Financial Determinants of Economic Growth of Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis

The paper attempts to investigate the relationship between savings and Economic growth of Pakistan by using the time series data from 1972 to 2015. For empirical analysis, ordinary least square method is used. The analysis is made in two parts. In the first part; descriptive statistics and correlation matrix are described. In second part, multivariate analysis explains how saving of Pakistan is determined by economic growth. This study concludes that the employed labor force, gross fixed capital formation and exchange rate have positive and significant influence on real gross domestic product. Foreign direct investment and gross domestic savings have negative but insignificant impact on real gross domestic product. Keeping in view the role of savings and economic growth in Pakistan. It is recommended that government should provide enabling environment and fiscal incentives for enhancing the foreign direct investment. This will increase the gross domestic product in the country. For this purpose, the industrial and agricultural sectors of the country must be stable. Moreover, there is a need of creating an investment friendly business environment in Pakistan

Metal recycle and recovery

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The development of techniques for the removal and recovery of metals from industrial effluent taking account of the consequences of the definition of waste in the Basel Convention on transfrontier shipment of waste is reported. The use of fluidised bed cell electrolysis in the recovery of metals from dilute solutions is investigated, and the conditions for recovery optimised. For the first time the application of a novel activated carbon cloth concentrator cell to recover metals from effluent solutions is reported and the conditions for its use optimised. Comparative studies using conventional mesh and plate electrodes, and novel activated carbon cloth electrode for the recovery of cobalt from dilute solution, and copper from three different hydrometallurgical solutions viz (i) Cu/Zn, (ii)Cu/Zn/Fe and (iii) Cu/Zn/Cd containing effluents were carried out. Application of concentrator cell technology including activated carbon cloth and ion exchange resin to the recovery of metals, including precious group metals, from industrial as-supplied samples is reported. Optimisation leads to successful recovery of iridium and palladium from very dilute solutions. The alternative recovery of metal as added-value chemicals is also investigated. The Basel Convention is concerned with transfrontier shipment of waste from developed to developing countries and has produced a need to investigate the leachability of metals in various forms. In this work the leachability of copper and zinc is studied under various conditions that model environmental situations and the results have been used to develop a methodology to determine whether a metal containing material would be subject to a shipment ban under the Convention. As part of the development of the methodology, leaching studies were also carried out on single chemical compounds of copper, zinc, cadmium and lead, and their bioavailability determined

AN ANALYSIS OF TAZKARA HAZAR DASTAAN KNOWN AS KHUMKNANAE JAVEED BY LALA SRI RAM

Tazkara is a type of biography in Urdu literature. In Tazkara the researcher compiles the data and events of the lives of poets and other literary personalities. Tazkara Hazar Dastaan known as Khumkhanae Javeed was gathered by Lala Sri Ram. This biography consists of Six volumes. There are 689 pages in Volume 1 and a list of 634 poets according to the Urdu alphabet ا تا بby poetic names included in it. Volume 2 consists of 751 pages with a list of 485 poets by poetic names according to پ تا ح.  Volume 3 consists of 737 pages with a list of 534 poets by poetic names according to خ تا ز. Volume 4 consists of 628 pages with a list of 421 poets by poetic names according to س تا ش. Volume 5 consists of 616 pages with a list of 647 poets by poetic names according to ش تا ع. Volume 6 consists of 556 pages with a list of 458 poets by poetic names according to ع تا ے. There are 3977 pages and 3179 poets in all volumes. It is a remarkable work. In this article, this biography is critically analyzed

Exogenous 6-BA inhibited hypocotyl elongation under darkness in Picea crassifolia Kom revealed by transcriptome profiling

Hypocotyl elongation is an important process in plant growth and development, and is under hormonal regulatory signaling pathways. In our study, exogenous 6-BA significantly inhibited Picea crassifolia hypocotyl elongation more than ethylene in the dark, indicating the existence of different regulatory strategies in conifers, therefore, the P. crassifolia transcriptome was studied to explore the responsive genes and their regulatory pathways for exogenous N6-benzyladenine (6-BA) inhibition of hypocotyl elongation using RNA-Sequencing approach. We present the first transcriptome assembly of P. crassifolia obtained from 24.38 Gb clean data. With lowly-expressed and short contigs excluded, the assembly contains roughly 130,612 unigenes with an N50 length of 1,278 bp. Differential expression analysis found 3,629 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and found that the differential expression fold of genes was mainly concentrated between 2 and 8 (1 ≤ log2FoldChange ≤ 3). Functional annotation showed that the GO term with the highest number of enriched genes (83 unigenes) was the shoot system development (GO: 0048367) and the KEGG category, plant hormone signal transduction (ko04075), was enriched 30 unigenes. Further analysis revealed that several cytokinin dehydrogenase genes (PcCTD1, PcCTD3 and PcCTD6) catabolized cytokinins, while xyloglucan endotransglucosylase hydrolase gene (PcXTH31), WALLS ARE THIN 1-like gene (PcWAT1-1) and Small auxin-induced gene (PcSAUR15) were strongly repressed thus synergistically completing the inhibition of hypocotyl elongation in P. crassifolia. Besides, PcbHLH149, PcMYB44 and PcERF14 were predicted to be potential core TFs that may form a multi-layered regulatory network with the above proteins for the regulation of hypocotyl growth

Accuracy Of Serum Ferritin, C-Reactive Protein, Lactate Dehydrogenase And D. Dimers In Assessing Severity And Outcome Of COVID-19 Infection

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Covid-19 emerged as pandemic. In the beginning, due to the rapid spread of virus it was difficult to understand fully its pathogenesis but various inflammatory markers were found to be raised. Along with the detection of virus by polymerase reaction (PCR), studies of these markers not only help in diagnosis but also in assessing the prognosis of covid-19 infection. Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in the Capital Hospital, CDA Islamabad from December to June 2022. After taking consent various inflammatory markers were recorded on a proforma. Patients were followed and outcome was also recorded. The data collected was analyzed by percentage/ frequency distribution. T-test was applied and p-values were calculated (significant p-value=<0.05).  Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, area under curve (AUC) and accuracy were calculated by using SPSS, version 23. Results: A total of 185 covid-19 PCR positive patients were included in the study. 112(60.5%) were men and 73 (39.5%) were women. 165(89.2%) patients were > 40 years of age. 117 (63.2%) patients had mild /moderate disease and 68(36.8%) had severe disease.  162 (87.5%) patients were discharged and 23 (23.4%) expired. AUC in relation to severity of disease was 0.603 for C- reactive protein (CRP), 0.543 for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), 0.525 for D. dimers and 0.619 for ferritin. Accuracy in relation to disease severity was as following: CRP 57.4%, D. dimers 52.4 %, ferritin 57.9% and LDH 55.7%.  AUC in relation to outcome of covid-19 was 0.699 for CRP, 0.668 for LDH, 0.742 for D. dimers and 0.677 for ferritin. Accuracy of inflammatory markers in relation to outcome was as following: CRP 45.9%, D. dimers 61.2%, LDH 48.1% and ferritin 46.9%. Conclusion: Serum ferritin showed the highest accuracy (57.9%) in assessing the covid-19 severity and D. dimer came up with highest accuracy (61.2%) in assessing disease outcome

Impact of Project Performance Measurement System on Project Success: A Study Based on NGO Sector of Pakistan

This research strives to examine the relationship between the two profound dimensions of Project Performance Measurement System (i.e. project design and Monitoring and Evaluation) and project success in NGOs. A self-administered survey was used to collect responses from project practitioners on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and project design practices in health sector NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization): Of 220, 108 useful responses were received and then analyzed in SPSS. The results showed that: 1) M&E practices are being frequently used in NGO projects of Pakistan, 2) particular care has been taken while designing the projects, and 3) both variables have a positive relationship with project success 4) M&E showed greater impact than project design on project success. Therefore, NGOs should strengthen project design and M&E in order to improve project implementation as well as the chances for project success

Effect of Casting Technique on the Compressive Behaviour of Fully Recycled Aggregate Concrete

The research work presented in this contribution investigated the impact of Compression Casting Technique (CCT) on the compressive behavior of fully Recycled Aggregates Concrete (RAC). RAC mix containing 30% fine aggregates, 70% coarse aggregates and 15% cement by weight of total aggregates was prepared under two different casting pressures (i.e., 25 & 35 MPa). For the purpose of comparison, Natural Aggregate Concrete (NAC) mix was also prepared under same casting pressures. Samples of RAC mix were also made by compaction through vibration. Recycled concrete aggregates required for this study were prepared by crushing of damaged concrete samples having compressive strength in the range of 21 to 28 MPa. Compressive response was evaluated in terms of compressive strength and modulus of elasticity (MOE). Ultrasonic pulse velocity test was employed to check the quality of internal matrix of concrete samples prepared by CCT and vibration. The results demonstrated positive effect of CCT on the properties of concrete resulting in higher compressive strength and MOE compared to properties of concrete prepared by compaction through vibration. With the increase in casting pressure from 25 to 35 MPa, compressive strength and MOE of RAC was increased by 21% and 29%, respectively. It was found that RAC mix exhibited inferior properties (i.e., compressive strength and MOE) compared with NAC mix

MHD Flow of Fractionalized Jeffrey Fluid with Newtonian Heating and Thermal Radiation Over a Vertical Plate

The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of heat absorption/generation and mass diffusion on magnetohydrodynamics(MHD) Jeffrey fluid flow over a perpendicular plate moving exponentially immersed in a porous media. The Newtonian heating condition are udes for the fluid motion. The impact of thermal radiation is used in the energy equation. The two types of magnetic field have been evaluated. The main purpose of present work is to acquire the analytical solution with the help of Atangana-Baleanu (AB), Caputo, and Caputo-Fabrizio fractional derivatives. We have drawn a graphical comparison between the solutions of these three types of fractional models of jeffery fluid. Graphs of different parameters have been also plotted using MathCad software. Furthermore, comparison among ordinary and fractionalized velocity fields are made to observe the impact of fractional parameter . It is clear from graph that velocity obtained with ordinary derivative is higher than that obtained with fractional derivatives. It is also found that velocity obtained with Atangana-Baleanu (AB) fractional derivative is smaller than that obtained with Caputo and Caputo-Fabrizio fractional derivatives. Therefore, Atangana-Baleanu fractional derivative is the best choice to obtain controlled velocity

Assessing the adherence of obstetricians towards postpartum diabetes screening guidelines: A pre- and post-intervention study at secondary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: To assess the adherence level of obstetricians towards postpartum diabetes screening guidelines. Methods: The quasi-experimental pre- and post-intervention study was conducted from May 2014 to April 2015 at Aga Khan Hospital for Women-Karimabad, Karachi, and comprised all obstetricians practicing at the time. All the booked women with gestational diabetes delivered in the 6 months before refresher lecture (group 1) and those delivering in the 6 months following the intervention (group 2) were included. Data was analysed using SPSS 19. Results: Of the 550 cases, 275(50%) each were in groups 1 and 2. All pregnant women had live-birth. The intervention made it thrice likely (95% confidence interval: 7.83) that a physician advised postpartum oral glucose tolerance test. Caesarean section increased the chances of getting test advice almost 4 times (95% confidence interval: 1.70, 9.10) compared to women who delivered vaginally. Women managed on insulin with / without metformin were 4 times likely to being advised the test compared to women managed on diet (confidence interval: 1.00, 17.09). Full-time employees advised 7 times more than the visiting obstetricians (confidence interval: 1.33, 35.16). Conclusion: It is time for more strategic planning regarding patient education the benefits of detection of abnormal glucose tolerance in early postpartum perio

Analysis of Accuracy, Stability, Consistency and Convergence of an Explicit Iterative Algorithm

In this work, an analysis is carried out vis-à-vis an explicit iterative algorithm proposed by Qureshi et al (2013) for initial value problems in ordinary differential equations. The algorithm was constructed using the well – known Forward Euler’s method and its variants. Discussion carries with it an investigation for stability, consistency and convergence of the proposed algorithm-properties essential for an iterative algorithm to be of any use. The proposed algorithm is found to be second order accurate, consistent, stable and convergent. The regions and intervals of absolute stability for Forward Euler method and its variants have also been compared with that of the proposed algorithm. Numerical implementations have been carried out using MATLAB version 8.1 (R2013a) in double precision arithmetic. Further, the computation of approximate solutions, absolute and maximum global errors provided in accompanying figures and tables reveal equivalency of the algorithm to other second order algorithms taken from the literature. Keywords: Iterative Algorithm, Ordinary Differential Equations, Accuracy, Consistency, Convergence