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The study has been carried out to achieve the following objectives: 1-Determining the level of leadership skills of the extension agents working in the Governmental Agricultural Extension in Jordan through specifying the level of their: a- Technical skills. b- Humanistic skills c-Agricultural political skills. 2-Determining the relationship between the degree of the leadership skills of the extension agent and selected personal characteristics. The population of the study included 115 agents who work in the agricultural extension, and they were considered as a representative sample for agricultural extension who will work in the extension in the future. The data of this study was collected through a questionnaire form prepared by the researcher. The questionnaire is composed of two parts: one for the personal information and the second included a measure to test the level of leadership skills of the extension agents. The questionnaire has been given to a number of experts and arbitrators to assure usefulness and efficiency, then a critical limit was used, the examined items were differentiated, then the coefficients of validity constancy were obtained for some variables in the study. After that, information was collected from the study during the period from November to December 2004. Then, the true compliance of the study was detected to the standards used, and the level of leadership skills was determined through specifying the level of the agents' technical skills, humanistic skills and agricultural political skills. The results of the study revealed that the level of leadership skills of the extension agents was generally medium with a slight tendency to lower level. The technical and agricultural political skills were found medium with a slight tendency to lower level. The humanistic skills were recorded to be medium with a slight tendency to higher level. Some recommendations have been made: 1-The Directorate of Agricultural Extension in Jordan should prepare a scientific and practical plan handling the results in detail and in an accurate way for this study according to the level of leadership skills and the sides connected to it. 2-The Directorate should conduct periodic surveys to study the personal and work changes for the agricultural extension agents before being involved in planning the training programs specific to it, and we should clarify the reality of information and knowledge in order to modify it through these programs.

We suggested general polices that can be implemented to improve the sustainability and serviceability of the water sector in Jordan. It is suggested that water legislations in Jordan need to be updated to expand the involvement of the private sector to retain sustainable maintenance programmes that effectively mend water distribution systems. Moreover, water resources should be reallocated among competing sectors considering priority to users with purposes that are deemed to have the higher returns in economic and social terms. It is suggested that activating public awareness programmes will raise community understanding and support for water allocation plans among competing water use sectors and improve public participation in developing and accepting new policies related to water management.

European agricultural activity has an important contribution to European and global food security and also in the preservation of countryside and livelihood. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the agricultural sustainability of the twenty-eight Member States of the European Union in order to promote sustainable agriculture, food security and rural development in the European region. Information and data used are obtained from the European Commission database. The methodology includes the min–max approach and multivariate techniques, namely, Cluster and Factorial Analysis. The findings show the existence of three different clusters of farms in European countries, namely, Central European countries, New Eastern Member States, and the Mediterranean countries. The results also conclude that European agriculture and their respective farms have moderate sustainability where the subsidies from Common Agricultural Policy have a positive impact on. Moreover, agricultural activity in the European Central countries presents the highest value in economic contribution, whereas the Mediterranean countries present more contribution in environmental terms. The highest contribution in terms of creating rural jobs is found in Eastern countries. The main conclusion highlights the need to better adjust agricultural policies among the European Member States in order to better promote the sustainability of agriculture in Europe. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The main aim of this paper is to forecast the future values of the exchange rate of the USD. Dollar (USD) and Pakistani Rupee (PR). For this purpose was used the ARIMA model to forecast the future exchange rates, because the time series was stationary at first difference. Data reported to five years ranging from the first day of April 2014 to 31st March 2019. The results proved that ARIMA (1,1,9) is the most suitable model to forecast the exchange rate. The difference between the forecasted values and actual values are less than 1%; therefore, it was found that the ARIMA is robust and this model will be helpful for the government functionaries, monetary policymakers, economists and other stakeholders to identify and forecast the future trend of the exchange rate and make their policies accordingly. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Abstract. Half-Dressed rubble stone (DS) masonry structures as found in the Himalayan region are investigated using experimental and analytical studies. The experimental study included a shake table test on a one-third scaled structural model, a representative of DS masonry structure employed for public critical facilities, e.g. school buildings, offices, health care units, etc. The aim of the experimental study was to understand the damage mechanism of the model, develop damage scale towards deformation-based assessment and retrieve the lateral force-deformation response of the model besides its elastic dynamic properties, i.e. fundamental vibration period and elastic damping. The analytical study included fragility analysis of building prototypes using a fully probabilistic nonlinear dynamic method. The prototypes are designed as SDOF systems assigned with lateral, force-deformation constitutive law (obtained experimentally). Uncertainties in the constitutive law, i.e. lateral stiffness, strength and deformation limits, are considered through random Monte Carlo simulation. Fifty prototype buildings are analyzed using a suite of ten natural accelerograms and an incremental dynamic analysis technique. Fragility and vulnerability functions are derived for the damageability assessment of structures, economic loss and casualty estimation during an earthquake given the ground shaking intensity, essential within the context of risk assessment of existing stock aiming towards risk mitigation and disaster risk reduction.

Since Pakistan is vulnerable to changing climatic conditions, the country needs emergency measures at every level to mitigate their effect. Many studies have addressed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the macro or institutional level, but its effect at the micro-level is largely ignored in the contemporary literature. The present study aims at filling this gap by highlighting the role of micro-level CSR on Environmental Performance (ENP) and how it is influenced by employees' pro-environmental (PEB) behavior and gender. This study has been carried out in the context of deteriorating environmental conditions, scarce CSR activities and a male dominant society. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire targeting the manufacturing and the service sectors of Pakistan and analyzed through the structural equation modeling technique, using AMOS and SPSS software. The results of this study confirm that micro-level CSR initiatives directly (β = 0.39⁎⁎) and indirectly (β = 0.031⁎⁎) influence the environmental performance of an organization by means of employees' PEB. A conditional indirect gender effect on this interaction was also observed, with women (β =0.17⁎⁎) exerting a stronger effect than men (β = 0.031⁎⁎). These findings may be helpful for policymakers involved in environmental management: It is possible to reduce the environmental footprint of Pakistan's organizations by encouraging employee's PEB and particularly by actively involving women which are systematically set apart from decision making in Pakistan.

The literature on sustainable tourism is scant, particularly in the least developed countries. Very few studies touch upon the concept and no holistic theoretical or conceptual frameworks around the idea of sustainable tourism have been formulated. This study aims at exploring the role of tour operators in developing sustainable tourism in Pakistan and how the tour operators (TOs) conceive their role in this regard. TOs were reached through phone calls, emails, and virtual sources as face-to-face interviews were not possible due to COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on travel by the government. In-depth interviews were conducted to gather data. Results suggest that the TOs although realize the importance of social, environmental, and economic dimensions of tourism on the communities but have no management systems in place to cater accordingly. There are no incentives in place by the government facilitate TOs to design and implement such systems. The TOs do not select a destination based on Global Sustainable Tourism Council criterion, but rather the selection of destination is mostly demand-based and profit-oriented. The study suggests that corporate profit motive is the sole criterion for decision making and is one of the major causes impeding sustainable tourism in Pakistan. The role of TOs in developing sustainable tourism is vague as the TOs do not have any systems in place to implement sustainable models. The study recommends that efforts need to be put in place to incentivize sustainable tourism in Pakistan and proper laws should be set forth by the authorities to comply by the TOs. The role of TOs is important and understood, however, there is a need to put proper systems in place.

Water scarcity is rising as a global issue, because the planet earth is facing a global water crisis, which is considered something that can destroy environmental sustainability of our planet. The fact is that humanity's demand is depleting natural resources faster than nature can replenish itself; if human habits and unsustainable use of water resources do not change, water scarcity will inevitably intensify and become a major cause of conflict among different nations of the world. The water scarcity issue is a crucial issue but unfortunately it has not received due attention in past. Pakistan, which once was a water abundant country, now facing a situation of water scarcity. Pakistan has a poor irrigation system which results 60% loss of its water; Pakistan uses more water for crop production than other countries. Likewise, the country harvests water from rainfall, rivers, snow, and glaciers. The country is facing a serious water crisis that is caused by different factors, such as changing climatic conditions, rising population, poor irrigation system, poor political will, and rapid urbanization. The water crisis of Pakistan is expected to worsen in coming years. This is a drastic situation which calls for emergency measures. With this background, the present study provides a detailed view of the water situation in the country with challenges to water management. The study also suggests some recommendations for policymakers to improve the water crisis situation in the future. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Der Band dokumentiert die Beiträge eines dreitägigen Seminars im Dezember 2003 zur Anwendung des Scharia-Strafrechts und zum Menschenrechtsschutz in den betroffenen nigerianischen Bundesstaaten. Ziel des Seminars war es vor allem über das Scharia-Strafrecht zu informieren und die Kenntnisse der Richter über Menschenrechtsstandards in Scharia-Verfahren zu verbessern. Die Teilnehmer verständigten sich auf ein Kommuniqué, in dem sie die Beachtung der Menschenrechte anmahnen. Diese seien mit der Scharia vereinbar. Bei Tötungsdelikten möge auf die Todesstrafe verzichtet und die Möglichkeit genutzt werden, der Opferfamilie eine Entschädigung zu zahlen; auch könne die Opferfamilie vergeben. (GIGA-Sbd)