Environmental Risk, Corporate Strategy, Financing Strategy and Firm Profitability: Evidence from South East Asian Countries

The aim of the paper is to analyze the simultaneous influence of environmental risk, corporate strategy and financing strategy on firm profitability. Data for the period of 2013-2019 was collected from COMPUSTAT and respective Stock exchanges. The sample consists of a total of 4837 publicly traded firms from South East Asian Countries. Using fixed effects model, the findings of the study revealed that independent constructs explain significant variation in firm profitability. These findings are helpful for managers in formulating better strategies particularly those that are concerned with addressing the volatility and uncertainty dimension of the environment as well as resource development for supporting their decisions related to strategy formulation

Receptor specificity and cellular entry of human rhinoviruses

Humane Rhinoviren (HRVs) stellen die Hauptursache für grippale Infekte dar. Zurzeit kursieren mehr als 100 Serotypen, welche aufgrund von Rezeptorspezifität in zwei Gruppen unterteilt werden. Minor group HRVs erkennen Vertreter der „low-density lipoprotein receptor“ (LDLR) Familie, major group Rhinoviren binden an „intercellular adhesion molecule“ 1 (ICAM-1). Die Analyse von Rezeptorunterscheidung auf atomarem Level zeigte, dass major group HRVs eine ICAM-1- Erkennungssignatur aufweisen, die in minor group HRVs nicht aufscheint. Bei minor group HRVs ist ein Lysin streng konserviert, es kommt im HI loop vonVP1 von allen Vertretern der minor group vor. Mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit nimmt es eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Erkennung von LDL- Rezeptoren ein. Interessanterweise kommt dieses Lysin auch bei HRVs vor, die an ICAM-1 binden; diese werden K-Typ Viren genannt. Während der Charakterisierung der Rezeptorspezifität von K-Typ Viren fanden wir heraus, dass HRV8 und HRV18 mit VLDLR- Konkatemeren interagieren können. Im Vergleich zu HRV2 ist diese Interaktion allerdings viel schwächer, des Weiteren sind K-Typ Viren nicht in der Lage an membranständige oder von Zellen präsentierte LDL- Rezeptoren zu binden. Während der Überprüfung ob K-Typ Viren ICAM-1 defiziente Rhabdomyosarcomazellen (RD) infizieren können, fiel auf, dass HRV54 in der Lage ist in diesen Zellen zu replizieren. Infection inhibition assays gaben einen Hinweis darauf, dass Heparansulfat-(HS) in die Zellerkennung durch HRV54 involviert sein könnte. Mithilfe von Rezeptorblockade, Inhibierung der Sulfatierung, enzymatischem Verdau und Verwendung von HS- defizienten Zelllinien zeigen wir, dass HRV54 Wildtyp (wt), ohne jegliche Adaptierung, HS als alternativen Rezeptor nutzen kann. Infektion via HS ist allerdings im Vergleich zu Infektion via ICAM-1 weniger effizient, vermutlich aufgrund von schlechterer Virusaufnahme in die Zelle und Freisetzung des viralen Genoms. HRV54 ähnelt HRV2 bezüglich Säurelabilität. In ICAM-1- exprimierenden Zellen kann HRV54 auch in Gegenwart des H+-ATPase- Inhibitors Bafilomycin A1 replizieren. In Zellen, die ICAM-1 nicht exprimieren wird die Replikation von HRV54 durch Bafilomycin komplett blockiert. Folglich nötigt der Gebrauch eines nicht katalytisch wirkenden Rezeptors das Virus zu erhöhter Säurelabilität. 4 Dieser Bedarf an erhöhter Säurelabilität wurde auch bei HRV8, einem weiteren K-Typ Virus Vertreter festgestellt. HRV8 kann ebenfalls mittels HS an RD Zellen binden und aufgenommen werden, löst allerdings keine Infektion aus da das virale Genom nicht freigesetzt wird. Nach einigen Serienpassagen/ Blindpassagen wurde eine Variante (HRV8v) selektiert, die die Fähigkeit in RD Zellen zu replizieren gewonnen hatte. HRV8 und HRV8v unterscheiden sich stark bezüglich pH- Sensitivität, wobei HRV8 wt stabiler ist als HRV8v. Zusammengefasst weisen diese Beobachtungen darauf hin, dass ein allgemeiner Trend bei HRVs besteht an HS zu binden. Die Neigung an HS zu binden ist eng mit geringerer Säurestabilität verbunden, um eine Konformationsänderung des Capsids auch ohne die Hilfe des diesbezüglich katalytisch wirksamen Rezeptors ICAM-1 zu gewährleisten. Minor group HRVs werden durch Clathrin- abhängige Endozytose in die Zelle aufgenommen, für major group HRVs, und HRV- Serotypen, die an HS binden, ist der Mechanismus, durch den sie in die Zelle aufgenommen werden weitgehend unbekannt. Wir charakterisierten daher die Aufnahmemechanismen dieser Viren und der drei korrespondierenden Rezeptortypen. Mittels konvokaler Immunofluoreszenzmikroskopie konnte gezeigt werden, das Viren, je nachdem welcher Rezeptor benutzt wurde, in unterschiedliche Zellkompartimente transportiert wurden. Durch Kombination dieser Technik mit Elektronenmikroskopie, der Herstellung von dominant- negativen Mutanten, und der Austestung von pharmakologischen Inhibitoren konnten wir zeigen, dass HRV14, als Repräsentant der major group HRVs, mittels Dynamin- unabhängiger Makropinozytose in RD-ICAM Zellen aufgenommen wird und sich an tubulären Zellmembraninvaginationen ansammelt. Aufnahme von HRV8 in RD Zellen, vermittelt durch HS zeigt ähnliche Charakteristika bezüglich der Kolokalisation mit Endozytosemarkern und den inhibitorischen Effekten von pharmakologisch aktiven Substanzen. Die Aufnahme HRV8 ist aber im Gegensatz zum Zelleintritt von HRV14 abhängig von funktionellem Dynamin, des Weiteren wird HRV8 in vergleichsweise größeren vesikulären Strukturen konzentriert. Das unterschiedliche Rezeptorbindungsverhalten und die verschiedenen Invaginationsstrukturen bei der Aufnahme von HRV14 und HRV8 demonstrieren die Existenz von sowohl Dynamin- abhängiger als auch – unabhängiger Makropinozytose in RD Zellen.Human rhinoviruses (HRVs), the major cause of the common cold, are characterized by more than 100 circulating types and are classified into two groups on the basis of receptor specificity. Minor group HRVs use members of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) super-family while major group types bind to intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). Analysing receptor discrimination at the atomic level, it has been shown that major group viruses contain ICAM-1 recognition signatures which are absent in the minor group HRVs. On the other hand, a single lysine residue is strictly conserved in the HI loop of VP1 of all minor group HRVs and is thought to play a key role in docking of the virus to LDL receptors. Interestingly, this lysine is also present in some ICAM-1 binding HRVs called K-type viruses. While characterizing the receptor specificity of the K-type HRVs, we found that HRV8 and HRV18 can interact with VLDLR concatemers. However, this interaction is much weaker when compared to HRV2 and they neither bind to LDLR immobilized on membranes nor on the cell surface. While screening these K-type HRVs for their ability to infect ICAM-1 negative rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cells, we noticed that HRV54 is able to replicate in these cells. Infection inhibition assays indicated the involvement of heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans. By using receptor blocking assays, inhibition of sulfation, enzymatic digestion, and proteoglycan deficient cell lines, we show that wild type HRV54, without any adaptation, uses HS as an alternate receptor. However, infection via HS is less efficient than infection via ICAM-1 most probably due to inefficient virus entry and uncoating. HRV54 has a similar acid lability profile as HRV2 and in ICAM-1-expressing cells it can replicate in the presence of the H+-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 whereas in ICAM-1 deficient cells its replication is completely blocked by the drug. Thus, using a non-catalytic receptor requires the virus to be highly sensitive to low pH. Moreover, the requirement for low pH sensitivity was also found in HRV8, another K-type virus that can bind and enter into RD cells via HS but fails to infect due to lack of uncoating. However, a variant (HRV8v) selected after few blind passages acquired the ability to replicate in these cells. It turned out that both viruses significantly differ in pH sensitivity, HRV8 wt being more stable than HRV8v. Collectively, these findings pinpoint a general trend in HRVs for binding to HS; this is intimately linked with becoming less stable to allow uncoating in the absence of catalytic receptor ICAM-1. 2 Where minor group HRVs depend on clathrin-mediated endocytosis, the pathway of major group HRVs and that of HS-binding viruses is largely unknown. We thus characterized the entry pathway(s) of these viruses when infecting the host cell via either of the three receptors. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy demonstrated that the viruses were localized to different compartments within the infected cells depending on the type of receptor used for binding. Combining this technique with electron microscopy, dominant negative mutants and pharmacological inhibitor assays, we demonstrate that the major group virus HRV14 enters via dynamin-independent macropinocytosis into RD-ICAM cells where many viruses accumulate in long tubular structures. Entry of HRV8 into RD cells via HS exhibits similar characteristics with respect to co-localization with endocytic markers and pharmacological inhibitor profiles. However, HRV8 entry is dependent on functional dynamin and viruses accumulate in comparatively larger vesicular structures. The behaviour of HRV14 and HRV8, binding to quite different receptor molecules demonstrate the existence of both dynamin-dependent and dynamin-independent macropinocytosis in RD cell

Towards a secure service provisioning framework in a Smart city environment

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Over the past few years the concept of Smart cities has emerged to transform urban areas into connected and well informed spaces. Services that make smart cities “smart” are curated by using data streams of smart cities i.e., inhabitants’ location information, digital engagement, transportation, environment and local government data. Accumulating and processing of these data streams raise security and privacy concerns at individual and community levels. Sizeable attempts have been made to ensure the security and privacy of inhabitants’ data. However, the security and privacy issues of smart cities are not only confined to inhabitants; service providers and local governments have their own reservations — service provider trust, reliability of the sensed data, and data ownership, to name a few. In this research we identified a comprehensive list of stakeholders and modelled their involvement in smart cities by using the Onion Model approach. Based on the model we present a security and privacy-aware framework for service provisioning in smart cities, namely the ‘Smart Secure Service Provisioning’ (SSServProv) Framework. Unlike previous attempts, our framework provides end-to-end security and privacy features for trustable data acquisition, transmission, processing and legitimate service provisioning. The proposed framework ensures inhabitants’ privacy, and also guarantees integrity of services. It also ensures that public data is never misused by malicious service providers. To demonstrate the efficacy of SSServProv we developed and tested core functionalities of authentication, authorisation and lightweight secure communication protocol for data acquisition and service provisioning. For various smart cities service provisioning scenarios we verified these protocols by an automated security verification tool called Scyther

Comparative Analysis of the Literature on Economic Growth in the Perspective of Advanced and Emerging Economies

In this paper we have critically analyzed previous literature on economic growth with special reference to advanced and emerging economies in order to understand what research so far has been made by different researchers on various determinants and what they have opinion about the growth of these economies in future. The objective of this study is to investigate the phenomenon why do some countries record fast economic growth and why some other countries have stagnant situation in spite of all efforts, policy initiatives, latest technology, and human capital. For this purpose, we specifically selected G-7 countries and E-7 (Emerging economies).Then we analyze their specific economic indicators such as human capital, technology, aging population and its likely financial burden on the respective economies, ratio of working population to total population, manufacturing capacity and export potential. The advanced countries included in this study are the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and Italy and Japan while emerging economies included into this study is China, India, Brazil, Russian Federation, Indonesia, Turkey, and Pakistan. After critical analysis of literature we conclude that economists have dismal view about the economic growth of advanced countries in future due to mounting high level of debt, income inequality, less revenue generating space, aging population and growing burden of social spending. In contrast, the economists who conducted research on emerging economies are very much optimistic about their consistent economic growth in future because they have younger working population, less debt burden, growing per capita income and living standard, big consumer markets, expanding middle class, increasing exports, and fiscal discipline. Keywords: Economic growth, fiscal discipline, aging population, consumer markets

Fintech adoption, the regulatory environment and bank stability: An empirical investigation from GCC economies

The study analyzes the impact of fintech adoption on the banking sector's stability in GCC countries from 2010 to 2022. The study also considers the role of fintech regulations in this framework. We construct an index of fintech adoption by banks by considering several factors such as banks' digital presence, mobile banking capabilities, support for open APIs, fintech partnerships, digital payment solutions, automation and artificial intelligence integration, innovation initiatives, user experience focus and embracing new technologies. The regulatory environment is measured through the existence or introduction of fintech-related regulations such as the regulatory sandbox. The findings imply that fintech adoption has reduced banks' stability in GCC. The fintech-stability relationship varies over various bank-specific and country-specific variables. For instance, large and well-capitalized banks are less likely to experience adverse effects of fintech adoption. Moreover, the negative impact of fintech on financial stability is lower for Islamic, foreign and government banks. In addition, banks operating in well-developed and more competitive banking sectors experience lower financial instability when adopting fintech innovation. We confirm these findings with an alternative indicator of fintech adoption. The study also discusses essential policy implications for the sample countries

Evaluation of Prognostic response in HIV positive patients after Antiretroviral Therapy

Objective: The present study was aimed to monitor the prognostic response of antiretroviral therapy in HIV positive patients. Methodology: The study was conducted on confirmed HIV positive patients registered at HIV treatment and care centre, PIMS. Islamabad from January 2013 to December 2015.. Among all HIV positive patients,276 adult cases were selected. There were 263 patients on first-line antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and 13 patients were shifted to 2nd line ARV therapy.CD4 cell counts and viral load (Polymerase chain reaction) monitoring was done after one year of starting ARV therapy. Results: Out of 276 adult patients,  75%(n=207) were male and 25%(n=69) were females. Among 276 adult cases, 95.3% (n=263) patients were on first line ARV therapy. Patients on first line ARV therapy showed good prognostic response. There  were 15.5%(n=40) patients having  CD4+cells less than 350cells/µL. There were 84.5%(n=223) patients having  CD4 +cells count greater than 350cells/µL There were 69%(n=182) patients having viral load <50copies/ml and 31%(n=81) patients who had viral load >50copies/ml. Conclusion: First line ARV therapy given to HIV positive patients proved itself best both in respect of increasing the immunity of HIV positive patients by increasing the number of CD4 cells and also results in effective viral load suppression

Calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Kajli, Lohi and Thalli sheep breeds

Calpastatin-encoding gene (<i>CAST</i>) is located on the fifth chromosome of sheep and it plays an  important role in the development of muscles and in meat tenderness. The present study was conducted to  investigate a calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Pakistani Thalli, Lohi and Kajli sheep breed. Random blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 samples from each Thalli, Lohi and Kajli breeds).  Genomic DNA was extracted using phenol-chloroform extraction method. A 622 bp CAST gene segment (exon 1C/1D region) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ovine specific primers. Restriction  fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in the amplified fragments were studied using Msp1 restriction  enzyme. Frequencies of MM, MN and NN genotypes were found to be 77, 20 and 3% in Lohi breed and 68, 26 and 6% in Kajli breed respectively. In Thalli sheep, only the MM (80%) and MN (20%) genotypes were  detected. Chi-Square test (p < 0.05) showed that all the three populations used in this study were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. By comparing the results of this study with those of previous studies, it seems that the MM genotype is the dominant genotype and the M allele is the dominant allele in small ruminant breeds belonging to different geographical locations.Key words: Thalli, Lohi, CAST gene, Kajli, polymorphism, Msp1, PCR-RFLP