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Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) is a vector-borne viral disease caused by the RNA virus which belongs to the genus Ephemerovirus and the family Rhabdoviridae. To evaluate the effect of the risk factors like the breed of cattle and buffaloes, age, sex, lactation, housing and region on the bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) prevalence, ELISA and virus neutralisation (VN) tests (n = 600) were performed for the BEFV prevalence. The seroprevalence in cattle was 45.6% and 42% by ELISA and VN, respectively (P = 0.001). The breed-wise seropositive ratio was (55-64%) in cattle and (22.5-18.3%) in buffaloes by VN and ELISA. The sex-wise prevalence was (40-49.4%) in females and (35.8-46%) in males by VN and ELISA in cattle and a similar prevalence was reported in buffaloes. The age-wise prevalence in bovines by ELISA was 5.33, 22.66 and 17.66% in the age group < 1 year, 1-3 years and > 3 years, respectively. The disease prevalence was higher in the age group of 1-3 years. The prevalence was higher during the 3rd lactation in bovines. The region-wise prevalence was higher in the 07 districts while lower (18-21%) in Rawalpindi District by VN and ELISA, respectively (P = 0.001). Commercial dairy farms of cattle showed a higher disease prevalence (52% and 44%) than non-commercial farms (38% and 36%) by ELISA and VN, respectively (P = 0.227). Exotic cows showed higher disease prevalence (76.67% and 70%) by ELISA and VN. The mortality in bovines was 5% (7.7% and 2.3%) in the cattle and buffaloes. The case fatality of BEFV in bovines was 12.25%. There was a significant effect of the risk factors like the breed, age, sex, lactation, housing and region on the BEFV prevalence. This is the first comprehensive study of BEFV in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study's basic intention is to explore Uni & multidimensional poverty (MDP) along with decomposition among the non-farming and farming community of Pakistan and its four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, KPK and Baluchsitan) using in Foster (Journal of the econometric society 1984) and Alkire & Foster (OPHI working paper 2007) indexing approach along with cross-sectional data of HIES/PSLM for last five years since 2010–11 to 2015–16. Temporal analysis of both measures portrayed that with a shorter time gap especially year or two, poverty reveals cross trend while with a wider time gap of 5 years poverty in uni-dimensional & multidimensoal aspect expose diminishing trend in overall Paksitan as well as across all four provinces in both communities. Finally, decomposition of the population by a group for uni-dimensional poverty demonstrates that Punjab and Sindh is the major contributor to overall poverty. Similarly, dimensional decomposition for multidimenisonal poverty (MDP) measure validate that education and health are major contributor to MDP, and reducing the individuals' deprivation in both these sectors are quite helpful to a quick lessening of poverty among both non-farming and farming communities in Pakistan and its four provinces. Therefore, to achieve MDG of complete poverty reduction till 2030, the governments must take emergency steps to improve education and health sectors, especially by increasing primary and secondary school education and reducing the female & child mortality rate by providing basic health facillites (proper pre and post natal consultation & immunization service) at their doorstep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern means of communication, economic crises, and political decisions play imperative roles in reshaping political and administrative systems throughout the world. Twitter, a micro-blogging website, has gained paramount importance in terms of public opinion-sharing. Manual intelligence of law enforcement agencies (i.e., in changing situations) cannot cope in real time. Thus, to address this problem, we built an alert system for government authorities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The alert system gathers real-time data from Twitter in English and Roman Urdu about forthcoming gatherings (protests, demonstrations, assemblies, rallies, sit-ins, marches, etc.). To determine public sentiment regarding upcoming anti-government gatherings (protests, demonstrations, assemblies, rallies, sit-ins, marches, etc.), the alert system determines the polarity of tweets. Using keywords, the system provides information for future gatherings by extracting the entities like date, time, and location from Twitter data obtained in real time. Our system was trained and tested with different machine learning (ML) algorithms, such as random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM), multinomial naïve Bayes (MNB), and Gaussian naïve Bayes (GNB), along with two vectorization techniques, i.e., term frequency–inverse document frequency (TFIDF) and count vectorization. Moreover, this paper compares the accuracy results of sentiment analysis (SA) of Twitter data by applying supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms. In our research experiment, we used two data sets, i.e., a small data set of 1000 tweets and a large data set of 4000 tweets. Results showed that RF along with count vectorization performed best for the small data set with an accuracy of 82%; with the large data set, MNB along with count vectorization outperformed all other classifiers with an accuracy of 75%. Additionally, language models, e.g., bigram and trigram, were used to generate the word clouds of positive and negative words to visualize the most frequently used words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study/paper is first to determine the impact of perceived recovery justice (PRJ) (as a second-order construct) on recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions; secondly, to investigate the mediating impact of customer affection and recovery satisfaction (on the relationship between PRJ and repurchase intentions and satisfaction and repurchase intentions, respectively); and thirdly, to examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between PRJ–recovery satisfaction–repurchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used a self-administrated survey technique for data collection. Afterwards, partial least square structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the data from 300 respondents (the automotive insurance industry in Punjab, Pakistan). Findings: The findings show that PRJ, recovery satisfaction and customer affection positively predict repurchase intentions. PRJ also indirectly predicts repurchase intentions through the mediating effect of recovery satisfaction. Gender has a contingent effect on the PRJ–customer satisfaction–repurchase intentions relationship, such that the effect is higher for females than males. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. To counter service failure, this study helps to draft effective strategies and policies for the insurance industry to make customers loyal patrons. Practical implications: These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. To counter service failure, this study helps to draft effective strategies and policies for the insurance industry to make customers loyal patrons. Originality/value: This study also tested a novel relationship, in that the authors used customer affection as a mediating factor between the satisfaction and repurchase intentions relationship. Moreover, the authors also tested the moderating role of gender in PRJ–recovery satisfaction–repurchase intentions associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Punjab has always been a vibrant participant in the flow of migration -- internal and international -- for many decades. This paper sketches a profile of internal migration in Punjab with a special focus on inter-state migration. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the dynamics of migration from other Indian states to Punjab from 1971 to 2011. According to available data, the growth rate of inter-state migration has fluctuated over the last few decades. The present study endeavours to discuss the pattern of inter-state migration in Punjab using secondary census data from the migration tables of1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, and 2011. It also discusses the distance categories, migration streams, and reasons for migration in Punjab. Furthermore, the paper has also tried to address the changing structure of inmigration prevailing in Punjab and alternatives to overcome the challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium farmers have the highest lands under cultivation in India and have been diversifying crop production to fruits and vegetables to some extent in India. In this context, the current research paper deals with the processing linkages for Punjab's small- to medium-sized tomato farmers in the Amritsar district. A sample of 120 farmers surveyed from the two tomato blocks is analyzed using a stepwise linear regression model. The results highlight that small to medium-sized farmers linked with the processing industry earned 12% higher income compared to farmers who are not linked. To understand what factors, affect farmers’ channel choice a binary logistic regression model is further used. The results highlight that farmers who are socially active and more connected to extension services and co-operatives are 9.87 times more likely to choose linkage with the processing industry. The results also highlight the need to develop entrepreneurial skills among farmers for diversification of their crop and marketing channels, ultimately for achieving higher income from tomato farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The organizational success to achieve and maintain its competitiveness is ascribed in the effectiveness of its knowledge management (KM) system, which depends on its employees' impetus to exhibit knowledge sharing behavior. When an employee hides knowledge, an organization somewhat loses its part of knowledge, which causes loss to the organization eventually. This study aims to examine the impact of personality traits and one's ethnicity on knowledge hiding behavior (KHB) by focusing on mediating role of team member exchange (TMX). Design/methodology/approach: A total 308 questionnaires are collected from the public sector organizations (Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Punjab, Pakistan), out of them 300 are used in the analysis. Through Google e-survey form, cross-sectional data using convenience sampling are collected from the Gazetted officers (managerial level) of the department. Findings: The paper provides empirical insights about three personality traits, i.e. openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism, and ethnicity have positive relation with KHB, whereas TMX as a mediator converts this positive relation into negative. Remaining two personality traits, i.e. extraversion and agreeableness, have negative relation with KHB, whereas TMX as a mediator strengthens this negative relationship with KHB. Research limitations/implications: The broad context of research and large number of items made it difficult to collect the responses. In future studies, 50 items of big five should be replaced with mini scale. Empirical explanation of the relation between ethnicity and knowledge hiding is an addition to body of knowledge in general, particularly in context of Pakistan. Practical implications: This study has the power to help managers in managing their team members and to understand what kind of personality and social group involvements promote knowledge sharing culture within the organization. Originality/value: To broaden the understanding of KM domain, this study adds value in the relationship between big five personality traits, ethnicity and KHB of employees by finding the mediating effect of TMX in the context of Pakistani organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to examine academic library services and facilities for university students at the tertiary level in Punjab. It has been observed that all educational institutions specifically higher education has an academic library to facilitate the students in terms of their academic activities and research-oriented tasks. This study has been conducted to measure the response of library patrons of two Public Sector Universities in Punjab, Pakistan. The unit of analysis has been based on the enrolled students of the University of Gujrat, Gujrat, and Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan. A sample of 16 students (8 students from each university and half male and female student ratio) has been selected using a purposive sampling technique. An interview guide has been developed and a case study method has been used to conduct in-depth interviews of the library Patrons. It is worth stating that researchers conducted interviews in the academic library of the relevant universities' main campus. Data analysis has been done with reference thematic analysis technique. The study finding asserted that library patrons reported that research support services and internet facilities had been provided by the library administration. Similarly, the study findings revealed that a silent zone of study, printing, and photocopy facility had been provided to support academic activities at the university. Likewise, the study results indicated that an online public access catalog, reference and periodical section, and open reading area had also been provided by the library staff to the library patron for the smooth running of research activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semantic analysis is a particular technique, which is an interesting area of research that associates with Natural Language Processing (NLP), artificial intelligence, opinion mining, text clustering, and classification. Numerous text processing techniques are being used to find out sentiments from the comments, such as social media tweets, hoax, fiction, nonfiction, novels, books, movies, health care, and stock exchange. Agrarian experts' opinions play a vital role in the agriculture sector that yields good crop productivity. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of agriculture experts' opinions through machine learning methods based on textual data collection. The data has been collected by surveying various academia, research institute, and industry of Punjab, Pakistan. The impact of various agricultural inputs such as seed quality, soil quality, soil-intensive tillage, climate changes, water shortage, synthetic fertilizer, and precision technologies on crop productivity have been collected through questionnaires. This research provides a descriptive analysis of collected agrarians experts opinions to increase the crop yield by providing awareness regarding current agriculture inputs to farmers by using machine learning. The current research provides a cohesive expert guideline for improving crop productivity, useful for agricultural policymaking, and conveys adequate farmers' knowledge. Consequently, the proposed method is an innovative way of discovering recommendations of agrarians through sentiment analysis in survey data using machine learning methods. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, agrarians experts opinions on enhancing crop productivity have been considered for the first time in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Pakistan, due to the asymmetries in farmers' information access, many ICT-based initiatives have been taken as an alternative to conventional agricultural extension approaches. Recently telecommunication sector of Pakistan has launched farm advisory services for reaching farmers' information needs. This paper analyzed the telecom sector's mobile-based farm advisory services (mFAS) by exploring, provided content, farmers' use, experiences, and its associated factors using the Likert scale and bivariate Probit regression. The study employed a multistage random sampling technique to collect data from the smallholders of Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan. Findings revealed that 70% of the respondents were subscribed to mFAS. Results further indicated a vast gap between the farmers' access and practical use of provided information in which weather forecast reported the most, while market updates reported the least utilization gap. Similarly, reduced transportation cost was ranked the most, while avoiding potential crop damages was ranked as the least perceived indicators of effectiveness. The study further reported one-way communication mode and farmers' limited skills of mobile phone use as the major constraint in the use of the services. The results of the Probit model found a significant positive relation of farmers' education, credit utilization, and educated family members, while a significant negative relation of farmers' age with the use of mFAS. Based on findings, this study highlights the need for an interactive communication mode, context-specific advisory services, and farmers' training and education for the successful utilization of these services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sushila Aggarwal v State (NCT of Delhi) forms an important part of the law on anticipatory Bail in India. Prior to Sushila Aggarwal judgment, the law on anticipatory bail in India was ambiguous due to the varying interpretations of section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 (anticipatory bail) by the Supreme Court. It was only in the year 2020 that the law on the matter was settled by the Supreme Court in its Sushila Aggarwal judgment. With this paper, the authors aim to trace the evolution of the law on anticipatory bail in India. It focusses on the landmark judgments of the Supreme Court and meanders its way through conflicting opinions of the Court. The paper concludes by welcoming the Sushila Aggarwal judgment for settling the long ambiguous law on anticipatory bail in India. However, it also highlights the concerns that Constitution Bench failed to appreciate, which if addressed would have made the law free of the loopholes presently plaguing the law on anticipatory bail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate the turnover intentions (TIs) among the academic faculty of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan through their motivation and commitment toward the concerned institution. It inspects the relationship of dimensions of motivation including an absence of motivation (AM), extrinsic motivation (ExM) and intrinsic motivation (InM) with the dimensions of commitment including affective commitment (AC), continuous commitment (CC) and normative commitment (NC) and finally the academic's TIs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used the self-determination theory (SDT), the theory of organizational commitment (OC) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for its proposed model. A sample of 500 academics, working under higher education commission recognized public and private universities in Punjab Pakistan. A structural equation modeling (SEM) conducted for analysis using an algorithm, bootstrapping and blindfolding techniques. Findings: The outcomes of the research are attention-grabbing, as no direct relationship has been observed between the dimensions of motivation and TIs except InM. The dimensions of commitments are mediating the relationship between motivation and TIs with high significance value. The results reveal a significant adverse effect on TIs through two dimensions of commitment. Research limitations/implications: As it is the case of a developing country like Pakistan therefore the finding cannot generalize to developed countries. Practical implications: The findings of this research may lead the policymakers and practitioners of HEIs and controlling body to retain their competent teachers. Social implications: This research can help the private sector to develop strategies about the retention of their competent teachers within the institutions that not just value the institution but also will be much beneficial for the students and society. Originality/value: This paper is identifying how motivation is related to TIs and the role of commitment in it at HEIs. Still, no research has been conducted considering this avenue of SDT, OC and TPB [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focused on this particular situation in which doctoral candidates become anxious, impatient, and disappointed while experiencing a prolonged delay in processing their dissertation during and after the submission. The researchers tend to explore doctoral candidates' storied experiences they had while confronting such procedural barriers and delays. We undertook a narrative mode of inquiry to explore the events and storied experiences through interviewing doctoral candidates from public universities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Nine doctoral candidates were selected through snowball sampling with the criterion of including those participants who were waiting for their external reviews at least for more than 1 year. From the narratives, the emergent themes include supervisors' mutual relationships, the pressure of paper publication, lack of administrative support, external evaluation and follow-up and stress of delayed evaluation. The study has implications for relaxing procedural formalities during and after submission of a doctoral dissertation to facilitate students in the timely attainment of their doctoral degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In last few decades, the native anthropology has been highlighted for its potential to immediately grasping cultural familiarity, contextual sensitivity, and rapport building. Nevertheless, detachment from the native context is also seen as a challenge for the native researcher. This paper aims to provide invaluable information about the fieldwork experience of the author as a native researcher in rural Punjab Pakistan. The author presents and reflects the fieldwork challenges faced and the strategies used to overcome the challenges. The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the methodological strategies to face the challenges of doing at-home ethnography. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in native context. Findings: Dealing with contextual complexity and sensitivity with the author's native learning, the author used native knowledge as a useful resource to investigate insider's perspective on infant care belief practices. Furthermore, the author addressed the challenges related to building rapport, gaining friendly access to the families and children, and setting aside presumptions. The author discusses the strategies opted, such as selecting a research assistant, gaining access to the field, planning fieldwork and bracketing native presumptions. Practical implications: This paper provides important insight of at-home ethnography and technical understanding to conduct fieldwork in native contexts. Originality/value: Based on my ethnographic fieldwork, this article contributes in contemporary debates on the challenges in doing at-home ethnography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from household data collected as part of the Annual Survey of Education conducted in rural Punjab in 2015, which included questions on disability developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Data reported here focuses on the disability status of children aged 5 to 16 years, their access to school and learning outcomes on basic reading and maths tasks. Our findings highlight that children who were identified by their carer/mothers as having moderate to severe disabilities were less likely to be attending school and had lower levels of learning on basic reading and maths tasks, than their peers who were not identified as having any difficulties in functioning. More importantly, our findings also suggest that being a co-resident/sibling in a household with a child with moderate to severe disabilities was associated with lower levels of basic reading and numeracy for the co-residents/siblings compared to other children. We conclude by highlighting important policy considerations and identifying areas of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium is an essential trace element in human diet with carcinogenic effect when consumed in excess. This paper examines the depthwise variartion of selenium in the aquifers of northeastern Punjab (India) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains in a piedmont zone. Out of 210 km2 hydrogeologically studied area in parts of Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts of Punjab State, about 50% of area was found affected by high selenium concentration problem in groundwater. Three aquifer groups were identified, i.e., aquifer group I, II and III with depth ranges of about 75–95 m (thickness ∼90 m), 120–230 m (thickness ∼110 m) and beyond 255 m, respectively. A clay horizon of about 15–35 m thickness separates aquifer group of I and II and that of about 15–30 m thickness aquifer group of II and III. Aquifer group I is unconfined, aquifer group II is semi-confined and aquifer group III is confined in nature. High concentrations of selenium is observed in aquifer groups I and II with concentrations decreasing with depth. Aquifer group III is devoid of selenium. The symptoms of high contents of selenium started emerging when people deepened their wells in the 1970s to a depth of 20–45 m in a sandy clay horizon. This, however, is yet to be verified and warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to answering the fundamental research question, "Why do individuals participate in contentious ethnonationalist movements?" More specifically, it tries to ascertain which competing theory of human behavior—rational-chooser, socially-embedded actor, or instinctive psychological being—best explains this phenomenon. Based on over a dozen in-depth interviews with Sikh ethnonationalists from Punjab-India, this paper finds that social constructivism, and to a much lesser extent, the sociopsychological paradigm best explain why individuals join collective ethnonationalist movements. In contrast, the rational-choice theory finds only very limited support. Even when sociopsychological and rational-choice motivations are found for individual participation in risky ethnonationalist movements, they exist either intertwined or in close conjunction with social constructivist ones, thus giving even increased support for this dominant theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous combustion of coal in stockpiles of power plants has a significant problem worldwide which leads to several health hazards, environmental pollution and coal loss. Spontaneous combustion coal stockpiles depend on both endogenous (coal characteristics) and exogenous parameters (stockpile geometry, wind speed, wind direction, local temperature). This paper describes the laboratory experiments to study the suitability of firefighting chemicals on the spontaneous combustion/fire of coal in stockpiles. Coal samples were collected from four different heaps of coal laid in coal storage yards of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), Punjab. This study comprises laboratory analysis i.e., proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, critical oxidation temperature, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, gross calorific value (GCV), particle size analysis, and field studies i.e., thermal monitoring of fire-affected area before and after firefighting chemicals. Experiments on mixtures of coal and firefighting chemical having compositions viz. 1, 2, 3, and 5%, were carried out using DSC study for optimization of inhibitors as well as its efficacy. During the laboratory study the chemical composition of 3% was found to be optimum for field application to extinguish coal stockpile fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to validate the measurement model of financial literacy in which financial literacy is a second-order construct with financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behavior as lower-order constructs. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on the primary data collected from 536 adult respondents of Punjab, India. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has been used in the study. Findings: Financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behavior have significant correlation with each other and they converge to form a second-order construct–Financial Literacy. The model of financial literacy as a second-order construct (using CFA) is the perfect fit. The study also highlights that the financial literacy level of people differ significantly depending upon the age, gender, marital status, area of residence, qualification, monthly family income, employment status. Practical implications: The study has major implications for policymakers. It confirms the claim that financial literacy is a combination of three components–financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behavior. The national as well as international regulatory agencies working to promote financial literacy should realize that the overall financial literacy of people can be improved by imparting financial knowledge along with inculcating positive financial attitude and financial behavior among the masses. Originality/value: The present study is the first study to validate financial literacy as a multidimensional model in the context of India to the best of our knowledge. The study contributes to the extant literature in the field of financial literacy by providing a strong framework for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporadic rainfall and limited surface water sources have increased dependency on groundwater in semi-arid region of Punjab. The present paper is comprehensive study carried out in an intensive agricultural region of southwest Punjab to examine the quality and extent of contamination due to trace elements and nitrate in the aquifer system. Total 15 toxic elements are analyzed in groundwater samples (N = 129) covering both the shallow (<60 m) and deeper aquifers (>60 m). Elements such as As, B, Cd, Li, Mn, Pb, Sr, and Se exceed the prescribed limits. Overall, 68 and 13% of samples exceed the NO3− permissible limit (45 ppm) in shallow and deep aquifers, respectively. Contaminants concentration increases toward groundwater flow direction, that is, from northeast to southwest possibly due to arid climatic conditions. Relatively, shallow aquifer is more contaminated than deeper aquifer due to fertilizers input and irrigation return flow. Drinking water quality indices (DWQI) reveal that groundwater is unfit for drinking at most locations. Further, health risk indicate that comparatively, children are at higher risk in terms of non-carcinogenic risk posed by nitrate, and higher carcinogenic risk for As, Cr, and Cd is seen in all age groups. Multivariate analysis reveals the influence of anthropogenic activities on NO3−, Mn, Ni, and Zn levels, while geogenic factors control the, As and Mo concentrations. Present findings suggest regular monitoring of wells to lower the public health risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Field evaluation of an auto-rotate gun sprayer and comparison with a knapsack sprayer was carried out to control whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) in the cotton crop. Two experiments were conducted at six locations of farmers’ fields in southwestern (cotton-growing region) of Punjab state. The number of adult whiteflies was counted before and 3, 7 and 10 days after spray. Water-sensitive papers were attached at upper and under side of the leaves at three different points (top, middle and bottom) of plant canopy to find sprayers performance parameters, viz. droplet diameter, droplet density, per cent area covered and volume of spray deposition. Droplet density, area covered and volume of spray deposition were found significantly higher in case of the auto-rotate gun sprayer as compared to that of a knapsack sprayer. However, the volume median diameter of droplets was found significantly lesser in case of an auto-rotate gun sprayer, i.e. 286.95 µm as compared to the knapsack sprayer, i.e. 347.85 µm. The per cent whitefly control in the cotton crop in first experiment was found as 68.06 % and 65.90 % for auto-rotate gun and knapsack sprayer, respectively, by using pyriproxyfen 100 g active ingredient (g a.i.)/ha. Although in the second experiment the per cent whitefly control for auto-rotate gun sprayer was significantly higher, i.e. 83.27 % as compared to knapsack sprayer having 70.87 % control by using flonicamid 75 g a.i./ha. However, the bio-efficacy of auto-rotate gun sprayer was found higher for the both experiments as compared to the knapsack sprayer. The cost of operation of the auto-rotate gun sprayer was found to be US$4.11/ha as compared to knapsack sprayer with $6.85/ha. The cost, labour and time-saving in the spraying with the auto-rotate gun sprayer as compared to the knapsack sprayer was found to be 39.98, 93.44 and 96.64 %, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to understand the emergence of a New Sikh middle class in Panjab and its growing, transnational visibility in a transnational spread through the kaleidoscope of Panjabi cinema. The paper seeks to map this new middle class both locally and globally with the emergence of the icon of the New Sikh middle class, the turbaned Diljit Dosanjh. His persona and the popularity of his films give a vivid portrayal of the visibility of this transnational New Sikh middleclass, the imagination of which transcends local, national and transnational borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sikhs were the integral part of Punjab politics especially after Montague-Chelmsford reforms. They although had joint political venture with the Unionist Party of Punjab but later on during the partition drive they missed the train. They were more relying on the Indian National Congress authorities and were betrayed by them. Despite of many offers of Jinnah, they rejected all the offers and joined hands with the Congress. After the Cabinet mission, they mad and re-made all of their policies which led towards of their illusion politics, damaging their cause. Congress leadership assured them many times about their full support to the Sikh leadership and all of their demands. This paper will deal with the political development of partition drive and betrayal of the Sikhs by the Congress that how they were betrayed and the Sikhs were confused in their politics and political tactics and the role of Colonial authorities as well Congressites to get the support of the Sikhs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women empowerment is the buzz word around the world, when it comes to ensuring women get equal opportunities as compared to men. This excitement around the topic is because of the potential women possess to contribute immensely to the development of society. This is because if a woman is empowered, then it is linked to the sustainable development in the entire world. Therefore, women empowerment has become important topic in the development of the nation. In order to make the nation developed, it is always necessary to develop both the halves of the population equally, i.e., the nation must ensure that both men and women are provided equal access to resources and opportunities to reach the ultimate goal of development. Empowering women means giving power to woman to take decisions at her own level in economic, political and all other dimensions of life. In order to empower women it is necessary to understand the ill practices followed by the society against women in male dominated Indian society. By and large they are discriminated against, suffer neglect, denied rights and violated in every possible way including getting killed even before they are born. The successive governments have been paying special attention to achieve the objectives of women empowerment. The government of India and Punjab has started so many programmes for the upliftment of the women. Ministry of women and child development has also started many schemes/programmes for the welfare of women. The governments have to be careful about not letting these schemes use women as only posters for the schemes. The women must be actual beneficiaries and for this the women themselves need to come forward and start coming out of the shadows of their family members. The schemes discussed in this paper clearly showed that govt. is providing all the help to women in order to achieve community, organizational, economic, political and psychological empowerment. Along with the governments it is our responsibility to be open-minded and change the mindset of the society by providing equal opportunities to women so that she performs well in all spheres of life. Keeping above points in mind, this paper made an attempt to analyze the need for women empowerment and various schemes launched by the state government for the benefit of women using secondary data sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation was conducted to study the locomotory behaviour of Spodoptera litura Fabricius collected from three regions of Punjab, namely Amritsar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana. The test larvae were allowed to move on insecticide-treated surfaces and their movements were recorded with EthoVision. It is an automatic video recording system. The larval speed and distance-travelled were maximum on deltamethrin-treated surfaces (2.375 cm/s and 712.667 cm/5 min, respectively) followed by chlorpyriphos, thiodicarb, novaluron and chlorantraniliprole for Ludhiana district. In contrast, turn angle of larval population from Amritsar district was significantly higher on chlorantraniliprole (270.33375 min), followed by those moved on novaluron, thiodicarb, chlorpyriphos and deltamethrin-treated surfaces. Pronounced behavioural differences were recorded in locomotion of different larval populations. The study will help explore management solutions for S. litura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My paper proposes to assess the contributions of Bhai Vir Singh to the newly emergent Punjabi print spheres in the late colonial period. Critical literature on the print and public spheres in colonial Punjab has described these as imitative of the prototype of western models and as 'derivative' discourses. It is through the example of Bhai Vir Singh that we can argue otherwise. This paper argues that the print sphere made it possible for newer subjectivities and modes of agency to emerge and it is through this politically critical idea of agency that Bhai Vir Singh's work can be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empowerment of women is an essential objective to fully engage them in economic life and achieve sustainable growth throughout the world. Providing basic facilities to women is one form of empowerment. This paper examines the extent of women's empowerment in Punjab, Pakistan and its divisions, along with rural and urban regions. In addition, we check the effect of the gender wage differential on the current dilemma by implementing Alkire et al.'s [2013.The women's empowerment in agriculture index (Working Paper No. 58). Oxford, UK: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. Retrieved from .] indexing on HIES 2013–14 datasets. Our results show that 34.91% of women are empowered in Punjab overall, with independence being the highest dimensional contributor, and ownership of assets being the least. Women are 31.43% more empowered in urban regions. The results indicate that Islamabad has significantly more women's empowerment, while Dera Ghazi Khan has the lowest percentage of empowered women. To assess particular impacts of different socio-economic and demographic variables on women's empowerment, logistic regression model is applied, revealing that most socio-economic and demographic variables have significant impacts on the current scenario, and variation in any variable causes significant variations in the status of women's empowerment, with increased wage differential in particular, decreasing the probability of women being empowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses primary data to explain the nature, extent, pattern and incidence of overseas emigration from farm households of Punjab. It argues that farmers from all size classes participate intensely in a well-entrenched stream of emigration. Qualified young persons, both male and female, in their productive age group form the core of emigration. Emigration flows remained unidirectional as return migrants were very few in number. Overwhelming proportion of emigrant farm households have withdrawn from selfcultivation by completely leasing out their land resources. Females with degree level qualifications joined the emigration process more than their male counterparts. Emigration developed its own dynamism and specificities, as reflected in enhanced flows, deepening intensities and widening of destinations. This in turn has changed the social, demographic and economic contours of rural areas experiencing emigration. The paper concludes that there is greater likelihood of rise in emigration from the farming community given hardening of push and pull factors embedded in social and economic realities of Punjab and receiving countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dilemas Contemporáneos: Educación, Política y Valores is the property of Dilemas Contemporaneos: Educacion, Politica y Valores and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Precipitation is the main component of any hydrological system, and it also controls the availability of water resources of any region. Some recent studies have shown that climatic factors which are controlling the hydrology of any system must be studied on local scale than on a global scale. Although climatic changes are occurring on a global scale, the trends and the effects of climatic changes can vary from place to place. In this paper an attempt is made to carry out the analysis on annual rainfall data of 13 rain gauges in the Punjab (Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Faisalabad, Lahore, Jhelum, Rafique, Sargodha, Murree, Multan, Lahore PBO, Mianwali, Khanpur), to determine the variability of rain for different regions of Punjab. Tends of rainfall have been determined for these regions using the Mann-Kendall Test. To detect these changes in the data the data was subjected to intervention analysis (using cumulative summation / CUSUM method). The mean monthly rainfall data for a period of 40 years was collected from PMD (Pakistan Meteorological Department). From the analysis of the data a significant trend was observed in the rainfall of the Punjab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of female employees regarding workplace empowerment. The study also emphasized the alleged advantages of employee empowerment in the workplace and pinpointed the barriers to empowerment. This paper is based on qualitative data collected, through the semi-structured interview with female library professionals working in the higher education commission's recognized universities of Punjab- Pakistan, as a part of doctoral studies. According to the study, respondents most frequently defined "workplace empowerment" as having the freedom to do duties as they see fit. They also emphasized the benefits of workplace empowerment on both the personal and professional levels. Three categories—managerial, organizational, and individual factors—are used to categorize the obstacles cited by the participants. Although there is no study of this kind on the topic of workplace empowerment of female employees in the local context of Pakistan, this work adds significantly to the paucity of literature on the subject. This study is extracted from the Ph.D. thesis of the researcher. This study is limited in terms of its population as the data was collected from female library professionals in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The results may aid stakeholders and higher authorities in eradicating workplace empowerment concerns and in formulating evidence-based strategies or policies to enable women to execute their jobs more effectively. This qualitative study adds value to the literature by showing the actual situation of female employee empowerment in a developing country like Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of service quality dimensions (tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, reliability, empathy, and e‐learning) on student's academic performance through student motivation, and student satisfaction. Primary data were collected from 384 participants studying in higher education institutes (HEI's) in the Punjab province of Pakistan and the research model was empirically tested. The findings reveal that all service quality dimensions (tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, reliability, empathy, and e‐learning) are positively associated with student's academic performance through student's motivation and student satisfaction. This study makes a substantial contribution to the literature of service quality, by adding a novel dimension "e‐learning" into the most renowned and frequently used SERVQUAL (tangibility, reliability, empathy, assurance, and responsiveness) model. By doing so we not only establish the link between e‐learning and student's academic performance through student satisfaction and student motivation but also extended the SERVQUAL model by incorporating an important neglected area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the factors that influence the adoption of laser land levelers and their impact on groundwater usage in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. A farm household survey of 504 agriculture producers was conducted in 2019. A discrete‐time duration model is used to investigate factors influencing the speed of adoption and an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model is used to evaluate its impact on groundwater usage. About 70% of the surveyed households adopted the technology, and the average time to adoption was 9 years. Key factors accelerating the speed of adoption include strong legal land rights, access to information about the technology, and exposure to the technology. In contrast, long distance to rental market deaccelerates the speed of adoption. The adoption of laser land leveler reduced groundwater use by about 23%. The results imply that institutional arrangements, such as improving access to extension services, exposure to innovation, and legal land rights, can enhance the adoption and diffusion of the technology and conserve groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies is the property of University of Karachi, Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Globally, the growth of fisheries sector in its production is mainly due to the contribution of aquaculture sector. The development of aquaculture is due to the intensification of culture practices, horizontal (increase of area) and vertical expansion (polyculture, species enhancement) of fish farming. Along with the culture of fish in private ponds, people with less/ no land holdings are utilizing the village/ panchayati ponds for adopting fish farming as a source of income to uplift their socioeconomic status. They used to follow good management practices to maintain water quality standards, ensures the primary productivity of pond by applying manures (cow dung, poultry droppings or bioslurry), provide good quality supplementary feed and regular use of lime and other disinfectants (potassium permanganate, CIFAX) for the prevention of disease occurrence. This paper provides an overview about the role of village ponds in enhancing the area under fish farming in the Punjab state and few success stories of fish farmers of district Barnala practicing fish farming in the village/panchayati ponds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that while fusion music in Shoaib Mansoor's film Khuda Kay Liye (KKL) (2007) serves to reclaim Pakistan's South Asian heritage, there are moments in KKL when non-Muslim South Asians are othered. I examine these contradictory elements in the film with respect to two songs. I first look at 'Bulleh Nu', an anti-casteist 'kafi' attributed to the seventeenth/eighteenth century Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah, born in present-day Pakistani Punjab. I then contrast 'Bulleh Nu' with the film's problematic representation of the Sikh as a 'villainous' other. Subsequently I analyze 'Neer Bharan', a 'bandis ki thumri' associated with the cosmopolitan ethos of the nineteenth century kingdom of Awadh, now located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Alongside my analysis of 'Neer Bharan', I write about how KKL only partially distances itself from the conflation of religious and national identities in Pakistan. The minoritization of non-Muslims from the subcontinent in the film is consistent with how they are represented in certain Pakistani educational and cultural texts. Therefore the desire to embrace Pakistan's pluralistic traditions in Khuda Kay Liye is juxtaposed with a relatively uncritical stance towards non-inclusive notions of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes IoT-based an enterprise health information system called IoTPulse to predict alcohol addiction providing real-time data using machine-learning in fog computing environment. We used data from 300 alcohol addicts from Punjab (India) as a case study to train machine-learning models. The performance of IoTPulse is compared against existing work using various parameters including accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and precision which shows improvement of 7%, 4%, 12% and 12%, respectively. Finally, IoTPulse is validated in FogBus-based real fog environment using QoS parameters including latency, network bandwidth, energy and response time which improves performance by 19.56%, 18.36%, 19.53% and 21.56%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this paper is to design the framework for enhancing the emotional competence of preschool children by examining the perspective of parents' involvement with children staying at home. The paper also discusses (1) the concept of social-emotional competence and its importance for preschool children; (2) the concept of emotional competence, happiness, home learning, and sharing among children; and (3) the role of parents in promoting emotional competence in preschool children. The paper examined the impact of home learning, happiness, and sharing habits on the emotional competence of preschool children by using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) 2.0. The respondents included 358 randomly selected parents in two districts of Punjab state of India who have children aged 3 to 6 years. The results showed that happiness and home learning had a significant positive impact on the emotional competence of preschool children. However, sharing habits did not impact emotional competence to a significant extent in the current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is on transnational migration with a focus on Punjab in North India. This essentially being a male-dominated phenomenon, I examine the impact of migration on the empowerment of women in "left-behind" families. The three dimensions of empowerment highlighted here are resources, agency, and achievement. Data was collected via interviews and case studies of five left behind women and a survey of 48 Punjabi households where the men had migrated to the Middle East. The respondents were classified into three age groups: 20–35 years, 35–45 years and 45+. These offered comparison to understand problems related to remittances and women's empowerment. The research revealed how migration by men affected their left behind spouses. Some of them faced several hurdles and remained constrained by social and familial norms of patriarchy, while others found opportunities to resist such constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of production by-products as feedstock offers benefits in terms of circularity, waste reduction, and enhanced local value-add. In this paper, we examine the institutional and supply network collaborations required to shift from global to near-sourcing using by-products of previously unrelated production activities. The case study of straw stubble agri-waste is examined as it exhibits multiple product-process valorisation opportunities, generates social welfare gains for farmers, and addresses a critical societal need of reducing pollution. Drawing on circular economy and supply network configuration literature, the research involved the consideration of local resource availability, product-production process technology options, partnering arrangements, and network governance. The results reveal multiple feedstock product-process conversion scenarios, each representing potential intermediate and end-use products/markets. Two pathways were identified offering industrial-scale valorisation, namely straw-stubble as a feedstock for i) building products and ii) energy purposes. Circular supply network design parameters emerge from cross-case analysis suggesting alignment across feedstock network structure, product-processing pathways, and the configuration of public-private partnerships is necessary. This paper develops supply network configuration design approaches and related partnering models by providing a structured framework for identifying commerically viable by-product driven supply networks that leverage the proximity of non-traditional suppliers exploiting local resources. This research contributes to the design of circular supply networks and partnership configurations for the valorisation of by-products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter to the editor responds to a research paper on the spatio-temporal evolution of groundwater quality and health risk assessment in Punjab, India. The authors of the letter express concerns about the reliability of the data used in the original paper and highlight contradictions between their own findings and those reported in the paper. Specifically, they dispute the characterization of Patiala district as a safe zone for fluoride and nitrate contamination, citing their own research that shows high levels of contamination in the district. The letter emphasizes the need for further investigation and caution in interpreting the results. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of digital mode of payment along with the initial drivers of UTAUT2. This has its relevance especially in view of demonetization move by the Indian government. There are relatively few studies analyzing the impact of the digital payment mode on behavioral intention in developing countries like India and thus, this research area is untapped and requires further investigation. The data have been collected from 364 people through structured questionnaire with the help of Snowball sampling technique. The Respondents are online shopping consumers in Punjab, Himachal, and Haryana. The current study has used UTUAT2 and the Digital Mode of Payment has been added as a new driver to understand the changing consumer behavior in view of demonetization in India. It is one of the initial studies extending UTAUT2 to include digital payment mode as an additional driver of online shopping influencing behavioral intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a novel illustration of the political economy of religion by examining the impact of religious elites on development. We compile a unique database on holy Muslim shrines across Pakistani Punjab and construct a historical panel of literacy spanning over a century (1901–2011). Using the 1977 military takeover as a universal shock that gave control over public goods to politicians, our difference-in-differences analysis shows that areas with a greater concentration of shrines experienced a substantially retarded growth in literacy after the coup. Our results suggest that the increase in average literacy rate would have been higher by 13% in the post-coup period in the absence of shrine influence. We directly address the selection concern that shrines might be situated in areas predisposed to lower literacy expansion. Finally, we argue that the coup devolved control over public goods to local politicians, and shrine elites, being more averse to education since it undermines their power, suppressed its expansion in shrine-dense areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Builds an analysis of 'political crops' under contemporary capitalism. • Explains the political ecology of cotton and paddy in the Indian Punjab. • Focuses on labour relations and market structure of the two crops. • Analyzes the nature of change in agrarian capitalism in the Indian Punjab. Unlike the rest of the state of Punjab in India, cotton remained the dominant monsoon crop in the southwest region till the 1990s. As it has been increasingly replaced by paddy in recent decades, this paper asks what this shift in cropping pattern reflects about the state's agrarian capitalism. Towards an analysis of this question, it builds on James Scott's idea of 'political crops' in the earliest states and places it in conversation with scholarship in critical agrarian studies, political ecology and commodity studies to account for relations of power under contemporary capitalism. Drawing on intensive primary research in the region, the paper contrasts the power relations generated by the production and circulation of the two crops. It shows that larger farmers are more likely to cultivate paddy due to better access to irrigation, and that the shift to paddy is threatening to make redundant the labour of landless Dalit women, who do cotton-picking, and increasing dependence on migrant male labour for paddy-transplanting. It also demonstrates how the different end uses of the two crops and the predominance of the private sector in the cotton markets versus the hitherto state-led nature of the paddy markets produce differential risks for farmers and traders. The paper concludes by suggesting that the shift from cotton to paddy represents capital intensification in response to Punjab's mature capitalist conditions in agriculture but also results in new contradictions and axes of political struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]