Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to discuss the differing views of the students studying in private universities in Pakistan about quality and the gap that exists between their expectations and actual experiences from the services provided. Design/methodology/approach -The research has been conducted in seven private universities of Pakistan using quantitative survey for data collection and data analysis. SPSS has been used to apply exploratory factors technique to identify satisfying and dissatisfying factors in customers of higher education through six service quality indicators (teaching, management, leadership, campus life, academic services and infrastructure). Findings -The multivariate effects of satisfaction across universities were measured through MANOVA. Discriminant analysis has been the most critical tool used for analysis, as not only could it distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied students across seven universities, but predicted the strength of the word of mouth and intentions to stay in the university. Originality/value -A model has been proposed to understand dynamics of student satisfaction and loyalty in private universities of Pakistan. The model suggests that two leading factors, which influence students' perception of service quality are either related to leadership and effective planning or to management, the actual process of service delivery.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore various dimensions of quality of work-life (QWL) as it affects the life and attitude at work of teachers of private universities in Lahore, Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach -The study was quantitative in nature. A survey was conducted with 360 faculty members from private universities in Lahore, in order to find out their perceptions of QWL, and its spill-over effect on employee commitment, engagement, job involvement and reputation of the university. Findings -It was found that perceived value of work, work climate, work-life balance and satisfaction with relationships in life were the major factors which shaped work attitudes and employee perceptions of overall quality of work-life.Research limitations/implications -The data were cross-sectional, collected at one point in time and relatively small in size. The responses are limited to private organizations, excluding public universities.Originality/value -The study makes both a scholarly and practical contribution. The scholarly contribution highlights that the dominant constructs of QWL play an important role in shaping attitudes towards work, life and relationships of teachers of private universities. On a practical level, the study hints at the possible implications of dissatisfaction and imbalance within employee commitment and engagement, and even the reputation of the university.

Instrumental records showing increases in surface temperature are some of the robust and iconic evidence of climate change. But how much should we trust regional temperature estimates interpolated from sparse observations? Here we quantify the uncertainty in the instrumental record by applying multiresolution lattice kriging, a recently developed interpolation technique that leverages the multiple spatial scales of temperature anomalies. The probability of monthly anomalies across the globe is represented by an ensemble, based on HadCRUT4 and accounting for observational and coverage uncertainties. To demonstrate the potential of these new data, we investigate the area‐averaged temperature anomalies over the Niño 3.4 region in the equatorial Pacific. Having developed a definition of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) able to cope with probability distribution functions, we classify the ENSO state for each year since 1851. We find that for many years it is ambiguous as to whether there was an El Niño or not from the Niño 3.4 region alone. These years are mainly before 1920, but also just after World War II.

Purpose -By studying the leadership role of management and faculty in a Pakistani University to find out gaps in the delivery of technology integrated services in enrolment and advisory capacity offered at the beginning of every new term at the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, this paper seeks to find the impact of the process of service delivery on customer loyalty and positive word of mouth, the key objectives for attaining quality. Design/methodology/approach -A mixed methods approach, comprising survey and interviews were used to investigate customer satisfaction. Factorial analysis and SEM modeling was applied to quantitative data, whereas coding and interpretive analysis were used for qualitative data. Findings -The results highlight the differences in leadership style adopted by management and faculty. The SEM model suggests that, as long as students lack autonomy and perceive a lack of empowerment of faculty, their satisfaction with the enrolment and advisory services will be affected negatively and will result in negative outcomes on word of mouth.Research limitations/implications -The small sample and contextual nature of study limit the scope of generalization. However, the analysis contributes toward improving the leadership approach of Pakistani management and faculty at private universities. Originality/value -The study identifies the challenges faced by the management in providing customer satisfaction with the services by approaching the problem from a different angle, i.e. leaders' use of their cognitive resources and their relationship focusing on customer satisfaction. It extends the research literature on leadership styles as being applicable to student services available.

Wheat is a major food grain in Pakistan having a prominent role in agriculture as well as the economic status of the country. In the current study, seeds of 99 wheat landraces were characterized for the quantification of seed storage proteins (Albumins, Globulin, Gliadins, and Glutenin), enzyme activities of antioxidant enzymes i.e. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Peroxidase (POD), one hydrolytic enzyme Protease (PROT) and non-enzymatic antioxidant enzyme Ascorbic acid (AsA). The landraces were categorized into low, medium, and high based on protein concentration and enzymes activities/content. The majority of the landraces were placed in the medium category. However, for the AsA parameter majority of the landraces were placed in the low category. The highest concentration of total extracted protein (184.88±0.7 mg/g. wt.), globulins (21.35 ±0.43 mg/g. wt.) and glutenin (20±0.04 mg/g. wt.) as well as the high activity of SOD (303 ±16.80 Units/g. wt.), and Ascorbic acid (533±36.1 Units/g. wt.) was identified in the wheat landrace "11757" collected from district Panjgur (Balochistan). The wheat landrace "11760", collected from district Kech (Balochistan), contained the highest albumins concentration (65.42±0.02 mg/g. wt.) and highest activity for CAT (589.5±61.20 Units/g. wt.). The highest activity of POD (32341± 91.3) and PROT was observed in seeds of the wheat landrace "11618" collected from the Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan. The principal component analysis showed that the great variations existed for the tested parameters among the wheat landraces. The landraces with a high concentration of seed storage proteins and antioxidant enzyme activities can be used for breeding purposes to improve the nutrimental quality of wheat cultivars.

Increased urbanization implicated in the form of increased vehicles on roads which burdened limited resources and caused environmental deterioration. To reduce these effects, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system was considered the right solution, requiring minimal infrastructure, as compared to other mass transit options, yet demanding great expertise. This research analyses BRT systems in four cities of Pakistan and the performance evaluation of BRT standards is conducted by developing a statistical model to evaluate predictive BRT standard, which results in identifying the parameters used to improve the performance of the BRT, thus resulting in improved BRT Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) standard. As per ITDP, Peshawar BRT was ranked as Gold, whereas Lahore BRT, Rawalpindi/Islamabad BRT and Multan BRT were ranked as Silver. Research describes that ITDP rating can be significantly enhanced if worked in the right direction, taking into account the standards; Peshawar BRT is an example to follow for existing and future BRT in Pakistan. If fully integrated networks of routes and corridors for Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Multan BRT have been developed, the model predicts the enhancement of ratings. This paper will assist transport policy makers to strategize in accordance with ITDP standard developed to evaluate and improve the quality of BRT.

No abstract

The Paris Agreement aims to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 °C above preindustrial. A natural question for the public to ask is “But how much warmer than preindustrial is where I live?” We develop a pattern-scaling technique to present local annually-resolved, gridded temperature anomalies prior to the industrial burning of fossil fuels. On average the past 5 years, 2014-2018, was 1.13 °C above preindustrial (with a likely range of 1.00-1.26 °C). When accounting for the distribution of the human population and urban heat island effect, we find that people experienced an average warming of 1.61 °C (1.43-1.79 °C) over the same period. When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, the majority of the global population was exposed to local, annual temperatures warmer than 1.5 °C above preindustrial.