Factors Affecting Cotton Production in Pakistan:Empirical Evidence from Multan District

This paper attempts to examine the factors affecting cotton production in Multan region using primary source of data. A sample of 60 small farmers, 25 medium and 15 large farmers was randomly selected from two Tehsils namely Multan and Shujabad of district Multan. The Cobb-Douglas Production Function is employed to assess the effects of various inputs like cultivation, seed and sowing, irrigation, fertilizer, plant protection, inter-culturing / hoeing and labour cost on cotton yield. The results depicted that seed, fertilizer and irrigation were found scarce commodity for all category of farmers in district Multan. The Cobb-Douglas Production Function results revealed that the coefficients for cultivation (0.113) and seed (0.103) were found statistically significant at 1 percent level. The Cost-Benefit Ratio for the large farmers was found higher (1.41) than that of small (1.22) and medium (1.24) farmers. There is a dire need to ensure the availability of these scarce inputs by both public and private sectors as these inputs were major requirement of the cotton crop.Cotton; Cobb- Douglas Production Function; Cost Benefit Ratio; Marginal Value Product; Allocate Efficiency of Critical Inputs; Multan District; Pakistan

The Socio-Economic and Demographic Determinants of Women Work Participation in Pakistan: Evidence from Bahawalpur District

The analysis of labour market participation is useful for formulating employment and human resource development policies. Females form almost more than half of the total population in Pakistan play a very important role in the country. The present study endeavors to estimate the various factors which affect the women work participation. The study is based on the cross-section data collected through field survey. The logistic regression technique is employed to estimate the determinants of female labour force participation. Educational attainment levels turn out to be very significant determinant. Female’s labour force participation rises with increasing level of education. Presence of children in early age groups reduces the female labour force participation. The results of the study conclude that female education is necessary for better employment opportunities.Female labor force participation; Female education; Household Income; Family Dependents; Marital Status; Children; Logit Model; Pakistan

Coordination of virtual teams in multi-site projects

Virtual teams consist of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries to achieve their goals while utilizing computer mediated communication technologies. Virtual teams offer benefits such as tapping into high quality workforce, flexibility in the team structure, and reduced costs etc. which have contributed to the increase in the number of virtual teams around the world. Due to lack of face-to-face interaction and cultural differences, virtual teams are susceptible to conflicts, misunderstandings and communication breakdowns. The objective of this thesis work is to study the functioning and operations of virtual teams in a multi-site setup and devise a criteria to gauge the performance of such teams. To achieve these objectives a detailed study of existing literature is conducted and a framework focusing on different phases in the lifecycle of virtual teams is developed. The framework takes into account the elements critical to the smooth operation of virtual teams such as team selection, communication tools etc., and the disruptive factors which can negatively impact their functioning e.g. lack of cohesiveness between team members. The proposed framework is then used to study the working of a high-tech organization operating in virtual setup. Online survey and interviews are conducted in the target organization to assess its functioning. Based on the study recommendations are made to the organization management about the steps needed to further enhance its effectiveness. The recommendations mainly focus on reducing the number of tools and processes in the organization and utilizing them more efficiently, improving multi-site collaboration, and enhancing knowledge creation. To improve the multi-site collaboration the organization needs to invest in cultural awareness trainings and promote direct communication between the team members. Knowledge creation is one of the key benefits of virtual teams and can be enhanced by having a harmonized and well defined document creation, sharing, and storing mechanism between distant sites

Secure big data ecosystem architecture : challenges and solutions

Big data ecosystems are complex data-intensive, digital–physical systems. Data-intensive ecosystems offer a number of benefits; however, they present challenges as well. One major challenge is related to the privacy and security. A number of privacy and security models, techniques and algorithms have been proposed over a period of time. The limitation is that these solutions are primarily focused on an individual or on an isolated organizational context. There is a need to study and provide complete end-to-end solutions that ensure security and privacy throughout the data lifecycle across the ecosystem beyond the boundary of an individual system or organizational context. The results of current study provide a review of the existing privacy and security challenges and solutions using the systematic literature review (SLR) approach. Based on the SLR approach, 79 applicable articles were selected and analyzed. The information from these articles was extracted to compile a catalogue of security and privacy challenges in big data ecosystems and to highlight their interdependencies. The results were categorized from theoretical viewpoint using adaptive enterprise architecture and practical viewpoint using DAMA framework as guiding lens. The findings of this research will help to identify the research gaps and draw novel research directions in the context of privacy and security in big data-intensive ecosystems. © 2021, The Author(s)

Effects of hyperglycemia on coronary perfusion & left ventricular function in patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction

Objective: To observe the effect of hyperglycemia on coronary perfusion and left ventricular function in patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methodology: This descriptive case series study was conducted at Cardiology Department of Gulab Devi Chest Hospital, Lahore from October 2017 to November 2018.  Consecutive patients presenting with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction were included in this study. After coronary angiography and revascularization, coronary perfusion was assessed using TIMI flow grade method. Glycosylated hemoglobin levels were also measured on the same day. Hyperglycemia was defined as HbA1c >7%. A comprehensive transthoracic echocardiogram was performed to assess the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 24 hours after procedure.   Results: Hyperglycemia was observed in 91 (39.2%) patients presented with acute STEMI. Patients with hyperglycemia had significantly lower LVEF than normoglycemic patients (55.00 ± 19.00 vs 45.00 ± 15.00, p-value=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that hyperglycemia is an independent predictor of LV dysfunction, defined as LVEF ≤40% 24 hours after the procedure (OR=2.522, p-value =0.002). While no statistically significant association was observed between hyperglycemia and post PPCI impaired coronary perfusion (p=0.492). Conclusion: The association between hyperglycemia (HbA1c >7%) upon hospital admission and left ventricular dysfunction in acute MI patients treated with PPCI is explained by lower left ventricular ejection fraction (≤ 40%) 24 hours after the procedure. But there is no statistically significant effect of hyperglycemia on post PCI coronary perfusion. Thus, we conclude that persistent hyperglycemia influences the post PPCI left ventricular functions in STEMI patients

An effective data-collection scheme with AUV path planning in underwater wireless sensor networks

Data collection in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is a more robust solution than traditional approaches, instead of transmitting data from each node to a destination node. However, the design of delay-aware and energy-efficient path planning for AUVs is one of the most crucial problems in collecting data for UWSNs. To reduce network delay and increase network lifetime, we proposed a novel reliable AUV-based data-collection routing protocol for UWSNs. The proposed protocol employs a route planning mechanism to collect data using AUVs. The sink node directs AUVs for data collection from sensor nodes to reduce energy consumption. First, sensor nodes are organized into clusters for better scalability, and then, these clusters are arranged into groups to assign an AUV to each group. Second, the traveling path for each AUV is crafted based on the Markov decision process (MDP) for the reliable collection of data. The simulation results affirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed technique in terms of throughput, energy efficiency, delay, and reliability. © 2022 Wahab Khan et al

Quality of Underground Water of Tehsil Khanewal- An Overview

Agriculture is the back bone of Pakistan’s economy of Pakistan with 21 % contribution to GDP and providing livelihood to about 45 % of the total labor force of the country. The industry of Pakistan is mainly agro based (Economic survey of Pakistan, 2009-10). Due to change in climate and thereby extended drought, surface water resources of the country had reduced by 70% in 2003, compared with normal years (Kahlown et al., 2003). Unfortunately, canal water is not sufficient to meet requirements of soil and crop under intensive cropping system. A water quality study has shown that out of 560,000 tube wells in Indus Basin, about 70% are pumping sodic water which in turn is affecting the soil health and crop yield (Kahlown et al., 2003).The ground waters of different areas and depths have different types of salts which deteriorate the soil accordingly (Masood and Gohre, 2000). It is also reported that 73.38% (681) of the 922 water samples analyzed by the soil and water laboratory Vehari during the year 2006-07, were unfit for irrigation purpose, while 11.93% (110) were marginally fit and only14.21 (131) were found fit for irrigation purpose (Ashraf et al., 2008). According to the estimates, discharge of 50-60 % of the existing wells was brackish in nature (Ashraf et al., 2009) and still more formidable figures of Lahore district declaring that groundwater of 76.6% villages of the district was detrimental for crops and soil health (Ali et al., 2009).According to Shakir et al. (2002), 64 water samples were collected from new tube well bores from various locations of district Kasur to check the quality of under-groundwater for irrigation purpose. The results show that electrical conductivity of the samples varied from 524 to 5700 μS cm-1, sodium adsorption ration of the samples ranged from 0.49 to 26.00, while residual sodium carbonate ranged from 0.00 to 17.00 meL-1. Out of 64 samples, 26 samples were fit, 8 marginally fit and 30 unfit for irrigation.The successful crop production on sustainable basis, mainly depends on the quality of groundwater. The common characteristics considered are electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption rations (SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC) (Idris and Shafiq, 1999). The concentration and composition of dissolved constituents in water determine its quality for irrigation use. It is difficult to define the critical limits of EC, RSC and SAR because the effect of different qualities of water of soil health and crop yield is also governed by the type of soil, climate and management practices (Singh et al., 1992).Gravity of the situation of groundwater of the majority districts of Pakistan implies that something will have to be done without further loss of time to prevent the rapid conversion of productive fertile lands of Pakistan into unproductive barren lands. Besides, making investment on creating awareness among farming community about bio-saline technology/ saline agriculture by the private and public sectors, a watchful eye on the quality and quantity of ground water of every district of Pakistan by all the stakeholders and timely tackling the detrimental impact of brackish groundwater by using the available technology to the possible extent is imperative