Macroeconomic and Institutional Drivers of Current Account in Developing Asian Countries

This study empirically investigates the impact of macroeconomic and institutional variables on the current account balances of nine selected developing Asian countries over the period of 1984-2018. The Fixed Effect (FE) technique that helps to identify the major variables that can affect the dependent variable i.e., current account has been used to analyze data. The results indicate that trade openness; domestic relative income and real effective exchange rate are the variables which are significant and positively associated with the current account balances of developing Asian countries. However, when the institutional variables are included i.e. law &order and bureaucratic quality have turned out to have the significant effect on current account as well. The dummy variable is also introduced to compare the ASEAN region with South Asian region. The results suggest that it has positive and significant effect on the current account balances of ASEAN.

The multiple sclerosis patient’s journey model in Poland – future tasks

Improvement of the diagnostic and therapeutic processes and optimal use of resources in the context of health care system specificity accelerate the diagnosis and treatment onset, as well as improve the quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis. International experience and data from clinical practice in Poland gave rise to a number of guidelines for the needed measures, from increasing the awareness about multiple sclerosis among the society and doctors in general, through expanding outpatient medical care, to proposing a model network of healthcare centres dedicated to patients with multiple sclerosis. It was pointed out that there is a need for a network of clinics specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS clinics) and centres for comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, with a higher reference level and all the competences of an MS clinic, and, at the same time, providing both consultations in difficult clinical cases and access to the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Attention was also drawn to the need to use modern e-health tools, which should improve the diagnostic and therapeutic process, as well as tighten the coordination of care by enabling an effective exchange of information between the patient and the entire interdisciplinary team involved in the therapeutic process.

Intercultural Polylogist of Modern Acting Training

The article examines the features of intercultural polylogue of modern acting training; identified and analyzed ways to unleash the potential of cultural diversity of theatrical, physical and spiritual practices, as well as identified strategies for the most effective exchange of methods and techniques of training actors between different cultural groups. It is revealed that modern world theatrical culture is characterized by increasing interest in methods of acting training, which, despite their diversity, combines not only the idea of the importance of the actor's training method and the need to develop his psychophysical apparatus, but also specific principles of training as a unique research method. helps to achieve a harmonious interaction of soul and body. Modern acting training in many countries is becoming increasingly intercultural: crossing borders, intercultural exchange in modern theatrical practice and the growing interculturality of the actor mean that at the present stage acting training is determined by many ways of learning and different worldviews. It is stated that the intercultural polylogue in the globalization period is becoming more intense, due to the rapid development of information technology, and this, in particular, applies to modern acting training. The phenomenon of acting training is that, differing in its unique intercultural principles, it becomes a kind of point of intersection, which marks a qualitatively new era in theatrical culture. It was found that the result of intercultural polylogue of different methods and techniques of acting skills was the formation of a unique approach to training as the most important condition of the creative process in the context of understanding the value system of another culture, the development of universal values

Does the Number of Hajj Pilgrims Boost Economic Growth in Saudi Arabia?

This paper uses the multivariate Johansen cointegration approach and Granger causality tests to study the causal relationship between the number of pilgrims and the non-oil GDP growth in Saudi Arabia over the period 1980–2016 by integrating the real effective exchange rate index as an additional variable. Our findings indicate that there is only one long-run relationship between the three variables when the non-oil GDP growth is the dependent variable. There is a unidirectional long-run causality from the number of pilgrims to non-oil GDP growth. Besides, we find no short-run causal relationships between the three variables. Therefore, an important policy implication resulting from this study is that pilgrims can be a led growth factor to economic growth in Saudi Arabia in the long run. The pilgrimage event can, therefore, be an excellent opportunity for Saudi Arabia to boost its economic activity as stated by its 2030 vision.

Analysis of the Effect of the European Debt Crisis on the Saudi Arabian Economy

This paper investigates the economic impact of the 2009 European debt crisis on Saudi Arabia’s real economy from 2004 Q2 to 2014 Q2 using a structural vector autoregressive model (SVAR). The results of the impulse response functions obtained from the aggregated data show that the shock to European imports from Saudi Arabia had a significant impact on the real effective exchange rate, inflation rate, and economic growth that lasted for three periods. Moreover, the variance decomposition analysis shows that Europe’s imports from Saudi Arabia explain approximately 20% of the variance of the Saudi real effective exchange rate and real economic growth, 10% of the interest rate variability, and only 5% of the inflation rate variance. The results of the individual country analysis show that the impact of shocks to imports from all European countries had an instantaneous impact, except for France and Spain, where the impact on the economic growth was significant in the second and sixth periods respectively. The results suggest that Saudi Arabian policymakers should continue the process of export diversification in order to reduce its dependence on this region.

Polybutadiene Vitrimers with Tunable Epoxy Ratios: Preparation and Properties

Traditional crosslinked diene rubber has excellent thermal–mechanical properties and solvent resistance, yet it is incapable of being recycled via universal molding or injecting. Vitrimers, a new class of covalently crosslinked polymer networks, can be topologically rearranged with the associative exchange mechanism, endowing them with thermoplasticity. Introducing the concept of vitrimers into crosslinked networks for the recycling of rubbers is currently an attractive research topic. However, designing tailored rubber vitrimers still remains a challenge. Herein, polybutadiene (PB) vitrimers with different structures were prepared via partial epoxidation of double bonds and ring-opening esterification reactions. Their mechanical and relaxation properties were investigated. It was found that the increasing crosslinking density can increase tensile strength and activation energy for altering the network topology. The influence of side-group effects on their relaxation properties shows that an increase in the number of epoxy groups on the polybutadiene chain can increase the chance of an effective exchange of disulfide units. This work provides a simple network design which can tune vitrimer properties via altering the crosslinking density and side-group effects.

Research on the Impact of Sino-US Trade Structure on the Real Effective Exchange Rate of RMB

Since the beginning of 2018, Sino-US trade frictions have been escalating to the fields of science and technology, finance, and geography. Especially in the financial field, the United States has forcibly identified China as a “currency manipulator.” In order to analyze the impact of Sino-US trade on the RMB exchange rate, based on the Sino-US import and export trade data under the quarterly HS classification from 2003 to 2019 and the RMB real effective exchange rate, this article carries out the traditional time series test, seasonal unit root test, and cointegration test and further constructs the seasonal error correction model to explore the long-term and short-term dynamic impact of Sino-US import and export trade structure on RMB real effective exchange rate. The results shows that the upgrading and optimization of the overall trade structure between China and the United States will increase the appreciation pressure of RMB real effective exchange rate. There are seasonal and long-term trends between RMB real effective exchange rate and different types of import and export trade structures between China and the United States. Therefore, this article not only strongly refutes the “theory of RMB appreciation” and puts forward policy suggestions to effectively deal with the negative impact of Sino-US trade friction but also provides a research framework for global trade, especially the decoupling of trade structure and exchange rate between developing and developed countries.

Penerapan Regresi Data Panel Dinamis untuk Pemodelan Ekspor dan Impor di Asean

Perekonomian terbuka di suatu negara adalah negara yang mempunyai kegiatan perdagangan internasional seperti ekspor, impor, barang atau jasa serta dapat meminjam dari hasil pasar modal internasional. Tujuan dari penelitian adalah untuk menganalisis ekspor dan impor di wilayah beberapa negara ASEAN mulai periode tahun 2014 hingga tahun 2019. Metode estimasi parameter model adalah metode GMM (Generalized method of moment) karena penelitian ini menggunakan panel dinamis. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data, variabel yang berpengaruh signifikan positif terhadap model ekspor ASEAN adalah Growth GDP, REER sedangkan variabel GFCF berpengaruh secara negatif. Disamping itu, variabel yang berpengaruh siginifikan positif model impor ASEAN adalah Growth GDP dan Real Effective Exchange Rate.