Experience of Equity-based Islamic Shares in Pakistan

Modarabah and leasing stocks, which are listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) since 1985, operate on the Islamic concept of financing under a well defined contractual framework supervised by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The Islamic stocks had mushroom growth during the first sub-period of reforms1 and were exempted from various taxes during the initial 3 years of their operation. For investors these shares were a very attractive opportunity to build a quality portfolio and earn high returns. Due to bureaucratic and non-professional approach of banks in Pakistan these firms became popular alternatives lenders to medium and small sized business borrowers. The turn around time and efficient handling of the proposals made them more attractive

Key Fundamental Factors and Long-run Price Changes in an Emerging Market-A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)

Share prices are the most important indicator readily available to the investors for their decision to invest or not in a particular share. Theories suggest that share price changes are associated with changes in fundamental variables which are relevant for share valuation like payout ratio, dividend yield, capital structure, earnings size of the firm and its growth, [Wilcox (1984); Rappoport (1986); Downs (1991)]. Linter (1956) linked dividend changes to earnings while Shapiro valuation model (1962) showed dividend streams discounted by the difference in discount rate and growth in dividend should be equal to share price. This predicts direct relation between pay out ratio and the price-earning multiple. Conversely it means that there is an inverse relation between pay out ratio and share price changes. Several eventbased studies established direct relation between share price changes and either earnings or dividend changes [Ball and Brown (1968); Baskin (1989)]. Sharpe (1964) and Hamada (1972) suggested direct relation between share price changes and capital structure. Beaver, Kettler and Sholes (1970) showed that firms appear to pay less of their earnings if they have higher earning volatility. This suggests payout ratio as relevant factor for share price changes. Investigations of share price changes appear to yield evidence that changes in fundamental variable(s) should jointly bring about changes in share prices both in developed and emerging markets. However, the actual fundamental factors found to be relevant may vary from market to market. For example, changes in asset growth of firms are significant in the case of Japanese shares while earnings appear to be universally a relevant factor [Ariff, et al. (1994)]. However, it is widely agreed that a set of fundamental variables as suggested by individual theories is no doubt relevant as possible factors affecting share price changes in the short and the long-run.

Industry Risk Premia in Pakistan

Industry characteristics is one of the main factors that determines a firm’s business risk [Kale, Hakansson, and Platt (1991)], and a single information can affect more than one security price change, perhaps even the whole market. Lessard (1974, 1976) explains that industry plays an important role in explaining national market volatility. One of the reasons for stock index behaviour are attributed to industrial composition as some industries are internally more volatile than the other [Grinold, Rudd, and Stefek (1989)]. Moreover, some sectors show a high degree of global integration, for example, the finance sector [Roll (1992)]. Similarly, consumer goods, fuel and energy, and transportation sectors are extremely important for any country index. King (1966) suggests that if a significant difference in industry risk premia is observed, then we need to isolate the market risk premia and industry risk premia. He observed that the industry components of variance showed much less change from sub-period to sub-period. Significant differential impact of regulatory policy on cost of capital across various sectors was also observed [Isimbabi (1994); Prager (1989)]

Key Fundamental Factors and Long-run Price Changes in an Emerging Market—A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)

Share prices are the most important indicator readily available to the investors for their decision to invest or not in a particular share. Theories suggest that share price changes are associated with changes in fundamental variables which are relevant for share valuation like payout ratio, dividend yield, capital structure, earnings size of the firm and its growth, [Wilcox (1984); Rappoport (1986); Downs (1991)]. Linter (1956) linked dividend changes to earnings while Shapiro valuation model (1962) showed dividend streams discounted by the difference in discount rate and growth in dividend should be equal to share price. This predicts direct relation between pay out ratio and the price-earning multiple. Conversely it means that there is an inverse relation between pay out ratio and share price changes. Several eventbased studies established direct relation between share price changes and either earnings or dividend changes [Ball and Brown (1968); Baskin (1989)]. Sharpe (1964) and Hamada (1972) suggested direct relation between share price changes and capital structure. Beaver, Kettler and Sholes (1970) showed that firms appear to pay less of their earnings if they have higher earning volatility. This suggests payout ratio as relevant factor for share price changes. Investigations of share price changes appear to yield evidence that changes in fundamental variable(s) should jointly bring about changes in share prices both in developed and emerging markets. However, the actual fundamental factors found to be relevant may vary from market to market. For example, changes in asset growth of firms are significant in the case of Japanese shares while earnings appear to be universally a relevant factor [Ariff, et al. (1994)]. However, it is widely agreed that a set of fundamental variables as suggested by individual theories is no doubt relevant as possible factors affecting share price changes in the short and the long-run [Ariff and Khan (2000)]

1971 Killing of the ‘Bengali’ Intellectuals: An Analysis from the Perspective of the 1948 Genocide Convention

The lessons of the history of past genocidal incidents expose that the educated and the leaders, collectively called ‘intellectuals’, have often been a distinct target by the perpetrators. Bengali intellectuals were also targeted and killed by the Pakistani military and its local collaborators during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. As the Bangladesh genocide, committed by the Pakistani military and its local collaborators, is still internationally overlooked, the issue of killing the Bengali intellectuals during such genocide has not obtained much attention. This study identifies the killing of the intellectuals as one of the genocidal policies employed by the Pakistani military and its local collaborators during the war. The massacre of the Bengali intellectuals in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War is examined in this article from the perspective of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The authors have critically analyzed the killing of the Bengali intellectuals in light of the definition of ‘genocide’ and the travaux preparatoires of the Convention to explore whether it forms a genocidal policy. &nbsp

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Employment Opportunities: Panel Data Analysis (Empirical Evidence from Pakistan, India and China).

Over the past two decades, the continent of Asia received a large amount of FDI from developed regions. Additionally, in the Asia, India and China received a major chunk of foreign direct investment and FDI flows to Pakistan also increased significantly. Many studies show that the inflow of FDI plays a significant role in generating employment in host countries. The objective of this study is to undertake an empirical study on creation of employment opportunities by FDI during 1985-2008 in the Asian region. In this regard, we have taken the sample of three countries i.e. Pakistan, India and China from the same region. The Im-Pesaran-Shin (IPS) test of unit root is applied to find out the order of integration. The long run relationship is investigated through the Pedroni (1999) test of panel cointegration. At last, the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method is used for estimation of the impact of FDI inflows on employment levels in three countries. Implications for FDI policy are spelt out in the light of these empirical results. JEL classification: F23, E24, C23 Keywords: FDI, Employment, Panel Dat

Design And Simulation Of An Intelligent Adaptive Arbiter For Maximum Cpu Usage Of Multicore Processors

The recent technology in the world of microprocessor is blended with complex chips that incorporate multiple processors dedicated for specific computational needs. Therefore, in any shared memory system, an arbitration technique plays an important role to allocate access to the shared resources. The major challenge dealt in the proposed research is the achievement of maximum CPU utilization by exploiting its multiple cores with moderate bus bandwidth allocation and low system latency. In order to tackle the aforesaid problems, an intelligent adaptive arbitration technique has been proposed for the masters designed according to the traffic behaviour of the data flow. The proposed intelligent adaptive arbitration technique is implemented using STREAM, which is a synthetic benchmark program that measures computational rate and sustainable memory bandwidth. In terms of performance analysis, the proposed arbitration technique has been compared with the recent arbitration technique, such as adaptive arbitration technique, dynamic lottery bus arbitration, round robin arbitration and static fixed priority arbitration. To enhance the CPU utilization and bandwidth optimization, the proposed arbitration technique has been modelled using SystemC and OpenMP threads using the method of parallel programming to enable multi-core computing. Some recent arbitration technique achieves fair bus bandwidth allocation up to some extent but fails to achieve maximum CPU utilization, as the processor spends 95-96 % of their time idle and waits for cache misses to be satisfied. The proposed arbitration technique is a strong case in favour of maximum CPU usage and bandwidth optimization, as it consumes the processor cores up to 74% and also reduces the bandwidth fluctuation as well as latency

Osjetljiva kinetička spektrofotometrijska metoda za određivanje kaptoprila

A simple and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed. The method is based on the reduction of Fe(III) with captopril. Fe(II) then reacts with potassium ferricyanide, resulting in the formation of a blue product. The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change of absorbance at 730 nm. Thus, 1.23 × 10-3 mol L-1 FeCl3 and 3.04 × 10-4 mol L-1 potassium ferricyanide were used as optimum values for maximum concentration of captopril in the calibration graph. The initial rate is utilized for constructing the calibration graph, which was found to be linear in the range 4.60 × 10–6–5.06 × 10–5 mol L-1; detection limit is 1.99 × 10–7 mol L-1. The proposed method has been validated; the mean recovery ranges from 99.8–101.4% with RSD < 2%. Common excipients do not interfere with the determination. The point and interval hypotheses tests have been performed and confirmed that there is no significant difference between the proposed method and conventional spectrophotometric method. The experimental true bias of all samples is lower than ± 2.0%. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of captopril in bulk and dosage forms.Razvijena je jednostavna osjetljiva kinetička spektrofotometrijska metoda za određivanje kaptoprila. Metoda se temelji na redukciji Fe(III) u Fe(II) koji zatim s kalijevim fericijanidom daje plavo obojeni produkt. Nastajanje produkta praćeno je spektrofotometrijski na valnoj duljini 730 nm. Optimalne koncentracije FeCl3 i potassium ferricyanida bile su 1,23 × 10-3 mol L-1, odnosno 3,04 × 10-4 mol L-1. Početna brzina upotrebljena je za izradu baždarnog pravca. Linearnost je postignuta u koncentracijskom području od 4,60 × 10–6 do 5,06 × 10–5 mol L-1; granica detekcije bila je 1,99 × 10–7 mol L-1. Predložena metoda je validirana. Srednja vrijednost analitičkog povrata iznosila je 99,8–101,4% uz RSD < 2%. Uobičajeni ekscipiensi nisu smetali određivanju. Ispitivanja hipoteze točke i intervala potvrdila su da nema značajne razlike između predložene metode i opisane spektrofotometrijske metode. Stvarna eksperimentalna pogreška za sve uzorke bila je manja od ± 2%. Opisana metoda primijenjena je za određivanje kaptoprila kao čiste supstancije i u ljekovitom pripravku

Numerical simulations of a CD nozzle and the influence of the duct length

A numerical method is used to observe the effect of microjets control on wall pressure spreading in sudden expansion two-dimensional planar duct. In order to find the microjet effectiveness 2-jets of 1 mm diameter orifice located precisely at 900 of intervals along a pitch-circle-distance (PCD) of 1.3 times the exit diameter of the nozzle in the base were employed to control actively. At the present study, the Mach number was used to calibrate the entry to duct was 2.2, and the area ratio of 2.56. The focus in this study and investigate the influence of length-to-diameter ratio (L/D) of a suddenly expanded duct and its effect on the development of the flow field. Hence, to achieve this, the duct length has been varied from 2 to 10. Nozzles are producing such Mach numbers the experiments were performed operating at nozzle pressure ratio (NPR) 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. The convergent-divergent nozzle geometry has been studied using the K-ε standard wall function turbulence model and independently check with the ANSYS software

Control of CD nozzle flow using microjets at Mach 2.1

This paper reports the outcome of the wind tunnel investigation performed to study the effectiveness of the control jets to regulate the base pressure in an abruptly expanded circular pipe. Tiny jets four in a number, of 1 mm orifice diameter located at ninety degrees in cross shape along a pitch circle diameter (PCD) of 1.3 as a control mechanism were employed. The Mach numbers and the area ratio of the study were 2.1, and 4.84. The length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio of the duct tested was varied from 10 to 1. Nature of the flow in the duct, as well as static wall pressure distribution in the suddenly enlarged duct, was recorded. The main aim of this study was to assess the influence of the active control in the form of tiny jets on the flow field as well as the nature of the flow, and also the development of the flow in the duct. The results obtained in this study show that the flow field, as well as the wall pressure distribution, is not adversely influenced by the tiny jets. The minimum duct length seems to be 2D for NPR's in the range five and above. However, for all the level of expansion of the present study, the minimum duct length needed for the flow to remain attached seems to be 3D