Forecasting Foreign Exchange Rates with the use of Artificial Neural Networks/Learning Machines and comparison with Traditional Concepts and Linear Models

2014 dissertation for MSc in Finance & Risk. Selected by academic staff as a good example of a masters level dissertation. The prediction of Foreign Exchange has been an ever-going learning process. The development of methods of prediction has come a long way, from the beginning where the though there was no ability to predict the future, and behavior is an unpredictable entity to the development of simple statistical linear models that has come a long way to todays technology world where computers and their computational powers have made it possible for Artificial Intelligence to be born. This paper will be going through previous studies on these Neural Networks to forecast the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY to test and review their ability to forecast one day ahead

Factors Affecting Secondary School Based In - Service Training In West District Secondary Schools- Zanzibar

This study investigated factors that affect Secondary School Based In-service Training. Ten (10) government secondary schools from Unguja West District were used as case study. The study had the following specific objectives (i) to assess the capability of secondary schools on handling School Based In-service Training. (ii) to assess factors which hinder the provision of secondary School Based In-service Training. ( iii) to determine stakeholder opinions on how secondary School Based In-service Training can be improved. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approach on data collection, analysis and interpretation. The study revealed that, secondary schools have low capability to conduct School Based In-service Training due to lack of support from other school stakeholders and ineffective school leadership on administering SB-INSET. On the other hand the study revealed that the main factors affecting SB-INSET included; lack of skills and knowledge on SB-IN SET, negative attitude towards SB-INSET among many stakeholders and; inability of schools to find appropriate time for SB-INSET. The study suggests that as a strategy to promote INSET, teachers’ successful attendance to the programme should be made a criterion for teachers’ promotion and motivation. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training should plan for change which will equip secondary schools with supportive work environment in order to provide schools with authority and power for planning and implementing School Based In-service Training

Synthesis and Characterization Complexes Of Cr(III),Mo(V) and W(VI) with Schiff Base Derivatives from (2-hydroxy-benzylidene) and Urea or Thiourea and Study of its biological activity.

Acetylenic amine (N,N-Bis propargy piperazine) were synthesized and diagnosed in spectroscopic method (Uv-visibl and IR) and (C.H.N) analysis . Preparing and studying new complexes by using ligand that from acetylenic amine which using this purpose at the first time with metal chlorides(Mo+3 ,Cr+5 ,W+6 ,Fe+3 ). Studying of complexes by using suitable methods have been diagnosed in Uv-Visible, IR, Magnetic susceptibility , atomic absorption ,electric conductivity measurement and molar ratio, all result obtained from different techniques above which were found that their corresponding with the proposed structures for the prepared complexes . Complexes appeared liquid crystal properties therefore they have been studied careful (∆H, ∆S) of liquid crystal stages for both changes calculated which were found that their corresponding with the data in literature

Binuclear Cu(II) and Co(II) Complexes of Tridentate Heterocyclic Shiff Base Derived from Salicylaldehyde with 4-Aminoantipyrine

New binuclear Co(II) and Co(II) complexes of ONO tridentate heterocyclic Schiff base derived from 4-aminoantipyrine with salicylaldehyde have been synthesized and characterized on the bases of elemental analysis, UV-Vis., FT-IR, and also by aid of molar conductivity measurements, magnetic measurements, and melting points. It has been found that the Schiff bases with Cu(II) or Co(II) ion forming binuclear complexes on (1 : 1) "metal : ligand" stoichiometry. The molar conductance measurements of the complexes in DMSO correspond to be nonelectrolytic nature for all prepared complexes. Distorted octahedral environment is suggested for metal complexes. A theoretical treatment of the formation of complexes in the gas phase was studied, and this was done by using the HyperChem-6 program for the molecular mechanics and semi-empirical calculations. The free ligand and its complexes have been tested for their antibacterial activities against two types of human pathogenic bacteria: the first type (Staphylococcus aureus) is Gram positive and the second type (Escherichia coli) is Gram negative (by using agar well diffusion method). Finally, it was found that compounds show different activity of inhibition on growth of the bacteria

Corporate finance practices and corporate governance effect on firm performance and information leakage in Saudi Arabia

The major aim of this thesis is to investigate corporate finance practices, as well as the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on firm performance and information leakage in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a major state among developing and Middle Eastern countries, characterised by certain economic and financial differences in contrast with other advanced and developing countries. Little consensus exists with regard to the means through which firms should come to corporate financial decisions. Therefore, a scant number of studies have conducted comprehensive surveys into corporate finance practices, covering capital budgeting, cost of capital, capital structure and dividends. These studies have indicated that firm practices are not always in accordance with academic rules and theories. Regardless of such evidence, no research has been undertaken to explore the discrepancy between financial theories developed in western markets and the corporate financial practices of Saudi firms. Therefore, as far as I am aware, this thesis is the first study seeking to fill this literature gap, providing a contribution to the literature in the form of a comprehensive investigation of corporate finance decision making in Saudi Arabia. To execute this investigation, a draft survey was devised and distributed to the CFOs of all Saudi listed firms. Analysis of the responses indicated that popular techniques were IRR and NPV, for capital budgeting and earnings yield assessments of equity costs. The Zakat rate is the tax rate utilised by 94.2% of Saudi firms, with support present for the pecking-order theory and the trade-off theory. Furthermore, Saudi firms have a long-term target pay-out ratio, while strong support is indicated for the bird in hand theory and signalling mechanism. Moreover, one of the major issues relating to the Saudi market has been the emergence of insider trading and information leakage. Additionally, in 2006 the Saudi stock market crashed, producing a negative influence on investor confidence. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) issued corporate governance regulations; in 2009, the CMA began enforcing these regulations on all Saudi listed firms, as a means of enhancing market transparency and credibility. Despite the significance of these regulations, no existing research has assessed the effect of these regulations on the information leakage phenomenon, or the impact of regulations on firm performance post-2009. Therefore, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effect of these governance mechanisms on information leakage, in addition to firm performance for the post-2009 period. To undertake this examination, information leakage was identified on the basis of cumulative abnormal returns (CARs), prior to quarterly and annual earnings announcements. Three models were utilised to calculate abnormal returns, namely the constant mean return model, market adjusted model and market model. Three measures were applied for firm performance: return on assets (ROA); return on equity (ROE), alongside Tobin’s Q. Additionally, for the regression analysis, the System Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) was adopted as a control for autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity, heterogeneity and endogeneity. The findings indicated that significant information leakage and CARs was present prior to the official quarterly and annual earnings announcements. Besides, the information leakage level before quarterly earnings announcements for the period 2006-2008 were greater than for 2009-2014. Additionally, the results indicated the negative effect of ownership concentration, government ownership and board subcommittees’ presence on firm performance. Institutional ownership, director ownership, managerial ownership, board size and audit committee size were positively correlated to firm performance. Moreover, the results confirmed that ownership concentration, board size and frequency of board meetings have a positive influence effect on information leakage, whereas institutional ownership, director ownership, board subcommittees’ presence and audit committee size all have a negative impact on information leakage

Preparation and study of some Transition Metal Complexes with Liquid Crystal Properties

: Acetylenic amine (N,N-Bis propargy piperazine) were synthesized and diagnosed in spectroscopic method (Uv-visibl and IR) and (C.H.N) analysis . Preparing and studying new complexes by using ligand that from acetylenic amine which using this purpose at the first time with metal chlorides(Mo+3 ,Cr+5 ,W+6 ,Fe+3 ). Studying of complexes by using suitable methods have been diagnosed in Uv-Visible, IR, Magnetic susceptibility , atomic absorption ,electric conductivity measurement and molar ratio, all result obtained from different techniques above which were found that their corresponding with the proposed structures for the prepared complexes . Complexes appeared liquid crystal properties therefore they have been studied careful (∆H, ∆S) of liquid crystal stages for both changes calculated which were found that their corresponding with the data in literature

Synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles doped zinc oxide nanostructures for ultraviolet photodetector application

Zinc oxide nanostructures (ZONSs) doped with different noble metallic nanoparticles (NPs) with customized structures, morphologies and optical characteristics have immense fundamental and applied interests. The potential of the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-doped with ZONSs for the photodetectors and solar cells applications have rarely been explored. Based on these facts, in this study, a series of AuNPs-doped ZONSs were prepared and characterized systematically via diverse analytical techniques. The effects of the substrates type, thickness, and growth parameters on the structural, morphological and optical properties of the proposed AuNPs-doped ZONSs were determined. In addition, the optimum sample from each series was selected to fabricate the metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) ultraviolet (UV) photodetector. First, the ZONSs were deposited (at a rate of 0.3 A°/sec) on the borosilicate glass and three types of n-Si (100) (plain, polished and etched with surface treatment) substrates using the versatile radio frequency (RF) sputtering method operated at 300°C, RF power of 100 W, Argon flow of 10 sccm and pressure of (-5) millibar. The layer of thickness of the deposited ZONSs on both substrates were varied in the range of 100 to 400 nm. The optimum substrate was found to be the etched n-Si (n-ESi) with the thickness of 300 nm. Next, the colloidal AuNPs were synthesized inside deionized water (DW) using the laser ablation in liquid technique. In this process, a gold target was ablated using the Nd-YAG laser (1064 nm) operated for 6 minutes at different energies (96.6, 226, 286 and 336 mJ) and fixed frequency of 6 Hz. The formation of the AuNPs inside DW was verified using the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HrTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV absorption spectroscopy. The AuNPs colloidal suspension prepared at laser energy of 286 mJ was the optimum one and selected for doping into ZONSs. Later, the droplets of the optimum AuNPs colloidal suspension were soaked (both at dark and room temperature for 48 hours) on the deposited optimal ZONSs film to achieve the best AuNPs-doped ZONSs useful for the photodetector fabrication, Finally, the silver (Ag) electrodes were deposited on the AuNPs-doped ZONSs film using the RF sputtering to design the MSM (Ag/n-ESi/ZONSs- AuNPs/Ag) UV photodetector. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the obtained photodetector were measured in the dark and under UV light (380 nm) illumination. The photoluminescence spectra of the optimum AuNPs-doped ZONSs showed an intense near band edge UV peak at 380 nm corresponding to the band gap energy of 3.26 eV. The best MSM UV photodetector revealed a very high responsivity (3.05 A/W), good photosensitivity (1044.5), fast response time (0.29 s) and very short recovery time (0.26s). It was demonstrated that the UV photodetector performance of the ZONSs can remarkably be improved via the AuNPs doping. Additionally, carefully adjusting the nature of the substrates, growth parameters of the RF sputtering and laser ablation technique the structures, morphologies, optical and electrical traits of AuNPsdoped ZONSs can tailor the UV photoreactor productions for different applications. The proposed MSM UV photodetectors may be advantageous for various optoelectronic applications

Mixed Mode Device-to-Device Communication Scheme for Congestion Reduction and Channel Usage Optimization in 5G Cellular Networks

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication schemes have gained more attention in cellular networks particularly in normalization process of the upcoming 5G networks. They have been investigated in core network offloading, congestion reduction and channel usage optimisation.  The two last cases are among the major constraints in current cellular networks and are the main concerns of this paper. The paper presents a mixed mode D2D communication scheme to decentralize data collection between devices and the base station in order to reduce the number of direct connections at the base station of ultra-dense cells characterized by different levels of channel utilizations or target data rates, as expected for 5G networks. The attachment utility is derived as the overall gain of a device for a target data rate and is used as a metric for D2D association’s decision. Results show that the attachment utility and D2D pairs increase by either increasing the D2D communication range or decreasing devices’ target data rates. A further important consideration is that the proposed mixed mode D2D communication scheme improves the throughput expectation in the cell by 14.2% compared to the regular cellular communication.Keywords:     5G Networks, Channel Usage Optimisation, Congestion Reduction, D2D Communication Scheme, Target Data Rate

Assessment of the Off-season Rainfall of January to February 2020 and Its Socio Economic Implications in Tanzania: A Case Study of the Northern Coast of Tanzania

This article examines the off season rainfall in northern coast Tanzania (NCT) including Zanzibar which occurred in January and February 2020 (JF). Like the JF rainfalls of 2001, 2004, 2010, 2016 and 2018, the JF (2020) rainfall was more unique in damages including loss of lives, properties and infrastructures. The study used the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data to examine the cause of uniqueness of JF rainfall in 2001, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2018 and 2020 over NCT and Zanzibar. These datasets include monthly mean u, v wind at 850, 700, 500, and 200 mb; SSTs, mean sea level pressure (MSLP) anomalies, Dipole Mode Index (DMI), and monthly rainfall from NCT and Zanzibar stations. Datasets were processed and calculated into long term, seasonal, and monthly averages, indeed, Precipitation Index (PI) was calculated. Correlation analysis between the rainfall (December to January), SST, DMI and 850 mb wind vectors; and long-term percentage contribution of investigated parameters was calculated. Results revealed significant positive and negative correlations between JF rainfall, SSTs and DMI. Moreover, JFs of 2004 and 2016 had higher rainfalls of 443 mm with percentage contribution of up to 406%, while January and February, 2020 had the highest of 269.1 and 101.1mm in Zanzibar and 295 and 146.1 mm over and NCT areas, with highest January long-term rainfall contribution of 356% in Zanzibar and 526% over NCT. The DJF (2019/20) had the highest rainfall record of 649.5 mm in Zanzibar contributing up to 286%, while JF 2000 rainfall had a good spatial and temporal distribution over most NCT areas. JF, 2020 rainfall had impacts of more than 20 people died in Lindi and several infrastructures including Kiyegeya Bridge in Morogoro were damaged. Conclusively, more research works on understanding the dynamics of wet and dry JF seasons should be conducted

Developing New Technology-Related Bachelor Programs in The Middle East

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the development of five recently launched bachelor programs at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, Palestine. These programs are Technology Education, Business with Technology, Geographic Information Systems, Development Planning, and Building Technology. These programs are non-traditional academic programs where traditional curricula are hybrid with a varying degree of engineering and IT-related technology courses. These programs have been accredited by the local accreditation board and a few hundred students are currently enrolled in these programs, with the first batch of these students have already graduated in the summer of 2010-2011. The paper sheds some details on the curriculum of these programs. Though these engineering and technology-related academic programs were developed with both local and regional interests, universities worldwide could benefit from this experience