Examining Factors of Entrepreneurial Success: Culture, Gender, Education, Family, Self-Perception

Objective: To examine the potential and contribution of culture, gender, education, family background and self-perception as factors of success in entrepreneurial ventures in Punjab the largest (64%) population province of Pakistan. In the context of developing countries economic growth is attributed to small enterprises as they generate employment.  Mortality rate of small enterprises is exceedingly high; and a study by Khawaja (2006) on Pakistan SME has reported that only 19% start-ups survived before they reach the 5th year. Prior Work: However in another study by Vesper (1990), in non-Pakistani environment found that only 10% of ventures survive after three years of existence. Therefore it is important to study success as perceived by entrepreneurs and various contributing influences. About the definition of entrepreneurial success there is no consensus among researchers. Stefanovic et al 2010 enumerated previous experience, hard work, access to capital, personal capabilities, and leadership skills as factors affecting success experience and knowledge. Focus on role of education is not meant to deny the importance of other factors that contribute to entrepreneurial success, such as, the nature of the entrepreneur; his/her character traits.    McClelland (1961) had attributed achievement motivation as an entrepreneurial success factor. Cox and Jennings (1995) had identified innovativeness in decision making.  Hodgets and Kuratko (1992) have identified opportunity recognition as an important characteristic of entrepreneurs; Dafna (2008) has focused on leadership qualities as factors affecting success. Approach: However this study is an attempt to understand the role of selected influences that have been mentioned as having some contribution toward success of entrepreneurs; and these were:  1) education, 2) gender, 3) culture, 4) family, and 5) subjectively self - perceived reason of success. Therefore this study is more exploratory than theoretical. Two research questions were explored in this study. Result: Male and female entrepreneurs differed significantly with respect to years of formal education completed as well as with respect to the medium of instructions during formal schooling.   Male and female entrepreneurs differed about their reasons for success, especially about God-gifted qualities and hard work being main reasons for success. Successful entrepreneurs were found more likely to have taken college level SME/ entrepreneurship courses.  Other successful entrepreneurs were found educated informally and gained knowledge through own reading as well.   Other successful entrepreneurs reported that their family background of being in business, their father being in business, and maternal uncle being in business were the likely influences of family and friends. Less successful entrepreneurs were found blaming government failure in providing support to entrepreneurial activity. The successful did not blame the government. Successful entrepreneurs were found likely to be college educated Punjabis. Implication: the Punjabi factor is crucial in this study as Pakistan has a population of 180 million and the Punjabi community comprises of nearly 64% of the population. A knowledge into entrepreneurial success and motivation would help in policymaking oriented toward entrepreneurial development leading to economic development. The other implication would be less reliance to prepare job seekers who are professionals – hence working towards a paradigm shift in education policy. Value: The paper is one of the first to focus on detailed research related activity on the subject of entrepreneurial success factors. Therefore adds to mote comprehensive understanding of creating an Enterprising Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Success factors; education, gender, family, self-perception, cultur

Error Estimation of Numerical Integration Methods

We compare the accuracy of numerical integral methods like Newton-Cotes method and Gaussian Quadrature Rule (GQR) for the model problem and tested for another problem to verify the results. From results we notice that error of GQR is about 10 times less than Newton-Cotes formulas. For this reason we prefer GQR over other methods. But GQR uses nodes and weights which is a tedious work. This difficulty can overcome by using the idea of  ”three-term recurrence” relation. We can transform the problem of finding the nodes and weights for GQR to one of finding eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a symmetric tridiagonal matrix. Keywords: Numerical integration; Gaussian Quadrature rules; error estimate; convergence rate

Epidemiology of humerus shaft fractures in children-observational study of 50 patients

Background: Objective was to study the epidemiology of humerus shaft fracture in children. Methods: This was an observational study of 50 cases of humeral diaphyseal fractures in children aged between 5 to 15 years reporting to tertiary care center over a period of 18 months. Each patient was categorized with respect to age, sex, mode of trauma, side injured, type of fracture, associated injuries, modality of treatment given. Results: Most patients belonged to upper lower class (66 %), and 80% patient belonged to rural population. Boys (60%) were more prone to have humerus shaft fracture than girls. Mean age of the patient were 10.12 years (±2.6 SD). Most common mode of trauma was accidental fall on arm (68%). Traumatic fracture was noted in 94% of cases while 6 % cases were having pathological fracture. Most patients were having middle third shaft fracture (40%), followed by distal third (30%) and lastly proximal third (22%), and left side involvement (58%) was more. Out of the 50 patients, poly trauma was observed in 4 cases, multiple bone fracture was noted in 2 cases, while 2 patients were having fibrous dysplasia and 1 with bony cyst as an associated cause of pathological fracture and 1 patient had radial nerve injury pre-operatively. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the epidemiology of humerus shaft fractures in children in respect to age, sex, socio-economic status, mode of trauma. These data can help understand the risk factors and help in preventing the incidence. Most of these fracture can be managed successfully with retrograde titanium elastic nailing system (TENS) nailing with minimal complications.

Biomonitoring of heavy metal contamination in Pongamia pinnata and Peltophorum pterocarpum growing in the polluted environment of Karachi, Pakistan

Determination of some of the important heavy metals like lead andcadmium was carried out in the city environment of Karachi. Foliageparts of two roadside trees, Pongamia pinnata (L.) Merrill andPeltophorum pterocarpum D.C. Backer ex K. were used to carry outsuch investigation. Five roadside points were selected for the studyin different parts of the city. The investigations showed that highlevel of lead and cadmium was found in the foliage of P. pinnataand P. pterocarpum, which were growing along the busy roads of thecity. The level of Pb and Cd in the foliage of the above mentionedtrees was quite high at M.A. Jinnah road as compared to Shahrahe-Faisal, Nazimabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Karachi UniversityCampus. Low traffic activities at the University Campus showedlowest lead and cadmium levels in the foliage of both tree speciesthan the other point of the city. In this study, P. pinnata showedmore accumulations of lead and cadmium than P. pterocarpum.This difference might be due to large surface area of the foliage inP. pinnata that is available for exposure to any pollutants as comparedto P. pterocarpum. P. pinnata is a useful plant species inremoving different heavy metals from the urban environment of thecity. It is therefore suggested, that P. pinnata should be given morepreference for future plantation in the areas, particularly along thebusy roads and highways

In vitro regeneration, detection of somaclonal variation and screening for mosaic virus in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) somaclones

Three sugarcane accessions susceptible to sugarcane mosaic virus; HSF-240, S-2000-US-359, and S-2003-US-704 were evaluated for callogenesis and regeneration ability. For callogenesis, five different concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was used. The best callogenesis was obtained when Murashige and Skoog (MS) was portified with 3 mg/L 2,4-D and the highest regeneration was obtained on media containing MS + kinetin 0.5 + 0.5 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). After succesful regeneration and rooting on half strength MS medium, with 1.5 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid supplementation, plantlets were shifted to green house. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was performed to detect the presence of sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) in the regenerated plantlets and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to evaluate the genetic variation at DNA level between the parent’s plants and regenerated somaclones of the accession HSF-240. A total of 26 parent plants and 64 somaclones, among the regenerated plants were selected for the screening of virus through double antibody sandwich (DAS-ELISA) test. Four (4) parent plants out of the 26, showed negative reaction to the virus test. Ten (10) somaclones showed positive reaction to the disease, 9 somaclones showed mild reaction to virus and 45 somaclones showed negative reaction. For the detection of somaclonal variation, 38 primers pair were used and 15 simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer pairs were found to be polymorphic with 51.61% polymorphism. The study demonstrates that SSR genetic markers are the best tool for the investigation of genetic variation in sugarcane.Keywords: Callogenesis, somaclones, simple sequence repeats (SSR), genetic marker

Palynological studies in tribe Chlorideae (Poaceae) from salt range of Pakistan

Pollen morphology of five species belonging to three genera of tribe Chlorideae (Poaceae) was examined by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy. The studies showed that pollen in all species were circular in polar view, however, there are variations in equatorial view of pollen and other quantitative characters that is, polar and equatorial diameter, pore diameter and exine thickness, that are valuable in the identification and differentiation of species. Average pollen fertility in the tribe is 77.37%. Verrucate type of sculpturing is found in all species except Tetrapogon villosus, which showed the rugulate type of sculpturing and can be differentiated from Tetrapogon cenchriformis on the basis of its sculpturing pattern. The studies revealed that pollen characters are important in the taxonomy of grasses at the specific and generic level and can be useful in delimiting taxa of different tribes.Key words: Palynological studies, chlorideae, salt range

Antipsychotic prescription patterns and treatment costs of schizophrenia in northwestern Pakistan: A one-year observational study

Purpose: To evaluate the antipsychotic drugs most commonly prescribed for schizophrenia patients in Peshawar, Pakistan and to analyze the treatment costs associated with these drugs.Methods: One hundred patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were recruited from outpatient psychiatry departments in Peshawar, Pakistan and followed for one year. Demographic data were collected for each patient at the beginning of the study. A questionnaire was used to collect antipsychotic prescription information at 4, 8 and 12 months. The cost of antipsychotics was obtained from PharmaGuide, Pakistan. The cost associated with antipsychotic drug use was statistically analyzed using post hoc tests.Results: Of the patients who completed this study, 68.1 % were prescribed second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) drugs, 6.9 % first-generation antipsychotic (FGA) drugs, and 25.0 % a combination of SGAs and FGAs. Furthermore, 40.3 % of the patients who completed the study received antipsychotic monotherapy and 34.7 % antipsychotic polytherapy. In monotherapy, risperidone was the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic drug, used by 44.8 % of patients while in polytherapy, risperidone plus olanzapine was the most commonly prescribed combination, used by 32 % of patients. Switching of antipsychotic drugs was observed in 25 % of patients. The mean annual cost of antipsychotic therapy was US$79.90 (8079 Pakistani rupees). Risperidone treatment cost was US$60.30 (PakRs 6095), constituting 52 % of the total monotherapy cost. The cost of SGAs was significantly higher than the cost of FGAs (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The results provide policymakers with appropriate information necessary for managing pharmacotherapy plans for the treatment of schizophrenia.Keywords: Schizophrenia, Prescribing pattern, Antipsychotics, Cost analysis, Pharmacotherap