Inflation Targeting, Exchange Rate and Financial Globalization

In this paper we investigate the impact of financial globalization on the behaviour of inflation targeting emerging market economies with respect to exchange rate - do central banks respond to exchange rate movements or not. We use quarterly data for six emerging market inflation targeting economies from the date of their inflation targeting adoption to 2009 Q4. The study uses small open economy new Keynesian model à la Gali and Monacelli (2005), and employs multi-equation GMM technique to investigate the relationship. We find that the response of central bank to the exchange rate in case of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Thailand is statistically significant while insignificant for Korea and Czech Republic. Theoretically, it should not be so as even under flexible inflation targeting central bank responds to inflation deviation and output gap; we think that the peculiar characteristics of emerging markets, like fear of floating, weak financial system and low level of central bank credibility make exchange rate important for these economies.Inflation Targeting; Exchange Rate; Emerging Markets

How director remuneration impacts firm performance: an empirical analysis of executive director remuneration in Pakistan

This study empirically investigates the interrelationship between pay and performance of CEOs/board of directors in an emerging market, Pakistan. The study uses GMM approach to account for the problem of potential endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity that arises due to the potential reverse causality (pay and performance) for a sample of non-financial firms listed in the KSE over the period of 2009e2016. This study provides evidence that pays-performance framework supports the agency theory whereby CEOs/board of directors are compensated for their prior level of market-based performance. In addition, pay performance framework weakly support the notion of the steward/tournament theory where the CEOs/board directors pay sensitivity weakly enhanced the firm performance. Thus, CEOs/board director's remuneration is highly persistent and takes time to adjust to long-run equilibrium

Discovering differences in gender-related skeletal muscle aging through the majority voting-based identification of differently expressed genes

Understanding gene function (GF) is still a significant challenge in system biology. Previously, several machine learning and computational techniques have been used to understand GF. However, these previous attempts have not produced a comprehensive interpretation of the relationship between genes and differences in both age and gender. Although there are several thousands of genes, very few differentially expressed genes play an active role in understanding the age and gender differences. The core aim of this study is to uncover new biomarkers that can contribute towards distinguishing between male and female according to the gene expression levels of skeletal muscle (SM) tissues. In our proposed multi-filter system (MFS), genes are first sorted using three different ranking techniques (t-test, Wilcoxon and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC)). Later, important genes are acquired using majority voting based on the principle that combining multiple models can improve the generalization of the system. Experiments were conducted on Micro Array gene expression dataset and results have indicated a significant increase in classification accuracy when compared with existing system

PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES IN HERMAN HESSE’S SIDDHARTHA

This paper is an attempt to study Siddhartha’s spiritual quest for self-knowledge in psychological perspective. It is meant to explore how far and in what ways is the mystical experience on par with secondary integration of personality that occurs only in the wake of the disintegration of several existing psychological structures. The protagonist’s act of overcoming ego-consciousness and disassociating himself with the social labels and ultimately realizing his ‘self’ are analyzed psychologically using Kazimierz Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration as a conceptual framework. Herman Hesse’s novel Siddhartha is selected for the study, and textual analysis is employed as a tool to analyse the text culling the relevant passages as evidence. The study reveals that the protagonist of the novel achieves higher level of personality development and the previously held assumptions which confuse spirituality with psychic disorders are overruled. It also asserts the validity of mystical experiences as higher form of consciousness yielding wisdom allowing mystics to transcend the temporal cum spatial barriers thereby elevating to the level of humanity. This paper suggests that the study of different mystical traditions may well lead to one’s personal development and may prove a step towards gaining maturity.Keywords: Mysticism, mystical experience, self-realization, positive disintegration, secondary integration.  Cite as: Imran, M., Bhatti, A. G., & Naveed, R.T. (2018). Psychological analysis of mystical experiences in Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 3(2), 66-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss2pp66-7

Library Leaders’ Attitude towards User Care in University Libraries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad

The goal of this research was to look at the attitudes of library leaders’ towards user care in university libraries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad. This study was conducted utilizing a quantitative research methodology that included a survey approach and a questionnaire. The data were collected from all library leaders’ working in the universities/ degree awarding institutions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad recognized by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Both descriptive as wells as inferential statistics were applied to analyze data using SPSS. The results revealed that the library leaders had an overall positive attitude towards user care. There were no statistically significant differences in the library leaders’ attitude based on types of university, number of employees in libraries, year of establishment of university, library working days in a week, and library timing respectively. Conversely, there were statistically significant mean differences in library leaders’ attitude towards user care based on geographical locations of university and gender of the respondents. The results provided a pragmatic insight into the user-centred approaches for managing customer (user) relationship for marketing of library resources and services. This research also had an important contribution to the existing literature on relationship marketing in general and user relationship management in particular as only a few such studies appeared so far

Appropriate Exchange Rate Regime for Economic Structure of Pakistan

Abstract. This study attempts to find the appropriate exchange rate regime for economic structure of Pakistan. To this end the study uses ARDL bond testing approach to estimate long run and for the estimation of short run analysis Error correction model (ECM) is applied. Time series data is used over the period from 1984 to 2012. Findings reveal that Trade openness, foreign exchange reserves, and inflation rate are important determinant while choosing appropriate exchange-rate regime for economy having features like Pakistan. On the basis of analysis, this study suggests that both extreme ends hard peg and free float are unfavorable for it. The results also survive during robustness check. However, caution is required while making a policy decision as clear-cut answer is absent.  Nonetheless, choice of regime is a difficult task in empirical analysis because few factors cannot explain actual regime.Keywords. Exchange Rate Regime, Classification, ARDL.JEL. F31, F33, F44

Role of Phenylalanine and Its Metabolites in Health and Neurological Disorders

Phenylalanine, an amino acid, is a “building block” of protein. Phenylalanine is a component of food sources and also derived through supplementation. In current treatment, phenylalanine is prescribed as anti-depressant agent. The present study reviewed the possible antidepressant potential of phenylalanine. We reviewed data using the major databases, namely, Web of Science, SciFinder, Google Scholar, and PubMed. This manuscript provides a brief overview of the role of phenylalanine in depressive disorders. Phenylalanine possesses anti-depressant potential. Significant anti-depressant activities have been studied both in-vitro and in-vivo models. Based on current data, phenylalanine could be recommended as a potential candidate for clinical anti-depressant trials. Phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) deficiency results in intolerance to the dietetic consumption of the phenylalanine and a variety of syndromes such as deep and permanent logical disability, impaired cognitive development

FREQUENCY OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE USING CALCIUM SCORING BY 640 SLICE CT

Coronary artery disease is the narrowing of coronary arteries which is usually caused by the atherosclerosis that leads to restriction of blood flow to the heart muscles. Atherosclerosis is a buildup of plaque or deposition of fats on the inner walls of arteries and is calculated by calcium scoring. Calcium scoring is a test to assess the presence and degree of plaque in the coronary arteries. Objective: To find the frequency of coronary artery disease using calcium scoring by 640 slice CT.   Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore. 155 participants including 117 (75.5%) males and 38 (24.5%) females were selected through convenient sampling technique. SPSS version 21.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Analysis of data showed that out of 155 patients, 54 (34%) patients had no lesion and 101 (65.2%) had CAD. Only 2 patients had 5 lesions. Out of 117 males, 38 had no plaque and 40 males had moderate plaque in coronary arteries. Out of 38 females, 16 female patients had no plaque, 5 female patients had moderate plaque. 99 (63.9%)  patients were non-smokers, out of them, 46 patients had no plaque and 17 patients had moderate plaque. 56 (36.1%) patients were smokers, out of these 8 had no plaque and 28 patients had moderate plaque. In total 103 (66.5%) patients who were hypertensive, 28 patients had no plaque, 36 had moderate plaque. Out of 52 (33.5%) patients who were without hypertension, 26 patients had no plaque, 36 patients had moderate plaque. Out of 155, 94 (60.6%) patients had diabetes, out of these 27 patients had no plaque, 32 patients had moderate plaque. Of 61 (39.4%) patients with diabetes, 27 had no plaque, 13 were with moderate plaque. 52 patients who were between the age of 26-35 years, 18 patients had no plaque, 14 patients had moderate plaque and of 8 patients between the age of 66-75 years, 3 had moderate plaque. Conclusions: In our sample the ratio of males was greater than females. In males, moderate plaques are most common and most of the females are those with no plaque. 54 % patients have no plaque and only 3 patients have minimal plaque. Smokers were least affected. It is concluded that hypertension affects the population more than any other risk factor. From our study it is also concluded that the people within the age range of 26 to 35 years are most likely to develop CAD Key words: Computed Tomography, Calcium Scoring, Coronary Artery Disease DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/71-13 Publication date: February 29th 202