Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Foreign Bank Entry on Technical Efficiency of a Bank Sector – The Case of Ghana

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of the entry of foreign banks on the technical efficiency performance of the domestic banking sector over the period 2000 - 2008. This study uses a sample of 23 banks (3 state banks, 9 private domestic banks and 11 foreign banks) and a two-stage approach for the data analysis. The researcher first uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to estimate technical efficiency scores of all 23 banks used in research. The results indicate that banking technical efficiency performance of the banking industry has been fluctuating over the study period. To investigate the effect the entry of foreign on the domestic bank, we run a Tobit regression. The regression focuses on the determinants of technical efficiency of the domestic banks, using variables like return on assets, liquidity ratio, inflation, etc. In this same regression, a proxy labelled as foreign share is added as one of the independent variables in order to help us test how the entry of the foreign banks has affected the domestic banks. The study suggests that factors which affect the technical efficiency of domestic banks in Ghana include return on assets, liquidity ratio, bank capitalization, and concentration/competition. The findings further suggest that the domestic banks have been positively affected by the entry of the foreign banks. The implication of this is that the domestic banks are probably cashing in on the benefits such new technologies and know-how, new processes and practices, etc. foreign banks provide when they enter any economy. Hence, the policy implication is for Bank of Ghana to continue to encourage profitable foreign banks to come into Ghana. The ultimate beneficiary would be the final consumer because they stand to benefit from improved services and service delivery, competitive/low prices.
Preoperative prediction model of outcome after cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones.

BACKGROUND After cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone disease 20%-30% of the patients continue to have abdominal pain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether preoperative variables could predict the symptomatic outcome after cholecystectomy. METHODS One hundred and two patients were referred to elective cholecystectomy in a prospective study. Median age was 45 years; range, 20-81 years. A preoperative questionnaire on pain, symptoms, and history was completed, and the questions on pain and symptoms were repeated 1 year postoperatively. Preoperative cholescintigraphy and sonography evaluated gallbladder motility, gallstones, and gallbladder volume. Preoperative variables in patients with or without postcholecystectomy pain were compared statistically, and significant variables were combined in a logistic regression model to predict the postoperative outcome. RESULTS Eighty patients completed all questionnaires. Twenty-one patients continued to have abdominal pain after the operation. Patients with pain 1 year after cholecystectomy were characterized by the preoperative presence of a high dyspepsia score, 'irritating' abdominal pain, and an introverted personality and by the absence of 'agonizing' pain and of symptoms coinciding with pain (P < 0.000001). In a constructed logistic regression model 15 of 18 predicted patients had postoperative pain (PVpos = 0.83). Of 62 patients predicted as having no pain postoperatively, 56 were pain-free (PVneg = 0.90). Overall accuracy was 89%. CONCLUSION From this prospective study a model based on preoperative symptoms was developed to predict postcholecystectomy pain. Since intrastudy reclassification may give too optimistic results, the model should be validated in future studies.
Intrinsic images decomposition using a local and global sparse representation of reflectance

Intrinsic image decomposition is an important problem that targets the recovery of shading and reflectance components from a single image. While this is an ill-posed problem on its own, we propose a novel approach for intrinsic image decomposition using a reflectance sparsity prior that we have developed. Our method is based on a simple observation: neighboring pixels usually have the same reflectance if their chromaticities are the same or very similar. We formalize this sparsity constraint on local reflectance, and derive a sparse representation of reflectance components using data-driven edge-avoiding-wavelets. We show that the reflectance component of natural images is sparse in this representation. We also propose and formulate a novel global reflectance sparsity constraint. Using this sparsity prior and global constraints, we formulate a l1-regularized least squares minimization problem for intrinsic image decomposition that can be solved efficiently. Our algorithm can successfully extract intrinsic images from a single image, without using other reflection or color models or any user interaction. The results on challenging scenes demonstrate the power of the proposed technique.
The influence of Mxit advertising on purchase intentions and purchase amid Generation Y

Generation Y is the first high-tech generation and is completely dependent on mobile devices and social media to complete various daily tasks, since these individuals have grown up in an epoch of rapid technological innovation and development. Social media's escalation in popularity has been noticed by organisations who desire to find new ways to reach young online communities. Mxit is a social network site in South Africa that allows marketing managers to communicate with consumers via a number of marketing communication options. A steady flow of literature has emerged on social media as a marketing communication tool over the past five years, primarily from first-world countries, academic research has not kept pace within South Africa. Hence, the primary objective of this investigation was to establish Generation Y's purchase intentions and purchase sentiment towards Mxit advertising. A survey method was utilised to collect 1 228 self-administered questionnaires from Generation Y respondents. Mxit advertising was confirmed to have relatively positive behavioural responses and several demographic and usage variables also had a significant effect. This study has added to the relatively small pool of data to assist academics and practitioners to understand the influence of Mxit advertising on South Africa's youth.
Evaluation of the genotoxicity of river sediments from industrialized and unaffected areas using a battery of short‐term bioassays

The present investigation evaluated the capacity of the Salmonella mutagenicity test, the comet assay, and the micronucleus assay to detect and characterize the genotoxic profile of river sediments. Three stations were selected on an urban river (Bouches du Rhône, France) exposed to various sources of industrial and urban pollution (StA, StB, and StC) and one station on its tributary (StD). One station in a nonurban river was included (REF). The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined by HPLC, and the genotoxicity of the sediments was monitored by the Salmonella mutagenicity test (TA98 + S9, YG1041 ± S9), the comet assay, and the micronucleus assay on CHO cells. Chemical analysis showed that the total PAH concentrations ranged from 23 μg kg−1 dw (REF) to 1285 μg kg−1 dw (StD). All the sediments were mutagenic in the Salmonella mutagenicity test. The mutagenicity was probably induced by the presence of nitroarenes (StA, StB, StC, and StD) and aromatic amines (REF) as deduced from the mutagenicity profiles of strains YG1041 ± S9 and TA98 + S9. The comet assay revealed direct DNA lesions in REF, StA, and StB sediments and metabolization‐dependent DNA damage in StC and StD. The micronucleus assay showed an absence of clastogenicity for StA ± S9 and StC‐S9, and a significant clastogenicity ± S9 for the three other stations. The genotoxicity ranking determined by the comet assay + S9 matched the ranking of total and carcinogenic PAH concentrations, and this assay was found to be the most sensitive. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Corporate Governance in Costa Rica

This paper examines corporate governance practices in Costa Rica. First, it estimates corporate governance charter measures using firm-level data for 87 Costa Rican firms and studies their impact on the firms` performance; here, the mean of the corporate governance charters for the publicly traded firms is equal to 56. 14. Second, new evidence is presented on de jure and de facto corporate governance charter measures at the firm level and on their effect on the performance of the firm. The results indicate that de facto corporate governance is better than de jure corporate governance. These results suggest that firms must implement a set of additional measures to compensate for the weakness of the legal environment. Also, evidence is presented that better corporate governance and charter measures are associated with superior firm performance. Third, this paper examines the final controllers of publicly and non-publicly traded firms and links them with their dividend policies. Family firms are common in Costa Rica and are not necessarily linked to better firm performance. Fourth, the ownership evolution of Costa Rican firms is studied. Finally, changes in the Commercial Code are examined from a good corporate governance practices view.
U.S. Productivity and Electronic Processes in Manufacturing

Recent studies argue that the use of information technology is a significant source of U.S. productivity growth. Official U.S. data on this use have been scarce. New official data on the use of electronic business processes (business processes such as procurement, payroll, inventory, etc.,conducted over computer networks) in the manufacturing sector of the United States were recently released. Preliminary estimates based on these data are consistent with some results in the literature. However, they also raise questions requiring additional detailed micro data analysis.
State of Competition in the Insurance Industry: Selected Asian Countries

This paper is a preliminary review of the state of competition in the insurance industry of selected Asian countries. In particular, it explores how competition has been affected by the market structure and the regulatory regime in the insurance industries of the ASEAN5 economies – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It has four main sections. Section II surveys the market structure and overall performance of the insurance industry in the ASEAN5 economies. The third section then looks at the regulatory framework, including the major financial sector reforms that have been undertaken and the factors driving these reforms. In particular, it shows how the regulatory framework in itself can be an important determinant of the structure and performance of the industry, particularly public policy towards entry and the critical role of the industry regulator. Finally, what competition policy implies for the industry is discussed in the fourth section.
Fully Reliable Localized Error Control in the FEM

If the first task in numerical analysis is the calculation of an approximate solution, the second is to provide a guaranteed error bound and is often of equal importance. The standard approaches in the a posteriori error analysis of finite element methods suppose that the exact solution has a certain regularity or the numerical scheme enjoys some saturation property. For coarse meshes those asymptotic arguments are difficult to recast into rigorous error bounds. The aim of this paper is to provide reliable computable error bounds which are efficient and complete in the sense that constants are estimated as well. The main argument is a localization via a partition of unity which leads to problems on small domains. Two fully reliable estimates are established: The sharper one solves an analytical interface problem with residuals following Babuska and Rheinboldt [SIAM J. Numer. Anal. , 15 (1978), pp. 736--754]. The second estimate is a modification of the standard residual-based a posteriori estimate with explicit constants from local analytical eigenvalue problems. For some class of triangulations we show that the efficiency constant is smaller than 2.5. According to our numerical experience, the overestimation of our computable estimates proved to be reasonably small, with an overestimation by a factor between 2.5 and 4 only.
RFID : a catalyst for supply chain performance

THE ADVANTAGE OF RFID TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION IN A MANUFACTURING FIRM. THE TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION STREAM LINES THE LOSS OF INFORMATION FLOW WHEN THE PRODUCT MOVES ALONG THE DIFFERENT CHAIN MEMBERS. THE COMMON SHARING OF THE ASSOCIATED BENEFIT BRINGS HIGHER PROCESS EFFICEINCY , WHEN THE PRODUCT MOVES ALONG THE UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM SUPPLY CHAIN FOR THE SELECTED PRODUCT. THE IMPLEMENTATION IS A CUSTOMISED SOLUTION FOR THE MANUFACTURING UNIT FOR ITS PRODUCT, THIS THESIS WILL ENABLE THE IMPLEMENTATORS THE VALUABLE IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES THAT ONE HAS TO FOLLOW TO TAKE RIGHT BENEFIT FROM THIS TECHNOLOGY.
Acute inhalation toxicity of T-2 mycotoxin in mice.

Experiments were conducted to study the acute inhalation toxicity of T-2 mycotoxin in both young adult and mature mice. For a 10-min aerosol exposure, the 24-hr LC50 of T-2 mycotoxin in young adult mice was 0.08 +/- 0.04 mg T-2/liter air and that for mature mice was 0.325 +/- 0.1 mg T-2/liter air. Deaths among mice exposed to the higher aerosol concentrations used in this study (i.e., 1.5 to 2.4 mg T-2/liter air) occurred in less than 5 hr. General clinical symptoms in these animals immediately postexposure were tremors, lethargy, stilted gait, and, in some animals, prostration. In experiments separate from the concentration-response studies, total deposition of T-2 aerosol and selective retention of T-2 in the respiratory tract and nasal turbinates were determined analytically from 3H-labeled T-2. When total deposition of T-2 was quantitated, there was excellent agreement between that amount of T-2 deposited and that amount of T-2 predicted from calculations based on aerosol size and animal minute volume. Based on the aerosol deposition data, the LD50 values of T-2 mycotoxins was 0.24 mg/kg for young adult mice and 0.94 mg/kg for mature mice. For mice, inhalation of T-2 mycotoxin is at least 10 times more toxic than systemic administration (LD50 approximately 4.5 mg/kg) and at least 20 times more toxic than dermal administration (LD50 greater than 10 mg/kg).
Morphology of the very inclined debris disk around HD 32297

Context. Direct imaging of circumstellar disks at high angular resolution is mandatory to provide morphological information that constrains their properties, in particular the spatial distribution of dust. For a long time, this challenging objective was, in most cases, only within the realm of space telescopes from the visible to the infrared. New techniques combining observing strategy and data processing now allow very high-contrast imaging with 8-m class ground-based telescopes (10^(-4) to 10^(-5) at ~1′′) and complement space telescopes while improving angular resolution at near infrared wavelengths. Aims. We present the results of a program carried out at the VLT with NACO to image known debris disks with higher angular resolution in the near-infrared than ever before in order to study morphological properties and ultimately detect the signpost of planets. Methods. The observing method makes use of advanced techniques of adaptive optics, coronagraphy, and differential imaging, a combination designed to directly image exoplanets with the upcoming generation of “planet finders” such as GPI (Gemini Planet Imager) and SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High contrast Exoplanet REsearch). Applied to extended objects such as circumstellar disks, the method is still successful but produces significant biases in terms of photometry and morphology. We developed a new model-matching procedure to correct for these biases and hence provide constraints on the morphology of debris disks. Results. From our program, we present new images of the disk around the star HD 32297 obtained in the H (1.6 μm) and Ks (2.2 μm) bands with an unprecedented angular resolution (~65 mas). The images show an inclined thin disk detected at separations larger than 0.5−0.6″. The modeling stage confirms a very high inclination (i = 88°) and the presence of an inner cavity inside r0 ≈ 110 AU. We also find that the spine (line of maximum intensity along the midplane) of the disk is curved, which we attribute to a large anisotropic scattering-factor (g ≈ 0.5, which is valid for an non-edge-on disk). Conclusions. Our modeling procedure is relevant to interpreting images of circumstellar disks observed with angular differential imaging. It allows us to both reduce the biases and estimate the disk parameters.
MCL1 Enhances the Survival of CD8+ Memory T Cells after Viral Infection

ABSTRACT Viral infection results in the generation of massive numbers of activated effector CD8+ T cells that recognize viral components. Most of these are short-lived effector T cells (SLECs) that die after clearance of the virus. However, a small proportion of this population survives and forms antigen-specific memory precursor effector cells (MPECs), which ultimately develop into memory cells. These can participate in a recall response upon reexposure to antigen even at protracted times postinfection. Here, antiapoptotic myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL1) was found to prolong survival upon T cell stimulation, and mice expressing human MCL1 as a transgene exhibited a skewing in the proportion of CD8+ T cells, away from SLECs toward MPECs, during the acute phase of vaccinia virus infection. A higher frequency and total number of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were observed in MCL1 transgenic mice. These findings show that MCL1 can shape the makeup of the CD8+ T cell response, promoting the formation of long-term memory. IMPORTANCE During an immune response to a virus, CD8+ T cells kill cells infected by the virus, and most die when the infection resolves. However, a small proportion of cells survives and differentiates into long-lived memory cells that confer protection from reinfection by the same virus. This report shows that transgenic expression of an MCL1 protein enhances survival of memory CD8+ T cells following infection with vaccinia virus. This is important because it shows that MCL1 expression may be an important determinant of the formation of long-term CD8+ T cell memory.
Extending Java Pathfinder (JPF) with property classes for verification of Android permission extension framework

This paper proposes analysis technique for dynamic verification of APEX framework. APEX provides a list of permissions to a user to install software with some restrictions and user can also change these permissions at runtime. Model checking is a technique of formal verification to explore all possible paths with a large amount of inputs. Using this technique, we provide complete assurance about the APEX execution. We used a popular model checking tool Java Pathfinder (JPF), to verify APEX framework. The important aspect of this study is that we have identified a race condition in APEX using this tool.
EFFECT OF GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, FINANCIAL DISTRESS, AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ON TIMELINESS OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS REPORTING

This study was aimed to test empirically whether Good Corporate Governance (audit committee and managerial ownership), financial distress, and financial performance (profitability and liquidity) affect the timeliness of financial reporting on go public companies listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange. The data were the annual financial statements of companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Slovin’s formula was used to select the sample of 220 firm-years from 2011 to 2012. The data were analysed using logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that p-values of audit committee (AC), financial distress (FD), and liquidity (CR) ≤ 0.05. These meant that audit committee (AC), financial distress (FD), and liquidity (CR) significantly affected the timeliness of financial statements reporting. Whereas, the logistic regression analysis of managerial ownership (MO) and profitability (ROA) indicated p-value ≥ 0.05, meaning that the two factors did not significantly affect the timeliness of financial statements of the go public companies. Keyword: Timeliness, Audit Committee, Managerial Ownership, Financial Distress, Profitability, Liquidity
Pediatric Food Allergies and Psychosocial Functioning: Examining the Potential Moderating Roles of Maternal Distress and Overprotection.

OBJECTIVES Identify factors associated with maternal perceptions of health-related quality of life (QoL) among youth with food allergies (FA), and identify maternal factors that may moderate relationships between FA-related challenges and child QoL. METHODS In all, 533 mothers of children with FA completed measures assessing characteristics of their child's FA, maternal perceptions of child QoL, maternal psychological distress, and maternal overprotection. RESULTS FA severity, maternal psychological distress, and overprotection were significantly associated with maternal reports of poorer child functioning and/or poorer QoL among youth with FA. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed an FA severity by maternal distress interaction in the prediction of child FA-related anxiety; children of higher stress mothers showed a stronger link between auto-injector use and anxiety than children of lower stress mothers. CONCLUSIONS When identifying youth with FA who are at risk for low QoL, it is important to assess history of FA-related challenges, parental psychological distress, and overprotection.
Evaluating service quality in the Durban freight transportation industry

This paper evaluates service quality in the Durban freight transportation industry, in which a high degree of competition exists. Previous measurements of service quality in the industry have been casual gauges, rather than a formalised process. This paper makes a contribution by examining the level of service quality, specifically from a tangibles, reliability and responsiveness perspective, thereby identifying service quality gaps which need to be closed, with a view to raising service quality levels in the industry. The SERVQUAL instrument has been used to measure service quality levels administered to 500 of the industry’s active customers, i.e. organisations utilising the services of the freight transportation industry. The targeted respondents were managers responsible for logistics in their organisations. It was found that gaps existed between expectations and perceptions of service quality on 14 of the 15 measured items. Recommendations are made as to how the industry can improve its service quality levels.
Debt to Traders! On Borrowing Heterogeneity and Exporting Activity

Based on a panel of several thousand Indian firms, for the period 1976-77 and 2005-06, this article has examined the impact of debt types on the levels of exporting undertaken. Classification of debt into relational and transactional categories has been used to divide the types of debt firms borrow. The relational debt types, such as bank borrowings, borrowings from financial institutions and foreign borrowings, positively impact the levels of exporting undertaken. The results establish that for Indian firms, where relational borrowings form these types of borrowers are substantial, such borrowings have influenced their engagement in overseas markets.