Stock Market Volatility and Weak-form Efficiency: Evidence from an Emerging Market

There exists a vast literature on modeling and estimating aggregate stock market volatility over the past decade [e.g., Choudhry (1996); Mecagni and Sourial (1999) and Kabir, et al. (2000)]. Motivations for undertaking this exercise have been varied. Many value-at-risk models for measuring market risk require the estimation of volatility parameter. Portfolio diversifications and hedging strategies also require information on volatility as a key input. Volatility is defined as tendency of the assets price to fluctuate either up or down. Increased volatility is perceived as indicating a rise in financial risk which can adversely affect investor assets and wealth. It is observed that when stock market exhibit increased volatility there is a tendency on part of the investors to lose confidence in the market and they tend to exit the market. The nexus between volatility and economic fundamentals is still a moot point. Stock prices reflect information and quicker they are in absorbing accurately new information, more efficient is the stock market in allocating resources. The increase in volatility can be attributed to absorption of new information about economic fundamentals or some expectations about them. This kind of volatility is not harmful as there is no social cost associated with it. But if increased volatility is not explained by the level indicated by the fundamental economic factors, there is a tendency that stocks will be mispriced and this will lead to misallocation of resources [Karmaka (2006)]

Empower Generation Annual Report: Stories of Impact

Empower Generation was founded in 2011 by Anya Cherneff, Bennett Cohen, and Sita Adhikari. Anya was looking to offer sustainable employment to women otherwise vulnerable to slavery while Bennett was thinking about how to enable the widespread adoption of clean energy in developing countries. When Anya and Bennett met Sita in Nepal, together, they identified a tremendous opportunity to create a gender and energy paradigm shift by empowering women to become clean energy entrepreneurs. Empower Generation empowers women to distribute clean energy solutions in their rural communities. We do this by providing training and loans to women who want to start their own businesses, selling clean energy products

Empower Generation: Monitoring and Evaluation Report

Over thirty percent of households in Nepal lack access to electricity. Most families utilize kerosene, candles, and traditional biomass to light their homes, cook food, and study. With an unemployment rate of forty-six percent, Nepal’s economy offers limited opportunities for its citizens. Barriers to economic opportunity for Nepalese women are pronounced. Through the sale of reliable and affordable solar lanterns and energy systems, Empower Generation promotes women’s economic empowerment by eradicating energy poverty through autonomous, women-led clean energy businesses. To document Empower Generation’s social impact in Nepal, we conducted 36 semi-structured qualitative interviews with women entrepreneurs (henceforth solar CEOs), sales agents, and customers across eight districts. Interviews were conducted with an interview script and the help of a translator. Interview questions fostered discussion among solar CEOs about their personal history, the socio-economic impact of their entrepreneurial experience, and their future aspirations. We specifically focused on measuring women’s empowerment, energy access, and the business performance of enterprises in the Empower Generation distribution network. During eight weeks in the field, we took over two thousand photos and filmed seven women entrepreneurs. Our findings demonstrate how Empower Generation fosters power and economic agency among women, stimulates independent income generation, and provides effective technical training and support. Solar CEOs report an increase in their sense of power and agency on individual, familial, and community levels. Empower Generation helps solar CEOs to develop their business acumen through training and support, leading to greater confidence in public speaking and in voicing their opinions in local politics. Income generation through sales also increases women’s agency by diminishing women’s dependence on their husband or family for economic support. Since 2012, 244,418 individuals have increased access to clean and safe lighting from products sold by Empower Generation enterprises. The possession of a solar lantern also provides clean, safe, reliable energy to off-grid consumers. Due to the inefficient and overloaded electric grid, even customers that have access to the grid can be without power for up to 18 hours daily (scheduled blackouts henceforth referred to as load-shedding hours) and find utility from using a solar lantern. Empower Generation has created nearly USD $2.8 million in energy savings for its customers since 2012. Customers also report that their children are able to study an increased 2.5 hours daily, on average, due to possession of a solar lantern. We provide four recommendations to help Empower Generation better achieve its impact. We recommend that Empower Generation: (1) increase the diversity of its products; (2) maintain a larger inventory—and teach solar CEOs and sales agents to make basic repairs—to circumvent import issues and delays relating to warranty replacement; (3) administer surveys to communities and customers in order to better understand consumer needs and desires; and (4) conduct research and analysis to determine the viability of instituting a pay-as-you-go system in rural communities for use with larger home solar systems

Health and needs assessment of geriatric patients: results of a survey at a teaching hospital in Karachi

Objective: To study the health and needs of geriatric patientsMethods: A questionnaire based survey of patients visiting the out-patient department of Aga Khan University was carried out. Ethical requirements were met and included administration of informed consent and provision of confidentiality to patients. Convenience sampling was used without any randomization for interviews. Epi-info and SPSS software were used for data management.Results: Four hundred and two (402) subjects above the age of 65 were surveyed. Most of the subjects were retired (40.5%) married (76.4%) men (69.7%). Ages ranged from 65 to 90 years, the mean being 70.57 years and 291 (72.4%) had five or more health problems. Mobility impairment, urinary incontinence, dyspnoea, fatigue and visual impairment had the worst impact on the life of the individual. Hypertension (42.5%), diabetes mellitus (28.1%) and arthritis (26.6%) were the most commonly reported chronic ailments. Two hundred and three (50.5%) respondents were taking three or more different medications daily. A large number of people had religion (61.4%), reading (36.1%), socializing (53%) and watching television (49.5%) as a regular activity. Eighty five (21.1%) respondents reported having financial problems. Three hundred and sixty five (90.8%) respondents had spiritual needs and 264 (72.3%) reported that their spiritual needs increased with aging

Synthesis And Pharmacological Screening Of Novel Piperine Analogs For Potential In Vitro Protection From Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

Background: The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the chief organelle involved in protein homeostasis. Perturbations to the ER protein folding machinery caused by hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia has been shown to trigger ER stress and activate the unfolded protein response (UPR) as a defense mechanism. Accumulating evidences implicate the role of ER stress in the development of chronic kidney disease. Thus there is an urgent need for novel compounds, which have the ability to ameliorate ER stress to treat or prevent any organ damage. Among the natural compounds, piperine and its analogs have been reported to exhibit multiple pharmacological activities, however, the efficacy of piperine and its analogs against ER stress in kidney cells is still unknown. Thus, the goal of the current study is to synthesize a range of piperine analogs and screen them for pharmacological activity to relieve ER stress using an in vitro model of tunicamycin-induced ER stress in rat renal proximal tubular (NRK-52E) cells. Methods: To perform a structure-activity relationship study, several piperine analogs were prepared using piperic acid as a starting material. The structures of the obtained compounds were confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The in vitro ER stress model was developed using tunicamycin. Results: Several piperine analogs were synthesized and their structures were elucidated. The preliminary findings indicate that exposure to tunicamycin induces the expression of ER chaperone GRP 78 in NRK-52E cells. The MTT assay confirms the reduction in cell viability even with a low concentration of 1 ug/mL of tunicamycin for 15 minutes. The developed in vitro model will be used to evaluate the effect of piperine analogs on ER stress markers. Conclusion: The synthesis, structural elucidation and the results of the preliminary screening of selected piperine analogs will be presented.qscienc

Understanding Key Bidding Factors Considered by Top Jordanian Contractors

One of the most crucial decisions that is regularly exercised by construction contractors is to determine whether to bid or not to bid on a certain project. The purpose of this paper is to understand key factors that are considered by top Jordanian contractors in their bid/no-bid decision making. Previous research in the Jordanian construction market reported the importance weights of 53 bid/no-bid factors (El-Mashaleh, 2013). Based on that work, this paper discusses the top bidding factors and compares them with international related work. Additionally, the paper examines the reliability of El-Mashaleh’s (2013) study based on Cronbach's alpha reliability test. Furthermore, the paper tests the degree of consensus among the respondents of El-Mashaleh’s (2013) work regarding the ranking of the 53 bid/no-bid decision factors based on Kendall's coefficient of concordance. Finally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is conducted to test statistical significant differences in the importance weights of the 53 bidding factors between public and private bidders. Cronbach's alpha reliability test proves that the adopted scale of measurement for the importance of the bid/no-bid factors has excellent internal consistency reliability. Kendall's coefficient of concordance reveals a significant degree of consensus among the respondents regarding the ranking of the bid/no-bid decision factors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates statistical significant differences in importance weights between public and private bidders for 6 factors out of the 53 factors considered

A comprehensive review of recent advances in artificial intelligence for dentistry E-health

Producción CientíficaArtificial intelligence has made substantial progress in medicine. Automated dental imaging interpretation is one of the most prolific areas of research using AI. X-ray and infrared imaging systems have enabled dental clinicians to identify dental diseases since the 1950s. However, the manual process of dental disease assessment is tedious and error-prone when diagnosed by inexperienced dentists. Thus, researchers have employed different advanced computer vision techniques, and machine- and deep-learning models for dental disease diagnoses using X-ray and near-infrared imagery. Despite the notable development of AI in dentistry, certain factors affect the performance of the proposed approaches, including limited data availability, imbalanced classes, and lack of transparency and interpretability. Hence, it is of utmost importance for the research community to formulate suitable approaches, considering the existing challenges and leveraging findings from the existing studies. Based on an extensive literature review, this survey provides a brief overview of X-ray and near-infrared imaging systems. Additionally, a comprehensive insight into challenges faced by researchers in the dental domain has been brought forth in this survey. The article further offers an amalgamative assessment of both performances and methods evaluated on public benchmarks and concludes with ethical considerations and future research avenues

In vitro Studies on Anti-diabetic and Anti-ulcer Potentials of Jatropha gossypifolia (Euphorbiaceae)

Purpose: To evaluate α-glucosidase and α-chymotrypsin enzyme inhibitory activity of Jatropha gossypifolia as a probable remedy for the management of diabetes and ulcer.Methods: Different extracts and fractions of the root, leaf and stem bark of the plant were screened for their α-glucosidase and α-chymotrypsin inhibitory activity using standard in vitro inhibition assays. Acarbose and chymostatin were used as positive control, respectively.Results: n-Butanol and ethyl acetate fraction showed maximum enzyme inhibition for α-glucosidase with 67.93 ± 0.66 and 67.67 ± 0.71 % and half maximal concentration (IC50) of 218.47 ± 0.23 and 213.45 ± 0.12 μg/ml, respectively. Dichloromethane and ethyl acetate leaf fractions exhibited maximum α-chymotrypsin inhibition activity of 85.08 ± 0.38 and 83.87 ± 0.70 %, and IC50 of 133.1 ± 0.68 and 134.5 ± 0.12 μg/ml, respectively, Acarbose exhibited enzyme inhibition activity of 92.14 ± 0.38 % with IC50 of 38.24 ± 0.1 μg/ml, while chymostatin exhibited 93.67 ± 0.38 % enzyme inhibition and IC50 of 8.24 ± 0.11 μg/ml.Conclusion: The presence of bioactive secondary metabolities with enzyme-inhibiting activity lends some support for the traditional use of this plant in the management of diabetes and ulcer. However, further investigation of the plant including identification of its active components is required.Keywords: α-Chymotrypsin, α-Glucosidase, Inhibition, Jatropha gossypifolia, Anti-diabetic, Anti-ulce