Search results for: tropical countries

Authors: Zhenyi Chen

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With the rise of China and the escalation of tension between China and the United States, European countries led by Great Britain, France, and Germany pay increasing attention to the regional situation in the Asia-Pacific (now known as "Indo-Pacific"). Among them, the South China Sea (SCS) is one of the main areas disputed by China, the United States, Southeast Asian countries and some European countries. Western countries are worried that the rise of China's military power will break the stability of the situation in SCS and alter the balance of power among major powers. Therefore, they tried to balance China's rise through alliance. In France's Indo-Pacific strategy, France aims to build a regional order with the alliance of France, India and Australia as the core, and regularly carry out military exercises targeting SCS with the United States, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. For China, the instability of the situation in SCS could also threaten the security of the southeast coastal areas and Taiwan, affect China's peaceful development process, and pose a threat to China's territorial sovereignty. This paper aims to study the activities and motivation of France in the South China Sea, and put the situation in SCS under the perspective of Balance of Power Theory, focusing on China, America and France. To be more specific, this paper will first briefly introduce Balance of Power Theory, then describe the new trends of France in recent years, followed with the analysis on the motivation of the increasing trend of France's involvement in SCS, and finally analyze the situation in SCS from the perspective of "balance of power" theory. It will be argued that great powers are carefully maintaining the balance of military power in SCS, and it is highly possible that this trend would still last in the middle and long term, particularly via military deployment and strategic alliances.

Keywords: South China Sea, France, China, balance of power theory, Indo-Pacific

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Authors: Anwar Hussain, Ahmed Imran, Farida Faisal, Fatima Sultana

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The present research evaluates a comparative assessment of dividend policy and share price across the South Asian countries including Pakistan, India and Sri-Lanka over the period of 2010 to 2014. Academic writers found that dividend policy and share price relationship is not same in south Asian market due to different reasons. Moreover, Panel Models used = for the evaluation of current study. In addition, Redundant fixed effect Likelihood and Hausman test used for determine of Common, Fixed and Random effect model. Therefore Indian market dividend policies play a fundamental role and significant impact on Market Share Prices. Although, present research found that different as compared to previous study that dividend policy have no impact on share price in Sri-Lanka and Pakistan.

Keywords: dividend policy, share price, South Asian countries, panel data analysis, theories and parameters of dividend

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Authors: Danar Agus Susanto, Hermawan Febriansyah, Meilinda Ayundyahrini

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The availability of spring water to meet people demand is often a problem, especially in tropical areas with very limited surface water sources, or very deep underground water. Although the technology and equipment of pumping system are available and easy to obtain, but in remote areas, the availability of pumping system is difficult, due to the unavailability of fuel or the lack of electricity. Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) became one of the alternatives that can overcome these obstacles. In the tropical country, sunlight can be obtained throughout the year, even in remote areas. SWPS were already widely built in Indonesia, but many encounter problems during operations, such as decreased of efficiency; pump damaged, damaged of controllers or inverters, and inappropriate photovoltaic performance. In 2011, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued the IEC standard 62253:2011 titled Photovoltaic pumping systems - Design qualification and performance measurements. This standard establishes design qualifications and performance measurements related to the product of a solar water pumping system. National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (BSN) as the national standardization body in Indonesia, has not set the standard related to solar water pumping system. This research to study operational procedures of SWPS by adopting of IEC Standard 62253:2011 to be Indonesia Standard (SNI). This research used literature study and field observation for installed SWPS in Indonesia. Based on the results of research on SWPS already installed in Indonesia, IEC 62253: 2011 standard can improve efficiency and reduce operational failure of SWPS. SWPS installed in Indonesia still has GAP of 51% against parameters in IEC standard 62253: 2011. The biggest factor not being met is related to operating and maintenance handbooks for personnel that included operation and repair procedures. This may result in operator ignorance in installing, operating and maintaining the system. The Photovoltaic (PV) was also the most non-compliance factor of 71%, although there are 22 Indonesia Standard (SNI) for PV (modules, installation, testing, and construction). These research samples (installers, manufacturers/distributors, and experts) agreed on the parameter in the IEC standard 62253: 2011 able to improve the quality of SWPS in Indonesia. Recommendations of this study, that is required the adoption of IEC standard 62253:2011 into SNI to support the development of SWPS for remote areas in Indonesia.

Keywords: efficiency, inappropriate installation, remote areas, solar water pumping system, standard

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Authors: Sh. Khoshemehry, M. J. Pourvaghar, M. E. Bahram

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In modern life, daily physical activity is relatively reduced, which is why the incidence of some diseases associated with overweight and obesity, such as hypertension, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, even in young people are observed. Obesity and overweight is one of the most common metabolic disorders in industrialized countries and in developing countries. One consequence of pathological obesity is cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. In the past, it was believed that adipose tissue was ineffective and served only for storing triglycerides. In this review article, it was tried to refer to the esteemed scientific sources about physical activity and responses of leptin.

Keywords: disease, leptin, obesity, physical activity

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Authors: Luis Felipe Brito-Gaona, Emma M. Iglesias

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There is a growing literature that studies the main determinants and drivers of inequality and economic growth in several countries, using panel data and different estimation methods (fixed effects, Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) and Two Stages Least Squares (TSLS)). Recently, it was studied the evolution of these variables in the period 1980-2009 in the 18 countries of Latin-America and it was found that one of the main variables that explained their evolution was Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We extend this study to the year 2015 in the same 18 countries in Latin-America, and we find that FDI does not have a significant role anymore, while we find a significant negative and positive effect of schooling levels on inequality and economic growth respectively. We also find that the point estimates associated with human capital are the largest ones of the variables included in the analysis, and this means that an increase in human capital (measured by schooling levels of secondary education) is the main determinant that can help to reduce inequality and to increase economic growth in Latin-America. Therefore, we advise that economic policies in Latin-America should be directed towards increasing the level of education. We use the methodologies of estimating by fixed effects, GMM and TSLS to check the robustness of our results. Our conclusion is the same regardless of the estimation method we choose. We also find that the international recession in the Latin-American countries in 2008 reduced significantly their economic growth.

Keywords: economic growth, human capital, inequality, Latin-America

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Authors: Semanur Soyyigit Kaya, Ercan Eren

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Energy has a prominent role for development of nations. Countries which have energy resources also have strategic power in the international trade of energy since it is essential for all stages of production in the economy. Thus, it is important for countries to analyze the weakness and strength of the system. On the other side, it is commonly believed that international trade has complex network properties. Complex network is a tool for the analysis of complex systems with heterogeneous agents and interaction between them. A complex network consists of nodes and the interactions between these nodes. Total properties which emerge as a result of these interactions are distinct from the sum of small parts (more or less) in complex systems. Thus, standard approaches to international trade are superficial to analyze these systems. Network analysis provides a new approach to analyze international trade as a network. In this network countries constitute nodes and trade relations (export or import) constitute edges. It becomes possible to analyze international trade network in terms of high degree indicators which are specific to complex systems such as connectivity, clustering, assortativity/disassortativity, centrality, etc. In this analysis, international trade of crude oil and coal which are types of fossil fuel has been analyzed from 2005 to 2014 via network analysis. First, it has been analyzed in terms of some topological parameters such as density, transitivity, clustering etc. Afterwards, fitness to Pareto distribution has been analyzed. Finally, weighted HITS algorithm has been applied to the data as a centrality measure to determine the real prominence of countries in these trade networks. Weighted HITS algorithm is a strong tool to analyze the network by ranking countries with regards to prominence of their trade partners. We have calculated both an export centrality and an import centrality by applying w-HITS algorithm to data.

Keywords: complex network approach, fossil fuel, international trade, network theory

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Authors: Urvi Shah, Anmol Jain

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The talks of a New Global Order have been doing rounds since the advent of 21st century. Similar change in global scenario was witnessed when the Bretton Woods System came up post the World War II. The changing world order has been analyzed by using the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates. The PPP and Nominal GDP methods show the purchasing power and financial background of the countries respectively, which helps in knowing both real and nominal financial strength of the country. Today, the rising powers of BRICS are posing new challenges to the world order shaped by the West. BRICS, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, countries have at various instances represented the interests of developing countries at world forums. The pooled population of these nations accounts for 41.6% of the total world population which gives a very resilient idea of the workforce or human resources which is mobilized by them. They have a combined GDP (PPP) of around 30.57% of the total world GDP (PPP). The paper tries to analyze the prospects and impact of the New Development Bank (NDB) formerly known as the BRICS Bank, on world economy, which has the potential to act as a rival to West dominated IMF and World Bank. The paper studies the paradigm shift in the global order, impact of the NDB on third world nations and the developed nations. The study concluded that the relative positions of BRICS countries in the world economy are changing, irrespective of the measurement methodology being US$ or the PPP model.

Keywords: BRICS, New Development Bank, Nominal GDP, purchasing power parity

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Authors: Oloyede John Adebayo

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This paper tested a variant of the monetary model of exchange rate determination, called Frankel’s Capital Account Monetary Model (CAAM) based on Real Interest Rate Differential, on the floating exchange rate experiences of three developing countries of Africa; viz: Ghana, Nigeria and the Gambia. The study adopted the Auto regressive Instrumental Package (AIV) and Almon Polynomial Lag Procedure of regression analysis based on the assumption that the coefficients follow a third-order Polynomial with zero-end constraint. The results found some support for the CAAM hypothesis that exchange rate responds proportionately to changes in money supply, inversely to income and positively to interest rates and expected inflation differentials. On this basis, the study points the attention of monetary authorities and researchers to the relevance and usefulness of CAAM as appropriate tool and useful benchmark for analyzing the exchange rate behaviour of most developing countries.

Keywords: exchange rate, monetary model, interest differentials, capital account

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Authors: Wei-Kuo Soong

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The forecasting of typhoon tracks remains a formidable challenge, primarily attributable to the paucity of observational data in the open sea and the intricate influence of weather systems at varying scales. This study investigates the case of Typhoon Hinnamnor in 2022, examining its trajectory and intensity fluctuations in relation to the interaction with a concurrent tropical cyclone and sea surface temperatures (SST). Utilizing the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), to simulate and analyze the interaction between Typhoon Hinnamnor and its environmental factors, shedding light on the mechanisms driving typhoon development and enhancing forecasting capabilities.

Keywords: typhoon, sea surface temperature, forecasting, WRF

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Authors: Julio Silva, Lia Hasenclever, Gilson G. Silva Jr.

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The aim of this paper is to check possible convergence in health measures (aged-standard rate of morbidity and mortality) for communicable diseases between developed and developing countries, conditional to productive structures features. Understanding the interrelations between health patterns and economic development is particularly important in the context of low- and middle-income countries, where economic development comes along with deep social inequality. Developing countries with less diversified productive structures (measured through complexity index) but high heterogeneous inter-sectorial labor productivity (using as a proxy inter-sectorial coefficient of variation of labor productivity) has on average low health levels in communicable diseases compared to developed countries with high diversified productive structures and low labor market heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity and productive diversification may have influence on health levels even considering per capita income. We set up a panel data for 139 countries from 1995 to 2015, joining several data about the countries, as economic development, health, and health system coverage, environmental and socioeconomic aspects. This information was obtained from World Bank, International Labour Organization, Atlas of Economic Complexity, United Nation (Development Report) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Database. Econometric panel models evidence shows that the level of communicable diseases has a positive relationship with structural heterogeneity, even considering other factors as per capita income. On the other hand, the recent process of convergence in terms of communicable diseases have been motivated for other reasons not directly related to productive structure, as health system coverage and environmental aspects. These evidences suggest a joint dynamics between the unequal distribution of communicable diseases and countries' productive structure aspects. These set of evidence are quite important to public policy as meet the health aims in Millennium Development Goals. It also highlights the importance of the process of structural change as fundamental to shift the levels of health in terms of communicable diseases and can contribute to the debate between the relation of economic development and health patterns changes.

Keywords: economic development, inequality, population health, structural change

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Authors: Kingsley Oturu, Winifred Ijomah, Wale Coker, Chibueze Achi

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With the impact of BREXIT and the need for cross-border collaboration, this international research investigated the use of a conceptual model for remanufacturing medical equipment (with a focus on anesthetic machines and baby incubators). Early findings of the research suggest that contextual factors need to be taken into consideration, as well as an emphasis on cleaning (e.g., sterilization) during the process of remanufacturing medical equipment. For example, copper tubings may be more important in the remanufacturing of anesthetic equipment in tropical climates than in cold climates.

Keywords: medical equipment remanufacture, sustainability, circular business models, remanufacture process model

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Authors: Fabianna Bacil, Zenathan Hasannundin, Clovis Freire

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The green transition opens green windows of opportunity – temporary moments in which there are lower barriers and shorter learning periods for developing countries to enter emerging technologies and catch-up. However, taking advantage of these windows requires capabilities in national sectoral systems to adopt and develop technologies linked to green sectors as well as strong responses to build the required knowledge, skills, and infrastructure and foster the growth of targeted sectors. This paper uses UNCTAD’s frontier technology readiness index to analyse the current position of Latin America and the Caribbean to use, adopt, and adapt frontier technologies, examining the preconditions in the region to take up windows of opportunity that arise with the green transition. The index highlights the inequality across countries in the region, as well as gaps in capabilities dimensions, especially in terms of R&D. Moving to responses, it highlights industrial policies implemented to foster the growth of green technologies, emphasising the essential role played by the state to build and strengthen capabilities and provide infant industry protection that enables the growth of these sectors. Overall, while there are exceptions, especially in the Brazilian case, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean should focus on strengthening their capabilities to be better positioned, especially in terms of knowledge creation, infrastructure, and financing availability.

Keywords: Green technologies, Industrial policy, Latin America, windows of opportunity

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Authors: Fernando Seabra, Giulia P. Flores, Karolina C. Gomes

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Trade liberalizations measures, as import tariff cuts, are not a sufficient trigger for trade growth. Given that price margins are narrow, traders and cargo operators tend to opt out of markets where the process of goods clearance is slow and costly. Excess paperwork and slow customs dispatch not only lead to institutional breakdowns and corruption but also to increasing transaction cost and trade constraints. The objective of this paper is, therefore, two-fold: First, to evaluate the relationship between institutional and infrastructural performance indexes and trade growth in container throughput; and, second, to investigate the causes for differences in container demurrage and detention fees in Latin American countries (using other emerging countries as benchmarking). The analysis is focused on manufactured goods, typically transported by containers. Institutional and infrastructure bottlenecks and, therefore, the country logistics efficiency – measured by the Logistics Performance Index (LPI, World Bank-WB) – are compared with other indexes, such as the Doing Business index (WB) and the Corruption Perception Index (Transparency International). The main results based on the comparison between Latin American countries and the others emerging countries point out in that the growth in containers trade is directly related to LPI performance. It has also been found that the main hypothesis is valid as aspects that more specifically identify trade facilitation and corruption are significant drivers of logistics performance. The exam of port efficiency (demurrage and detention fees) has demonstrated that not necessarily higher level of efficiency is related to lower charges; however, reductions in fees have been more significant within non-Latin American emerging countries.

Keywords: corruption, logistics performance index, container throughput, Latin America

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Authors: Malte Brettel, David Bendig, Michael Keller, Marius Rosenberg

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What are the core competences necessary in order to sustain manufacturing in high-wage countries? Aspiring countries all over the world gain market share in manufacturing and rapidly close the productivity and quality gap that has until now protected some parts of the industry in Europe and the United States from dislocation. However, causal production planning and manufacturing, the basis for productivity and quality, is challenged by the ever-greater need for flexibility and customized products in an uncertain business environment. This article uses a case-study-based approach to assess how production managers in high-wage countries can apply decision-making principals from successful entrepreneurs. 'Effectuation' instead of causal decision making can be applied to handle uncertainty of mass customization, to seek the right partners in alliances and to advance towards virtual production. The findings help managers to use their resources more efficiently and contribute to bridge the gap between production research and entrepreneurship.

Keywords: case studies, decision-making behavior, effectuation, production planning

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Authors: Nam-Kuk Kim, Jin Kim, Soomin Park, Changhee Lee, Mijin Chu, Seong-Hun Lee

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In this study, we conducted whole genome re-sequencing of 10 cultivars originated from five countries including Korea, China, India, Pakistan and Ethiopia with Sesamum indicum (Zhongzho No. 13) genome as a reference. Almost 80% of the whole genome sequences of the reference genome could be covered by sequenced reads. Numerous SNP and InDel were detected by bioinformatic analysis. Among these variants, 266,051 SNPs were identified as unique to countries. Pakistan and Ethiopia had high densities of SNPs compared to other countries. Three main clusters (cluster 1: Korea, cluster 2: Pakistan and India, cluster 3: Ethiopia and China) were recovered by neighbor-joining analysis using all variants. Interestingly, some variants were detected in DGAT1 (diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1) and FADS (fatty acid desaturase) genes, which are known to be related with fatty acid synthesis and metabolism. These results can provide useful information to understand the regional characteristics and develop DNA markers for origin discrimination of sesame.

Keywords: Sesamum indicum, NGS, SNP, DNA marker

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Authors: M. D. Nirmani, K. L. N. Perera, G. H. Galhena

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Dengue has become one of the most important arbo-viral disease in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Aedes aegypti, is the principal vector of the virus, vary in both epidemiological and behavioral characteristics, which could be finely measured through DNA sequence comparison at their population level. Such knowledge in the population differences can assist in implementation of effective vector control strategies allowing to make estimates of the gene flow and adaptive genomic changes, which are important predictors of the spread of Wolbachia infection or insecticide resistance. As such, this study was undertaken to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of Ae. aegypti from Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka, based on the ribosomal protein region which spans between two exons, in order to understand the geographical distribution of genetically distinct mosquito clades and its impact on mosquito control measures. A 320bp DNA region spanning from 681-930 bp, corresponding to the ribosomal protein, was sequenced in 62 Ae. aegypti larvae collected from Galle (N=30) and Colombo (N=32), Sri Lanka. The sequences were aligned using ClustalW and the haplotypes were determined with DnaSP 5.10. Phylogenetic relationships among haplotypes were constructed using the maximum likelihood method under Tamura 3 parameter model in MEGA 7.0.14 including three previously reported sequences of Australian (N=2) and Brazilian (N=1) Ae. aegypti. The bootstrap support was calculated using 1000 replicates and the tree was rooted using Aedes notoscriptus (GenBank accession No. KJ194101). Among all sequences, nineteen different haplotypes were found among which five haplotypes were shared between 80% of mosquitoes in the two populations. Seven haplotypes were unique to each of the population. Phylogenetic tree revealed two basal clades and a single derived clade. All observed haplotypes of the two Ae. aegypti populations were distributed in all the three clades, indicating a lack of genetic differentiation between populations. The Brazilian Ae. aegypti haplotype and one of the Australian haplotypes were grouped together with the Sri Lankan basal haplotype in the same basal clade, whereas the other Australian haplotype was found in the derived clade. Phylogram showed that Galle and Colombo Ae. aegypti populations are highly related to each other despite the large geographic distance (129 Km) indicating a substantial genetic similarity between them. This may have probably arisen from passive migration assisted by human travelling and trade through both land and water as the two areas are bordered by the sea. In addition, studied Sri Lankan mosquito populations were closely related to Australian and Brazilian samples. Probably this might have caused by shipping industry between the three countries as all of them are fully or partially enclosed by sea. For example, illegal fishing boats migrating to Australia by sea is perhaps a good mean of transportation of all life stages of mosquitoes from Sri Lanka. These findings indicate that extensive mosquito migrations occur between populations not only within the country, but also among other countries in the world which might be a main barrier to the successful vector control measures.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, dengue control, extensive mosquito migration, haplotypes, phylogeny, ribosomal protein

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Authors: Muhammad Usman Sardar, Muhammad Haroon Nadeem, Shahbaz Ahmad, Ashiq Hussain

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The marketing of solar photovoltaic energy systems has one of the monetary settlements to address the higher rate to pay in advance with the purchase of two decades worth of electricity services. To deploy solar photovoltaic technologies and energy setups in areas, it’s important to create a system of credit that can ensure the availability of subsidized capital and commercial conditions for the society. Meanings of energy in developing countries like Pakistan were strongly prompted by marketable interests and industrialization trend influences within their culture. It’s going to be essential to prepare the concerned proceeding models of energy development strategies. This paper discuss the impact and share of environmental friendly solar photo-voltaic energy, researching to find the most appropriate alternate solutions for balance the energy demand and supply and current progressive position in different countries regarding to development and deployment. Based on the literature reviews, its presence found that most beneficial and concerning policies have implemented in several countries around the globe.

Keywords: photovoltaic marketing and pricing, renewable energy technology, solar photovoltaic, SPV

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Authors: Thamer Alshuwaili, Yonglin Ren, Bob Du, Manjree Agarwal

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The warehouse beetle, Trogoderma variabile Ballion (Coleoptera: Dermestidae), is a major pest of packaged and processed stored products. Warehouse beetle is the common name which was given by Okumura (1972). This pest has been reported to infest 119 different commodities, and it is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Also, it is difficult to control because of the insect's ability to stay without food for long times, and it can survive for years under dry conditions and low-moisture food, and it has also developed resistance to many insecticides. The young larvae of these insects can cause damage to seeds, but older larvae prefer to feed on whole grains. The percentage of damage caused by these insects range between 30-70% in the storage. T. variabile is the species most responsible for causing significant damage in grain stores worldwide. Trogoderma spp. is a huge problem for cereal grains, and there are many countries, such as the USA, Australia, China, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who have specific quarantine regulations against possible importation. Also, grain stocks can be almost completely destroyed because of the massive populations the insect may develop. However, the purpose of the current research was to optimize conditions to collect volatile organic compound from Trogoderma variabile at different life stages by using headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and flame ionization detection (FID). Using SPME technique to extract volatile from insects is an efficient, straightforward and nondestructive method. Result of the study shows that 15 insects were optimal number for larvae and adults. Selection of the number of insects depend on the height of the peak area and the number of peaks. Sixteen hours were optimized as the best extraction time for larvae and 8 hours was the optimal number of adults.

Keywords: Trogoderma variabile, warehouse beetle , GC-MS, Solid phase microextraction

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Authors: Yountaik Leem, Sang Ho Lee

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In this paper, different goals and the ways to reach smart cities shown in many countries during planning and implementation processes will be discussed. Each country dealt with technologies which have been embedded into space as development of ICTs (information and communication technologies) for their own purposes and by their own ways. For example, European countries tried to adapt technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emission to overcome global warming while US-based global companies focused on the way of life using ICTs such as EasyLiving of Microsoft™ and CoolTown of Hewlett-Packard™ during last decade of 20th century. In the North-East Asian countries, urban space with ICTs were developed in large scale on the viewpoint of capitalism. Ubiquitous city, first introduced in Korea which named after Marc Weiser’s concept of ubiquitous computing pursued new urban development with advanced technologies and high-tech infrastructure including wired and wireless network. Japan has developed smart cities as comprehensive and technology intensive cities which will lead other industries of the nation in the future. Not only the goals and strategies but also new directions to which smart cities are oriented also suggested at the end of the paper. Like a Finnish smart community whose slogan is ‘one more hour a day for citizens,’ recent trend is forwarding everyday lives and cultures of human beings, not capital gains nor physical urban spaces.

Keywords: smart cities, urban strategy, future direction, comparative study

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Authors: Bheki R. Mngomezulu

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The present paper cogently and systematically traces the history of Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) and identifies its important role in shaping South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy and international relations under black leadership. It provides the political and historical contexts within which we can interpret and better understand South Africa’s controversial ‘Quiet Diplomacy’ approach to Zimbabwe’s endemic political and economic crises, which have dragged for too long. On 16 December 1961, the African National Congress (ANC) officially launched the MK as its military wing. The main aim was to train liberation fighters outside South Africa who would return into the country to topple the apartheid regime. Subsequently, the ANC established links with various countries across Africa and the globe in order to solicit arms, financial resources and military training for its recruits into the MK. Drawing from archival research and empirical data obtained through oral interviews that were conducted with some of the former MK cadres, this paper demonstrates how the ANC forged relations with a number of countries that were like-minded in order to ensure that its dream of removing the apartheid government became a reality. The findings reveal that South Africa’s foreign policy posture and international relations after the demise of apartheid in 1994 built on these relations. As such, even former and current socialist countries that were frowned upon by the Western world became post-apartheid South Africa’s international partners. These include countries such as Cuba and China, among others. Even countries that were not recognized by the Western world as independent states received good reception in post-apartheid South Africa’s foreign policy agenda. One of these countries is Palestine. Within Africa, countries with questionable human rights records such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe were accommodated in South Africa’s foreign policy agenda after 1994. Drawing from this history, the paper concludes that it would be difficult to fully understand and appreciate South Africa’s foreign policy direction and international relations after 1994 without bringing the history and the politics of the MK into the equation. Therefore, the paper proposes that the utilitarian role of history should never be undermined in the analysis of a country’s foreign policy direction and international relations. Umkhonto Wesizwe and South Africa are used as examples to demonstrate how such a link could be drawn through archival and empirical evidence.

Keywords: African National Congress, apartheid, foreign policy, international relations

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Authors: Zahra Emami, Mohammad Ebrahim Khamseh, Nahid Hashemi Madani, Iman Kermani

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The aim of the study was to map scientific research on adrenal gland diseases in the Middle East countries through the Web of Science database using scientometric analysis. Data were analyzed with Excel software; and HistCite was used for mapping of the scientific texts. In this study, from a total of 268 retrieved records, 1125 authors from 328 institutions published their texts in 138 journals. Among 17 Middle East countries, Turkey ranked first with 164 documents (61.19%), Israel ranked second with 47 documents (15.53%) and Iran came in the third place with 26 documents. Most of the publications (185 documents, 69.2%) were articles. Among the universities of the Middle East, Istanbul University had the highest science production rate (9.7%). The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism had the highest TGCS (243 citations). In the scientific mapping, 7 clusters were formed based on TLCS (Total Local Citation Score) & TGCS (Total Global Citation Score). considering the study results, establishment of scientific connections and collaboration with other countries and use of publications on adrenal gland diseases from high ranking universities can help in the development of this field and promote the medical practice in this regard. Moreover, investigation of the formed clusters in relation to Congenital Hyperplasia and puberty related disorders can be research priorities for investigators.

Keywords: mapping, scientific research, adrenal gland diseases, scientometric

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Nosakhare Ikponmwosa, Rogers A. Akinsokeji

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For many resource-rich developing countries, fiscal policy has become a key tool used for short-run fiscal management since it is considered as playing a critical role in injecting part of resource rents into the economies. However, given its instability, reliance on revenue from commodity exports renders fiscal management, budgetary planning and the efficient use of public resources difficult. In this study, the linkage between commodity prices and fiscal operations among a sample of commodity-exporting countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is investigated. The main question is whether commodity price fluctuations affects the effectiveness of fiscal policy as a macroeconomic stabilization tool in these countries. Fiscal management effectiveness is considered as the ability of fiscal policy to react countercyclically to output gaps in the economy. Fiscal policy is measured as the ratio of fiscal deficit to GDP and the ratio of government spending to GDP, output gap is measured as a Hodrick-Prescott filter of output growth for each country, while commodity prices are associated with each country based on its main export commodity. Given the dynamic nature of fiscal policy effects on the economy overtime, a dynamic framework is devised for the empirical analysis. The panel cointegration and error correction methodology is used to explain the relationships. In particular, the study employs the panel ECM technique to trace short-term effects of commodity prices on fiscal management and also uses the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) technique to determine the long run relationships. These procedures provide sufficient estimation of the dynamic effects of commodity prices on fiscal policy. Data used cover the period 1992 to 2016 for 11 SSA countries. The study finds that the elasticity of the fiscal policy measures with respect to the output gap is significant and positive, suggesting that fiscal policy is actually procyclical among the countries in the sample. This implies that fiscal management for these countries follows the trend of economic performance. Moreover, it is found that fiscal policy has not performed well in delivering macroeconomic stabilization for these countries. The difficulty in applying fiscal stabilization measures is attributable to the unstable revenue inflows due to the highly volatile nature of commodity prices in the international market. For commodity-exporting countries in SSA to improve fiscal management, therefore, fiscal planning should be largely decoupled from commodity revenues, domestic revenue bases must be improved, and longer period perspectives in fiscal policy management are the critical suggestions in this study.

Keywords: commodity prices, ECM, fiscal policy, fiscal procyclicality, fully modified OLS, sub-saharan africa

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Authors: Jesryl B. Paulite, Eixer Niel V. Enesco

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Lettuce is not well known in the lowland locality in the tropical countries like Philippines. Farmers thought that this crop is not adaptable to the climate that we have in lowland. But some new varieties can tolerate warmer conditions. The massive use of pesticides in lettuce production might chronically affect human health and environment. The move of the Philippine government is toward organic. One of the organic material is vermicompost. It is an organic fertilizer that serves as soil conditioner and enhances soil fertility and promotes vigorous and healthy crop growth and Supplementation of 19-19-19+M.E. will make it better since it contains N-P-K and selected microelements to meet the nutritive requirements of the crop. The experiment was conducted at Purok 3, Brgy. Tiburcia, Kapalong, Davao del Norte from February 6, 2014 to March 4, 2014. The study was conducted to determine the effect of varying frequency application of vermicast as supplemented with 19-19-19+M.E. in lettuce. Specifically, this aimed to 1.) Identify the agronomic performance of lettuce as affected by varying frequency application of vermicast as supplemented with 19-19-19+M.E.; 2.) Assess the economic profitability of lettuce as applied with vermicast as supplemented with 19-19-19+M.E. The study was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments and three replications. The treatments were as follow: T1 – Untreated, T2 - Weekly Application, T3- Bi-weekly Application, and T4- Monthly Application. The data on percent (%) mortality were transformed using square root of transformation before Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results revealed not significant in terms of percent mortality in weekly and monthly application of the treatment having a mean of 1.76 % and 3.09 %. However, Significant differences were observed in agronomic performances such as; plant height with a mean of 10.63 cm in weekly application and 6.40 cm for the untreated, leaf width with a mean of 10.80 cm for the weekly application and 6.03 for the untreated, fresh weight with a mean of 25.67 g for the weekly application and 6.83 g for the untreated, and yield with a mean of 1,208.33 kg/ha for the weekly application and 327.08 kg/ha for the untreated, respectively. Results further exposed that profitability of lettuce in terms of Return of Production Cost (RPC) were; bi-weekly with 91.01 %, monthly with 68.20 %, weekly with 25.34 % and untreated (control) with 16.69 %.

Keywords: agronomic performance, economic profitability, vermicast, percent mortality, 19-19-19+ME

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Authors: Mergleda Hodo

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All national governments aim to achieve economic equilibrium to build sustainable welfare, political stability, and economic equilibrium. There are various instruments to stimulate economic development and growth and achieve macroeconomic objectives. After the collapse of the political and economic system in the 1990s, some countries faced the complex challenge of economic development. This study aims to determine, based on empirical research, whether and to what extent tax revenue has an impact on the economic development of Albania. Furthermore, it gives an overview of the ways in which high tax burdens on the western Balkan countries have negatively affected foreign investment and reduced economic growth. This analysis is important for these selected countries, as the financial system has changed significantly over the years and has been affected significantly by a period of economic transition. The analysis is performed based on secondary data possessed by the World Bank and the central bank of each participating country between 2005 and 2018. The research findings indicate that tax policy affects, to a significant extent, the economic development of Albania. An efficient tax system is when individuals are willing to pay tax liability which will help in improving the economic well-being of a country.

Keywords: tax, development, economic growth, tax revenue

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Authors: Mohit Wadhawan, Sushma Rathaur

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Lymphatic filariasis, also called elephantiasis is a tropical disease afflicting over 120 million people in 81 countries worldwide. Existing anti filarial drugs are effective against the larval stages of filarial parasites which call for an urgent need of drugs which are macrofilaricidal. Identification of molecular targets crucial for survival of filarial parasites is a prerequisite for drug designing. Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) is one such crucial enzyme involved in the maturation and degradation of neuropeptides and peptide hormones. We have identified this peptidase in the bovine filarial parasite, Setaria cervi. Effect of inhibition of POP on the proteome profile of filarial parasite has been discussed in this study. Filarial parasites were exposed to Z-pro-prolinal (ZPP), a specific POP inhibitor for 8 h and the motility and viability of the parasites was observed. It significantly reduced the motility and viability of the parasites. To study the proteome profile, the cytosolic, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondrial extracts of the adult female parasites were subjected to 2-dimensional electrophoresis. As analyzed by the PD-Quest software, the ZPP caused the alteration in the different subcellular proteins, and the significantly altered proteins were identified using MALDI-MS/MS spectrometry. The major proteins identified were found to play important role in diverse biological functions like signaling, redox regulation, energy metabolism, stress response, and cytoskeleton formation. Moreover, we found upregulation in the calcium binding proteins such as calreticulin, calponin, and calpain-6 suggesting that POP inhibition regulates calcium release. This relates to earlier reports that POP plays non-catalytic role in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) signaling inducing release of calcium from ER. Taken together, the data demonstrated that inhibition of prolyl oligopeptidase alter the overall proteome signifying its role in survival of the filarial parasites. Thus this study provides a basis for the use of POP as a chemotherapeutic target for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis.

Keywords: lymphatic filariasis, setaria cervi, prolyl oligopeptidase, proteomics

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Authors: Elena Chernyak, Ryan Ceresola

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Intimate partner violence is a serious social problem that affects a million women worldwide and impacts their health and wellbeing. Some risk factors for intimate partner violence against women (e.g., disobeying or arguing with a partner, women’s age, education, and employment) are similar in many countries, both developed and developing. However, one of the principal and most significant contributors to women’s vulnerability to violence perpetrated by their intimate partners is the witnessing of interparental aggression in the family of origin. Witnessing interparental violence may lead to acceptance of intimate partner violence as a normal way to resolve conflicts. Thus, utilization of violence becomes the behavioral model: men who witnessed the parental violence are more likely to employ physical violence against their female partners whereas women who observed their fathers beating their mothers learn to tolerate aggressive behavior and become victims of domestic violence themselves. Taking into consideration the importance of this subject matter, the association between witnessing intimate partner violence in family-of-origin and experience of intimate partner violence in adulthood requires further attention. The objective of this research is to analyze and compare the prevalence of intimate partner violence in ten developing countries in different regions, namely: Mali, Haiti, Jordan, Peru, the Philippines, Pakistan, Cambodia, Egypt, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria. Specifically, this research asks whether witnessing interparental violence in a family of origin is associated with the woman’s experience of intimate partner violence during adulthood and to what extent this factor varies among the countries under investigation. This study contributes to the literature on domestic violence against women, prevalence and experience of intimate partner violence against women in developing countries, and the risk factors, using recently collected, nationally representative population-based data from above-mentioned countries. The data used in this research are derived from the demographic and health surveys conducted in the ten mentioned above countries from 2013-2016. These surveys are cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys of ever-married or cohabitating women of reproductive age and the good source of high quality and comprehensive information about women, their children, partners, and households. To complete this analysis, multivariate logistic regression was run for each of the countries, and the results are presented with odds ratios, in order to highlight the effect of witnessing intimate partner violence controlling for other factors. The results of this study indicated that having witnessed partner violence in a family of origin significantly (by 50-500%) increases the likelihood of experiencing later abuse for respondents in all countries. This finding provides robust support for the intergenerational transmission of violence theory that explains the link between interparental aggression and intimate partner violence in subsequent relationships in adulthood as a result of a learned model of behavior observed in childhood. Furthermore, it was found that some of the control variables (e.g., education, number of children, and wealth) are associated with intimate partner violence in some countries under investigation while are not associated with male partner’s abusive behavior in some other, which may be explained by specific cultural and economic factors.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, domestic violence against women, developing countries, demographic and health surveys, risk factors

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Authors: GüLcan Keskin

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In a globalizing world, it is more difficult for developing counties to gain a competitive advantage compared to developed countries. Entrepreneurship is an important factor for economic growth in developing countries. Entrepreneurship is not only in the success of an entrepreneur’s own businesses, but also plays an important role in regional and national development. Entrepreneurship is the factor that triggers change for the country to accelerate the creation, dissemination, and implementation of new thoughts, leading to the emergence of industries that supports economic growth and development as it increases productivity by creating a competitive advantage. Therefore, it is an important factor for countries to develop economically and socially in a global world. As the know-how of the local products belongs to the region, it is a value that should not be lost. Having know-how provides a competitive advantage to the region. On the other hand, traditional products can be tailored to today’s trade understanding to appeal to more audiences. The primary aim of the study is to examine the interaction mechanism between traditional products and innovation in the context of related literature. The second aim of the study is to show the effect the traditional products to competitive advantage.

Keywords: e-commerce, economic growth, entrepreneurship, traditional products

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Authors: Hsi-Chuan Wang, Hongxi Yin

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Compactness has been proposed as a type of sustainable urban form globally. However, the meanings and the measurements might diverse in regarding to the varying interpretation; moreover, since compactness was proposed to eliminate auto culture and urban sprawl in the developed countries, voices have emerged asking to rethink the suitability of compactness in the developing countries – based upon such understanding, Quality of Life (QOL) has been suggested as a good way to show the overall benefit of compactness. In regarding to such background, two subjects were targeted for discussion in this paper: (I) the meaning and feasibility of compactness between the developing and developed countries, and (II) the interaction between compactness and QOL. This paper argues that compactness should not be considered a universal principle for cities of all kind, but rather an ideal concept for urban designer and planner to consider throughout local practices. It firstly reviewed the benefits of both compactness and sprawl to uncover the features behind these urban forms, and later addressed the meaning and difficulty of adopting compactness in both the developing and developed countries. Secondly, arguing compactness to be positioned as a ‘process’ along the transition from the developing countries to the developed ones, this paper applied both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis to uncover (I) the relationship between compactness and QOL in regarding to 30 American cities and (II) the impact of ‘becoming compact’ on QOL in regarding to 8 identified American Urbanized Areas (UZAs). The findings indicated that higher compactness could link to lower QOL among the compact cities, but with higher QOL among the sprawl cities. In addition, based upon the comparison between 2000 and 2010 on 8 UZAs, their QOL have escalated during the transition from the sprawl areas into the compact ones, but the extent of improvement in QOL could differ greatly among areas. In regarding to our findings, compact development should be proposed as a general guideline leading the contemporary sprawl cities in transition with sustainable urbanism; however, to prevent the externalities from damaging QOL with over-compactness, the compact policy should be flexible to adjust a long-term roadmap for sustainable development.

Keywords: compactness, quality of life, sprawl, sustainable urbanism

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Authors: Simon Strande Henriksen

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When a city and country decide to undertake an Olympic Games, they do so with the notion that hosting the Olympics will provide direct financial benefits to the city, country, and national companies. Like many activities, the Olympic Games tend to be more popular when it is warm, and the athletes are known, and therefore this paper will only focus on the two latest Olympic Summer Games. Cities and countries continue to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure to secure the role of being Olympic hosts. The multiple investments expect to provide both economic growth and a lasting legacy for the citizens. This study aims to determine whether host country companies experience superior economic impact from the Olympics. Building on existing work within the Olympic field of research, it asks: Do companies in host countries of the Olympic Summer Games experience a superior increase in operating revenue and return on assets compared to other comparable countries? In this context, comparable countries are the two candidates following the host city in the bidding procedure. Based on methods used by scholars, a panel data regression was conducted on revenue growth rate and return on assets, to determine if host country companies see a positive relation with hosting the Olympic Games. Combined with an analysis of motivation behind hosting the Olympics, the regression showed no significant positive relations across all analyses, besides in one instance. Indications of a relationship between company performance and economic motivation were found to be present. With the results indicating a limited effect on company growth, it is recommended that prospective host cities and countries carefully consider possible implications the role of being an Olympic host might have on national companies.

Keywords: cross-country analysis, mega-event, multiple regression, quantitative analysis

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Authors: Shaira Karishma Sheriff, Zarinah Hamid

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The Arab Spring, which commenced during the end of 2010 and accelerated during 2011, was caused primarily due to poverty, unemployment and a general recession in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The core motivation of this revolution could be said to be the need for political, economic and social reforms that the region desires to experience. Though GDP growth has been significant in the region, the income distribution mechanism in MENA countries has been ineffective. This results in low levels of education, substandard health care facilities, unemployment, and poverty. This paper argues that MENA countries have great potential for experiencing socioeconomic development by being less dependent on oil exports and enhancing their services sector through better education which would eventually lead to job creation. Furthermore, the region can encourage better trade and political integration by forming transparent and accountable governments. The notion of Nation-State needs to be addressed and the countries in the region need to look for ways to develop effective supra-national institutions for better political and economic integration that goes beyond geographical borders.

Keywords: political reforms, social reforms, economic development, nation-state, economic integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 434