172 research outputs found
Rainfall Extremes: a Novel Modeling Approach for Regionalization
No full textThe rainfall events of extreme magnitude over the past few decades have caused destructive damages to lives and properties, especially in the subcontinent (e.g. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh etc). Rainfall hazard maps for these areas can be of great practical and theoretical interests. In our work, we used extreme value analysis and spatial interpolation techniques to provide such maps through a combination of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation (TRMM) 3B42 product and raingauge data. This mixed approach takes advantage of both the long time series available at a limited number of stations, and the large spatial coverage of the satellite data which, instead, has a poor temporal extent. The methodology is implemented by (1) creating a unique growth curve for the homogeneous region by utilizing in-situ rainfall data and (2) mapping the parameters of intensity-duration functions for the entire length of the study area by using TRMM 3B42 product. The regional results obtained by using mixed approach and TRMM 3B42 are compared with the estimates obtained by using in-situ data. The comparison showed that the overall output of mixed approach is more consistent with what transpired by in-situ data for a pre-defined return period
Job satisfaction as a mediator between structural empowerment and intent-to-leave: A study of critical care nurses
No full textBackground: Nurse turnover is an issue that impacts a hospital's financial resources and the quality of patient care. There is a need to discover what actions can be taken to improve nurse retention. Objective: Nurses’ job satisfaction has been shown to improve organizational outcomes, such as nurses’ retention. The objective of this study is to examines the relationship between intent to leave, job satisfaction and structural empowerment (SE), providing a theoretical basis for further research. Methods: A convenience sample of 83 critical care nurses, recruited from two Facebook groups and the AACN website. The nurses completed a survey that used three tools; Conditions of Work Effectiveness II (CWEQ II), Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and Turnover Intention (TIS-6) to address 4 hypotheses to determine the relationship of the three constructs. Results: Findings indicated that SE was not significantly related to intent-to-leave; SE was positively related to job satisfaction (β = 0.760, p < 0.01), and job satisfaction was negatively related to Intent-to-leave (β = −0.610, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The research provided a theoretical framework for further research on SE and its importance in improving job satisfaction and reducing turnover in critical nurse
Student’s Cynicism toward College Experience: Validation of the Italian Cynical Attitudes toward College Scale
No full textReferring to the institutional and research indications, those involved in higher education policies and management are formulating new plans to face, on the one hand, the decline in academic enrolments, on the other, the growing increase of early university-leavers. Academic drop-out and negative experiences and affect, in addition to being indicators of academic ineffectiveness, should be profitably analysed as well as their possible determinants to plan preventive policy measures and strategies. Despite the number of studies that have investigated variables related to learning and study experience, tools have yet to be defined to predict drop-out and delay in academic courses. Starting from the aforementioned assumptions and gaps, and with the aim of predicting academic drop-out and student’s negative experiences, an adaptation to the Italian context of the Cynical Attitude Toward College Scale (CATCS) was proposed and its psychometric characteristic analysed through SEM. Moreover, the research investigated the possible role of Student Cynicism in predicting Achievement, and of Student’s environmental perceptions in predicting Cynicism. Results showed that the
CATCS can be profitably used in the Italian academic context: the CFA of the 11-item CATCS version showed that it is a reliable and valid measure
Organizational support and perceived environment impact on quality of care and job satisfaction: a study with Pakistani nurses
No full textPurpose – Referring to the theory of organizational empowerment, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of organizational support and perceived environment on quality of care and job satisfaction, with organizational commitment as a mediator for the first variable.
Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a cross-sectional research design and data was collected from seven private and public sector hospitals in Pakistan, involving 352 nurses on a voluntary basis through a self-administered survey.
Findings – The results showed that organizational commitment mediates the relationship between
organizational support and job satisfaction with the quality of care. Moreover, the perceived environment has
an impact on job satisfaction and quality of care.
Originality/value – Healthcare service quality seems strictly dependent on the perceived quality of care and job satisfaction among healthcare workers. Theoretical and practical implications for policymakers and HR management are discussed
Community empowerment for the sustainability of community driven projects in Pakistan
No full textResearch accords the significance of decentralization, community empowerment and alternate initiatives employed by several development agencies in West, but there is scarcity of empirical evidences in literature pertaining to sustainability of community driven projects implemented through the community in developing and under-developed countries like Pakistan signify the need to initiate research. The purpose of current research is to examine community empowerment relationship with sustainability of community driven projects in Pakistan. This study has undertaken ‘sense of community’ as the moderator to test the relationship between community empowerment and sustainability of community driven projects The Government of Pakistan had initiated community driven development through Citizen Community Boards after the announcement of the Devolution Plan in 2001. Using proportionate stratified sampling, data was collected from 393 Citizen Community Boards’ members from six districts of Khyber Paktunkhawa Province in Pakistan. The correlation of community capacity building and community participation with sustainability yielded high and positive correlation coefficients. Furthermore, the results of hierarchal regression demonstrated that individuals with an improved sense of community are more0likely to believe that they have greater access to resources and their membership meaningfully contributed towards the development of a local area. The result of semi-structured interviews revealed that sense of community is a major predictor of sustainability of community driven projects and not the political and elite control. Although, few Citizen Community Board’s projects are affected by the political interference as well as elite control, but overall results revealed that the community benefits from the projects. The findings would serve as the guidelines on ways to sustain community driven projects for developing countries like Malaysia, India and the local government in Pakistan
Work ethics: An Islamic prospective
No full textIslamic principles completely cover all prospects of life including working in organization. The impact of management style used in an organization play an important role in employee commitment towards its work. This paper is an effort to explore impact of Islamic work ethic on human resource of organization including the prospective of work conflict, job satisfaction, job turn over, turnover intentions and organizational commitment. Data for current study was collected personally through questionnaires from 18 branches of seven banks of Pakistan who practices Islamic banking. In total, 150 Muslims employees were targeted as respondent of current study, while response rate was above 85%. Results show that there is significant impact of Islamic work ethics on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and rewards while Islamic work ethic has no significant relation with intention to quit job. Out of seven, only three hypotheses were fully supported, while two were partially supported, however number of rejected hypothesis were two. Islamic work ethics are source to built greater morale in employees resulting greater job satisfaction. Adopting Islamic work ethics improves organizational commitment, source of motivation as well as reduces the negative intentions of quitting job
An Overview of Etymology of Freshwater Fish Fauna in Pakistan
No full textDespite extensive work on species descriptions and taxonomic revisions, the etymology of scientific names in ichthyology has been largely neglected in Pakistan, leaving the origins and meanings of fish names poorly understood. The main objective of this study was to make it easy for the students and researchers to remember the otherwise obliviate and hard-Latinized scientific names of species. The manuscript provides an understanding of roots, meanings, and, in many cases, the associated morphological characteristics helpful in the identification of species. The collection of fish samples has been a lifelong activity that has used multiple fishing methods like cast nets, gill nets, electrofisher, and scoop nets in accordance with the recommended standard techniques. Pakistan has three main zoo-geographical components of fish fauna: the Oriental, West Asian, and the High Asian, which show its affinities with other countries of Asia. For etymological analysis, online dictionaries, relevant archives, books, and published material have been consulted. The river systems and watersheds of neighboring countries of Pakistan have remained connected in the geological past, which has facilitated the dispersal and distribution of fish fauna in these countries. Moreover, in the post-Tethyan period and before the orogeny of the Himalayas, the watershed of Pakistan remained connected with the river systems of Central Asia and China. Consequently, Pakistan has, to a variable extent, a commonality of fish fauna with neighboring countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan in the East and North East and with Afghanistan in the West as well as with the Central Asian states and China. Pakistan also shares its Western Asian component of the fish fauna with Iran, especially in the province of Baluchistan, which is adjacent to Iran. This article, therefore, will not only be beneficial for students, field workers and fish biologists of Pakistan but will also be advantageous for the concerned in almost all countries of South Asia
Local Government Systems and Decentralization: Evidence from Pakistan’s Devolution Plan
No full textThe discourse of governance and development practitioners continues to embrace community participation and community empowerment as an elementary means of building local capacity for poverty reduction, development and change at the local level. This article is a review of the decentralization initiatives of local government systems after the announcement of the devolution plan in Pakistan. It evaluates the initiatives’ participatory methods to ascertain the extent to which they have improved the process of community development at the local level. This article also measures the impact of community empowerment on the sustainability of community-driven projects implemented under the decentralization initiative through community-based organizations known as Citizen Community Boards (CCBs). Document analysis and literature review methodologies were employed to gain further insight into the decentralization phenomenon in Pakistan. The results describe human development, improvements in community empowerment and the sustainability of local projects; however, the sense of community has yet to be translated into shared benefits for rural communities. The fundamental goal of decentralization seems to be elusive because only power was transferred to the local level, whereas there is little support for community capacity building and community access to resources and the elites still control the electoral process. It is argued that community development initiatives in Pakistan require continuous support from local governments to boost local rural economies. Likewise, community-local government participatory development strategies can lead to strong local ownership and empowerment in rural communities
How to lead responsibly toward enhanced knowledge sharing behavior and performance: implications for human resource management
No full textPurpose: This paper investigates the relationships between responsible leadership and employees' knowledge sharing behavior and performance in the healthcare sector. The present study provides deeper insights into those relationships by uncovering the mechanisms through which relational and ethical dimensions of responsible leadership influence knowledge sharing outcomes. Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study examines the mediating role of trust in the leader and leadership support. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 445 healthcare professionals in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data. Findings: The study findings revealed that responsible leaders enhance knowledge worker performance and knowledge sharing behavior through enhancing trusting relationships with followers and providing support. Furthermore, the authors investigated the moderating role of goal orientation, and the results showed that the effect of responsible leadership on knowledge worker performance was stronger for highly goal-oriented employees. Practical implications: This research suggests that human resource managers interested in fostering knowledge sharing behaviors, must focus on cultivating responsible leadership behavior within their organizations. Furthermore, this study findings propose that HRM practices should foster employee goal orientation in order to enhance knowledge workers' performance. Originality/value: This study makes a novel contribution to the literature by shifting the research focus from the traditional view of leadership to a leadership style more responsive to the reciprocity nature of the relationships between employees and leaders. By shifting the focus to a relational-ethical based leadership style, the current study was able to fully uncover the underlying mechanisms linking responsible leadership to knowledge sharing outcomes.</p
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