Land Use Land Cover (LULC) dynamics and the associated drivers are vehemently debated issues among scientific community due to its significant impact on global scale. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the major trends and drivers influencing LULC change in District Abbottabad, Pakistan. Mixed method approach comprising of remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and household survey were employed to collect data from 130 households. Descriptive data was analyzed through index-based ranking. Further logistic regression was employed to examine the impact of perceived drivers of LULC change. Ranking of major perceived and proximate drivers identified were unplanned urbanization, natural conditions, agricultural decline and increase infrastructure. While population growth, lack of financial resources, poor marketing and weak governance were identified as underlying drivers of LULC change. Similarly, findings of GIS data revealed massive increase in built-up (3.12%) areas and urbanization at the expense of agricultural and bare land (-15.7%) between 1987-2019.

Women's participation in higher education is mainly attributed to varying socioeconomic and cultural practices. By employing a survey and focus group discussion, we ascertained the social and cultural determinants and the impact on female higher education in the high mountainous rural areas of Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan. Through analysing responses from 160 participants, we found that low levels of parental education, gender biases, safety concerns, and early-age marriages are some of the dominating sociocultural constraints on female higher education. Likewise, demographic and economic factors including the parents’ age, occupation, and level of income also influence the participation of females in higher education. It is imperative to engage various stakeholders such as local community, parents and religious leaders to address parental concerns and overcome the sociocultural restraints on female higher education, and for developmental practitioners to ensure access and opportunities for females in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Introduction: Divorce is one of the harshest realities in Eastern societies worldwide because it is an intact component of the elementary social institution of the family. Grievously, divorce rates are escalating with profound ramifications for divorcees in Asia, including Pakistan. Therefore, exploring the challenges after divorce with gender-based dimensions in the Pakistani context was necessary, particularly in Hazara Division. Research methodology: The study followed a pragmatic approach through snowball sampling and recruited 75 respondents. The data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS 25. For descriptive statistics, frequencies of quantitative responses were determined using percentages, means, and standard deviations. Then Chi-Square Test of Independence, Principal Component Analysis, and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance were performed to find an association between the dependent and independent variables. Results: Results demonstrated that most divorcees face children-related issues followed by economic, social, and psychological issues that impede post-divorce adjustment of divorcees. Results showed that the immaturity of divorcees and gender-specific violence specifically for women make it challenging for them to cope with the situation and impede their growth after divorce. Results revealed that more than half of women and a few of men have custody of children after divorce; however, fight over custody of children is another major cause of delayed adjustment. Results presented that gender significantly influences women’s intensity of post-divorce adjustment constraints. Conclusion: Therefore, it is concluded that regardless of gender, ongoing conflicts with ex-spouses or in-laws made the post-divorce adjustment of divorcees difficult. Divorcees are in a constant tug-of-war between fighting internal dilemmas, pursuing individualistic ideals, and fulfilling societal norms, values, and expectations. This battle complicates and prolongs their adjustments after divorce. The study suggests that institutional, psychosocial, and family support is critical to proactively relieve divorcees from resources and their children.

As growth regions evolve to accommodate the increasing population, they need to develop a wider variety of residential properties to accommodate the varying needs of the residents. As a result, the new accommodation is denser which involves higher embodied water carbon and energy. This research compares the construction differences in metropolitan and growth regions of Melbourne to identify embodied carbon, water, and energy. Representative areas of 25 km² are selected from both regions. The growth region has 80% of the built area comprised of 2nd generation low-rise residential buildings whereas the prolific construction type in the Metropolitan region is mixed purpose industrial with 30% of the built area comprising of this type. The methodology implies open-source satellite imagery to build a spatial dataset in QGIS. The visual identification of the constructions in the study areas enables to identity the materials used in their construction. The total embodied carbon, water, and energy for the Metropolitan region are 32,895 tonnes, 4192 mL, and 3,694,412 GJ, respectively, whereas in the growth region, the totals are 179,376 tonnes carbon, 2533 mL water, and 2,243,571 GJ. Whilst Metropolitan has a significantly higher overall footprint when this is compared to the population of each region, it is shown that the growth region with its current construction type has a higher embodied carbon, water, and energy per head. The total per head for Metropolitan is 226.7 GJ energy, 257 kL water, and 20 tonnes carbon, whereas in the growth region, the embodied energy, water, and carbon, respectively, per head is 287.4 GJ, 324.6 kL, and 22 tonnes. The current performance per head of the growth region is considerably lower than that of Metropolitan. Using diverse residential construction types and efficient materials can serve the demanding needs of denser populated areas.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is ubiquitous in the 21st century, hence both educators and learners need to integrate relevant ICT resources in their teaching and learning practices, to meet stakeholder’s expectations and keep abreast with the race of technological advancement. The current research focuses on the analysis of ICT integration elements i-e availability, accessibility, usability and usefulness for teaching and learning in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, characterized as an underdeveloped and mountainous region with limited access to ICT tools in the education system. A mixed method approach was used in this study, with the latest version of SPSS software (version 27) to analyze the data. The findings of the study indicate that there is no significant difference between the respondents in ICT integration for learning as Mann-Whitney U = 6079 and p < 0.001 in higher education institutions (HEIs). However, a significant difference was observed between the respondents for teaching as Mann-Whitney U = 9463 and p > 0.374. Subsequent findings revealed more significant p-values and higher means for learning than teaching. This indicates that the use of ICT tools has a positive and significant impact on learning.