All around the world the number of automobiles has increased many folds (about ten times) in the last fifty years which resulted in an enormous increase in urban pollution level especially in developing countries. Pakistan has been considered as the most urbanized country in South East Asia with about 36% of Pakistan‟s total population is residing in towns & cities. It has been estimated that an average vehicle in Pakistan emits 20 times more unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs), 24 times as much carbon monoxide (CO) & about 3.6 times more oxides of nitrogen (NOx) when compared to an average vehicle in U.S. Furthermore the scarcity of conventional fuels also propelled the world to explore alternative fuel options with same or preferably less environmental implications. Natural gas is rated as high octane alternative fuel with octane rating of 120~130 and exhibiting clean burning characteristics. It is possible to attain increased efficiency from natural gas because of its high octane value with the increase of the compression ratio of the engine. Further the improved combustion efficiency of natural gas fuel also reduces the tail pipe pollutant emission. The focus of this research is to suggest the optimum compression ratio at which the performance of dedicated natural gas engine can be optimized. A 2.5 L Diesel Engine was selected and converted to run solely on natural gas as dedicated mode by incorporating spark plugs, electronic ignition control system, and CNG fuel metering system. Different piston sets were modified to obtain selected compression ratios. Based on the literature review, compression ratios were 11, 12, 13 & 14 had been selected. The temperature gauges were installed in the cooling water circuit and exhaust manifold to measure the water & exhaust gas temperatures. The engine was then tested on dynamometer for performance & exhaust emission. The readings of NOx, CO, UHCs at 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000 rpm at selected compression ratios were taken by using 5-gas exhaust gas analyzer. For emission testing, steady-state test profile was generated. Exhaust gas temperatures were also recorded at different rpm settings at selected compression ratios. The results have been plotted and normalized by power. Based on the engine performance, the compression ratio of 13 has been selected as optimum compression ratio for dedicated CNG engine. For further reduction of engine exhaust emission Three-Way Catalytic simulation through Chemkin software has been carried out and the performance parameters were also predicted through simulation using single-zone thermodynamic model.
الإصلاح عملية تقتضي مقاربة شمولية من حيث مدلولها، يلتقي فيها الجانب النظري بالتطبيقي، مع وضوح في الرؤية والمنهج، ذلك أنه يأخذ بعين الإعتبار الوضع القائم والإنطلاق منه بتثيت الصالح فيه، وتقويم ما اندرس للإنتقال به إلى وضع جديد أفضل. ومن هنا تأتي هذه الورقة العلمية لتسليط الضوء على فكر وعطاء العلامة بديع الزمان النورسي، قصد الإلمام بحيثيات مشروعه الإصلاحي، ودراسة أثره الممتد إن على المستوى الفكري أو السياسي أو الحضاري، فقد عَبَرَ النورسي بأفكاره ومُعطياته حدود الزمان والمكان، وشكّل منعطفاً حضارياً هاماً في معالجاته الشمولية لمفاهيم هذا الدين العظيم، وفي تقديمه لمشاريع إصلاحية رائدة يحتاج إليها المصلحون، وعليه لا تزال الحاجة إلى دارسات معمقة ومتتابعة ومن جوانب متعددة، لمشروعه الإصلاحي ، للإرشاد في محاولة الرقي والإستئناف الحضاري.
الكلمات المفتاحية: الإمام النورسي، التجديد، الإصلاح، المنهج الإصلاحي.
Financial distress has been considered as an important area of research for academicians and managers. Despite this, the role of corporate governance in financial distress in Pakistan lacks empirical evidence yet. This research examines the role of corporate governance practices on financial performance and the likelihood of financial distress for a cross section of 146 companies listed at the Karachi Stock Exchange for the period of 2003-2012. The analytical framework is based on the agency and stewardship theories. Corporate governance variables are operationalized in terms of ownership structure, and board structure. Additionally, ownership structure is measured through institutional ownership, insider ownership, foreign ownership, and government ownership. Board independence, board size and CEO duality is used to measure board structure. For firm’s financial performance, accounting-based measures such as return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), and market-based performance measures such market to book ratio (MBR) and Tobin’s Q (TQ) are used. The Altman Z-score is used as a proxy for financial distress. The dynamic panel generalized method of moment (GMM) is applied to investigate the association between corporate governance practices and firm’s financial performance, while pool logistic regression is deployed to examine the role of corporate governance practices on the likelihood of corporate financial distress. The empirical results reveal positive and significant relationship between institutional ownership, insider ownership, government ownership and financial performance of the selected companies during the period 2003-2012. A positive relationship between the internal corporate governance practices (that is, Board independence and Board size) and corporate financial performance was also observed. The results further reveal that in the presence of board independence, CEO duality has a positive and significant impact on both the accounting-based and market-based financial performance of the sampled companies in Pakistan. Furthermore, we also observed a positive and significant relationship between insiders’ ownership and the likelihood of corporate financial distress. The findings also reveal significant negative impact of foreign ownership and board independence on the likelihood of financial failure. It is also observed that firm-specific variables such as profitability, liquidity and size have a decisive role in determining the likelihood of corporate financial distress. In overall term, this study provides useful information for corporate managers, policy makers and investors about the corporate governance practices, financial performance and the likelihood of financial distress in Pakistan.”