The Role of Fintech Payment Instruments in Improving Financial Inclusion

This study examines the role of Fintech payments instruments in evolving accounts ownership as- a master indicator of financial inclusion; to determine if their effectiveness differs according to the different income levels of countries. The sample of the study consists of a panel of twenty-two countries over the period 2010-2020. The database is gathered from the Global Findex; 2021 edition of World Bank. The account ownerships are regressed on Fintech instruments using (FMOLS) method. The results had shown a significant effect of digital remittances, debit and credit cards; and macroeconomic indicators on financial inclusion, in high and middle-income countries, indicating that Fintech payment instruments had been accelerated financial inclusion, but with different levels due to the variation in technological developments and low level of financial literacy. An insignificant effect of the S&P indicator across varying income countries had shown the need for more attention to Fintech and financial literacy to accelerate financial inclusion. In addition to that, countries should work to develop and strengthen of the communication and information infrastructure especially, in developing countries, in order to activate the role of financial technology

Fund Family Selectivity Skills and Market Timing Ability: Comparison Study

This study aims to examine fund family performance, in terms of selectivity skills and marketing timing ability, in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan in 2007–2021. The sample is divided into three levels. First, analysis of the whole sample. Second, analysis by country. Third, analysis of Islamic- and conventional-focused families. The main results are: First, the fund family provides numerous advantages and facilities to managers, for instance diversification opportunities and market research, allowing them to select stocks well. However, their timing ability is still poor. Second, Saudi Arabia has the best performance while Pakistan has the worst performance. Third, as a novel contribution, there are difference in skills and ability between Islamic and conventional family managers due to their difference in main objectives. The findings are important for managers and investors. Managers can position themselves better relative to their competitors, while investors can more effectively allocate their resources to funds that are managed well by fund families

Expression and Characterization of Drosophila Signal Peptide Peptidase-Like (sppL), a Gene That Encodes an Intramembrane Protease

Intramembrane proteases of the Signal Peptide Peptidase (SPP) family play important roles in developmental, metabolic and signaling pathways. Although vertebrates have one SPP and four SPP-like (SPPL) genes, we found that insect genomes encode one Spp and one SppL. Characterization of the Drosophila sppL gene revealed that the predicted SppL protein is a highly conserved structural homolog of the vertebrate SPPL3 proteases, with a predicted nine-transmembrane topology, an active site containing aspartyl residues within a transmembrane region, and a carboxy-terminal PAL domain. SppL protein localized to both the Golgi and ER. Whereas spp is an essential gene that is required during early larval stages and whereas spp loss-of-function reduced the unfolded protein response (UPR), sppL loss of function had no apparent phenotype. This was unexpected given that genetic knockdown phenotypes in other organisms suggested significant roles for Spp-related proteases

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Sudden infant death syndrome in the Middle East: An exploration of the literature on rates, risk factors, high risk groups and intervention programs

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a problem world-wide. Since it was identified; Western nations have implemented extensive SIDS education campaigns to reduce SIDS risk which have resulted in dramatically decreasing SIDS death rates. In contrast, there is little information available about the impact of SIDS in Middle East (ME) countries where high infant mortality is common. STo investigate SIDS incidence rates across various ME countries, ascertain specific SIDS risk factors relevant to ME populations, categorise high risk groups and identify SIDS intervention programs in the ME. A structured literature review was performed. A total of 10,509 study were identified with 11 proving to be most relevant to the research purpose. The SIDS incidence rates data available in ME countries is extremely limited with only five studies addressing SIDS rates in the ME. For a range of reasons, many infant deaths are registered as "cause unknown" with no associated autopsy report or other details. Additionally, limitations in the study designs restrict the ability to accurately estimate incidence rates from the research projects reported. The most significant risk factor for SIDS in ME countries identified in the literature is the high incidence of smoking, resulting from less political restrictions on smoking at home and public settings. Targeted public health SIDS education programs need to be developed and promoted in high risk ME countries with a specific focus on infant care practices, lifestyle and general living conditions