiotherapist and rheumatologist

Higher Education, Neoliberalism, and Conflict: A Case of the University of Balochistan in Pakistan

The current study focuses on the role of peacebuilding in the higher education sector of Pakistan’s conflict-affected region of Balochistan. The research is an extended case study of the University of Balochistan. It addresses how the institution’s peacebuilding agency has evolved in the face of ethnic conflict and the neoliberal reforms pursued by the state during the past two decades. The research is based on the study of policy documents, official reports, and individual and focus group interviews with various educational actors. The peacebuilding agency of the institution is theorized according to the 4Rs (Novelli et al., 2019; Novelli et al., 2017). The analytical frame of the 4Rs attempts to address the structural causes of conflict and theorize the role of education in relation to its role contributing to those causes. The analytical lens incorporates conflict\u27s cultural, political, economic, and social dimensions and proposes a holistic strategy for building sustainable peace. The research takes a normative stance of social transformation, rooted in the philosophy of Fraser (2005, 2020), by not merely focusing on ‘fixing’ the social outcomes through some affirmative action but also transforming the structural causes that give rise to social inequalities in the first place. Thus, the university’s peacebuilding agency is measured through its ability to promote representation, redistribution, recognition, and reconciliation within its institution and the larger society

Creating a country brand identity: A Review of Literature

This study is based on evaluating different factors that affect country as a brand. As the brand should have proper positioning and differentiation strategies, the country should also stand for something different, unique, and should have proper positioning. The country identity and brand image has strong impact on its economy. Through literature review the major factors were identified that affect the brand image of the country, and its impact on the economy, as a result of consumer purchase intention towards its products and brands.The most important factor identified through literature were tourism, country exports, country policies, and the people of the country themselves. The study also recommends what a country governments and decision makers should do to make a country differentiated through its tourism, country policies, and through its communication strategies. As the differentiation strategies also should be aligned with the country core competencies, the recommendations are also based on country core competencies. The impact of these major factors are evaluated on the country exports, its tourism, its image, as on its economy.

Quantifying Democracy: An Exploration of how Numbers undermine Democracy in Pakistan.

            The global drive towards datafication of knowledge and decision-making is not simply an outcome of advancement in measurement techniques and new technology. It is rather embedded in new forms of global governance, which emphasizes the regimes of accountability, and evidence based policy. In this new mode of governance, information plays a key role. But not all forms of information are useful. It is only the information contained in a numerical form, presented in a simple and accessible format, collected through scientific indicators, which is acceptable. It is this form of data, which can claim to be objective, free from political bias and untainted by political opinion. However, behind these claims of scientific objectivity lie complex social processes and political power involved, and is very much susceptible to human fallibility and error. The paper will explore the ways in which the process of democracy is being defined and understood in Pakistan through quantitative approaches and will highlight how it undermines the genuine democratic process in the country

Entrepreneurship Students Person-Environment Fit: A Study Of Two Public Higher Learning Institution In Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the congruency between the type of student personality and the type of environment area of specialization based on Holland’s Individual-Environmental Congruence Theory among engineering students of two universities in Malaysia. The subjects of this study were 276 students who were selected using the purposive random sampling of entrepreneurship program students. The instrument used in this study was the Holland’s Self-Directed Search (SDS). The finding of this study showed that there was no significant congruence between the type of student personality and their area of specialization. The finding of this study also showed that there was a significant difference in personality between male and female student of entrepreneurship program in one of the university, but there was no significant difference in personality between male and female student of entrepreneurship program in the other university. Generally the finding of the study showed that the entrepreneurship students had chosen the area of specialization that is not congruent to their personality. In view of the findings, several implications and recommendation were put forward. Keywords: Person-Environment Fit, Congruency, Entrepreneurship, Self-Directed Searc

MARKETING STRATEGIES TO EXTRINSICALLY MOTIVATE TAX PAYERS IN PAKISTAN

This study tries to explore the appropriate marketingstrategies that could motivate tax payers extrinsically resulting inwillingness towards tax compliance. The study is qualitative innature, based on highly unstructured and open ended interviews.The sample selected for the compilation of study included the business community holding valid National Income Tax Number (NTN), registered with the registration authorities.The qualitative data were processed in QSR Nvivo software that is developed for analyzing the qualitative information. Two codes were created resulting in nine codes including issues related to human resources, discrimination, threatening messages, prices of utilities, benefits, services, advertising, protection of copyrights and support for business. Based on the analysis of data, the study recommended marketing strategies thatcould result in motivating the tax payer extrinsically to enhance tax morale and facilitate tax compliance

The Impact of Corporate ESG Performance Disclosure across Australian Industries

The aims of this study are threefold. Firstly, it examines the long-term improvement in the corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Secondly, it highlights the favourable financial implications of the higher corporate ESG performance disclosure. The third aim is to provide insight into the industrial impact on the relationship between corporate ESG performance disclosure and financial performance. This study uses a sample of all Australian publicly listed companies between 2007 and 2017 and conducts a panel regression analysis. It also performs several robustness checks to address the methodological, sample selection and endogeneity issues concerning corporate ESG performance disclosure. The findings show a tangible improvement in Australian companies\u27 corporate ESG performance disclosure, favourably associated with financial performance. However, while the corporate ESG performance disclosure appears to be linked to higher financial performance, this is not the case across different industries. The industrial impact on the association between corporate ESG performance disclosure and financial performance has several implications. Firstly, the stakeholders\u27 pressure on companies to address ESG-related concerns is substantial, enhancing corporate financial performance. Secondly, the findings indicate that corporate ESG performance disclosure does not benefit corporations in different industry sectors equally. It, therefore, requires more focus and interpretation by corporate decision-makers. Thirdly, by promoting ESG-related disclosure, managers should consider diverse stakeholders in different industries that weigh business objectives differently. The results of this study provide insights for corporate managers regarding prioritising resource allocations to ESG-related activities that could impact financial performance differently in different industry sectors. The results of this study contribute to the growing literature on the financial implications of corporate ESG performance disclosures, notably different industrial characteristics

Species distribution model transferability and model grain size – finer may not always be better

Species distribution models have been used to predict the distribution of invasive species for conservation planning. Understanding spatial transferability of niche predictions is critical to promote species-habitat conservation and forecasting areas vulnerable to invasion. Grain size of predictor variables is an important factor affecting the accuracy and transferability of species distribution models. Choice of grain size is often dependent on the type of predictor variables used and the selection of predictors sometimes rely on data availability. This study employed the MAXENT species distribution model to investigate the effect of the grain size on model transferability for an invasive plant species. We modelled the distribution of Rhododendron ponticum in Wales, U.K. and tested model performance and transferability by varying grain size (50 m, 300 m, and 1 km). MAXENT-based models are sensitive to grain size and selection of variables. We found that over-reliance on the commonly used bioclimatic variables may lead to less accurate models as it often compromises the finer grain size of biophysical variables which may be more important determinants of species distribution at small spatial scales. Model accuracy is likely to increase with decreasing grain size. However, successful model transferability may require optimization of model grain size

Evaluation of Nurses Competency about Surgical Hand Scrubbing

Objective:  Hands play a significant role in organism transmission. Poor hand hygiene practices in health care settings lead to nosocomial infection. Aseptic practice is the cornerstone of current surgery, thus rigid adherence to prescribed sterile techniques in the operating room is essential.The objective of this study was to evaluate nurses’ competencies regarding surgical hand scrubbing. Material and Methods: Cross sectional observational design was used. The study was conducted in operating rooms in a tertiary care hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.This setting contains total seven operating rooms with 250 registered nurses. Sample size calculated through Slovin’s formula. Sample size was 154. Convenient sampling technique was used. An adopted checklist was used for observing the nurses’ practices of hand scrubbing. Data was analyzed in Statistical Software of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Results:  Majority of nurses (72.7%) were between 21-30 years age group. Only 38.3% participants wore a face mask and surgical cap correctly and 61.7% did not wear correctly. Majority participants, 76% had short nails.All participants (100%) removed nail polish, artificial nails, and jewelry before scrubbing. Majority of participants applied a proper amount of Povidone iodine. Conclusion:  Operational hand scrub is very vital component of operative procedure. Results of this study showed inadequate practices of nurses in the operating room, which was overall 77%. There is a need to improve nurses’ practices so, periodically audit, manager supervision and feedback, workshops should be organized