Regulation, employment and wages.

Over the last two decades the institutional structures across the OECD countries have changed dramatically, having a significant impact on labour market performance. This thesis seeks to make four contributions to our understanding of the implications and applications of regulations. This is done in two distinct ways: firstly, to focus on a specific policy change in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, and secondly, to analyse (more generally) the disparities in policies across the OECD countries, in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. Chapter 1 seeks to contribute to the literature on tax credit policies, which have been a popular way to alleviate in-work poverty. The assumption is typically that the incidence is on the claimant workers. However, economic theory suggests no particular reason to believe that this should be the case. This chapter investigates the incidence of the Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) in the UK introduced in 1999, which unlike similar tax credit policies was paid through the wage packet, increasing the connection between the employer and worker with regard to the tax credit. Using two stage parametric and non-parametric censored regression methods I find compelling evidence to suggest that the firm discriminates by cutting the wage of claimant workers relative to similarly skilled non-claimant workers when looking at men and that there is a spill-over effect onto the wage for both men and women. Chapter 2 then goes on to look more closely at the acclaimed relationship between tax credits and labour supply. One of the principle aims of the WFTC was to increase the participation of those with low labour market attachment. The literature to date concludes that for lone mothers there was approximately a 5% point increase in employment. The differences-in-differences methodology that is typically used compare lone mother with single women without children. However, the characteristics of these groups are both observably and unobservably different, such that the identifying assumption may not be satisfied. I find that when I control for differential trends between people with and without children, the employment effect of WFTC falls significantly. Moreover, by looking at movements in the hour's distribution, it is clear that any WFTC effect is solely borne on those working full-time (30 hours or more). Another concern is that I find that the policy did not induce people into the labour market from inactivity. Chapter 3 seeks to explain why it is that in some OECD countries the male and female unemployment rates are very similar but in others (notably the 'Mediterranean' countries) the female unemployment rate is much higher than the male. The analysis shows that, in countries where there is a large gender gap in unemployment rates, there is a gender gap in both flows from employment into unemployment and from unemployment into employment. Overall it seems that differences in human capital accumulation between men and women interacted with labour market institutions is an important part of the explanation. Chapter 4 looks at how the labour's share of GDP in many OECD countries has declined over the last two decades. The little evidence that exists on this important issue is almost entirely macro-economic. This chapter uses cross-country panel data evidence from a group of 'network industries', where there have been substantial changes of public ownership and entry barrier. The results show that privatisation can explain a significant proportion of the fall of labour's share in these industries, even when the endogeneity of the policy rules is accounted for using sociopolitical instrumental variables. The impact of privatisation has been somewhat offset by falling barriers which dampen profit margins

Hypophosphatemic effect of niacin extended release in ischemic kidney disease

Ischemic nephropathy is an emerging cause of end stage renal disease, associated with many co-morbidities especially cardiovascular disease risk and derangement in calcium-phosphorus homeostasis resulting in hyperphosphatemia, influencing bones, a characteristic of advancing chronic kidney disease. The management of elevated serum phosphorus has been a challenge in this patient population with compromised kidney performance, as available phosphorus lowering agents possess many undesirable hazardous secondary effects and/or are very expensive. While niacin in different formulation is known to not only correct dyslipidemia but also reduce phosphorus level, but its clinical use restricted owing to side effects. The objective of present study is to evaluate such effect of niacin extended release (NER) in ischemic nephropathy. The chronic kidney disease patients fulfilling the pre-defined criteria were randomly categorized into two groups of equal size (n=60) and prescribed either atorvastatin 20 mg/day or NER 500 mg/day with the same dose of statin for four months. A control of 50 healthy characters matched was also incorporated for local reference range. Baseline and follow up phosphorus concentration was measured and means were compared using t-test at SPSS version 17 with 0.05 chosen alpha. There was no difference in the baseline levels in both groups while significant (p<0.001) hyperphosphatemia was observed in both units as compared with healthy controls. The administration of atorvastatin alone for four weeks showed an insignificant decrease in phosphorus, whereas, NER significantly reduced phosphorus (p<0.001). The mean percent change from baseline to follow up further endorsed the finding as statin alone brought -13.8 % reduction in phosphorus and NER -47 % from baseline. NER, at its lowest prescribed dose once a day was well tolerated by most of the patients and demonstrated significant goal achievement of phosphorus reduction. It is concluded that NER even at low doses in renal compromised dyslipidemic patients may be a promising approach to prevent the harmful vascular, valvular effects caused by hyperphosphatemia in addition to its principal target of HDL-C elevation

Prevalence of risk factors promoting Diabetic neuropathy .

Diabetic neuropathy is the worst consequence of diabetes mellitus leading to nerve dysfunction that is the cause of several complications such as pain, loss of sensitivity, damage to body systems, foot ulcers, morbidity and amputations etc. The aim of the present work was to study the prevalence of risk factors and occurrence of diabetic neuropathy in patients with diabetes, and how much diabetic neuropathy complications affect the life of diabetic patients

Sensationalizing the News Events by Pakistani Media

Current study "Sensationalizing the News Events by Pakistani Media" investigates the trend of sensationalising news reporting through content analysis as tool of inquiry. The study encompasses both qualitative and quantitative approaches of content analysis technique to examine trends of sensational news reporting by television broadcasts. Geo News, ARY News, Express News and Dawn News are analyzed from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. Sensationalism is measured by taking the breaking news items as unit of analysis. The findings of the study show that Pakistani news channels are using sensational news style to gain higher ratings and viewership. In Express newscasts more sensationalism is used as compared to Geo News. The statistical test chi-square was applied to evaluate the hypothesis which gave significant value. The results provided that news channels give more coverage to the issues related to law &amp; order and terrorism, while less coverage to news related to judiciary. Geo News is at top position to cover political issues most frequently. The results also reveal that sensationalism is lowest in Dawn News

Application of chitosan padded rice and wheat husk for the removal of reactive dye from aqueous solution

Industrial waste especially textile effluents contain many harmful ingredients, which cause environmental problems. In the present study, the removal of reactive red 195 dye was carried out using chitosan padded wheat husk (CWH) and rice husk (CRH) adsorbents. Chitosan was prepared in the laboratory from chitin which was obtained from crab shells by adopting reported method. The removal of dye was carried out by batch adsorption method under the optimized conditions of amount of adsorbent, stay time, temperature and dye concentration. Spectrophotometric technique was adopted for the measurement of concentration of dye before and after adsorption. Adsorption data was fitted in Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherm equations. The values of the corresponding constants were evaluated from the slope and intercept of their respective plots. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (ΔGo), enthalpy (ΔHo), and entropy (ΔSo) of the system were also calculated by using distribution coefficient KD. From the percent removal data, it was concluded that chitosan-rice husk (CRH) and chitosan- wheat husk (CWH) systems showed about 83 and 79% removal tendency respectively. Chitosan itself act as a good adsorbent and its derivative with rice and wheat husk (mainly cellulose) show high removal tendency and may be used as low cost biosorbents for the removal of pollutants from the industrial effluent.Keywords: Adsorption, reactive red 195 dye, chitosan, rice husk, wheat hus

A pilot study of a 6-week parenting program for mothers of pre-school children attending family health centers in Karachi, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Recently, parenting programs to address behavioural and emotional problems associated with child maltreatment in developing countries have received much attention. There is a paucity of literature on effective parent education interventions in the local context of Pakistan. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of offering a 6-week parenting program for mothers of pre-schoolchildren attending family health centres (FHCs) in Karachi, the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan. METHODS: A pilot quasi-experimental trial was conducted. Two FHCs were selected, one as the intervention and the second as the control. A total of 57 mothers of pre-school children (n = 30 intervention; n = 27 control) participated in this study. Mothers in the intervention group received SOS Help for parents module, while mothers in the control group received information about routine childcare. A parenting scale (PS) was administered before the program was implemented and repeated 2 weeks after the program was completed in both groups. Statistical analysis was performed to compare participants\u27 attributes. Descriptive analysis was conducted to compare pre- and post-test mean scores along with standard deviation for parenting subscales in the intervention and control groups. RESULTS: A total of 50 mothers (n = 25 intervention; n = 25 control) completed the 6-week program. Attrition was observed as 5/30 (17%) in the intervention arm and 2/27 (2%) in the control arm. Mothers commonly reported the burden of daily domestic and social responsibilities as the main reason for dropping out. Furthermore, the majority of participants in the control group recommended increasing the duration of weekly sessions from 1 to 1.5 hours, thereby decreasing the program period from 6 to 4 weeks. Mothers in intervention group reported substantial improvement in parenting skills as indicated by mean difference in their pre- and post-test scores for laxness and over-reactivity. CONCLUSION: Parenting programs can be implemented for mothers attending FHCs in Pakistan. Mothers require positive reinforcement and constant encouragement at the participant level. Integrating such programs into primary healthcare at the population level has the potential to maximize child health benefits and to improve parenting skills at the country level

Phycochemical and Biological Activities From Different Extracts of Padina antillarum (Kützing) Piccone

Seaweeds are non-vascular, photosynthetic that inhabit the coastal regions commonly within rocky intertidal or submerged reef-like habitats and have been one of the richest and most promising sources of bioactive primary and secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties. They selectively absorb elements like Na, K, Ca, Mg, I, and Br from the seawater and accumulate them in their thalli. Padina antillarum (Kützing) Piccone is a member of Phaeophycota and has remarkable phycochemistry as well as bioactivity. The phycochemical tests of the different extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, tannins, steroids, and phenols. The relative percentage of Oxirane, tetradecyl (C16H32O), and Cyclononasiloxane (C18H54O9Si9) are higher while Tetrasiloxane (C16H50O7Si8) is lowest in Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry analysis. FRAP, %inhibition, the total antioxidant value of P. antillarum was higher in methanolic extract. Hexane, chloroform extracts showed no zone of inhibition against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The methanolic extract of P. antillarum exhibits a maximum zone of inhibition against S. epidermidis (18.66 ± 0.09). Antifungal activity of the P. antillarum in hexane extract exhibited no zone of inhibition against Aspergillus niger and Penicillium notatum while the chloroform extract yields maximum zone (37 ± 0.012, 21.66 ± 0.03). Diabetes mellitus is one of the most familiar chronic diseases associated with carbohydrate metabolism. It is also an indication of co-morbidities such as obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia which are metabolic complications of both clinical and experimental diabetes. The treatment of P. antillarum methanol extract in mice reduced the body weight loss, low level of triglycerides, and elevated HDL cholesterol level as compared to diabetic mice

The incidence of an earned income tax credit: evaluating the impact on wages in the UK

Tax credits have been a popular way to alleviate in-work poverty. The assumption is typically that the incidence is on the claimant workers. However, economic theory suggests no particular reason to believe that this should be the case. This paper investigates the incidence of the Working Families Tax Credit in the UK introduced in 1999, which unlike similar tax credit policies was paid through the wage packet, increasing the connection between the employer and worker with regard to the tax credit. Using two stage parametric and nonparametric censored regression methods we find compelling evidence to suggest that (1) the firm discriminates by cutting the wage of claimant workers relative to similarly skilled nonclaimant workers when looking at men and (2) there is a spill-over effect onto the wage of both groups for both men and women

Aspects of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition of Australian native woody legumes

© 2010 Ghazala YasmeenIt is widely known that soil nutrients, especially nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), are temporarily lost after fire but that nutrients are returned to the system after a certain period of time. Legumes play an important role in recovery of N after fire in Australian ecosystems but little is known about the return of P. Keeping this in mind, this study investigated the impact of time since fire on aspects of N and P cycling and nutrient status of Stringybark woodlands in Victoria, Australia. It was hypothesised that the post-fire recovery of N by native woody legumes is dependent on the availability of P. Legumes and non-legumes collected from woodland sites that were burnt 2 to 3 years prior to this study were compared with those from sites that had not been burnt for 40 years or more. Green leaves, litter and soil environments were characterised for N and P. Total N in leaves and litter was greater in legumes than non-legumes and in leaves collected from recently burnt sites compared to those from long unburnt sites. In contrast, the concentration of total P in leaves and litter of non-legumes was significantly higher than for legumes irrespective of time since last fire. However, surface soil from long unburnt sites had significantly higher total concentrations of N and P compared to the soil from recently burnt sites. Nitrate concentration was greater in soils collected from sites that had been recently burnt. It was concluded that there are strong interactions among fire and N and P cycling in plants and soil. Legumes, although low in cover, are likely to have an important role in maintaining ecosystem N in fire-prone plant communities through their capacity for symbiotic N2 fixation. The effect of P supply on host plant growth and nodulation was investigated for four native Australian legumes under controlled glasshouse conditions. Apart from Acacia verticillata, there was no significant difference in above- and belowground plant biomass with increasing P supply. In contrast, nodule weight of Acacia verticillata and A. pulchella increased significantly with increasing P supply. Similarly, nodule number was greater in all four species at the lower levels compared to higher levels of P supply. Phosphorus concentration and content in leaves increased significantly with increasing P in all species. This was also the case for N in leaves for most species. In the glasshouse trial, P supply had a greater effect on the extent of nodulation and presumably, N2 fixation than on host plant growth. Nodules from each treatment and species were collected from the glasshouse study described above during harvesting. Nodules were embedded and sectioned and a range of qualitative and quantitative measures were made to characterise nodule anatomy. Addition of P affected nodule structure in all species. The outer cortex was thin and disrupted when no P was added but was intact and thick at the highest level of P supply. The number of vascular bundles in the nodule cortex also increased with increasing P availability. The number of uninfected cells was always greater than infected cells in all species irrespective of P application. Similarly, the area of infected cells was greater than uninfected cells regardless of P availability. It was concluded that P supply is more likely to affect the integrity and longevity of nodules and therefore, overall rates of N2 fixation more than by altering basic nodule anatomy. Collectively these studies provide strong evidence that P has very important roles in growth, nodulation, nodule anatomy and ultimately, N2 fixation of Australian native woody legumes, particularly after fire. Additional studies that will help clarify the significance of P availability are suggested

A three-tiered java application for secure transactions over internet

This thesis describes the design, development and implementation of a three-tiered (client/server/database) architecture in which data is transmitted securely, providing both secrecy and authentication. The architecture uses a network security feature called a Key Distribution Center. The system is capable of serving multiple users at a time. A prototype has been developed in the Java programming language. The prototype operates in a PC environment in the Protocol Laboratory in the Computer Science department.Science, Faculty ofComputer Science, Department ofGraduat