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This paper contends that the use of alternative constructs as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) measures has made a partial contribution to the different and contradictory results provided by various empirical studies. It further argues that the comprehensive nature of Enterprise Risk Management implies that its adoption and implementation affect different aspects of firms and, therefore, the most appropriate construct to measure it should be equally comprehensive in order to capture all possible signals, outputs and effects from the features of a firm. Secondly, the specialised nature of banking operations and the associated risk necessitates risk measures that suit the peculiarities of the sector and in this study we have proposed banking sector specific ERM model. In this regard, we propose a comprehensive methodology and multifaceted approach to determining ERM measures for the banking sector, taking cognisance of the various components of ERM and the specific needs of the sector. In our proposed comprehensive methodology for determining ERM measures for the banking sector, we combined two important models: the ERM model for the banking sector and the CAMELS model for assessing the performance of banks. The integration of these two models provides a comprehensive and all-encompassing approach for determining ERM measures for the banking sector. Our model is novel and offers a significant contribution to the literature of bank risk management. Our model provides a comprehensive risk management framework for bank executives, bank risk managers, the board members of banks, central banks and the authorities responsible for financial sector stability.

Omani (Dhofari) frankincense is world famous for its high quality and fragrance. The oleo-gum resin obtained from the tree of Omani species i.e., Boswellia sacra (local name: luban) is widely used by the natives. The aim of the study was to determine the presence of phytochemicals in chloroform and ethanol extracts of B. sacra resin and to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxic, antimicrobial- and antioxidant-activities. The ethanol and chloroform extracts of Hojari luban were obtained in good yield. The extracts were subjected to phytochemical screenings, quantification of total phenolics (TP) and evaluation of in vitro biological activities viz. antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxic potential. The bioactivities of four boswellic acids, the major constituents of the oleo-gum resin, were also predicted with the help of PASS and CLC-pred software. Both the extracts showed similar level of TP (14.67 mg/g and 14.79 mg/g in terms of gallic acid equivalent) but polar fraction was noted to be more active against E. coli. A moderate antioxidant activity was shown by the resin extracts however their cytotoxic activity was observed to be quite remarkable at 1000 μg/l which could be attributed to their high boswellic acid content. Results of in silico PASS studies showed boswellic acids to possess an array of useful biological activities including chemopreventive activity. Further, CLC-pred software revealed that only keto boswellic acid is expected to exert antineoplastic activity against pancreatic carcinoma cell lines, however all the four major boswellic acids are likely to be active against non-tumor embryonic lung fibroblast (MRC5). The study confirmed that frankincense is rich in bioactive metabolites which are of significant economic and therapeutic importance. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 19(2): 105-110, 2020 (December)

This study analyses the implications of Jeffery–Lindley’s paradox and Global Financial Crisis (GFC) for the operational aspect of macroeconomic policy coordination for financial stability. Using a Bayesian Vector Auto-regressive model and data from Jan 1985 to June 2016, our key findings suggest that the claim of macroeconomic policy interaction, interdependence and significance of coordinated policy operations for the financial stability holds its ground. The argument in the support for policy coordination for financial stability was found to be robust against the Jeffreys–Lindley’s paradox and in the Post-GFC era. A profound practical, operational and philosophical implication of this study is the positive aspects of Jeffreys–Lindley’s paradox and the possibility of employing the Frequentist and Bayesian estimation techniques as complementing rather competing frameworks.

Bone injuries represent a major challenge in the medical field. The commonly used treatments for bone regeneration rely on the use of bone grafts that are usually associated with complications such as donor site morbidity, disease transmission, high cost, and lack of availability. Bone tissue engineering has become a golden solution for the repair of bone injuries by regenerating the damaged biological tissues using biocompatible scaffolds. However, most of the tissue engineered scaffolds do not possess the combined properties of high elasticity, appropriate stiffness, biocompatibility, osteoinductivity, and antimicrobial properties. In this study, we engineered bioactive and antimicrobial nanocomposites that can promote bone formation while simultaneously provide a barrier against bacterial infections commonly associated with bone implants. We used PEGylated polyglycerol sebacate as nanocomposites base, which was functionalized with Laponite nanosilicates, a synthetic nanoclay, and an antimicrobial peptide (AMP). The successful synthesis of the PEGylated polyglycerol sebacate and Laponite incorporation within the nanocomposites were confirmed through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The scaffolds had an elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength within a range of 3.8-4.7 MPa and 1.5-3 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, the scaffolds loaded with antimicrobial peptide exhibited a significant antimicrobial activity against both Gram-negative (

Background: Identifying and quantifying potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) practices remains a time-consuming and challenging task, particularly among the pediatric population. In recent years, several valuable tools have been developed and validated for assessing PIP. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of PIP and related risk factors in pediatric patients at a tertiary care hospital in Oman. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the medical records of pediatric patients (

The purpose of this research article is to analyse the value-based management commitment of automotive enterprises and to examine the factors that explain the control parameters in automotive industry. There have been a few empirical studies published in the German’s automotive sector, but most of the existing studies failed to provide evidence of utilization of value-based management in the strategic management in the automotive sector. The German automotive industry’s development is closely related to global economic developments. Previous research work has considered control parameters of enterprises, but there is little evidence on the factors that explain which control parameters are used in automotive industry. A survey based on annual reports from 2008 to 2011 is used. In total, 20 annual reports of automotive companies were analysed. The results show that automotive companies, especially original equipment manufacturers and listed suppliers, have committed to value-oriented management and have implemented value-oriented approaches. However, not all of the suppliers are communicating this in their reports. The results also show that economic value added is the leading key indicator in the automotive industry.

Previous studies have focused on the co-movements between the prices of different types of energy and, to some extent, the co-movements between the energy and financial assets prices, falling short of analysing the co-movements between the different types of energy and emission price. In this study, using the daily data from November 2007–31st October 2017 on quotes of Brent Crude oil and Natural Gas spot returns and quotes of the EU-ETS spots, we employed a time-varying copulas connection function to assess the risk dependency relationship between ETS and energy prices. The results show that there is an asymmetry dependence change rule between ETS, oil and gas spot index, with the correlation of the lower tail significantly higher than that of the upper tail. These findings indicate that, with the use of time-varying SJC Copulas model, economic agents can control investment risk and forecast abnormal fluctuations in oil prices

This study investigates how the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management program affects the performance of firms using an Enterprise Risk Management model for the banking sector and an integrated model for measuring Enterprise Risk Management index used in the study by Mukhtar and Soliman (2016). Ten listed commercial banks were selected with the Enterprise Risk Management index as the main independent variable, with Return on Average Equity (ROAE), Share Price Return (SPR) and Firm Value (FV) used as three separate dependent variables. The study provides strong evidence of a positive relationship between Enterprise Risk Management implementation and performance in the Nigerian banking sector. The findings and conclusions of this study are consistent with those of other studies that used data from different industries, providing a basis from which to generalize the findings from this study to firms in other industries.

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the proposition that capacity utilisation is an important factor in the determination of unemployment and wages. Underlying this proposition is the notion that capacity utilisation helps to determine the future path of the economy and is a significant factor in the response of the economy to different supply and demand shocks. We derived capacity utilisation and unemployment relationships, which were estimated and tested using data covering from 1997 to 2016 for three West Africa countries. The results suggest that long-term unemployment and capacity utilisation have a significant impact on unemployment. The policy implications of our findings are that in view of the strong effect of capacity utilisation on unemployment, programmes that enhance efficiency in production and investment enhancing policies may allow unemployed to regain access to the labour market.

This paper provides both theoretical and empirical evidence for assessing the relationship between bank capitalisation and stock market liquidity. It estimates a bivariate VAR-GARCH (1.1) model to examine the linkage between bank capitalisation and stock market liquidity in Nigeria using annual data covering the period from 1986 to 2014. The findings of this paper show that bank capitalisation enables banks to give out more loans to the public and this increase in lending has a positive impact on stock market liquidity growth. The findings support the view that capitalised banks are well equipped to absorb and diversify risk, give out more loans, improve liquidity in the economy and improve stock market performance.

This concise study analyses the symmetry of financial markets’ responses to macroeconomic policy interaction in the United Kingdom. Employing the Vector Auto-regression (VAR) model on monthly data of the British financial sector and macroeconomic policies from January 1985 to August 2008, this study found that the equity and sovereign debt markets showed identical symmetry in response to macroeconomic policy interaction.

Infection of the male genitourinary tract represents a significant health care problem and account for almost 15% of cases of male infertility. The present study aims to isolate and identified different bacterial isolates collected from semen samples of infertile men attending to infertility clinic and evaluation of the effects of bacteriospermia on semen quality. Five medicinal plants extracts were used as an alternative therapeutic agent targeting these isolates. Seventy seven infertile men were evaluated by standard bacterial culture methods. Among total cases, 22 cases (28.6%) showed at least one pathogen: 10 (45.5%) Escherichia coli, 9 (40.9%) Staphylococcus aureus, and 3 (13.6%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our results showed that samples infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa recorded the highest ratio of abnormalities (96.5%). On the other hand samples infected with Escherichia coli recorded the second highest ratio of abnormalities (93.75%), while the samples infected by Staphylococcus aureus showed the least ratio of abnormalities (92.88%). From these five medicinal plants that extracted by ethanol-methanol and/or chloroform-metahnol methods, the most potent plants extracts against bacterial isolates were detected for both Syzygium aromaticum (Clove) and Thymus vulgaris (Thyme). In conclusion, the present study showed that the microbiological investigation should be performed, as a routine test, to all infertile men attending to infertility clinics. Flavonoids of the selected plants have a good antioxidant and antibacterial activity, and can be used for medicinal and therapeutic applications.

This study analyses the implications macroeconomic policy coordination for the financial stability in the United Kingdom. We also considered the aspect of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and its implications for the macroeconomic policy interaction and its impact on the financial sector. Employing a Bayesian Vector Auto-regressive (BVAR) model and monthly data from Jan 1985 to June 2016, our key findings suggest that the macroeconomic policy interaction and interdependence is significantly important for the financial markets in the United Kingdom. In the Post-GFC period, we found significant evidence of change in the response of stock and bond markets to each other which have important implications in terms of portfolio adjustment. The argument in the support of policy coordination for the financial stability was found to be robust. A profound practical implication of this study is the positive aspects of Jeffreys-Lindley’s paradox and the possibility of employing the Frequentist and Bayesian estimation techniques as complementing rather competing frameworks.

This paper analyses the implications of macroeconomic policy interactions for financial stability, proxied by financial assets prices (equity and bonds). The empirical analysis applies a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model and our findings suggest that an accommodating monetary, and disciplined fiscal, stance has been optimal for both stock and bond markets. There is also ample evidence of interdependence between policies, as an expansionary fiscal policy could persuade the monetary authorities to adopt an accommodating stance, whereas a contractionary monetary policy leads fiscal policy towards consolidation. The interrelation between monetary and fiscal policy necessitates coordination between them for the sake of financial stability.

Stents used for cardiovascular applications are composed of three main elements; a metal, polymer coating and the specific drug component. Nickel-based metals and polymer coatings currently used in the stent market have increased the recurrence of in-stent restenosis and stent failure due to inflammation. In this study, a Ti-8Mn alloy was used to fabricate a nanostructured surface that can be used for drug eluting stents to overcome the hypersensitivity of metals that are currently used in stent making as well as introducing a new built-in nano-drug reservoir instead of polymer coatings. Two different systems were studied: titanium dioxide nanotubes (NTs) and Ti-8Mn oxides NTs. The materials were characterized using field emission electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), roughness, wettability and surface energy measurements. Nanoindentation was used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the nanotubes as well as their stability. In-vitro cytotoxicity and cell proliferation assays were used to study the effect of the nanotubes on cell viability. Computational insights were also used to test the blood compatibility using band gap model analysis, comparing the band gap of the materials under investigation with that of the fibrinogen, in order to study the possibility of charge transfer that affects the blood clotting mechanism. In addition, the drug loading capacity of the materials was studied using acetyl salicylic acid as a drug model.

As concluded by researchers change process of transformation involves implementation of better strategies to have sustainable competitive advantage. Non financing strategies should be adopted rather than solely relying on financial indices as observed in most Nigerian SMEs. This research argues that managerial capabilities which include HR competencies and skills are vital for business survival as such employers should develop and execute strategies to prioritise capabilities. The aim of this study is to evaluate phenomenologically an interpretation of managerial capability as a non-financial dimension of Organisational Health in relation to the growth of SMEs in the Nigerian context. It is pertinent to know that managerial capability which is one of the soft factor dimensions has already identified skills and competencies in related literature. This interpretive phenomenological study adopted an inductive approach using the philosophical paradigm of constructivism and semi-structured interviews for data collection. Nvivo software was used for the data analysis. The study’s key findings show that managerial capability has the highest percentage and seems to be the ultimate foundation of Organisational Health. It further shows that connectivity and relationship exist between dimensions of Organisational Health especially capability and leadership on the one hand and accountability and reporting structure on the other hand which all have influence on the growth of SMEs. However, capability and accountability are found to have stronger influence on SMEs' growth compared to leadership and reporting structure. This study reveals that the successes of SMEs are closely tied to socio-psychological processes and not only to financing support. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3p125

The association between economic and financial stabilities and influence of macroeconomic policies on the financial sector creates scope of active policy role in financial stability. As a contribution to the existing body of knowledge, this study has analysed the implications of macroeconomic policy interaction/coordination for financial stability, proxied by financial assets, i.e. equity and bonds price oscillation. The critical review and analysis of the existing literature on the subject suggests that there is also ample evidence of interdependence between monetary and fiscal policies and this interrelation necessitates coordination between them for the sake of financial stability. There is also a case for analysing the symmetry of financial markets responses to macroeconomic policy interaction. On methodological and empirical grounds, it is vital to test the robustness of policy recommendations to overcome the limitation of a single empirical approach (Jeffrey–Lindley’s paradox). Hence, the Frequentist and Bayesian approaches should be used in commentary manner. The policy interaction and optimal policy combination should also be analysed in the context of institutional design and major financial events to gain insight into the implications of policy interaction in the periods of stable economic and financial environments as well as period of financial and economic distress.

This paper examines the monetary transmission mechanism in six EU member states. It provides useful empirical evidence for assessing the impact of a common monetary policy in the early stages of EMU, and enables us to form a view on how the regime change represented by EMU is likely to be translated into changes in policy multipliers in the various EU countries. The empirical analysis applies techniques recently developed by Wickens and Motto (2001) for identifying shocks by estimating a VECM for the endogenous variables, and a stationary VAR in first differences for the exogenous variables. Our findings suggest that there are significant differences between EU countries in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.

This paper re-examines the relationship between stock market development and economic growth. It provides a theoretical basis for establishing the channel through which stock markets affect economic growth in the long run. It examines the hypothesis of endogenous growth models that financial development causes higher growth through its influence on the level of investment and its productivity. The empirical part of this study exploits techniques recently developed to test for causality in VARs. The evidence obtained from a sample of four countries suggests that investment productivity is the channel through which stock market development enhances the growth rate in the long run.

This paper addresses the question: does stock market development cause growth? It examines the causal linkage between stock market development, financial development and economic growth. The argument is that any inference that financial liberalisation causes savings or investment or growth, or that financial intermediation causes growth, drawn from bivariate causality tests may be invalid, as invalid causality inferences can result from omitting an important variable. The empirical part of this study exploits techniques recently developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) to test for causality in VARs, and emphasises the possibility of omitted variable bias. The evidence obtained from a sample of seven countries suggests that a well-developed stock market can foster economic growth in the long run. It also provides support to theories according to which well-functioning stock markets can promote economic development by fuelling the engine of growth through faster capital accumulation, and by tuning it through better resource allocation.

This study derives an optimal macroeconomic policy combination for financial sector stability in the United Kingdom by employing a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (NK-DSGE) framework. The empirical results obtained show that disciplined fiscal and accommodative monetary policies stance is optimal for financial sector stability. Furthermore, fiscal indiscipline countered by contractionary monetary stance adversely affects financial sector stability. Financial markets, e.g. stocks and Gilts show a short-term asymmetric response to macroeconomic policy interaction and to each other. The asymmetry is a reflection of portfolio adjustment. However in the long-run, the responses to suggested optimal policy combination had homogenous effects and there was evidence of co-movement in the stock and Gilt markets.

This paper re-examines the relationship between stock market development and economic growth. It provides a theoretical basis for establishing the channel through which stock markets affect economic growth in the long run. It examines the hypothesis of endogenous growth models that financial development causes higher growth through its influence on the level of investment and its productivity. The empirical part of this study exploits techniques recently developed to test for causality in VARs. The evidence obtained from a sample of four countries suggests that investment productivity is the channel through which stock market development enhances the growth rate in the long run.

A necessary and sufficient condition for a reactance function of several variables to be expressed as a sum of reactance functions of each of the individual variables is obtained. Consequences of the theorem are discussed.