123,664 research outputs found
Financial Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from a Heterogeneous Panel of High Income Countries
No full textThis paper examines the empirical relationship between financial development and economic growth for high income countries. The study focuses on both indirect finance and direct finance, separately as well as jointly. Applying the methodology of Nair-Reichert and Weinhold (2001) for causality analysis in heterogeneous panel data, two sets of results are reported. First, the evidence regarding the relationship between financial development and economic growth from a contemporaneous non-dynamic fixed effects panel estimation is mixed. Negative and statistically significant estimates of the coefficient of the inflation and financial development interaction variable indicate that financial sector development may even be harmful to economic growth when inflation is rising. Second, in contrast with the recent evidence of Beck and Levine (2003), heterogeneous panel causality analysis applied on a refined model indicates that there is no definite evidence that finance spurs economic growth or growth spurs finance. Most of our findings are in line with the Lucas (1988) view that the importance of financial matters is over-stressed. The only exception is the case of activity in stock markets where our result supports the Robinson (1952) view that finance follows enterprise.
Pilgrimage: Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia
No full textHanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia fulfills two basic requirements.
On the one hand, the novel works as a caleidoscope of British
society at the end of the XXth century. It lets us have a look at such
aspects racist violence, the birth and development of punk music, or
the situation of theatre in London by the end of the 1970s, just to name
a few subjects Kureishi deals with. On the other hand, The Buddha of
Suburbia is an account of Karim Amir’s pilgrimage to find himself,
bearing in mind he is a half-bred born in a split-up family in the middle
of a society that is in a crisis
X-efficiency Analysis of Commercial Banks in Pakistan: A Preliminary Investigation
No full textThe emergence of a fast-paced dynamic environment in the business world in general, and in the financial services sector in particular, has highlighted the significance of competition and efficiency. The need for deregulation has become a touchstone of success in fostering both competition and efficiency especially in the economies, which are exposed to structural reforms. In addition to that, intense competition both among domestic and foreign banks, rapid speed of innovations and introduction of new financial instruments, changing consumer’s demands and desire for product augmentation have changed the way a bank conducts business and services its customers. Larger the degree of competition, it is perceived that the firms would become more efficient. However, when the structure of an industry is product of the government regulations, the degree of competition is impaired markedly implying that the efficiency suffers negatively. Banking industry acts as life-blood of modern trade and commerce acting as a bridge to provide a major source of financial intermediation. Thus, appraisal of its efficiency is vital in context of an efficient and competitive financial system. Study of x-efficiency is believed to be important in particular as Berger, et al. (1993) found that x-inefficiencies account for around 20 percent or more of banking costs. Similarly, recent drive among banks towards downsizing, rightsizing and rationalisation of banking costs also implicates for the assessment of x-efficiency analysis of banks. It becomes vital in Pakistani context as there appears to be no study in literature on efficiency or x-efficiency analysis of banks in Pakistan. “A great deal more work is needed on x-efficiency research in banking. Managerial efficiency, the concept of x-efficiency, appears to be a much more important strategic and policy consideration” [Molyneux, et al. (1960), p. 273]. Given
Sequence-specific interactions between RNA polymerase and the core recognition element
No full textIn bacteria, the flow of biological information from DNA to RNA is carried out by a single enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP). Bacterial RNAP is composed of a multi-subunit catalytic core and a dissociable subunit called sigma factor. Since the discovery of sigma factor in 1969, the prevailing view has been that the RNAP core enzyme requires binding to sigma for sequence-specific transcription, because the RNAP core does not contain the determinants for sequence-specific core promoter recognition and DNA unwinding. It has also been assumed that sequence-specific RNAP-DNA interactions are mainly limited to transcription initiation, as sigma could dissociate from the RNAP core after the initiation stage. These two paradigmatic assumptions have been challenged by recent structural evidence from our lab, which indicates in the initiation complex, the RNAP core directly interacts with the non-template strand segment of the transcription bubble corresponding to positions -4 to +2, and that the interaction with this element is sequence-specific at least at one of its positions. This element has been termed the “core recognition element,” CRE. This thesis addresses three major topics regarding CRE: sequence-specificity, recognition mechanism, and the functional roles. In chapter 1, using equilibrium binding and dissociation kinetics studies, I demonstrate that the RNAP core shows sequence-specificity at 3-out-of-6 CRE positions (the consensus sequence is T₋₄ n₋₃ n₋₂ n₋₁ T₊₁ G₊₂). I also determine that RNAP amino acid βR371 mediates specificity at CRE position -4, βW183 mediates specificity at CRE position +1, and βR151, βD446, or βR451 mediates specificity at CRE position +2. In subsequent chapters, I use the RNAP derivative containing the βD446A substitution as a reagent to assess the functional significance of RNAP-CRE⁺²ᴳ interactions on transcription initiation and elongation. In chapters 2, 3 and 4, using a combination of next-generation sequencing approaches and biophysical and biochemical assays, I show that sequence-specific RNAP-GCRE interactions play functional roles in three key stages of transcription initiation: promoting DNA unwinding at a consensus GCRE sequence, favoring start-site selection at positions upstream of a consensus GCRE sequence, and reducing the probability of abortive transcript release at positions upstream of a consensus GCRE sequence. In chapter 5, using biochemical assays and mNET-seq, I show that sequence-specific RNAP-GCRE interaction occurs in and plays functional roles in key stages of transcription elongation through the E. coli genome: favoring pause-read-through at positions upstream of consensus GCRE sequence and favoring post-translocated states at positions upstream of consensus GCRE sequence. In chapter 6, using a promoter-independent transcription assay, I show that RNAP-GCRE interaction occurs in, and plays functional roles in all three domains of life: bacteria, archaea and eukaryote. In chapter 7, using genome-wide next-generation sequencing approaches, I show that the RNAP core can perform sequence-specific transcription in the absence of sigma factor in a manner that correlates with the presence of an AT-rich region followed by a TG-motif. In the final chapter, I summarize how my work revealed previously undocumented regulatory events in transcription initiation and elongation. Based on my findings, I describe two implications of this thesis for future consideration: a scenario describing what the architecture of primordial promoter sequences might have looked like and a mechanism for antibiotic-tolerant persistence state.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Hanif Vahedian-Movahe
A Multi-Language Comparison of Influences on Author Verification using Character N-Grams
No full textWe create a new multi-language corpus for author verification based on Wikipedia talkpages, and evaluate the influence that differences in topic and time have on character n-gram author profiles. Topic alignment between two texts is found to increase author verification precision, and an authors writing style is found to change over time, but not more significantly after 3 years than after 1 year.Information ArchitectureWISElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
خلاصة الوفا فى شرح الشفا. Commentaire en turc, par Ibrahim Hanif, sur l'ouvrage écrit en arabe sous le titre de الشفا بتعريف حقوق المصطفى, dans lequel Aboul-Fadhl ʿIyadh ibn Mousa ibn ʿIyadh el-Yahsoubi (m. 544 de l'hégire = 1149) traite de l'histoire de Mahomet, de ses mérites, et du respect que les fidèles doivent lui porter, d'après l'autorité des traditions authentiques.
No full textKhilaset el-vefa fi sharh el-Shifael-Shifa bi-taʿrif houkouk el-MoustafaNumérisation effectuée à partir d'un document original.Cet ouvrage, dans le présent exemplaire, est dédié au sultan Mahmoud Ier (n° 184, folio 1 recto) ; le nom de l'auteur est donné au folio 2 recto, et le titre, au folio 2 verso ; on lit, dans son introduction, les louanges du grand vizir, ʿAli Pacha, et du sheïkh el-Islam, Ishak Efendi. L'auteur de cet ouvrage, Ibrahim Hanif, que Haği Khalifa nomme Molla Ibrahim Hanif, était inspecteur des fondations pieuses de la Mecque et de Médine, à l'époque à laquelle le bibliographe ottoman (m. 1068) écrivit son Dictionnaire bibliographique (IV, page 61) ; il est essentiellement différent de Seyyid Ibrahim Hanif, qui, en 1201 de l'hégire, fit au Heǧaz un pèlerinage, dont il a composé une relation, décrite sous le n° 1296. Il s'ensuit qu'il faut corriger ce que le copiste a écrit dans la préface, où on lit la dédicace à Sultan Mahmoud محمود (1148-1168 de l'hégire) [folio 1 verso], et substituer au nom de ce souverain celui de Mohammed محمّد IV (1058-1099 de l'hégire = 1648-1687). Ce personnage a utilisé pour la rédaction de son travail deux commentaires de l'original arabe, qui furent écrits par Nour ed-Din ʿAli el-Kari et par Shihab ed-Din Ahmed el-Khafaǧi. L'ouvrage consiste surtout en une paraphrase turque du texte arabe, conçue en grande partie dans un sens grammatical. Le texte arabe du Shifa, qui est divisé en quatre sections, se trouve dans le Fonds arabe, sous les n°s 1953-1956, 5265, 6083 ; des commentaires, en arabe, existent sous les n°s 1957 et 1958. Exemplaire de luxe, orné d'un sarloh ; une biographie de Aboul-Fadhl ʿIyadh el-Yahsoubi se lit à la fin du second volume de ce manuscrit
The vanishing author in computer-generated works: a critical analysis of recent Australian case law
No full textAbstract
The use of software is ubiquitous in the creation of many copyright works, yet the requirement in copyright law that every work have a human author who engages in independent intellectual effort means that its use may prevent copyright subsistence. Several recent Australian cases have refocused attention on authorship as an essential criterion of copyright subsistence, and these cases suggest that much computer-produced output may be authorless and thus lack copyright protection. This article, the first in a two-part series, analyses how each case deals with the question of authorship of computer-produced works and why the use of software diminishes copyright protection for a significant number of computer-generated works. The article critiques the application of conventional notions of human authorship developed in the pre-computer age to modern productions and suggests alternative approaches to authorship that satisfy both the major objectives of copyright policy and the need to adapt to the computer age. The article argues that, without a broader judicial approach to authorship of computer-generated works, Parliament must remedy the lacuna in protection for these ‘authorless’ works. Possible solutions for reform are suggested. In a forthcoming article, the author comprehensively examines those reform proposals
Paradigms of Diversity in Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia
No full textIn this paper we put to the test a model for assessing cultural
exchange and cultural identity in the post-modern and post-colonial
world. The model is suggested by Arjun Appadurai in the article ‘Disjuncture
and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’ and it consists
of five paradigms or terms coined on the nucleus ‘-scape’:
ethnoscape, finanscape, technoscape, mediascape and ideoscape. This
model recognises the importance of new social groupings caused by
mobility and hence new identities based on how people now see themselves.
The modern world is an interactive system in which centuriesold
cultural transactions between social groups have been intensified,
speeded up or modified through technological developments affecting
power economies, transportation and information. The model has
been applied to a fictitious world contained in a 1990s novel of cultural
identities, set in the London of the 1970s and 1980s: Hanif
Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia
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