Development of Threshold Levels and a Climate-Sensitivity Model of the Hydrological Regime of the High-Altitude Catchment of the Western Himalayas, Pakistan

Water shortages in Pakistan are among the most severe in the world, and its water resources are decreasing significantly due to the prevailing hydro-meteorological conditions. We assessed variations in meteorological and hydrological variables using innovative trend analysis (ITA) and traditional trend analysis methods at a practical significance level, which is also of practical interest. We developed threshold levels of hydrological variables and developed a non-parametric climate-sensitivity model of the high-altitude catchment of the western Himalayas. The runoff of Zone I decreased, while the temperature increased and the precipitation increased significantly. In Zone II, the runoff and temperature increased but the precipitation decreased. A two-dimensional visualization of the Pardé coefficient showed extreme drought events, and indicated greater sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature than to precipitation. The threshold levels of runoff for Zones I and II were 320 and 363 mm using the Q80 fixed method, while the mean runoff amounts were estimated to be 79.95 and 55.61 mm, respectively. The transient threshold levels varied by month, and the duration of droughts in Zones I and II ranged from 26.39 to 78.98 days. The sensitivity of the hydrological regime was estimated based on a modified climate-elasticity model (εp = 0.11–0.23, εt = −0.04–2.39) for Zones I and II, respectively. These results highlight the sensitivity of the hydrological regime to temperature, which influences the melting process. However, it is important to establish thresholds for hydrological variables and understand the climate sensitivity of the hydrological regime of the entire basin, so that policy makers and water managers can make sustainable water-resource-management decisions for this region

Antecedents of job satisfaction: A study of telecom sector

This study is based on the assumption that “a happy worker is a productive workerâ€. The research was conducted to identify the significance of those factors that lead towards job satisfaction and commitment of employees working in the telecom sector of Pakistan. The associations among pay and benefits, performance appraisal system, career development and management, supervision and collegiality and open communication (independent variables) were investigated with job satisfaction (dependent variable). The relationship between job satisfaction (dependent variable) and job commitment (outcome) was also hypothesized. Through questionnaire survey responses from 221 employees working at managerial and non-managerial positions were collected, which showed the significant association of supervision and collegiality and open communication on job satisfaction. Furthermore, job satisfaction was also found highly correlated and dependent upon job commitment. Managerial implications and conclusions are presented based upon these results.Labor and Human Capital,

Money Supply, Food Prices and Manufactured Product Prices: A Causality Analysis for Pakistan Economy

This pioneer research for Pakistan uses monthly time series data for the period of 1997-1 to 2008-4 to determine the causal relationship between the money supply, food prices and manufactured product prices in developing country like Pakistan. Empirical analysis is performed by using the ARDL and Toda Yamamoto causality test. The results show that the bidirectional causality between the food prices and money supply and unidirectional causality from money supply to manufactured product prices. On the other hand there is no causal relationship between the food prices and manufactured product prices. The important finding of this study is that food prices response faster then the manufactured product prices to a change in money supply in the Pakistan.

Does Corruption Increase Financial Development? A Time Series Analysis in Pakistan

The aim of present paper is to investigate the effect of corruption on financial development in Pakistan by using ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration. The direction of causal relationship between the variables is examined by using VECM granger causality approach. Our empirical findings indicate that corruption promotes financial development. Causality analysis reveals that corruption and financial development are complementary.Financial Development, Corruption, Cointegration

Self organization of tilts in relay enhanced networks: a distributed solution

Despite years of physical-layer research, the capacity enhancement potential of relays is limited by the additional spectrum required for Base Station (BS)-Relay Station (RS) links. This paper presents a novel distributed solution by exploiting a system level perspective instead. Building on a realistic system model with impromptu RS deployments, we develop an analytical framework for tilt optimization that can dynamically maximize spectral efficiency of both the BS-RS and BS-user links in an online manner. To obtain a distributed self-organizing solution, the large scale system-wide optimization problem is decomposed into local small scale subproblems by applying the design principles of self-organization in biological systems. The local subproblems are non-convex, but having a very small scale, can be solved via standard nonlinear optimization techniques such as sequential quadratic programming. The performance of the developed solution is evaluated through extensive simulations for an LTE-A type system and compared against a number of benchmarks including a centralized solution obtained via brute force, that also gives an upper bound to assess the optimality gap. Results show that the proposed solution can enhance average spectral efficiency by up to 50% compared to fixed tilting, with negligible signaling overheads. The key advantage of the proposed solution is its potential for autonomous and distributed implementation

Export Performance of Indonesian Manufactured Goods in Australia

Export Performance of Indonesian Manufactured Goods in Australia The exports of Indonesian manufactured products to Australia are performing poorly, even if compared to those of Malaysia and Thailand. The objectives of this study is to investigate the factors behind the poor export performance of Indonesian manufactured products in Australia. Two types of research techniques were conducted. Firstly a literature review, which includes the study of the theoretical framework of International trade, previous related research results and collecting secondary data from various sources. These techniques were used to investigate the causal factors from a macro or general point of view. Secondly, mail survey. Two types of questionnaire were designed, one was forwarded to seventy eight Australian importers, and the other was sent to seventy eight Indonesian exporters. These were aimed at investigating the factors behind the problems from a micro or specific point of view. In addition, two interviews were conducted, first with the Indonesian Commercial Attache4 in Canberra, and second with the Director of Indonesian Commercial Office in Sydney. Descriptive and qualitative analysis was applied to major parts of the data obtained, with statistical manipulations applied to the remainder. T-statistic or student test as well as analysis of variance (ANOVA), F-test and orthogonal contrast test were applied to test the significances.The information collected indicates that macro aspects, such as communication problems, Indonesian banking practices, lack of information and shipment seem to play a more significant role in the poor export performance of Indonesian manufactured products to Australia than did the micro or specific aspects like the price and the quality of products