The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of the People’s Republic of China’s Belt and Road initiative, is a collection of infrastructure, energy, and technology projects currently being constructed throughout The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the western Xinjiang region of China. CPEC, coined as a “game changer” by Pakistani officials, is the most recent manifestation of a burgeoning relationship between China and Pakistan. China is financing the projects through a network of zero-interest loans, grants, and low-interest loans to the Pakistani government with a total planned investment of 45 billion USD. The main goal of CPEC is increased economic connectivity and stabilization throughout Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is three fold: to study the economic impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the Islamic Republic, to determine what China hopes to achieve in Pakistan/CPEC, and finally to examine if and how the United States with its strategic interests and close, complicated history with Pakistan, will (or can) maintain its influence in Pakistan if Pakistan is transformed. I will argue that the Chinese economic development strategy behind CPEC will actual do more to address the fundamental deficiencies of the Pakistani economy than the military focused (and economic-lacking) aid strategy of the United States. In this paper I am going to discuss the China-Pakistani Economic corridor, what exactly the cooperation entails in terms of physical infrastructure, economic stimulus, the background of the relations between China and Pakistan. Then I will address the issues Pakistan is facing, specifically the lopsided aid, lack of state functionality, and dismal economic development.No embargoAcademic Major: Agribusiness and Applied Economic

The Russian default and the contagion to Brazil.

This paper investigates the contagion from Russia to Brazil in late 1998 under two dimensions players involved and the timing of events. The data does not seem to reflect a compensatory liquidation of assets story by international institutional investors. It does contribute, however, to the suspicion that the contagion was triggered by foreign investors panicking from the Russian crisis, and joining local residents on their speculation against the Brazilian real. Adjusted correlations in the Brady market increase significantly during the crisis, which lends support to the view that if there was a contagion from Russia to Brazil, the most likely place of the transmission was the off-shore Brady market. Finally, the paper does not support the hypothesis that it was the liquidity crisis in mature markets, and not the Russian crisis, that timed the crisis in Brazil.

Financial market contagion in the Asian crisis

This paper tests for evidence of contagion between the financial markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines. Cross-country correlations among currencies and sovereign spreads are found to increase significantly during the crisis period, whereas the equity market correlations offer mixed evidence. A set of dummy variables using daily news is constructed to capture the impact of own-country and cross-border news on the markets. After controlling for own-country news and other fundamentals, the paper shows evidence of cross-border contagion in the currency and equity markets.

Monetary policy in the aftermath of currency crisis: the case of Asia

This paper evaluates monetary policy and its relationship with the exchange rate in the five Asian crisis countries. The findings are compared to previous currency crises in recent history. The paper finds that there is no evidence of overly tight monetary policy in the Asian crisis countries in 1997 and early 1998. There is also no evidence that high interest rates led to weaker exchange rates. The usual trade-off between inflation and output when raising interest rates suggested the need for a softer monetary policy in the crisis countries to combat recession. However, in some countries, corporate balance sheet considerations suggested the need to reverse overly depreciated currencies through firmer monetary policy.

A Survey of Interaction Techniques and Devices for Large High Resolution Displays

Innovations in large high-resolution wall-sized displays have been yielding benefits to visualizations in industry and academia, leading to a rapidly growing increase of their implementations. In scenarios such as these, the displayed visual information tends to be larger than the users field of view, hence the necessity to move away from traditional interaction methods towards more suitable interaction devices and techniques. This paper aspires to explore the state-of-the-art with respect to such technologies for large high-resolution displays

Geriatric patients\u27 expectations of their physicians: findings from a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

Background: Geriatric health is a neglected and under-explored area internationally and in Pakistan. We aimed to ascertain the expectations of the geriatric Patients from their physicians and the factors associated with Patient satisfaction in this particular age bracket. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Data collection was carried out via face-to-face interviews based on structured, pretested questionnaires. All consenting individuals aged 65 years or above were recruited into the study. Convenience sampling was used to draw the sample. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16. Geriatric Patient\u27s expectations from physicians were elicited using a set of 11 questions that were graded on a scale of 1-3 where 1 = not important, 2 = important, 3 = very important. Results: Three hundred and eighty geriatric Patients were interviewed. The response rate of this study was 89.8%. The mean age of the respondents was 73.4 +/- 6.8 years. Two hundred and forty eight respondents (65.3%) were female. Diabetes mellitus (53.7%), hypertension (59.5%), arthritis (40.5%) and renal disease (32.1%) were common ailments among geriatric Patients. More than 50% of the Patients were visiting their physicians once every two to three months. Discussing treatment options and letting Patients make the final decision (79.2%), prescribing minimum possible medications (84.5%), physician\u27s holistic knowledge about the spectrum of care issues for geriatric Patients (79.2%), being given a realistic but optimistic picture of future health by physicians (85.5%) were ranked as very important expectations by Patients from their physicians. Cumulative household income (p = 0.005), most important health complaint (p = 0.01) and frequency of experiencing health complaint (p \u3c 0.001) emerged as independent predictors of the satisfaction of geriatric Patients from care provided by physicians. Conclusion: We have documented the expectations of the geriatric Patients from their physicians in a developing country. Physicians belonging to all disciplines should keep these expectations in mind during clinical encounters with geriatric Patients

Successful surgical embolectomy in acute massive bilateral pulmonary embolism

Acute massive pulmonary embolism is a life-threatening emergency that must be promptly diagnosed and managed. A 52-year-old man presented with progressively increasing dyspnoea for three days. He had a previous history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was currently a heavy smoker. Examination revealed bilateral wheezing. Chest x-ray and electrocardiography showed non-specific changes. The patient was initially treated as a case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation secondary to pneumonia. However, despite optimum medical management, his oxygen saturation deteriorated. Emergent computed tomography scan of chest showed bilateral massive pulmonary emboli. As the patient\u27s haemodynamic status rapidly deteriorated, cardiothoracic surgery team was immediately consulted and the patient was taken to the operating room. Under cardiopulmonary bypass, bilateral open embolectomy was performed. Following surgical intervention, the patient made a remarkable recovery