The optimized reaction conditions for the Cu(I)-catalyzed N-->C polymerization of azido-phenylalanyl-alanyl-propargyl amide to yield either high molecular weight linear polymers or medium-sized cyclic polymers is described. These reaction conditions will be applied to tailor the synthesis, properties, and structure of biologically relevant peptide-based biopolymers.

Pakistan follows the flexible exchange rate system since July 2000. Prior to this period it followed a managed floating exchange rate since 1982 and a fixed rate prior to 1982. Due to controlled exchange rate a little fluctuation in exchange rate was observed. It is empirical concluded that the Pakistan’s share of exports in world market did not indicate any significant change during fixed and managed floating exchange rate regimes [Kumar and Dhawan (1991)]. Pakistan’s share in world exports was stable during the last 24 years, ranging between a minimum of 0.12 percent in 1980 and a maximum of 0.18 percent in 1992. After introduction of floating exchange rate during 2002-2003 (the share was 0.17 percent) Pakistan’s exports performance was related to the volatility of exchange rate. Only one empirical study is available regarding to Pakistan’s context by Kumar and Dhawan (1991) who estimated the impact of exchange rate volatility on Pakistan exports to the developed world from 1974 to 1985. They found that volatility of exchange rate adversely effect on export demand. They also investigated the third country effect and suggested that Japan and West Germany act as the alternate market for Pakistan’s export to the United States and United Kingdom. The high degree of volatility and uncertainty of exchange movements observed in Pakistan is of great concern of policy-makers and researchers to investigate the nature and extent of the impact of such movements on Pakistan’s volume of trade. In many countries it is experienced that higher exchange rate volatility reduced the trade by creating uncertainty about future profit from exports.

This study is a pioneering attempt to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on export performance in Pakistan by using the long annual time series data from the period 1974–2012 and by using more rigorous econometric techniques. Autoregressive distributed lag-bound testing cointegration approach confirms the valid long-run relationship between considered variables. Results indicate the significant positive impact of FDI on real exports in long run as well as in short run. Results of Granger causality test, Toda and Yamamoto Modified Wald causality test and variance decomposition test confirm the bidirectional causal relationship between FDI and export performance in Pakistan. Results of rolling window analysis suggest that the coefficient of FDI in export model remains negative from 1983 to 1987, from 2001 to 2006 and in 2011. The coefficient of FDI in export model shows a positive coefficient in remaining years. It can be seen that FDI and real export are connected in complementary way in Pakistan. The policy makers should make policies that favour foreign investors so as to attract more FDI in Pakistan. It has been observed that a stable political and economic environment is desirable to attract more FDI in Pakistan.

Mangoes are one of Pakistan's most important fruits; the country is the world's fourth largest producer and exporter of mangoes. Integrated markets are those where price signals are transferred from one to another, allowing physical arbitrage to adjust any disturbances in these markets; integrated markets are thus a sign of efficiency. From this viewpoint, we investigate domestic integration among ten major mango markets, i.e., Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, and Quetta employing Johansen's cointegration approach and error correction model. Data on monthly wholesale prices data (PRs/100 kg) were obtained from the agricultural and livestock marketing advisor, Government of Pakistan. The results of the study confirm the presence of integration among major mango markets in Pakistan. These markets were able to adjust for 16 to 68% of disequilibrium in one month, implying that it takes almost two to six months to remove any disequilibrium and to move back to long-run equilibrium. The Granger causality test shows that the Karachi market has bidirectional causality with Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, and Sukkur, and a unidirectional relationship with the rest. An impulse response analysis was also conducted to check the stability of these markets given a standard error shock to the Karachi base market. JEL Classification: A10, C01.

The efficient market hypothesis suggests that stock markets are “informationally efficient”. That is, any new information relevant to the market is spontaneously reflected in the stock prices. A consequence of this hypothesis is that past prices cannot have any predictive power for future prices once the current prices have been used as an explanatory variable. In other words the change in future prices depends only on arrival of new information that was unpredictable today hence it is based on surprise information. Another consequence of this hypothesis is that arbitrage opportunities are wiped out instantaneously. Empirical tests of the efficient market hypothesis actually test for these consequences in various ways. Some of them have been summarised in earlier chapters. These tests generally could not conclusively accept the random-walk hypothesis of stock returns even when GARCH effects were accounted for. Many studies have found empirical regularities that are contrary to the efficient market hypothesis. For example, the monthly, weekly and daily returns on stocks tend to exhibit discernable patterns, such as seasonal affects, month of the year affect, day of the week affect, hourly affect etc. In case of Pakistan’s stock markets too such affects are identified. Such as the Ramadan affect [see Hussain and Uppal (1999)], seasonal effects and day of the week affect. Further, the wide spread use of “technical analysis” among stock traders and their ability to predict to some extent the direction of movements in the prices of individual stocks over medium term testifies to the existence of patterns and seasonal trends.