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Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Yasir Mehmood, Kong Rong, Muhammad Khalid Bashir and Muhammad Arshad

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of partial quantity rationing of credit on the technical efficiency of dairy farmers in the Punjab province of…

208

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of partial quantity rationing of credit on the technical efficiency of dairy farmers in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Prior to the field survey, the authors constructed a theoretical model for clear identification of partial quantity rationed dairy farmers. Data from 154 dairy farmers were collected that represented three districts of the province. The collected data were analyzed in two stages: first, the efficiency level of dairy farmers was estimated using a stochastic frontier approach; second, the authors employed an inefficiency-effects model to estimate the effect of partial quantity rationing of credit on technical efficiency.

Findings

The results revealed that education level of the household head, cross-breed and imported cattle, and electric chaff cutter, all had significant positive impacts on technical efficiency, followed by diversified sources of income. Conversely, the analysis of our key variables, interest rate on principal amount and partial quantity rationing of credit had significant negative effects on the technical efficiency of dairy farmers in selected districts of the Punjab province in Pakistan.

Originality/value

The study will be an important contribution to the existing credit constraints and technical efficiency literature and will particularly help the rural financial institutions in terms of approving the loan amount according to the actual requirements of the borrowers. The study’s findings and subsequent recommendations will be useful for policy makers in achieving the actual production level, bringing down the poverty levels and ensuring food security in the country.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 120 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 31 July 2018

Muhammad Khalid Bashir, Steven Schilizzi, Rohan Sadler and Ghaffar Ali

The purpose of this paper is to measure the vulnerability to food insecurity in rural Punjab, Pakistan.

309

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure the vulnerability to food insecurity in rural Punjab, Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data of 1,152 households were collected. The extent of food deficiency was measured using dietary intake assessment method (seven days). Value at Risk (VaR) and conditional Value at Risk (cVaR), a method widely used for risk analysis in financial institutes, were applied to assess the vulnerability to food insecurity.

Findings

In total, 23 percent of the sample households were measured as food deficient. The VaR and cVaR results identified that the lowest 3 percentiles (up to 30 percent) were at risk to become food deficient without any seasonal shortages. In case of shocks, up till sixth percentiles (60 percent) will be as at risk of food deficiency. This study suggests that multi-period data, at least quarterly, are required to predict vulnerability. It is suggested that a blanket policy is not a good approach. Once the most vulnerable households are identified, a targeted approach must be opted.

Originality/value

Generalizing the results of one week’s calorie calculations may produce biased results that may mislead the policy process. A multi-period data collection is costly and cumbersome. The application of VaR and cVaR helps overcome this issue. Furthermore, this is one of the initial studies to apply these methods to food security analysis.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 120 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 31 July 2024

Muhammad Arif, Khalid Bashir Mirza and Muhammad Hamid

The purpose of this study is to outline the process, procedures and techniques used for digitization and digital preservation of theses and dissertations (TDs) collection at the…

132

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to outline the process, procedures and techniques used for digitization and digital preservation of theses and dissertations (TDs) collection at the Central Library of Quaid-I-Azam University, Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Since the phenomenon under investigation is exploratory in nature, a case study qualitative paradigm was used to conduct this study.

Findings

The findings of the study offer a brief overview of the cost-effective solution that leveraged in-house expertise for the digital preservation of TDs. This led to the establishment of a knowledge repository hosting a substantial collection of approximately 25,857 electronic theses and dissertations, accessible online since August 2023. This project digitally preserved approximately 9,387 TDs on CDs/DVDs, and scanned about 15,000 print TDs, comprising around 1,399,244 pages. The cost incurred per page, including labor and rent of a photocopy machine, was just Rs 0.548 making it a cost-effective technique. The total cost incurred for this process was just 0.768m Pakistani rupees (equivalent to $2,509.55). The findings revealed key challenges, including administrative, financial, technical and copyright issues, that impede the effective execution of the project.

Research limitations/implications

This case study is limited to one Pakistani public sector university library. This case study holds significance in terms of practical insights and implications for academic institutions and library administrators in other developing countries like Pakistan, which have similar economic, social and technical circumstances.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first-ever study conducted to elucidate the cost-effective strategy adopted for digitally preserved TDs without additional financial and human resources while creating a knowledge repository.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

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Article
Publication date: 30 October 2018

Tanya L. Swer, Komal Chauhan, Prodyut K. Paul, C. Mukhim, Khalid Bashir and Rachna Sehrawat

An upsurge in health and environmental concerns over the use of synthetic color has made the development of color from cheap and easily available natural sources, namely, plants…

184

Abstract

Purpose

An upsurge in health and environmental concerns over the use of synthetic color has made the development of color from cheap and easily available natural sources, namely, plants, animals, micro-organisms and algae as indispensable. This study aims to extract anthocyanins, an important natural plant pigments, from Sohiong (Prunus nepalensis). This study demonstrated that Sohiong have high anthocyanins content and antioxidant property, indicating an immense potential for the fruit producers and food processors.

Design/methodology/approach

Response surface methodology was used to optimize the conditions for extraction of anthocyanins from Sohiong using conventional solvent extraction.

Findings

The optimum conditions for extraction were found to be 36.75°C temperature, 60.32 per cent ethanol concentration and 2.39 per cent citric acid concentration with recovery of 45 per cent total extract yield, 858.84 mg C3G/100g DM anthocyanin content and 824.91 mg GAE/100g DM phenolic content with in-vitro antioxidant activity of 31.40 mmol AEAC/100g DM for FRAP and 84.66 per cent DPPH scavenging capacity (20mg/ml). The F-values and high values of adjusted determination coefficient for each response imply high level of significance of the fitted models.

Practical implications

Extracted color can be used in food and pharmaceutical industries.

Social implications

Pigment extracted is from a natural source and possesses high antioxidative activity and potential health benefits. With increasing demand for natural colors and other additives, there is a wide range of applications of the pigment as natural colorant in the food and pharmaceutical sector.

Originality/value

Selected plant source, i.e. Sohiong, was not used earlier by any researcher to extract anthocyanins for potential applications as food colorant.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 47 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

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Article
Publication date: 23 November 2010

Muhammad Khalid Bashir and Yasir Mehmood

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how institutional credit affected the productivity of rice crop in District Lahore, Punjab Pakistan.

626

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how institutional credit affected the productivity of rice crop in District Lahore, Punjab Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, stratified random sampling technique was adopted to select the sample respondents. The district was divided into three strata; from each stratum two villages were randomly selected and from each village ten loanee farmers were randomly selected from the given list of borrowers. An equal number of non‐loanee farmers were also selected. Cobb Douglas function was used to calculate the impact of credit on rice productivity.

Findings

The coefficient of credit was significant, which indicated that credit has a positive impact on the productivity of rice, providing a clue that credit is an important tool for improving and increasing the agricultural productivity in general and that of rice in particular.

Originality/value

The paper will be an important addition to the literature in the current credit impact studies and will help especially the agricultural planners who are responsible for allocating funds for the agricultural sector in general and for the rice sector in particular. The paper's recommendations will help mitigate the problems of the farming community, especially of the small farmers in securing the institutional credit.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 2 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

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Article
Publication date: 19 January 2021

Bashir Ahmad, Imran Shafique and Masood Nawaz Kalyar

This study aims to test the relationship between perceived coworker social undermining and knowledge hiding behavior among Pakistani doctors working in hospitals. This study…

769

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to test the relationship between perceived coworker social undermining and knowledge hiding behavior among Pakistani doctors working in hospitals. This study further investigates the mediating role of employee cynicism (EC) and the moderating role of family social support between the association of family social support and knowledge hiding.

Design/methodology/approach

Time lagged approach was used to collect the data from 391 trainee doctors working in large hospitals in Pakistan.

Findings

The findings suggest that coworker social undermining is significantly related to EC and knowledge hiding behaviors. EC mediates the relationship between EC and knowledge hiding. Furthermore, family social support was found to play a buffer role such that the indirect effect of social undermining on knowledge hiding through cynicism was weak for those who received high family social support and vice versa.

Originality/value

Knowledge hiding is deleterious to effective organizational functioning. This study adds to knowledge about the relationship between coworker social undermining and knowledge hiding behavior. This research extends the existing research streams of social undermining and knowledge hiding research to one of the underrepresented South Asian context, Pakistan.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 52 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

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Article
Publication date: 15 May 2009

Muhammad Khalid Bashir, Zulfiqar Ahmad Gill and Sarfraz Hassan

The agriculture sector is the single largest contributor to the national income (gross domestic product – (GDP)) of Pakistan. Wheat is the main staple diet of the people of…

766

Abstract

Purpose

The agriculture sector is the single largest contributor to the national income (gross domestic product – (GDP)) of Pakistan. Wheat is the main staple diet of the people of Pakistan. It contributes 13.7 percent to the value added in agriculture and 3.0 percent to GDP. Given its importance to the national economy, the government attaches high priority to raising agricultural productivity and farmer's income. For this purpose, financing for agricultural sector is very much needed and important. Like other institutional sources, commercial banks also provide agricultural credit. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of credit disbursed by them on the productivity of wheat.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data were collected from 114 randomly selected respondents through a well‐structured interview schedule. Cobb Douglous function was used to calculate the impact of credit on the productivity.

Findings

The coefficient of credit was highly significant, which showed that credit has a positive impact on the productivity of wheat and hence is an important tool for improving the productivity of agriculture sector.

Originality/value

The study in hand will be useful for the planners who are responsible for allocating funds for the agricultural sector in general and for wheat growers in particular. The recommendations of the study will go a long way to mitigating the problems being faced by the small farmers of Pakistan in securing institutional credit.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

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Article
Publication date: 9 June 2021

Md Nazmus Sakib, Theodora Chaspari and Amir H. Behzadan

As drones are rapidly transforming tasks such as mapping and surveying, safety inspection and progress monitoring, human operators continue to play a critical role in ensuring…

500

Abstract

Purpose

As drones are rapidly transforming tasks such as mapping and surveying, safety inspection and progress monitoring, human operators continue to play a critical role in ensuring safe drone missions in compliance with safety regulations and standard operating procedures. Research shows that operator's stress and fatigue are leading causes of drone accidents. Building upon the authors’ past work, this study presents a systematic approach to predicting impending drone accidents using data that capture the drone operator's physiological state preceding the accident.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect physiological data from 25 participants in real-world and virtual reality flight experiments to design a feedforward neural network (FNN) with back propagation. Four time series signals, namely electrodermal activity (EDA), skin temperature (ST), electrocardiogram (ECG) and heart rate (HR), are selected, filtered for noise and used to extract 92 time- and frequency-domain features. The FNN is trained with data from a window of length t = 3…8 s to predict accidents in the next p = 3…8 s.

Findings

Analysis of model performance in all 36 combinations of analysis window (t) and prediction horizon (p) combinations reveals that the FNN trained with 8 s of physiological signal (i.e. t = 8) to predict drone accidents in the next 6 s (i.e. p = 6) achieved the highest F1-score of 0.81 and AP of 0.71 after feature selection and data balancing.

Originality/value

The safety and integrity of collaborative human–machine systems (e.g. remotely operated drones) rely on not only the attributes of the human operator or the machinery but also how one perceives the other and adopts to the evolving nature of the operational environment. This study is a first systematic attempt at objective prediction of potential drone accident events from operator's physiological data in (near-) real time. Findings will lay the foundation for creating automated intervention systems for drone operations, ultimately leading to safer jobsites.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

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Article
Publication date: 7 June 2021

Talat Islam, Arooba Chaudhary and Muhammad Faisal Aziz

This study aims to examine the effect of knowledge hiding (KH) on organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals (OCBI) through the mediation of self-conscious emotions…

603

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effect of knowledge hiding (KH) on organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals (OCBI) through the mediation of self-conscious emotions (SCE), namely, shame and guilt. This paper further considers the supervisor’s Islamic work ethics (IWE) as a conditional variable.

Design/methodology/approach

In this quantity-based research, this paper collected data from 473 employees working in various service and manufacturing organizations through Google form at two-lags.

Findings

The study applied structural equation modeling and identified that employees experience SCE due to KH. More specifically, rationalized hiding was found to have a negative effect, whereas playing dumb and evasive hiding was found to have a positive effect on shame and guilt. The results also revealed SCE (shame and guilt) as mediators between KH and OCBI. Further, the supervisor’s IWE was found to be a conditional variable to strengthen the association between KH and SCE.

Research limitations/implications

The study collected data from a single source. However, the issue of common method variance was tackled through time-lags.

Practical implications

The study suggests that supervisors must communicate with employees about the negative outcomes of KH. They must create such an environment that discourages the engagement of employees in KH and encourages the employees to engage themselves in helping behaviors to maintain a productive and creative work environment.

Originality/value

This study adds to the limited literature on the emotional consequences of KH from knowledge hiders’ perspective and unfolds the behavior-emotion-behavior sequence through the emotional pathway. More specifically, this study examined the negative emotional effect of hiding the knowledge that leads to compensatory strategy (organizational citizenship behavior) through SCE (shame and guilt). Finally, zooming into SCE, this study elucidates the supervisor’s IWE as a conditional variable.

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Article
Publication date: 15 June 2020

Sohel Mehedi, Habibur Rahman and Dayana Jalaludin

The paper aims to examine the level of agricultural credit by commercial banks and the determinants that influence the commercial banks to the increased level of agricultural…

478

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to examine the level of agricultural credit by commercial banks and the determinants that influence the commercial banks to the increased level of agricultural credit through the pressures of the institutional environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The study selects seventeen sample commercial banks following the market capitalization method and investigates a total of 85 annual reports during the period from 2013 to 2017. The study conducts a pooled regression to conclude the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The present study finding indicates that the average of agricultural credits to total credits is 2.25% among the sample commercial banks. The study finds a positive significant association between board gender diversity, foreign director, management team and agricultural credit. Furthermore, the study has found that the role of the deposit in enhancing agricultural credit is positive. On the other hand, the association between independent directors, profitability and agricultural credits is negative.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on secondary data with five firm-year observations of commercial banks. The study finding is based on commercial banks, so it should not be generalized to non-bank financial institutions.

Practical implications

The study emphasizes policymakers’ attention towards the level of agricultural credit and determinants that influence the level of agricultural credit by commercial banks in emerging markets.

Originality/value

The key contribution of the study is to focus on the reformist role of the determinants in promoting the increased level of agricultural credit in the emerging markets.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 47 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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