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The Role of Fintech on Bank Risk-Taking: Mediating Role of Bank’s Operating Efficiency
Get PDFFintech revolutionized the traditional banking business models in emerging countries. The effect of fintech on banks’ operating efficiency and risk-taking behavior is still inconclusive. The study is aimed at exploring the effect of fintech products on banks’ operating efficiency and risk-taking behavior. The study used a quantitative research approach by collecting secondary data from annual reports of 50 commercial banks from emerging countries, namely, China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, for the period 2014 to 2021. The study used panel data for path analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the theoretical mediation model by using STATA. The results show that the fintech product reduces the bank’s risk-taking behavior by enhancing the bank’s operating efficiency. The path analysis results show that operating efficiency mediates the relationship between fintech products and bank risk-taking behavior in emerging countries. The paper offers useful recommendations for central bank and commercial bank policymakers. The study is also beneficial for commercial banks that use fintech solutions to increase operational effectiveness and reduce risk. The study is the first empirical investigation into the connection between the growth of fintech products, bank operational effectiveness, and risk-taking behavior in developing nations
Words unspoken: The radical pursuit of culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogical documentation (Chapter 7 from Affirming the Rights of Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Children and Families Interweaving Research and Practice through the Reggio Emilia Approach)
No full textHaving worked in neighborhoods known as ports of entry for immigrant and refugee children and families in Chicago, the authors learned that for immigrant and refugee communities, documentation holds a very different meaning. That is, having documentation implies having papeles to be in the United States. Consequently, documentation in the form of assessment and evaluation in school settings for immigrant and refugee children has been about defining who they are and who they are not using a monoglossic ideology that embraces what is termed in recent years academic English. This yields English spoken by whites as the default, the normal as it others, devalues, and labels emergent bi- and multilingual children as being deficient, at risk, and deviating from the norm. Therefore, using terms such as English proficient, English learners, and English language learners are rooted in the desire to uphold English as the norm. In their work on polylanguaging, other researchers emphasize the fluidity of language as they challenge the widely held notion that languages are separate entities. They take exception to the notion that languages can be counted, e.g. I speak two languages: French and German. Perhaps the concept of polylanguaging invites us to consider the dynamic and fluid nature of language and to abandon the antiquated notion that languages are independent and static. In the traditional view of languages, there is a hierarchy of languages in which many languages are seen as less than others or completely unrecognized as languages.https://digitalcommons.lewisu.edu/education_fac-books/1005/thumbnail.jp
Coupling Supramolecular Assemblies and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) with Megasonic Action for Applications in Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) Post-Chemical Mechanical Planarization (p-CMP) Cleaning
Get PDFDue to the continued miniaturization of semiconductor devices, slurry formulations utilized in the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process have become increasingly complex to meet stringent manufacturing specifications. Traditionally, in shallow trench isolation (STI), CMP, a contact cleaning method involving a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) brush, is used to effectively transfer cleaning chemistry to the oxide substrate. This PVA brush can cause nonuniform cleaning chemistry transport, increased interfacial shear force, and cleaning-induced defectivity from brush loading. Previous work with traditional cleaning processes has shown that using “soft” supramolecular cleaning chemistries has dramatically improved cleaning efficacy while also minimizing the number of induced p-CMP defects. To minimize these effects, noncontact cleaning via the implementation of megasonic action has gained attention. This work employs “soft” cleaning chemistries with Cu2+–amino acid complexes, which can catalyze the formation of critical reactive oxygen species (ROS), and evaluates the p-CMP performance under megasonic action. Results from a second-order kinetic model indicate that megasonic conditions (i.e., time and power), “soft” cleaning chemistry structure (i.e., shape and charge), and the generation of ROS all play a critical role in cleaning efficacy under low shear stress conditions
Using Student Teaching Evaluations to Assess the Efficacy of a Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship in Preparing Candidates for Culturally-Responsive Practices
Get PDFThe goal of the NSF Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship is to attract and support highly qualified STEM majors to become secondary-education teachers that are prepared to teach in high-needs schools. At Lewis University program activities targeted 1) teaching diverse learners, 2) inquiry and active-learning pedagogies, and 3) strengthening content knowledge. When the climate in education changed nationally mid-grant, activities to explicitly address culturally-relevant practices were developed. Since this emphasis was not directly addressed in the grant evaluation, here the use of student teaching evaluations as a tool to assess preparation in culturally-relevant practices is explored. Although some distinctions between Noyce and non-Noyce candidates can be seen, the variability in evaluators and the complexity of the evaluation components obscure the significant differences in preparedness reported by mentors in the first years of service. New program requirements for culturally-responsive practices from the Illinois State Board of Education will take effect in 2025. Given that the current teaching evaluation components do not clearly address these practices, we recommend significant revisions to simplify criteria and align directly with the new program requirements
Optical measurements on a budget: A 3D-printed ellipsometer
Get PDFEllipsometry is an optical analysis technique that is useful for characterizing the physical properties of a thin-film system. Light reflected from a sample surface undergoes a change in polarization due to phase delay and anisotropic reflection. This enables one to perform non-destructive measurements of film thickness, surface roughness, refractive index, and other optical constants. Ellipsometric techniques are particularly convenient for characterizing coatings or films in the semiconductor and optics industries. However, these techniques may be inaccessible to undergraduate students and educators due to the prohibitive cost of ellipsometers and similar instrumentation. In response to this roadblock, we describe the construction of a simple, inexpensive, manually operated, rotating analyzer ellipsometer (RAE). Required materials include a laser pointer, polarizing film, photometric detector, and a 3D-printed opto-mechanical framework, which are all readily accessible at most institutions. The instrument\u27s performance was evaluated by comparing thickness measurements of tetraethyl orthosilicate films to those determined by a commercially available reflectometer. An average film thickness difference of 0.77% was measured using the two instruments
“Never Anything About the Asian Experience”: An AsianCrit Analysis of Asian American Teachers in the Midwest
No full textAlthough Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial minority group in the United States, projected to be 10% of the population by 2050, they only comprise 2% of the teaching force. There is relatively little research about the experiences, recruitment efforts, or retention of Asian American teachers. This qualitative study seeks to add to the extant literature by seeking to better under the experiences of Asian American pK-12 teachers in the Midwest, primarily in northern Illinois. This study draws upon both a sociopolitical understanding of being Asian American and three specific tenets of AsianCrit: (re)constructive history; story, theory, and praxis; and commitment to social justice to understand how Asian American teachers in the Midwest navigate teaching and learning in the classrooms as racialized beings