Search

This paper sought to examine whether Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) can become a predictor model for exchange rate. We try to determine whether at least some variant of the PPP-oriented rule may be used in Malaysia as a basis for exchange rate policy. Two methods are used to examine whether longrun PPP holds. The first method is testing whether or not the real exchange rate follows a random walk. The second is the Johansen procedure to test for a long-run relationship between real exchange rate and real economic shocks. It is found that the ringgit real exchange rate follows a random walk, which means PPP does not hold. However, supportive evidence is also seen that there is a long-run relationship between ringgit real exchange rate with current account balance and government spending. The policy implication of this important finding is that some variant of the PPP-oriented rule may be used in Malaysia as a basis for exchange rate policy. Government spending and current account balance can be used as a guide to determine the movement of real exchange rate. The error-correction model shows that real exchange rate, government spending and current account all adjusted to long-run equilibrium. It has a very important policy implication. Fiscal policy, which controls government expenditure, can be used as a tool to manage exchange rate. Measures have to be taken to increase export while at the same time import has to be reduced to maintain the current account balance to be in surplus. This will strengthen the ringgit, thus helping to stabilize the ringgit exchange rate.

Gender disparity has been documented in advanced doctoral degrees, research, and academic positions, and therefore, it can logically be deduced that the gender disparity would be found in journals' editorial boards. In this study, we sought to determine the gender distribution in editorial boards of psychiatry journals worldwide. We also studied the academic achievements of editorial board members by comparing professional background, education level, and research productivity indices. We analyzed the gender of editorial members of 119 psychiatry journals from Clarivate Analytics' Journal Citation Reports. Our data included 8423 editorial board members from which we randomly selected 10% editorial board members to represent the full sample for further analyses. Overall, women represented 30.4% of editorial board and approximately 30% in each category: (1) Editor-in-chief/deputies, (2) Associate/section editors, (3) Editorial board*, and (4) Advisory board. The majority (65%) of men were M.D. psychiatrists, and women (58%) were Ph.D. psychologists. Women in editorial leadership positions (Category 1 & 2) were correlated with fewer women in editorial or advisory boards. Women had half the mean number of publications than men while serving journals with approximately the same mean impact factor. Our study results show that, besides gender disparity, gender bias does not exist in the psychiatry journal editorial boards. Given the implication of the editorial board position on science, academic advancement, and networking, this disparity remains detrimental to achieving equity, diversity, and inclusion in academic psychiatry. Keywords: Female, Gender disparity, Editorial board, Psychiatry

Advancement in material science has enabled the engineers to enhance the strength and long-term behavior of concrete structures. The conventional approach is to use steel for prestressed bridge girders. Despite having good ductility and strength, beams prestressed with steel are susceptible to corrosion when subjected to environmental exposure. The corrosion of the prestressing steel reduces load carrying capacity of the prestressed member and result in catastrophic failures. In the last decades, more durable composite materials such as Aramid Fiber Reinforced Polymer (AFRP), Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) have been implemented in concrete structures as a solution to this problem. Among these materials, CFRP stands out as a primary prestressing reinforcement, which has the potential to replace steel and provide corrosion free prestressed bridge girders. Despite its promise, prestressing CFRP has not frequently been used for bridge construction worldwide. The major contributing factor to the lack of advancement of this promising technology in the United States (U.S.) is the lack of comprehensive design specifications. Apart from a limited number of guides, manuals, and commentaries, there is currently no standard or comprehensive design guideline available to bridge engineers in the U.S. for the design of concrete structures prestressed with CFRP systems. The main goal is to develop design guidelines in AASHTO-LRFD format for concrete bridge girders with prestressing CFRP materials. The guidelines are intended to address the limitation in current AASHTO-LRFD Bridge Design Specifications which is applicable for prestressed bridge girders with steel strands. To accomplish this goal, some of the critical parameters that affect the design and long-term behavior of prestressed concrete bridge girders with prestressing CFRP systems are identified and included in the research work. This paper presents preliminary results of an experimental study that is part of a National Highway Co-operative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project.

This study. was done on three hundred mothers who has a child less than 5 year old in ALNahryn University Teaching Hospital for the period of three months 1-1-2001 to 31-3-2001. The study showed that 48% were Breast-feeding, 11% Bottlefeeding, & 41% Mixed breast and bottle-feeding. The family plays a major role (97.2%) in deciding the type of feeding and the doctor role was only 2% in that regard and 21.2% in advice for artificial feeding. The study also showed that there is a decline in breast feeding among -the three generations studied 100%, 96.4%, 48%; which represent around 52% o decline in breast feeding.

This paper sought to examine whether Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) can become a predictor model for exchange rate. We try to determine whether at least some variant of the PPP-oriented rule may be used in Malaysia as a basis for exchange rate policy. Two methods are used to examine whether longrun PPP holds. The first method is testing whether or not the real exchange rate follows a random walk. The second is the Johansen procedure to test for a long-run relationship between real exchange rate and real economic shocks. It is found that the ringgit real exchange rate follows a random walk, which means PPP does not hold. However, supportive evidence is also seen that there is a long-run relationship between ringgit real exchange rate with current account balance and government spending. The policy implication of this important finding is that some variant of the PPP-oriented rule may be used in Malaysia as a basis for exchange rate policy. Government spending and current account balance can be used as a guide to determine the movement of real exchange rate. The error-correction model shows that real exchange rate, government spending and current account all adjusted to long-run equilibrium. It has a very important policy implication. Fiscal policy, which controls government expenditure, can be used as a tool to manage exchange rate. Measures have to be taken to increase export while at the same time import has to be reduced to maintain the current account balance to be in surplus. This will strengthen the ringgit, thus helping to stabilize the ringgit exchange rate.

ZnO and ZnO:Cr films were grown by the chemical spray deposition (CSD). The effect of the Cr content on ZnO was studied. All ZnO films show polycrystalline, hexagonal wurtzite structure, with (002) dominant plane. AFM displayed that films have a compact surface, its root mean square roughness increased with Cr percentage. The average diameter was smaller than 64 nm. The optical bandgap was evaluated using Transmittance data. Their values were found to be decreases via increment in Cr doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Toxoplasmosis is regarded as one of the chief sources of miscarriage in pregnant women which caused by an apicomplexan obligatory intracellular parasites called Toxoplasma gondii. it can infect greatest kinds of warm-blooded animals, together with humans. Aim Assessment some immunological parameter concentration and its relation with aborted women infected with toxoplasmosis by using ELISA method. Methods A total number (155 ) of serum were collected from women aged between (16-42) years aborted women (75 seropositive with toxoplasmosis, 40 sera negative) were admitted in Basrah hospital for women and children and (40) healthy control women. Results The results show the concentrations of protein S, C, anti-phospholipid and anticardiolipin (68.11, 63.17, 48.59 and 13.86) respectively with significantly than others group. The rate of strong immune factor such as anticardiolipin, protein-C, and protein-S in frequently aborted females is shown to be related to the changes. Conclusion Active Toxoplasma gondii infection is more associated with miscarriage than immune factor in this group of experienced females.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and p-nitrophenol (PNP) are emerging contaminants of soils due to their wide presence in agricultural and industrial products. Thus, the present study aimed to integrate morpho-physiological, ionic homeostasis, and defense- and antioxidant-related genes in the response of tomato plants to BPA or PNP stress, an area of research that has been scarcely studied. In this work, increasing the levels of BPA and PNP in the soil intensified their drastic effects on the biomass and photosynthetic pigments of tomato plants. Moreover, BPA and PNP induced osmotic stress on tomato plants by reducing soluble sugars and soluble proteins relative to control. The soil contamination with BPA and PNP treatments caused a decline in the levels of macro- and micro-elements in the foliar tissues of tomatoes while simultaneously increasing the contents of non-essential micronutrients. The Fourier transform infrared analysis of the active components in tomato leaves revealed that BPA influenced the presence of certain functional groups, resulting in the absence of some functional groups, while on PNP treatment, there was a shift observed in certain functional groups compared to the control. At the molecular level, BPA and PNP induced an increase in the gene expression of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase, with the exception of POD gene expression under BPA stress. The expression of the thaumatin-like protein gene increased at the highest level of PNP and a moderate level of BPA without any significant effect of both pollutants on the expression of the tubulin (TUB) gene. The comprehensive analysis of biochemical responses in tomato plants subjected to BPA and PNP stress illustrates valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying tolerance to these pollutants.