Educational Quality and Labour Market Performance in Developing Countries: Some Evidence from Pakistan

Several studies have shown that investment in the quality of education has a higher payoff than investment in quantity alone.1 However, in many developing countries, investment in improving educational quality is still accorded a lower priority than investment in educational quantity. Countries which commit more resources towards education are generally observed to expand their enrolment ratios while paying little attention on improving such schooling inputs as student-teacher ratio that contribute towards improvement of educational quality (Table 1). There is also a tendency to allocate minimal resources towards upgrading existing schools by improving quality of teaching, facilities, and curricula. Greater emphasis is placed on rapid expansion of the number of educational institutions to reach out a large proportion of population.

CroLSSim: Cross‐language software similarity detector using hybrid approach of LSA‐based AST‐MDrep features and CNN‐LSTM model

Software similarity in different programming codes is a rapidly evolving field because of its numerous applications in software development, software cloning, software plagiarism, and software forensics. Currently, software researchers and developers search cross-language open-source repositories for similar applications for a variety of reasons, such as reusing programming code, analyzing different implementations, and looking for a better application. However, it is a challenging task because each programming language has a unique syntax and semantic structure. In this paper, a novel tool called Cross-Language Software Similarity (CroLSSim) is designed to detect similar software applications written in different programming codes. First, the Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) features are collected from different programming codes. These are high-quality features that can show the abstract view of each program. Then, Methods Description (MDrep) in combination with AST is used to examine the relationship among different method calls. Second, the Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency approach is used to retrieve the local and global weights from AST-MDrep features. Third, the Latent Semantic Analysis-based features extraction and selection method is proposed to extract the semantic anchors in reduced dimensional space. Fourth, the Convolution Neural Network (CNN)-based features extraction method is proposed to mine the deep features. Finally, a hybrid deep learning model of CNN-Long-Short-Term Memory is designed to detect semantically similar software applications from these latent variables. The data set contains approximately 9.5K Java, 8.8K C#, and 7.4K C++ software applications obtained from GitHub. The proposed approach outperforms as compared with the state-of-the-art methods

Are three flavors special?

It has become clearer recently that the regular pattern of three flavor nonets describing the low spin meson multiplets seems to require some modification for the case of the spin 0 scalar mesons. One picture which has had some success, treats the scalars in a chiral Lagrangian framework and considers them to populate two nonets. These are, in turn, taken to result from the mixing of two "bare" nonets, one of which is of quark- antiquark type and the other of two quark- two antiquark type. Here we show that such a mixing is, before chiral symmetry breaking terms are included, only possible for three flavors. In other cases, the two types of structure can not have the same chiral symmetry transformation property. Specifically, our criterion would lead one to believe that scalar and pseudoscalar states containing charm would not have "four quark" admixtures. This work is of potential interest for constructing chiral Lagrangians based on exact chiral symmetry which is then broken by well known specific terms. It may also be of interest in studying some kinds of technicolor theories

Chiral Nonet Mixing in pi pi Scattering

Pion pion scattering is studied in a generalized linear sigma model which contains two scalar nonets (one of quark-antiquark type and the other of diquark-antidiquark type) and two corresponding pseudoscalar nonets. An interesting feature concerns the mixing of the four isosinglet scalar mesons which yield poles in the scattering amplitude. Some realism is introduced by enforcing exact unitarity via the K-matrix method. It is shown that a reasonable agreement with experimental data is obtained up to about 1 GeV. The poles in the unitarized scattering amplitude are studied in some detail. The lowest pole clearly represents the sigma meson (or f0(600)) with a mass and decay width around 500 MeV. The second pole invites comparison with the f0(980) which has a mass around 1 GeV and decay width around 100 MeV. The third and fourth poles, resemble some of the isosinglet state in the complicated 1-2 GeV region. Some comparison is made to the situation in the usual SU(3) linear sigma model with a single scalar nonet

Educational Quality and Labour Market Performance in Developing Countries: Some Evidence from Pakistan

vSeveral studies have shown that investment in the quality of education has a higher payoff than investment in quantity alone.1 However, in many developing countries, investment in improving educational quality is still accorded a lower priority than investment in educational quantity. Countries which commit more resources towards education are generally observed to expand their enrolment ratios while paying little attention on improving such schooling inputs as student-teacher ratio that contribute towards improvement of educational quality (Table 1).2 There is also a tendency to allocate minimal resources towards upgrading existing schools by improving quality of teaching, facilities, and curricula. Greater emphasis is placed on rapid expansion of the number of educational institutions to reach out a large proportion of population

Semi-leptonic Ds+D_s^+(1968) decays as a scalar meson probe

The unusual multiplet structures associated with the light spin zero mesons have recently attracted a good deal of theoretical attention. Here we discuss some aspects associated with the possibility of getting new experimental information on this topic from semi-leptonic decays of heavy charged mesons into an isosinglet scalar or pseudoscalar plus leptons.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Comparative Effectiveness of Four Nitrification Inhibitors for Mitigating Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Three Different Textured Soils

Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) can be used to reduce both NO3−-N leaching and N2O-N emissions. However, the comparative efficacies of NIs can be strongly affected by soil type. Therefore, the efficacies of four nitrification inhibitors (dicyandiamide (DCD), 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP), nitrogenous mineral fertilizers containing the DMPP ammonium stabilizer (ENTEC) and active ingredients: 3.00–3.25% 1, 2, 4-triazole and 1.50–1.65% 3-methylpyrazole (PIADIN)) were investigated in three different textured N-fertilized (0.5 g NH4+-N kg−1 soil) soils of Schleswig-Holstein, namely, Marsch (clayey), Östliches Hügelland (loamy) and Geest (sandy) under a controlled environment. Total CO2-C and N2O-N emissions were significantly higher from Marsch than Östliches Hügelland and Geest. In Marsch, DMPP showed the highest inhibitory effect on CO2-C emission (50%), followed by PIADIN (32%) and ENTEC (16%). In Östliches Hügelland, DCD and PIADIN showed the highest and equal inhibitory effect on CO2-C emission (73%), followed by DMPP (64%) and ENTEC (36%). In Marsch and Östliches Hügelland, DCD showed the stronger inhibitory effect on N2O-N emission (86% and 47%) than DMPP (56% and 30%) and PIADIN (54% and 16%). In Geest, DMPP was more effective in reducing N2O-N emission (88%) than PIADIN (70%) and DCD (33%). Thus, it can be concluded that DCD is a better NI for clay and loamy soils, while DMPP and PIADIN are better for sandy soils to inhibit soil nitrification and gaseous emissions

Cancer patients with Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism and COVID-19 phenotypic expression predisposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Pathogenesis of COVID-19 has been linked to the Angiotensin system. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) has been recognized as the specific receptor of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, serves as a cellular receptor for SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that a person's vulnerability to infection may be controlled by how much of the ACE2 gene is expressed. It is also possible that the severity of COVID-19 is related to the equilibrium between ACE1 and ACE2 activity, which has been linked to the etiology of respiratory disorders. This study aimed to investigate the association of ACE1 I/D polymorphism with the severity of Covid-19. The study looked at 113 people-(50 healthy controls, 63 people with Covid). Results for the ACE2 rs4240157 T > C polymorphism were obtained. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the distribution frequencies of variables across the study groups. The ACE1-CC*CT genotype (p = 0.049) and male gender (p0.001) were related to severe COVID-19. COVID-19 severity was found to be associated with the ACE2–CT genotype through multiple logistic regression under the co-dominant inheritance model: CC*CT Allele, 95% CI (0.0104 to 0.2954), Significance level, (0.0007) Odd Ratio (0.0556); CC*TT Allele, 95% CI (0.1854 to 6.1927), Significance level, (0.9386) Odd Ratio (1.0714); and CT*TT (19.2857). This was assuming the ACE2–CC*CT genotype was connected with covid-19 severity. However, the ACE2 polymorphism did not affect the development of illness. In conclusion, male gender, malignancy, and the ACE1 genotype were linked to a negative result of COVID-19. Our results indicated that ACE1-C/T might affect COVID-19 severity; however, this association was hypertensive status-specific. However, this finding needs to be confirmed in additional large samples