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COVID‐19 brought public health challenges to the public transport system throughout the world. As a result, a range of response measures were implemented to ensure the safety of passengers while maintaining a functioning system. This paper explores the responses of public transport agencies in New Zealand's metropolitan cities (Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington) to the COVID‐19 pandemic by examining their physical and communication measures. We analysed public transport agencies' websites to understand the response measures implemented, including the accessibility of COVID‐19‐related information, and the communication of information via websites and social media platforms. The results show that 13 service responses were implemented across the three public transport agencies, with Auckland implementing the most measures. Seven infrastructural responses were implemented, with Christchurch implementing all seven. Wellington was found to be the public transport agency that used social media the most during the pandemic. The website accessibility findings suggest that the more accessible a public transport agency's website was, the less information was present. The research concludes that all three public transport agencies in New Zealand performed reasonably well and were able to maintain a safe and responsive public transport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task performance remains a main issue for teleworkers in organizations during the COVID-19 and post-COVID era. The unique demands and challenges faced by teleworkers result in increased stress and decreased task performance. This study focuses on the relatively overlooked indirect effect of technostress during post covid and between job characteristics and task performance. The survey approach was used to collect the data from 248 employees from teleworkers working in the IT and telecom sectors of Pakistan's twin cities (Rawalpindi and Islamabad). The purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. The findings suggested that Task Autonomy and Task Identity had a significant positive impact on Task Performance. The research provides a unique set of lessons that the IT sector should implement to increase the task performance of teleworkers, which ultimately leads to achieving goals and gaining a competitive advantage. The study contributes to the existing literature on the contributing factor that improves the effectiveness of teleworkers in the IT sector of Pakistan. The study is unique in its scope and implications, focusing on the IT sector. This research will provide useful insight to better understand how task autonomy and task identity are necessary for the effectiveness of teleworkers’ task performance where technology is the only source of communication between all the employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan has been facing terrorism for the last two decades, especially after 9/11 and the start of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The core objectives of this study are to analyse terrorism spread geographically, and variation in attack intensity values over time using existing and modified attack intensity equations and the impact of different weapons in collateral damage assessment. Moreover, this research proposes a modified equation for attack intensity or collateral damage assessment using Exploratory Regression Analysis. The geographical spread of attack intensity values over time was measured for the 2004–2016, period and their respective levels of violence. Spatial autocorrelation using Global Moran's I statistic and cluster and outlier analysis using Anselin Local Moran's I statistic were performed to locate high and low attack intensity clusters in the study area. Results reveal that from 2004 to 2016, terrorism peaked in Pakistan, especially in the Northern, North–West, and Southern regions. Cities like Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta, and Khyber Agencies witnessed maximum attacks and fatalities. During 2004–16 districts having the highest attack intensity values were randomly distributed across the study area. Using Exploratory Regression Analysis, the modified attack intensity equation resulted in a smooth pattern with fewer outlier effects and abrupt changes. Data analysis of 2004–16 reveals that maximum collateral damage occurred due to suicide attacks in one-by-one relationships. In one-by-two relationships, suicide attacks plus firearms had maximum collateral damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising population is one of the major problems of developing countries like Pakistan. The higher fertility rate is considered a major factor for a growing population. This study tries to investigate the impact of family planning on the fertility rate employing OLS regression using micro-level data of Pakistan. We find a statistically significant inverted u-shape relationship between fertility rate and family planning. The education of women and living in urban areas affect fertility favorably.We also find an inverted u-shape relationship between the age of women and the fertility rate. The policy implication is that the govt. should chalk out such policies which encourage the use of family planning methods, and late marriage. Further, Govt. should give more emphasis on women's education especially in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty samples of Eucalyptus tree leaves were collected in such a way that 25 samples were collected from the vicinity of roads where traffic density is high and 25 samples were collected away from roads where traffic density is low or almost negligible. The purpose was to assess whether inhabitants away from main roads on the outskirts of metropolitan cities are exposed to the same amount of SOx as those who live close to main roads using the Eucalyptus tree as a bioindicator. The mean concentration values showed alarming differences of accumulation for both types of areas, which concluded that the inhabitants close to the main roads on average are exposed to more than double (2.23 times) SOx as those away from the roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]