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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive view of barriers that restrict the adoption of new specializations and courses in the higher education institutions of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative methods were used to get the responses from the respondents of different institution of target areas. Results were further analyzed with the help of statistical tools. In total, 203 respondents were approached to fill the carefully designed questionnaire. Findings: Results of the study clearly show four major factors, including internal barrier, external barrier, cultural barrier and leadership barrier, that are restricting the introduction and adoption of new specialization courses in higher education institutes of Southern Punjab. Suggestions at the end are made to address the restrictions. Research limitations/implications: The current study states only six higher education institution of Southern Punjab, which is a kind of limitation itself. This study is conducted by taking into account the needs and trends of the businesses and markets; student perspective is not taken about the situation in this study, which is an another limitation of the study. To get more accurate and validated results, the higher education institutions located in other areas of Pakistan could be studied, which was not done in this study because of time and resource limitations. Practical implications: This study may prove worthy to bring a positive and practical shift in the Pakistani higher education system. This study may also prove beneficial to show the actual picture of the situation to national leaders, academicians and policy makers so that things are taken seriously to actually align the Pakistani higher education system with the emerging market demands and trends. Suggestions made in this study may provide comprehensive guidelines to the academic strategists to uplift the higher education institutions of Pakistan up to the international standards and requirements, so the Pakistani higher education institutions can get a respectful place in the international academic rankings. Originality/value: The paper highlights the restrictions and helps the institutions to introduce new specialization courses.

The primary objective of this research is to explore the domestic and international causes of terrorism specific to Pakistan. Given that the country is a victim of widespread terrorist activities, an inquiry into the causes of terrorism is required. In-depth interviews and content analysis have been used to explore the initial causes of terrorism. Based on the results of content analysis a quantitative analysis was conducted to collect rank-order data from experts. The results indicate that the most important causes of terrorism include lack of law enforcement, poverty, Pakistan's participation in war on terror, foreign involvement, and unemployment. This study concludes that no cause has a unilateral connection with terrorism, and focusing on a single factor may not suggest effective policy measures. This research suggests a multifaceted but a more focused diagnostic into the complex causes of terrorism in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of biofertilizer on wheat variety Zardana production at four locations of Balochistan. Biofertilizer (Azospirillum Al-Q + N 45 kg ha-1, P25O 30 kg ha-1) was used to substitute for half of the Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizer application rates as compared to a high fertilizer treatment (N 90 kgha-1, P2O5 60 kgha-1). The high mineral fertilizer and biofertilizer + half mineral fertilizer treatments were compared with a control treatment (no fertilizer). Significant grain yield were measured at all sites, although, at all sites both fertilizer treatments apparently out yielded the control and the biofertilizer + half mineral fertilizer treatment out yielded the high fertilizer treatment by 220-1180 kgha-1. Fresh yields differed significantly at all sites. At Mastung field, both fertilizer treatments out yielded the control by 3000 kgha-1 and at Quetta (Aghbarg field-2) the biofertilizer + half mineral fertilizer treatment out yielded the others by over 3000 kgha-1. The results proved that the application of biofertilizer in combination with N 45kgha-1 and P2O5 30 kgha-1 increased fresh yield from 11% to 59% and suggested increases in grain yield of 20-46% as compared with control treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted in Departmental Library of the Institute of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan during the year 2014, using content analysis methodology. The objective was to analyse citations of research methodologies used in M.Sc. dissertations submitted to the Department. The library contained more than 360 M.Sc. (Hons.) dissertations on various field related topics. Dissertations submitted to the Department of Agricultural Extension from the year 2000-2009 (10 years) were studied and analyzed carefully. Based on identified units of analysis, each selected dissertation was evaluated. The content analysis sheet was developed keeping in view the objective of study. The data collection sheet so prepared was pre-tested on five dissertations to check the suitability. The sheet was finalized after making amendments in the illumination of pre-testing experience. The data were collected with the help of data collection sheet. The data were obtained by reading certain parts of the each dissertation selected for the study. The data thus collected, were entered in SPSS in order to develop data spreadsheet. Computer software SPSS used for data analysis. The data were tabulated and simple percentages were worked out for interpretation, discussion, drawing conclusions and suggest appropriate recommendations. Most of the dissertations (36.7%) were based on effectiveness/role/impact of the agricultural social aspects followed by assessing adoption level (13.9%). Moreover majority (77.2%) of the dissertations used simple random sampling for selection of respondents followed by systematic random sampling (8.9 %). It is suggested that newly emerging research themes based on field oriented problems should be addressed. As far as sampling techniques are concerned, it is proposed that other than simple random sampling techniques; cluster sampling nominal group etc. should also be used for effective description of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Globally, rotavirus is a leading cause of childhood diarrhea and related mortality. Although rotavirus vaccination has been introduced in many countries worldwide, there are numerous low- to middle-income countries that have not yet introduced. Pakistan is one of the countries with the highest number of rotavirus deaths in children under five years. Although rotavirus infection is almost universal among children, mortality is often a result of poor nutrition and lack of access to health care and other aspects of poverty. We assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of introducing childhood rotavirus vaccination in Pakistan. We use household data from the 2012–2013 Demographic Health survey in Pakistan to estimate heterogeneity in rotavirus mortality risk, vaccination benefits, and cost-effectiveness across geographic and economic groups. We estimate two-dose rotavirus vaccination coverage that would be distributed through a routine vaccination program. In addition, we estimate rotavirus mortality (burden), and other measures of vaccine cost-effectiveness and impact by subpopulations of children aggregated by region and economic status. Results indicate that the highest estimated regional rotavirus burden is in Sindh (3.3 rotavirus deaths/1000 births) and Balochistan (3.1 rotavirus deaths/1000 births), which also have the lowest estimated vaccination coverage, particularly for children living in the poorest households. In Pakistan, introduction could prevent 3061 deaths per year with current routine immunization patterns at an estimated $279/DALY averted. Increases in coverage to match the region with highest coverage (Islamabad) could prevent an additional 1648 deaths per year. Vaccination of children in the highest risk regions could result in a fourfold mortality reduction as compared to low risk children, and children in the poorest households have a three to four times greater mortality reduction benefit than the richest. Based on the analysis presented here, the benefits and cost-effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination can be maximized by reaching economically and geographically vulnerable children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]