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Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas (CRISPR-associated proteins) systems provide acquired heritable protection to bacteria and archaea against selfish DNA elements, such as viruses. These systems must be tightly regulated because they can capture DNA fragments from foreign selfish elements, and also occasionally from self-chromosomes, resulting in autoimmunity. Most known species from the halophilic archaeal genus Haloferax contain type I-B CRISPR-Cas systems, and the strongest hotspot for self-spacer acquisition by H. mediterranei was a locus that contained a putative transposable element, as well as the gene HFX_2341, which was a very frequent target for self-targeting spacers. To test whether this gene is CRISPR-associated, we investigated it using bioinformatics, deletion, over-expression, and comparative transcriptomics. We show that HFX_2341 is a global transcriptional regulator that can repress diverse genes, since its deletion results in significantly higher expression of multiple genes, especially those involved in nutrient transport. When over-expressed, HFX_2341 strongly repressed the transcript production of all cas genes tested, both those involved in spacer acquisition (cas1, 2 and 4) and those required for destroying selfish genetic elements (cas3 and 5–8). Considering that HFX_2341 is highly conserved in haloarchaea, with homologs that are present in species that do not encode the CRISPR-Cas system, we conclude that it is a global regulator that is also involved in cas gene regulation, either directly or indirectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu-based catalysts have attracted much attention in the field of electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reactions (CRR). In our current work, the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 by Cu cluster supported on CeO 2 is calculated according to the density functional theory (DFT), and some interesting results are obtained. Monometallic copper cluster electrocatalysis of CO 2 produce C 2 products at lower potentials. The overpotential for the generation of ethylene is much lower than those of other products. The modulation of the substrate CeO 2 changed the electronic structure of the Cu clusters and constructed Cu0 and Cu+1 active sites on the catalyst surface, and the coordinated action of Cu0 and Cu+1 made the C–C coupling more likely to take place and facilitated the generation of C 2 products. The results of this study help to further understand the role of Cu-based catalysts in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 from theoretical point of view and provide guidance for future electrocatalytic experiments based on CRR. • The synergistic interaction between Cu0 and Cu+1 made the C 2 product easier to generate. • Cu 4 /CeO 2 improves the coverage of *CO and promotes the *CO-*CO coupling. • In the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 , the Monometallic Cu clusters reduce CO 2 to C 2 products at lower potentials. • The overpotential for the generation of C 2 H 4 is much lower than that for the generation of other products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the relationship between inclusive green growth and global warming for Türkiye with the help of the 1991-2020 period data set. In this context, in the study, the inclusive green growth index was first created with the help of 'Principal Components Analysis by using the components that make up inclusive green growth to represent inclusive green growth. Then, the impact of the inclusive green growth index, total labor force, and technological development on global warming was analyzed using the Johansen cointegration test, FMOLS, DOLS, and CRR estimators. The results contain evidence in all three models that the role of inclusive green growth in Türkiye is ineffective in reducing global warming. In addition to these results, the effect of technological development on global warming was found to be negative and statistically significant in all three models. However, it was found that the impact of the total labor force on global warming was negative in all three models. Still, the coefficient was statistically significant only in the DOLS estimator. It is of great importance to ensure inclusive green growth in Türkiye, ensuring financial inclusion, increasing the qualified workforce and directing public resources to more productive areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Aiming at the problems of using single device and low recovery rate for ethane recovery process to the rich raw gas at home, based on the former cold residue reflux process (CRR), two efficient ethane recovery processes, namely cold residue reflux process with flash evaporator (CRR-FE) and cold residue reflux process with feed subcooled (CRR-PS) are proposed in this paper. Methods The simulation was improved by using HYSYS software under the condition that the ethane recovery rate was maitained higher than 95%. Three groups of progressively richer gas were set up to compare the CRR and the improved process with a comprehensive energy consumption and exergy analysis. Results The improved process has good energy saving effect, among which the CRR-PS has obvious energy saving effect, and the CRR-PS saves 9.4% of the integrated energy consumption when the gallons per minute (GPM) is 4. 3. The three processes have the highest yield loss for the external compressor in the main equipment compressor, followed by the demethanization tower and propane refrigeration in the tower equipment, and then the heat exchanger. air coolers, water coolers; the improved process has a very good performance, and the overall exergy efficiency is higher than 80%. and the size of the total exergy efficiency is in the order of CRR-PS > CRR-FE > CRR; When the GPM is 4.3, the CRR-PS exergy losses are 28 471 kW. which is 3.9% lower compared to the CRR, indicating that the CRR-PS has less exergy losses and has a good potential for energy savings. Conclusions The CRR-PS is highly adaptable to rich gas and provides the better energy savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a model where, at each time instance, risky securities can only take a limited number of values and the equity-linked policy sold by the insurer to policyholders pays benefits linked to these securities. Since the number of states in the model exceeds the number of securities in the (incomplete) market, the martingale measure is not unique, posing a problem in pricing insurance instruments. In this framework, we consider how a super-replicating strategy violates the assumption of absence of arbitrage, yet simultaneously allows the insurance company to fully hedge against financial risk. Since the super-replicating strategy, when considered alone, would be too costly for any rational insured person, through the definition of the safety loading, we demonstrate how the insurer can still hedge against financial risk, albeit at the expense of increasing its exposure to demographic risk. This approach does not aim to show how the pricing of the index-linked policy can actually be performed but rather highlights how risk theory-based approaches (via the definition of the profit and loss random variable) enable the management of the trade-off between financial risk and demographic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ayurveda is considered to be one of the most ancient forms of medicine still practiced. The Ayurvedic preparation Raudra Rasa and its derivatives have been widely employed against cancer since the 12th century, but the effect of these traditional formulations on platelet function and signaling has not previously been examined. Here we demonstrate that Raudra Rasa and its derivatives significantly reduce thrombin‐induced integrin activation and granule secretion in platelets, as observed by reduced PAC‐1 binding and P‐selectin externalization, respectively. These formulations also inhibited thrombin‐stimulated phosphatidylserine exposure, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation, and mitochondrial transmembrane potential in platelets. Consistent with the above, Raudra Rasa significantly reduced thrombin‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the platelet proteins, as well as phosphorylation of the enzymes AKT and GSK‐3β. In summary, Raudra Rasa inhibits agonist‐mediated platelet activation without affecting cell viability, suggesting it may have therapeutic potential as an anti‐platelet/anti‐thrombotic agent.

Recognizing cars is a highly difficult task due to the wide variety in the appearance of cars from the same car manufacturer. Therefore, the car logo is the most prominent indicator of the car manufacturer. The captured logo image suffers from several problems, such as a complex background, differences in size and shape, the appearance of noise, and lighting circumstances. To solve these problems, this paper presents an effective technique for extracting and recognizing a logo that identifies a car. Our proposed method includes four stages: First, we apply the kmedoids clustering method to extract the logo and remove the background and noise. Secondly, the logo image is converted to grayscale and also converted to a binary image using Otsu's method. Thirdly, the Daubechies wavelet with DCT transforms is applied to extract a feature vector for each image. Finally, the Canberra distance is used to match the tested image's feature vector to all feature vectors in the database. The test results indicate the highest CRR, accuracy, and precision at 99.37%, 99.39%, and 99.80%, respectively. This system is applicable to intelligent surveillance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ayurveda is considered to be one of the most ancient forms of medicine still practiced. The Ayurvedic preparation Raudra Rasa and its derivatives have been widely employed against cancer since the 12th century, but the effect of these traditional formulations on platelet function and signaling has not previously been examined. Here we demonstrate that Raudra Rasa and its derivatives significantly reduce thrombin‐induced integrin activation and granule secretion in platelets, as observed by reduced PAC‐1 binding and P‐selectin externalization, respectively. These formulations also inhibited thrombin‐stimulated phosphatidylserine exposure, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation, and mitochondrial transmembrane potential in platelets. Consistent with the above, Raudra Rasa significantly reduced thrombin‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the platelet proteins, as well as phosphorylation of the enzymes AKT and GSK‐3β. In summary, Raudra Rasa inhibits agonist‐mediated platelet activation without affecting cell viability, suggesting it may have therapeutic potential as an anti‐platelet/anti‐thrombotic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of this research is the ground response analysis and liquefaction potential analysis of AIIMS Kolkata based on SPT-N values at six different locations. The analyses are performed for the earthquake magnitude Mw = 7.0 and peak ground acceleration of 0.170 g. For this, Equivalent-linear Earthquake Response Analysis (EERA), Nonlinear Earthquake Response Analysis (NERA), and PLAXIS-2D software are utilized. In ground response analysis, various parameters such as shear stress, peak ground acceleration, relative displacement, and amplification ratio are evaluated. In liquefaction potential analysis, the factor of safety against liquefaction is calculated from different methods, such as the simplified method, EERA, and NERA, and their results have been compared. Further liquefaction potential index is also evaluated for the same earthquake magnitude and PGA using the factor of safety value evaluated from liquefaction potential analysis and ground response analysis for all the borehole locations. It is observed from the results that the equivalent linear analysis gives conservative results when compared with those obtained from the nonlinear analysis. Moreover, the simplified method too fails to predict the liquefaction susceptibility of certain regions that are found to be prone to liquefaction from the EERA and NERA analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Geology / Gongcheng Dizhi Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Geology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to analyze the influence of dredger fill initial mud (original mud) on the anti-liquefaction strength cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) value of different strata after dredger fill under earthquake. According to the theories of soil mechanics, fluid mechanics and particle sorting. The expression of the variation law of dredger fill liquefaction index CRR value in different strata under the influence of dredger fill initial mud FC value was derived. Firstly, based on the threshold FCth of dredger fill particle contact state, the influence of fine particle content FC on soil CRR value was classified and discussed, and combined with the theory of particle natural separation, the expression of the change law of dredger fills initial mud FC value affecting dredger fill liquefaction index CRR value was established. Finally, according to the field investigation data, the reliability of the theoretical model was analyzed. The results show that the calculation model of CRR value of initial slurry-sediment stratification can well describe the law of the influence of initial slurry of hydraulic filling on the CRR value of deposited strata. When FC≥FCth, silt takes part in the construction of the soil skeleton, and its CRR value shows a non-monotonic change law, and the properties of the soil also show the trend of the sand to silt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel Circular Ring Resonator (CRR) type single band metamaterial energy harvesting absorber which has the polarization insensitive property for solar cell application is designed, simulated and investigated to operate under the visible region 450THz - 750THz which is the more suitable operating range for a solar cell. The proposed Perfect Metamaterial Absorber (PMA) is designed with three layer based solar cell structure. The three layers are named as substrate, middle or dielectric layer and a top layer made by a metal conductor. The bottommost layer is considered as a substrate layer of 5 nm thickness, and it is developed by Silicon (Si). Dielectric layer is considered as a middle layer of 30 nm thickness and it is developed by a direct band gap semiconductor material called Gallium Arsenide (GaAs). A tungsten material with a thickness of 2.5 nm is applied at a top most conducting layer. It is discovered with a peak absorption rate of >75% is occurred spanning a wide frequency band of 538 THz to677 THz. In this proposed work, the parametric study of the overall of PMA is implemented in the range of 450–750 THz. At the resonance frequencies 560 THz and 670 THz, the absorber reacts with complete perfect absorption of 99.99% and 99% respectively. Also the absorber reacts with greater than 75%between 538THz - 677 THz frequency band. The tunable nature of PMA is occurred due to the top conducting material like Tungsten and dielectric semiconductor material like GaAs used in the middle layer of the design. The proposed unit cell absorber and all its analysis enable the solar cell application over the whole visible spectrum to achieve an absorption rate of greater than 75%. Various iterations are carried out and discussed to illustrate added features of the proposed work using (S21) and (S11) properties. The proposed work is determined to be the optimum absorber for a solar cell to produce high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yuanyuan Wang,1,2,* Hua Wang,3,* Jian Zhang,2 Zhifen Chu,2 Pu Liu,2 Xing Zhang,2 Chao Li,2 Xiaosong Gu1 1Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of General Surgery, Hebei Key Laboratory of Colorectal Cancer Precision Diagnosis and Treatment, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pharmacy, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chao LiDepartment of General Surgery, Hebei Key Laboratory of Colorectal Cancer Precision Diagnosis and Treatment, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050031, Hebei, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail zxp10au@163.comXiaosong GuAcademy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-0311-85917000Email kfewbf@163.comBackground: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a kind of malignant tumor, and the development of chemoradiotherapy resistance (CRR) increases the difficulty of its treatment. The role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in cancer progression has been well documented. Nevertheless, the function of circ_0007031 in the growth and CRR of CRC has not been well elucidated.Methods: CRR cell lines were constructed using 5-Fu and radiation. Cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) assay was employed to measure the 5-Fu resistance and proliferation of cells. Clonogenic assay was used to evaluate the radiation resistance of cells. Also, the expression of circ_0007031 and microRNA-760 (miR-760) was determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The cell cycle distribution and apoptosis of cells were assessed by flow cytometry. Besides, the levels of apoptosis-related protein and mRNA-decapping enzyme 1a (DCP1A) protein were measured by Western blot (WB) analysis. Further, dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were used to confirm the interaction between miR-760 and circ_0007031 or DCP1A. In addition, animal experiments were performed to evaluate the function of silenced circ_0007031 on the 5-Fu and radiation resistance of CRC tumors.Results: Circ_0007031 expression was markedly increased in CRC tissues and cells, especially in CRC resistant cells. Circ_0007031 knockdown hindered proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase, enhanced apoptosis, and lowered the CRR of CRC resistant cells. Further, miR-760 could be targeted by circ_0007031, and its inhibitor could reverse the inhibition effect of circ_0007031 knockdown on the growth and CRR of CRC resistant cells. Moreover, DCP1A was a target of miR-760, and its overexpression could invert the suppression effect of miR-760 overexpression on the growth and CRR of CRC resistant cells. Circ_0007031 silencing could enhance the sensitivity of CRC tumors to 5-Fu and radiation to markedly reduce CRC tumor growth in vivo.Conclusion: Circ_0007031 might play a positive role in the CRR of CRC through regulating the miR-760/DCP1A axis, which might provide a new approach for treating the CRR of CRC.Keywords: colorectal cancer, CRR, circ_0007031, miR-760, DCP1A

Obligacje AT1 stanowią najnowszy rodzaj hybrydowych instrumentów finansowych, które dzięki określonym mechanizmom absorpcji strat emitenta stanowią surogat kapitału banku. Jednym z tych mechanizmów jest szczególna właściwość w postaci możliwości całkowitego anulowania wypłaty odsetek przez emitenta. We wczesnym okresie rozwoju rynku obligacji AT1 ryzyko wstrzymania wypłaty odsetek na podstawie dyskrecjonalnego uprawnienia emitenta było dość powszechnie traktowane jako mało prawdopodobne. Ryzyko wstrzymania wypłaty odsetek zmaterializowało się jednak na początku 2016 r., kiedy same tylko pogłoski o możliwości skorzystania z takiej możliwości przez Deutsche Bank AG doprowadziły do znacznego spadku wyceny całego rynku obligacji AT1. Istnieje bowiem szereg okoliczności, które powodują brak możliwości wypłaty odsetek wynikających z obligacji AT1, autonomiczna zaś decyzja emitenta w tym zakresie jest tylko jedną z nich. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest opisanie przypadków, w których – ze względu na ograniczenia regulacyjne – emitent obligacji AT1 nie będzie uprawniony do wypłaty odsetek.

The co-authors capitalized on interactions with high school students during a scholar-in-residence experience in India. This research focuses on the critical responses of high school students (N=200) to the custom of “childmarriage” subsumed in the classical short story, Ranga’s Marriage. Students were asked to express their positions and perspectives on the custom of wedlock between minors. Data analysis revealed a unanimous lack of support for the practice. The co-authors advanced and defined the practice of critical reader response in the language classroom to develop a critical (i.e., socially conscious) perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel metamaterial structure has been proposed for its operation at 2.4 GHz. A circular disc patch antenna resonating at dual band frequency with 2.4 GHz and 3.36 GHz has been designed using full field solver CST MWS tool and the loading effect of the metamaterial has been shown. The loading of metamaterial shows a radial size reduction of 56.71% in the circular disc patch (dimensional space reduction by 81.26%) while the effect of loading the metamaterial array and loading the metamaterial with defected ground plane show that without reducing the disc patch radius, the patch antenna can resonate at 1.00 and 1.942 GHz respectively, these yield a lower frequency shift of 58.33% and 19.79%. The designed metamaterial consists of two copper conductive concentric circular rings over a polyimide substrate. Various antenna parameters such as S11, VSWR, Bandwidth, Gain, Directivity and Radiation efficiency have been obtained for the circular disc patch antenna, circular disc patch antenna loaded with the metamaterial, circular disc patch antenna loaded with an array of metamaterial and are compared. A spice circuit has been derived for the reflection coefficient of the circular disc patch without loading the metamaterial, circular disc patch loaded with metamaterial using Keysight based ADS tool for its inclusion in a traditional electrical circuit solver tool.

Recent research suggests that bounded number line tasks, often used to measure number sense, measure proportion estimation instead of pure number estimation. The latter is thought to be measured in recently developed unbounded number line tasks. Children with dyscalculia use less mature strategies on unbounded number lines than typically developing children. In this qualitative study, we explored strategy use in bounded and unbounded number lines in adults with (N = 8) and without dyscalculia (N = 8). Our aim was to gain more detailed insights into strategy use. Differences in accuracy and strategy use between individuals with and without dyscalculia on both number lines may enhance our understanding of the underlying deficits in individuals with dyscalculia. We combined eye-tracking and Cued Retrospective Reporting (CRR) to identify strategies on a detailed level. Strategy use and performance were highly similar in adults with and without dyscalculia on both number lines, which implies that adults with dyscalculia may have partly overcome their deficits in number sense. New strategies and additional steps and tools used to solve number lines were identified, such as the use of the previous target number. We provide gaze patterns and descriptions of strategies that give important first insights into new strategies. These newly defined strategies give a more in-depth view on how individuals approach a number lines task, and these should be taken into account when studying number estimations, especially when using the unbounded number line.

Building highly active and stable noble metal single atom (MSA) catalyst onto photocatalyst materials for nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) and CO 2 reduction reaction (CRR) is a key to future renewable energy conversion and storage technologies. Here we present a design strategy to optimize the stability and electronic property of noble metal single atoms (MSAs, M = Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Pt, Au) catalyst supported on g -C 3 N 4 and 2H-MoS 2 photocatalysts towards NRR and CRR. Our results indicate that the MSAs tend to be trapped at the anion-vacancy sites of photocatalyst rather than the pristine photocatalyst surface. This anion vacancy can promise the MSAs with an optimized electron-captured ability in the photoexcitation process, thus decreasing the energy barriers of NRR and CRR on MSAs. Especially, it is revealed that the N-vacancy-stabilized IrSA on g -C 3 N 4 and the S-vacancy-stabilized RhSA on 2H-MoS 2 own the lowest energy barrier in NRR. However, for CRR, the HCOOH is the main product on MSAs supported by g -C 3 N 4 and 2H-MoS 2. The N-vacancy-stabilized PdSA on g -C 3 N 4 and the S-vacancy-stabilized AuSA on 2H-MoS 2 show the lowest energy barrier for HCOOH production in CRR. This finding offers an approach to design specific active MSA centres on photocatalysts by the anion vacancy engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SnO 2 -based materials are deemed to be attractive electrodes for lithium/sodium ion batteries (LIBs and SIBs) and electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CRR) because of high energy density and large abundance. However, the practical application of the SnO 2 -based materials is prevented by low electrical conductivity and large volume change. Herein, we construct a three-dimensional (3D) porous network with SnO 2 nanoparticles into N-doped carbon (namely P–SnO 2 @NC) synthesized by freeze drying followed by a pyrolyzation process. In the composite, the 3D hierarchical framework can facilitate the ion penetration and gas diffusion. In addition, the NC network can optimize the conductivity of the material and suppress the electrode material to fall off from the electrode. Therefore, the electrode delivers excellent electrochemical properties with high capacities of 510 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles for LIBs and 497 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles for SIBs. Furthermore, the electrode shows high selectivity for CRR with a large coulombic efficiency (CE) of 52.7% for HCOOH at 0.6 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular radioresistance is one of the major obstacles to the effectiveness of cancer radiotherapy. In an attempt to elucidate the implication of HIF-1α and miR-17-92 expressions in refractory radioresistant cells and also in order to study the potential applications of these molecules as novel therapeutic modalities to overcome radioresistant cancers, the current study was conducted. Clinically relevant radioresistant (CRR) cells from human cancer cell lines were established by exposing to long-term fractionated radiation of X-rays. Correspondingly, microarray analysis and real time RT-PCR were performed to find miRNA involved in the CRR phenotype. HIF-1α was down-regulated and miR17-92 cluster was overexpressed in CRR cells by transfection. The expression of miR 17-3p was inhibited by specific inhibitors and miR 19a was enforced by mimics, respectively in parental cells. Overexpression of HIF-1α in parental cells or down regulation of HIF-1α in CRR cells were not involved in radioresistance. However, when HIF-1α was genetically modified to constitutively express under normoxia condition, it was rendered for protection to cells. Exogenous overexpression of miR 17-92 cluster in CRR cells resulted in abolition of HIF-1α expression and restored sensitizations to ionizing radiation. Attenuated expression of miR-17-3p in parental cells protected them from irradiation. Overall, fine-tune deregulation of miR 17-92 cluster in CRR cells might account for the accumulation of HIF-1α in the CRR cells following exposure to irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wang Y, Wang H, Zhang J, et al. Cancer Manag Res. 2020;12:8465–8479.The Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Cancer Management and Research wish to retract the published article.The journal was notified of potential data errors in the published paper. The authors were unable to provide satisfactoryraw data for the western blots and the Editor determined the findings were no longer valid and requested for the paper to be retracted.Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction.The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

The healthcare market is an area where high technological investments and expenditures are made, which include an important area of employment that directly affects the society. With globalization countries want to increase their existing resources and on the one hand want to use their existing resources in the most effective way. A significant portion of the country's' resources are allocated to the healthcare field. The efficient use of these resources is important both for the national economy and for the society. The increase in health expenditures makes the economies of the countries more difficult year by year. In an environment where resources are so valuable, various efficiency analysis methods are used to evaluate whether resources are used efficiently. When the efficiency techniques are examined, there is an analysis technique made with financial data called traditional method and data envelopment analysis technique called modern analysis technique. DEA, which can analyze many inputs and outputs at the same time, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years and various studies have been conducted with this analysis method. In this context, 32 OECD countries were analyzed according to specific input output variables by data envelopment method. As a result of the analysis, the overall efficiency rate was 85% for the CCR input-oriented technique and 92% for the BCC inputoriented technique. Among 32 OECD countries, 8 countries were found to be efficient according to CCR output-oriented analysis technique, while 16 countries were found to be efficient according to BCC output-oriented analysis technique. According to CCR method Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Slovenia and Turkey are the countries is located above the efficient frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new partial use philosophy of the European Banking Authority (EBA) could be the first step towards revitalising the internal ratings-based approach (IRBA) in the area of credit risk. Banks currently using or that wish to use the IRBA will benefit from the greater flexibility and foreseen cost reductions. As part of the Basel III finalising postcrisis reforms document — often referred to as Basel IV — the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) fundamentally changes the requirements on the parallel use of the IRBA and the standardised approach for credit risk and gives banks much more flexibility in the adequate application of both approaches. The EBA supports this change in a paper on the implementation of Basel IV, published in August 2019 (EBA-Op-2019-09a). The new supervisory view of the partial use could be the first step towards reviving the IRBA. It will bring about a sustained improvement in banks' risk management in the important area of credit risk, as more risk-sensitive estimation methods are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combination of multiple information extracted from different biometric modalities in multimodal biometric recognition system aims to solve the different drawbacks encountered in a unimodal biometric system. Fusion of many biometrics has proposed such as face, fingerprint, iris...etc. Recently, electrocardiograms (ECG) have been used as a new biometric technology in unimodal and multimodal biometric recognition system. ECG provides inherent the characteristic of liveness of a person, making it hard to spoof compared to other biometric techniques. Ear biometrics present a rich and stable source of information over an acceptable period of human life. Iris biometrics have been embedded with different biometric modalities such as fingerprint, face and palm print, because of their higher accuracy and reliability. In this paper, a new multimodal biometric system based ECG-ear-iris biometrics at feature level is proposed. Preprocessing techniques including normalization and segmentation are applied to ECG, ear and iris biometrics. Then, Local texture descriptors, namely 1D-LBP (One D-Local Binary Patterns), Shifted-1D-LBP and 1D-MR-LBP (Multi-Resolution) are used to extract the important features from the ECG signal and convert the ear and iris images to a 1D signals. KNN and RBF are used for matching to classify an unknown user into the genuine or impostor. The developed system is validated using the benchmark ID-ECG and USTB1, USTB2 and AMI ear and CASIA v1 iris databases. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms unimodal biometric system. A Correct Recognition Rate (CRR) of 100% is achieved with an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 0.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Przedmiotem publikacji jest ustawa z dnia 5 sierpnia 2015 r. o nadzorze makroostrożnościowym nad systemem finansowym i zarządzaniu kryzysowym w systemie finansowym (Dz.U. poz. 1513), która zawiera przepisy zakładające wdrożenie pakietu CRDIV/CRR do prawa polskiego poprzez transpozycję dyrektywy Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady 2013/36/UE z dnia 26 czerwca 2013 r. w sprawie warunków dopuszczenia instytucji kredytowych do działalności oraz nadzoru ostrożnościowego nad instytucjami kredytowymi i firmami inwestycyjnymi, zmieniającej dyrektywę 2002/87/WE i uchylającej dyrektywy 2006/48/WE oraz 2006/49/WE (Dz. Urz. UE L 176 z 27.06. 2013 r., s. 338, z późn. zm.) (dalej: CRDIV), oraz wdraża w koniecznym zakresie przepisy rozporządzenia Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady (UE) nr 575/2013 z dnia 26 czerwca 2013 r. w sprawie wymogów ostrożnościowych dla instytucji kredytowych i firm inwestycyjnych, zmieniające rozporządzenie (UE) nr 648/2012 (Dz. Urz. UE L 176 z 27.06.2013 r., s. 1, z późn. zm.) (dalej: CRR).

Kanpur City and Allahabad City are the most populous city and the largest urban agglomeration among other north Indian cities. Both the cities are situated along Ganga and Yamuna River. The study areas are one of the growing urban centers in Northern India. Two large Himalayan earthquakes experienced by this area during 1803 A.D. and 1934, and large-scale liquefaction was reported in and around the area along with the recent 2015 Gorkha earthquake which caused severe shaking. As per the IS-1893–2002, the study area lies in seismic zone III and the soils from the above cities are prone to liquefaction. However, no such attempt has been made so far for the detailed liquefaction potential map for the study area. The present study is an approach towards evaluation and preparation of spatial distribution map of liquefaction potential for the Kanpur City and Allahabad City using several bore hole data collected from the study area. The PGA used for the liquefaction potential analysis was taken from the ground response analysis of Kanpur soil and Allahabad soil. The PGA values are 0.25 and 0.18 g for Kanpur soil and Allahabad soil respectively. The results are presented in the form of factor of safety contour map at a depth of 7, 15, 24 and 30 m below the ground surface. The map indicates that most of the sites in Kanpur City and Allahabad City area are susceptible to liquefaction and hence this aspect has to be considered in earthquake-resistant design of foundations/structures in Kanpur City and Allahabad City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]