How should emerging economies manage their foreign exchange reserves?

Asia has emerged as the balancing wheel of global finance. The countries of Asia now account for 70 per cent of global foreign exchange reserves, compared to only 30 percent in 1990 and 21 per cent in the early 1970s. This paper explores theoretical interpretations for the relatively high demand for international reserves by developing countries especially in the Far East. This paper provides calculations of the minimal necessary level of international reserves based on benchmarks proposed by Wijnholds and Kapteyn, as well as a discussion of costs of reserves’ holding. It therefore provides empirical proof that exchange reserve levels for many of the developing countries have far exceeded the desirable levels. Paper then discusses the steps that central banks in these developing countries can take for an effective reserve management.Foreign exchange ; emerging economies; reserves; reserve level; east asia

Engineering Novel Nanostructures via Chemical and Morphological Transformations

Materials at the nanoscale have revolutionized the world around us by enabling the discovery of novel size dependent properties and experimental verification of untested theoretical concepts. However, most nanomaterials today are phases of matter that are well known and have been studied extensively at the bulk scale. For example, II-VI semiconductors, which are widely studied today at the nanoscale, were employed in photovoltaic applications at the microscale for nearly half a century. The question that arises is whether material processing at the nanoscale can allow us to go beyond the limitations of conventional synthesis techniques? We believe that the next pathbreaking step in nanotechnology is to synthesize novel phases of materials which are metastable by thermodynamic considerations and hence challenging to achieve through established one-step synthesis processes. At the core of such an approach is the desire to gain in-depth scientific understanding of the chemical and morphological transformation mechanisms that enable the engineering of novel nanomaterials with exotic physical properties. Our research revolved around synthesizing novel nanomaterials from preexisting nanostructures via chemical and morphological transformation in a chemical vapor deposition system while preserving the morphology and atomic arrangement of the parent material through, what we like to call, “atomic templating”. We explored chemical transformation in II-VI semiconducting nanostructures via anion exchange to synthesize metastable phases of materials such as zincblende CdS and CdSe while retaining the crystal structure and twin boundaries of the parent zincblende CdTe. We later extended the concept of atomic templating to explore chemical substitution in II-VI semiconductors with elements from dissimilar groups of the periodic table such as IV A and V A that possess different bonding characteristics with chalcogenides as compared to elements of group II B. We also studied chemical substitution in a covalently bonded compound, GeTe. Finally, morphological transformation of CdS nanobelts into periodically branched nanostructures was studied through environmental TEM. The resulting nanostructures were thoroughly characterized via electron microscopy, photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy. Through first principles calculations via density functional theory, experimental observations were explained and novel physical properties targeted at specific applications were predicted

Urinary Biomarkers And Association With Recovery From Severe Aki

Few studies have examined the ability of urinary biomarkers to associate with recovery from acute kidney injury (AKI), a common complication for hospitalized patients that is independently associated with severe morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that urinary biomarkers of kidney injury (NGAL, IL-18) or repair (YKL-40) would be associated with renal recovery in patients with severe AKI. We prospectively enrolled 48 patients admitted at Yale New Haven Hospital with severe AKI (AKIN Stage 3). Daily morning urine samples were collected (until recovery up to max of 9 days). Levels of urinary YKL-40, NGAL, and IL-18 were measured. The primary exposures were the concentrations of the biomarkers on the first, last, and average daily values of the biomarker during enrollment. The primary outcome was renal recovery at discharge and was classified as complete if SCr ≤1.4 mg/dL, partial if SCr \u3e1.4 and lower than peak SCr reached, and non-recovery if SCr \u3e 4mg/dL or death. Fifteen patients recovered completely, 17 recovered partially, and 16 did not recover (11 due to death). Mean time to partial recovery from the first sample collection was 2.47 ± 1.92 days and mean time to complete recovery was 6.60 ± 4.03 days. Median values of the day 1, average, last NGAL (p= 0.01, p=0.01, and p \u3c0.01) and last YKL-40 (p=0.02) were significantly higher in patients that did not recover from AKI, compared to those that experienced partial or complete recovery. The AUCs for non-recovery for day 1, average, and last NGAL were 0.76, 0.77, and 0.81, for YKL-40 0.58, 0.66, and 0.75, and for IL-18 0.54, 0.55, and 0.59 respectively. In conclusion, high values of YKL-40 and NGAL appear to be associated with non-recovery from severe while IL-18 did not discriminate between recovery and non-recovery in this cohort of patients. Larger studies will need to confirm these findings

Mutual Dependence: A Novel Method for Computing Dependencies Between Random Variables

In data science, it is often required to estimate dependencies between different data sources. These dependencies are typically calculated using Pearson's correlation, distance correlation, and/or mutual information. However, none of these measures satisfy all the Granger's axioms for an "ideal measure". One such ideal measure, proposed by Granger himself, calculates the Bhattacharyya distance between the joint probability density function (pdf) and the product of marginal pdfs. We call this measure the mutual dependence. However, to date this measure has not been directly computable from data. In this paper, we use our recently introduced maximum likelihood non-parametric estimator for band-limited pdfs, to compute the mutual dependence directly from the data. We construct the estimator of mutual dependence and compare its performance to standard measures (Pearson's and distance correlation) for different known pdfs by computing convergence rates, computational complexity, and the ability to capture nonlinear dependencies. Our mutual dependence estimator requires fewer samples to converge to theoretical values, is faster to compute, and captures more complex dependencies than standard measures

Sintering characteristics of red mud compact

It is beyond doubt that activity of primary industries often yields substantial amounts of byproducts. The disposal in the original industrial site is favoured by economic reasons though traditional storage in nearby dumps can be impractical owing to the considerable masses involved and environmental restrictions. The local exploitation of these by-products is therefore a growing technological aspect of basic industries and one tenable option is their re-use as starting materials for other productions.This huge amount of industrial yproducts/wastes which is becoming a client for increasing environmental pollution & generation of a huge amount of unutilized resources. With a view to the above, this research is aimed at finding out utilization of such things/material/industrial byproducts for value added applications & also helps to solve the environmental problems. The present piece of my research work aims at, to provide a valued input/utilization to industrial byproduct/waste. An emblematic case is the ‘red mud’ discharged by industry producing alumina from bauxite: alkaline digestion of 2.5 t of bauxite affords alumina and ≈1.5 t of red mud ,so that an average Al2O3 productivity of 5×105 t year−1 involves a mass of by-products of ≈7.5×105 t year−1 discharged as slurry retaining variable water contents. This amount is composed of Fe and Ti oxides, behaving as chemically inert matter, with variable percentages of nominal SiO2,Al2O3 and Na2O. The material is available as a watery mixture which settles slowly and may easily be conveyed from station to station by continuous fluid-carrying machinery.The recycling of the mud, after curing or high temperature annealing — up to 1200°C — for large-rate daily mass consumption industries such as bricks and tile kilns has been put forward in a number of papers[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]Most of the above reports appear fragmentary and, to some extent surprising, characterization work is limited to the elemental analysis of the raw material and the identification of the crystalline phases in dried samples. However, the definition of thermal behaviour in a wide working range of temperatures appears mandatory for a feasible exploitation of the mud in high temperature applications. Indeed, the reactivity of red mud components on heating may promote ceramization and shrinkage and, apart from other qualities, may affect the mechanical features of clay-based items fabricated with bauxite-waste addition.Accordingly, we focus here on the thermal behaviour of the mud, the solid-state transformations and solid–liquid phase transitions. The use of thermal analysis coupled with of X-ray diffraction methods seemed well suitable for the problem at hand. The present study is a part of a long-term project on the exploitation of red mud as a clay additive for the ceramic industry or as a compound for self-binding mortars in the fabrication of stoneware

Extensive humeral hydatid cyst with extraosseous involvement: a case report

Hydatid cysts caused by Echinococcus species mainly involve visceral organs. Rarely skeletal involvement occurs. The spine and pelvis account for half of the cases of osseous hydatidosis, making humeral hydatid cysts one of the rarest conditions. We report a case of humeral hydatidosis in a 42-year male who presented to us with pain and swelling over the left upper arm, radiological investigations suggestive of osseous cystic lesions were inconclusive and diagnosis of hydatidosis was confirmed with a biopsy subsequently. Surgical excision and curettage of bone and surrounding soft tissue were done, and the void was filled using PMMA cement followed by antihelminthic chemotherapy. No complication or recurrence has been found postoperatively at the end of 6 months of follow-up, with preservation of limb function. To keep orthopedic surgeons aware of this morbid condition, due to its low prevalence, and advanced presentation which is likely misdiagnosed, and even after the early intervention, there is a high recurrence rate which makes this one of the rare cases of humeral hydatidosis notifiable

Sintering Behavior of Red Mud Compact

It is beyond doubt that activity of primary industries often yields substantial amounts of byproducts. The disposal in the original industrial site is favoured by economic reasons though traditional storage in nearby dumps can be impractical owing to the considerable masses involved and environmental restrictions. The local exploitation of these by-products is therefore a growing technological aspect of basic industries and one tenable option is their re-use as starting materials for other productions. This huge amount of industrial byproducts/wastes which is becoming a client for increasing environmental pollution & generation of a huge amount of unutilized resources. With a view to the above, this research is aimed at finding out utilization of such things/materials/industrial byproducts for value added applications & also helps to solve the environmental problems. The present piece of my research work aims at, to provide a valued input/utilization to industrial byproduct/waste

Sustaining Superior Performance in Business Ecosystems: Evidence From Application Software Developers in the iOS and Android Smartphone Ecosystems

We study the phenomenon of business ecosystems in which platform firms orchestrate the functioning of ecosystems by providing platforms and setting the rules for participation by complementor firms. We develop a theoretical framework to explain how the structural and evolutionary features of the ecosystem may shape the extent to which participating complementor firms can sustain their superior performance. The structural feature, which we refer to as ecosystem complexity, is a function of the number of unique components or subsystems that interact with the complementor’s product. We incorporate the evolutionary features by considering the role of generational transitions initiated by platform firms over time as well as the role of complementors’ ecosystem-specific experience. Evidence from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android smartphone ecosystems supports our arguments that higher ecosystem complexity helps app developers sustain their superior performance, and that this effect is stronger for more experienced firms. In contrast, platform transitions initiated by Apple and Google make it more difficult for app developers to sustain their performance superiority, and that this effect is exacerbated by the extent of ecosystem complexity. The study offers a novel account of how the performance of complementor firms in platform-based business ecosystems may be shaped by their ecosystem-level interdependencies