Becker & Mincerian Models of Human Capital for Pakistan: A Case Study of Islamabad

Education is considered a key factor for of Human Capital formation which strengthens the society through skills, knowledge and as a result of that innovations take place. The Gary Becker and Mincer developed “Human Capital Model” which was based on relationship of income with level of education and experience. The present study investigates the effect of higher education and level experience on income of teaching staff of public sector educational institutes in Islamabad-Pakistan. There were 120 respondents randomly selected. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used to empirically examine the relationship among the variables. All coefficients of the variables found positively significant. The study concludes that increase in year of education and experience which ultimately increases income of the teaching staff. Therefore, the higher education plays a major role for enhancing income of teaching staffs of public sector educational institutes in Pakistan

Impact of Agricultural Credit on Production of Wheat Crop: A Case Study of District Faisalabad-Pakistan

Agriculture sector plays an important role in the economic development of Pakistan. Wheat is an important and most cultivated crop because it is an essential ingredient of food commodities. Credit plays a vital role in agricultural farming by indirectly participating in purchasing of agricultural inputs i.e. seed, fertilizer, irrigation, machinery and labor etc. Majority of the farmers are poor and they are not able to fulfill the cash requirement of farming, therefore credit has become their dire need. Due to credit farmers can timely purchase the agricultural inputs which resulting a bumper crop. The objective of this study is to depict the impact of credit on the production of wheat crop. Survey was conducted and random sampling technique was used to select the sample borrowers. The collected data was interpreted through “Cobb Douglas Production Function” by using statistical software (SPSS 16.0).The results showed that credit has positive and significant impact on wheat production. The values of R2 and F-statistics are found significant which represented that all selected variables are highly significant. The study not only shares the importance of credit to perform any agriculture activity but also helpful for economists and policy makers for designing agri financing policies

Exploring the Implications of Emotional Intelligence to Enhance Employees’ Performance

Emotional intelligence (EI) is an effective tool to increase organizational productivity. This study depicts the impact of EI on employees’ performance who are engaged with customer services by using four elements i.e. self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management. A sample of 120 respondents was selected from four paint manufacturing companies in Pakistan. The primary data was collected through the structured questionnaire and simple regression method was used to investigate the relationship between employee’s performance and emotional intelligence. The results illustrate that EI has positive impact on employee’s performance. It is suggested that the implication of EI be ensured as contemporary need of customer services in paint industries so that organization productivity may be enhanced with efficient employees’ performance.&nbsp

A short report on epidemiological investigation of dog bite cases in association with temperature rise as a part of climate change

Background: Rabies is a neglected disease that claims more than 5000 human’s deaths in Pakistan that account for 10% global load of rabies related deaths annually. Dogs are major carriers for this zoonotic ailment in the country. Global climatic changes, especially rise in temperature, is altering ecological niche of reservoir of infectious diseases. Pakistan is among those countries which are most effected by the temperature rise. This rise has a relation in increase in dog bites and subsequent rabies cases to develop.Methods: Passive data of dog bite cases is acquired from Institute of Public health and were examined for 12 consecutive months. Data analyzed by SPSS software for frequency distribution of dog bite cases in comparison with different months of the year.Results: Data analysis indicate a positive correlation between temperature rise and dog bites rates. This study found prevalence of 2.56% dog bite cases and seasonality in dog bites.Conclusion: These finding recommend further study to investigate other factors involved in increase of dog bite cases in high temperature months of years.  In order to develop understanding the reasons of subsequent rabies cases associated with dog bites. Bats are the most sensitive mammals to high temperature and they migrate and even dye due to hike in temperature, which later may become source of various zoonotic diseases including rabies. Carnivorous bats are believed to be primary reservoir for rabies worldwide but Pakistan do not have this bat specie (Desmodus rotundus). However, increase in dog bite and rabies cases with every year suggest to monitor Indian fruit bat (Pteropus giganteus) which are prevalent in Pakistan.  Ecological Niche Model (ENM) should be used for bats to determine their role in rabies ecology in Pakistan.Keywords: Rabies; Dog bites; Climate shift; Disease ecology; Pteropus giganteu

Comparison of Implant Success Rate Between Direct And Indirect Sinus Lift Procedure

Objective: The objective of the study is to compare gain in bone height and post-operative complications e with direct and indirect sinus lift procedure. Methods: This prospective clinical study was conducted at the department of Science of Dental Materials, University Medical and Dental college Faisalabad, in a period of one year from November 2021 to November 2022. For patients in the 20-50 years age range either gender with maxillary posterior edentulous regions but with a low sinus and deficient alveolar ridge, implant retained prostheses would be a viable option. Results: Results showed that pain and gingival inflammation resolved at 1st week postoperatively. These two parameters frequency was higher in patients with indirect method as compared to patients who were treated with direct method. Swelling was also settled in both treatment groups after 1st week postoperatively. However, frequency of swelling was higher in indirect method as that of direct method but the difference was not statistically significant. There is significant change in bone height postoperatively in both treatment groups. But gain in mean bone height was significantly higher in patients treated with direct approach. Conclusion: This study did not find a significant difference between direct versus indirect sinus lift procedures in terms of swelling, inflammation, and pain following surgery. Indirect sinus lifts, however, result in a significantly lower bone height gain than direct sinus lifts.   Key Words: Edentulism, Sinus lift procedures, Direct, Indirect, Bone height, Sinus surgery

Social franchising and vouchers to promote long-term methods of family planning in rural Pakistan: A qualitative stocktaking with stakeholders

Background: The overall use of modern contraception in Pakistan is quite low, especially in rural areas. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of social franchising (SF) approaches in increasing access to modern contraception and improving the quality of healthcare in resource-poor areas in Asia and Africa. Drawing on best practices in SF, the Marie Stopes Society (MSS) implemented an SF model in certain rural areas of Pakistan to increase access to affordable and quality family planning (FP) services. The model was branded as Suraj (sun) and complemented with an innovative voucher scheme for intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCDs). This paper describes the perspectives of Suraj clients, field workers mobilization (FWMs), and providers on various components of the Suraj model.Methodology: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted in six randomly selected intervention districts in the Sindh and Punjab provinces. Data were collected using focus group discussions (FGDs) with clients and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with providers and FWMs. Data were manually analyzed using constant comparison and the thematic analysis approach.Findings: Clients showed positive attitudes towards modern contraceptive methods and identified Suraj FWMs and signboards as sources of information. Almost all clients reported IUCDs as effective methods as they have manageable side effects and require fewer visits to clinics. They spoke highly of voucher schemes as these enabled them to avail free IUCD services. Clients also appreciated many components of Suraj clinics, including cleanliness, privacy, confidentiality, the sterilization of instruments, and courteous Suraj providers and FWMs. Most Suraj providers said that IUCD insertion and infection-prevention training enhanced their ability to provide IUCD services and increased their standing in local communities. They reported that the role of FWMs was crucial in mobilizing the community and increasing their FP clientele. The FWMs said that attitudes towards FP were changing because of economic pressure at the household level, increases in literacy, and community mobilization efforts.Conclusion: The Suraj intervention influenced attitudes towards FP and modern contraception, positively. Women using IUCDs showed greater satisfaction with the method. The findings emphasize that SF approaches like Suraj, when complemented with vouchers and community mobilization efforts, can improve the utilization of long-term contraceptive methods among rural and underserved women. The study also identified the need for integrating FP, antenatal care, and safe delivery services

Magnetic micro-swimmers propelling through bio-rheological liquid bounded within an active channel

The dynamics of a micro-organism swimming through a channel with undulating walls subject to constant transverse applied magnetic field is investigated. The micro-organism is modeled as self-propelling undulating sheet which is out of phase with the channel waves while the electrically conducting biofluid (through which micro-swimmers propel) is characterized by the non-Newtonian shear-rate dependent Carreau fluid model. Creeping flow is mobilized in the channel due to the self-propulsion of the micro-organism and the undulatory motion of narrow gapped walls. Under these conditions the conservation equations are formulated under the long wavelength and low Reynolds number assumptions. The speed of the self-propelling sheet and the rate of work done at higher values of rheological parameters are obtained by using a hybrid numerical technique (MATLAB routine bvp-4c combined with a modified Newton-Raphson method). The results are validated through an alternative hybrid numerical scheme (implicit finite difference method (FDM) in conjunction with a modified Newton-Raphson method). The assisting role of magnetic field and rheological effects of the surrounding biofluid on the swimming mode are shown graphically and interpreted at length. The global behavior of biofluid is also expounded via visualization of the streamlines in both regions (above and below the swimming sheet) for realistic micro-organism speeds. The computations reveal that optimal swimming conditions for the micro-organism (i.e., greater speed with lower energy losses) are achievable in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) environments including magnetic field-assisted cervical treatments. Keywords: Micro-organism; peristaltic (active) channel; Carreau fluid; Swimming speed; biomagnetohydrodynamics (bioMHD); Rate of work done; Hybrid numerical method, Newton-Raphson method; Cervical magnetic therap

Incidence and risk factors of delirium in surgical intensive care unit

Background: To evaluate the incidence and modifiable risk factors of delirium in surgical intensive care unit (SICU) of tertiary care hospital in a low-income and middle-income country.Methods: We conducted a single cohort observational study in patients over 18 years of age who were admitted to the SICU for \u3e24 hours in Aga Khan University Hospital from January to December 2016. Patients who had pre-existing cognitive dysfunction were excluded. Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist was used to assess delirium. Incidence of delirium was computed, and univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to observe the relationship between outcome and associated factors.Results: The average patient age was 43.29±17.38 and body mass index was 26.25±3.57 kg/m2. Delirium was observed in 19 of 87 patients with an incidence rate of 21.8%. Multivariable analysis showed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pain score \u3e4 and hypernatremia were strong predictors of delirium. Midazolam (adjusted OR (aOR)=7.37; 95% CI 2.04 to 26.61) and propofol exposure (aOR=7.02; 95% CI 1.92 to 25.76) were the strongest independent predictors of delirium while analgesic exposures were not statistically significant to predict delirium in multivariable analysis.Conclusion: Delirium is a significant risk factor of poor outcome in SICU. There was an independent association between pain, sedation, COPD, hypernatremia and fever in developing delirium.Level of evidence: IV

Fine-grained sentiment analysis for measuring customer satisfaction using an extended set of fuzzy linguistic hedges

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. In recent years, the boom in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter has brought people together for the sharing of opinions, sentiments, emotions, and experiences about products, events, politics, and other topics. In particular, sentiment-based applications are growing in popularity among individuals and businesses for the making of purchase decisions. Fuzzy-based sentiment analysis aims at classifying customer sentiment at a fine-grained level. This study deals with the development of a fuzzy-based sentiment analysis by extending fuzzy hedges and rule-sets for a more efficient classification of customer sentiment and satisfaction. Prior studies have used a limited number of linguistic hedges and polarity classes in their rule-sets, resulting in the degraded efficiency of their fuzzy-based sentiment analysis systems. The proposed analysis of the current study classifies customer reviews using fuzzy linguistic hedges and an extended rule-set with seven sentiment analysis classes, namely extremely positive, very positive, positive, neutral, negative, very negative, and extremely negative. Then, a fuzzy logic system is applied to measure customer satisfaction at a fine-grained level. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed analysis has an improved performance over the baseline works

Biosorption studies on arsenic (III) removal from industrial wastewater by using fixed and fluidized bed operation

Previously, activated carbon was used as adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals at batch scale and the reported removal efficiency was up to 25 % (while in our technique the efficiency is up to 75%). The large industries operate with continuous processes and discharge large amount of wastewater containing heavy metals. No research was published for continuous operation using fluidized bed adsorption column till now. The novelty of this study is on the mode of operation (continuous operation at large scale under fixed and fluidized bed conditions), Biosorbent activated carbon (AC), and maximum efficiency of arsenic removal (i.e. 75 %). The Biosorbent activated carbon prepared from waste agriculture material. Industrial wastewater consists of many inorganic and organic pollutants which are discharged into water bodies resulting the serious health problems. Now a days, concentration of arsenic has much increased as compared to the permissive concentration level (25mg/L). Therefore, there is need to reduce this concentration up to threshold value (10μg/L). The use of biosorbents for arsenic removal from wastewater has global significance due to its widespread availability and low cost. Biosorption of Arsenic strongly depends on the initial metal concentration, contact time, speed of stirring, pH and temperature. The maximum arsenic as (III) removed at pH-7.5 is 70%, it was improved to 83% by agitation in batch experiments. While in continuous mode experiments (Fixed bed) the bed height and flow rates were varied. At the Fluidized bed experiments, the maximum As (III) removed was 75%. The effects of several factors such as pH, initial solute concentration, biosorbents dose, has been revaluated in this paper. The low cost, easily available biosorbent AC is recommended for removal of arsenic from contaminated wastewaters to bring them in compliance