Remittances and Poverty Linkages in Pakistan: Evidence and Some Suggestions for Further Analysis

Global remittances experienced a dramatic increase over the years, particularly since 1990 wherein the developing world emerged to be the major beneficiary accounting for 60 percent of the total amount. Because of the sheer volume, and magnitude of the remittances, and pre-eminence of these flows compared to the FDIs, development assistance and in some cases the trade related transactions, the development practitioners tended to focus and investigate the importance of remittances which are generally regarded as a dependable source for growth, improved welfare and poverty alleviation in the developing world. Given the fact that remittances flows entail wide ranging ramifications both for sending as well as receiving countries, difficult to be generalised, hence empirical evidence has been mounted though lack of consensus is visible.

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

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

Intelligent Agent for Prediction in E- Negotiation: An Approach

With the proliferation of web technologies it becomes more and more important to make the traditional negotiation pricing mechanism automated and intelligent. The behaviour of software agents which negotiate on behalf of humans is determined by their tactics in the form of decision functions. Prediction of partners behaviour in negotiation has been an active research direction in recent years as it will improve the utility gain for the adaptive negotiation agent and also achieve the agreement much quicker or look after much higher benefits. In this paper we review the various negotiation methods and the existing architecture. Although negotiation is practically very complex activity to automate without human intervention we have proposed architecture for predicting the opponents behaviour which will take into consideration various factors which affect the process of negotiation. The basic concept is that the information about negotiators, their individual actions and dynamics can be used by software agents equipped with adaptive capabilities to learn from past negotiations and assist in selecting appropriate negotiation tactics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. CUBE 2013 International Conferenc

Wound infiltration with Bupivacaine versus Ketorolac for postoperative pain relief in minor to moderate surgeries

OBJECTIVE: To compare the analgesic efficacy of Bupivacaine 0.25% wound infiltration with Ketorolac incisional infiltration in relieving postoperative pain for first twenty-four hours. METHODOLOGY: Analytical, interventional and comparative study was performed on seventy patients, of both sexes, with varied age groups. Patients underwent minor and moderate surgeries, confined to American Society of Anaesthesiologist ASA category 1-II. Patients were selected by convenience sampling and were divided into two groups i.e. Group I and Group II. Group-I comprised of thirty five patients and were infiltrated with Bupivacaine 0.25% at wound margins postoperatively. Group-II also comprised of thirty-five patients and were infiltrated with Ketorolac at wound margins 60 mg postoperatively. RESULTS: Bupivacaine 0.25% wound infiltration had onset of action within 4 +/- 2 minutes. Percentage pain relief was 80% in minor surgeries and 60% in moderate surgeries. Duration of action lasted for 8 +/- 2 hours regarding minor surgeries while it was 6 +/- 1 hours for moderate surgeries. Ketorolac incisional infiltration had onset of analgesic action within 10 +/- 5 minutes. Duration of action lasted for 6 +/- 1 hours regarding minor surgeries while it was 4 +/- 2 hours regarding moderate surgeries. Percentage pain relief was 60% in minor surgeries and 50% in moderate surgeries. CONCLUSION: Wound infiltration with Bupivacaine 0.25% was better for postoperative pain relief in comparison with Ketorolac regarding percentage pain relief, onset and duration of action

Success and failure of fast track extubation in cardiac surgery patients of tertiary care hospital: one year audit

OBJECTIVE: To identify the causes of delayed extubation in patients planned for fast tract extubation during cardiac surgery. METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted at cardiothoracic unit of Aga Khan University Hospital for the period of one year. All elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients, between the ages of 35-75 years with LVEF \u3e or = 40 percent were included. Patients with Intra aortic balloon pump, chronic renal failure, respiratory compromise and requiring high ionotropic support were excluded from this audit. A performa was designed and later filled by the primary investigator. Patient demographics and various reasons for delayed extubation were noted in this proforma. RESULTS: Total 614 patients underwent CABG surgery and 388 (63.19%) patients were planned for fast track extubation. A total of 196 (49.5%) patients could be extubated within six hours of arrival in the cardiac ICU. Common reasons for delayed extubation included deep sedation in 80 (46.5%), confusion 44 (25%), excessive bleeding in 20 (11.3%) and high inotropic support in 10 (5.68%). CONCLUSION: Major contributing factors for delayed extubation were identified by this audit. These factors need to be targeted accordingly by modifications in intra operative management

インドネシアにおける機能的都市圏域の設定と集積の経済の推定

政策分析プログラム / Policy Analysis Program政策研究大学院大学 / National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies論文審査委員: 金本 良嗣（主査）, Roberto Leon-Gonzalez, 山内 慎子, 長谷川 誠, 園部 哲史, 高橋 孝明（東京大学