Dynamic Sectoral Growth and Export Expansion Determinants: the Evidence from the Asian Countries

This research work is an empirical analysis of the effects of the outward orientation policies on economic growth of four of the Asian NICs, namely Korea Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The first research matter dealt with the impacts of the government policies in export, financial and government sectors on the economic growth, and the second research matter addressed the determinants of the export expansion in the studied countries. Basically the liberalization policies implemented in the export, financial, and government sectors, argued to have favorable effects on the efficiency of these sectors. The argument suggests that the marginal factor productivity in these sectors should be higher due to the policies implemented in these sectors. Thus, to investigate the efficiency of these sectors, the researcher extended a framework developed by Feder (1983) using neoclassical production function approach. The basic idea behind this framework is that, dividing the economy into two sectors first the proposed efficient sector output and the second is the rest of an economy output. Specifying the production function with assuming that the marginal factors productivity differential among an economy sectors allows testing for the efficiency differential among sectors. The researcher extended the two-sector model to include a third sector, that extend the scope of the framework to be usable for investigating the axiomatic macroeconomic rule that macroeconomic policies do not work in isolation, and met the study objectives. The results of estimation of the three-sector model showed that, export, financial and government sectors are efficient and the marginal factor productivity in these sectors is enhanced over the time and with the stage of development. The results also show that, export sector is not the only dominant sector as it is found in the previous studies, but also financial and government sectors are important in determining the long run economic growth of the studied countries. In the second research issue, the researcher attempted to investigate whether the export expansion is a demand or supply determinant. Utilizing export's demand and supply systems, the researcher also incorporates the exchange rate volatility to the demand equation. The results showed that both export demand and supply are important in determining export expansion in the studied countries and over the study period. However, exchange rate volatility had adversely effects on the export demand. The study utilized the last advancements made in the econometrics of the time series to ensure the robustness of the estimation of the models

Mechanical Properties of Multilayers of Carbon Nanotube Polystyrene Nanocomposites

We have studied the mechanical behavior of multi-layered composite films comprised of single-wall carbon nanotubes and polystyrene polymer, where we focused on three targeted layer thicknesses; 10 nm, 20 nm, and 40 nm. The approach we used is the Strain-Induced Elastic Buckling Instability for Mechanical Measurements (SIEBIFMM) technique, which allows us to measure the Young modulus of the films as a function of layer thickness and the number of layers by inducing a compressive stress in the films at different strains; 1 %, 2.5 %, 5 %, 7.5 %, and 10 %. Polystyrene was added in an effort to reduce the plasticity of the carbon nanotube films by filling the pores of the nanotube network. We found that the strongest synergistic effect in this regard occurred for the composite with a layer thickness near 20 nm, while the composite films have reached bulk behavior by the sixth layer

Critical Success Factors on Application of E-Commerce in Saudi Arabia

Nowadays, E-commerce services used widely in different fields for providing and facilitating user needs. Most of these services give the flexibility and easy to access anytime and anywhere without need to waste the time. Saudi Arabia customers and other internet users are facing a lack in optimizing these services (E-commerce) to do their business and other issues. Hence, this study aimed to determine the critical success factors of optimizing E-commerce application in Saudi Arabia. The study has been addressed the E-commerce application as independent variables and culture, security, and knowledge as dependent variables. The study has been adopted a questionnaire survey for investigating the relationship among the study factors. The analyzing of the variables shows the significant relationship among optimizing E-commerce services by Saudi people are dependent on culture, security, and knowledge

Redox-active molecules and polymers with photovoltaic applications

The study presented in this thesis provides details regarding the synthesis and characterization of different redox active molecules which can be applied to form the active layer of photovoltaic devices. For example in chapter two, star-shaped thiophene based molecules are described and their electronic and optical properties have been investigated. In chapter three, oligomers featuring bipyridinium units with different thienyl moieties have been successfully synthesized. Preliminary electropolymerization studies are achieved. In chapter four, two different series of powerful push-pull systems containing dimethyaniline DMA moieties as a strong donating group and TCNE or TCNQ as electron accepting groups have been prepared. These series feature quinone and oligothiophene units as supporting acceptor and donor unit. In chapter five, two different series of powerful organic dyes that could improve the efficiency of DSSCs by modulating the absorption of light towards the near-IR region are achieved. The influence of π-conjugated spacers on the optical and physical properties of synthesized dyes has been investigated. Preliminary DSSCs have been fabricated from some of these systems and their properties have been compared to dye N719

Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying \u3cem\u3eRsv1\u3c/em\u3e Mediated Resistance to SMV in Soybean

Like humans, viral diseases also affect plants. Of these, viruses belonging to the potyvirus genus are the most prolific. The potyvirus soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is an important pathogen of the crop plant soybean. SMV causes mosaic symptoms (yellow areas alternate with dark green areas on the leaves of the plant) and can affect yield by reducing seed quality. Few cultivars from soybean can resist different SMV strains. To understand soybean defense mechanisms to SMV, I identified soybean proteins that interact with the helper component protease (HC-Pro) of SMV, which also functions as the suppressor of host RNA silencing and thereby contributes to viral virulence. A genome wide yeast two hybrid screen identified two HC-Pro interactors; BRI1-associated receptor kinase 1 (BAK1) and ubiquitin conjugating enzyme 2 (UBC2). Interactions with HC-Pro were confirmed using bimolecular florescence complementation (BiFC), and co-immunoprecipitations (Co-IP) assays. HC-Pro showed co-localization with both BAK1 and UBC2 in planta. Six isoforms of BAK1 were identified in soybean (BAK1 a, b, c, d, e, and f). Functional analysis showed that silencing the gene encoding BAK1a resulted in breakdown of resistance derived from the resistance (R) locus Rsv1, against SMV. Consistent with the fact that BAK1 is well known regulator of plant basal immunity, soybean plants silenced for BAK1 exhibited enhanced susceptibility to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. BAK1, a receptor-like kinase, functions as a co-receptor in plant defense signaling as well as brassinosteroid-derived signaling during plant growth. My data indicates that HC-Pro is phosphorylated in the presence of BAK1 and this requires the T341 residue which regulates virus avirulence in Rsv1 plants. This is an important finding because although BAK1 is well known to phosphorylate BRI1 and other defense-related receptors, its involvement in phosphorylating pathogen-derived proteins has not been reported. My work raises the possibility that BAK1-derived phosphorylation of HC-Pro may be important to trigger Rsv1-mediated resistance against SMV

The international aspects of the European common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and their interaction with third countries

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The thesis examines the international taxation rules of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) and their interaction with third-country corporate tax practice. The aim is to assess the effectiveness of the CCCTB vis-à-vis third countries, with Egypt as a practical example. The CCCTB has the potential to reduce corporate tax obstacles faced by businesses in the EU in having to comply with up to twenty seven different domestic systems for determining their taxable profits. However, the international taxation rules of the CCCTB system are likely to have an impact on the corporate tax practice in third countries, and may conflict with existing bilateral tax treaties concluded between CCCTB-Member States and third countries. The discussion presents a detailed analysis of the CCCTB’s unilateral framework for the avoidance of double taxation and for the protection of the common consolidated tax base. It reveals that, by means of ordinary credit and exemption methods provided in the CCCTB Directive, international double taxation will be eliminated in relation to third countries. Furthermore, the CCCTB’s anti-abuse rules are effective in protecting the common tax base and in eliminating non-double taxation. Nevertheless, the unilateral measures are in conflict with a number of important provisions of bilateral tax treaties, based on the OECD Model, concluded between the potential CCCTB-Member States and third countries. Egypt exemplifies this – but the problem is generic. These conflicts between the CCCTB and OECD Model bilateral treaties are detrimental to the effective functioning of the CCCTB system vis-à-vis third countries, and need to be redressed. This thesis suggests a simple and practical solution - replacement of the bilateral tax treaties between CCCTB-Member States and third countries with a multilateral tax treaty to be concluded between every third country and all CCCTB-Member States

Web-Based Project Documentation Repository System

The purpose of this study is to explain the need for a web-based application to provide the information technology student's projects with the necessary and essential resources. The proposed system provides students with an efficient system to search and retrieve about the previous information technology master projects with the information on the topics of projects, list and details of submitted projects. Project Document Repository System supports unified access, efficient documents utilization and management through a simple to use, standard web browser interface. The study identifies the main features and functionalities to manage and organize project's documents. The proposed prototype will make the process of storing, searching and retrieval of the project document become more effective, easy and faster. The prototype is tested and evaluated to achieve the objectives of the study

The determinants and value relevance of goodwill impairments in Malaysia firms: The role of corporate governance mechanisms

The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants and the value relevance of goodwill impairments. In contrast to similar studies, this study does not focus solely on management’s opportunistic reporting behavior. Instead, it provides some insights into the likelihood that they exercise their discretion to improve the informational value of accounting information. In addition, this study compares the determinants of goodwill impairments across the pre- and the post Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance 2012 (MCCG 2012) and explores the influence of monitoring mechanisms on shareholders’ valuation assessments of goodwill impairments. By doing so, it extends the literature relating to the role of corporate governance in constraining management’s discretionary behavior associated with goodwill impairment testing. Using panel data over the period 2010 to 2014, the results show that goodwill impairments are associated with “big bath” behavior, an earnings management technique, and CEO changes. The results also indicate that these impairments generate value relevant and bad news to shareholders. Therefore, the combined findings suggest that establishing accounting standards which provide relevant information are difficult to implement reliably. Additionally, this study documents that, except for CEO changes, goodwill impairments have greater association with big bath behavior, and lower association with return on assets subsequent to MCCG 2012 implementation, consistent with criticisms of the MCCG. Finally, this study shows that effective corporate governance mitigates the bad news conveyed by goodwill impairments, indicating that firms with strong monitoring mechanisms are less likely to engage in big bath reporting behavior. Overall, the findings of this study should be useful to standard setters and policy makers who are interested in improving and evaluating the quality of goodwill reporting and corporate governance practices in Malaysia while emphasizing the importance of good corporate governance in ensuring credible accounting informatio

ECG Signal Transmissions Performance over Wearable Wireless Sensor Networks

AbstractSudden death is the most common disease of heart diseases and usually caused by cardiac arrest. The electrocardiograph (ECG) system is the most direct way to observe and monitor health status of the heart. In this kind of disease, the patient may need continuous monitoring, and sometimes is kept in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), which needs more utilities and manpower that will eventually leads to increase the cost and demands for qualified medical staff. In this paper we introduce a comprehensive real time monitoring ECG system for continuous monitoring patients inside/outside home. Wearable Wireless Sensor Network with a cluster head is connected to patient body for monitoring. Measured data by WWSS are transmitted via cluster head to an internet connection to the monitoring system located on the hospital. In case of emergency, the measured data is sent to the physician's cell phone for any necessary actions. We discuss the inside/outside system structure. Additionally, we analyze the proposed system in terms of power consumptions and optimum distance between WSN sensors

Sestrin2 as a Novel Biomarker and Therapeutic Target for Various Diseases

Sestrin2 (SESN2), a highly conserved stress-inducible metabolic protein, is known to repress reactive oxygen species (ROS) and provide cytoprotection against various noxious stimuli including genotoxic and oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and hypoxia. Studies demonstrate that the upregulation of Sestrin2 under conditions of oxidative stress augments autophagy-directed degradation of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), which targets and breaks down nuclear erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a key regulator of various antioxidant genes. Moreover, ER stress and hypoxia are shown to induce Sestrins, which ultimately reduce cellular ROS levels. Sestrin2 also plays a pivotal role in metabolic regulation through activation of the key energy sensor AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) and inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). Other downstream effects of Sestrins include autophagy activation, antiapoptotic effects in normal cells, and proapoptotic effects in cancer cells. As perturbations in the aforementioned pathways are well documented in multiple diseases, Sestrin2 might serve as a potential therapeutic target for various diseases. Thus, the aim of this review is to discuss the upstream regulators and the downstream effectors of Sestrins and to highlight the significance of Sestrin2 as a biomarker and a therapeutic target in diseases such as metabolic disorders, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.This publication was made possible by a NPRP award [NPRP8-1750-3-360] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors