Stock price reaction to earnings announcement: the case of an emerging market

In an efficient stock market stock prices instantaneously and accurately adjust to new information. This paper conducts an event study analysis on an emerging market namely the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) by investigating the stock price reaction to public announcement of quarterly after tax profit by listed firms. By employing 5 year data on stock prices from January 2004 to August 2008 for 114 non financial firms we found that there is no abnormal return post earnings announcement. Moreover the study provides evidence that there is a bigger element of surprise in bad news than in good news as the market reaction to bad news is stronger.Event Study, Earnings Announcement, Emerging Markets

A Discussion of Internal Communication Procedure of Transport Layer Security Protocol on Telecommunication Networks

The research paper written by us discusses the review of internal communication procedure of Transport Layer Security protocol on telecommunication networks. In this research paper we discuss the security measures and security techniques employed by Transport Layer Security protocol for the provision of data privacy, confidentiality and authentication on telecommunication networks to the network users. The telecommunication networks include both the wired and wireless communication networks mostly including computer communication networks. The connection establishment for connecting client side and server side used by Transport Layer Security protocol is discussed in this research paper in order to facilitate the understanding of internal connection establishment and internal connection management procedure between client side and server side of telecommunication network. We have focused on Cipher Suit and Security Services provided by Transport Layer Security protocol in detail in order to high light key features of connection establishment in Transport Layer Security protocol. The discussion in the research paper will be useful for extension of Transport Layer Security protocol’s usability and implementations by researchers

Bidirectional Learning in Recurrent Neural Networks Using Equilibrium Propagation

Neurobiologically-plausible learning algorithms for recurrent neural networks that can perform supervised learning are a neglected area of study. Equilibrium propagation is a recent synthesis of several ideas in biological and artificial neural network research that uses a continuous-time, energy-based neural model with a local learning rule. However, despite dealing with recurrent networks, equilibrium propagation has only been applied to discriminative categorization tasks. This thesis generalizes equilibrium propagation to bidirectional learning with asymmetric weights. Simultaneously learning the discriminative as well as generative transformations for a set of data points and their corresponding category labels, bidirectional equilibrium propagation utilizes recurrence and weight asymmetry to share related but non-identical representations within the network. Experiments on an artificial dataset demonstrate the ability to learn both transformations, as well as the ability for asymmetric-weight networks to generalize their discriminative training to the untrained generative task

Outlier: Iran and Its Use of the Death Penalty

For several years now the right to life has been under heavy assault in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The country has followed a familiar but troubling pattern regarding the use of the death penalty. It has consistently ranked second in the world in the number of executions carried out (behind China), and first in executions per capita. More recently, the upward trend in executions that began in 2010-11 has reached alarming levels not seen in more than two decades. In 2015, alone, human rights organisations tracking the number of executions in Iran documented at least 966 executions, with over 65 percent of these executions related to non-violent drug crimes. In that same year, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran accounted for around 90 percent of all executions in the world (excluding China), helping reverse a global trend that had seen a constant reduction of death penalty cases worldwide during the past 25 years. United Nations rights bodies have repeatedly called on authorities in Iran to curb their use of the death penalty, and urged officials to institute a moratorium on the death penalty. The latest such appeal came from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, in April 2016, when he called on Iranian authorities to institute a moratorium on the use of the death penalty altogether. Commissioner Zeid’s request, like many before him, centered on two particularly egregious aspects of the death penalty in Iran: 1) the execution of juvenile offenders, or individuals under 18 years of age when they committed an offense; and 2) use of the death penalty for crimes not considered “most serious.” Both types of executions are strictly prohibited under international law. Iran’s continuing and blatant disregard for the right to life of juvenile and non-violent drug offenders, combined with the sharp rise in the number of executions in recent years, makes it, in many ways, an international outlier when it comes to use of the death penalty. Behind the harrowing numbers are the countless faces and stories of the “other” victims, only a portion of which have been documented by human rights groups. The number of executions in Iran began to rise noticeably around 2010-11 during the second term of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This rise coincided with significant changes to the country’s Anti-Narcotics Law which expanded the list of drug-related crimes that carried the death penalty to include non-violent offenses, and severely limited the right of appeal for certain death sentences. The numbers have been equally troubling for juvenile offenders on death row, with at least 12 reportedly hanged in 2014-15—the highest such number at any time during the past five years. Today, Iran is the number one executor of juvenile offenders despite recent amendments made to its penal code to address this issue, and remains one of only a handful of countries that still carries out such executions

In-hospital outcome in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ich)

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is associated with a high in-hospital mortality and morbidity. One radiological parameter which was found significant in predicting mortality was the presence of hydrocephalus on CT brain (plain). The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of hydrocephalus in patients with spontaneous ICH and to determine the in-hospital outcome in patients of spontaneous ICH with hydrocephalus.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive case series carried out in Department of Neurology, Pakistan institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad from December 30, 2013 to June 29, 2014. All patients who meet the inclusion criteria were selected for the study. Plain CT brain was done at the time of admission. Radiological parameters recorded included the presence of hydrocephalus on CT brain. Every patient was then being observed for outcome within 7 days. RESULTS: A total of 96 patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients was 45.1 years with standard deviation of 15.641 years. Out of 96 patients, 52 (54.17%) patients were male and 44 (45.83%) patients were female. 51 (53.12%) patients of intra-cerebral hemorrhage had hydrocephalus. Out of 51 patients of intra-cerebral hemorrhage with hydrocephalus, 33 (64.7%) patients had survived while 18 (35.3%) patients had died.CONCLUSION: In our study, significant number of patients of intracerebral hemorrhage had hydrocephalus and it is associated with high mortality and morbidit

Developments in power amplifier module and comparison of circulators for solid-state microwave ovens.

The solid-state microwave ovens (SSMO) use solid-state power amplifiers for heating food inside the oven cavity. These cooking devices are intelligent systems that can change RF signal characteristics in terms of power, frequency and signal phase. The solid-state transistors are rugged, smaller and cheaper than magnetrons. The SSMO is one step forward towards replacing the vacuum tube (magnetron) technology in heating applications such as microwave ovens. This thesis presents the work done in the developments of power amplifier (PA) module designed for SSMO system. The PA module operates in industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band at 2:45 GHz with 250 W output power. Four PA modules are utilized in the SSMO system for multi-channel delivery of RF power into the oven cavity. The key achievements of this thesis are the analysis of faulty PA modules, characterization of RF power detector, and comparison of circulators. Burnouts were observed in several 1st generation PA modules. Failure analysis is made to thoroughly investigate the problem, and to find an enduring solution. RF power detector is developed to avoid burnouts in the future. The power detector monitors the flow of RF power from PA module to oven cavity. It gives the feedback to SSMO system in terms of forward and reflected RF powers. Moreover, five commercial circulators from five different suppliers are compared on identical test-fixtures. The comparison is based on electrical and thermal performance of each circulator as in test cases devised from the operation of the SSMO system

Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus in Females of Childbearing Age in Local Population of Rawalpindi

Objective: To determine the seroprevalence of Herpes simplex virus among females of childbearing age. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Virology department, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Rawalpindi, from 1July 2022 to 31 December 2022. Materials and Methods: A total of two hundred and sixty-seven (267) females of childbearing age (15-49 years) were included in this study. The blood samples were taken for detection of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of Vircell, Spain. SPSS version 25 was used to analyze the data. Results: Out of total 267 samples, 213 (82%) were positive and 54 (18%) were negative for HSV IgG. The positivity for HSV IgG was most frequent in the age group-1 (20-29 years) with 111 (50%) positive cases, followed by 87 (32%) in age group-2 (30-39 years) and 15(5.6%) in age group-3 (40-49 years). People with low socioeconomic status had higher positivity of HSV IgG antibodies, while those with high socioeconomic status had a lower positivity of HSV IgG antibodies. Conclusion: The study concluded that most females of childbearing age had previously been exposed to HSV, as evidenced by the presence of IgG antibodies. However, a significant number of women had not been exposed to the virus, putting them at risk of contracting HSV and potentially facing its complications during a future pregnancy

Modelling of Self-Ignition in Spark-Ignition Engine Using Reduced Chemical Kinetics for Gasoline Surrogates

A numerical and experimental investigation in to the role of gasoline surrogates and their reduced chemical kinetic mechanisms in spark ignition (SI) engine knocking has been carried out. In order to predict autoignition of gasoline in a spark ignition engine three reduced chemical kinetic mechanisms have been coupled with quasi-dimensional thermodynamic modelling approach. The modelling was supported by measurements of the knocking tendencies of three fuels of very different compositions yet an equivalent Research Octane Number (RON) of 90 (ULG90, PRF90 and 71.5% by volume toluene blended with n-heptane) as well as iso-octane. The experimental knock onsets provided a benchmark for the chemical kinetic predictions of autoignition and also highlighted the limitations of characterisation of the knock resistance of a gasoline in terms of the Research and Motoring octane numbers and the role of these parameters in surrogate formulation. Two approaches used to optimise the surrogate composition have been discussed and possible surrogates for ULG90 have been formulated and numerically studied. A discussion has also been made on the various surrogates from the literature which have been tested in shock tube and rapid compression machines for their autoignition times and are a source of chemical kinetic mechanism validation. The differences in the knock onsets of the tested fuels have been explained by modelling their reactivity using semi-detailed chemical kinetics. Through this work, the weaknesses and challenges of autoignition modelling in SI engines through gasoline surrogate chemical kinetics have been highlighted. Adequacy of a surrogate in simulating the autoignition behaviour of gasoline has also been investigated as it is more important for the surrogate to have the same reactivity as the gasoline at all engine relevant p−T conditions than having the same RON and Motored Octane Number (MON)

Is adding intra-articular steroid in total knee arthroplasty cocktail obligatory?

Background: The patients can undergo total knee replacement surgery either under general anaesthesia, combined spinal and epidural anaesthesia, nerve root block, spinal combined with intra-articular knee cocktail. There is an ongoing debate amongst Arthroplasty surgeons whether to include steroid in the cocktail or not. The aim of this study is to assess whether there is an added benefit of including steroid in the intraarticular mixture.Methods: This prospective study was conducted at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher education, Chennai between December 2017 to December 2018. The study was conducted in the Arthroplasty unit, Department of Orthopaedics. SRIHER ethics committee clearance was obtained prior to the start of the study. The inclusion criteria were patients who underwent total knee replacement surgery under combined spinal and intra-articular knee cocktail. Patients were divided into two groups based on the use of steroid in the intra-articular mixture. Patients were evaluated using Visual analogue scale, opioids usage as primary endpoint while any joint infection within six months of the surgery and knee society score at 1 month and 6 months as the secondary endpoint.Results: The mean visual analogue score for the 0 pod for the group I and group II were 2.3 and 2.4 respectively. There was no case of infection in both groups.Conclusions: There is no fringe benefit of adding steroid to the knee cocktail. So it is not obligatory to add steroid in intra-articular total knee arthroplasty cocktail