صحتِ انسانی اور صحت مند ماحول میں نباتات کا کردار: سائنس اوراسلامی تعلیمات کے تناظر میں ایک مطالعہ

The research paper deals with role of plants in human health and healthy environment in the context of Qur'anic verses and science. The concept of growing plants for health rather than for food or fiber is slowly changing plant biotechnology and medicine. Rediscovery of the connection between plants and health is responsible for launching a new generation of botanical therapeutics that include plant-derived pharmaceuticals, multi component botanical drugs, dietary supplements, functional foods and plant-produced recombinant proteins. Many of these products will soon complement conventional pharmaceuticals in the treatment, prevention and diagnosis of diseases, while at the same time adding value to agriculture. Holy Quran describes the importance of rain as pure water to irrigate dead soil and emergence of life (plant’s growth) from the dead soil. Plants provide foods for human beings and are necessary for healthy environment. Man is an omnivore who gets his food from both plant and animal sources. However, for immediate energy, humans rely more on plant starches and soluble sugars, including glucose and edible sugar. Generally, our normal diet consists of rice or wheat bread which is a very important source of starch.  Sugar and fats are the two most important components of food managed by plants. Apart from this, the man manages vegetables and salads from plants which are the guarantors of his health/survival in modern times. There are many reasons for diversity in plants. The obvious reason is the chemistry of that particular piece of land, what kind of minerals/salts and other nutrients that land has and what types of plants can grow there in their presence. In this research written with a descriptive and analytical approach, it is proved that according to Quran and science plants have a great role in human health and healthy environment.

Comparison of forecasting performance of DSGE and VAR Models: the case of Pakistan

This study estimates a DSGE model and three versions of VAR models to analyze forecast performance of these models in context of Pakistan. Three versions of VAR models (VARX. BVARX and BVAR) and, a variant of Adolfson. Laséen. Lindé, and Villani (2007) DSGE model have been estimated using quarterly data (1980Q4-2016Q2). Expanding window recursive out-of-sample forecasts for GDP growth, call money rate, CPI inflation and change in exchange rate are generated and compared over the period 2009Q1-2016Q2. Forecasting performance is analyzed by the comparison of bias and root mean squared errors (RMSE). Comparison of forecasting performance shows that, VAR models provide better forecasts than estimated DSGE model. However, in case of GDP growth, interest rate and inflation, forecasting performance of estimated DSGE model appears to be quite close to VAR models. Forecasts from all models are positively correlated, detiorate in turbulant times and improve in relatively calm periods