Exogenous Shocks and Exchange Rate Management in Developing Countries

Even though globalization benefits less developed countries (LDCs), it also makes them more vulnerable to the exogenous shocks to the economies. Many LDCs rely on imported technologies and intermediate inputs to compete in the international export markets with better quality and cost efficient products. In this regard, exchange rate policies in respective countries have a direct bearing on the cost of production. This paper examines alternative exchange rate regimes to suggest an appropriate exchange rate policy in the context of developing countries. The paper utilizes a small open economy model involving direct supply-side effects of exchange rate and expectations of key economic variables and considers four possible exchange rate policies, e.g., fixed exchange rate, perfectly flexible exchange rate, leaning against the wind, and leaning with the wind. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the paper finds that in the event of a shock, leaning against the wind is likely to be the most appropriate exchange rate policy. Moreover, in the event of rigid wages, a fixed exchange rate policy is advisable.globalization, exchange rate regimes, exchange rate policy

Relationship Between Limb Muscle Strength and Agility with Dribbling Skills in Football Extracurricular Students

This research was conducted because it wanted to know the relationship between leg muscle strength with dribbling skills and agility with dribbling skills in soccer extracurricular participants at SMP Negeri 1 Tanjung Bumi. In this study, the author uses a type of correlation research method with a quantitative approach. This research was carried out at SMP Negeri 1 Tanjung Bumi for one day from 23 to 24 March 2022. This study used 3 instruments, one of which was (1) Leg-dynamometer, this tool is used to measure leg muscle strength in kilograms (kg) ( 2) Zig-zag Run Test, this test is used to determine agility, (3) Dribbling, this test is used to determine students' dribbling skills. The sample used was a total of 30 male students who took part in extracurricular football at SMP Negeri 1 Tanjung Bumi and used the Total Sampling technique. Based on the results of the calculations and discussion above, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between leg muscle strength with dribbling skills and agility with dribbling skills in soccer extracurricular participants at SMP Negeri 1 Tanjung Bumi

Development of Infrastructural Linkages between Pakistan and Central Asia

Pakistan is located at the confluence of three vital regions of South, Central and West Asia and provides the shortest access to the sea for all landlocked countries of Central Asia besides Western China. Strategic communication and trade linkages among these three regions passing through Pakistan will transform the country into an economic hub giving boost to inter-regional economic activity. Baluchistan sits on estimated reserves of 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 6 billion barrels of oil. The Gwader complex will provide a port, warehouses, and industrial facilities for more than twenty countries. The port will eventually be able to receive oil tankers with a capacity of 200,000 tons. The construction of Gwadar port and related connecting routes with Afghanistan actually reduce these distances by approximately 500 km for Pakistan-Central Asia traffic. Pakistan and China are up-grading the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The two countries have agreed to open four new road links through the Khunjerab Pass, bringing the total number of ChinaPakistan roads links to eight. Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to initiate a bus service that would not only enhance trade but also be an important tool to promote people-to-people contacts between the four countries. Turkmenistan-AfghanistanPakistan gas pipeline projects are important to meet the growing energy needs of Pakistan and India. Although Central Asia is landlocked, the tremendous untapped hydrocarbon wealth of the Caspian Sea region makes it the world’s envy. Pakistan offers the critical overland routes and connectivity for mutually beneficial trade and energy transactions intraregionally and inter-regionally. Pakistan’s membership and association of the regional organizations namely SCO, SAARC and ECO lends the country a unique position to facilitate inter-regional cooperation. Pakistan’s participation in these projects will symbolize the return of the Indus valley to the central place in region-wide economic and cultural interaction.&nbsp

Caracterización metódica de aceite de salvado de arroz (Oryza sativa) de Pakistán

The hexane-extracted oil content of four varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) viz. Super Kernel, 386, 385 and Basmati, bran was ranged 14.70-19.10 %. Other physical and chemical parameters of the extracted oils were as follow: Iodine value 112.40, 109.80, 105.1 and 103.70; refractive index ( 40 °C ) 1.4650, 1.4680, 1.4657 and 1.4660; density ( 40 °C ) 0.919, 0.913, 0.909 and 0.911; saponification value 183, 177, 186 and 190; unsaponifiable matter 6.15, 5.60, 4.98 and 5.40 % respectively. Tocopherols ( α, γ and δ) in the oils were: 284.00, 175.12, 180.42, 300.06; 83.40, 98.70, 120.70, 90.60; 75.16, 57.20, 39.32, 83.00 mg/kg respectively. The contents of tocotrienols ( α, γ and δ) in the oils were: 120.30, 106.00, 95.20, 135.74; 196.00, 125.00, 210.0, 276.41; 72.50, 20.00, 39.30, 64.00 mg/kg respectively. The amount of γ - Oryzanol in the investigated oils was ranged 415.12-802.05 The induction periods (Rancimat, 20 L/h, 120 °C ) of the crude oils were 6.81, 5.99, 6.39 and 7.40 h respectively. The major sterol fractions of the oils consisted of campesterol ranged (10.10-19.20%), stigmasterol (14.00-19.28 %), b -sitosterol (49.30-58.20 %), and D5 ,avenasterol (8.14-13.05 %). The investigated varieties ( Super Kernel, 386, 385 and Basmati) of rice bran oil were found to contain high levels of oleic acid 42.67, 38.59, 40.68 and 36.78 % followed by linoleic and palmitic acids 31.58, 33.80, 28.70, 30.51 and 17.00, 14.88, 19.63, 20.00 % respectively. The contents of myristic, stearic and arachidic acids was 1.50, 2.02, 4.28, 1.00; 2.64, 2.87, 4.02, 7.48; and 1.28, 3.00, 1.00, 1.00 % respectively. A number of parameters of the investigated rice bran oils indigenous to Pakistan were comparable to those of typical rice bran and some other vegetable oils, reported in the literature. The results of the present analysis as compared with those of different vegetable oils demonstrated rice bran to be a potential oil source and thus could be useful for the establishment of a globalized database of this valuable crop.El contenido de aceite, extraído con hexano, del salvado de cuatro variedades de arroz (Oryza sativa) viz. Super Kernel, 386, 385 y Basmati, varió entre el 14.70 y el 19.10 %. Otros parámetros físicos y químicos de los aceites extraídos fueron respectivamente: Indice de yodo: 112.40, 109.80, 105.1 y 103.70; índice de refracción ( 40 °C ): 1.4650, 1.4680, 1.4657 y 1.4660; densidad ( 40 °C ) 0.919, 0.913, 0.909 y 0.911; índice de saponificación: 183, 177, 186 y 190; insaponificable: 6.15, 5.60, 4.98 y el 5.40 %. Los tocoferoles ( α, γ, δ) en los aceites fueron, respectivamente: 284.00, 175.12, 180.42, 300.06; 83.40, 98.70, 120.70, 90.60; 75.16, 57.20, 39.32 y 83.00 mg/kg. El contenido de tocotrienoles ( α, γ, δ) en los aceites fue: 120.30, 106.00, 95.20, 135.74; 196.00, 125.00, 210.0, 276.41; 72.50, 20.00, 39.30 y 64.00 mg/kg, respectivamente. En los aceites estudiados se encontró una concentración de γ -oryzanol que varió entre 415.12 y 802.05 µg/g . Los periodos de inducción (Rancimat, 20 L/h, 120 °C ) de los aceites crudos fueron 6.81, 5.99, 6.39 y 7.40 h, respectivamente. Las fracciones principales de esteroles en los aceites se componían de: campesterol (10.10-19.20 %), stigmasterol (14.00-19.28 %), b -sitosterol (49.30-58.20 %) y Δ5 ,avenasterol (8.14-13.05 %). Las variedades investigadas ( Super Kernel, 386, 385 and Basmati) de aceite de salvado de arroz contenían elevados niveles de acido oleico 42.67, 38.59, 40.68 y 36.78 % seguido por los ácidos linoleico y palmítico 31.58, 33.80, 28.70, 30.51; 17.00, 14.88, 19.63 y 20.00 %, respectivamente. Los contenidos en ácidos mirístico, esteárico y araquídico fueron 1.50, 2.02, 4.28, 1.00; 2.64, 2.87, 4.02, 7.48; 1.28, 3.00, 1.00 y 1.00 % respectivamente. Los valores encontrados en los parámetros de los salvados de arroz investigados de procedencia Paquistaní son parecidos a los encontrados en la literatura de otros salvados de arroz y de aceites extraídos de verduras. Los resultados del presente análisis, al igual que los similares obtenidos de aceites de diferentes verduras, han demostrado que el salvado de arroz podría ser una fuente potencial de aceite y también podrían ser útiles para el establecimiento de una base de datos globalizada de esta valiosa cosecha

Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm mimicking Mirizzi syndrome

Acute cholecystitis leading to development of a pseudoaneurysm of the hepatic artery is a very rare complication; however, a pseudoaneurysm resulting in gallbladder neck compression with dilatation of intrahepatic duct giving a Mirizzi syndrome like presentation is virtually unreported to the best of our knowledge. We report a case of a 60 years male patient who presented in emergency department with right hypochondrial pain and mild jaundice. Initial diagnosis of hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm causing compression of neck of gallbladder and common bile duct was made on ultrasound examination. This was resulting in gross distention of gallbladder and mild dilatation of intrahepatic ducts. Findings were confirmed on CT scan. Later successful selective transcatheter arterial embolization of the aneurysm and percutaneous cholecystostomy were performed

Detecting and Mitigating Denial-of-Service Attacks on Voice over IP Networks

Voice over IP (VoIP) is more susceptible to Denial of Service attacks than traditional data traffic, due to the former's low tolerance to delay and jitter. We describe the design of our VoIP Vulnerability Assessment Tool (VVAT) with which we demonstrate vulnerabilities to DoS attacks inherent in many of the popular VoIP applications available today. In our threat model we assume an adversary who is not a network administrator, nor has direct control of the channel and key VoIP elements. His aim is to degrade his victim's QoS without giving away his presence by making his attack look like a normal network degradation. Even black-boxed, applications like Skype that use proprietary protocols show poor performance under specially crafted DoS attacks to its media stream. Finally we show how securing Skype relays not only preserves many of its useful features such as seamless traversal of firewalls but also protects its users from DoS attacks such as recording of conversations and disruption of voice quality. We also present our experiences using virtualization to protect VoIP applications from 'insider attacks'. Our contribution is two fold we: 1) Outline a threat model for VoIP, incorporating our attack models in an open-source network simulator/emulator allowing VoIP vendors to check their software for vulnerabilities in a controlled environment before releasing it. 2) We present two promising approaches for protecting the confidentiality, availability and authentication of VoIP Services

Knowledge graph-based convolutional network coupled with sentiment analysis towards enhanced drug recommendation

Recommending appropriate drugs to patients based on their history and symptoms is a complex real-world problem. Knowing whether a drug is useful without its consumption by a variety of people followed by proper evaluation is a challenge. Modern-day recommender systems can assist in this provided they receive large data to learn. Public reviews on various drugs are available for knowledge sharing. These reviews assist in recommending the best and most appropriate option to the user. The explicit feedback underpins the entire recommender system. This work develops a novel knowledge graph-based convolutional network for recommending drugs. The knowledge graph is coupled with sentiment analysis extracted from the public reviews on drugs to enhance drug recommendations. For each drug that has been used previously, sentiments have been analyzed to determine which one has the most effective reviews. The knowledge graph effectively captures user-item relatedness by mining its associated attributes. Experiments are performed on public benchmarks and a comparison is made with closely related state-of-the-art works. Based on the obtained results, the current work performs better than the past contributions by achieving up to 98.7% Area Under Curve (AUC) score