International Migration,Remittances Inflow and Household Welfare: An Intra Village Comparison from Pakistan

This study explores the financial costs, time involved in migration and benefits at household level. A household survey has been conducted to investigate about characteristics of migrants, transaction costs and sources of financing by which overseas migration is financed. Results of PSM technique explored that overseas migration conveys worthwhile benefits as measured by their total expenditures, food expenditures, non-food expenditures, clothing expenditures, expenditures on pots and pans, expenditures on vehicles and saving levels. Establishment of technical training institutions, creation of micro-finance institutions and enhancing their functioning as well as sensitization about ‘Pakistan Remittance Initiative’ would be some of the policy options in order to tackle with the problem.     

Doing gender,modestly: Conceptualizing workplace experiences of Pakistani women doctors

Using the theoretical framework of inequality regimes, this article offers a reconceptualization of purdah as it is practised, lived and experienced by women doctors of Pakistan. Based on an ethnographic study of Pakistani women doctors, this research indicates that practising purdah in the workplace is perceived as doing femininity within the hegemonic masculine workplace culture of Pakistan. In Pakistani organizations, individual and institutionalized practices of purdah create a gendered substructure which marginalizes women doctors by dictating the norms of conduct, international ethics, organization of physical space and work allocation. Patriarchal interpretations of religious doctrines of modesty provide legitimacy to the existence of these inequality regimes. Based on this, the article argues for a system‐level theorization of purdah that accounts for both individual and institutional norms of veil. Such conceptualization contributes to our understanding of how religion intersects with gender, class and race to create complex systemic inequities in organizational structure.     

INFORMATION-CENTRED DESIGN: A methodology for designing virtual meeting DESIGN environments

Development of single-user computer applications has often been based on user-centred or task-centred design methodologies, with some success. These methodologies are also useful for guiding the development of multi-user CSCW applications whenever the basic characteristics of the users, or the type of tasks for which the system is being designed are identifiable. The effectiveness of these methodologies as a basis for the design of virtual meeting environments for supporting community-based activities, on the other hand, is rather limited. This is mainly due to the fact that for such systems it is not generally possible to identify the user or task requirements, as these vary considerably from one community to another, or even within the same community over a period of time. New methodologies need to be devised, or existing methodologies have to be modified, to direct the development of virtual environments for which the characteristics of the users or their activities are not known in advance. This paper introduces the concept of information-centred design. Information-centred design, though not fully devised yet, focuses on the identification of the type of information, as well as the way it is collected and utilized by the users of a virtual meeting environment. This pool of information, which plays an important role in facilitating interaction and communication between the members of a community, could be defined as their communal memory.     

An Assessment of Vulnerability to Poverty in Punjab,Pakistan: Subjective Choices of Poverty Indicators

In general, the happiness literature has paid little attention to the relationship between physical appearance and well-being. In this paper, we examine the link between weight, height and well-being for three distinct samples in China given that attractiveness effects likely vary greatly across sociocultural contexts. As China has recently undergone rapid economic transformation in the urban areas, this empirical exercise is particularly interesting because it can highlight how changing social norms have affected the relationship between physical appearance and subjective well-being. For the rural and migrant samples, we find that for both men and women, big and tall individuals have higher levels of well-being. This is consistent with the notion that the strong are better off when more labor intensive work is the norm. For the urban sample and for urban males in particular, no well-being penalty is found for being obese, unlike previous results based on Western samples. It is very likely that the unique Chinese cultural practice of network building banquets and feasting is behind this finding.     

Minority Stress in the Lives of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Cape Town,South Africa

The mental health outcomes of men who have sex with men (MSM) living in sub-Saharan Africa are understudied, despite evidence that discrimination and stigma are widespread. This article examines the occurrence and mental health effects of minority stress in a sample of diverse South African MSM. Twenty-two MSM living in Cape Town took part in exploratory qualitative in-depth interviews and completed mental health questionnaires. Results indicate that the majority of participants experienced minority stress, which affected their sexual relationships and coping strategies. Concealment behaviors and perceived discrimination levels were high and were associated with race, religion, SES, and geographical location.     

Doubly sparse regression incorporating graphical structure among predictors

Recent research has demonstrated that information learned from building a graphical model on the predictor set of a regularized linear regression model can be leveraged to improve prediction of a continuous outcome. In this article, we present a new model that encourages sparsity at both the level of the regression coefficients and the level of individual contributions in a decomposed representation. This model provides parameter estimates with a finite sample error bound and exhibits robustness to errors in the input graph structure. Through a simulation study and the analysis of two real data sets, we demonstrate that our model provides a predictive benefit when compared to previously proposed models. Furthermore, it is a highly flexible model that provides a unified framework for the fitting of many commonly used regularized regression models. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 47: 729–747; 2019 © 2019 Statistical Society of Canada     

A simple approach to analyzing clustered longitudinal data

When modeling correlated binary data in the presence of informative cluster sizes, generalized estimating equations with either resampling or inverse-weighting, are often used to correct for estimation bias. However, existing methods for the clustered longitudinal setting assume constant cluster sizes over time. We present a subject-weighted generalized estimating equations scheme that provides valid parameter estimation for the clustered longitudinal setting while allowing cluster sizes to change over time. We compare, via simulation, the performance of existing methods to our subject-weighted approach. The subject-weighted approach was the only method that showed negligible bias, with excellent coverage, for all model parameters.     

Migration,Diaspora and Citizenship: A Qualitative Study of the Perceptions of Pakistani Nationals towards the Political Rights of Pakistani Dual Citizens

The dual citizenship has been the subject of intense political debate in Pakistan barring the elected representatives, in parliament, the provincial assemblies and the presidency, from holding dual nationality. The perceptions that holding a foreign citizenship challenges the undiluted loyalty to country further engender question mark over their political participation in country’s affairs. A qualitative study has been carried out in the city of Rawalpindi to explore the stance of Pakistani nationals on such exclusion of Pakistani dual citizens from mainstream politics of Pakistan asking should the individual’s association to the state be an exclusive one? In this paper, in‐depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 40 male and female respondents (22 Pakistani citizens, 18 Pakistani dual citizens) and 6 constitutional experts. The results indicate distrust among Pakistani citizens when considering dual citizens’ right of representation in general elections of Pakistan, stemming from a mistrust of their “split loyalties”.     

On Some Families of Estimators of Variance of Post-Stratified Sample Mean Using Two Auxiliary Variables

In this article, we propose some families of estimators for finite population variance of post-stratified sample mean using information on two auxiliary variables. The families of estimators are discussed in their optimum cases. The MSE of these estimators are derived to the first order of approximation. The percent relative efficiency of proposed families of estimators has been demonstrated with the numerical illustrations.     

Considering the best interests of infants in foster care placed separately from their siblings

This article offers a perspective on the child welfare practice of placing infants and their siblings in foster care using the theoretical frameworks of attachment and infant mental health. The authors highlight issues for child welfare workers to consider when determining if moving an infant or young child from one home to another for the purpose of placing him with his siblings would cause trauma or disruption; and also issues to consider when determining the infant or young child's best interest when separated from siblings. First, the authors summarize the literature regarding attachment relationships and attachment disruptions. Then, they review outcome studies of children residing in foster care who are placed with their siblings and of those who are placed separately. Finally, the authors conclude with specific recommendations for child welfare workers to aid in making such difficult decisions about placing infants in foster care.