Microfinance and Growth of MSMEs: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Thrust

The main objective of the study is to investigate the role of entrepreneurial thrust in the relationship between growth in microfinance and growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). A panel of 15 countries from 2004 to 2013 is investigated in the analysis. Microfinance index is developed by using PCA and impact of microfinance index is examined on growth of MSMEs along with other dimensions of microfinance. The study documented that in isolation microfinance may not increase growth of MSMEs but if a borrower possess entrepreneurial thrust then growth in MSMEs is evident. Entrepreneurial thrust plays a role of catalyst in the relationship. Furthermore role of entrepreneurial thrust in growth of MSMEs is found to be more important than role of growth in microfinance itself. It is also established that in the presence of entrepreneurial thrust if even small loans are given to the borrowers then it leads to increase in business activities. It is concluded that microfinance may be a better tool to alleviate poverty but for creating new enterprises entrepreneurial thrust is found to be a prerequisite. In absence of entrepreneurial thrust microfinance may not be workable. Keywords: Microfinance, Entrepreneurial Thrust, MSMEs Growth

Economic Integration and Stock Market Comovement: An Empirical Study Pairing Pakistan's Stock Exchange with 21 other Markets

Using daily stock returns from 2004 to 2014 for 21 countries paired with Pakistan, and using the Geweke methodology, the paper investigates the degree to which these stock markets are integrated with the Pakistani stock market. The paper also explores the factors that have an effect on the level of economic integration by applying fixed effect model. The result demonstrates statistically significant and high percentage of contemporaneous association between the 21 economies of the world and Pakistan. Greater comovement was observed between the equity markets during the period when Pakistani capital market and economy experience performance but less comovement was noted when Pakistan Stock Markets were under crises

Fairing arc spline and designing by using cubic bézier spiral segments

This paper considers how to smooth three kinds of G 1 biarc models, the C-, S-, and J-shaped transitions, by replacing their parts with spiral segments using a single cubic Bézier curve. Arc spline is smoothed to G 2continuity. Use of a single curve rather than two has the benefit because designers and implementers have fewer entities to be concerned. Arc spline is planar, tangent continuous, piecewise curves made of circular arcs and straight line segments. It is important in manufacturing industries because of its use in the cutting paths for numerically controlled cutting machinery. Main contribution of this paper is to minimize the number of curvature extrema in cubic transition curves for further use in industrial applications such as non-holonomic robot path planning, highways or railways, and spur gear tooth designing

Effect of zinc in tablet and suspension formulations in the treatment of acute diarrhoea among young children in an emergency setting of earthquake affected region of Pakistan

A longitudinal cohort study was conducted at Camp Hospital Batagram in August 2006 to ascertain the effect of Zinc utilization in tablet and suspension formulations on the frequency and recovery rates of diarrhoea among young children in the emergency settings of earthquake affected region of Pakistan. Two hundred patients were recruited and followed up, the patients were allocated either of the 2 groups i.e. A (zinc in tablets form) and B (zinc in suspension form). Both groups also received WHO recommended treatment for diarrhoea. Most of the cases recovered from the illness within 3 days after presentation. Significant p-values were established among Zinc use and reduction in frequency of stools on Day 2 and 3, with better outcome in group B. The study supports the notion that zinc reduces the frequency and improves recovery rates of diarrhoea in any form and has better compliance and outcomes with the use in suspension form

Eradicating polio in Pakistan: A systematic review of programs and policies

Introduction: Established in 1994, Pakistan\u27s polio program demonstrated early success. However, despite over 120 supplementary immunization activities in the last decade, polio eradication efforts in Pakistan have been unable to achieve their objective of halting polio transmission. Variable governance, and inconsistent leadership and accountability have hindered the success of the polio program and the quality of the campaigns. Insecurity and terrorism has interrupted polio activities, and community fears and misbeliefs about polio vaccinations continue to persist.Areas covered: The article consists of a systematic review of the barriers and facilitators associated with the delivery of polio eradication activities in Pakistan. We also provide a comprehensive review of the policy and programmatic decisions made by the Pakistan Polio Programme since 1994. Searches were conducted on Embase and Medline databases and 25 gray literature sources.Expert opinion: Polio eradication efforts must be integrated with other preventive health services, particularly immunization services. Addressing the underlying causes of polio refusals including underdevelopment and social exclusion will help counteract resistance to polio vaccination. Achieving polio eradication will require building health systems that provide comprehensive community-centered care, and improving governance and systems of accountability

Retrospective study of patients with hyperphenylalaninemia: Experience from a tertiary care center in Pakistan

Objective: To assess the clinical and biochemical features as well as outcome of perphenylalaninemia patients.Methods: The descriptive retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data from January 2013 to February 2017 of plasma amino acid analysed at the Biochemical Genetic Laboratory of patients with phenylalanine levels \u3e120 umol/L. Medical charts of patients registered with the Metabolic Clinics were reviewed, while outside referrals were contacted by telephone to collect data on a pre-structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. Results: Of the 18 patients, 13(72%) were males. Overall median age was 606 days (interquartile range: 761) and median phenylalanine levels were 1280 (interquartile range: 935) umol/L. Phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency was present in 5(28%) patients while 3(16.6%) had defects in the metabolism or regeneration of tetrahydrobiopterin. The most common clinical features was intellectual deficit and seizures 14(78%) each, followed by lighter hair colour 10(55.5%) and hypotonia 11(61%). High treatment cost was the leading reason for cessation of therapy in 7(39%) followed by refusal by patient\u27s family 5(28%).Conclusion: Most hyperphenylalaninemia cases were diagnosed late when intellectual disability had already developed

Human action recognition using transfer learning with deep representations

Human action recognition is an imperative research area in the field of computer vision due to its numerous applications. Recently, with the emergence and successful deployment of deep learning techniques for image classification, object recognition, and speech recognition, more research is directed from traditional handcrafted to deep learning techniques. This paper presents a novel method for human action recognition based on a pre-trained deep CNN model for feature extraction & representation followed by a hybrid Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier for action recognition. It has been observed that already learnt CNN based representations on large-scale annotated dataset could be transferred to action recognition task with limited training dataset. The proposed method is evaluated on two well-known action datasets, i.e., UCF sports and KTH. The comparative analysis confirms that the proposed method achieves superior performance over state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy

Effect and feasibility of district level scale up of maternal, newborn and child health interventions in Pakistan: A quasi-experimental study

Introduction: Pakistan has a high burden of maternal, newborn and child morbidity and mortality. Several factors including weak scale-up of evidence-based interventions within the existing health system; lack of community awareness regarding health conditions; and poverty contribute to poor outcomes. Deaths and morbidity are largely preventable if a combination of community and facility-based interventions are rolled out at scale.Methods and analysis: Umeed-e-Nau (UeN) (New Hope) project aims is to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in eight high-burden districts of Pakistan by scaling up of evidence-based interventions. The project will assess interventions focused on, first, improving the quality of MNCH care at primary level and secondary level. Second, interventions targeting demand generation such as community mobilisation, creating awareness of healthy practices and expanding coverage of outreach services will be evaluated. Third, we will also evaluate interventions targeting the improvement in quality of routine health information and promotion of use of the data for decision-making. Hypothesis of the project is that roll out of evidence-based interventions at scale will lead to at least 20% reduction in perinatal mortality and 30% decrease in diarrhoea and pneumonia case fatality in the target districts whereas two intervention groups will serve as internal controls. Monitoring and evaluation of the programme will be undertaken through conducting periodical population level surveys and quality of care assessments. Descriptive and multivariate analytical methods will be used for assessing the association between different factors, and difference in difference estimates will be used to assess the impact of the intervention on outcomes.Ethics and dissemination: The ethics approval was obtained from the Aga Khan University Ethics Review Committee. The findings of the project will be shared with relevant stakeholders and disseminated through open access peer-reviewed journal articles

Prevalence and predictors of iron deficiency anemia in children under five years of age in Pakistan, a secondary analysis of national nutrition survey data 2011–2012

Background: Iron deficiency Anemia (IDA) in children is a recognized public health problem that impacts adversely on child morbidity, mortality and impairs cognitive development. In Pakistan information on the true prevalence and predictors of IDA is limited. This study sought to investigate IDA in children under five years of age using data from a nationally representative stratified cross-sectional survey. Methods: Secondary analysis was performed on the National Nutrition Survey in Pakistan 2011–2012. We used a pre-structured instrument to collect socio demographic and nutritional data on mothers and children. We also collected Anthropometric measurements and blood samples for micronutrient deficiencies. IDA was defined as having both haemoglobin levels of \u3c110 g/L and ferritin levels of \u3c 12 μg/L. Data analysis was performed by applying univariate and multivariate techniques using logistic regression through SPSS. Findings: A total of 7138 children aged between 6–59 months were included in the analysis. The prevalence of IDA was 33.2%. In multivariate regression analysis adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were calculated. Age \u3c 24 months (AOR 1.40, 95% CI 1.18–1.55 p \u3c0.05), stunting (AOR 1.42 CI 1.23–1.63 p\u3c0.05), presence of clinical anemia (AOR 5.69 CI 4.93–6.56 p\u3c0.05), having a mother with IDA (AOR 1.72 CI 1.47–2.01 p\u3c0.05) and household food insecurity (AOR 1.20 CI 1.10–1.40 P\u3c0.05) were associated with IDA. Living in a rural area (AOR 0.77 CI 0.65–0.90 p\u3c0.05) and being a female child (AOR 0.87 CI 0.76–0.98 p\u3c0.05) were associated with reduced odds of IDA. Conclusion: The prevalence of IDA amongst Pakistani children represents a moderate burden that disproportionately affects the youngest, growth retarded children, affected children are more likely to have mothers with IDA and live in areas where food security is lacking. National efforts to alleviate the burden of IDA should involve both short term vertical programs such as iron supplementation and long term horizontal programs including wheat flour fortification