Volatility in Discretionary Public Spending and Economic Growth: A Cross Country Analysis

Volatility in discretionary public spending has diverse implications for the overall economic performance of economies. In this study, we examine the impact of volatile non�systematic discretionary public spending on economic growth. By employing cross-country data of 74 developed and developing economies, we find that volatility in non-systematic discretionary public spending has an adverse impact on economic growth. In particular, such impact is severe in the case of less developed economies. Our findings are robust to the problem of endogeneity. In order to ensure the accuracy of the results, we conduct sufficient sensitivity analysis by incorporating a bunch of potential control variables. In most of the cases, the results with regard to the policy volatility remain intact. This suggests that effective spending rules, i.e. permanent numerical limits, should be imposed on budgetary aggregates to restrain governments from the volatile use of discretionary spending. JEL Classification: H3; H5 Keywords: Volatility in Discretionary Public Spending, Economic Growth, Effective Spending Rul

Behavioural and neural correlates of vibrotactile discrimination and uncertainty

Decisions pervade everyday life, from the mundane to those that induce anxiety. The act of making simple decisions may be examined experimentally with the vibrotactile discrimination task, where the manipulation of task factors challenge the way people make decisions. The objective of this thesis is to examine how the human brain maintains above-chance levels of performance despite challenging experimental conditions that alter the way people perceive presented sensory stimuli. Two behavioural investigations of perceptual decision making and two separate analyses of a functional neuroimaging experiment were conducted. In the first experiment, we examine the influence of the time-order effect whereby prior information from task stimuli biases decision making on a current trial. In the second study, different delay periods between vibration pairs were used to examine how the working memory representation of a vibrotactile stimulus drifts over time by observing changes in accuracy and sensitivity. The neural correlates of explicit factors used in the task, including stimulus noise and context judgements, were then studied through a functional neuroimaging experiment. A number of distinct prefrontal neural regions were identified, a selection of which were then used in the model-driven network based technique of dynamic causal modelling. This thesis makes the following conclusions: Even when not explicitly incorporated into experimental design, the history of previously presented stimuli can quickly establish an internal standard and exert a powerful influence on decision making. The time-order effect exhibits its influence on decision making in a nonlinear fashion across short interval delay periods between paired stimuli, in a way that depends upon prior experience with time-dependent tasks. Distinct prefrontal cortex regions including the inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis and the superior frontal gyrus, are engaged when precision estimates of stimulus representations are required for decision making. These prefrontal regions exert their influence through nonlinear, hierarchical network connections. The findings of this thesis could be extended to elucidate cognitive disturbances in depression where deficits in decision making are a debilitating daily experience

UPAYA PELESTARIAN KUBAH DATUK BATU BARA DI DESA KUALA GUNUNG KECAMATAN LIMA PULUH KABUPATEN BATU BARA

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui sejarah, kondisi dan kelestarian Kubah Datuk Batu Bara. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif yang menyajikan data informasi dari beberapa pihak yang terkait dengan penelitian ini yaitu mengenai upaya pelestarian kubah Datuk Batu Bara di desa Kuala Gunung kecamatan Lima Puluh. kabupaten batubara Subyek penelitian ditentukan dengan purposive sampling, berdasarkan kemampuan dan kualitas informasi yang disampaikan informan yaitu: 1 orang juru kunci atau wali kubah Datuk Batu Bara, 1 kepala desa, dan 5 masyarakat, sehingga jumlah subjek yang terlibat adalah 7 informan. Instrumen pengumpulan data berupa pedoman wawancara, observasi dan dokumentasi. Analisis data menggunakan: reduksi, penyajian, penarikan, dan verifikasi data. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang diperoleh dapat disimpulkan bahwa Kubah Datuk Batubara yang terletak di Desa Kuala Gunung Kecamatan Limapuluh Kabupaten Batubara merupakan salah satu tempat wisata yang masih diminati oleh masyarakat. berpesta. Pengurus atau juru kunci kubah ini sudah melakukan pembersihan kubah, namun dari beberapa sumber yang didapat, kubah ini hanya dilestarikan oleh peziarah dan kendala dalam melestarikan situs sejarah kubah Datuk Batubara adalah ahli dalam pelestarian seperti kurangnya perhatian pemerintah setempat terhadap bangunan bersejarah in

MBE growth of axion insulator candidate EuIn2As2

The synthesis of thin films of magnetic topological materials is necessary to achieve novel quantized Hall effects and electrodynamic responses. EuIn2As2 is a recently predicted topological axion insulator that has an antiferromagnetic ground state and an inverted band structure but that has only been synthesized and studied as a single crystal. We report on the synthesis of c-axis oriented EuIn2As2 films by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates. By careful tuning of the substrate temperature during growth, we stabilize the Zintl phase of EuIn2As2 expected to be topologically non-trivial. The magnetic properties of these films reproduce those seen in single crystals but their resistivity is enhanced when grown at lower temperatures. We additionally find that the magnetoresistance of EuIn2As2 is negative even up to fields as high as 31T but while it is highly anisotropic at low fields, it becomes nearly isotropic at high magnetic fields above 5T. Overall, the transport characteristics of EuIn2As2 appear similar to those of chalcogenide topological insulators, motivating the development of devices to gate tune the Fermi energy to reveal topological features in quantum transport

Employees' pre-dismissal right to be heard: the Malaysian and the Islamic perspective

It seemed to be a settled principle of law that before an employee can be dismissed from his job for misconduct, he must have a notice of the allegation against him and accorded a reasonable opportunity of being heard. However, this principle should be revisited in the light of two conflicting Federal Court’s decisions pertaining to the mandatory issue of this right especially in the private sector employment in Malaysia. The curable principle as enunciated by Dreamland Corporation (M) Sdn. Bhd. v Choong Chin Sooi & Anor [1988] 1 MLJ 111 has watered down the right of the employee to be heard as it was held in that case that the irregularity in holding a domestic enquiry is not fatal to the employer. He may justify the dismissal at the Industrial Court. Despite the existence of this principle, it should be emphasised that the right to a pre-dismissal hearing should be interpreted to be mandatory and not discretionary as there are two statutory provisions and constitutionally recognised rules of natural justice which may support this proposition. The mandatory effect of the domestic enquiry should be consistently upheld. With a view to enhance the employee’s right and to ensure harmonious employer-employee relationship, it would be the purpose of this article to comparatively examine and learn how the same right is treated and regulated under the Islamic principle of justice and its application in two Islamic countries, namely Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Apart from narrowing down the gap in the Islamic knowledge on the administration of justice in dismissal cases, this article may also contribute in idea on how to harmonise the current employment laws and the Sharia

Flow cytometric analysis of platelets mepacrine-labelled dense granules among individuals with mild bleeding symptoms

Introduction: Mild bleeding symptoms are commonly encountered in the general population & amongst individuals with platelet disorders. One of the possible causes is due to reduced number of dense granules synthesis in platelets and defective release of its contents. This study was aimed to evaluate platelets mepacrine-labelled dense granules storage and release using flow cytometry in healthy individuals and those presenting with mild bleeding symptoms. Methods: This study was conducted at the National Blood Centre (NBC) and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Thirty- four individuals were recruited as controls (n=24) and patients (n=10). ADP-activated platelets and mepacrine-labelled dense granules was detected using flow cytometry. Results were expressed as mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) of mepacrine in resting and activated platelets; representing dense granules storage and release, respectively. Statistical analysis was considered significant if p ≤ 0.05. Results: There was a significant difference of mean MFI between resting (1284.3 ± 91.8) and activated platelets (1233.8 ± 107.8) of overall respondents with mean difference of 50.5 (p<0.01). However, there was no significant difference of mean MFI in resting and activated platelets between controls and patients was observed. Conclusion: Results indicated there is no secretion defects in platelet dense granules among patients in comparison with controls. Flow cytometry provides alternative way of dense granule assessment in patients presented with mild bleeding symptoms

Hierarchical and Nonlinear Dynamics in Prefrontal Cortex Regulate the Precision of Perceptual Beliefs

Actions are shaped not only by the content of our percepts but also by our confidence in them. To study the cortical representation of perceptual precision in decision making, we acquired functional imaging data whilst participants performed two vibrotactile forced-choice discrimination tasks: a fast-slow judgment, and a same-different judgment. The first task requires a comparison of the perceived vibrotactile frequencies to decide which one is faster. However, the second task requires that the estimated difference between those frequencies is weighed against the precision of each percept—if both stimuli are very precisely perceived, then any slight difference is more likely to be identified than if the percepts are uncertain. We additionally presented either pure sinusoidal or temporally degraded “noisy” stimuli, whose frequency/period differed slightly from cycle to cycle. In this way, we were able to manipulate the perceptual precision. We report a constellation of cortical regions in the rostral prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) associated with the perception of stimulus difference, the presence of stimulus noise and the interaction between these factors. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of these data suggested a nonlinear, hierarchical model, whereby activity in the rostral PFC (evoked by the presence of stimulus noise) mutually interacts with activity in the DLPFC (evoked by stimulus differences). This model of effective connectivity outperformed competing models with serial and parallel interactions, hence providing a unique insight into the hierarchical architecture underlying the representation and appraisal of perceptual belief and precision in the PFC

Platelet aggregation pattern on light transmission aggregometry among Malaysian healthy individuals

Introduction: Platelet aggregation test using light transmission aggregometry (LTA) is considered as the gold standard for evaluation of platelet function. Variations of platelet aggregation had been reported in apparently healthy individuals whereby a normal cut–off value established locally is highly recommended. This study aims to determine the platelet aggregation pattern and the preliminary findings on reference values for multiple agonists–induced platelet aggregation among Malaysian healthy individuals in a single centre. Method: A total number of 63 informed consented healthy individuals consisted of Malay, Chinese and Indian were recruited among staff and blood donors at National Blood Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Platelet aggregation was measured using LTA against adenosine diphosphate 10 µM (ADP10), collagen 0.19 mg/mL (COL), ristocetin 1.5 mg/mL (RIS), arachidonic acid 1 mM (AA) and epinephrine 10 µM (EPI). Results were expressed as percent final aggregation (%FA). Reference values were calculated from mean±2SD. Results: Age, gender and ethnic groups had no significant effect on platelet aggregation. A variability of platelet aggregation response to EPI was observed among the healthy individuals. Ten of 33 respondents (30%) had impaired aggregation with <20% FA in response to EPI. The local population showed a slightly higher aggregation pattern in response to COL, RIS, AA and EPI (excluding non-responders) compared to manufacturer’s reference values. Conclusion: This study has provided a glimpse of the aggregation pattern of the local nationality showing considerable differences in the reference values from manufacturer’s; thus highlighting the need of establishing local reference values

Prior and Present Evidence: How Prior Experience Interacts with Present Information in a Perceptual Decision Making Task

Vibrotactile discrimination tasks have been used to examine decision making processes in the presence of perceptual uncertainty, induced by barely discernible frequency differences between paired stimuli or by the presence of embedded noise. One lesser known property of such tasks is that decisions made on a single trial may be biased by information from prior trials. An example is the time-order effect whereby the presentation order of paired stimuli may introduce differences in accuracy. Subjects perform better when the first stimulus lies between the second stimulus and the global mean of all stimuli on the judged dimension ("preferred" time-orders) compared to the alternative presentation order ("nonpreferred" time-orders). This has been conceptualised as a "drift" of the first stimulus representation towards the global mean of the stimulus-set (an internal standard). We describe the influence of prior information in relation to the more traditionally studied factors of interest in a classic discrimination task.Sixty subjects performed a vibrotactile discrimination task with different levels of uncertainty parametrically induced by increasing task difficulty, aperiodic stimulus noise, and changing the task instructions whilst maintaining identical stimulus properties (the "context").The time-order effect had a greater influence on task performance than two of the explicit factors-task difficulty and noise-but not context. The influence of prior information increased with the distance of the first stimulus from the global mean, suggesting that the "drift" velocity of the first stimulus towards the global mean representation was greater for these trials.Awareness of the time-order effect and prior information in general is essential when studying perceptual decision making tasks. Implicit mechanisms may have a greater influence than the explicit factors under study. It also affords valuable insights into basic mechanisms of information accumulation, storage, sensory weighting, and processing in neural circuits

Making rights a reality

Lara Fergus considers the human rights approach to stopping violence against women in the context of Amnesty International\u27s recently launched Stop Violence Against Women campaign. She examines how such conceptual changes to human rights may mark the beginning of a new era of activism of greatly increased relevance to women, and looks at what the Amnesty campaign means in terms of raising awareness and promoting better responses to sexual assault in Australia