This paper investigates the effects of human capital on productivity using micro panel data of rural households in the NorthWest Frontier Province, Pakistan, where a sub stantial job stratification is observed in terms of income and education. To clarify the mechanism underlying this stratification, the human capital effects are estimated for wages (individual level) and for selfemployed activities (household level), and for farm and nonfarm sectors. Estimation results show a clear contrast between farm and non farm sectors -wages and productivity in nonfarm activities rise with education at an increasing rate, whereas those in agriculture respond only to the primary education.

Abstract:The manuscript is a presentation of the combined effect of magnetic and electric field on unsteady flow of Maxwell nanofluid over a stretching surface with thermal radiations. The flow of Maxwell nanofluid is assumed to be in an unsteady state. The basic governing equations changed to a group of differential equations, using proper similarity variables. The obtained modeled equations are nonlinear and coupled. An optimal approach is used to acquire the solution of the modeled problem analytically. The effects of electric field, magnetic field and thermal radiations on Maxwell nanofluid are the main focus in this study. The impact of the Skin friction on velocity profile, Nusselt number on temperature profile and Sherwood number on concentration profile are studied numerically. The influential behavior of the unsteady parameter λ, magnetic parameter M, electric parameter E, radiation parameter Rd, Maxwell parameter β, thermophoresis parameter Nt, Prandtl number Pr, Schmidt number Sc, space dependent coefficient A and temperature dependent coefficient B on the velocity f (h), concentration φ(η) and temperature θ(η) are analyzed and studied. The consequences are drawn graphically to see the physical significance of the problem.

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Ethnomedicinal knowledge of plant-derived bioactives could help us in discovering new therapeutic compounds of great potential. Certainly, dandelion has been used in traditional ethno-medicinal systems (i.e., Chinese, Arabian, Indian, and Native American) to treat different types of cancer. Though, dandelion is highly vigorous, but the potential mode of action is still unclear. In the current study, the antiproliferative activity of methanolic extracts of dandelion root (MEDr) on cell viability of HepG2, MCF7, HCT116, and normal Hs27 was investigated. It was observed that MEDr (500 μg/mL) drastically decreased the growth of HepG2 cell line, while the effect on MCF7 and HCT116 cell lines was less pronounced and no effect has been observed in Hs27 cell lines. The MEDr also enhanced the phosphorylation level of AMPK of HepG2 cells, which considered crucial in cancer treatment and other metabolic diseases. The AMPK activation by MEDr noticed in the current study has never been reported previously. The results regarding the number of apoptotic cells (HepG2 cells) were in line with the cell viability test. The current observations clearly demonstrated the potency of MEDr against liver cancer with validation that dandelion could control AMPK and thus cancer in the treated cell lines.

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The theme of the present communication is to explore the novel analysis of entropy generation optimization, binary chemical reaction and activation energy for nonlinear convective flow of Sisko model on a radially stretchable rotating disk in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field. Nonlinear mixed convection, nonlinear thermal radiation, MHD, viscous dissipation, Joule heating and non-uniform heat generation/absorption are also considered. Nanofluid model includes significant slip mechanism of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. Apposite transformations are endorsed to get the nonlinear coupled ODEs system. The resultant system of ordinary differential equations is endeavoured for series solutions through homotopic technique. Total entropy generation is inspected through numerous emerging flow variables. Comparative study is made for temperature, velocity, heat transfer rate, Bejan number, entropy generation and mass transfer Nusselt number by considering shear thickening and thinning fluids. Finally, a comparison is specified with the previous existing results.

The aim of this study was to study the diversified income, its contribution and the effect of income of the households in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Data were collected from 323 households through face to face interviews with the help of a structured questionnaire. The empirical evidence shows that among the farm sources of livelihood the crop and livestock activities of the household were diversified and have been increased. The adoption of latest seed technologies of maize and wheat had increased the productivity and hence income of the farm households. The sample respondents had also diversified livestock activities. Average income from crop was Rs. 65,350 per annum per household based on total household. While its contribution to total income was 15.08%. Diversification was observed mainly in non-farm income sources. The overall non-farm income contribution to the total income after diversification was 69.40% and the average income was Rs. 300,811 per household per annum income. The contribution of total income from farm sources was decreased by 10.03% after the diversification of income. Agriculture to non-agriculture ratio decrease to 0.4408 after the diversification of income. Average income from the farm sources decreased while from non-farm sources increased. From all sources of income the change was Rs. 1,80,812 per annum per household. But the contribution of non-farm sources was more than the farm sources of income to the total household income. It was concluded from the findings that diversification had increased the household income. The area lack in development compared with other areas of the province. The study recommends further improvements in both the farm and non-farm sources of income for sustainable livelihood and this can be done by investing more in the productive capitals of the rural households.

China’s huge investment in the “belt and road initiative” (BRI) may have helped improve the economic level of participating countries, but it may also be accompanied by a substantial increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The BRI corridors aim to bring regional stability and prosperity. In such efforts, energy efficiency due to increased transport has been overlooked in the recent literature. This paper employed a data envelopment analysis of the slack-based measurement (SBM) for bad output to assess the transport energy efficiency of 19 countries under the BRI economic corridors. By using the most cited transport-related input variables, such as vehicles, labor, motor oil, jet fuel, and natural gas, this study first analyzes the transport energy efficiency by first assuming the output variables individually and then takes two years as a pre- and post-BRI case by considering the aggregated output model. The results show an increase in economic activity but a decline in transport energy efficiency in terms of consumption and emissions.