Towards measurement of political pressure on central banks in the emerging market economies: the case of the central bank of Egypt

This paper assesses whether the legal independence granted to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) under the latest legislation is factual. I followed Fry’s methodology, which assumes that the level of independence of the central bank is determined by fiscal attributes. In an attempt to develop Fry’s method, I used a simple criterion to assess the central bank’s independence, namely, that the central bank is actually independent if it can fulfill its money supply target. Applying this criterion to the CBE and some other CBs in the developed countries and emerging market economies, we find that: (i) the legal independence granted to the CBE under the latest legislation is not factual; although the final objective of monetary policy is to achieve price stability, the CBE failed to fulfill its money supply target and achieve price stability, because it was responsive to political pressure and did not react to fulfill its money supply target; (ii) such political pressure on the CBE is due to fiscal attributes, as measured by domestic credit to the government; (iii) CBs whose independence is factual, according to our criterion, showed a negative relationship between the legal indices, as measured by the GMT index, and the fiscal attributes measured by DCGY. However, the relationship was anomalous when measured by the rate of inflationmonetary policy; central bank independence; fiscal dominance; political pressure

Diamond semiconductor technology for RF device applications

This paper presents a comprehensive review of diamond electronics from the RF perspective. Our aim was to find and present the potential, limitations and current status of diamond semiconductor devices as well as to investigate its suitability for RF device applications. While doing this, we briefly analysed the physics and chemistry of CVD diamond process for a better understanding of the reasons for the technological challenges of diamond material. This leads to Figure of Merit definitions which forms the basis for a technology choice in an RF device/system (such as transceiver or receiver) structure. Based on our literature survey, we concluded that, despite the technological challenges and few mentioned examples, diamond can seriously be considered as a base material for RF electronics, especially RF power circuits, where the important parameters are high speed, high power density, efficient thermal management and low signal loss in high power/frequencies. Simulation and experimental results are highly regarded for the surface acoustic wave (SAW) and field emission (FE) devices which already occupies space in the RF market and are likely to replace their conventional counterparts. Field effect transistors (FETs) are the most promising active devices and extremely high power densities are extracted (up to 30 W/mm). By the surface channel FET approach 81 GHz operation is developed. Bipolar devices are also promising if the deep doping problem can be solved for operation at room temperature. Pressure, thermal, chemical and acceleration sensors have already been demonstrated using micromachining/MEMS approach, but need more experimental results to better exploit thermal, physical/chemical and electronic properties of diamond

Experimental and analytical studies in fluids

The first objective was to analyze and design a true airspeed sensor which will replace the conventional pitot-static pressure transducer for small commercial aircraft. The second objective was to obtain a numerical solution and predict the frequency response which is generated by the vortex whistle at a certain airspeed. It was concluded flow rate measurements indicate that the vortex tube sound frequency is linearly proportional to the frequency response. The vortex tube whistle frequency is dependent upon geometrical parameters to such an extent that: an increase in vortex tube length produces a decrease in frequency response and that an increase in the exhaust nozzle length produces an increase in the frequency precession. An increase in the vortex tube diameter produces a decrease in frequency precession. An increase in swirler diameter produces a decrease in frequency. An increase in the location distance of the microphone pickup signal point from the inside edge of the exit nozzle produces an increase in frequency response. The experimental results indicate that those parameters most significantly effecting frequency are in descending order of importance microphone location, vortex tube diameter, exit nozzle length, vortex tube length, and swirler diameter

A Marketing Booklet for the Alana Hotel Surabaya: the Best Way to Emphasize the Uniqueness of Its Products in Promoting Itself to Institutions and Companies

The Alana is a four-star hotel located in the South of Surabaya. It was built in 2013, which means that it is still a new hotel. Since it is new, it lacks the necessary promotion tool to reach the institutions and companies. In fact, The Alana does not have the promotion tool which emphasizes its excellence and uniqueness of the products. To solve the problem, The Alana needs a marketing booklet, which can help them to show their strengths. This marketing booklet consists of table of contents, company overview (about The Alana), product descriptions (hotel rooms, room types, hotel facilities, and meeting rooms), and contact information (contact us). By having this information, a marketing booklet will become the best tool for The Alana to show the strengths of their products and help them to reach their target marke

Two-Hop Interference Channels: Impact of Linear Time-Varying Schemes

We consider the two-hop interference channel (IC) with constant real channel coefficients, which consists of two source-destination pairs, separated by two relays. We analyze the achievable degrees of freedom (DoF) of such network when relays are restricted to perform scalar amplify-forward (AF) operations, with possibly time-varying coefficients. We show that, somewhat surprisingly, by providing the flexibility of choosing time-varying AF coefficients at the relays, it is possible to achieve 4/3 sum-DoF. We also develop a novel outer bound that matches our achievability, hence characterizing the sum-DoF of two-hop interference channels with time-varying AF relaying strategies.Comment: To appear in Proc. of ISIT 2013 (proof of lemma added

Exploring adaptation & self-adaptation in autonomic computing systems

This panel paper sets out to discuss what self-adaptation means, and to explore the extent to which current autonomic systems exhibit truly self-adaptive behaviour. Many of the currently cited examples are clearly adaptive, but debate remains as to what extent they are simply following prescribed adaptation rules within preset bounds, and to what extent they have the ability to truly learn new behaviour. Is there a standard test that can be applied to differentiate? Is adaptive behaviour sufficient anyway? Other autonomic computing issues are also discussed

The theological questions at issue between Az-Zamakhshari and Al-Baydawi with special reference to Al-Kashshaf and Anwar At-Tanzil

The aim of this thesis, as its title indicates, is to investigate the differences between az-Zamakhshari (d. 1144 A.D.) and al-Baydawi (d. 1286 A.D.?) in respect of Muslim theological doctrines and the extent which al-Baydawi manages to refute az-Zamakhsharl's views.The significance of az-Zaraakhshari and al-Baydawi. in Muslim theology is that their works al-Kashshaf and Anwar at-TanzH respectively, represent the views of the two famous schools of Islamic thoughts called the Mu'tazilites and the Ash'arites.Az-Zamakhshari as a Mu'tazilite, gave Reason priority to Revelation. Al-Baydawi as an Ash'arite maintained that Revelation is prior to ReasonChapter one describes the historical backgrounds of the two scholars and the different environments in which they were brought up.Chapter two illustrates how the two scholars discuss the concept of the attributes of God, in particular the visibility of God and the speech of God.Chapter three considers the relation of Reason and Revelation in az-Zamakhshari and al-Baydawi. Topics discussed include the question whether God always does "the best", the question of good and evil, the question whether angels or prophets are superior, the nature of the karamat (miracles) of the saints, and God's giving of sustenance.Chapter four deals with a number of topics concerning faith (iman), unbelief (kufr)t repentance (tawba), and Muhammad's intercession (shafa'a).Chapter five discusses the concept of God's justice and the associated question of man's free will

Evaluasi Implementasi Kebijakan Perubahan Status IAIN Ar-Raniry Menjadi UIN

The idea to change the status of the Ar-Raniry State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN Ar-Raniry) to be the Islamic State University of Ar-Raniry was based on the aspirations of the majority of education stakeholders in Aceh. This change entails a wide range of mandates to conduct teaching-learning processes for various fields of studies. This, therefore, will require that campus infrastructures, teaching-learning facilities, and funding sources be ready. This article is based on the research results revealing the supports for the status change were strong. However, the quantity and quality of the stakeholders\u27 involvements, either at IAIN Ar-Raniry, regional, or national levels, are considerably low. In addition, the quantity and quality of teaching and administrative staffs at every unit of education within IAIN and the number of campus infrastructures and teaching-learning facilities are far from enough. Thus, the leaders of IAIN Ar-Raniry should continuously benefit from the supports given to IAIN Ar-Raniry with intensive information dissemination, communication, and lobbying. Such intensive efforts should also be accompanied by developing each department and faculty, human resources, and campus facilities and infrastructures. This can be done through a roadmap rational and strong formulation that involves all elements within IAIN Ar-Raniry

Pilomatrix carcinoma of the lacrimal caruncle: a case report.

A 45-year-old man presented with a 3-month history of a mass located in the caruncle of his right eye. An incisional biopsy had been performed one month prior by another specialist, and the histopathology report showed basal cell carcinoma. The mass was completely excised with a 2 mm safety margin, and the large conjunctival defect was reconstructed with one sheet of amniotic membrane allograft. A histological diagnosis of pilomatrix carcinoma was established. To prevent recurrence after surgery, we added bevacizumab (25 mg/mL, 1.25 mg/mL per drop) eye drops four times per day for three months. At the one-year follow-up, the patient showed no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis after initial excision and remains under close follow-up. Pilomatrix carcinoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a caruncular mass