An evaluation of Pakistan crop sector was carried out to check whether the sector was technically productive, financially viable and economically efficient and optimal over the 1990-2005 period. In the first instant, the yields of Pakistan’s crops were evaluated relative to the world average yields. The results imply that: (a) Pakistan’s crop yields are, in general, not comparable to world average yields; (b) tomato, barley and sorghum are producing less than 50% of world average yields; (c) the yields of lentils, millets, rapeseed/mustard and maize are ranging between 35 – 50 percent lower than world averages; and (d) the yields of IRRI rice, onion, wheat, sugarcane and gram are 13 – 23% lower than the world averages. To check financial viability of Pakistan crop sector, net returns from each crop were compared with returns from banking sector in terms of interest rates; such ratios (NIRR) categorized various crops in to five groups: (a) Basmati rice, IRRI rice, onion and tomato, which appear to have the highest NIRR values > 10; (b) gram, berseem, millet fodder, potato and rapeseed/mustard, which have computed NIRRs values ranged between 5 & 10; (c) wheat, barley and sorghum fodder, which have NIRR values ranged between 2 & 5; (d) mung, seed cotton, maize fodder and sugarcane, which have NIRR valued between 1 & 2; and (e) maize, millet and sorghum crops, which carry NIRR < 1; however, if the latter category crops are grown as fodder, these turn out to be financially viable crops. When crops was tested using optimization technique (optimize output, which in turn minimize total cost), only two crop (Basmati rice and potato) producers were found optimizing their outputs; in 13 other cases, crop producers were not optimizing. In three cases (IRRI rice, maize fodder and millet fodder), the estimated optimal output falls beyond the upper limit of confidence interval of existing output level, suggesting that efforts to increase output per hectare would help optimize. In 10 other sub-optimal cases (seed cotton, sugarcane, maize, onion, mung, sorghum fodder, wheat, gram, berseem and rapeseed), the estimated optimal output falls below the lower limit of confidence interval, theoretically suggesting that decrease in existing level of output per hectare would optimize, which is not a reasonably good option as the yields per hectare of these crops are already very low. Hence, efforts should be made to decrease cost of production and increase yield per hectare of these crops simultaneously.
Keywords: Pakistan crop sector, output optimization, cost minimization, optimality

The purpose of this study is to check stability of demand for imports of goods and services in Pakistan. For this, three demand functions for imports of goods and services have been estimated using annual data from 1970 to 2005. The simple linear and log-linear functional forms of the models have been applied on each of the estimation period, i.e. 1970-2005, sub-period 1:1970-1991 and sub-period 2:1992-2005 to estimate import demand function. The ADF (Augmented Dickey Fuller) unit root test has been applied to test the stationarity of the data. The results of ADF test supports the stationarity of the data. Almost all the estimated coefficients of each of the model using quantity demanded of imports of goods and services as dependant variable while nominal income, real income, relative price and time as independent variables show consistent results with economic theory. To check for the overtime stability of demand for imports Chow test was applied. The main findings are that the Chow test rejects the hypothesis of overtime stability of demand for imports. This shows that the demand for imports of goods and services is not stable overtime.
Keywords: Import demand; Stability; Chow Test; Pakistan

Micro Financing has gained high importance in the last decade as it has brought a drastic change in the lives of many poor people. Micro Finance Organizations - MFOs and Non-Government Organizations – NGOs have helped thousands of poor people to bring them out of vicious circle of poverty. Micro finance is often perceived as small loan but the two needs to be distinguished. Small or micro loans are a part of micro finance but this is not the whole micro finance offers. The most common in micro finance is Micro Credit which is a micro loan given to poor mainly to start a very small business where as micro finance includes health, insurance, sanitation and other services. Micro Finance is purely designed to change the lives of masses that are living below poverty line. Basically institutional micro financing includes micro finance services produced by formal and semi formal institutions. All those organizations where major working is micro financing are known as Micro Financing Institutions - MFIs. In Pakistan NGOs’ source of micro financing is informal i.e. charity but for government organizations the support is provided by the banking system i.e. foreign and the State Bank of Pakistan. Government has also allowed forming a bank purely for micro financing called Micro Finance Bank – MFB. Basically these organizations have been formed in order to eliminate the problems of private money lenders who snatch the assets of poor if they fail to repay the loan. These money lenders charge such high interests that it becomes impossible for the poor people to repay the principal amount and they keep on paying the interest for the rest of their lives. Such loans are taken by a large poor community of our society. Micro financing helps these individuals by providing them loans at lesser rate and at easier terms i.e. they do not need to pledge their assets as security for small loans and interest rates are also reasonable. If we compare the number of organizations in micro financing in Pakistan, NGOs make the greatest number i.e. 44% of the total distribution of loans. But according to the distribution of the loan criteria it has only 8.5% of the total amount of loans given as micro finance. According to law and the regulations of The State Bank of Pakistan, NGOs are not allowed to take deposits from the general public. Therefore, Micro Finance Institutions and NGOs are unable to increase their asset base. This is a drawback and a limitation of the Micro Finance Institutions and NGOs. Their major contribution of funds is from the donations made by philanthropists. NGOs are playing an important role in the reduction of poverty by providing these people a way to live and it is also a tool to make them independent. Micro Finance boosts up an economy and it is very much proved by Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which actually started micro finance in the subcontinent. Economists are of a view that there is a high likelihood of economic growth with the growth in small businesses. This idea was well perceived by Dr. Younus, who is now a noble laureate through Grameen Bank. With the help of an increase in small businesses earnings of a common person increases and thus the spending also goes up and hence the circle of economy runs faster. When the economic activities start growing, the aim of MFIs i.e. to eliminate poverty starts working. Majority of Micro Finance Institutions are not supported by any government authority. These MFIs help people to make a new source of income generation but themselves are dependent on the help of others. Micro Finance Institutions also provide help to the poor by providing them the business plans and also in case of any emergency these institutions helps them through micro health and micro insurance facilities. At present the challenge for MFIs is to follow such management styles that enable them to reduce their operating cost because if they have less cost only then they can help poor by providing them less costly debt.

The current research used quasi experimental research design with pre-post treatment to study the effectiveness of Cognitive Therapy (CT) for Pakistani depressives and anxiety cases. The sample consisted of forty out-door adult depressives and anxiety cases drawn from a Govt. hospital and a private clinic diagnosed and referred by the same psychiatrist. Twenty patients were given CT of which 14 continued with their pharmacotherapy (PT) while the 6 were on CT exclusively. The other twenty patients were on pharmacotherapy (PT). Each subject in the CT group was given twelve individual sessions (50 minutes each) using Beck’s research protocol of CT over a time span of 2½ months. The Post-therapy scores of the depressives on *BDI (Urdu version) (1995) and Depression Checklist (DC) constructed by Syed and Farooqi (1998) show significant decrease in the depression level of patients (t = 3.87; df = 18; *p < .05 and (t = 4.60; df = 18; *p < .05, respectively) as compared to PT. The significant F-ratio (F = 13.47; df = 2,17; *p < .01) shows that CT is more effective for depressives. The Post-therapy scores of the anxiety patients on Anxiety Checklist constructed by Saleem & Farooqi (1998) and *Beck Depression Inventory (Urdu BDI, 1995) respectively, indicated the effectiveness of CT (t = 2.81; df = 18; *p < .05 and t = 2.48; df = 18; *p < .05, respectively) as compared to PT. The significant F-ratio (F = 7.43, df = 2,17 **p < .01) suggests that CT was the more effective treatment in reducing the anxiety level of clients.

River Indus delta is one of the world largest mangrove growing area where not only the sea life with varying species bread but it is also a home of migrating birds. Karachi, the only largest port and city of Pakistan makes the harbor and coast-line polluted. The encouraging industrial policy of government to set up industries and continuous increasing shipping in the area has further aggravated the environment condition. This has endangered not only the habitats but is likely to affect the marine life too.

Case records of 125 patients with the following bacterial skin infections were collected: (1) impetigo (2) folliculitis (3) furuncles (4) carbuncles and (6) infected scabies. The skin swabs for culture and sensitivity test were proceeded and analyzed. This study discussed prevalence and microbial assessment of of Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in the lower socioeconomic population. The prevalence of staphylococcal skin infections was found to be higher than that of secondary bacterial infections in scabies. Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes were notoriously pathogens found both in staphylococcal and secondary bacterial infections, while gram negative were found to be in lesser extent. Strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which had been largely confined to hospitals and long-term care facilities, were emerged in the community. It was found to be 11.42 percent in staphylococcal skin infections, while 38 percent in secondary bacterial infection in scabies.

Pure and contaminated free water is necessary for maintained good health but nowadays, microbial contaminated water, especially bacterial contaminated water, is a great menace for human beings. Water contamination by pathogenic bacteria is a major problem all over the world. Including Pakistan many others less developed countries are worse victim of this problem. So, there is a direct need to determine the prevalence of pathogenic bacterial micro flora of drinking water. Thus, this study project was conducted at Research Laboratory of Zoology Department in Government College University Faisalabad, to determine the contamination in drinking water, by pathogenic bacterial micro flora, supplied in Faisalabad and its vicinity. For this purpose drinking water samples were collected from different sources of supply and localities of Faisalabad. These water samples were assessed by using Xylose Lysine Desoxycholate (XLD) agar medium and 92 percent water samples were identified having bacterial growth and 8 percent water sample sources were not identified any bacterial growth. The identified types of bacteria were namely genera, Salmonella, Shigella and E. coli .

The dynamic business environment, increasing global competition, increased factor mobility especially that of human resources within and across national borders, rapid technological innovations and rapidly evolving product and services markets compel the organizations of today to be flexible in each and every respect of their structure and operations in strive for survival and growth. Under these conditions, there is only one constant for the organization, and that is change. The existing body of literature focuses mainly the reengineering and radical redesigning of processes in manufacturing organizations. This paper seeks to examine and elaborate the management of structural and process change in service organizations where human psycho-social cognitive elements are important determinants of success of change interventions. With dominant role of human resources as the competitive weapon, service providers are increasingly facing problems in structural and process transitions for achieving and maintaining competitive advantage in the struggle of survival and growth. Using the grounded theory methodology combined with case studies of 5 domestic and multinational organizations working in Pakistan, this paper aims to present a model dealing with the management of change in service organizations using the change agents from strategic apex and techno staff by sequentially removing the physical and psychological barriers to change. The postulated relationships and model would serve to enhance the understanding of management theorists and practitioners in dealing with change and the management of change in dynamically evolving contemporary service organizations.

The current study is aimed to estimate the expected life for the Hemophilic patients. The data were collected on “Hemophilia” from 318 patients from Fatimid Foundation and Welfare Hand Association in Peshawar. Median survival time (life expectancy) was calculated using both the estimators, Kaplan Meier estimator (S(t)) and weighted Kaplan Meier estimator( S*(t)). It was noted that S(t) overestimated the median survival time. Confidence intervals based on both S(t) and S*(t) were calculated to take into account for the variation.

Abstract: Electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most widely used diagnostic tools for heart diseases. Automatic Detection and delineation of the QRS Complex in the ECG is a fundamental algorithmic component for computer aided diagnosis of cardiac disorders using ECG. The accuracy of this component is crucial to the performance of subsequent machine learning algorithms for cardiac diseases classification. This paper presents the implementation details and results of four QRS Segmentation approaches obtained by using the standard QT Database available at Physionet along with a method for automatic optimal threshold selection in QRS Delineation using Genetic Algorithms (GA). The results obtained with the use of GA for threshold selection show significant improvement in delineation accuracy of the original algorithm.
Keywords: Electrocardiogram (ECG), Decision Support Systems, QRS Delineation, Genetic Algorithms

The rapid growth of urban areas in Pakistan in last sixty years has significant effects on urban climate change. The developments in the cities through infrastructure, residential areas, establishment of new industries, doubling of vehicles and rapid growth in urban population have produced sizable effects on the urban temperature. Karachi as the largest city of Pakistan with almost 14 million populations is taken as the case study urban center. The available time series data of mean maximum, minimum and average temperatures of Karachi of last 59 years from 1947 to 2005 is used to analyze the possible temperature changes. The data is analyzed in three parts by running linear regression and by taking anomalies of all time periods: (a) whole period from 1947-2005 (59 years); then by dividing 59 years into two phases (b) phase one 1947-1975 and (c) phase two 1976-2005. The results show that the urban temperature of Karachi is increasing. During last 59 years, there are increasing trends in mean maximum and mean annual temperature while mean minimum temperature has decreasing trends opposite of the first ones. During the last 59 years, the Mean Maximum Temperature (MMxT) has increased about 4.6oC, Mean Minimum Temperature (MMiT) decreased -0.1oC and Mean Annual Temperature increased (MAT) 2.25oC. During 1947-1975, MMxT increased 1.9oC, in this period there is -1.3oC decrease in MMiT and MAT has raised upto 0.3oC. During 1976-2005, the MMxT, MMiT and MAT increased 2.7oC, 1.2oC and 1.95oC, respectively. Moreover, MMxT has regular increasing trends throughout the study period but MMiT has opposite trends of it. If this rate of increasing temperature continued then the MMxT of Karachi in 2105 will reach up to 39.32oC that was 33.6oC in 2005 and in 2206, it will be 45.44oC. Regular increase in MMxT is greatly supporting the MAT to rise. . If some measures to reduce or stable the temperature of Karachi will not taken, then at the end of this century MAT will further increase upto 4.0oC.
Key words: Urban Climate, climate change, urban heat island, anomalies, temperature

The study was conducted to evaluate hypoglycaemic effect of dried and powdered root of Berberis aristata plant and its extract in water and methanol on blood glucose levels following oral administration to normal and alloxan treated albino rabbits. Rabbits were randomly divided into groups of 6 animals each. Group I was untreated and received orally 20 ml of 2 % gum tragacanth solution in water only. The groups II-IV were treated orally with 2, 3 and 4 g/kg body weight (b.w) of dried and powdered roots of B. aristata suspended in 2 % gum tragacanth solution in water, respectively. Group V received methanol extract of the roots equivalent (eq.) to 4 g/kg b.w of B. aristata while group VI was treated with aqueous extract of the root eq. to 4 g/kg of drug. The control animals of group VII were given gliclazide (500 mg/kg b.w) orally for comparison. In addition, similar treatments were given to the various groups of the alloxan treated diabetic rabbits. Animals of groups VIII were kept as diabetic control and were given 20ml of 2% gum solution. Groups IX to XI were treated orally with 2, 3 and 4 g/kg b.w of B. aristata powdered root suspended in 2 % gum sol, respectively while animals of group XII to XIII were treated orally with methanol and aqueous extracts of the root eq. to 4 g/kg b.w, of crude powder, respectively. Finally the rabbits in animals of group XIV were treated with the control drug, gliclazide (500 mg/kg b.w) orally. It is evident from the data obtained that the roots and their methanolic and aqueous extracts produced significant (P<0.05 & 0.001) decrease in the blood glucose levels at 2, 4 and 8 hours in the normal rabbits and as well as diabetics. It is conceivable, therefore, that Berberis aristata roots contain some potent and orally effective antidiabetic/hypoglycaemic principles which possess insulin triggering and insulin-like activities.
Key words: Antidiabetic, hypoglycaemic, Berberis aristata roots, diabetes mellitus, alloxan induced rabbits.

Hearing impairment or deafness, the inability to hear, is among the most common neurosensory disorders in humans. Deafness is manifested by multiple factors, including genetic and environmental. Worldwide severe to profound hearing loss affects 1 in 2,000 newborns and half of these cases have genetic etiology. Deafness represents extreme genetic heterogeneity. So far, 135 non-syndromic deafness loci have been mapped including 72 autosomal recessive of which only 26 corresponding nuclear genes have been cloned. Recessively inherited disorders such as deafness are more prevalent in populations where consanguineous marriages are common; like Pakistan. As a consequence of the unique socio-cultural practices in Pakistan; approximately 60% of marriages are consanguineous while more than 80% are between first cousins. The prevalence of profound bilateral hearing loss is 1.6 in 1,000 in Pakistan and 70 % of deafness arises in inbred families. Up till now 24 loci and 14 genes implicated in hearing impairment has been mapped in Pakistani population. Genetic dissection of such large inbred populations manifesting recessive hereditary hearing loss is a powerful resource to locate new genes that will be helpful in understanding the molecular and cellular biology of hearing. Large consanguineous families segregating deafness are identified and enrolled for the study. Blood samples are collected from affected individuals and their normal family members. DNA is extracted from blood. Collected families are screened for reported loci by linkage analysis. Ultimately, genes are sequenced to find mutations causing deafness. Availability of this information tells the carrier status of the family members and help in developing genetic counseling strategies to reduce the prevalence of deafness in our population.

A total of thirty bacterial strains were isolated from contaminated soil and water samples. All strains were purified. Biochemical analysis showed that purified strains belonged to genera Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Escherichia and Alcaligenes. S1 and S21 showed multiple heavy metal and antibiotic resistances. Selected strains were optimized at three different pHs (pH 5, pH 7 and pH 9), temperatures (25 °C, 37 °C and 45 °C) and carbon sources (cooking oil, ghee and lube oil) for EPS production by using shake flask technique. EPS content was proportional to the total biomass in both strains. S1 showed maximum protein concentration (670 µg/ml) at pH 9 at tenth day with sucrose as carbon source whereas S21 showed maximum protein concentration (10,000 µg/ml) at pH 7 when cooking oil was used as carbon source. S21 showed 4.26 % water absorbing capacity while S1 showed 3.87 %. Antimicrobial activity was also observed in S1 against Escherichia coli and it showed two plasmids of 500 and 200 bp. A fragment of 200 bp was amplified from psl operon in S21 and it was known to be the probable exopolysaccharide transporter.

Stem cell biology has opened up the possibility of using cell transplantation to treat a large variety of diseases. The development of strategies to exploit the potential of stem cells to replace or restore the function of diseased or degenerated organ is a major clinical and socioeconomic need. Owing to the developmental plasticity, several recent studies have proved the emerging role of primitive/progenitor stem cells to trans-differentiate into cell lineages of different organs like heart, kidney, pancreas and liver. There is a need for meticulous technical controls to dissect the relationship between primitive/tissue-specific stem cells and regenerative signals. The advancement in stem cell research would be focused on cyto protective factors, cell survival pathways regulated by numerous cytokine/growth factors and genes regulating the reparative or regenerative potential of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. Special emphasis should be given to synchronize all these factors to enhance the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms that direct the stem cell populations and the role they play in development and regeneration. These basic science studies will serve as a platform for future therapies directed toward patients with debilitating diseases including myocardial infarction, renal failure, diabetes and liver cirrhosis. The research in this area is still in infancy, but at critical stage of development. Cell therapy has emerged as a potentially viable therapeutic approach for the prevention or treatment of diseases. Stem and progenitor cells are promising cell sources for repairing the diseased or damaged tissues. Several studies claim that bone marrow derived cells can differentiate into cardiomyocytes, pancreas, kidney, liver (1-4) and other vital organs. The immense clinical implications and the capacity of these cells to differentiate in different cell lineages has captured interest of researchers and clinicians in finding new therapeutic modalities pathways and factors to treat a wide variety of pathologies, especially the ones affecting specific cell types such as cardiomyocytes, islet β cells, resident renal stem cells and liver cirrhosis. Stem cell therapy using animal models have generated tremendous excitement and stimulated clinical studies suggesting that this approach is feasible, safe and potentially effective to be applied in humans.

Stem cell biology has opened up the possibility of using cell transplantation to treat a large variety of diseases. The development of strategies to exploit the potential of stem cells to replace or restore the function of diseased or degenerated organ is a major clinical and socioeconomic need. Owing to the developmental plasticity, several recent studies have proved the emerging role of primitive/progenitor stem cells to trans-differentiate into cell lineages of different organs like heart, kidney, pancreas and liver. There is a need for meticulous technical controls to dissect the relationship between primitive/tissue-specific stem cells and regenerative signals. The advancement in stem cell research would be focused on cyto protective factors, cell survival pathways regulated by numerous cytokine/growth factors and genes regulating the reparative or regenerative potential of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. Special emphasis should be given to synchronize all these factors to enhance the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms that direct the stem cell populations and the role they play in development and regeneration. These basic science studies will serve as a platform for future therapies directed toward patients with debilitating diseases including myocardial infarction, renal failure, diabetes and liver cirrhosis. The research in this area is still in infancy, but at critical stage of development. Cell therapy has emerged as a potentially viable therapeutic approach for the prevention or treatment of diseases. Stem and progenitor cells are promising cell sources for repairing the diseased or damaged tissues. Several studies claim that bone marrow derived cells can differentiate into cardiomyocytes, pancreas, kidney, liver (1-4) and other vital organs. The immense clinical implications and the capacity of these cells to differentiate in different cell lineages has captured interest of researchers and clinicians in finding new therapeutic modalities pathways and factors to treat a wide variety of pathologies, especially the ones affecting specific cell types such as cardiomyocytes, islet β cells, resident renal stem cells and liver cirrhosis. Stem cell therapy using animal models have generated tremendous excitement and stimulated clinical studies suggesting that this approach is feasible, safe and potentially effective to be applied in humans.

People react to stress in different ways. Some coping much better than others and suffering fewer of the harmful effects of stress. Just as stress differs as a function of the individual, it also differs as a function of one’s type of occupation. Some occupations are, of course, inherently more stressful than others. All of the stress-strain-health relationships have an obvious impact on the organization and industry. Both physical and mental illness renders the employee unlit for work, and combine both to lesson the satisfaction obtained from work and reduce job performance and productivity levels. There are various ways that stress symptoms or outcomes are reflected in the workplace. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to unacceptable levels of job-related stress (Schultz & Schultz, 2002). Occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by instances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a person’s coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately (Malta, 2004) Occupational stress can be defined as the "harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker" (Sauter and Murphy. 1999). Performance is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes excessive it has a negative impact. The individual perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress. Stress is acknowledged to be one of the main causes of absence from work (Mead, 2000). The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly, the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration, hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, relationships at work including quality of relationships with peers, subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, role conflict and ambiguity including ill-defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making. Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion (Parikh & Taukari, 2004) The main objective of this research is to identify role of different contributing factors of job stress and to investigate level of stress on those factors among different departments of Wall’s Unilever Pakistan. And also to find that how job performance is affected by job stress. There are different factors of job stress i.e. work overload, work under load, supervision role conflicts, career development, physical environment repetitive work, work family conflict and coworkers.

Being an under developing country having agrarian economy, Pakistan became independent in August 1947. Malthusian theory of population is applicable as its population has increased four times since 1947. Demographic variables suggest that rapid population growth would put more strain on limited natural resources. This will adversely affect the economic growth and employment. Expansion policies are needed to provide productive employment to the growing labour force and human capital formation is necessary to work for eight hours a day. He will have probability of falling sick and number of days would be small. Betterment in food, health, nutrition, sanitation and clean drinking water facilities also lead to improve the efficiency, productivity and higher life expectancy.
Key Words: Health, Human Resource Development: Pakistan

Data on 937 pedigree, breeding and performance records of 567 Friesian cows maintained at Livestock Experiment Station Bhunikey (Pattoki) Distt. Kasur during the period 1982-2001 were utilized for the present study. The data were analyzed through Best Linear Unbiased Predictions (BLUP) procedure. The breeding values for milk yield considering all lactations were estimated by using Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedure fitting Individual Animal Model. Lactation milk yield and lactation length averaged 3391.66±137.97 kg and 278.40±90.17 days, respectively. The estimated breeding values for milk yield from animal model evaluations ranged from –354 to 503 kg for all the cows. The corresponding values for the standing herd ranged from –209 to 294 kg. The genetic trend for milk yield depicted a slightly positive trend indicating that the sires used during the last 20 years were of better breeding values. Phenotypic reduction in milk yield was recorded overtime reflecting the non-adaptation and other environmental inadequacies.

Due to the failure of the liberal and growth oriented economic development policies, initiated under Structural Adjustment Program and Uruguay Round negotiations, in effectively eradicating the poverty in developing countries, poverty alleviation is appreciating its position on the policy agendas of international and national institutions. It is evident by the recent emphasis on poverty reducing trade policy initiatives in Doha Round talks in WTO and the World Bank’s sustainable growth and poverty reduction strategy. Women are amongst the most vulnerable groups in the poor strata of population and, thus, are becoming the focus of policy alternatives for poverty reduction. Self-employment and enterprise development is seen as a powerful tool of poverty reduction strategy in developing countries. This research, using the grounded theory methodology and case study approach, seeks to elaborate the relationship between women entrepreneurship and poverty reduction through stability and growth of women income. Since, women spend greater proportion of their income on better food, health and education of their children and other family members, the stability and growth of their income should have a long-term impact on poverty reduction. The literature on women entrepreneurship and poverty reduction efforts helps explain the hypothesized model. Thus, the stability and growth of women income by encouraging women entrepreneurs and their enterprise development should be an important component of any poverty reduction efforts in developing countries. The relationships hypothesized and the model depicted in this research would be used to further test the hypothesized relationships and quantify the impact of women entrepreneurship on poverty reduction. The findings of the research nevertheless are helpful for the policymakers to initiate policy alternatives for the development of women entrepreneurship in their poverty reduction strategies.

Abstract-A template-based Continuous Genetic Algorithm (CGA) image reconstruction methodology is proposed for tomographic image reconstruction. For head and lung phantoms the proposed methodology has been found to yield higher imagequality in comparison with the conventional techniques including filtered-back-projection (FBP), algebraic reconstruction, and simulated annealing (SA) techniques. Sensitivity of image-quality measures on various crossover operators including uniform, image-row, and block crossover operators has been studied and the image-row crossover has been found to yield the highest PSNR value at large values of crossover probabilities. The CGA, in terms of the PSNR values, has shown about 80% improvement compared with FBP for both head as well as lung phantoms and about 11% in the case of SA for 32 × 32 head phantom. Keywords: Discrete-Inverse Radon transform, Filtered Backprojection, Genetic algorithm, Simulated annealing

All parents want their children to learn. But the level of their desire and efforts vary because of different socio-cultural and economical factors. Parents’ educational level also influences their urge of making their children to learn. Therefore, the attitude of parents towards the education of their children varies accordingly. This study was conducted to identify the parents’ attitude towards the education of their children at secondary level. The study was conducted in the low literacy rate areas of Punjab. A previous study also helped to identify some background characteristics related to home and parents that had significant relationship with the achievement level of their children. The present study investigated the styles and behavior of parents they adopt for educating their children. The data of the study was collected from 650 students. It was a survey study, therefore, questionnaire was considered appropriate research tool. The analysis of data depicted some specific behaviors of parents in educating their children. The study concluded that parents have adopted some attitudes that effect badly the educational attainment of students. Some from these are, they do gender discrimination, impose decisions about the educational matters on children, prefer tuitions system and do not response the call by school. It was suggested to understand the needs of students and educate parents through different programs about the attitudes and styles that can be in favor of to upgrade the educational achievement of children.

Ground spiders of cotton were sampled from June through December (2006), using pitfall traps. This resulted in the collection of 492 specimens of spiders, representing 8 families, 18 genera and 45 species. Family Lycosidae showed 48.9%, Gnaphosidae 17.9%, Araneidae 11%, Salticidae 10.1%, Oxyopidae 5.1%, Thomisidae 3.9%, Clubionidae 2.4% and Erigonidae 0.6% respectively. Family Lycosidae represented 11 species, Araneidae 10, Salticidae 10, Oxyopidae 2, Thomicidae 4, Clubionidae and Erigonidae each represented 1 species respectively. The spider population abundance, species richness and diversity were generally high in August and September and the lowest during November and December.

Globalization symbolizes the structural making of the world characterized by the free flow of technology and human resources across national boundaries presenting an ever-changing and competitive business environment. A vital aspect of globalization is the way diverse challenges are being faced by nations in an increasingly inter dependent world. No country can meaningfully progress today without efficiently responding to demands and pressures generated by international organizations and processes. World Trade Organization (WTO) for instance is bound to lead in a whole new system of trading relations. This paper is an attempt to address two limitations. First the human factor is the key in the new era of globalization, a primary objective of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for effective management of human resources as a response to the growing interaction of globalization and business performance. That in order to manage employees for competitive edge in a period of globalization. And the second limitation of paper will focus on how training is important for fulfilling strategic goals and especially during times of technological growth and development in the modern world of ever changing information and innovation in order to meet the challenges of globalization.

Hematological studies were carried out in a primitive local lacertilian Uromastyx hardwickii gray (spiny tailed lizard). The red blood cells (RBC’s) were oval in shape and presented a centrally located nucleus. The White blood cells (WBC’s) included eosinophils, basophils, heterophils, azurophils with centric and eccentric nuclei and nucleated lymphocytes. Thrombocytes (platelets) were also present, cells were elongated somewhat rectangular in shape and smaller then mature RBC’s with centrally located nucleus. Measurements of various types of blood cells were carried out with the help of a stage and an ocular micrometer. It is concluded from the present study that blood cells of U. hardwickii gray are different from mammalian blood cells in shape as well as in size and also due to the presence of nucleated RBC’s. However the leukocytes found in U. hardwickii gray closely resemble those of mammals and birds.
Key words: erythrocyte morphology, erythrocyte size, blood smear, white blood cells.
The earliest members of the class reptilia were the first vertebrates to possess amniotic eggs 1, 2. Uromastyxes is a genus that includes lizards known as the Spiny-tailed lizards. They are distributed throughout arid regions of the Old World ranging from northwestern India to the Saharan region of Africa, including the Arabian Peninsula, as well as coastal Ethiopia and Somalia 3. The U. hardwickii gray is indo-pak specie 4, 5, 6. The distinguishing characters of U. hardwickii gray Indian spiny tailed lizard are small and chunky head, blunt snout, small eye, body dorsoventrally flattened, limbs short and stout, toes fringed with pointed scales, tail broad, heavy and tapering evenly 2. Hematopoiesis is the formation and development of blood cells the morphologic characteristics of blood cells from reptiles are heterogeneous 7. Variation in cell characteristics and cell populations exist between species within the order squmata 8. The erythrocytes of all non-mammalian vertebrates (i.e., fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds) are nucleated, flattened, and ellipsoidal 9, 10, 11.

Knowledge workers are actually those workers in an organization who are sensitive to change. They constantly respond to the changes in the environment by gathering information & then arranging their work accordingly. With the accelerated pace of change, we should not hesitate in accepting the reality that all knowledge workers have significant place in the organization. The importance of their role to any organization that wants to survive in this dynamic epoch cannot be undermined. Knowledge workers are indispensable for the organizations. They like to complete autonomy in the work they perform. Their creativity and inquiry-driven learning may be difficult to achieve within traditional command-and-control paradigm. Too much stringency can be destructive to their creativeness and can have adverse affect on their performance. On the other hand too much leniency means giving them an absolutely freehand. Managers are faced with the dilemma of how to strike a balance between the two extremes. Proper management can best harness their potential and can further enhance their capabilities and get the most from these workers. Improving knowledge worker productivity is the most important task of the century. Yet we have few measures or management interventions to make such improvement possible. All though we can not cent percent identify the pattern which should be followed by knowledge workers because systems and processes in an organization are often regarded as a kiss of death to encouraging creativity, but this need not be the case. Without a system, the generation of ideas and application can be lost for ever. Therefore it is a challenge for the management as how to manage knowledge workers due to their importance and the unique role they play in the organization. The paper simply throws some light on the interventions can act as tools for proper management of knowledge workers and for enhancing their performance.

This paper presents an interactive system for intelligent generation of artificial flora for graphical environments. The system operates upon simple graphical user interface allowing the user to generate and visualize plant models based on certain input parameters concerning the layout of a plant. Using the formalisms of L-systems and the subapical growth conception a central repository for subapical growth rules expressed in the form of bracketed DOL-systems is maintained. An expert rule base takes the inputs and making use of the string repository, constructs the model. The generated model is then fed to the interpreter module which renders the corresponding graphical structure. The models are checked to have subapical growth which results in structures close to botanical nature minimizing the artificial look. The system hence provides an ease of generating an entire range of artificial branching structures with least effort put from the user and without having a sound knowledge of L-systems.

The soils of Dera Ismail Khan are calcareous in nature, having high pH, low organic matter and deficient in micronutrients. Use of only NPK fertilizers has also disturbed the C:N ratio. Consequently, the soil resource base has been degraded and factor productivity is declined. The sugar industry wastes can be applied as soil amendments to improve crop yield, soil properties and recycle the wastes in environment friendly manner. To achieve these objectives boiler ash was applied to wheat crop in pots and field experiment along with the basal dose of NPK. Boiler ash was rich in micronutrients and also contained sufficient amount of some macronutrients. Consequently, total porosity of the soil, available P, S and K, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu content in soil increased with the levels of boiler ash application. On the other hand dry bulk density showed a decline which was a positive effect. ECe and pH of the soil was minutely increased. Yield and most of the yield components of wheat crop in pots as well as in field experiment also increased due to boiler ash application. It was recommended that application of boiler ash @ 50 t ha-1 would result in enhanced yield of wheat.
Key words: Organic fertilizers / boiler ash / soil nutrients / soil characteristics / wheat yield.

The present research investigations were carried out on the response of different varieties to sudden mango decline disease in Sindh, Pakistan. The results revealed that maximum mean disease severity index (10.44±1.87%) was recorded on indigenous (local) variety followed by Sindhri (6.60±1.48%), Langara (6.21±1.44%), Chaunsa (5.49±1.35%), Dusheri (4.92±1.28%), Siroli (4.87±1.27%), Gulab Khasa (4.49±1.22%), Collector (4.33±1.20%), Neelam (3.80±1.13%), Fajri (3.67±1.11%), Beganpali (3.66±1.11%), Anwar Ratole (3.61±1.10%), Almas (2.51±0.92%) and Swarnarika (2.14±0.85%). The results further revealed that maximum mean decay percent of barks, the characteristic disease symptom on different varieties occurred in 0-2 height of mango tree (57.86±2.03%) followed by roots (46.11±1.81%), 2-4´ height (29.94± 1.46%) and 4-6´ height (26.27±1.37%). The fungi isolated from diseased trees of different mango varieties were identified as Ceratocystis fimbriata Ellis & Halst., Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc., Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat., Aspergillus niger Tiegh., Fusarium oxysporum Schld. and Rhizoctonia solani. C. fimbriata was isolated with maximum mean frequency of (50.31±2.68%) followed by F. solani (19.08±1.66%), B. theobromae (11.57±1.31%), A. niger (10.66±1.24%), F. oxysporum (7.24±0.96%) and R. solani (5.29±0.89%).
Key words: Sudden mango decline disease, Severity index, Bark decay percent, Ceratocystis fimbriata, Varieties.

A pot experiment was conducted in 2006 with the aim to compare the effects of three (freshwater, 0.2 and 0.4% gypsum) seed priming treatments on growth, ion (Na+ and K+) contents and fodder (green fresh and dry) yield of maize (Zea mays L.) under saline conditions. The plants were subjected to 4 saline soil treatments namely: control, ECe 6, 8 and 10 (dS m-1). It was observed that as ECe increased, plant height, number of leaves and fodder yield per plant decreased. In saline soil treatments, leaf Na+ was also increased and exceeded the toxic level. The leaf K+ remained lower in plants grown in saline soil treatments. Compared to both gypsum priming treatments, pre-hydration of seed with freshwater was found to be an effective seed priming technique in alleviating the adverse effects induced by salinity.
Key Words: Seed priming, fodder yield, maize, salinity.

The aim of the study is to discuss the Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan and the sources from where the foreign investment is pouring into Pakistan and the sector wise utilization of the foreign direct investment. Moreover the aim is to discuss the reasons to invest in Pakistan.

One of the major developments which had profound impact on the economic growth pattern in the world in the new millennium has been the strides in the domain of Information Technology sector. The world has observed significant growth of applications in diverting areas of Information Technology. This technology really has drastically changed the working of today’s organizations and is being used both by developed and developing countries for performance improvements. Similar to other developing countries, this technology is also being applied in all the organizations of Pakistan. Information Technology is one of the most exciting areas of research that has been the focus of intense interest throughout the globe over the decades but little has been devoted to examining the impact of Information Technology on Pakistani organizations. This study examines different IT software systems and their impact on Organizational Performance of Pakistani manufacturing and banking sectors. It also identifies the most suitable/used IT systems for these sectors. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews and field surveys of 48 companies, 24 in manufacturing sector(12 local and 12 foreign) and 24 in banking sector(12 local and 12 foreign). The data was tested by applying different statistical techniques. The results of the research have led to the conclusion that Information Technology has no doubt increased the Organizational Performance of all the organizations but this performance increase is not dependent on use of any specific software systems/programs. At present most of the good performing companies are using in-house developed systems but the need to use customized/standard(E.R.P) systems has been evolving rapidly. Since transformation for global IT connectivity and use of E.R.P systems is taking place so the need of integration across the business units has also been increased and the companies are searching best of these standard(E.R.P) IT system for performance increases. The manufacturing sector companies converting their IT systems more rapidly to E.R.P solution than the banking sector organizations.

In this paper the effect of the codecs and the routing devices on the quality of the received speech signal is analyzed. Experiments were conducted by configuring the codecs and the routers and the effect of different parameters on the quality of the received signal was observed. Subjective measurements were first made which were followed by objective measurements such as the received waveforms were observed on oscilloscope and the voltage measurements were made at different frequencies. It was observed that if the bandwidth of the codec is comparable to the allocated bandwidth of the link then the speech signal will be clear otherwise it will be distorted. The required bandwidth depends on the type of the Codec and that in turn depends upon their working principle. Codecs working on Pulse Code Modulation require higher bandwidth as compared to those working on Linear Predictor Algorithms. The frequency response of the systems was evaluated and observed to be non-linear with higher gains at lower frequencies.

Salient issues related to Information Communication Technology in Science, Engineering and Mathematics Education are highlighted. The standards and benchmarks are defined along with the prerequisites such as competent faculty who could use effectively ICT facilities outline in the paper and how the students capabilities can be enhanced and improved using ICT. The effects of ICT are discussed in the area of Science Education. The need how to effectively select, prepare, develop and disseminate the instructional material to be used for students has been detailed.

An investigation of materials used in the Mughal historical building, Lahore Fort protected by UNESCO was carried out. The causes of degradation due to environmental agents was also studied Built heritage is an asset as well as reflection of values and cultures developed through generations.The repair work carried out should match the original materials and techniques as closely as possible. This is to provide continuity with the past and also be allowed to age in the same manner as the original. This will help prolong the life of the structures of the Lahore Fort. Petrographic studies and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of mortar samples of Jahangir’s Quardangle showed that mortar was a variable mixture of burnt lime and fine Ravi Sand. Phyllosilicates also occur in the mortar. It was found that the kankar of area near Lahore contains 70% CaCO3, 30% clay, sand and other impurities. It naturally contains the required impurities to gain the appropriate bonding strength.. Burnt lime was produced from kankar obtained from nearby Soil. As regards the environmental effects, natural as well as anthropogenic sources of dust, SO3, NO3, CO2 and fluorides played an important role in the deterioration of the materials of the Fort. Large quantities of gypsum may not be due to the attack of Soxes. Its amount is about 30 – 40 %. They do not belong to the Mughal Period.The criteria for new mortar consisting of sand, fine kankar and coarse kankar after the whole analysis was found out as1:1.5 :1.5.

This research investigated the psychosocial impact of domestic violence on Pakistani women. A 15-item scale was devised to measure the frequency of the occurrence of different types of domestic violence in an average month. The sample consisted of ten adult married women from high socio-economic group, presently, under treatment as out-patients after being exposed to spousal violence during the past 5 years. All the subjects reported being exposed to verbal threats of violence, abusive language, throwing things around, a “little slap”, pushing, shoving, kicking, punching and injury with a household object three to four times a month. In addition, 20% admitted experiences of forced sex, biting and choking on an average of once or twice a month. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Cornell Index (CI) showed significantly above-average scores ( = 21) and = 13, respectively) obtained by the victims of domestic violence. Personal History Questionnaire, Mental Status Examination and House-Tree-Person (HTP) drawings suggested serious intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts with significant features of clinical depression; fear of males, episodic regressive behaviour and a chronic state of post-traumatic syndrome. These findings further suggest association between “Spousal Violence” and “Parental Violence” which may be attributed to the fact that in all cases spouses were chosen by their fathers who might have chosen their sons-in-law very similar to themselves. However, a comparative sample much larger in size (both males and females) is needed to support such a “Displacement Hypothesis”.