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In this paper we test two recently developed liquidity measures the Return-to-Turnover (hereafter RtoTR) proposed by Florackis et al. (2011) and Return-to-Volume (hereafter RtoV) recommended by Amihud, 2002 , for 386 companies listed on the Pakistani Stock Exchange (PSX). Our data is obtained from January 2005 to December 2019. We firstly show the Amihud, 2002 ratio has limited ability to distinguish illiquidity from size effects in asset pricing. Second, the Florackis et al. (2011) measure has distinct features to overcome the limitations of the Amihud, 2002 ratio in the PSX. Our results show that the Capital Asset Pricing Model cannot completely account for the significant RtoV premium. However, this weak evidence for the existence of this premium disappears when Fama–French or Carhart alphas are considered as measures of risk-adjusted performance. This suggests that the RtoTR price impact ratio is more effective in the PSX compared to the RtoV ratio. Our findings suggest that both trading frequency and trading cost are significant factors in examining the returns. The RtoV ratio has a negative correlation with the market capitalization, which suggests that small stocks are inherently illiquid.

Despite the well-documented mixed results of hedging on firm value, empirical evidence of why hedging reduces firm value is rare. Theory suggests that hedging can increase firm value by reducing bankruptcy cost and volatility, although it can also decrease firm value through a manager’s utility maximization. This study explores the reduction of market dependence and the over-investment hypothesis that results in decreasing firm value. By studying UK domiciled oil and gas companies, we found that capital expenditure accompanied by hedging reduces firm value, although capital expenditure itself increases firm value. This effect is pronounced when capital expenditure is made by firms with foreign operations, suggesting that hedging reduces the effect of the market’s monitoring role and, therefore, capital expenditure with hedging tends to be perceived as over-investment. This paper is one of the first studies that empirically examine the reduction of market dependence and over-investment through hedging.

Nanotechnology is starting the characterization, fabrication, and possible applications of numerous materials at the Nano-scale. Over the last few eras, nanomaterials provide a platform for researchers from diverse arenas due to the high surface-to-volume ratio and other novels, and new significant belongings. Zinc oxide nanoparticles are receiving diverse biomedical applications because of their distinctive antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, antifungal, antileishmanial, anti-larvicidal, wound healing, anticholinergic, and anti-diabetic properties. Different physical and chemical approaches have been used to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles, but these methods cause ecotoxicity and are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, there is a need for more eco-friendly, cost-effective, and safe methods. Such biogenic Zinc oxide nanoparticles offer more advantages over other physiochemically synthesized methods. In this review, we have summarized the recent literature for the understanding of the green synthesis of Zinc oxide nanoparticles, their characterization, and their various biomedical applications.

Influenza virus is a major cause of seasonal epidemics and intermittent pandemics. Despite the current molecular biology and vaccine development, influenza virus infection is a significant burden. Vaccines are considered an essential countermeasure for effective control and prevention of influenza virus infection. Even though current influenza virus vaccines provide efficient protection against seasonal influenza outbreaks, the efficacy of these vaccines is not suitable due to antigenic changes of the viruses.This review focuses on different live-attenuated platforms for influenza virus vaccine development and proposes essential considerations for a rational universal influenza virus vaccine design.Despite the recent efforts for universal influenza virus vaccines, there is a lack of broadly reactive antibodies' induction that can confer broad and long-lasting protection. Various strategies using live-attenuated influenza virus vaccines (LAIVs) are investigated to induce broadly reactive, durable, and cross-protective immune responses. LAIVs based on NS segment truncation prevent influenza virus infection and have shown to be effective vaccine candidates among other vaccine platforms. Although many approaches have been used for LAIVs generation, there is still a need to focus on the LAIVs development platforms to generate a universal influenza virus vaccine candidate.

Background and Aim: Dementia psychological and behavioral symptoms are significantly associated to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Clinical profile and characterization of Alzheimer’s disease patients might assist in evolution, diagnosis, and better treatment of the disease. The present study aimed to evaluate the behavioral manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Methodology: This multi-centered cross-sectional study was carried out on 96 Alzheimer’s disease patients in the department of Psychiatry Lahore General Hospital and Psychiatry unit, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, Pakistan for duration of six months from 1st July 2021 to 30th December 2021. Alzheimer’s disease patients with lower and higher Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) scores (≤25 and 26-50 respectively) were enrolled. The patient’s demographic details and clinical information were gathered. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for the evaluation of dementia severity whereas severity varies from mild 27-21 to severe ≤10. Demographic details, AD pharmacological treatments, psychotic breaks presence, AD diagnosis, treatment of concomitant diseases, and extrapyramidal symptoms such as hypokinesia, fluctuating cognition, tremors, etc. were secondary outcomes. Results: Of the total 96 AD patients, 44 (45.8%) had higher and 52 (54.2%) had lower BPSD scores. About 62 (64.6%) were women and 34 (35.4%) were male patients. The overall mean age was 79.6±8.4 years. The majority of the patients had a BPSD score at inclusion and the incidence of psychotic out breaks was reported in 19 (19.8%) patients. The prevalence of symptoms such as depression, delusions, lack of concentration, lack of cooperation, and tremors was 41 (42.5%), 33 (34%), 52 (54.6%), 34 (35.9%), and 52 (54.6%) respectively. Psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and delirium were significantly prevalent in patients with high BPSD scores whereas Apathy and tearfulness-like emotional symptoms were predominated in lower BPSD patients. ADAS-non cognitive score and MMSE were adversely related (p=0.0314), signifying BPSD and cognitive impairment correlation. Appetite changes and lack of concentration were prominently associated with MMSE (p=0.035 and 0.052). Conclusion: Our study found a higher prevalence of non-cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Also, BPSD and cognitive impairment are significantly associated with AD. ADAS-non cognitive is a useful assessment tool. Keywords: Behavioral Manifestation, Alzheimer’s disease, Cognitive Impairment

Background and Aim: Parkinson’s disease's common symptoms are anxiety and depression and play a determinant role in the quality of a patient’s life. Numerous studies identified several risk factors but very few investigated the specific risk factors associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). The objective of the present study was to assess the depression and anxiety among Parkinson’s disease patients, prevalence, risk factors, and impact on life’s quality. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 78 Parkinson’s disease patients at the department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences LGH Lahore, Pakistan and Div HQ hospital, Mirpur AJK in collaboration with Neurology department for the duration from 15 May 2021 to 15 November 2021. All the patients were assessed for anxiety and depression. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Holmes and Rahe scale were used for the evaluation of staging and severity among Parkinson’s disease patients. Clinically diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients aged between 25 and 85 years and stages 1 to 4 on the H-Y scale were enrolled. Patients with movement disorders other than PD, atypical Parkinson's, deep brain stimulation (DBS), visual loss, and secondary Parkinsonism were excluded. Ethical approval was taken from the institutional ethical committee. Depression and anxiety impact on life quality were assessed using World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF. Results: Of the total 78 Parkinson’s disease patients, the prevalence of depression and anxiety was 26 (33.3%) and 32 (41.03%) respectively. About 40 were male and 38 were female patients. The overall mean age was 67±5.9 years. The young population was more susceptible to anxiety and depression was significantly higher in females. The depression and anxiety overlap were in 19 (24.4%) patients. The UPDRS and H-Y scale variance accounted for depression 34.5% and anxiety 38.9%. The severity and advanced disease stage were depression independent predictors whereas younger age and severity were anxiety main predictors. Overall, anxiety and depression had adverse impacts on life quality of Parkinson’s disease patients. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety were found in 33.3% and 41.03% of current Parkinson's disease patients, respectively. Depression and anxiety are relatively common in Parkinson's disease. The main risk factors for developing depression were female gender, low socioeconomic status, and a history of depression. Anxiety was associated with a young age and a history of anxiety. Both had a negative effect on one's quality of life. Keywords: Depression, Anxiety, Risk factors, Prevalence

Background and Aim: The acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPDs) as an independent diagnostic entity have become a subject of nosological debate. Numerous studies considered these psychosis as schizophrenia variants or mood disorders leading to diagnostic instability. The present study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and diagnostic stability in acute and transient psychotic disorders. Methodology: A total of 45 acute and transient psychotic disorders diagnosed patients were investigated at Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences LGH Lahore and Psychiatry unit, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar Pakistan for six months duration from 1st June 2021 to 30th November 2021. All the patients with ages ranging from 17 to 65 years fulfilling ATPDs criteria as per ICD-10 were enrolled. The written informed consent form was taken from the patients’ relatives. Patients with drug intoxication, psychotic illness history, brain disorders, mental retardation, and those taking regular antipsychotic treatment were excluded. Patients were followed up for one month and three months and diagnosis was reevaluated after each follow-up. During the follow-up period, global functioning, clinical manifestations, and quality of life were all evaluated on a regular basis. Results: Of the total 45 ATPD diagnosed patients, male and female patients were 18 (40%) and 27 (60%) respectively. Overall mean age was 29.7±7.9 years. After one month follow-up, the prevalence of ATPD, mood disorder, and schizophrenia was 39 (86.7%), 4 (8.9%), and 2 (4.4%) respectively. After 3 months follow-up, the incidence of diagnosed ATPDs, schizophrenia, and mood disorder were 36 (80%), 5 (11.1%), and 4 (8.9%) respectively. About 36 (80%) patients retained ATPDs whereas diagnosis of psychotic disorders changed in 9 (20%) patients. Conclusion: The acute and transient psychotic disorder was diagnostically stable entity. Patient’s sizable proportion of ATPDs initial diagnosis changed to Schizophrenia-related disorders representing early manifestations. Keywords: Acute and Transient Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia, Diagnostic Stability

Purpose Despite the importance and prevalence of corporate political activities in modern organizations, there remains limited insight on the potential relationship between political contributions and companies’ risk-taking activities. This study aims to examine the relationship between monetary political contributions of firms and corporate risk-taking activities in the context of unstable political and economic environments. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a two-step system GMM estimation to investigate the subject using a cross-country sample of 307 firms from 22 countries covered over 2002–2017. In line with previous studies, the authors control for various corporate governance mechanisms, firm-level factors and country-level characteristics. Findings The findings demonstrate that firms that make monetary political contributions exhibit lower levels of risk as measured by different proxies for risks, namely, systematic, idiosyncratic and total risk. Practical implications The results suggest that political contributions can be a useful mechanism to mitigate risk exposure. Also, the use of different risk measures and other factors for robustness fosters a better understanding of political connectedness in a more contextualized and dynamic manner. Originality/value This study seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding corporate strategy, political connectedness and corporate risk-taking by using actual monetary political contributions as an explicit measure of political connection. This study furthers scholarly understanding on the dynamics of corporate political activities using political contributions in monetary terms as a measure of political connectedness and its impact on risk-taking. Furthermore, the authors explore this topic using insights from nonmarket strategy literature and studies on political contributions.

The event study methodology, which is gaining recognition in the business and marketing disciplines, is a technique used to capture the impact of significant events and announcements at the firm level and country level. Originating from the finance and economics disciplines, and being widely used in the finance literature, the method has recently attracted the attention of business and marketing researchers, particularly in the aftermath of Covid-19, which has adversely affected all kinds of businesses across the world. The event study methodology can be implemented to measure the impact of a major corporate announcement (e.g. new product development) or a significant event on corporate financial performance, profitability, and market valuation over a specific event window, such as a few days (a short window) or a few years (a long window). In this article, we provide a detailed explanation of the step-by-step procedure for implementing the event study methodology in STATA, using Covid-19-related death announcements from the United States, France, Spain, Italy, China, and the United Kingdom. We also provide STATA commands that can be used by researchers when implementing the event study methodology.

In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations, the functionality of financial development is undeniable in the wider economy toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using novel panel data of 36 countries over the last decades, the study sheds light on the bi-directional nexus between financial development and green growth where human capital and education expenditure present their central roles in sustainable development. The study provides critical findings to the existing literature on climate change, environment, and sustainability. Following the empirical findings, we provide important insights to regulators, policy makers, and organizations in investigating the substantial contributions of financial development including financial markets and financial institutions where their accessibility, depth, and efficiency need a thorough consideration toward SDGs and mitigating climate change impacts worldwide. Apart from using the multidimensional proxies, the empirical findings are validated by a set of econometric approaches.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the use of the WhatsApp instant messaging as a source of learning for postgraduate students enrolled in Master of Health Profession Education. Study Design: Mixed Method Study. Setting: University of Lahore. Period: January 2017 to January 2018. Material & Methods: Eighteen students filled the questionnaire after giving informed consent. This was followed by eight individual interviews of students consenting for interview. Results: The findings of the research suggest that the use of WhatsApp instant messaging may assist students in learning as it fosters a social constructivist environment. This environment supported students in reinforcing various concepts by enhancing interaction within the groups, among teachers as well as assimilation of the content material shared. Conclusion: WhatsApp is perceived to be an acceptable supplementary application for educational purposes, if used appropriately.

More than 2000 different cryptocurrencies are currently available in business and FinTech applications. Cryptocurrency is a digital payment system that does not rely on banks to verify their financial transactions and can enable anyone anywhere to send and receive their payments. Crypto mining attracts investors to mine and gets some coins as a reward for using the cryptocurrency. However, hackers can exploit the computing power without the explicit authorization of a user by launching a cryptojacking attack and then using it to mine cryptocurrency. The detection and protection of cryptojacking attacks are essential, and thus, miners are continuously working to find innovative ways to overcome this issue. This chapter provides an overview of the cryptojacking landscape. It offers recommendations to guide researchers and practitioners to overcome the identified challenges faced while realizing a mitigation strategy to combat cryptojacking malware attacks.

Background and Aim: Burn injuries patients generally suffer from various psychological and mental disorders especially in lower socio-economic groups. It can adversely affect their wellbeing and health. Proper consultation and clinical diagnosis need to be carried out on burns injuries patients from the early critical phase to rehabilitation phase recovery. The current study's aim was to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in burn patients in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 82 attempted burn suicides, adult patients in Khattak Medical Center Peshawar, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar and Divisional Headquarter hospital, Mirpur AJK for duration of six months from June 2020 to December 2020. All the patients admitted with suicides burns were of either gender and had ages above 15 years. The convenience technique was used for sampling. The patients’ demographic details such as psychiatric illness, self-immolation act motivation, burn injury depth, burn total body surface area, inhalation injury, hospitalization duration, and mortality was recorded on pre-designed proforma. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age of all 82 patients was 28.9±5.2 with an age range of 14 to 55 years. Of the total, 66 (80.5%) were female while 16 (19.5%) were male. In this study, the most frequent suicidal attempt was made by the marital conflicted patients 50 (61%) followed by love affair failure 8 (9.7%). An overall mean of 53.6±19.6 was observed for total body surface area affected with a range of 15-100%. The hospital duration mean was 8.2±5.9 with a range of 1-38 days. Young, married, and rural area illiterate housewives were the most common self-inflicted/suicide burn injuries. The prime cause of such injuries was getting married. The mortality rate was found at 82.3%. Conclusion: Our study concluded that patient’s well-being and mental health could be severely affected by burn injuries. Prevalent depression was noted among severe burn injuries patients. Depression related to deformity could be prevented with early grafting, wound management, proper splinting, coping ability, intense physiotherapy, and long-term rehabilitation. Keywords: Burn; Depressed mood, Psychiatric morbidity, Posttraumatic stress disorder

Our study explores the relationship between tourism and globalization (both overall, and in terms of three sub‐indices, namely economic, social, and political globalization) in the United States (US) using monthly data from January 1995 to December 2017. We employ the quantile‐on‐quantile (QQ) regression technique for our analysis. The sample period of the present study allows the separate examination of the relationship between globalization and tourism both before the global financial crisis (1995–2007) and after (2008–2017). The findings suggest that in the US during the precrisis era, all the globalization indices and tourism are positively bidirectionally related. During the postcrisis period, all globalization indices positively affect tourism, but tourism has a negative effect on economic and political globalization. The theoretical and policy implications of the empirical findings are discussed.

This article analyses factors influencing the choice of performance measure in CEO equity-based compensation, for a sample of 3,400 plans from 400 UK firms between 2007 and 2015. We examine the effect of the volatility of earnings per share (EPS) and of total shareholder returns (TSR) on the choice of performance measures, taking into account four categories of measure: EPS alone, TSR alone, EPS and TSR jointly, or neither EPS nor TSR. This allows us to utilize a comprehensive cross-section of plans. The results are robust to controlling for plan types, the use of different compensation consultants, industry and time-specific effects. We find that “EPS and TSR jointly” is the most common category of performance measure employed by firms. Our empirical results show that firms with higher EPS volatility and lower TSR volatility are more likely to choose TSR as a performance measure and that firms with higher EPS volatility are less likely to choose EPS alone; we argue that these results are consistent with optimal contracting theory. Second, we conduct a novel, detailed description of the performance measures, comparator groups, plan choices, threshold targets and vesting levels at minimum and maximum thresholds, used in CEO compensation contracts. We further argue that commonalities across firms in the elements of target-setting are evidence of institutional isomorphism.

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine whether the work locus of control is a moderator of the relationship between counterproductive behavior at work and work stressors. Methods: To investigate this relationship, 346 full-time working adults employed at Nishter hospital Multan and Allied hospital Faisalabad were surveyed during the period from January 2019 to January 2020via three checklist questionnaires. Using hierarchical regression analysis, both main and moderator effect were tested in order to determine whether work locus of control influence employee’s tendencies engage in counterproductive behavior in response to work stressors. Results: Shows that the work locus of control interacts significantly with work stressors in predicting counterproductive behavior at work, suggesting that the work locus of control is an important variable to consider when studying productive behavior at work. The implications of these findings and ideas for future research are discussed. Conclusion: CWB has a detrimental effect on organizations and individuals related with the organization; therefore, organizations should be attentive of the probable influences influencing employee participation in CWB. Keywords: Counterproductive behavior at work, Deviations in the workplace, Location of control in the workplace, Stress at work, Personality

This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility, corporate innovation, and corporate performance in developing countries. Firm level governance and corporate social responsibility data for 150 companies from 12 developing countries were collected from Datastream and Bloomberg for 2014–2019. The results show that in the context of developing countries there is no significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate innovation. Our findings raise concerns about the level of R&D investments and commitment to corporate social responsibilities in developing economies.

Applying recently developed Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) spillover index, this paper investigates the oil–stocks returns and volatility connectedness with weekly data between January 14, 2000 and March 31, 2017. For the purpose of robustness, we have both used WTI and Brent oil prices. Sensitivity of overall spilover index is also examined using different lag‐structures and different forecast horizons. The empirical results are qualitatively similar either when WTI or Brent oil prices are used to examine the spillover amongst series under consideration. Specifically, the spillover index value for WTI and Brent, respectively, is 71.60 and 72.32%. We show that total spillover connectedness, as measured by a rolling‐window approach, has dynamic and volatile characteristics in returns and volatility series across major markets. Last but not least, we find from the net spillover analysis that NYK, SPTSX, IBOV, MICEX, SENSEX, Shanghai, TOP40 and WTI stock markets are net receiver of return spillover, whereas SPX, DAX, UKX, FTSEMIB and CAC40 are the net contributors.

Objectives: To determine the risk factors of depressive disorders and health related quality of life among adult patients of depression presenting at psychiatric OPD clinic of Aziz Fatima Hospital Faisalabad. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Psychiatric OPD clinic of Aziz Fatima Hospital Faisalabad Pakistan. Period: 1st August 2019 to 31st December 2019. Material & Method: 150 patients for the screening of depression Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) was used. For measuring health related quality of life World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Brief) was used. Results: It was found that out of 150 patients with depressive disorder 104(69.3%) were female and 46(30.7%) were male patients. Findings of the study assessed that depressive disorder not only impacts on the patients' mood but it also impairs the individuals overall perception of their general health, physical health, psychological wellbeing, social relationship and also distorted perception of their surrounding psychosocial environment. Conclusion: Depressive disorder is common in patients visiting psychiatric OPD clinic and findings of study suggested that age, education level, socio-economic status, death of parent at early age, unemployment, workplace issues, parental separation, loss of partner and family history of depression are important demographic variables which plays the role of significant risk factor for depression and impairs the quality of life among depressive patients.

This study was carried out for the investigation of the Late Permian Wargal limestone at Kafar Kot Chashma area, Khisor Range to determine its suitability as an aggregate that is used in road construction and civil structures with the help of geological engineering testing. The results of geological engineering testing of Wargal limestone samples show the tolerable values of all standard engineering parameters including the Loss Angles Abrasion value (23.37%), Aggregate impact (16.8%), Crushing value 13.1%, Unit weight 1.67, Soundness (1.007%), Specific gravity (2.70), Water Absorption (0.48%), Flakiness Index (6.5%), Elongation value (7.1%), Coating of bitumen (> 95%), stripping of bitumen (