Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Independent Director Arrangement and the Marginal Value of Cash Holdings: The Role of Over-investment

The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation Rules executed a new requirement on the independent directors in 2002. This research uses the unique Taiwanese data to examine whether independent directors can mitigate the agency problem by increasing the marginal value of an important asset of the firm: cash holdings. Further, to our best knowledge, this is the first research to test the direct link between the magnitude of over-investment and the marginal value of cash holdings. We create a corporate governance index by using confirmatory factor analysis to control other mechanism of the corporate governance system. The sample is publicly listed companies in Taiwan Stock Exchange and OTC. Over the period of 1997-2005, the finally sample consists of 6,961 (2,933) firm-year observations for the test of the relation between independent director (over-investment) and the marginal value of cash holdings. The following empirical results are reached. First, firms with independent directors are associated with higher marginal value of cash holdings for firms with less growth opportunities or firms in small size scale after controlling the earning, net assets, R&D expenditures, interest expense and liquid assets. The results are in line with the expectation that independent director mitigate the agency problem and prove marginal value of cash holdings. Second, the magnitude of over-investment is negatively correlated to the marginal value of cash holding, revealing that the investors value less the marginal value of cash holdings for firms with over-investment.
Relationship between Share Market Capitalization and Performance of Listed Firms at Nairobi Securities Exchange Limited, Kenya Relationship between Share Market

DOI: 10.21276/sjebm.2018. 5.11. 1 Abstract: Market capitalization is important in projecting the size of an organization because it shows the organization’s value. Even firms with high growth potential with less sales may still have high market capitalization. Market capitalization activities including stock turnover, changes in stock prices, stock return observably are stock market behavioral factors that influence investor’s decision in particular firm. Whether these activities affect their Return on Equity when they invest is a research gap of interest. The main aim of the study therefore was to analyze effect of market capitalization on performance of the listed firms in Nairobi Securities Exchange. Specifically, the study analyzed the effect of stock turnover, changes in stock price and stock return on financial performance of the listed firms in Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study was based on Trading Cost Theory, Trading Quantity Theory, Efficient Market Hypothesis and Arbitrage Pricing Theory. The study adopted events study research design which tested variables the way they have behaved in time and space. The study targets 63 firms listed in different market segments of Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study collected secondary data from both the securities market and annual audited accounts reports covering 2007-2017. The study purposively took census of all the firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange of which will not require sampling procedure. Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and panel data regression to establish relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The study established that using fixed effects model revealed that the stock turnover, changes in stock prices and market capitalization variables cannot be used to predict the outcome of return on equity within the listed firms in Nairobi Securities Exchange. Overall, although changes in stock prices had higher positive relationship comparatively, alongside other predictors, it was equally statistically insignificant to predict return on equity. On the other hand, using random effects model also revealed that the stock turnover, changes in stock prices and market capitalization variables cannot be used to predict the outcome of return on equity within the listed firms in Nairobi Securities Exchange. Overall, although changes in market capitalization had higher positive relationship comparatively, alongside other predictors, it was equally statistically insignificant to predict return on equity as a measure of financial performance.
Evaluation of Different Concentrations of Irrigants on Postoperative Pain Following Single-Visit Root Canal Treatment: A Randomized Clinical Study

Original Research Article Aim: To compare the effects of different concentrations of NaOCl and chlorhexidine solution on postoperative pain following single-visit root canal treatment. Methodology: A total of 123 patients who had teeth with irreversible pulpitis were treated. The patients were randomly divided into three groups according to the concentration of NaOCl used and chlorhexidine. Postoperative pain was evaluated using the visual analogue scale. Data were analyzed by independent t-test, chi-square and Mann–Whitney tests. Results: Pain reported by 123 patients who were eligible to be included in the study was analyzed. No significant differences were found in the age and gender of the patients between the two groups (P = 0.50, P = 0.51, respectively). The patients who had 5.25% NaOCl reported significantly lower postoperative pain compared to those who had 2.5% NaOCl during the first 72 h following treatment. Conclusion: 5.25% NaOCl was associated with significantly lower postoperative pain compared to 2.5% NaOCl during the first 72 h following one-visit root canal treatment of teeth with irreversible pulpitis.
A Statistical Model of Microscope Resolution

A general rule of thumb in imaging is that the resolution of a light microscope depends linearly on the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of its point spread function (psf). In the present work we carefully define a statistical model of resolution by introducing a notion of discernability based on statistical testing whether one or two objects with the same total intensity are present. We consider four common ways of modeling photons detected in a microscopy experiment: as binomial, Poisson, variance stabilized Gaussian (VSG) or homogeneous Gaussian (HG) independent random variables. We show that under the binomial, Poisson and VSG photon models the resolution indeed depends linearly on the FWHM. However, under the HG model, the resolution depends on the FWHM to the power of $5/4$. Thus, at least for microscopy the HG model is too simple and in most experiments the Poisson or the VSG model is preferred, since they are easier to tackle than the binomial model, yet still capture the dependence on the FWHM correctly.
Impact Analysis: Before and After Branchless Banking Implementation

DOI: 10.21276/sjbms.2018. 3.6. 8 Abstract: This study aims to analyze financial performance of PT. Bank Bukopin Tbk, before and after conducting “Laku Pandai” (branchless banking), while the long-term goal is modeling the assessment of financial performance strategy of branchless banking in Indonesia. The method used in this research is RGEC (Risk Profile, Good Corporate Governance, Earning, Capital). The assessment financial performance of PT. Bank Bukopin Tbk before and after the application of branchless banking is not difference and not significant, but is not fixed value
Identification and analysis of the resistance of different mango cultivars to anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides)

Mango anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz.) is a serious disease in the mango producing areas in china. Choice of resistant cultivars is one of the important measures to control the disease. The object of this work aims to identify the resistance of the accessed mango cultivars in the mango germplasm repository of Southern Subtropical Crops Research Institute. The results showed that the majority of cultivars were susceptible to anthracnose, among them, Irwin, Rumang,Haibao,Longjing,Damang were highly susceptible to anthracnose;however 4 highly resistant cultivars were also identified, such as Zhihua, Chun Hwang,Zhixuan No.4 and Spooner,etc.;Tainong No.1,Yuexi No.1,Taiya,Guifei, Mallika, Guixiang and Keitt were moderately resistant to anthracnose, no immune ones in all tested cultivars were noted.
A dynamic relationship between savings and investment: The tales of China and the ASEAN-5

This paper applies recursive cointegration analysis to examine the dynamic changes in Feldstein-Horioka (1980) savings-investment (S-I) coefficients across China and the ASEAN-5 countries over time. To the extent that the S-I coefficients measure international capital mobility, the main empirical results are as follows. First, the recursive trace statistics show that savings-investment linkages vary in these six countries. Second, there is no cointegration between the two factors in four countries China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand meaning that capital market mobility in these countries is high and domestic investment in the four is financed by the global pool of capital. Third, for Indonesia and Philippines, there is a cointegration between savings and investment before 2001 for them, implying that they achieved highly mobile and open capital markets later than the other countries.
Fracture Resistance of Maxillary Premolar teeth with Class II Cavities Restored by Both Direct Composite Restorations and Endodontic Post Systems

DOI: 10.21276/sjds.2018. 5.1. 1 Abstract:To evaluate fracture resistance of maxillary premolar teeth with Class II cavities restored with direct composite restorations and endodontic posts.A total of 40 sound, maxillary premolars with similar size and shape will be collected. The teeth will be randomly divided into three groups of ten specimens each (n = 10). Two groups (n = 5) will be remained untreated; G 1: restored with direct composite only; G II: restored with rigid post and direct composite; G III: restored with fiber post and direct composite; G IV: un-prepared and un-restored and G V: prepared and un-restored. Following trepanation, the root canals instrumented to an apical size of ISO 40, obturated and restored as grouped; before fracture using universal testing machine:High significant differences were found between all the tested restorative system except between group I and group III; where there was no statistical significance difference between the two groups [p=0.018] at p<0.05. Endodontically treated premolars with MOD cavities, can be restored to the load-bearing capability of sound premolars when using quartz fiber posts.
Production Network and Its Impact on International Trade: A Comparison between East Asia and European Union

The emergence of production networks has changed the structure of international trade as reflected by a large share of intra-regional trade flows and rising value of intermediate goods trade. This paper aims to examine and compare the impact of production networks on international trade in East Asia and European Union. The results show that at the global level, intermediate goods export is more sensitive to trade barriers than total goods. At regional level, a comparison between East Asia and European Union shows service link costs in East Asia have been successfully reduced. Despite the efforts directed towards export market diversification in East Asia, the region is still more dependent on other regions’ economic conditions than European Union is.
Validation on Destination Image Attribute Towards Indonesian Tourist

DOI: 10.21276/sjbms.2018. 3.6. 20 Abstract: The development of tourism is essential since it increases the foreign exchange. The adequate attention to the tourism drives the progress of tourism related products and services. Several studies have shown that the role of destination image influence the tourists to visit. The purpose of this study is to determine the forming components of destination image with a quantitative approach. The research population consists of the most visited destinations in Indonesia. Questionnaires are distributed in three cities that represent the most visited places by tourists in Indonesia. According to the statistical calculation, the amount of sample that can be used is 167 people. The results reveal that some aspects significantly influence the destination image. The influencing aspects are lodging facility, quality of food and relaxation experiences. This finding implies that there should be some improvements in lodging facilities, the quality of food and relaxation experiences to enhance the destination image.
DELAYED DETACHED EDDY SIMULATION OF AERODYNAMIC CONTROL WITH SYNTHETIC JETS

Sol Keun Jee∗, Omar López†, Daniel Brzozowski‡, Ari Glezer‡, Robert Moser ∗Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas, USA e-mail: solkeun@ices.utexas. edu †Departamento de ingenieria mecánica, Universidad de los Andes Bogota, Colombia e-mail: od.lopez20@uniandes.edu. co ‡Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia, USA e-mail: {danb, ari.glezer}@gatech.edu ? Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences Austin, Texas, USA e-mail: rmoser@ices.utexas. edu
The impact of the Sharia Supervisory Board on Islamic Bank soundness: Does political system matter?

This research aims to examine the impact of the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) on the Islamic bank soundness. This research also will test whether the political system of the country is a moderating variable on the relationship of SSB on Islamic bank soundness. The study uses moderated regression analysis with the period 2012-2016 which includes 99 Islamic banks from 17 countries. The political system for this study is measured by the political or legal system implemented, whether this is a democractic system, the legal sharia law system, or a hybrid. Using 384 firm-year, the results show that stronger SSB characteristic only increases the capital adequacy ratio. The strength SSB characteristic does not have an impact on the Islamic bank soundness measurements (asset quality, management efficiency, earning and liquidity). The moderated variable of the Sharia law legal system or hybrid is only proven in the influencing the strength of the SSB characteristic on the capital adequacy ratio model, and not for other ratios. The implication of the research is that a country with a Sharia law legal system or a hybrid is better equipped to increase the qualification of the SSB characteristics to increase their capital.
Evaluation of Canal Transportation And Straightening Of The Mesiobuccal Canal Of Mandibular First Molars Prepared by ProTaper Next, OneShape and F6 SkyTaper Using CBCT- A Comparative Invitro Study

Original Research Article The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the canal transportation and straightening of the mesiobuccal canal of mandibular first molars prepared by ProTaper Next, OneShape and F6 SkyTaper using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Sixty six mesiobuccal root canals of extracted mandibular first molars with curvatures 2040 ̊ and length 19-22mm were used. Teeth embedded in acrylic resin block were assigned to three groups and prepared using ProTaper Next, OneShape and F6 SkyTaper files. CBCT images were obtained before and after instrumentation to compare the canal transportation at 2mm, 5mm and 8mm from the root apex and also to assess the canal curvatures for straightening. The obtained results were analysed using Kruskal Wallis test to compare the mean canal transportation. One-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey's Post hoc analysis was used to compare the mean canal straightening between the groups. Results: The least canal transportation occurred with F6 SkyTaper group, followed by OneShape group and ProTaper Next group at all the levels which was statistically significant. Mean values for canal straightening among the groups were not significantly different. Conclusion: Although all the three rotary systems caused some degree of canal transportation and straightening, the single Ni-Ti rotary file F6 SkyTaper system caused significantly least canal transportation and straightening than the other file systems.
Synergity Presentation Skill, Questioning Skill and Adaptation Skill To Selling Skill Improve Sales Force Performance

DOI: 10.21276/sjebm.2018. 5.5. 11 Abstract: The purpose of this research is to develop conceptual model of sales force performance. The specific targets of this study empirically examine the effect of presentation skills, questioning skills, adaptation skills to selling skills, and the influence of sales skills on salesperson performance. Sampling technique based on purposive sampling, the sample of 105 respondents. The data obtained in this study was obtained by interview. Data collection uses a combination of open questions and closed questions given to respondents. The collected data is then analyzed by using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). The theoretical findings in this study are enriching the literature to create salesperson performance. While the managerial findings in this study are to develop and improve sales skills, where sales training is very important to improve sales success and establish good relationships with customers in the long run. The focus of training can be directed to elements of presentation skills, questioning skills, adaptation skills.
Academic Accommodations for Special Education Students: A Systematic Review

Identifying studentsi¯ perception of accessibility to academic accommodations within post-secondary education is vital for disability service providers in the United States and Canada. This systematic review is an in-depth synthesis of 25 literature published since 2010, utilizing the EPPI reviewer 4 in incorporating data to highlight the context of academic accommodation provisions in these two countries. The author found that with increasing inclusive education advocacy, the surge in the enrollment of students with disabilities in post-secondary institutions calls for a holistic approach to identifying the achievement gaps between these students and their non-disabled peers. Studentsi¯ experiences are influenced by several factors, most of which are not directly evolving from the student themselves. Stakeholders such as their instructors, legislators, their academic communities, and the office of disability services contribute to these experiences. Therefore, a pragmatic approach with studentsi¯ expert contributions based on their needs will benefit the process.
Stochastic Variational Inference for Dynamic Correlated Topic Models

Correlated topic models (CTM) are useful tools for statistical analysis of documents. They explicitly capture the correlation between topics associated with each document. We pro-pose an extension to CTM that models the evolution of both topic correlation and word co-occurrence over time. This allows us to identify the changes of topic correlations over time, e.g. , in the machine learning literature, the correlation between the topics “stochastic gradient de-scent” and “variational inference” increased in the last few years due to advances in stochastic variational inference methods. Our temporal dynamic priors are based on Gaussian processes (GPs), allowing us to capture diverse temporal behaviours such as smooth, with long-term memory, temporally concentrated, and periodic. The evolution of topic correlations is modeled through generalised Wishart processes (GWPs). We develop a stochastic variational inference method, which enables us to handle large sets of continuous temporal data. Our experiments applied to real world data demonstrate that our model can be used to effectively discover temporal patterns of topic distributions, words associated to topics and topic relationships.
An efficient Hybrid Algorithm for the Multiple Traveling Salesmen Problem using novel Crossover and Ant Colony Optimization

This paper, we proposed a new hybrid algorithm in the framework of genetic algorithm (GA) and ant colony optimization (ACO). In this technique which uses Ant colony optimization for tour construction and novel crossover and 2-opt mutation with multi chromosome representation using for solving the multiple traveling salesmen problem (MTSP) for near-optimal solutions. The proposed crossover and 2-opt mutation is used to refine the solution obtained from ACO. Multi chromosome representation technique is a proven to minimize the problem search space. Moreover this representation is more similar to characteristic of MTSP. We evaluate and compare the proposed hybrid technique with four different crossover methods for two MTSP objective functions, namely, minimizing total travel distance and minimizing longest tour. The performance of proposed hybrid algorithm is better in terms of best solution quality and average solution. The experimental result shows that the proposed hybrid algorithm can improve the solution quality of the GA. Experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm is more efficient, than algorithm developed by other.
Income Diversification Strategies and Household Food Security among Rice Farmers: Pointers to Note in the North Tongu District of Ghana

Food security has remained topical over the period and Africa in among the world’s most food insecure regions. Several strategies have been adopted by rural dwellers to improve food security but the situation remains prevalent. One such approach is the adoption of income diversification strategies. This study assesses the effect of income diversification strategies of rice farmers on household food security in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana with the use of a semi-structured questionnaires. The strategies of concern include ‘Rice income only’ (R); ‘Rice income plus other agricultural incomes’ (RA); ‘Rice income plus non-agricultural incomes’ (RN) and; ‘Rice income plus other agricultural and non-agricultural incomes’ (RAN). The ‘Rice income only’ (R) were those respondents that did not diversify in any way at all; they cultivated only rice The Multinomial Logit Model was used to estimate factors affecting the choice of income strategies. Being a household head, household size, employable skills and household food expenditure significantly affected choice of diversification. Respondents’ household food security was measured using the household dietary diversity score (HDDS). The mean HDDS was 5.81 indicating moderate food security. The Poisson Regression was used to model the effect of income diversification on food security. All the 3 diversification strategies had a positive and significant effect on food security. The study concluded that income diversification had a positive effect on food security and that attainment of high food security was associated with diversification into non-agricultural activities. The study recommends that farmer-field workshops should be organized periodically in the area to train farmers to equip them with non-farm skills so they can explore other opportunities outside of farming. Also, farmer awareness on the need for crop diversification and livestock production should be intensified in the area.
Government Spending Effects in a Policy Constrained Environment

The theoretical literature generally finds that government spending multipliers are bigger than unity in a low interest rate environment. Using a fully nonlinear New Keynesian model, we show that such big multipliers can decrease when 1) an initial debt-to-GDP ratio is higher, 2) tax burden is higher, 3) debt maturity is longer, and 4) monetary policy is more responsive to inflation. When monetary and fiscal policy regimes can switch, policy uncertainty also reduces spending multipliers. In particular, when higher inflation induces a rising probability to switch to a regime in which monetary policy actively controls inflation and fiscal policy raises future taxes to stabilize government debt, the multipliers can fall much below unity, especially with an initial high debt ratio. Our findings help reconcile the mixed empirical evidence on government spending effects with low interest rates.