COVID-19 effects on public finance and SDG priorities in developing countries : comparative evidence from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

The COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health crisis, rapidly transferred into a global economic and social crisis. The pandemic has threatened the world’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 as governments in developing countries have shifted their priorities from attaining SDGs, to providing urgent financial needs to save lives and prevent recession in hopes for a rapid economic recovery. The rerouting of public funding priorities has undermined the progress and achievement of SDGs. We employed a mixed-method and carried out a comparative study using pre- and post-public financial data of two developing countries in South Asia; Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A threefold analysis was conducted to investigate the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries, the impact of the pandemic on external and internal public finance and the effect of the pandemic in shifting the policy priorities from SDGs to economic survival. This study found that both countries are highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and are suffering from the lack of financing from external sources through the private sector as well as an increasing foreign debt. There is mounting pressure on the fiscal balance in both countries. © 2022, The Author(s)

Financial development and economic growth in Malaysia: Cointegration and Co-feature analysis

This study seeks to explore the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Malaysia over the period of 1980 to 2008 using the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Focusing on long term relationship, this investigation is carried out within the Granger causality and vector error correction model (VECM). The empirical results data suggest the existence of the long-run equilibrium relationship between financial development and economic growth in Malaysia. The causality between economic growth and stock market was found to mutually causal, that is the causality is bi-directional. This finding suggests that a strong stock market is a good channel to foster economic growth of the country. At the same time, strong growth of economy helps to promote the development of the stock market in Malaysia. Therefore it is vital for the Malaysian government to formulate policy that will enhance the efficiency of the financial system to stimulate the stock market and further boost up the growth of economy.stock market, economic growth, Malaysia, causality, VECM

Does Compliance to Green Bond Principles Matter? Global Evidence

We examine the effect of degree of compliance with the Green Bond Principles (GBP) on investor demand for such bonds, using cross-sectional data for all countries in the Green Bond market over the period 2007-2019. We find a significantly positive effect of higher compliance with the GBPs on investor demand, as measured by Bid-Ask-Spread and Yield-spread, after controlling for common bond-specific and macroeconomic variables. However, our results showed no evidence that macroeconomic factors influenced Green Bond investments. Moreover, we also find a positive effect on investor demand when a bond is issued by a government agency, even if the degree of compliance is low

PWM Harmonic Signature Based Islanding Detection for a Single-Phase Inverter with PWM Frequency Hopping

Distributed generation (DG) has gained popularity in recent years due to the increasing requirement for renewable power sources. A problem that exists with DG systems is the islanding of DG units that creates safety issues for personnel as well as the potential for damage to utility infrastructure. Therefore, islanding detection methods are utilized to mitigate the risk of islanded operation of DG units. A new passive method of islanding detection based on the signature of the PWM voltage harmonics is proposed. The viability of the algorithm is investigated with the use of an analytical and time domain model of the inverter and further validated with experimental results. Furthermore, an extension of the detection scheme is proposed for use in multiinverter scenarios composed of adaptive frequency hopping to eliminate unwanted tripping

Real-time Measurement of Temperature Sensitive Electrical Parameters in SiC Power MOSFETs

This paper examines a number of techniques for junction temperature estimation of SiC MOSFETs devices based on the measurement of Temperature Sensitive Electrical Parameters (TSEPs) for use in online condition monitoring. Linearity, sensitivity to temperature and circuit design for practical implementation are discussed in detail. A demonstrator based on the measurement of the quasi-threshold voltage, the turn-on transient characteristic (di/dt), the on-state voltage and the gate current peak is designed and validated. It is shown that the threshold voltage, the estimation of the gate current peak and the on-state voltage have potentially good sensitivity to temperature variation and linearity over a wide operating range. Very low sensitivity to temperature is shown for (di/dt). The proposed method can provide a valuable tool for continuous health monitoring in emerging applications of SiC devices to high reliability applications

Opportunities and barriers for FinTech in SAARC and ASEAN Countries

This article assesses the opportunities and challenges for different categories of FinTechs in the SAARC and ASEAN regions. We consider the global financial inclusion data released by the World Bank and map the responses to gain insights into the opportunities and challenges for FinTechs in the respective regions. We develop a new index, termed the FinTech Opportunity Index (FOI), to conceptualise the opportunities and barriers based on individual savings, borrowings, purchasing behaviour, and payment preferences. We note that FinTech services have potential opportunities for expansion in the ASEAN regions but less so in the SAARC regions. The need for different types of FinTech services varies between regions. Services such as crowdfunding, neobanks, and InsurTech have potential in the ASEAN regions, especially with the positive attitude towards entrepreneurship and asset investments. In the SAARC regions, InsurTechs linked to health care has potential along with LendTechs and neobanks. We further note that males, and the young are more likely adopters of FinTechs in both regions. The analysis suggests the need for innovative promotions and education to motivate the more sceptical, especially women and the elderly population, to adopt FinTech services

Design and Control of On-board Bidirectional Battery Chargers with Islanding Detection for Electric Vehicle Applications

Electric vehicles have gained popularity over the last decade due to concerns regarding climate change as well as depleting fossil fuel reserves. One of the important components of electric vehicles is the battery charging system that has been the focus of recent research interest in terms of vehicle to grid (V2G) power transfer with the aim of providing peak load levelling for the grid as well as a buffer for excess renewable energy. The research addressed in this thesis is focused on single-phase on- board bidirectional chargers for electric vehicle applications where emphasis is given to the design, control and islanding detection aspects. A comparative study between a low frequency transformer based and high frequency DAB based bidirectional charging system is carried out and the weight, cost and efficiency between the two topologies compared. An optimised LCL filter design method for the two converters is presented which characterises the high frequency current ripple as well as the losses in the damping resistor. Controller design, simulation and experimental validation of the two converters are also presented. The impact of 3rd harmonics on the performance of second order generalised integrator (SOGI) phase locked loops (PLLs) is investigated through an analytical method to predict the resulting output harmonic magnitudes. Two modified SOGI PLLs are presented where the harmonic rejection performance has been improved. A new PLL structure based on the novel IIR filter proposed by Ed Daw et al. is investigated for application in grid converters. The new PLL is evaluated with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations for transient and abnormal grid conditions and compared with the SOGI PLL for performance evaluation as well as computational requirements. The new PLL is validated in bidirectional charger hardware. A new islanding detection algorithm based on the detection of high frequency switching harmonic signature with frequency hopping is presented which has the advantage of multi-inverter compatibility. The difficulty in detection for PWM harmonic based methods when capacitive loads are present is analysed. Furthermore, the algorithm is validated in hardware

Portfolio construction by using different risk models : a comparison among diverse economic scenarios

We aim to construct portfolios by employing different risk models and compare their performance in order to understand their appropriateness for effective portfolio management for investors. Mean variance (MV), semi variance (SV), mean absolute deviation (MaD) and conditional value at risk (CVaR) are considered as risk measures. The price data were extracted from the Pakistan stock exchange, Bombay stock exchange and Dhaka stock exchange under diverse economic conditions such as crisis, recovery and growth. We take the average of GDP of the selected period of each country as a cut-off point to make three economic scenarios. We use 40 stocks from the Pakistan stock exchange, 92 stocks from the Bombay stock exchange and 30 stocks from the Dhaka stock exchange. We compute optimal weights using global minimum variance portfolio (GMVP) for all stocks to construct optimal portfolios and analyze the data by using MV, SV, MaD and CVaR models for each subperiod. We find that CVaR (95%) gives better results in each scenario for all three countries and performance of portfolios is inconsistent in different scenarios. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

The feasibility of pelvic floor training to treat urinary incontinence in women with breast cancer : a telehealth intervention trial

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of recruiting into a pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) program delivered via telehealth to treat urinary incontinence (UI) in women with breast cancer on aromatase inhibitors. Methods: We conducted a pre-post single cohort clinical trial with 54 women with breast cancer. Participants underwent a 12-week PFMT program using an intra-vaginal pressure biofeedback device: femfit®. The intervention included eight supervised individual PFMT sessions over Zoom™ and a 12-week home exercise program. The primary outcome of this study was feasibility, specifically consent rate. Secondary outcomes which included prevalence and burden of UI measured using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire–Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF), and pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength measured as intravaginal squeeze pressure were compared using McNemar’s and paired t tests. Results: The mean age of participants was 50 years (SD ± 7.3). All women who were eligible to participate in this study consented (n = 55/55, 100%). All participants reported that the program was beneficial and tailored to their needs. The results showed a statistically significant decline in the prevalence (percentage difference 42%, 95% CI 28, 57%) and burden (ICIQ-UI SF score mean change 9.4, 95% CI 8.5, 10.4) of UI post intervention. A significant increase in PFM strength was observed post-intervention (mean change 4.8 mmHg, 95% CI 3.9, 5.5). Conclusion: This study indicated that PFMT delivered via telehealth may be feasible and potentially beneficial in treating stress UI in women with breast cancer. Further studies such as randomized controlled trials are required to confirm these results. © 2022, The Author(s)