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Gandharan art developed in the Himalayan area in the early centuries CE. It has been investigated mostly from an iconographic point of view, missing, until very recently, a systematic technical investigation of materials and techniques. Recently our team began performing chemical analyses of the traces of the polychromy originally covering statues, reliefs and architectural decorations, to discover the ancient painting techniques and artistic technologies. This paper presents the results of the analytical investigation (optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) of pigments, ground layers and binders of a new group of samples taken from stucco architectural decorations (2nd–3rd/4th centuries CE). The samples were collected directly at an archaeological site in the Swat Valley, ensuring the exact knowledge of their stratigraphic provenance, as well as the absence of any restoration treatment applied prior sampling. The results are discussed in the wider context of Gandharan polychromy investigated so far by our team, as found in sculptures and architectural decorations preserved in museums (in Italy and France) and in archaeological excavations in Pakistan. The aim of this research is to shed light on the materials and techniques of this Buddhist ancient art from this region and on the influences exerted on it from Eastern and Western artistic traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the various politico-bureaucratic aspects of the two divergent nation states viz. Pakistan and Italy. Despite the fact that the two nations have different historical, cultural and geographical dissimilarities there is deep observation that they have more common threads of unstable political system, corrupt regimes, and characterless leadership. The historical evolution of Pakistan and post independence constitutional and administrative developments and that of Italy's post 1815 re-establishment as a unified state is analytical discussion which leads to the micro level analysis of the administrative and the political machineries of both the nations. The paper attempts to reveal the similarities and dissimilarities of historical, political, socio-cultural and constitutional framework of both countries in general, and that of civil service systems in particular. With such serious irregularities at the administrative and political systems, the research paper will endeavor to suggest the analytical preview of the facts and would than try to present remedies which may lead to the civil services and administrative reform in order to regain the essential viability of the both states namely, Pakistan and Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]