Performance of the Public Electric Power Industry: Evidence from Pakistan

The study investigates the performance of electric power sector of Pakistan at the firm level, as well as the sector as a whole. It identifies and attempts to quantify the extent of inefficiencies. Since either physical or financial or productivity indicators alone are not able to explain the duality of public infrastructure purposes and the complexity of their multi-dimensional goals, a set of relevant physical, financial, and productivity indicators have been used in evaluating the performance of this sector. Further, a Cobb- Douglas production function has also been used to calculate the trend in the growth of total factor productivity. Economies of scale have also been studied in the case of electric power generation.

Sustainability Of Markhor Trophy Hunting Programme In District Kohistan Pakistan

Trophy hunting is a form of sport hunting that has been practiced since hunting gatherer period. Usually, animals hunted as trophies have large weapons such as horns, antlers or tusks. Therefore, trophy animals are mostly males, and the animals most frequently considered as trophy species are ungulates. In 1983 the Wildlife Department of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan began the Chitral Conservation Hunting Programme, a trophy hunting programme for makhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis). Pemburuan trofi merupakan suatu bentuk sukan pemburuan yang diamalkan sejak berzaman lamanya. Biasanya, haiwan yang diburu sebagai trofi mempunyai tanduk atau gading, dan kebanyakannya adalah jantan. Pada tahun 1983, Jabatan Hidupan Liar Khyber, Wilayah Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan memulakan Chitral Conservation Hunting Programme, iaitu suatu program pemburuan trofi bagi markhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis)

Cluster-based cooperative subcarrier sensing using antenna diversity-based weighted data fusion

Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is used in cognitive radio (CR) networks to improve the spectrum sensing performance in shadow fading environments. Moreover, clustering in CR networks is used to reduce reporting time and bandwidth overhead during CSS. Thus, cluster-based cooperative spectrum sensing (CBCSS) has manifested satisfactory spectrum sensing results in harsh environments under processing constraints. On the other hand, the antenna diversity of multiple input multiple output CR systems can be exploited to further improve the spectrum sensing performance. This paper presents the CBCSS performance in a CR network which is comprised of single- as well as multiple-antenna CR systems. We give theoretical analysis of CBCSS for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signal sensing and propose a novel fusion scheme at the fusion center which takes into account the receiver antenna diversity of the CRs present in the network. We introduce the concept of weighted data fusion in which the sensing results of different CRs are weighted proportional to the number of receiving antennas they are equipped with. Thus, the receiver diversity is used to the advantage of improving spectrum sensing performance in a CR cluster. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional CBCSS scheme

Katma değer vergisinin kuzey kıbrıs ekonomisi üzerine etkisi: kısa dönem değerlendirmesi

Value added tax was introduced in North Cyprus in 1996 to increase public revenue as well as to harmonize with Turkey and EU member countries. It is however evident that the budget deficit has rather increased after the introduction of VAT. The literature argues that VAT not only has potential to generate enough revenue to reduce the budget deficit but also encourages savings and investments. The question is why could North Cyprus not achieve these objectives? The present study was designed to answer this question. It evaluates the impact of VAT on the North Cyprus economy by using several macroeconomic variables such as total consumption, total domestic savings, public, private and total investments, government purchases, exports and imports. The impact of VAT has been studied through simple regression techniques with dummy variable for policy change.Gerek kamu gelirlerinin artırılması, gerekse Türkiye ile AB’ye üye ülkeler ile uyumun sağlanması amacıyla, 1996 yılında Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta KDV uygulaması başlatılmıştır. Ancak, bu uygulama sonrasında, diğer bir deyişle KDV uygulamasından sonra dahi, bütçe açığında artış gözlenmiştir. Literatür araştırmalarından da ortaya konduğu üzere, KDV yalnızca bütçe açığını azaltacak düzeyde bir gelir artışı sağlamakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda gerek tasarrufu gerekse yatırımları teşvik etmektedir. Bu konuda akla gelen soru ise, Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta neden bu hedeflere ulaşılamadığıdır. Mevcut çalışma ise, bu soruya bir yanıt almak üzere tasarlanmıştır. Yine bu bağlamda, anılan çalışma toplam tüketim, toplam tasarruflar, kamu, özel ve toplam yatırımlar, kamu alımları, ihracat ve ithalat gibi çeşitli makro ekonomik değişkenleri kullanarak KDV’nin Kuzey Kıbrıs ekonomisi üzerindeki etkilerini değerlendirmektedir. Böylece, KDV’nin etkisi politika değişimi için dummy değişken içeren basit regresyon tekniği ile incelenmiştir

Peak to average power ratio reduction in NC–OFDM systems

Non contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NC-OFDM) is an efficient and adaptable multicarrier modulation scheme to be used in cognitive radio communications. However like OFDM, NC-OFDM also suffers from the main drawback of high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). In this paper PAPR has been reduced by employing three different trigonometric transforms. Discrete cosine transform (DCT), discrete sine transform (DST) and fractional fourier transform (FRFT) has been combined with conventional selected level mapping (SLM) technique to reduce the PAPR of both OFDM and NC-OFDM based systems. The method combines all the transforms with SLM in different ways. Transforms DCT, DST and FRFT have been applied before the SLM block or inside the SLM block before IFFT. Simulation results show the comparative analysis of all the transforms using SLM in case of both OFDM and NC-OFDM based systems

Cooperative subcarrier sensing using antenna diversity based weighted virtual sub clustering

The idea of cooperation and the clustering amongst cognitive radios (CRs) has recently been focus of attention of research community, owing to its potential to improve performance of spectrum sensing (SS) schemes. This focus has led to the paradigm of cluster based cooperative spectrum sensing (CBCSS). In perspective of high date rate 4th generation wireless systems, which are characterized by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and spatial diversity, there is a need to devise effective SS strategies. A novel CBCSS scheme is proposed for OFDM subcarrier detection in order to enable the non-contiguous OFDM (NC-OFDM) at the physical layer of CRs for efficient utilization of spectrum holes. Proposed scheme is based on the energy detection in MIMO CR network, using equal gain combiner as diversity combining technique, hard combining (AND, OR and Majority) rule as data fusion technique and antenna diversity based weighted clustering as virtual sub clustering algorithm. Results of proposed CBCSS are compared with conventional CBCSS scheme for AND, OR and Majority data fusion rules. Moreover the effects of antenna diversity, cooperation and cooperating clusters are also discussed

The Impact of Value Added Tax on the North Cyprus Economy : a Short Term Assessment

Gerek kamu gelirlerinin artırılması, gerekse Türkiye ile AB’ye üye ülkeler ile uyumun sağlanması amacıyla, 1996 yılında Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta KDV uygulaması başlatılmıştır. Ancak, bu uygulama sonrasında, diğer bir deyişle KDV uygulamasından sonra dahi, bütçe açığında artış gözlenmiştir. Literatür araştırmalarından da ortaya konduğu üzere, KDV yalnızca bütçe açığını azaltacak düzeyde bir gelir artışı sağlamakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda gerek tasarrufu gerekse yatırımları teşvik etmektedir. Bu konuda akla gelen soru ise, Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta neden bu hedeflere ulaşılamadığıdır. Mevcut çalışma ise, bu soruya bir yanıt almak üzere tasarlanmıştır. Yine bu bağlamda, anılan çalışma toplam tüketim, toplam tasarruflar, kamu, özel ve toplam yatırımlar, kamu alımları, ihracat ve ithalat gibi çeşitli makro ekonomik değişkenleri kullanarak KDV’nin Kuzey Kıbrıs ekonomisi üzerindeki etkilerini değerlendirmektedir. Böylece, KDV’nin etkisi politika değişimi için dummy değişken içeren basit regresyon tekniği ile incelenmiştir.Value added tax was introduced in North Cyprus in 1996 to increase public revenue as well as to harmonize with Turkey and EU member countries. It is however evident that the budget deficit has rather increased after the introduction of VAT. The literature argues that VAT not only has potential to generate enough revenue to reduce the budget deficit but also encourages savings and investments. The question is why could North Cyprus not achieve these objectives? The present study was designed to answer this question. It evaluates the impact of VAT on the North Cyprus economy by using several macroeconomic variables such as total consumption, total domestic savings, public, private and total investments, government purchases, exports and imports. The impact of VAT has been studied through simple regression techniques with dummy variable for policy change

Understanding the causes of spatial variation in pesticide sorption and degradation at the catchment scale

Intensive agricultural practices and use of pesticides, essential to achieve high crop yields, present particular risks to soil and water resources which sustain life. Degradation and sorption of pesticides in soils are both spatially variable and also among the most sensitive factors determining losses to surface water and groundwater. Currently, no general guidance is available on suitable approaches for dealing with spatial variation in pesticide degradation and sorption in catchment or regional scale modelling applications. This thesis investigated sorption and degradation of three pesticides (bentazone, isoproturon, and glyphosate) in the cultivated soils of an agricultural catchment in Sweden with the aim to develop and test simple model approaches that could support large-scale modelling. In the case of sorption, an extended partitioning model improved upon the koc concept for all three compounds studied: inorganic sorbents dominated sorption in sub-surface soils and their effects were only masked by organic matter in surface soils with organic carbon contents larger than ca.2%. Interactions between organic and inorganic sorbents affected glyphosate sorption, but apparently not that of bentazone or isoproturon. It was concluded that information on clay, fclay, iron and aluminum oxides and soil pH, in addition to organic carbon, foc, is needed to accurately predict pesticide sorption. The variables foc, fclay and pH are generally available, whereas measurements of oxides of Al and Fe are rarely reported. The degradation rate constant (k) was highly variable with coefficients of variation ranging between 42 and 64% for the three herbicides. This variability could be attributed to variations in microbial biomass and pesticide bioavailability. A simple modelling approach to predict k from the sorption constant, which reflects bioavailability, and easily measurable surrogate variables for microbial biomass/activity (organic carbon and clay contents) was successfully tested in a meta-analysis of available literature data using bootstrapped partial least squares regression (PLSR). In conclusion, this approach shows promise as an effective way to account for the effects of bioavailability and microbial activity on microbial pesticide degradation in large-scale model applications

Development and performance evaluation of indigenized flat plate collector water heater for domestic and industrial applications

Pakistan is facing severe energy crises from the last decade resulting daily electric blackouts from 8 to 12 h. The limited fossil fuel reserves and its environmental consequences have led to boost research and development of alternate energy resources. A huge amount of fossil fuels and electricity is being consumed for the generation of low to medium temperature heat energy for domestic, residential, agro-industrial and processing units. This low to medium temperature heat energy required can easily be fulfilled using solar collectors. This paper focus on the development of a flat plate collector using local infrastructure to reduce its initial cost. The collector consists of a window glass, absorber plate coated with black matt paint, copper tubes, inlet and outlet pipes, rockwool insulation and a wooden frame. The results showed that the average efficiency of the solar collector was found to be 47.06%. The complete collector unit has been developed using indigenous resources to reduce its initial cost without compromising on its efficiency. Due to ideal climatic conditions of Pakistan for solar thermal energy, this system can be used for domestic, residential, and agro-industrial applications especially in rural and remote areas having no access to natural gas or electricity