Forex Risk Management by SMEs and Unlisted Non-financial Firms: A Literature Survey

In the recent globalised financial markets, financial markets are more integrated which leads to more foreign exchange risk for firms. In such scenario currency derivatives are top most operational hedging strategy to manage foreign exchange risk. This scenario is different in developed and emerging markets as turnover of derivatives is growing swiftly in emerging markets and uses of currency derivatives is common but lower in comparison to the interest rate derivatives. In emerging markets (Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil) use of currency derivatives is fifty per cent of total derivative traded follow by equity derivatives and interest rate derivatives (Mihaljek and Packer, 2010). The benefits of doing hedging have been discussed by many finance experts. These include classic contribution by Miller and Modigliani (1958) and then by Smith and Stulz (1985). Several studies have employed the questionnaire approach for the analysis of exchange-rate exposure management in non-financial firms (e.g. Bodnar and Gebhardt, 1999; Hakkarainen et al., 1998; Bodnar et al., 1998; Marshall, 2000; Ceuster et al., 2000; Mallin et al., 2001). The most refered study is Bodnar et al. (1998), which considered publicly traded U.S. firms. The present study examines the forex risk management by SMEs and unlisted non-financial forms in the form of literature review

Balanced Butterfly Counting in Bipartite-Network

Bipartite graphs offer a powerful framework for modeling complex relationships between two distinct types of vertices, incorporating probabilistic, temporal, and rating-based information. While the research community has extensively explored various types of bipartite relationships, there has been a notable gap in studying Signed Bipartite Graphs, which capture liking / disliking interactions in real-world networks such as customer-rating-product and senator-vote-bill. Balance butterflies, representing 2 x 2 bicliques, provide crucial insights into antagonistic groups, balance theory, and fraud detection by leveraging the signed information. However, such applications require counting balance butterflies which remains unexplored. In this paper, we propose a new problem: counting balance butterflies in a signed bipartite graph. To address this problem, we adopt state-of-the-art algorithms for butterfly counting, establishing a smart baseline that reduces the time complexity for solving our specific problem. We further introduce a novel bucket approach specifically designed to count balanced butterflies efficiently. We propose a parallelized version of the bucketing approach to enhance performance. Extensive experimental studies on nine real-world datasets demonstrate that our proposed bucket-based algorithm is up to 120x faster over the baseline, and the parallel implementation of the bucket-based algorithm is up to 45x faster over the single core execution. Moreover, a real-world case study showcases the practical application and relevance of counting balanced butterflies

Quantum optimization of coherent chaotic systems: A case for buses of Kathmandu

In this paper, we propose a novel quantum computing approach to solve the real-world problem of optimizing transportation in bustling Kathmandu city. The transportation system in Kathmandu is chaotic, with no central authority controlling the transportation. We leverage this chaotic feature in our quantum optimization procedure. The quantum chaos theory's Wigner-Dyson distribution surfaced as the most effective bus spacing distribution for a bus driver to maximize their profit. We investigate the statistical properties of the buses with real-time GPS bus location data and optimize bus spacing and interval distribution around the 27 km circular ring road in Kathmandu. Using tools like quantum simulation, eigenvalue distributions, and output wave function analysis, we show that such optimal bus spacing distribution could be achieved

SemEval 2023 Task 6: LegalEval -- Understanding Legal Texts

In populous countries, pending legal cases have been growing exponentially. There is a need for developing NLP-based techniques for processing and automatically understanding legal documents. To promote research in the area of Legal NLP we organized the shared task LegalEval - Understanding Legal Texts at SemEval 2023. LegalEval task has three sub-tasks: Task-A (Rhetorical Roles Labeling) is about automatically structuring legal documents into semantically coherent units, Task-B (Legal Named Entity Recognition) deals with identifying relevant entities in a legal document and Task-C (Court Judgement Prediction with Explanation) explores the possibility of automatically predicting the outcome of a legal case along with providing an explanation for the prediction. In total 26 teams (approx. 100 participants spread across the world) submitted systems paper. In each of the sub-tasks, the proposed systems outperformed the baselines; however, there is a lot of scope for improvement. This paper describes the tasks, and analyzes techniques proposed by various teams.Comment: 13 Pages (9 Pages + References), Accepted at SemEval 202

Challenges of Autism Spectrum Disorders Families Towards Oral Health Care in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding oral health care among parents of autistic children and also the challenges faced by them in providing dental care for their Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) children’s in four regions of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods:  In total, 263 parents of autistic children participated in this cross-sectional study who were enrolled from 4 major regions of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire formulated in simple Arabic was distributed to parents of children diagnosed with autism or any form of ASD. The questionnaires consisted of demographic questions and also to assess their knowledge on oral health, child’s oral hygiene practices and visits to their dentist, oral hygiene, experience and challenges in waiting room area before the dental treatment, acceptance of treatment or rejection, accessibility to find non-dental centers either government or private for treatment and their recommendations. Results: All the parents brushed their child’s teeth using a toothbrush and fluoridated toothpaste. A total of 29.7% of the parents informed that their child never brushes teeth. A total of 41.4% of the parents visit the dental clinic when the child complains about dental problems and 54% find difficulty in locating appropriate dental clinic to deal with their ASD children. Most parents reported taking their child to a private office (38.8%). Only 3.8% of parents reported that their children had seizures during dental procedures. Conclusion:  The knowledge toward oral health was found to be inadequate among the majority of the parents. Parents of ASD children need to be educated about the consequences of oral health neglect and the importance of regular check-ups

Automated Analysis of Vitreous Inflammation Using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose: To develop an automated method for quantifying vitreous signal intensity on optical coherence tomography (OCT), with particular application for use in the assessment of vitreous inflammation. Methods: This retrospective, observational case-control series comprised 30 patients (30 eyes), with vitreous haze secondary to intermediate, posterior, or panuveitis; 12 patients (12 eyes) with uveitis without evidence of vitreous haze; and 18 patients (18 eyes) without intraocular inflammation or vitreoretinal disease. The presence and severity of vitreous haze was classified according to the National Eye Institute system; other inflammatory indices and clinical parameters were also documented. Spectral-domain OCT images were analyzed using custom VITreous ANalysis software (termed 'VITAN'), which is fully automated and avoids the need for manual segmentation. Results: VITAN performed accurate segmentation in all scans. Automated measurements of the vitreous:retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) signal ratio showed a moderate correlation with clinical vitreous haze scores (r ¼ 0.585, P , 0.001), comparable to that reported using manual segmentation in our previous study (r ¼ 0.566, P ¼ 0.0001). The novel parameter of vitreous:RPE textural ratio showed a marginally stronger correlation (r ¼ 0.604, P , 0.001) with clinical vitreous haze scores than the Vitreous:RPE signal ratio. Conclusions: The custom OCT image analysis software (VITAN) allows rapid and automated measurement of vitreous parameters, that is comparable to our previously reported vitreous:RPE index, and correlates with clinically measured disease activity. Such OCT-based indices may provide the much needed objective markers of vitreous activity, which may be used in both clinical assessment, and as outcome measures in clinical trials for intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis. Translational Relevance: We describe a rapid automated method for quantifying vitreous signal intensity on optical coherence tomography (OCT) and show that this correlates with clinical assessment of vitreous inflammation. Such OCT-based indices may provide the much needed objective markers of vitreous activity, which may be used both in routine clinical assessment, and as outcome measures in clinical trials for intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis

Transcriptional profiling of sonic hedgehog in a prospective cohort of breast cancer in a Pakistani population

Background/Aim: Constitutive activation of Sonic hedgehog (SHH) has been observed in different types of cancers. In the present study, expressional profiling of SHH in a breast cancer cohort (n=150) of a Pakistani population and its association with different molecular subtypes have been explored. Materials and Methods: qRT-PCR and IHC were performed for expression analysis of SHH and its association with ER, PR, HER2 and Ki-67 were also statistically analyzed. Results: A significant over-expression of SHH was observed in tumor tissues in comparison to their respective controls (p<0.0001). A strong positive correlation was seen between SHH and proliferation marker (r=0.635, p=0). SHH expression was significantly high among patients with advanced tumor grade, stage, nodal involvement and metastasis. Furthermore, both luminal-B and triple-negative subtypes of cohort showed increased expression of SHH. Conclusion: Based on these findings, SHH may be used as a potential biomarker for breast carcinogenesis

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London