Search

This paper proposes a simple, environmentally friendly, and efficient procedure for preparing natural water samples for the voltammetric determination of trace amounts of Se(IV). The method is based on premixing a sample with Amberlite XAD-7 resin at 50 °C. The composition of the 10 mL solution consists of the sample to be analysed, 0.1 mol L−1 of acetate buffer at pH = 4.0, and 0.5 g of Amberlite XAD-7. After 2 min of stirring, a voltammetric measurement is carried out using a fixed bismuth microelectrode using the following potentials: −2.5 V for 2 s and −0.55 V for 30 s. The voltammetry is recorded by varying the potential from −400 mV to −1000 mV. An undisturbed Se(IV) signal is obtained in the presence of 10 mg L−1 of Triton X-100, 5 mg L−1 of SDS, 10 mg L−1 of CTAB, 5 mg L−1 of Rhamnolipid, 5 mg L−1 of HA, 10 mg L−1 of FA, and 2 mg L−1 of NOM. The validity of the developed procedure is checked by analysing the certified reference materials SPS-SW1 (surface water) and TM-25.5 (Lake Ontario water) additionally enriched with surfactants and humic substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on racism and discrimination in banking. He highlighted historical discriminatory practices in banking, such as redlining and biased lending, that have disproportionately affected communities of color. Morial advocated for greater fairness in financial services, emphasizing the importance of investing in Black-owned banks and passing legislation to address discriminatory practices and increase equitable access to banking. [Extracted from the article]

Handwritten digit recognition is critical in the field of deep learning, especially for Latin digits, which are widely utilized in a variety of applications including postal systems, bank check processing, and teaching tools. Recognizing these digits effectively is critical for automating operations that need human-written numbers. Because of its capacity to extract spatial characteristics from pictures, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have shown to be extremely good at categorizing and detecting handwritten numbers. CNNs are more successful at handling differences in handwriting and noise than older approaches. Our CNN model, designed to recognize Latin digits, obtained an 80% accuracy rate, exceeding numerous previous tests. The model efficiently eliminates overfitting by utilizing dropout layers, allowing for greater generalization to previously unknown data. This durability makes the model ideal for practical applications, since it ensures high reliability in digit classification tasks across a wide range of handwriting styles and characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Word recognition has garnered significant attention due to its wide-ranging real-time applications, including postal automation, signature verification, bank check processing and writer identification. Handwritten word recognition poses a formidable challenge in computer vision, primarily due to the diverse writing styles exhibited by individuals. Presently, researchers are increasingly focused on developing holistic word recognition approaches. This holistic approach treats entire words as single, indivisible entities for the purpose of feature extraction and recognition, rendering it well-suited for identifying words with overlapping characters. In this study, authors have proposed a holistic approach for recognizing offline handwritten words in the Devanagari script, employing VGG16 (Visual Geometry Group) as a versatile feature extractor. Three classifiers, namely Gaussian Naive Bayes (Gaussian NB), eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Random Forest (RF), are considered for classifying these word images. Based on the extracted features and the aforementioned classifiers, words are categorized into one of 50 distinct word classes. Various performance evaluation metrics, including Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1-score and Area Under the Curve (AUC), are employed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed system. It is worth noting that the Random Forest (RF) based classification technique achieved exceptional accuracy, with impressive recall, high precision and a remarkable F1-score. Additionally, the XGBoost based classification exhibited comparable performance, achieving the highest possible AUC in this study. Furthermore, to underscore the significance of this work, authors have presented a comparative analysis of the proposed approach with existing state-of-the-art methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the application of data-driven research to improve negotiation outcomes by focusing on various factors such as the impact of numbers, framing anchors, phantom anchors, rounding, and behavior like handshaking and humor. It also delves into the influence of power dynamics, transparency, emotion, and negotiation strategies on achieving successful results. The research emphasizes the importance of setting clear targets, making the first offer, and understanding how emotions like anger, pride, and ambivalence can affect bargaining success. Ultimately, employing science-based best practices can help negotiators secure favorable outcomes for their clients. [Extracted from the article]

This paper considers the practical and ethical issues related to the death of a sperm donor. It looks at whether sperm banks should check whether the donor is alive at the time the spermatozoa is made available. Knowing that the donor has died in combination with the cause of death can provide important medical information but the chance is very small. However, when the information is available, it may help to decide whether to tell previous recipients and/or to block the remaining samples for future use. A second advantage may be that the donor's offspring can be informed that contact will not be possible and that recipients who are planning to order spermatozoa from an identity‐release donor can be told that the donor has died. However, these advantages presume that identifiable equals contactable while there is no strict link between these two conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prevalent method for personal identification and validation, handwritten signatures find extensive use in various settings. Documents such as bank checks and legal agreements necessitate signature authentication, presenting a formidable challenge given the sheer volume. This underscores the need for a robust automated signature verification tool to combat fraud across financial transactions. Presently, manual verification relies heavily on the verifier's subjective judgment, which is prone to inefficiencies and errors. Expert evaluators struggle to discern the subtle differences in line and angle ratios between genuine and fraudulent signatures. To address these challenges, we propose an automated signature verification system leveraging advancements in image processing and machine learning. Upon capturing a customer's handwritten signature, preprocessing steps will enhance its clarity and extract relevant features. Subsequently, a verification process will compare these features against stored data in the database. Our approach employs OCR-based techniques for signature localization, combined with Connected Components and geometric feature analysis. Classification using Support Vector Machine (SVM) achieves a commendable 91% accuracy in signature authenticity verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The customer visits the financial institution's secure website, and enters the E-banking facility using the customer number and credentials previously set up. The types of financial transactions which a customer may transact through E-banking are determined by the financial institution, but usually includes obtaining account balances, a list of the recent transactions, electronic bill payments and funds transfers between a customer's or another's accounts. Most banks also enable a customer to download copies of bank statements, which can be printed at the customer's premises (some banks charge a fee for mailing hard copies of bank statements). Some banks also enable customers to download transactions directly into the customer's accounting software. The facility may also enable the customer to order a cheque book, statements, report loss of credit cards, stop payment on a cheque, advise change of address and other routine actions. Today, many banks are internet-only institutions. These "virtual banks" have lower overhead costs than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In the United States, many online banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and can offer the same level of protection for the customers' funds as traditional banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a dedication to Christoph D. Schubart, a colleague and friend who passed away a year ago. The author reflects on their friendship and collaboration over the years, including their last conversation about retirement and future projects. The author also shares a story about a memorable trip they took together to Panama and Costa Rica to collect crab specimens for their research. The story highlights Christoph's adventurous and determined nature, as well as their shared enthusiasm for their work. The author concludes by mentioning a recent discovery related to one of the crab species they found on the trip. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a dedication to Christoph D. Schubart, a colleague and friend who passed away a year ago. The author reflects on their friendship and collaboration over the years, including their last conversation about retirement and future projects. The author also shares a story about a memorable trip they took together to Panama and Costa Rica to collect crab specimens for their research. The story highlights Christoph's adventurous and determined nature, particularly when searching for a specific species of crab. The author concludes by mentioning recent developments in the research on that species. [Extracted from the article]

This based on qualitative methodology using primary and secondary data to examine the patterns and effects of cheque dishonor in Quetta city. It aims to enhance the knowledge of interplay between financial dealings and societal norms by analysis also number of elements are observed that give to cheque dishonor like personal financial customs, banking process and economic limitations. Exploratory research and interviews were used to investigate about the cheque dishonor. Through six informants the primary data were collected while the secondary data obtained from the literature. The objectives of the study are to define the causes, effects and the challenges also that improves our understanding related to the interactions between the financial transactions, economic reality and societal norms. In the end, this study offers a valuable knowledge into the challenges faced by cheque dishonor and help to deter the negative impacts through by the development methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria's external and domestic debt have been rising very rapidly in recent years despite the crushing weight of debt burden that almost crippled its economy in previous decades. This study examines the likely determinants of public debt in Nigeria over the period 1970–2020 with a focus on the effects of armed conflict, arms imports, and military spending. Unlike most previous studies that focus only on external debt, this study employs the three separate measures of public debt, namely, government gross debt, external debt, and domestic debt. In addition to being more applicable to the case of Nigeria, this also allows us to investigate whether the drivers of public debt vary with the measure of debt used. Employing the ARDL approach to cointegration and a number of robustness checks, findings suggest that whereas conflict, arms imports, and military spending have statistically positive effects on external debt, they do not have a significant effect on domestic debt. Conflict and arms import have positive effects on gross government debt which is unsurprising given that gross debt includes foreign currency denominated debt. Policy recommendations based upon these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay seeks to understand the sensitive responses of contemporary perspectives and experiences in dealing with whales washed up on beaches killed largely by plastic pollution in our seas and oceans. Identified in Brazilian online mass-circulation periodicals and denounced by environmentally engaged art, the interactions between the bodies of whales and culture are interpreted in the light of studies of the history of human–non-human–animal relationships, human sensibilities triggered by this contact, and media reports denouncing the current environmental crisis and raising awareness of the importance of protecting species, in this case cetaceans. Through the Brazilian periodical press, one can see, in the record of whale deaths, the sensitivity toward non-human animals and the concern with the explanations of this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that BBC policy needs a change of emphasis. In the last two BBC Charter periods the emphasis has been on marketisation and market failure. The aim has been to harness market discipline to hold the BBC to account and ensure it does not chill investment. In an era of almost limitless choice, faltering democratic institutions, and new business models based on monetising data and attention, this approach is no longer appropriate. Whilst media users will always be able to choose not to consume BBC services, policy makers should accept that the BBC should be a permanent, privileged part of the communications landscape and enact reforms that reflect this. Policy should focus on overhauling and improving the 'constitutional' checks and balances of the BBC rather than accountability through the market. This requires new policies that actively facilitate new forms of accountability to citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US Republicanism and conservatism were structured around 'fusionism' from the 1950s onwards. Disparate ideas and interests were 'fused' in a broad coalitional bloc that was based upon a commitment to free markets, moral or cultural traditionalism and a commitment to US national security, as well as global power projection. There have, however, been significant shifts in recent years as many Republicans have turned against the larger corporations which appear to have little loyalty to the US heartland and are, it is said, guilty of embracing 'woke' ideology: that ideology has become the focus of cultural conservatism, with wedge issues such as trans‐rights a constant theme. In addition, many Republicans have either embraced or acquiesced in, a conspiracist sub‐culture. If foreign policy is considered, national security has been redefined in more restricted and overtly realist terms. Consequently, there has been a repudiation of earlier neoconservative efforts to spread market democracy. All these strands of thought are tied together by an impatience of, or at times disdain for, the checks and balances that define US political processes. Political actors across almost all sections of the right, but most notably candidates for federal office, have had to restructure their platforms and subscribe to these reconfigurations of Republican thinking and the 'new fusionism'. Although these ideas have a 'thin' character, they represent a significant shift away from the thinking of figures such as former House Speaker, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, who defined conservatism and Republicanism just a few years ago. For the most part, their efforts to roll back federal government entitlement programmes such as Medicare, and create a much leaner state, have been abandoned. The article argues that the new fusionism is becoming increasingly embedded and therefore marks a long‐run shift in Republican thinking that is likely to endure, regardless of Donald Trump's political fortunes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely held that smart contracts on a blockchain possess several unique properties, including immutability, disintermediation, and enhanced security, that can be advantageous to organizations. In particular, having these properties can enable smart contracts to benefit human resources departments in a number of ways, including applicant verification, tracking employee skills and tasks, and facilitating compensation. However, it is also reported that effectively implementing smart contracts involves a number of challenges to HR managers. To address these challenges, it would be valuable to establish criteria to help HR managers employ smart contracts successfully. The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of such criteria. The paper first provides an overview of the nature of blockchain and smart contracts and then, based on a review of relevant literature, describes how implementation of blockchain-enabled smart contracts in an HR department may benefit an organization by producing transaction cost savings through expediting processes, enhancing security, and reducing intermediaries. The paper then focuses on various challenges that have been identified in the literature to the successful use of smart contracts. These include issues regarding smart contract integrity, immutability, and security, as well as potential problems associated with a variety of legal issues. Synthesizing this information, the paper develops a set of best practice guidelines to help HR managers determine whether and how to employ smart contracts successfully for HR-related processes. The guidelines emphasize the importance of initial understanding and testing of planned smart contracts, protecting security by ensuring that only permissioned people can access smart contract data, and guaranteeing the integrity of smart contracts by paying very close attention to the translation of natural to programming language and establishing robust reviews of programmed contracts. Policy implications of the guidelines include the importance of HR departments ensuring that all employees who are involved in implementing the technology have a good understanding of the nature and capabilities of smart contracts, that robust methods be implemented to guarantee that the contracts are correctly programmed, and that HR managers keep abreast of legislative environment related to legal issues that may affect their department’s use of smart contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological advancement has been adopted in the banking sector through the use of ATM and ATM cards issued by banks to ease saving and withdrawal of money by customers. Once a customer’s account is liquid, the insertion of an ATM card in an ATM and following the procedure, should lead to cash dispensation. However, there are instances where a customer’s account is debited but the money is not dispensed. This is an ATM debit-without-dispensing quagmire. Recently, the Nigerian Court of Appeal in Jwan v. Ecobank & Anor held that an ATM card is akin to a cheque, where it is inserted into an ATM by a customer whose account is funded, a debit-without-dispensing transaction equals to a dishonoured cheque which is breach of banker’s duty to the customer. This conclusion was reached based on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. This paper adopts doctrinal method in examining the propriety of making an ATM card akin to a cheque. It attenuates the nuances of the decision with particular reference to the ambit of banker’s duty of care. It seeks to evaluate whether the decision took cognisance of the vagaries of technological glitches in technology driven transaction like the ATM. It discusses the impact of the decision on Nigeria’s banker-customer jurisprudence. It makes vital recommendations as way-forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bank, as a legal person, can typically be held legally liable under civil, penal, and administrative law for actions it performs. Liability, in general, arises from contractual obligations or tort. The electronic fund transfer process (EFT) is an example of the bank's contractual obligation. The applicable law and its specificity determine electronic contracts' legality and probative value. This research aims to clarify the position of the Jordanian legislator regarding the EFT payment process and the legal consequences and risks related to this process. It also aims to determine banks' liability for executing EFT operations in case of tort or negligence. The researchers employed the analytical and deductive approach. The results indicated that the Jordanian legislation in Electronic Transactions Law No. (15) of 2015, the system of payment and electronic transfer of funds 2017, and the Banking Law No. (7) of 2019 have granted electronic bonds the same probative value as the traditional bond. However, numerous legislative texts still require revision or replacement to accommodate the demands of commercial and economic transactions. For example, specific regulations for banking e-payment and funding operations and transfers should be included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 1994, in South Africa many people saw the declaration of the previously side-lined indigenous languages as official languages as a move towards respecting and promoting indigenous languages. The main objective of this study is to assess the use of isiZulu in banking services in Durban, KwaZulu- Natal. The focus was on whether isiZulu is used as a language of communication in the banking service and to check whether consumers receive documents in the language they prefer, particularly in isiZulu. The qualitativeresearch approach was used, and the study followed a case study design. Semi- structured interviews were used to collect data, and a wealth of data was generated by thick descriptions of participant responses. The data from semi- structured interviews were recorded and decoded into categories, and the categories were reduced to thematic constructs. Twelve purposively selected participants were involved in the study. The findings revealed that even though isiZulu was incorporated into the banks’ policies as a language that which was supposed to be used, this was not practiced since English was predominantly used, at the expense of isiZulu. The findings further revealed that English was the only language used even in customer documents such as letters and pamphlets, and isiZulu was used mainly for oral communication. The findings also revealed that there was a lack of terminology in the isiZulu language for certain English words. It was recommended that translators be needed to assist with the communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because existing publication guidelines and checklists have limitations when used to assess the quality of cost-effectiveness analysis, we developed a novel quality assessment tool for cost-effectiveness analyses, differentiating methods and reporting quality and incorporating the relative importance of different quality attributes. We defined 15 quality domains from a scoping review and identified 72 methods and reporting quality attributes (36 each). After designing a best-worst scaling survey, we fielded an online survey to researchers and practitioners to estimate the relative importance of the attributes in February 2021. We analyzed the survey data using a sequential conditional logit model. The final tool included 48 quality attributes deemed most important for assessing methods and reporting quality (24 each), accompanied by a free and web-based scoring system. A total of 524 participants completed the methodology section, and 372 completed both methodology and reporting sections. Quality attributes pertaining to the "modeling" and "data inputs and evidence synthesis" domains were deemed most important for methods quality, including "structure of the model reflects the underlying condition and intervention's impact" and "model validation is conducted." Quality attributes pertaining to "modeling" and "Intervention/comparator(s)" domains were considered most important for reporting quality, including "model descriptions are detailed enough for replication." Despite its growing prominence, "equity considerations" were not deemed as important as other quality attributes. The Criteria for Health Economic Quality Evaluation tool allows users to differentiate methods and reporting as well as quantifies the relative importance of quality attributes. Alongside other considerations, it could help assess and improve the quality of cost-effectiveness evidence to inform value-based decisions. • Multiple guidelines and checklists on conducting and reporting cost-effectiveness analyses exist, but they often do not differentiate methods versus reporting quality or incorporate the relative importance of different quality attributes. • We developed a novel quality assessment tool for cost-effectiveness analyses—the Criteria for Health Economic Quality Evaluation (CHEQUE)—that offers 3 major enhancements: (1) differentiating methods and reporting quality, (2) quantifying the relative importance of different quality attributes, and (3) providing a web-based, user-friendly CHEQUE tool (https://uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV%5fef9Shen9Ds0JJlk) for accessibility and usability. • Alongside other considerations, the CHEQUE tool could help assess and improve the quality of cost-effectiveness evidence to inform value-based decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the legislative measures in the law amending the issuance of checks in 1997, is the creation of a new method, in addition to guaranteeing previous performances, to receive the amount of returned checks; However, the holder of the check applies for enforcement by presenting a certificate of non-payment to the competent court, and the court, without substantive consideration and merely fulfilling some apparent conditions, this document, like other final court rulings previously Has been judged and judged and at least two stages have been considered, issues an executive order. Although the necessity of creating this special solution, in addition to guaranteeing other performances, is questionable, but benefiting from this new privilege, has several drawbacks such as: inaccurate determination of executive authority, ambiguity in the concept of "holder", lack of compliance certificate The signature by the bank is the possibility of bringing the executor against without substantive proceedings, the impossibility of claiming compensation for delay in payment even if a legal condition is included in the check and a summary such as the "check amount deficit" clause, which is exceptional and may not be interpreted. Extensive has caused ambiguities in the adoption of this new strategy. In this article, in addition to the legal analysis of the mentioned article and the review of the elements of executive issuance, an attempt has been made to give a clear answer to the various ambiguities.