115 research outputs found
Documenting the Burushaski language: Issues in data collection, transmission, preservation, and revitalization
No full textAs globalization increases so does the loss of world languages. Two most common reasons for language endangerment are: (1) there are few living native speakers, and (2) many children do not learn the language of their parents because other languages are considered more helpful or powerful. While the first scenario leads to rapid extinction, the second scenario, quite common in South Asia and the developing world, leads to slow language attrition and eventual death. The two types of endangered languages are under pressure to differing degrees and in different ways in relation to language maintenance. Many linguists across the world are seeking to document and preserve the so-called “endangered” languages. Taking advantage of the latest state-of-the-art technologies, documentary linguists are making efforts towards documenting and recording oral and written linguistic traditions, translating and annotating documentation materials, compiling grammatical descriptions and dictionaries, and preparing pedagogical materials for language teaching/learning for the ethnic population which claims ownership of the language. The aim of this paper is to discuss the various steps, methods, and challenges in the documentation and revitalization of Burushaski – a linguistic isolate spoken by about 90,000 people in Gilgit, Pakistan (Ethnologue 2005), and (by approximately 300 speakers) in Srinagar, India (first author 2006). Burushaski is primarily orally-preserved and literacy in the native language is practically zero. Its survival is greatly threatened by multilingualism and language shift. Documentation efforts have been conducted by western scholars, but because their publications are mostly in foreign languages (Berger 1974-1998, Tiffou 1999), they are inaccessible to Burushos who are (mainly) literate in Urdu – the prestigious language. Recently, some Pakistani scholars have produced pedagogical materials for the promotion of Burushaski but, because of limited resources and lack of training, such efforts are yet to produce substantial results. Awaiting official standardization, local rivalries have also resulted in a number of competing writing systems. Burushaski is spoken in a socio-culturally conservative and a politically volatile region and documentation efforts by non-natives encounter many obstacles. Presenting a progress report of an ongoing project (starting 2003), this paper examines the various issues in documenting Burushaski, such as: initial encounters in encouraging community participation; social, cultural, political, and financial obstacles in data collection; effective use of information technologies without disrupting community traditions; and different challenges in revitalization efforts. To meet the various project goals, we propose steps in developing an integrated framework sensitive to the issues unique to this particular situation
Corporate fraud: an empirical investigation of interaction between fraud commission and detection a developing economy view
No full textThe beginning of the twenty-first century witnessed several high-profile corporate fraud scandals in the U.S. and around the world (e.g. Enron and WorldCom, Waste Management, Parmalat, etc.). These failures resulted in a significant amount of loss in the market value. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) defines fraud as, ' the deliberate action or falsification of the material financial facts of an entity committed by intentionally forging or omitting the facts or disclosures in the financial statements to deceive the users of financial statements purposefully'.
This research is focused mainly on financial statement fraud because it is the most costly form of fraud an organization can endure. Second, the integrity of financial reporting is severely affected by the failure of a large corporation, thus shaking the trust of all the stakeholders. Third, the cost of this fraud goes beyond monetary loss and therefore has implications for capital markets. This study contributes to the literature in several ways. Previous literature on fraud-related research either completely ignored the issue of identification/partial observability of fraud or addressed it as a limitation and future research direction.
The novel contribution of this study is to hand-collect a sample of firms alleged of financial statement manipulation and fraud by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for the first time and apply the techniques bivariate probit model to control the issue of partial detection/unobservability of fraud. The advantage of the proposed method for SECP and other regulators in Pakistan is the fact that it only uses easily accessible firm-level financial variables. The model used in this study sets two equations of commission and detection simultaneously to capture the issue of incomplete detection. Previous literature on fraud-related research is lacking in addressing the phenomenon of partial detection and simultaneity of manipulation commission and detection, particularly in addressing developing economies.
This study fills the literature gap by considering the strategic relationship between the firms' propensity to commit fraud and determinants of manipulation using bivariate probit estimation technique. This study has implications for the firms by assisting the efforts of an organization to detect and deter fraud. The fraud risk factors identified in this study can serve as potential opportunities for the managers and accountant to commit and conceal manipulation. These opportunities can be eliminated by incorporating proper internal controls and then directing all the efforts to implement those control measures and ensuring strict adherence to them. The result of this study also suggests that manipulators tend to overinvest. While the empirical and theoretical studies also suggest that investment has a spill-over effect between manipulators and other firms. It has implications for the capital markets.
This study also offers implications for regulators and standard setters who are endeavouring to reinforce the monitoring oversight in the financial markets. Care must be exercised in generalizing the result as this study is delimited to include firm-level financial factors affecting fraud commission and detection probability excluding other interesting firm-level variables such as the characteristics of the firm's management, culture, strategy, corporate governance mechanism etc. This study has the potential to include the broader context of fraud, i.e. macro-level factors, including the institutional environment that would give more opportunities to study the role of context of developing economy.L
BENFORD’S LAW IN THE CASE OF HUNGARIAN WHOLE-SALE TRADE SECTOR
No full textBenford’s law has attracted many researchers for detecting the fraudulent data and can be used as one of the digital analysis tools for auditing of the accounting data. In this treatise, the accuracy of figures reported in Hungarian Trading Companies’ data are examined through digital analysis technique with the consideration of Benford’s Law. The net sales data from the period of year 2009 to 2014 has been used for detecting the anomalies and to confirm whether the digit-pattern follows Benford’s distribution. Through the obtained results we claimed that the frequencies of first and second digits’ place follow the Benford’s theoretical distribution and exhibits to close conformity. Moreover analysis of the second, first-order and second-order gave a mixed result of close conformity to significant deviation from expected frequency. Also the absolute deviation (MAD) value of first and second digit suggest an overall conformity of the data to Benford’s distribution
Investor Pschyhology and Decision Making; based on Overconfidence and Self Attribution Bias: Evidence from Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE)
No full textAn Investigation of the Influence of the Worldwide Governance and Competitiveness on Accounting Fraud Cases: a Cross-Country Perspective
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Caesarean Section Rate and Frequencies of Indications Using Robson–Ten Classifications
No full textOBJECTIVES:
To determine the caesarean section rate (CSR) and frequency of different indications of caesarean section (CS) in a tertiary care hospital.
METHODOLOGY:
A retrospective study done in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Hayatabad Medical Complex Hospital Peshawar, a tertiary care hospital, from a period of 1st January 2019 till 31st December 2019. The required data was collected from the patient’s hospital records (clinical charts) with the consent of the hospital ethical committee.
RESULTS:
The total number of deliveries over the study period was 5611. Out of these 1258 patients were delivered through caesarean section (CS), giving a CSR of 22%. The main contributing groups in our study were Robson Groups R5 (multiparous with prior CS, singleton, cephalic and >37 weeks), R1 (nulliparous, cephalic, singleton >37 weeks in spontaneous labor or CS) and R6 (all nulliparous breeches) with percentages of 21.1%, 17.5% and 12.9% respectively.
CONCLUSION:
Our study showed Robson Groups 5, 2 and 6 as the major contributors, focusing on these groups could have an impact on decreasing the cesarean section rate in future. Limiting the primary cesarean section rate can affect the overall cesarean section rate (CSR)
Efficacy of Uterovaginal Packing Versus Uterine Balloon Tamponade to Control Postpartum Hemorrhage Due to Uterine Atony
No full textOBJECTIVES
To determine and compare the efficacy of Uterovaginal packing versus uterine balloon tamponade to control postpartum haemorrhage due to uterine atony unresponsive to medical treatment.
METHODOLOGY
This comparative prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in Hayatabad Medical Complex, OBG department. A total of 140 patients were categorised into two groups, group A underwent Uterovaginal packing and group B underwent uterine balloon tamponade. All women of 18 to 40 years with a history of delivery after 28 weeks of gestation, who developed primary postpartum haemorrhage due to uterine atony, unresponsive to medical treatment were included in the study. Women with a history of delivery before 28 weeks of gestation, secondary postpartum haemorrhage, genital tract trauma, retained placental tissue and membranes, placenta previa, morbidly adherent placenta, febrile illness and uterine structural lesion were excluded from the study. Efficacy was labelled if there was no ongoing blood loss after the procedure with concomitant hemodynamic stability. All information was recorded in a predesigned proforma, and data were analysed using SPSS version 22.RESULTS
Our study included 140 women; 113 had a normal vaginal delivery, and 27 underwent cesarean section. Among cases with normal vaginal delivery, 45 women had Uterovaginal packing, and 68 had uterine balloon tamponade, while among cases of cesarean sections, 25 women had uterovaginal packing and 2 had uterine balloon tamponade. The efficacy of Uterovaginal packing was 90%, and that of uterine balloon tamponade was 87.1%, with no significant difference statistically (p- 0.51). Overall efficacy of both procedures was 88.6%.CONCLUSION
All orthodontic and non-orthodontic treatment group participants required oral hygiene instructions and had periodontal treatment needs (TN1). The patients requiring scaling and prophylaxis and Oral hygiene instructions (TN 2) were more in the orthodontic treatment group than the non-orthodontic treatment group. A higher percentage of patients requiring complex treatment (deep scaling, root planning and complex surgical procedures), scaling and prophylaxis and Oral hygiene instructions (TN3) belonged to the non-orthodontic treatment group
Efficacy of Manual Vacuum Aspiration Vs Conventional Evacuation and Curettage
No full textOBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) compared to Conventional Evacuation and Curettage (E & C) in managing first-trimester miscarriage.
METHODOLOGY:
A total of 160 patients were enrolled in this comparative study. Patients were categorized into two groups (Group A undergoing MVA) and (Group B undergoing E&C). Each group had 80 cases randomly selected. Stable patients with miscarriages < 12 wks of gestation and no comorbid were included in the study. Data was recorded on pre-designed proforma, and analysis was done by SPSS Software.
RESULTS:
Efficacy of MVA was 97.5% and 92.5% in E&C, with a 7.5% vs 30% complication rate in MVA and E&C Group, respectively. The mean duration of the procedure was 9 minutes in the MVA group versus 18.8 minutes in the E&C group. The hospital stay was 14.2 hours vs 20.3 hours in MVA and E&C Group. 16.25% vs 46.25% of women in MVA vs E&C Group reported post-op pain. 93.75% of women were satisfied with MVA, whereas only 50% of women were satisfied with E&C. 81.25% 91.25% required Anesthesia/Analgesia in MVA and E&C Group, respectively.
CONCLUSION:
MVA is a more effective and rapidly performing outpatient procedure with a lower complication rate. In this study efficacy of MVA is 97.5% compared to the E&C group, i.e., 92%. Its safety, cost-effectiveness and efficacy advocate its extended use as an alternative to the conventional surgical method of miscarriag
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