Financial liberalization and macroeconomic performance, empirical evidence from selected Asian countries

Financially repressed economy cannot grow with an increasing growth rate. That’s why most of the developing countries move toward liberalized financial system. The basic objective of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of Pakistan, China, and India financial sector liberalization and its impact on macroeconomic performance. This study uses Johansen co integration to provide cross country evidence of long run relationship between macroeconomic variables and financial openness. Results show that there is long run relation among financial openness and macro economic performance in all three countries. Financial liberalization has positive and significant effect on Pakistan macroeconomic performance while negative and significant effect on china economy. The relationship in India is positive but not significantFinancial liberalization, financial depth. Economic growth

Upaya Peningkatan Hasil Belajar IPS Melalui Metode Pembelajaran College Ball Pada Siswa Kelas V SD Negeri Kedungringin 01 Tahun Pelajaran 2011/2012

Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui peningkatan hasil belajar Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial (IPS) dengan penerapan metode College Ball. Jenis penelitian ini adalah PTK (penelitian tindakan kelas) Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di SD N Kedungringin 01. Subyek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas V SD N Kedungringin 01 yang berjumlah 22 siswa. Penelitian tindakan kelas ini dilakukan dalam 3 siklus terdiri dari tahap perencanaan tindakan, pelaksanaan tindakan, observasi, dan refeksi. Tenik analisis data dilakukan dengan analisis interaktif. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan yaitu teknik wawancara, observasi, tes dan dokumentasi. Hasil belajar mata pelajaran IPS pada tes awal sebelum siklus diperoleh rata-rata 56,18 dengan ketuntasan belajar yang diperoleh 50,00%, pada siklus I terjadi peningkatan hasil belajar rata-rata yang diperoleh 57,23 dengan ketuntasan belajar klasikal 54,54%. dan Pada siklus II juga terjadi peningkatan hasil belajar dengan nilai rata-rata 68,63 dengan ketuntasan belajar klasikal 72,72%. Pada siklus III hasil belajar juga meningkat dengan nilai rata-rata 78,18 dengan ketuntasan belajar klasikal 86,36%. Dengan penerapan metode pembelajaran College Ball dalam pembelajaran Ilmu pengetahuan Sosial (IPS) dengan materi perjuangan para tokoh saat dijajah belanda dan jepang dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar siswa

Causes of deforestation and climatic changes in Dir Kohistan

Pakistan is on 2nd position among those countries, where deforestation rate is very high. The current work is design to highlight the facts, real causes and impacts of deforestation and forest degradation in “Dir Kohistan” of K.P.K Pakistan, by incorporating the view of local people through a questionnaire. According to this survey about 83% of the local people are dependent on these forests and contribute to deforestation in one of different ways regardless of any rule regulation. The current study shows that the extensive deforestation in the mention area occurs for household needs (cooking, furniture, heating, earning etc). Another growing cause is the cutting of these forests for livestock purposes. Along this the nonscientific grazing is a key point in the deforestation. Unemployment and poverty is another attractive factor in the degradation of these forests. However the role of black marketing and role of stake holders on these forests should not be neglected in deforestation. Meanwhile the ineffective management and ignorance of the forest department is one of the major contributing factors in deforestation. This study also highlights the climatic changes in Dir Kohistan, since 1983 to 2012. The climatic data of mention area assimilated through survey, online source and meteorological station. The climatic data show that there is increase in temperature (0.33°C), decrease in rainfall (148.2mm) and humidity (1.4%). The underlying causes of deforestation in “Dir Kohistan” need the attention of government authority to resolve these causes, implementing strong rules regulations in order to mitigate the climatic changes and save this ecosystem. Keywords: Forest, Deforestation, Causes, Climate changes, Dir Kohista

Plants as potential source of antimicrobial agents

For microbial infections, either caused by bacteria or fungi, antibiotics are employed. After the discovery of antibiotics it was thought that infectious diseases will no longer exist. But due to irrational use of antibiotics, a number of bacterial strains with multi-drug resistance have emerged (khan et al., 2009) and due to infectious diseases millions of people die every year (Dubey et al., 2012). It is a bitter fact that infectious diseases are the leading cause of the premature deaths which result in approximately fifty thousand deaths annually around the globe (Ahmad and Beg, 2001). The unnoticeable use of antimicrobials both in developing and developed countries led to the creation of microbial resistance problems. It also makes the treatment difficult especially in immunocompromised patients (Ahmad and Beg, 2001).Plants and plant products have been used as medicines since the start of history. Many researchers have conducted research on the plant products to check their antimicrobial effects (Abu-shanab et al., 2004). The oldest known method for healing is the use of plant. Using higher plants for treatment of diseases had started since the man started to live on this planet (Onyeagba et al., 2004). Traditional medicines including the herbal medicines are used at least for primary health care in some domains in almost every country. In the developing countries about 70-95% patients depends on the natural medicines. In 2008 the worldwide market of natural medicine was of 83 billion US$ and on annual basis there is exponential increase in this bill. Legal concerns about the herbal/natural medicines vary widely from state to state and country to country and these medicines are used as self-medicines, health foods, functional foods, homes care remedies, over the counter medicines, prescription medicines etc. The quality of the herbal/traditional medicines is very difficult to control and maintain consistently. WHO in cooperation with its local and regional offices has made Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in addition to technical support and assistance for standardization for creation of high quality products. For understanding the approaches of quality, safety and efficacy which are based on research are needed to evaluate the traditional or herbal medicines (Robinson and Zhang, 2011). Search for the relief from infection from natural resources (plants etc.) is not a new idea. People from all over the world use the plant products for healing e.g. it is evident that Neanderthals who lived 60,000 years ago in the present day Iraq used hollyhock, and these plants are still widely used in the ethanomedicine all around globe. Hippocrates mentioned 300-400 medicinal plants in the late 5th century B.C (Cowan, 1999). A number of plants contain compounds that have antibacterial property (Khan et al., 2011). Compounds such as emetine, berberine and qunine which are derived from plants are very effective for the infectious microbes (Iwu et al., 1999). On the earth there are more than 3, 00,000 plant species and only about 2% of plants have been checked so for, for their antimicrobial properties. Plants extracts from more than 157 plant families have been described which have potential antimicrobial properties (Narayan et al., 2010). In United States of America (USA) about 1/4th to 1/2th of the pharmaceuticals dispensed have their origin of higher plants (Cowan, 1999). Medicine which in near past had been derived from natural resources include taxol, camptothecin (anticancerous) and artemisinin (antimlarial). These and many other drugs clearly show that plants serve the potential source of medicine even today

Fungal Species Detection in Onychomycosis by Culture and Direct Microscopy at Tertiary Care Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Background: Fungal nail infection is common clinically identified in OPD irrespective of age and gender in our population. The treatment is initiated that mostly resistant to overcome the problem. A mycological confirmation is valuable to eradicate the disease as usefulness of antifungal against particular fungi. The laboratory diagnosis like microscopy and culture to identify the species level.   Objective: This study was aimed as comparison of mycological culture with KOH mount microscopy of nail infections. Study Design:  comparative cross sectional study. Duration:1st July, 2018 to 31th July 2021 Setting: 360 clinically diagnosed cases collected from Dermatology OPD –removed for blind review— Method: The nail specimen was directly inoculated on SDA culture media and aerobically incubate at 25 Ć to 30 Ć for 3 to 4 weeks. The growth was identified on colony characteristics by using of cotton blue stains. Whereas nail is immersed in 20% KOH solution. Microscopic study was revealed the hyphae or spores and that considered as a positive for test. Result: out of three hundred sixty cases the culture positivity was 56.94% specimen while KOH mount were positive in 60.83% specimens and combination of Culture with KOH were 66.67%. Conclusion: Combination of fungal culture and KOH mount microscopy is subtle laboratory methods for eradication of onychomycosis precisely. The sensitivity of diagnosis that limit the complications and quality of public health considerably raised.   Key words: SDA (Sabouraud's dextrose agar), KOH (Potassium hydroxide). Mycological culture and Outpatient Department (OPD)

Fungal Species Detection in Onychomycosis by Culture and Direct Microscopy at Tertiary Care Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Background: Fungal nail infection is common clinically identified in OPD irrespective of age and gender in our population. The treatment is initiated that mostly resistant to overcome the problem. A mycological confirmation is valuable to eradicate the disease as usefulness of antifungal against particular fungi. The laboratory diagnosis like microscopy and culture to identify the species level.   Objective: This study was aimed as comparison of mycological culture with KOH mount microscopy of nail infections. Study Design:  comparative cross sectional study. Duration:1st July, 2018 to 31th July 2021 Setting: 360 clinically diagnosed cases collected from Dermatology OPD –removed for blind review— Method: The nail specimen was directly inoculated on SDA culture media and aerobically incubate at 25 Ć to 30 Ć for 3 to 4 weeks. The growth was identified on colony characteristics by using of cotton blue stains. Whereas nail is immersed in 20% KOH solution. Microscopic study was revealed the hyphae or spores and that considered as a positive for test. Result: out of three hundred sixty cases the culture positivity was 56.94% specimen while KOH mount were positive in 60.83% specimens and combination of Culture with KOH were 66.67%. Conclusion: Combination of fungal culture and KOH mount microscopy is subtle laboratory methods for eradication of onychomycosis precisely. The sensitivity of diagnosis that limit the complications and quality of public health considerably raised.   Key words: SDA (Sabouraud's dextrose agar), KOH (Potassium hydroxide). Mycological culture and Outpatient Department (OPD)

CAPITAL STRUCTURE DETERMINANTS OF ISLAMIC AND CONVENTIONAL BANKS OF PAKISTAN

Purpose- The major objective behind conducting this research is to explicate that how does the conventional as well as Islamic banks opt for their capital structures and what are the noteworthy variables that effect the decisions of the company as regard to their capital structure. Design/methodology/approach- Data for study was gathered throughthe yearly reports of the KSE indexed companies. The yearly reports from the years 2004-2014 were selected for the study. For analysis, ordinary least square (OLS) is applied in order to obtain the results. Findings- The primary outcomes of study prove that the conventional banks are more leveraged as compared to the Islamic banks. In addition, the conventional banks are bigger in size than Islamic banks and possess higher level of profitability. The fixed operating resources possessed by the Islamic banks are more in comparison to the conventional banks. The outcomes show that the profitability and tangibility are inversely associated with book leverage however the bank size has significant nexus with the book leverage of Islamic banks. On the other hand, profitability, growth and tangibility are negatively related to book leverage in whereas the bank size positivelyimpacts the decisions of the conventional banks for choosing the capital structure. Earning volatility shows no impact on capital structure decisions. Practical implications- The outcomes of the study present that the directors of bank need to develop an understanding related to the bank specific factors which would help them to decide regarding the capital structure of the bank taking into consideration that the controlling powers are vested with state bank of Pakistan. Originality/value- This study would propose that some noteworthy insights regarding the variables that impact financing decisions ofPakistani conventional and Islamic banks. This study also provides a framework to the future researchers for deeper exploration regarding capital structure of the banks.  Keywords- Conventional Banks; Islamic Banks, Ordinary Least Square, State bank of PakistanÂ

Association of seed morphology with seedling vigor in wheat (Triticum aestivum L)

Phenotyping of 225 spring wheat genotypes was carried out to determine theassociation of seed morphological traits with seedling vigour traits. The seed lengthappeared to be key trait being significantly and positively correlated with seed thickness,seed width, and coleoptile length. The seed length was also positively but non-significantlyassociated with root length, shoot length and number of seminal roots. The seed length, seedthickness and seed width were the major contributors to diversity among genotypes. Themost diverse genotypes with respect to seed morphological traits and seedling vigor traitswere KANCHAN, LU-26, OASIS, SHAHKAR-95, and SHALIMAR-88. The overall effect ofseed length, seed width and seed thickness was positive on seedling vigor traits