Ahmed Khalid - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ahmed Khalid

Cape York, in Northern Queensland, Australia, is a remote area with a limited supply of energy, m... more Cape York, in Northern Queensland, Australia, is a remote area with a limited supply of energy, making it very hard for the locals to have an easier life. Locals use diesel as a fuel for transportation which is economically harmful to the environment due to the carbon emissions. The research team found a solution for these problems and decided to design a biogas plant, which will be environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and will produce job opportunities for the locals. The plant aims to produce biogas from the raw manure of the cattle from the farms in Cairns, a nearby neighborhood. The long-term plan of the plant is to be sustainable and profitable. The business plan predicts the break-even point of the business as 4 months and the payback period as less than a year.

Current Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 2014

The aim of this study to review an overview of the current information on the structure of protei... more The aim of this study to review an overview of the current information on the structure of proteins 14-3-3 and their complexes, in addition to that it provides insights into the mechanisms of their functions. The 14-3-3 proteins are from families maintain regulatory molecules expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It was discovered before thirty years, it is attributes of 14-3-3 proteins are able to connect a large number of signalling proteins are functionally diverse, including kinases, phosphatases and transmembrane receptors. 14-3-3 proteins play an important role in a variety of vital regulatory processes, such as protein regulation, apoptotic cell death and cell cycle control. In this review, we discussed the structural basis of 14-3-3 proteins, common structural features of their complexes, Phosphorylation, Cell cycle and Apoptosis.

International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology, 2017

The Pakistan Development Review, 2006

The recent wave of financial sector reforms and internationalisation in emerging markets has incr... more The recent wave of financial sector reforms and internationalisation in emerging markets has increased perceived interlinkages within various sectors of national financial markets. For example, the existence of a strong linkage between stock prices and exchange rates is a popular topic in academic research. Similarly, changes in stock prices and exchange rates are expected to influence movements in interest rates. A number of hypotheses suggest such a causal relationship. For instance, using a goods market approach, any changes in the value of currency would affect the competitiveness of multinational firms and hence influence stock prices [Dornbusch and Fischer (1980)]. Similarly, the hypotheses of ‘exchange rate pass-through’ and ‘interest rate pass-through’ suggest that changes in exchange rates and/or interest rates could affect stock prices. The portfolio balance model suggests that fluctuations in stock prices influence exchange rate changes.

AL-Rafdain Engineering Journal (AREJ), 2019

Due to significant effect of the phenomenon of erosion and its entry in many engineering and indu... more Due to significant effect of the phenomenon of erosion and its entry in many engineering and industrial applications, hence the importance of the study of erosion, especially the key factors of impingement velocity and impingement angle, because of their high effect on the phenomenon of erosion. The erosion testing device was manufactured according to ASTM G76 specifications, and devices rotating molds casting and vacuum equipment were manufactured, and unsaturated polyester specimens and its composites were reinforced with two types of reinforcing materials silicon carbide particles (SiC) and fiberglass (5 wt. %) and (44%. wt. %) respectively. The impingement velocity (25.2, 33 m / s) and impingement angles (30°, 60° and 90°) affecting erosion were studied. From the results obtained, it is noted that the behavior of polyester was brittle behavior and the composites behaves semi-ductile. And that the maximum erosion rate of polyester is at an impingement angle (90°) and the maximum erosion rate of polyester composites is at an impingement angle (60°). Silicon carbide particles improved erosion resistance at the impingement angles (90°, 30°), but at an angle (60°) they reduced pure polyester resistance to erosion, while fibers increased the rate of erosion. It was noted that the relationship between the impingement velocity and the rate of erosion is a direct relationship and that the effect of increasing the impingement velocity on the angle of impingement (60°) is greater than its impingement on the angles (90°, 30°).

Global Journal of Medical Research, 2019

Background: The role of intubation is practiced in most respectful universities for many medical ... more Background: The role of intubation is practiced in most respectful universities for many medical students, especially the paramedic and anesthesia students through controlled anesthesia simulation labs. Aim: The study aims to evaluate the learning outcomes of various types of intubation for paramedic and anesthesia students before and after studying two courses of airway management in the department of clinical technology. Methods: A model for measuring, comparing, and analyzing the fields of knowledge about skills and experiences obtained by the students is prepared. Students are enrolled from the emergency medical service and the anesthesia department of clinical sciences at the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. Results: Psychomotor skills were the most important domain among students in EMS department, followed by airway compromise knowledge, intention or attitude, and effective communication.

Applied Economics, 2019

This paper adds to the debate on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and eco... more This paper adds to the debate on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth which suggest that the link between FDI and economic growth is rather the consequence of both FDI and growth responding endogenously to economic integration. We investigate if the impact of FDI on growth is dependent on the channel of integration used to attract FDI. We use four different indexes of economic integration including Trade Openness, Chinn-Ito, and KOF and our newly constructed index of financial integration. We employ these four indexes to investigate the role played by economic integration in linking FDI and growth. We use a panel consisting of 134 developing countries and data spanning the period 1989-2017 estimated using the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique. The results show that FDI is an important determinant of growth. The results also suggest that at least some of the integration variables do matter and work as channels to attract FDI leading to growth. However, after stratifying countries by income level, we also find that integration matters mainly for high income countries. Integration variables for other income groups do not show much significance. These are interesting results and may have important policy implications.

The Pakistan Development Review, 2004

The economic and social benefits of more openness and internationalisation are well supported by ... more The economic and social benefits of more openness and internationalisation are well supported by both academics and policy-makers. Many countries are also trying to become part of the world trade bloc such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or AFTA. Efforts are also made to strengthen the existing regional economic and trade coordination or establish new regional economic and financial integration. Unfortunately, at the time (during the 1980s and 1990s) when many emerging economies in East Asia were involved in openness, internationalisation and regional economic and financial integration, the South Asian countries wasted their resources in dealing with political crisis (such as Bangladesh), internal conflicts (such as Sri Lanka) or border issues (such as India and Pakistan). It is only recently that regimes have realised that a peaceful economic environment is essential to attract foreign investment, pursue a pro-growth policy and achieve a sustainable growth. The recent dialogu...

Chinese Medical Journal, 2008

Background In China, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is popularly used for pre-intervention ... more Background In China, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is popularly used for pre-intervention examination for atrial septal defect (ASD) and for guiding ASD closure. However, the ability to determine ASD size and the safety and efficacy of TTE for guiding ASD closure still has not been widely accepted. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TTE used before, during and after transcatheter ASD closure with Amplatzer septal occluders (ASO). Methods Sixty-eight subjects (15 men and 53 women; mean age (33.7±17.3) years) were enrolled. TTE was used to measure the diameters and guide transcatheter closure of ASD. The ASD was examined by long-axis view, basal short-axis view, apical four-chamber view and the subcostal view to observe position, diameter and relation with neighbouring structures. The largest diameter was selected as the reference diameter. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the ASD reference diameter: 22 subjects with ASD diameter 4−14 mm (group A); 21 subjects with ASD diameter 15−20 mm (group B); and 25 subjects with ASD diameter 21−33 mm (group C). Results ASD was occluded successfully in groups A and B. In group C, occlusion failed in 2 cases; 1 case remained with a 3-mm residual shunt sustained until 6-month follow-up. However, at 6-month follow-up, no case of thromboembolism, ASO dislocation or death occurred in the three groups. The diameter of ASD measured by TTE could accurately predict the ASO size that could successfully occlude the ASD, especially in patients with ASD <20 mm. The ASD diameter measured by TTE correlated well with ASO size (r= 0.925, P <0.001; r=0.976, P <0.001; r=0.929, P <0.001 respectively). Conclusions ASD diameter measured by TTE can accurately estimate the size of the ASO needed for successful closure of ASD. The larger the ASD, the much larger the ASO needed. TTE is a satisfactory guiding imaging tool for ASD closure.

The Journal of veterinary medical science, Jan 19, 2017

BNIP3 (BCL2/adenovirus E1B nineteen kilodalton interacting protein-3), a member of the BCL2 famil... more BNIP3 (BCL2/adenovirus E1B nineteen kilodalton interacting protein-3), a member of the BCL2 family, is activated under hypoxic conditions and induces apoptosis or mitochondrial autophagy for adapting cells to hypoxia. The physiological roles of BNIP3 in the mammalian ovary are still unclear. In order to understand the role of BNIP3 in the bovine ovary, we examined its mRNA and protein expressions of BNIP3 in follicular granulosa cells and corpus luteum (CL). BNIP3 mRNA and protein expressions in granulosa cells from large follicles (>10 mm) at the follicular stage were much higher than those in small follicles (2-8 mm). BNIP3 mRNA and protein expressions in the CL peaked at the early luteal stage. In bovine granulosa cells cultured for 6 hr under hypoxia (3% O) and normoxia (20% O), BNIP3 mRNA expression was higher under hypoxia. These results of the present study suggest that BNIP3 has some roles in luteal formation in the bovine ovary, and that the highly expressed BNIP3 in the...

Applied Economics, 2017

This article investigates the determinants of the size of domestic bond market using economic, so... more This article investigates the determinants of the size of domestic bond market using economic, social and institutional factors. We expand the body of existing literature by suggesting that economic and social environment as well as institutional settings vary between developed and emerging economies. The article uses recent data from a wide range of countries, incorporates a variety of macroeconomic variables, social indicators and institutional factors to reassess the determinant of domestic bond markets. Robustness of the empirical analysis is established through both two-stage least squares and generalized method of movements techniques. The results of this article show that the size of the economy, breadth and depth of the banking system, the monetary policy stance, the degree of openness, the level of corruption, the degree of civil liberty and status of market access to investors, all play a crucial role in the determination of the size of the domestic bond market. We also find differences across developed and emerging market samples. The results are robust to different specifications and the corresponding estimation techniques.

The Lancet. Oncology, 2016

Erlotinib is approved for the treatment of all patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer ... more Erlotinib is approved for the treatment of all patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but is most active in the treatment of EGFR mutant NSCLC. Cabozantinib, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, targets MET, VEGFR, RET, ROS1, and AXL, which are implicated in lung cancer tumorigenesis. We compared the efficacy of cabozantinib alone or in combination with erlotinib versus erlotinib alone in patients with EGFR wild-type NSCLC. This three group, randomised, controlled, open-label, multicentre, phase 2 trial was done in 37 academic and community oncology practices in the USA. Patients were eligible if they had received one or two previous treatments for advanced non-squamous, EGFR wild-type, NSCLC. Patients were stratified by performance status and line of therapy, and randomly assigned using permuted blocks within strata to receive open-label oral daily dosing of erlotinib (150 mg), cabozantinib (60 mg), or erlotinib (150 mg) and cabozantinib (40 mg). Imaging ...

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2016

Arabic language is very different and difficult structure than other languages, that's because it... more Arabic language is very different and difficult structure than other languages, that's because it is a very rich language with complex morphology. Many stemmers have been developed for Arabic language but still there are many weakness and problems. There is still lack of usage of Arabic stemming in search engines. This paper introduces a rooted word Arabic stemmer technique. The results of the introduced technique for six Arabic sentences are used in famous search engines Google Chrome, Internet Explore and Mozilla Firefox to check the effect of using Arabic stemming in these search engines in terms of the total number of searched pages and the search time ratio for actual sentences and their stemming results. The results show that Arabic words stemming increase and accelerate the search engines output.

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2014

Classification is one of the most frequently encountered problems in data mining. A classificatio... more Classification is one of the most frequently encountered problems in data mining. A classification problem occurs when an object needs to be assigned in predefined classes based on a number of observed attributes related to that object. Neural networks have emerged as one of the tools that can handle the classification problem. Feed-forward Neural Networks (FNN's) have been widely applied in many different fields as a classification tool. Designing an efficient FNN structure with optimum number of hidden layers and minimum number of layer's neurons, given a specific application or dataset, is an open research problem. In this paper, experimental work is carried out to determine an efficient FNN structure, that is, a structure with the minimum number of hidden layer's neurons for classifying the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Dataset. We achieve this by measuring the classification performance using the Mean Square Error (MSE) and controlling the number of hidden layers, and the number of neurons in each layer. The experimental results show that the number of hidden layers has a significant effect on the classification performance and the best classification performance average is attained when the number of layers is 5, and number of hidden layer's neurons are small, typically 1 or 2.

Australian Journal of Management, 2014

Given the nature of East Asia’s economic structure, interregional exchange rate stability is an e... more Given the nature of East Asia’s economic structure, interregional exchange rate stability is an essential requirement for regional economic integration. One way to achieve exchange rate stability is for the region to adopt an anchor currency. However, the choice of a potential anchor is an important question for policy planners. This paper examines the role of 5 major currencies as candidates for an anchor currency in the East Asian region. In particular, the paper examines the dynamic linkages between a selected sample of East Asian currencies with each potential anchor currency, the Australian dollar, Japanese yen, euro, US dollar and Chinese renminbi. Utilizing a recently developed test procedure which distinguishes the long-run Granger non-causality from that in the short-run, this paper does not find any support to the much debated emergence of a yen bloc, euro bloc, or koala bloc. The empirical evidence brought forward in this paper suggests that the US dollar is still a domin...

An exchange rate arrangement for East Asia: anchor or basket? Ahmed M Khalid & Gulasekaran Rajagu... more An exchange rate arrangement for East Asia: anchor or basket? Ahmed M Khalid & Gulasekaran Rajaguru Globalisation and Development Center, Bond University, Australia Abstract Given the nature of East Asia’s economic structure, interregional exchange rate stability is an essential requirement for regional economic integration. Chiang Mei Initiative has further emphasized the need for East Asia to have more exchange rate coordination in the region. As the possibility of a single currency for East Asia is perhaps not feasible due to lack of academic support for the region to quality as an Optimum Currency Area (OCA), the other two options are (a) an anchor currency or (b) a currency basket. The emergence of China as a major player in the region requires this issue to be revisited. This paper investigates which option is more suitable (or preferable) for emerging East Asian countries. We compare the feasibility of an anchor with the basket arrangement. We argue that any analysis on futur...

The increased episodes of the financial crises throughout the world in the 1990s motivated resear... more The increased episodes of the financial crises throughout the world in the 1990s motivated research interests to identify the channels through which such crises spread from one country to the entire region and across regions and to suggest policies to avoid the worst of such crises. Researchers have identified several factors that may spark and induce contagion of the crisis. Strong trade and financial market linkages may contribute to contagion of the crises. This also implies that, even economies with strong fundamentals could not escape contagion. This study attempts to identify and trace the alleged origin and the subsequent path of the currency contagion using data from a sample of selected Asian countries. For empirical estimation, we use high frequency data (daily observation) on exchange rates from 1994 to 2002. We split the sample in to four periods (full, pre -crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods), construct a multivariate GARCH model and apply Granger causality test to ...

The Journal of Pediatrics, 2013

on behalf of the Pakistan Hib Vaccine Study Group* Objective Significant neurodevelopmental seque... more on behalf of the Pakistan Hib Vaccine Study Group* Objective Significant neurodevelopmental sequelae are known to occur after acute bacterial meningitis (ABM). This study determined the burden of such sequelae in Pakistani children aged <5 years to guide policies for Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcal vaccination. Study design Cases of ABM were recruited from hospital-based surveillance and assigned to 1 of 3 etiologic groups (Hib, Streptococcus pneumoniae, or unknown etiology). Two age-matched controls were recruited for each case. Six months after enrollment, each case underwent neurologic history and examination, neurodevelopmental evaluation, and neurophysiological hearing test. Controls were assessed in parallel. Results Of 188 cases, 64 (34%) died. Mortality among subgroups were 7 (27%), 14 (28%), and 43 (39%) for Hib, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and unknown etiology, respectively. Eighty cases and 160 controls completed the assessments. Sequelae among cases included developmental delay (37%), motor deficit (31%), hearing impairment (18.5%), epilepsy (14%), and vision impairment (14%). Sequelae were higher after pneumococcal meningitis (19, 73%) compared with Hib meningitis (8, 53%). Compared with controls, cases were at significantly higher risk for all sequelae (P < .0001). Conclusions ABM causes a substantial long-term burden of poor neurodevelopmental outcomes. Hib and pneumococcal vaccines are very effective interventions to prevent meningitis and its disabling sequelae. (J Pediatr 2013;163:S86-91). A cute bacterial meningitis (ABM) remains a potentially debilitating infection resulting in mortality as well as long-term disability. 1 However, it is underappreciated in many developing countries, especially in Asia, as major etiology of bacterial meningitis could largely be prevented with vaccines available today. Of all etiologic groups, Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) has been the leading cause of ABM in young children, after the remarkable decline of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in many countries where Hib conjugate vaccine was introduced. 2,3 Among bacterial etiologies, meningitis sequelae studies have identified Sp as the likeliest underlying cause of high mortality and serious neurodevelopmental complications in children, but adverse consequences from Hib meningitis can also be substantial. 4-6 A recent systematic review of disabling sequelae from bacterial meningitis by Edmond et al 7 found risk of at least 1 major sequelae 3-fold higher in the African and South East Asian regions than the European region. In addition, a study recently conducted by Edmond et al in Senegal also revealed the magnitude of the serious disabilities associated with bacterial meningitis. 8 However, the authors noted a lack of adequate studies with comprehensive long-term follow-up from many developing regions of the world. 7-9 In addition to disease-associated complications and poor quality of life after meningitis, there are major financial implications attributable to high cost of care. 10,11 Although ABM continues to be a major health burden in Pakistan, rigorous assessments of postmeningitis sequelae experienced by children after hospital discharge have been lacking in our setting. The primary objective of this study was to determine neurologic and developmental sequelae over a 6-month period after ABM in Pakistani children to guide vaccine policy regarding Hib and pneumococcal vaccines in Pakistan and other developing countries. Secondary objec

Journal of Asian Economics, 2003

The episodes of financial crises in many parts of the world during the 1990s have sparked interes... more The episodes of financial crises in many parts of the world during the 1990s have sparked interest in identifying channels through which such crises spread from one country to another. Researchers have identified several factors that may have sparked and induced contagion. This study further extends the existing research by identifying and testing three financial market variables to trace the alleged origin and the subsequent path of the contagion during the 1997 Asian Crisis. Foreign exchange rates, stock market prices and interest rates are three main financial market indicators, representing the currency, stock and money markets, respectively. We use a sample of nine East Asian countries, including Japan, construct a VAR model and use daily observations for empirical estimation. We investigate the interlinkages among different markets and different countries within the Asian region using the Granger causality. The empirical evidence, in this paper, does not find strong support for contagion. We further extend the analysis by looking at the impulse responses. The results still do not find strong support for a contagion case.