A Dynamic Macroeconometric Model of Pakistan’s Economy

In this study, an attempt has been made of develop a dynamic macroeconometric model of Pakistan’s economy to examine the behaviour of major macroeconomic variables such as output, consumption, investment, government expenditure, money, interest rates, prices, exports, and imports. The model consists of 21 equations, of which 13 are behavioural and the rest are identities. The Engle-Granger two-step cointegration procedure is used to derive the long-run and short -run elasticities for the period 1972-2009. The test of significance of each estimated equation seems to validate the model. The estimated long-run parameters are used to perform simulation experiments to determine the model’s ability to track historical data and to assess the behaviour of the key macroeconomic variables in response to the changes in selected exogenous variables. The results indicate that the majority of macroeconomic variables follow an increasing trend over the period of simulation, 2009-2013.Macroeconometric Model; Pakistan Economy, Cointegration, Forecasting

Attitude Towards Civil Service of Pakistan: A Perception Survey

Amid growing concerns on the popularity of the civil service among the students, the study reports the findings of a perception survey of enrolled university students. Contrary to common perceptions, the results suggest that the civil service still retains its allure among the potential entrants. Those who prefer the civil service as a career are more concerned with job security than those who prefer a job in the private sector. The Foreign Service of Pakistan appears to be the most favourite group whereas the Accounts Group is the least preferred. The District Management Group (DMG) seems to no longer enjoy a coveted position due perhaps to the implementation of the devolution plan which has stripped the group of its power and privileges.Students, Civil Service, Public Choice, Job Search, Employment Decision

The Distribution of Interferon-Alpha in Normal Human Tissues

The presence of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in human tissues has been described extensively in viral infections. In the last decade many workers have also shown the presence of low levels of IFN-alpha in conditions other than viral infections. While the precise origin of the synthesis of low levels of IFN-alpha in these physiological conditions has not been clearly defined, some evidence has suggested that macrophages may be involved. In an attempt to find the likely source of IFN-alpha in physiological conditions, an initial study was carried out in which the cellular distribution of immunoreactive IFN-alpha was studied in formalin fixed paraffin embedded normal adult human tissues from 38 different organs using various immunocytochemical techniques. These samples were drawn from over 300 individuals none of whom had evidence of viral infection. Tissue histiocytes from all organs in the body, with the exception of cerebral and cerebellar cortex in brain and renal cortex and medulla, stained positively for IFN-alpha. Kupffer cells, pulmonary alveolar macrophages and lymph node macrophages were also positive for IFN-alpha. Parenchymal cells in some other organs also contained immunoreactive IFN-alpha. These included syncytiotrophoblast in first, second and third trimester placentas, cuboidal lining cells of the choroid plexus in the brain, thyroid follicullar cells, pituitary endocrine cells, adrenocortical cells and parathyroid endocrine cells. These findings are compatible with previous suggestions that IFN-alpha may be synthesized and released in the absence of viral infection and may have a role in normal physiology. The presence of IFN-alpha in most cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system suggests that these cells play a major role in the defence against viral infection. This speculation, however does not preclude other possible roles for IFN-alpha, such as modulation of cell growth, major histocompitability antigen expression etc. The demonstration of immunoreactive IFN-alpha in formalin fixed paraffin embedded normal adult human tissues prompted other studies. In the first of these studies the cellular distribution of immunoreactive IFN-alpha was studied in formalin fixed paraffin embedded normal human autopsy tissues from 32 fetuses (7-42 weeks gestation) and 20 infants (aged from a few hours to 24 months). This study was performed to test the hypothesis that microbes have a role in switching on IFN-alpha synthesis. Fetal tissues are "germ free" while the infants had been exposed to a normal microbial flora. Immunoreactive IFN-alpha was first seen at 9 weeks gestation in macrophages in the fetal liver and thereafter was seen in macrophages in most other organs except in kidneys and cerebral and cerebellar cortex. When infant lungs were compared with fetal lungs a statistically significant increase in the number of macrophages (P< 0.0001, Mann-Whitney test) and the percentage of these cells expressing IFN-alpha (P <0.0005, Mann-Whitney test) was noted in infant lungs. No such changes were observed in spleen, liver and thymus following birth. These findings suggested that there is a basal level of IFN-alpha production by macrophages, which is not dependent on microbial products, but that such microbial products can enhance synthesis of this cytokine. Immunoreactive IFN-alpha was also demonstrated in parenchymal cells of thyroid gland, choroid plexus in brain, anterior pituitary gland and adrenal gland in the fetal and infant tissues. These findings were almost identical to those seen in adult tissues. In a separate study an attempt was made to extract, detect and quantify IFN-alpha in human tissues using protein extraction and an immunoradiometric assay kit for the detection of IFN-alpha. 20 placentas (14-42 weeks gestation) obtained fresh within 1-2 hours of vaginal delivery, 4 specimens of amniotic fluid obtained at the time of caesarean section from 37-39 weeks gestation pregnancies, 10 samples of choroid plexus and cerebral cortex, 11 thyroid glands and 9 fetal adrenal glands from adult and fetal autopsies performed within 10-24 hours of death were studied. IFN-alpha was detected in 9 placentas, 1 adult thyroid gland and all 4 amniotic fluids. However, this study failed to detect IFN-alpha in the remaining placentas and adult thyroid glands and in all choroid plexuses, cerebral cortex and fetal adrenal glands. Formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues from these organs did show immunoreactive IFN-alpha in cells using the immunocytochemical techniques. Finally an attempt was made to detect IFN-alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) in normal human tissues using an in situ hybridization method

Palatalization and velarization in Malayalam nasals

The current study builds upon the literature on secondary articulations in Malayalam liquids to investigate whether another set of sonorants, i.e. the nasals, also involve palatalization, velarization, or varying configurations of the tongue root. Specifically, the current study focuses on the anterior nasals, i.e. dental n vs. alveolar ṉ a marginal contrast which has not been examined phonetically for secondary articulations. What is known about these two nasals is that they stem from different historical sources, they contrast in precise place of articulation, and they have been described impressionistically as distinguishable by velarization on the dental n and palatalization on the alveolar ṉ, although no phonetic evidence has ever been provided to support either claim. Preliminary acoustic results from a single speaker in the current study suggest that these claims are in fact borne out: back vowels are generally fronted when adjacent to geminate alveolar ṉṉ, compared to those adjacent to geminate dental nn. This suggests palatalization on the former and/or velarization on the latter, in line with the acoustic results for liquids in previous studies. These acoustic results thus suggest that Malayalam speakers can use secondary articulations to exaggerate the differences between otherwise very similar nasals, in the same ways that they use those articulations to distinguish the “clear” and “dark” classes of liquids

Attitude of Tribal People of South Waziristan Agency Toward Their Children Sports Participation

This research study was an attempt to explore the attitude of tribal people of South Waziristan agency (SWA) toward their children sports participation. Parents were taken from South Waziristan agency (SWA) as population of the study. For the collection of the data a Likert type scale developed by the researcher and distributed among the selected population and also get it back after filling by the respondents. The collected data were tableted and analyzed by the researcher by using percentile as statistical tool. After analysis, the researcher arrived at conclusion that tribal people having positive attitude toward their children sports participation. Keywords: Tribal, South Waziristan, Agency, Attitude, Children, Parent

The intonation of South Asian languages: towards a comparative analysis

South Asia has long been considered a region of widespread convergence in phonology, morphology, and syntax. While these claims have not explicitly been extended to intonation in previous work, researchers such as Féry (2010) have suggested that multiple South Asian languages (SALs) from different families can be covered with the same intonational description, and that prominence and weight play no role in its implementation. The current study examines what is arguably the most characteristic unit of SAL prosody, the repeated rising contour (RRC), produced in recordings of The North Wind and the Sun in six SALs to confirm the existence of some crosslinguistic similarities while also identifying areas of substantial variation. I highlight the roles played by lexical accent, vowel peripherality, and vowel length in the alignment of tones, and describe variation within and across languages. I also suggest directions in which research must be carried out to expand our typological understanding of the region and propose a model flexible enough to cover its diverse languages.

DOES CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INFLUENCE JOB STRESS AND TURNOVER OF EMPLOYEE IN PRIVATE COLLEGES OF PESHAWAR, KP-PAKISTAN?

The main aim of this research is to fill the gap by accomplish a realistic study in Private colleges of Peshawar-Pakistan, by knowing the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on job stress and turnover of employee. Adopted questionnaires were used and Data was collected from existing literature through extensive study. Data analysis was perform using SPSS. Corporate Social Responsibility, job stress and turnover have negative correlation. This study will give a base for planning out strategy for establishing corporate social Responsibility in Private Colleges of Peshawar for maintainable developments besides decreasing job stress level and employee turnover rate. There is less research done on corporate social Responsibility, job stress and turnover relation in educational sector particularly in private colleges of Peshawar, Pakistan