Political Economy of Fiscal Reforms in the 1990s

Throughout the decade of the 1990s, major emphasis in Pakistan remained on fiscal reform as a part of the reform programmes undertaken by the various governments of Pakistan. Fiscal reform assumes significance considering the high budget deficits that Pakistan has been experiencing. These have added to Pakistan’s total debt burden in general and external debt in particular. Increase in the burden of debt adds to debt-servicing expenditure which further feeds back into the issue of high fiscal deficit. Debt-servicing increased to almost 47 percent1 by the middle of the decade of 1990s and comprised 8.3 percent of the GDP, up from less than 1 percent mid-1960s. Pakistan’s external debt at over $32 billion2 in 1998 was 41 percent of its GNP which was amongst the highest in the South Asian region with India’s at 20 percent of GNP in the same year and Sri Lanka’s also at 41 percent3 of its GNP. In this paper, we attempt to explore the rationale behind the emphases on the improvement in both the deficit-to-GDP and the tax-to-GDP ratios that have remained the cornerstones of Pakistan’s fiscal reform effort in the decade of the 1990s. Section 2 is a discussion of the extent of successes and failures of the fiscal reform effort thus far and explores the relationship between tax generation and budget deficit. Section 3 discusses the impact of expenditures on budget deficit. Section 4 shows the rise in dependence on external sources of financing. Section 5 gives the conclusions.

The Role of Student Expectation and Service Quality in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan

A sharp increase in tuition fee and the demand for efficient university graduates for employment from the employers’ perspective has given rise to an increase in students’ expectations. In private sector, students of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have greater expectations as they pay more money but the private sector HEIs do not have the required capabilities to meet such expectations. There are a lot of students who feel that the courses they are studying have no significant value against the money which they are paying to study these courses. The management of HEIs allocates more funds for research activities, updating libraries, innovative teaching methodologies, science laboratories and academic career services. Various studies showed how to gauge service quality in the specific area of higher education. The current study focuses specifically on first year/semester students of all academic disciplines of private sector HEIs. It is based on a questionnaire, and 162 responses were collected; data collection tool, that is, the questionnaire was administered personally by the researcher. By using Exploratory Factor Analysis, those dimensions of service quality were elaborated which had a considerable impact on students’ expectations and also the factors that influence students’ choice or priority to get enrolled in private sector universities. Reliability analysis of the 5 dimensions of service quality including reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and empathy depicted the value of Cronbach’s alpha to 0.980. Factor Analysis of the five dimensions of service quality was also done .Loadings after Varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization (KMO) by considering the values of loadings suppressed to 0.50 shows that 43 out of 48 items converged into 7 factors, while 5 items did not converge. The non-convergent items recommend the management of HEIs to focus on such areas of students’ expectations.&nbsp

The Burden of Inclusion: The Case of Saron Gebresellassi and Women of Colour in Municipal Politics

Substantial media and academic attention have been given to the concept of diversity nowadays, namely the participation of migrants and minorities within Canadian politics. While there is some discussion about the representation of women in municipal government, there is even less dialogue about the inclusion of women of colour in local arenas. Indigenous, racialized, and immigrant women are underrepresented at all levels of the government. By using the frameworks of anti-racist feminism and intersectionality, this paper will analyze the barriers faced by women of colour in the duration of their municipal campaign. Specifically, this paper will analyze the 2018 campaign of Toronto mayoral candidate, Saron Gebresellassi, and provide an analysis of her struggles with the following barriers: lack of public and media recognition, lack of financial resources, and the refusal to recognize her leadership. In so doing, this paper will demonstrate that women of colour continue to face barriers in the local political arena as a result of their identity yet are expected to futilely assert themselves in such spaces

The Past in the Present of Syria

Key Facts:Syria: Under the Ottoman Domination (1516-1918); Arab Government (1918-1920); French Mandate (1920-1946).Hussein-McMahon Correspondence in 1915 and 1916 to recognize the independent of Arabs in Asian part by Great Britain in aim that Hussein, Sharif Mecca declares revolt against Ottomans.Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 to divide the Middle East between France and Britain.The Syrian National Day is “Evacuation Day”, the evacuation of the last French soldier in 17 April 1946.Mohammad Kurd Ali, the first director of the Arab Academy in 1919.The National Museum of Damascus founded in 1919 by the Arab Academy.The National Museum of Aleppo founded in 1926

An Adapted Approach for User Profiling in a Recommendation System: Application to Industrial Diagnosis

In this paper, we propose a global architecture of a recommender tool, which represents a part of an existing collaborative platform. This tool provides diagnostic documents for industrial operators. The recommendation process considered here is composed of three steps: Collecting and filtering information; Prediction or recommendation step; evaluating and improvement. In this work, we focus on collecting and filtering step. We mainly use information result from collaborative sessions and documents describing solutions that are attributed to the complex diagnostic problems. The developed tool is based on collaborative filtering that operates on users' preferences and similar responses

Impact of the climate change on the West coast of Algeria: Gulf of Oran, Arzew and Mostaganem.

Different hydro climatic conditionsat and above a continental shelf have significant effects on the ecology of theenvironment (temperature, nutrient richness and pelagic production). Indeed,bioclimatic changes defined clearly reflects the prevailing conditions imposedabove the continental shelf. Based on contributions made to the sea (rainfall,temperature, wind ...) and those put together by the internal dynamics can bedistinguished marine years that correspond to low enrichment in terms of anychange in continental and marine conditions generally short and strongenrichment of years corresponding to eventful years and transformations ofcontinental and marine conditions, strong shifts in time. Thus, a hot or coldbut very fluctuating period influence the marine ecosystem and phytoplankton growth. Also, the impact of development on the coastal and marine environmentis localized mainly in the coastal metropolitan areas characterized by highurbanization and concentration of activities. Keywords:climate change; environmental variability; Ecosystem vulnerability; West coastof Algeria

Knowledge , Attitude and Practice of Dental Health Personnel about dental medical waste at primary health care level – Khartoum state – Sudan

كانت الدراسة وصية مستعرضة على أساس مؤسسي. مجتمع الدراسة: أطباء الأسنان العامون (17) ومساعدو الأسنان (9) استشاري (1). ما مجموعه 27 من العاملين الصحيين مباشرة مع جميع أفراد مجتمع الدراسة. الفئة العمرية الرئيسية هي بين 30-45 سنة كان الهدف العام هو دراسة معرفة وموقف وممارسة العاملين الصحيين في إدارة مخلفات طب الأسنان. النفايات الطبية هي نفايات كلية يتم توليدها من مرافق الرعاية الصحية خلال عملية تقديم الرعاية الصحية وتشمل المحاقن والإبر والأمبولات والضمادات والبلاستيك القابل للتصرف والنفايات الميكروبيولوجية . يتم تصنيف النفايات الناتجة عن مركبات الكربون الهيدروكلورية فلورية على نطاق واسع على أنها نفايات عامة أو خطرة. تؤدي الإدارة الرديئة لنفايات الرعاية الصحية إلى تعريض العاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية ومعالجي النفايات والمرضى والمجتمع ككل للعدوى والآثار والإصابات السامة ومخاطر تلويث البيئة. من الضروري أن يتم عزل جميع مواد النفايات الطبية عند نقطة التوليد ، ومعالجتها والتخلص منها بطريقة آمنة. أدوات وتقنيات جمع البيانات: إجراء المقابلات باستخدام استبيان: تم ملء استبيان محدد مسبقًا ومختبر من خلال مقابلة أظهرت نتائج الدراسة أن الدراسة تظهر نقصًا في الكوادر الفنية اطباء طب الأسنان ، مستشارون ومساعدو طب أسنان) في جميع المراكز الصحية كما يتضح من طبيب أسنان واحد في معظم المراكز الصحية ومساعدو طبيب أسنان (59٪) لدى بعض المراكز الصحية طبيب أسنان واحد فقط بدون مساعد. أقر ستة وعشرون (96.3٪) من المشاركين بأن النفايات يتم جمعها يوميًا ، وتستخدم غالبية المشاركين 25 (92.6٪) أدوات وملابس واقية على أساس منتظم ، والنفايات الطبية مرتبة من النفايات العادية. فقط 15 (55.6 ٪) من المشاركين يتبعون رمز التلوين لحاويات التخلص منها. كشف تحليل النتائج ما يلي: - تعتبر معالجة النفايات الطبية نشاطًا خطيرًا وتحتاج إلى استخدام معدات الوقاية الشخصية المناسبة ؛ أظهر استخدام أدوات وقائية واقية على أساس منتظم (PPE) درجة ذات دلالة إحصائية بقيمة P (0.01). تعكس النتائج غالبية المشاركين - ثمانية عشر - (72.0 ٪) (بدرجة جيدة. وتعكس وعي الموظفين الكبير بالطبيعة الخطرة للنفايات الطبية وأهمية استخدام معدات الوقاية الشخصية لحماية أنفسهم. جدول (14) . العلاقة بين جمع النفايات الطبية على أساس يومي والممارسة: - العلاقة بين ما إذا كانت النفايات الطبية يتم جمعها على أساس يومي أو لا تعطي درجة جيدة والتي هي ذات دلالة إحصائية. P. القيمة = (0.01) - الجدول (15

The Role of Teaching Using the Strategy of Brainstorming in the Development of Life Skills in the Tenth Grade Students from the Point of View of Teachers

The study aimed to identify the role of teaching using the strategy of brainstorming in the development of life skills in the tenth grade students from the point of view of teachers, the researcher used descriptive analytical approach to achievethe objectives of the study ?The study sample consisted of (200) male and female teachers selected randomly. The researcher used the questionnaire as a tool for study, which consisted of (45) paragraphs divided into four areas (decision making skill, interpersonal skills, time management skill and stress management skills)The results showed that the ability to communicate with others came first, followed by decision-making skill, then time management skill, and in the last rank the skill of dealing with stress. The researcher recommended the use of modern teaching strategies in teaching and getting away As much as possible about the method of indoctrination. Keywords: brainstorming strategy, life skills

Degree of Competency in Practicing Basic Education for Kindergarten Teachers from the Point of View of the Teachers Themselves

The study aimed to identify the degree of practicing the basic educational competencies of kindergarten teachers from the point of view of the teachers themselves. The study sample consisted of 125 randomly selected teachers. The researcher used the questionnaire as a tool of study consisting of 50 paragraphs divided into five areas (personal competencies, competencies for the management of the classroom and interaction with children, competencies of teaching skills, educational competencies for human relations, and the field of professional growth). After the statistical analysis was performed, the study reached the following results: There were statistically significant differences at 0.05 between the bachelor degree on the one hand and the diploma and postgraduate studies on the other hand. The differences were in favor of Bachelor of personal competencies. Also, there is the existence of statistical significant difference ( 0.05 ) between 10 years and more and 5-10 years. This difference is based on the benefit of 10 years and more educational competencies for the field of human relations. The researcher recommended that training courses should be organized as this would contribute to increasing the efficiency and skills of kindergarten teachers