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Energy is considered a vital factor of economic growth that contributes to improve quality of life and health status. However, global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation are due primarily because of energy emissions, whereas environmental degradation is detrimental to health. Since one-fifth of the population lives in South Asia, it is necessary to analyze the impact of energy and environmental degradation on health status in this region. For this purpose, health status in South Asia is proxy with health expenditure, life expectancy, and infant mortality, and this study investigates the effect of energy intensity, income, and carbon emissions on health status, whereas urbanization is considered a control variable. The cointegration test indicates South Asia's long-term health status factors are energy intensity, income, carbon emissions, and urbanization. Long-run results suggest that energy intensity and income improve health status as these factors reduce health expenditure, improve life expectancy, and decrease infant mortality. Environmental degradation not only increases health expenditure but also hinders life expectancy and increases mortality. Moreover, an increase in income diminishes health expenditure and is responsible for high life expectancy and low mortality in South Asia.

Sri Lanka is an island and is becoming an attractive tourist destination in South Asia. It has famous beaches, mountainous regions, many colonise features, UNESCO world heritage sites, wild life, traditional festivals, and unparalleled climate generate extra topographies to attract more and more international tourists. However, Sri Lanka is badly affected by terrorism. Henceforth, this study examines the impact terrorism on inbound tourism along with other important factors, for instance, FDI and World GDP. Long run estimates are obtained through DOLS after confirmation of cointegration. World GDP and FDI have positive effect on tourism. Terrorism has negative impact on inbound tourism in Sri Lanka. The tourism in Sri Lanka remained stagnant between 1978 and 2009 because of terrorism. Since 2009, there is sharped increase in tourism arrivals as a result of remarkable decrease in terrorism activities. Results of VECM confirmed causality from terrorism to tourism. This finding revealed that terrorism is badly affecting tourism in Sri Lanka. Similarly, terrorism is affecting FDI inflows to Sri Lanka. Moreover, these results confirmed that tourism and FDI are engaged in complementary effect with each other. If Sri Lanka enabled itself well to maintain peace in country its effect will be multiple. Elimination of terrorism will improve tourism development which in turn will bring economic development as travel and tourism industry contributes 11.1 % to GDP, and 10 % to country employment. Similarly, better security situation will also help in attracting more FDI. Besides this, FDI and private investment has to be encouraged to build new hotel rooms to accommodate influx of tourists.

PurposeThe widening income gap between rich and poor has gained worldwide recognition in recent decades. This income gap between rich and poor is defined as the extent of income unevenly distributed in a host country. This study provides an empirical view of the association between information and communication technology and the widening of the income gap.Design/methodology/approachThe study used panel data from 2005 to 2019. To detect unit root issues, Levin and Lin (LL) and Im, Pesaran and Shin (IPS) tests were first employed. The pooled mean group and mean group estimators were employed to investigate the short and long -term impact of information and communication technology and other control factors on reducing the gap between rich and poor in South Asia.FindingsThe results showed that the Pooled mean group's findings are more efficient and consistent as compared to mean group estimators. The results of the paper showed that the greater penetration of information and communication technologies in the economy negatively and significantly affects income inequality. Moreover, the information and communication technology, foreign remittances and foreign direct investment (FDI) significantly reduce the gap between rich and poor in the long run.Practical implicationsAt last, the findings of the study serve as an excellent roadmap for policymakers seeking to address the issue of growing income inequality in the South Asian regions and worldwide.Originality/valueBased on the findings of this study, South Asia can reduce the gap between rich and poor by investing more in the information and communication technology sector.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2021-0638

Human has aptitude to understand the knowledge from different life circumstances, experiences for acquire from these experiences and use itself for the erudition of Common Sense acquaintance for making the imperative conclusions in life. That is principal alteration between Out-dated Artificial Intelligence (AI), Expert Systems (ES) and Humans. Due to this capability, human could directly handle conclusion circumstances but in systems they have deficiency of generality, rules state of mind and Sentiments skills. Human circumstantial experiences communicate about how to live in social cultures where the common-sense knowledge is very vigorous. Subsequently Opinion Mining become very substantial method in now days. Two core categories for the system how to grow Sentimental Knowledge Acquisitions with the help of these two. Analyses around diverse methods used for Opinion Mining and forthcoming work might be ensue in approaching years for Sentimental Knowledge Acquisition.

This study presents a novel numerical method to solve PDEs with the fractional Caputo operator. In this method, we apply the Newton interpolation numerical scheme in Laplace space, and then, the solution is returned to real space through the inverse Laplace transform. The Newton polynomial provides good results as compared to the Lagrangian polynomial, which is used to construct the Adams–Bashforth method. This procedure is used to solve fractional Buckmaster and diffusion equations. Finally, a few numerical simulations are presented, ensuring that this strategy is highly stable and quickly converges to an exact solution.

This time series study is carried out to determine effect of sources of electricity production on environmental degradation in Pakistan in context of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Moreover, this study also examines effect of rural and urban population on environmental degradation. This study considers carbon emissions from electricity and heat as a proxy for environmental degradation. Unit root tests are applied to determine level of integration of time series variables. Bounds test is applied to examine long run relationship among variables. This study finds that hydro, natural gas and nuclear sources of electricity production have negative significant effect on environmental degradation whereas electricity production from oil sources has positive and significant effect on environmental degradation. Electricity from coal has positive effect on environmental degradation but its effect is not significant. Results of the study confirms EKC hypothesis in Pakistan. Besides, results indicate that rural population and urban population is negatively and positively associated with environmental degradation respectively. This study suggests that energy policy has to be design in such manner that on one hand, it tackles energy crisis, on other hand, it leads to sustainable development in Pakistan.

The environmental degradation has become one of the most debatable issues in 21st century. The current study explores the impact of agricultural exports and financial openness on ecological footprints in Pakistan. For this purpose, the study utilizes time series data. Unit root tests are applied to check the data for unit root problem and autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) model is employed for cointegration analysis. The results of the study show that agriculture exports are responsible for lessening ecological footprints in long run as well as in short run thus; increase in agricultural exports will restrain environmental degradation in Pakistan. The results also revealed that financial openness increases ecological footprints henceforth, environmental degradation in Pakistan. Moreover, trade openness, economic growth and energy consumption are also significant factors of ecological footprints. Keywords: Agricultural exports, financial openness, ecological footprints, Pakistan.JEL Classifications: C22, E01, F18, Q57DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11744

Tax and social expenditure policies have a crucial role in income distribution. This study explores the potential role of taxation and social expenditure policies in income redistribution in South Asia. For this purpose, empirical analysis is conducted by Fixed Effect (FE) and Instrumental Variable (IV) FE models. The analysis suggests that both taxation and social expenditures policies effectively reduce income inequality in South Asia. These findings indicate that social spending and taxation can be used as a policy tool to redistribute income in developing countries. The results also indicate that higher social spending, increased direct taxes, and more reliance on foreign debts can ameliorate the income distribution. Based on the results, it can be suggested that for this region, with the low level of taxes, direct taxes, a large informal economy, and other weak features of tax administration, more reliance on direct taxes and social expenditure policies should be the primary tool for income redistribution.JEL Classification: H2, H5, I3How to Cite:Khan, S., & Padda, I. U. H. (2021). The Impact of Tax and Social Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from South Asia. Etikonomi, 20(2), xx – xx. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v20i2.18121.

The nexus between money and output is regaining attention from researchers after recent global financial crisis. Likewise, globalization-output nexus also grabs the attention of researchers. Henceforth, the study is design to analyze the effect of real money balances and globalization on output by incorporating real money balances and globalization in Cobb-Douglas production function. Time series data has been analyzed and all variables of the study are tested for order of integration through unit root test. So, it is found that that all variables are integrated of first order so one cannot apply ordinary least squares. This is the reason that Johansen cointegration technique and the cointegration regression, fully modified least squares, are applied for long run relationship and long run estimates respectively. The cointegration technique confirmed long run relationship among variables thus; it is concluded that real money balances and globalization are important determinants of output in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Furthermore, results of the study show that real money balances and globalization are found to have positive and significant effect on output along with labor and capital. Thus, this study concludes that real money balances and globalization are important factors of output in the Kingdom of Bahrain and monetary authorities should consider real money balances and globalization in policy making for sustainable economic growth.

Background: Facial Nerve is in close proximity with parotid gland and encountered during parotid surgery. Facial nerve paralysis has 15 to 66% occurrence rate after parotidectomies. The objective of this study was to find out the frequency of facial paralysis resulting from superficial or total parotidectomies done for various parotid tumors. Material and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Department of ENT, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar from January 2018 to May 2020. A total of 203 patients were reviewed for data on demographics, parotidectomies, histopathology and facial paralysis. The information on facial paralysis was compared against various parameters. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.12 ± 11.11 years. The most common parotid tumor was pleomorphic adenoma (68.9%) followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma. 57 (28.07%) patients showed facial paralysis with a higher rate of occurrence in total parotidectomy (40.90%). Among 57 patients with facial paralysis, 6 (10.53%) showed permanent facial paralysis. Conclusion: Tendency of permanent facial paralysis is high with total parotidectomies. Female population and elderly have a slightly higher rate of facial paralysis. The duration of procedure has no effect on the occurrence of facial paralysis.

Sustainable development is the ultimate objective of the nations around the world, and the adoption of development strategies is the driving force for obtaining long-run economic growth, environmental protection and social inclusion. On other hand, globalization integrates the countries around the globe economically, politically and socially. Thus, it is vital to conduct a study on the impact of globalization on sustainable development in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, as most of the countries are in a transition state from socialism to capitalism and are opening their doors to the world. Globalization comprises three main components, which are economic, political and social. Henceforth, this study investigates the effect of economic globalization, political globalization and social globalization on sustainable development. Energy has been highlighted in the literature and received attention from researchers as a factor of income and environmental quality; thus, it is added as a control variable in this study. The long-run relationships among variables are established through panel cointegration once the order of integration is determined. This study finds a positive and significant effect of economic globalization and political globalization on sustainable development, whereas energy consumption is deteriorating in CIS countries. Policy implications are recommended.

This study using a qualitative paradigm, investigates certain lexical items of the Holy Quran, employing Newmark's model of Componential Analysis. No two translations of the selected lexical items are the same in the 62 English-translated versions. The Holy Quran, being the language of ALLAH Almighty,has a special semantically loaded vocabulary which is hard for other languages to be completely encompassed, transferred or transmitted. Generally, the Target Language (English) tends to miss the semantic core or only marginally related to these items in a narrow sense, which results in a translation.It is worth noting that the gap between the semantic content of the Source and the Target codes is not due to extra-linguistic factors (e.g., cultural, religious, political); rather, it is due largely to the vast expanse of semantic components encompassed by these items as used in the Holy Quran.

In this article, a mathematical model of the COVID-19 pandemic with control parameters is introduced. The main objective of this study is to determine the most effective model for predicting the transmission dynamic of COVID-19 using a deterministic model with control variables. For this purpose, we introduce three control variables to reduce the number of infected and asymptomatic or undiagnosed populations in the considered model. Existence and necessary optimal conditions are also established. The Grünwald-Letnikov non-standard weighted average finite difference method (GL-NWAFDM) is developed for solving the proposed optimal control system. Further, we prove the stability of the considered numerical method. Graphical representations and analysis are presented to verify the theoretical results.

Handwritten text recognition is considered as the most challenging task for the research community due to slight change in different characters’ shape in handwritten documents. The unavailability of a standard dataset makes it vaguer in nature for the researchers to work on. To address these problems, this paper presents an optical character recognition system for the recognition of offline Pashto characters. The problem of the unavailability of a standard handwritten Pashto characters database is addressed by developing a medium-sized database of offline Pashto characters. This database consists of 11352 character images (258 samples for each 44 characters in a Pashto script). Enriched feature extraction techniques of histogram of oriented gradients and zoning-based density features are used for feature extraction of carved Pashto characters. K-nearest neighbors is considered as a classification tool for the proposed algorithm based on the proposed feature sets. A resultant accuracy of 80.34% is calculated for the histogram of oriented gradients, while for zoning-based density features, 76.42% is achieved using 10-fold cross validation.

Cancer is the primary cause of death in economically developed countries and the second leading cause in developing countries. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Risk factors for CRC include obesity, a diet low in fruits and vegetables, physical inactivity, and smoking. CRC has a poor prognosis, and there is a critical need for new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to reduce related deaths. Recently, studies have focused more on molecular testing to guide targeted treatments for CRC patients. The most crucial feature of activated immune cells is the production and release of growth factors and cytokines that modulate the inflammatory conditions in tumor tissues. The cytokine network is valuable for the prognosis and pathogenesis of colorectal cancer as they can aid in the cost-effective and non-invasive detection of cancer. A large number of interleukins (IL) released by the immune system at various stages of CRC can act as “biomarkers”. They play diverse functions in colorectal cancer, and include IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-11, IL-17A, IL-22, IL-23, IL-33, TNF, TGF-β, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which are pro-tumorigenic genes. However, there are an inadequate number of studies in this area considering its correlation with cytokine profiles that are clinically useful in diagnosing cancer. A better understanding of cytokine levels to establish diagnostic pathways entails an understanding of cytokine interactions and the regulation of their various biochemical signaling pathways in healthy individuals. This review provides a comprehensive summary of some interleukins as immunological biomarkers of CRC.

The genetic variants of HLAs (human leukocyte antigens) play a crucial role in the virus–host interaction and pathology of COVID-19. The genetic variants of HLAs not only influence T cell immune responses but also B cell immune responses by presenting a variety of peptide fragments of invading pathogens. Peptide cocktail vaccines produced by using various conserved HLA-A2 epitopes provoke substantial specific CD8+ T cell responses in experimental animals. The HLA profiles vary among individuals and trigger different T cell-mediated immune responses in COVID-19 infections. Those with HLA-C*01 and HLA-B*44 are highly susceptible to the disease. However, HLA-A*02:01, HLA-DR*03:01, and HLA-Cw*15:02 alleles show resistance to SARS infection. Understanding the genetic association of HLA with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity is important because it can help in studying the transmission of COVID-19 and its physiopathogenesis. The HLA-C*01 and B*44 allele pathways can be studied to gain insight into disease transmission and physiopathogenesis. Therefore, integrating HLA testing is suggested in the ongoing pandemic, which will help in the rapid identification of highly susceptible populations worldwide and possibly acclimate vaccine development. Therefore, understanding the correlation between HLA and SARS-CoV-2 is critical in opening new insights into COVID-19 therapeutics, based on previous studies conducted.

In the niche area of energetic materials, a balance between energy and safety is extremely important. To address this “energy–safety contradiction”, energetic cocrystals have been introduced. The investigation of the synthesis methods, characteristics, and efficacy of energetic cocrystals is of the utmost importance for optimizing their design and development. This review covers (i) various synthesis methods for energetic cocrystals; (ii) discusses their characteristics such as structural properties, detonation performance, sensitivity analysis, thermal properties, and morphology mapping, along with other properties such as oxygen balance, solubility, and fluorescence; and (iii) performance with respect to energy contents (detonation velocity and pressure) and sensitivity. This is followed by concluding remarks together with future perspectives.

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes due to urban growth on the regional scale affect land surface temperature (LST). The present study aims to assess the LULC changes and their impact on LST over Mardan and Charsadda districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, in the period from 1990 to 2019. Landsat satellite (TMETM +) datasets in the period from 1990 to 2010 and Sentinel-2 images from 2016 to 2019 were used in this study. All the datasets were pre-processed and the LULC types were classified by maximum likelihood classification algorithm. The vegetation degradation was computed from normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the LST was derived based on the LULC changes. The results showed that the overall accuracy of LULC classification was 87.84%. Dramatic LULC changes were observed during the last three decades, where the vegetation degradation area was decreased from 1307.8 (59.27%) to 1147.6 km

This paper focuses on the economies of Pakistan and India to figure out the potential influence of globalization on ecological footprints (EF) which is rarely researched. Time series data both for Pakistan and India is sources for the period 1991 to 2018 from internationally reliable sources. The latest cointegration approach of NARDL is utilized for the estimation of models. The results indicated that globalization has a greater impact on India as compared to Pakistan regarding environmental degradation. Social globalization reacts asymmetrically to EF in case of Pakistan. In both economies, negative shocks are dominant as compared to positive shocks. To avoid the drastic impacts of economic globalization on environmental degradation, it is necessary that production techniques should be based on modern technologies. Furthermore, long term economic policies related to globalization should be made by governments of both economies to protect their environment from further degradation.

The purpose of this study was to measure and assess comparative study of technical and environmental efficiency of agriculture sector in South Asia using balanced panel data for the period 2002–2016. The translog stochastic frontier analysis approach was applied to estimate output-oriented technical efficiency and input-oriented environmental efficiency. Results of translog production model give that output elasticity w.r.t. land, labor, capital and fertilizer is 2.13, 1.26, 0.01 and 0.17, respectively. Log likelihood test shows that there is technical inefficiency in the agriculture sector of South Asian countries. The average value of output-oriented technical efficiency for South Asian countries was 0.92 ranging from 0.82 to 0.97. This suggests that agricultural production of South Asian region could be increased up to 8 percent by eliminating the effects of technical inefficiency. Moreover, the findings show that Sri Lanka is the most technically efficient country having efficiency 0.99 followed by India (0.98), Bhutan (0.93), Bangladesh (0.89), Nepal (0.88) and Pakistan (0.85). The results of input-oriented environmental efficiency score of South Asia were 0.77 ranging from 0.57 to 0.97. This shows that there is opportunity to enhance environmental efficiency of South Asian countries by 23%. Sri Lanka achieved the highest environmental efficiency (0.97) followed by India (0.96), Bhutan (0.72), Bangladesh (0.71), Pakistan (0.67) and Nepal (0.57). It is recommended that there must be collaboration among the South Asian countries in research and development especially in agriculture sector on priority bases.

Objective: To emphasize on the early wound complications of the above-mentioned procedure. Study Design: Retrospective observational study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at department of Surgical Oncology, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center, from Jan 2014 to Dec 2019. Methodology: A total of 84 patients were included in the study who underwent extra levator abdominoperineal excision. It was a retrospective study with convenient sampling. The data was retrieved from Hospital information system (HIS) that is a fully electrotonic system and is prospectively maintained. Variables were expressed as median and IQR was calculated. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed. The p-value of ≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Wound infection was observed in 32 (38.09%) of the patients. Wound dehiscence was seen is 5 (5.95%) of the patients. Median day of detection of infection was day 10 (5-22). Median hospital stay was 7 (4-22) days. On multivariate analysis the correlation of Body mass index with perineal wound infection was statistically significant with p-value of 0.045. Conclusion: Extra levator abdominoperineal excision is a procedure with significant perineal wound complication rate. The occurrence of perineal wound complications is multifactorial. Judicial use of the procedure is warranted.

Introduction: Insulinoma of pancreas is a rare neuroendocrine tumor (NET). Mostly insulinomas are benign and solitary. They can have association with multiple endocrine neoplasia 1 (MEN -1). Insulinomas presents with symptoms of hypoglycemia. Most of the times the symptoms are vague and result in delay in the diagnosis and hence management. After appropriate diagnostic and localization investigations along with metastatic workup, surgery is the treatment of choice. Surgery can offer cure. Minimally invasive surgery can offer potential benefits of minimal morbidity and at least equal oncological outcomes. Study Design: Case series. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgical Oncology, Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center (SKMCH&RC), from January 2011 to March 2020. Methodology: We studied a total of five patients that presented to SKMCH&RC in the above-mentioned period. Detailed clinical information of these five patients, including sociodemographic variables, symptomatology, diagnostic and localization investigations, clinical and pathological staging, comprehensive details of surgery, postoperative course, oncological outcomes, postoperative resolution of symptoms, postoperative diabetes, prognosis and follow up duration were analysed. The record was being retrospectively retrieved from Hospital Information System (HIS) that is prospectively maintained. We are a paperless hospital and all data and record of the patient is maintained through HIS. Results: A total of five patients presented to SKMCH&RC with a mean age of 41 (18 -80) years. The median duration of symptoms was 24 (6-60) months. Symptomatic hypoglycemia was present in all 5 (100%) of the patients. Tumor distribution in the pancreas was as follows; uncinate 1 (20%), body 1 (20%) and tail 3 (60%). All five patients (100%) were treated by surgery. Resolution of symptoms occurred in all five (100%) of the patients. Conclusion: Insulinoma of pancreas is a rare disease with varied symptomatology, physicians shall have an index of suspicion for this disorder to aid early diagnosis that is pivotal for the management and prevention of possible fatal complications of hypoglycemia. Appropriate diagnostic and localizing investigations are required. Adequate surgery can offer cure. Minimally invasive surgery can be safely offered with equal oncological outcomes.

Anionic covalent organic framework is an emerging class of functional materials in which included ionic species of the opposite charges play an important role in the ion conduction and selective gas adsorption. Herein, we reported a facile method to construct a series of germanate-based anionic COFs (Ge-COFs) by reticulating dianionic hexa-coordinated GeO6 nodes with anthracene building blocks adopting a hcb topology in an extended 2D framework. A systematic change of pore properties in Ge-COFs was observed through the incorporation of three different alkali metal cations: Li+, Na+, and K+. The intrinsically negatively charged backbone provides a host matrix with a homogeneous distribution of counter cations and poses variable and exciting features for gas adsorption and ionic conduction. Among the series, K+-based Ge-COF-K with a surface area of 1252 m2/g and pore volume of 0.84 cm3/g shows a maximum CO2 uptake of 126 cm3/g (247.4 mg/g) at 273 K and 1 bar, an IAST selectivity of 140 over N2. Ge-COF-K also exhibits a high SO2 kinetic breakthrough capacity of 154 mg/g at low ppm of SO2 concentration under ambient conditions among recently reported porous materials. Moreover, reasonably high lithium, sodium, and potassium ionic conductivities were observed with the values of 1.2 × 10-4, 3.4 × 10-5, and 2.2 × 10-5 S/cm for propylene carbonate infiltrated Ge-COF-Li, Ge-COF-Na, and Ge-COF-K at 100 °C, respectively.

This study reports the photocatalytic oxidative degradation of hydrocarbon pollutants present in refinery wastewater under UV light using Fe2 O3 , MnO2 , TiO2 , and ZnO as catalysts. Among the catalysts, TiO2 exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation activity, that is, 92, 98.8, 91.5, and 93% conversion for benzene, toluene, phenol, and naphthalene, respectively, in the model refinery wastewater under the optimum reaction conditions of pH 3, 30°C, 90-min reaction time, and 100 mg/L catalyst dose. The photocatalytic degradation of a real refinery wastewater sample containing 69.23% aliphatics, 25.36% aromatics, 3.2% oxygenates, and 2.21% naphthenic hydrocarbons under the optimum conditions revealed a net decrease in chemical oxygen demand (93.2%), that is, from 970 mg/L to 65 mg/L. GC-MS analysis of the reaction products confirmed that using UV/TiO2 system, complete photodegradation of the parent hydrocarbons occurred, but some oxygenated byproducts were also observed. This study provides useful reference information for the treatment of wastewater from oil refineries to cope with the increasing environmental issues. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Benzene, toluene, phenol and naphthalene were successfully degraded by UV/TiO2 system, under 30°C, 1 hr, pH 3 and 100 mg catalyst. Photocatalytic oxidation of Refinery wastewater (Attock Oil refinery, Pakistan), UV/ TiO2 system resulted in 93.92% COD removal. GC-MS analysis shows complete removal of parent hydrocarbons from refinery wastewater, leaving only traces of oxygenated hydrocarbons as oxidation byproducts.