Determinants of Cash Remittances: Case Study of Zambia

Remittances have become more and more important for development since they form an external source of finance that currently exceeds official development aid, foreign direct and portfolio investments in many developing countries. They have the potential to contribute to economic growth and poverty alleviation through increased consumption, savings and investment, that is conditional on the context of the recipient country.  In Zambia, the importance of remittances is evidenced by the numerous money transfer institutions in both formal and informal sectors as well as the rapid increases in both international and local remittances. With electronic money transfer services provided by mobile telephone service providers, the domestic money transfer system has received a boost.  This study analyzed the major determinants of cash remittances among households in Zambia. The study used secondary data from the Central Statistical Office of Zambia. Results from the Probit model analysis indicates that gender, age of household head ,household size, disability ,attended secondary school, occupation and  distance to the market have a strong influence on whether a household will receive remittances. In particular, study results suggest the need to give the disabled an opportunity to actively participate in the main stream economic activities of the country and encouraging policies towards the development and expansion of market infrastructure. Keywords: Determinants, Remittances and Zambi

Guest Editor’s Introduction: AJIC Focus Section on Cybersecurity

This introduction to the AJIC Focus Section on Cybersecurity provides the context for the section, introduces the three articles, and establishes the importance of ongoing emperical research in support of policy and strategy in the cybersecurity domain.CA201

International Trade as an Engine of Economic Growth in Zambia. An Application of New Structural Economics

International trade has been called the “engine of growth” that propelled the development of today’s economically advanced nations during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rapidly expanding export markets provided an additional stimulus to growing local demands that led to the establishment of large-scale manufacturing industries. From both theoretical and empirical point of view, the positive impact of international trade on economic growth has been widely documented. From this aspect, it has been argued that openness is important for growth since it generates channels for technology diffusion, which makes possible for less developed countries to import productivity gains from overseas. This study, from the perspective of new  structural economics analyzed international trade as an engine of economic growth in Zambia. The study used secondary data from penn world tables 8.0, world bank’s world development indicators (WDI) and the central statistical office.  Study results indicate that Zambia is an open economy  and that foreign direct investment and the trade to GDP ratio exerts a significant effect on economic growth in Zambia. In particular, study results suggest the need for policy makers to encourage expenditure on infrastructure that would facilitate trade and intensifying exports of goods in which Zambia has a comparative advantage in,  such as traditional exports (mainly metals-copper and cobalt) and non-traditional exports (other than copper and cobalt). Keywords: economic growth, export-led growth hypothesis (ELGH), new  structural economics, Zambi

Effects of Exchange Rate Volatility on the Stock Market: The Zambian Experience

This paper examines the effects of exchange rate volatility on the stock market in Zambia. The openness of Zambia’s economy is recognized as a cause of volatility of its market. A closer look at the foreign exchange rate history in Zambia shows considerable level of volatility. No work has been done on the effect of the exchange rate volatility on the stock market, in the Zambian context. Therefore, exploring the effect of Zambia’s foreign exchange rate volatility on its stock market is worthwhile. Time series data was used which span from 2000-2015.  GARCH (1,1) model was used in establishing the relationship between exchange rate volatility and stock market returns. It was found that there is a negative relationship between exchange rate volatility and stock market returns. The research finding is in line with previous studies done. Based on this, it is recommended that the exchange rate movement should be stabilized and be used as a policy tool to attract foreign portfolio investment by relevant policy-makers. Also, there is need for increased use of efficient hedging instruments by firms on the stock market thus  eliminating  negative effects. Keywords: Volatility, Stock return, Unit root test, GARCH, Zambia

Pix2Pose: Pixel-Wise Coordinate Regression of Objects for 6D Pose Estimation

Estimating the 6D pose of objects using only RGB images remains challenging because of problems such as occlusion and symmetries. It is also difficult to construct 3D models with precise texture without expert knowledge or specialized scanning devices. To address these problems, we propose a novel pose estimation method, Pix2Pose, that predicts the 3D coordinates of each object pixel without textured models. An auto-encoder architecture is designed to estimate the 3D coordinates and expected errors per pixel. These pixel-wise predictions are then used in multiple stages to form 2D-3D correspondences to directly compute poses with the PnP algorithm with RANSAC iterations. Our method is robust to occlusion by leveraging recent achievements in generative adversarial training to precisely recover occluded parts. Furthermore, a novel loss function, the transformer loss, is proposed to handle symmetric objects by guiding predictions to the closest symmetric pose. Evaluations on three different benchmark datasets containing symmetric and occluded objects show our method outperforms the state of the art using only RGB images.Comment: Accepted at ICCV 2019 (Oral

Potato plant growth acceleration and yield increase after treatment with an amino acid growth stimulant

An increase in the productivity of potato plants and natural resistance of tubers to external influences during growth, while preserving the qualitatively new properties of tubers in the process of low-temperature preservation, can be achieved through the effect of bioactive compounds on the metabolism of potato plantsn our work, we used a regulator derived from the hydrolysis of natural collagen down to low molecular weight fractions and pure glycine. The evidence of its effectiveness is based on shortening the growing season and increasing plant productivity as well as the content of bioactive and nutrient compounds in their storage organs, reducing losses during low-temperature preservation caused by natural biological processes, physiological diseases and damage by microorganisms. The paper deals with issues related to the growth and development of potato plants and their storage organs until the growing season is over and a possible increase of potato productivity after the planting material was treated with an amino acid growth regulator

Effect of antiretroviral therapy on some liver enzymes in HIV/AIDS breast fed and non breast fed children

The relationship and effect of antiretroviral therapy with associated hepatotoxicity were investigated in different paediatric age groups using serum alanine and aspartate transaminases (ALT and AST) and alkaline phosphates (ALP) biomarkers. The study consisted of a total of onehundred and twenty (120) participants; fifteen (15) each from different age groups of HIV infected children at baseline and three (3) months after initiation of therapy as well as a control group. Ninety three percent (93%) of the children studied acquired HIV infection through vertical transmission with seventy percent (70%) having mixed feeding as their feeding pattern. Before treatment initiation, total serum ALT and AST values (mean±S.E.M.) (25.7±4.8 and 69.6±3.6 U/L) were significantly higher (p<0.05) among the baseline than the control groups (21.1±1.9 and 17.9±3.6 U/L). After treatment, total serum transaminases and ALP values were found to besignificantly lower (p<0.05) among the treated (24.4±3.6, 38.4±5.4 and 255.5±77.5 U/L) than the baseline (25.7±4.8, 69.6±3.6 and 262.1±114.8 U/L) groups, except for the children in the least age group. This study concluded that antiretroviral drugs have effect on liver enzymes and are risk factors for developing hepatotoxicity especially in children at lower age groups. Children therefore require frequent evaluation during antiretroviral therapy even in the absence of signs and symptoms of metabolic complications.Keywords: Antiretroviral therapy, hepatotoxicity, transaminases, paediatric

Applying the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework: The Case of Zambia

This paper applied the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework (GIFF), a practical policy tool operationalizing key insights of New Structural Economics, to help policymakers in least developing countries (LDCs) to catching-up by developing feasible and sharply focused policies. In doing so, LDCs are able to identify and unlock their latent comparative advantages to achieve structural transformation.  Also, a description of the economic development of Zambia, including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism, import and export of products. Through the comparison with Vietnam, Indonesia, Morocco and Ghana, the paper points out the comparative advantages and development potential of Zambia, and how to transform these comparative advantages into competitive advantages. Based on the analysis of the constraints on the development of Zambia's agriculture, mining, tourism and other industries, the paper proposes some measures for the government to undertake so as to deal with these constraints, in order to promote the development of Zambia. Keywords: New Structural Economics, Economic Growth, Comparative Advantage, Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework, Zambia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-14-01 Publication date:July 31st 202

Exchange rate and economic growth nexus: An impact analysis of the Nigerian economy

This study examines the impact of the exchange rate, as an important determinant of economic growth in Nigeria between 1980 and 2019. Secondary data was used and sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin 2016. The econometric techniques used in the analysis were: Unit Root Test, Johansen Cointegration Test, and Error Correction Model (ECM). The result revealed that exchange has a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth at a 5% level of significance. But the result further revealed that economic openness was found to have impacted negatively on economic growth. Based on these findings it was recommended that the government through its monetary authority such as (CBN) should redesign the existing monetary policies to maintain a stable exchange rate. Lastly, since the economic openness hurts economic growth, it is therefore suggested that the government should sustain its current efforts in diversifying the economy in the country and disregard the notion that openness generates economic growth in the country

Environmental-Friendly and Non-Toxic TBSI as an Alternative for MOR Accelerator

In the solid tyre rubber industry, most accelerators can produce n-nitrosamines as a by-product during the vulcanization process. As many n-nitrosamines are carcinogenic, they are highly regulated in final rubber articles and during manufacturing process.  2-(Morpholinothio benzothiazole (MOR) is the primary accelerator used in vulcanizing systems. It produces nitrogen toxic gases (nitrogen oxide and amine gas) which are carcinogenic. In this research MOR was successfully replaced with N-tert-butyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenimide (TBSI) accelerator which has no carcinogenic effect. The main objective of this research is to maintain its original properties while replacing MOR with TBSI accelerator.  This study was conducted and test samples were made of bonding rubber compound that is used to make the bonding layer of tyres which is the common part in all type of solid tyres. Physical-mechanical and bonding properties were analyzed for MOR and TBSI added bonding compound samples. Tensile, hardness, density and rheological using Oscillating die rheometer properties were also measured to maintain the quality of the tyre. The property change of bond layer can affects the other tyre layers. So, it can lead to failure of curing process or failure in performance of the tyre during the applications. The TBSI curing characteristics are closer to MOR sample. However other physical properties like hardness and density of TBSI samples were bit lower but they were in the required level as a bonding layer compound. Substitution of MOR by ‘safe TBSI’ compounds are still active as accelerators, but do not form carcinogenic gases