164 research outputs found
Capitalizing on risk: how financial flexibility, investment efficiency and institutional ownership shape risk-taking dynamics
No full textIn this study, we test the influence of financial flexibility [FF] on corporate risk-taking [RT], a crucial aspect of firm strategy and performance. In the volatile financial landscape of emerging markets like China, understanding how FF affects risk behavior is essential. Using data from 3571 Chinese listed firms spanning 2014 to 2023, we address this gap by exploring how FF impacts RT and the moderating roles of investment efficiency [INE] and institutional ownership [INO]. Our study employs dynamic panel generalized method of moments [GMM] and a new bias-corrected method of moments to offer robust insights. We find a significant positive correlation between FF and RT. Additionally, IE and INO significantly moderate this relationship, with RT notably amplified when FF exceeds industry- and year-adjusted averages. Interestingly, during exceptional periods, such as the COVID-19 crisis, the impact of FF on RT becomes insignificant. This study offers novel insights into the role of FF, IO and INE in risk management and provides valuable policy recommendations for stakeholders navigating high-risk investments.</p
Retraction Note: Refining Parkinson’s neurological disorder identification through deep transfer learning (Neural Computing and Applications, (2020), 32, 3, (839-854), 10.1007/s00521-019-04069-0)
No full textThe Editor-in-Chief and the publisher have retracted this article. The article was submitted to be part of a guest-edited issue. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles, including this one, with a number of concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and peer review process, inappropriate or irrelevant references or not being in scope of the journal or guest-edited issue. Based on the investigation's findings the Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the results and conclusions of this article. The authors Imran Razzak and Saeeda Naz disagree with this retraction. The author Muhammad Imran has not responded to correspondence regarding this retraction. The Publisher has not been able to obtain a current email address for the authors Amina Naseer, Monail Rani, and Guandong Xu
Building a Sustainable Future: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firms’ Sustainable Development
No full textCorporate social responsibility (CSR) promotes society, reduces risk, and encourages ethical business practices. Due to its relevance, we study how CSR influences firms' sustainable development. We analyze data from 427 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed firms from 2008 to 2022. The Refinitiv environmental and social score is used to measure CSR, whereas for firms' sustainable development we rely on corporate sustainable growth rate (SGR) and market-based metrics. The analysis employs various econometric techniques, including ordinary least square, fixed effect regression, two-stage least square, generalized method of moment, and simultaneous quantile regression. The results indicate that CSR has a positive and significant effect on firms' sustainable development across all models. This relationship supports the notion that socially responsible business can contribute to long-term financial sustainability in line with “stakeholder theory”, indicating that companies should accommodate the concerns of various stakeholders, including society and the environment, to achieve sustainable development. We evaluate how the conditional distributions of SGR and firms’ value are affected by CSR, categorizing them into high, moderate, and low regimes. The quantile regression estimates indicate that the effect of CSR is more pronounced at upper quantiles, followed by moderate and low regimes. These findings underscore the importance of considering CSR in assessing the SGR and enterprises market value. We also confirm that our results are robust under range of different econometrics' methods. Finally, we enlighten current literature, and our research has useful policy implications for management and investors
Green Finance and Climate Challenges: Paving the Way for Economic, Social, and Governance Readiness and Sustainable Development Goals
No full textIn the era of unprecedented global challenges, this research delves deep into the complex nexus of sustainable development, employing a comprehensive analytical framework spanning 68 nations from 2013 to 2022. By integrating advanced statistical techniques, including fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and a two-step system generalised method of moments (GMM), this study investigates the relationships between green financing, climate risks, and economic, social and governance (ESG) readiness within the sustainable development goals (SDGs) framework. The findings unveil significant insights: green financing emerges as a catalyst, exhibiting positive associations with the SDGs index and ESG readiness. These results underscore the critical role of sustainable financial mechanisms in fostering economic growth, societal well-being, and effective governance. Conversely, climate risks pose formidable challenges, displaying negative correlations with the SDGs index and ESG readiness. These findings highlight the important role of sustainable financial mechanisms and the urgency of climate resilience strategies in shaping nations' preparedness for sustainable development. This research contributes methodologically by employing advanced econometric techniques and offers substantial policy implications. Policymakers are urged to prioritise green financing initiatives, incentivise environmentally conscious investments, and implement robust climate adaptation policies. The study serves as a clarion call for businesses, investors, and policymakers to collaboratively chart a course towards a sustainable future, embracing evidence-based strategies, and inclusive policies. This study offers actionable insights for policymakers, underlining sustainable development's economic, social, and governance dimensions in the context of green financing and climate resilience
Exploiting Energy Efficient Routing protocols for Void Hole Alleviation in IoT enabled Underwater WSN
No full textIn recent times, different routing protocols have been proposed in the Internet of Things enabled Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (IoT-UWSNs) to explore the underwater environment for different purposes, i.e., scientific and military purposes. However, high Energy Consumption (EC), End to End (E2E) delay, low Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) and minimum network lifetime make the energy efficient communication a challenging task in Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN). The high E2E delay, EC and reliable data delivery are the critical issues, which play an important role to enhance the network throughput. So, this paper presents two energy efficient routing protocols namely: Shortest Path-Collision avoidance Based Energy Efficient Routing (SP-CBE2R) protocol and Improved-Collision avoidance Based Energy Efficient Routing (Im-CBE2R) protocol. At this end, both routing protocols minimize the probability of void hole occurrence and in return minimizes the EC and E2E delay. In both routing protocols, courier nodes are positioned at different strategic locations to keep the greedy forwarding continuous. The proposed routing protocols are also analyzed by varying the Packet Size (PS) and Data Rate (DR). Additionally, various simulations have been performed to authenticate the proposed routing protocols. Simulation results show that the proposed routing protocols outperform the baseline routing protocols in counterparts. © 2019 IEEE
Diagnostic Yield of Blood Cultures among Patients Admitted with Non-Focal Pyrexias
No full textOBJECTIVES
To establish the diagnostic yield of blood cultures among patients admitted with non-focal pyrexias.
METHODOLOGY
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Medicine, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, from August 2020 to April 2021. One hundred ninety-seven patients with non-focal pyrexia were recruited. Data about age, gender, presence of other illnesses like diabetes and hypertension, history of smoking and duration of fever were noted. A thorough clinical evaluation was done. Under aseptic conditions, 2 blood culture sets were taken. The final blood culture report was collected after 5 days of incubation in culture media. The culture was labelled positive if any organism was isolated from the sample. All data was entered in specially designed proforma. Patients with positive blood cultures were managed as per hospital protocols. Confidentiality of data was ensured.
RESULTSOur study shows that among 197 patients, 18(9%) had positive cultures, while 179(91%) did not yield any pathogen on blood culture. Escherichia coli was the most commonly grown organism among the positive blood cultures.
CONCLUSION
The yield of blood culture was 9% in febrile patients admitted to the medical ward of a tertiary care hospital
Cloud Based Secure Service Providing for IoTs Using Blockchain
No full textInternet of Things (IoTs) is widely growing domain of the modern era. With the advancement in technologies, the use of IoTs devices also increases. However, security risks regarding service provisioning and data sharing also increases. There are many existing security approaches. However, these approaches are not suitable for IoTs devices due to their limited storage and computation resources. These secure approaches also require a specific hardware. With the invention of blockchain technologies, many security risks are eliminated. Blockchain also supports data sharing mechanism. In this paper, we proposed a secure service providing mechanism for IoTs using blockchain. We introduced cloud nodes for maintaining the validity states of edge service providers. The edge node reputation is considered as a service rating given by end users. Incentive is given to edge servers after validation of service codes. Incentive is in the form of cryptocurrency. Incentive and edge node reputation values are stored in cloud node and are updated with respect to time. Smart contract is proposed to check the validity state of the edge servers. Smart contract is also used for the comparison and verification of the service codes provided by edge servers. In our proposed system, we perform service authentication at both cloud and edge server layer. Moreover, Proof of Authority (PoA) is used as a consensus mechanism. PoA enhanced overall performance of our proposed system. By experimental analysis, it is shown that our proposed model is suitable for resource constrained devices. © 2019 IEEE
Journalism and the regime change in Pakistan (2022): exploring the solidarity and political discourses on the social media
No full textFor the first time in Pakistan, a sitting prime minister has been ousted through a ‘No-Confidence Motion (NCM)’ initiated by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in April 2022. PDM, the coalition of 15 political parties, claimed the success of NCM as the win of democracy. The ousted PM and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Mr. Imran Khan, alleged that the motion was a ‘regime change’ attempt backed by a foreign conspiracy initiated by internal and external elements. Pakistani journalists, who are already labelled as political partisans, took to the social media platform Twitter, and started spreading the ‘political discourse’ about the removal of Khan from the PM office. This research explores the predominant themes within the discourse produced through the Twitter handles of the selected journalists; Arshad Sharif, Hamid Mir and Mazhar Abbas. Secondly, to determine whether and to what extent the journalists have produced the ‘political discourse’ and or the ‘solidarity discourse’. We have employed thematic analysis as a theoretical and methodological tool to achieve the research objectives. The findings show a clear divide between the journalists and an explicit polarization within the discourse produced through their Twitter posts on the issue, and the solidarity discourse is virtually non-existent
MEASUREMENT OF CUTTING FORCES IN DRY SLOT MILLING ON DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED DYNAMOMETER
No full textKnowledge of cutting forces during machining operations is very important as it affects directly heat generation, tool wear, quality of the machined surface and integrity of the workpiece. In this study a strain gauges-based analog dynamometer was designed and constructed. This dynamometer can be used to measure three force components in a milling operation. The constructed dynamometer can also be used for cutting forces measurement in drilling operation. The dynamometer was tested for cross sensitivity. Cutting forces measurement was carried out to study the effect of cutting speed and feed rate on cutting forces during slot milling AISI 1010 steel with high speed steel (P6M5) side and face milling cutter. The cutting forces measurement was carried out for dry slot milling. The FMS DL48 data logger was used to transfer data from the dynamometer to computer where the data was recorded and analyzed. The dynamometer was calibrated usinga spring balance in a quasistatic mode prior to force measurements in slot milling to find the respective relation between the magnitude of forces and voltage
Effect of increasing dietary metabolizable protein on nitrogen efficiency in Holstein dairy cows
No full textObjective The objective of the study was to determine the effects of increasing levels of metabolizable protein (MP) on lactation performance and nitrogen (N) efficiencies in lactating dairy cows. Methods Nine multiparous cows in mid lactation [113±25 days in milk] received three treatments in a 3×3 Latin square design with a period length of 21 days. The treatments were three diets, designed to provide similar energy and increasing supply of MP (g/d) (2,371 [low], 2,561 [medium], and 2,711 [high] with corresponding crude protein levels [%]) 15.2, 18.4, and 20.9, respectively. Results Increasing MP supplies did not modify dry matter intake, however, it increased milk protein, fat, and lactose yield linearly. Similarly, fat corrected milk increased linearly (9.3%) due to an increase in both milk yield (5.2%) and milk fat content (7.8%). No effects were observed on milk protein and lactose contents across the treatments. Milk nitrogen efficiency (MNE) decreased from 0.26 to 0.20; whereas, the metabolic efficiency of MP decreased from 0.70 to 0.60 in low to high MP supplies, respectively. The concentration of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) increased linearly in response to increasing MP supplies. Conclusion Increasing MP supplies resulted in increased milk protein yield; however, a higher BUN and low MNE indicated an efficient utilization of dietary protein at low MP supplies
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