This study examines the association between governance quality at country level and stock market performance. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability and absence of violence, rule of law, regulatory quality, and voice and accountability on all-share index of the stock markets of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This study is anchored on two theories – the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and Institutional Theory. The study employs panel data spanning from 2006 to 2017. The findings show that political stability and absence of violence and rule of law exhibit a significant positive impact on stock market performance, while regulatory quality and voice and accountability have a significant, but negative relationship with stock market performance. The results imply that quality of governance in terms of rule of law and political stability devoid of violence have strong impact on stock market returns. Similarly, improved stock market returns are largely dependent on the efficiency of the institutional environment of market as investors are always wary of the inherent risks associated with the uncertainty of the market. This study has crucial policy implications for the government of the GCC countries and stock market participants.

This study aims to analyze the digital performance of Kazakhstan through dynamic analysis of national statistics and international indices as Global Innovation Index and ICT Development Index. The research combines three stages: analysis of digital transformation policies performance, review of ICT industry development, and comparative analysis of the positions of Kazakhstan, Turkey and South Korea as a benchmark in the international indices. This research findings show that despite great efforts of Kazakhstan in digitalization, the ICT industry contribution does not increase, it even falls. The international indices demonstrate that the reason is the weakness of the country in skills, venture capital, and innovation linkages. This leads to low knowledge, technology outputs, and creative outputs. The enablers of digital and overall innovation advancement of economy are identified. According to the international rankings the country has been doing its best in Access and Use areas. Another enablers are good business environment, ease of starting a business, protecting minority investors, and FDI inflows. The findings help to draw recommendations for strategic directions in order to improve the digital performance in Kazakhstan. The main limitation of this study is a lack of dynamic information on positions of Kazakhstan in other international indices related to digitalization.

The study aims to empirically examine the determinants of bank margins from Pakistan, an emerging South Asian economy. To elucidate the importance of the Pakistani banking sector, secondary data has been used, which was extracted from the annual accounts of twentyfour Pakistani scheduled commercial banks (20 conventional, four full-fledged Islamic) over a sample period of 2006 to 2017. The factors identified in the dealership model and the subsequent empirical developments in the dealership model categorized as bank-specific, diversification, regulatory, and industry concentration are analyzed by applying the most-common linear dynamic panel-data estimator, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, developed by Arellano and Bond (1991). The findings reveal that, among the bank-specific variables, funding cost, credit risk, managerial efficiency, market share, and operating cost are significant predictors of bank margins. For diversification variables employed in the study, both variables including net non-interest income and asset diversity are as well significant predictors of bank margins. It is also found that the market concentration variable proxied by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is significantly predicting bank margins. Subsequently, one of the regulatory variables, the opportunity cost of holding reserves, and one bank-specific variable, the degree of risk aversion, are insignificant in the model.

This research seeks to determine the influence of investment opportunity set (IOS); profitability (Return on Assets - ROA), liquidity, business risk and firm size on debt policy. We used 42 manufacturing companies registered on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (Bursa Efek Indonesia) as object research. We used purposive sampling method to determined samples, consider the period observation from 2012 to 2016, and produce 168 units analysis. Data analysis uses the multiple regressions with the SPSS tools. The results of the study found that companies’ debt policies in Indonesia are negatively affected by the liquidity. Investment opportunity set (IOS) has negative effect on debt policy. Meanwhile, ROA, Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), and firm size of a company has no impact on debt policy. These findings indicate that Indonesian manufacture companies do not see the high investment opportunity set and profitability as a policy basis for increasing debt. Moreover, the high profitability also does not cause companies to increase their debt ratio. Our study indicates that Indonesian manufacture companies use internal funds to fund their investment. This finding is a concern for creditors, as they can now see the ability of the companies, and especially their performance, in determining their credit policies.

In this study, thirty-eight lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated from Kimchi (Korean traditional fermented food) and screened for probiotic characterization in a series of in vitro tests, including resistance to low pH, tolerance to bile salts, hydrophobicity, antibiotic resistance and antioxidant activity. Firstly, twenty-two strains displayed survival in acid and bile passage conditions. Secondly, the strains KCCP 11349 and KCCP 11356 were observed to have high cell surface hydrophobicity with 63.9 and 98.8 %, respectively. Functionality of these potential probiotic isolates was supported by their antioxidant activity. Altogether, the strain KCCP 11349 showed characteristics similar to or even better than reference strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Finally, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was conducted to identify potential probiotic strains and KCCP 11349 was identified as Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum.

On 21 August 2017, during 16:49 UT and 20:02 UT period, a total solar eclipse started. The totality shadow occurred over the United States in time between ~17:15 UT and ~18:47 UT. When the solar radiation is blocked by the moon, observations of the ionospheric parameters will be important in the space weather community. Fortunately, during this eclipse, two Swarm satellites (A and C) flied at about 445 km through lunar penumbra at local noon of United States in the upper ionosphere. In this work, we investigate the effect of the solar eclipse on electron density, slant total electron content (STEC) and electron temperature using data from Swarm mission over United States. We use calibrated measurements of plasma density and electron temperature. Our results indicate that: (1) the electron density and STEC have a significant depletion associated with the eclipse; which could be due to dominance of dissociative recombination over photoionization caused by the reduction of ionizing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation during the eclipse time (2) the electron temperature decreases, compared with a reference day, by up to ~150 K; which could be due to the decrease in photoelectron heating from reduced photoionization.

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is an important legume species that produces seeds that are rich in phenolic compounds and dietary nutrients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the agricultural characters, phenolic and nutritional contents, and antioxidant capacities of seeds from 82 pigeon pea germplasms cultivated in the Republic of Korea. The accessions exhibited compact (24.39%), semi-spreading (74.39%), or spreading (1.22%) growth habits and determinate (89.02%), indeterminate (8.54%), or semi-determinate (2.44%) flowering patterns. Days to 75% maturity ranged from 30 to 72 d, and yield per plant ranged from 6.00 to 148.60 g. Meanwhile, total phenolic, crude protein, crude fiber, and dietary fiber contents ranged from 16.42 ± 0.62 to 29.67 ± 0.43 ㎎ gallic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, from 16.76 ± 6.74% to 22.61 ± 0.05%, from 4.70 ± 0.24 to 8.63 ± 0.02%, and from 12.98 ± 0.71 to 33.19 ± 1.50%, respectively. In addition, DPPH radical-scavenging capacity ranged from 1.61 ± 0.10 to 16.04 ± 2.30 ㎎ ascorbic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity ranged from 3.03 ± 0.86 to 42.24 ± 0.72 ㎎ Trolox equivalent per g of dried extract. Phenolic content was correlated with both DPPH radical-scavenging capacity (r = 0.63) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (r = 0.29). Nine accessions (IT170290, IT170291, IT170270, IT170276, IT170379, IT170386, IT170388, IT170418, and IT170340) exhibited early maturity, compact and erect growth habits, and above average antioxidant activities and phenolic and protein contents. In addition, accessions IT170290 and IT170291 were especially promising pigeon pea germplasms to grow, owing to various favorable characteristics (e.g., high yield and dietary fiber content). Hence, these accessions could be useful cultivars to the Republic of Korea if considered in future agricultural systems.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate total phenolic content (TPC) and individual phenolic compounds in leaves of perilla genetic resources, assess whether they could be used as distinguishing factor among germplasms, and evaluate their relationship with some quantitative and qualitative morphological characters. TPC and individual phenolic compounds were determined using Folin-Ciocalteu method and UPLC-PDA system, respectively. Wide variations in TPC (7.99 to 133.70 ㎎GAE/g DE), rosmarinic acid (ND to 21.05 ㎎/g DE), caffeic acid (ND to 1.17 ㎎/g DE), apigenin- 7-O-diglucuronide (ND to 2.21 ㎎ luteolin equivalent (㎎LUE)/g DE), scutellarein-7-O-glucuronide (ND to 5.25 ㎎ LUE/g DE), and apigenin-7-O-glucuronide (ND to 2.81 ㎎ LUE/g DE) were observed. Intensities of green pigment at abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces were positively correlated with phenolic compounds whereas leaf length and width had negative correlation. Purple pigmented accessions were shorter in leaf length and width but exhibited higher amount of phenolic compounds compared to green pigmented accessions in most cases. Leaf shape was not related with content of phenolic compounds, color of leaves, and length/width of leaves. TPC and individual phenolic compounds along with morphological characters could be useful distinguishing factors for perilla genetic resources.

Substantial growth in the economy and extensive use of natural resources has become a major issue in the modern world. Organizations have started to worry about the environment and are beginning to invest in and practice green strategies. Companies should be responsible for the environment and use sustainable methods to run their businesses. The main purpose of this study is to explore the conceptual approach to Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) practices and Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) in the hospitality industry. The theoretical framework of GHRM practices such as green recruitment, green selection, green training and development, green performance appraisal, green reward and compensation, and corporate environmental responsibility have been comprehensively studied for this purpose. Green Human Resource Management in the hospitality sector is a less studied and rarely implemented phenomenon. The integration of GHRM and CER along with green competitive advantage and green supply chain management in hospitality is new concept in hospitality industry. Study suggests that Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) have a significant role in the hospitality industry. However, for sustainable development of tourism and hospitality, this concept should be capitalized with necessary research and development.

The study attempts to examine the effect of the capabilities of banking companies, namely the dynamic and unique capabilities, on the implementation of GCG in Indonesia. The effect of organization capabilities on the implementation of GCG is essential since both of them can demonstrate the quality of the company's ability to compete and innovate. This study will also examine the influence of moderating variables, namely the fit and proper test. The methodology used in this study is the structural equation methods and using primary data with board of directors of commercial bank in Indonesia. The test results suggest the positive direct effect of unique capabilities on GCG. The findings show that the capabilities of the top management, both unique and dynamic capabilities, influence the implementation of GCG. Then, the variable of fit and proper test can also strengthen the relationship between them. Both unique capabilities and fit and proper test have a strong and positive impact on GCG. Meanwhile, dynamic capabilities have a negative impact on GCG even though it’s not significant and contradictive with earlier studies. In the context of the banking industry growth and sustainability, this matter is important to examine. Top management behavior in operating their organization is important to be investigated.

Silver nanoparticles were loaded onto g-C3N4 (CN) with a nanoroll-type morphology (Ag/CN) synthesized using a co-polymerization method for highly selective conversion of toxic nitrobenzene to industrially-valuable aminobenzene. Scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images of Ag/CN revealed the generation of the nanoroll-type morphology of CN. Additionally, HRTEM analysis provided direct evidence of the generation of a Schottky barrier between Ag and CN in the Ag/CN nanohybrid. Photoluminescence analysis and photocurrent measurements suggested that the introduction of Ag into CN could minimize charge recombination rates, enhancing the mobility of electrons and holes to the surface of the photocatalyst. Compared to pristine CN, Ag/CN displayed much higher ability in the photocatalytic reduction of nitrobenzene to aminobenzene, underscoring the importance of Ag deposition on CN. The enhanced photocatalytic performance and photocurrent generation were primarily ascribed to the Schottky junction formed at the Ag/CN interface, greater visible-light absorption efficiency, and improved charge separation associated with the nanoroll morphology of CN. Ag would act as an electron sink/trapping center, enhancing the charge separation, and also serve as a good co-catalyst. Overall, the synergistic effects of these features of Ag/CN improved the photocatalytic conversion of nitrobenzene to aminobenzene.

Purpose- This study seeks to investigate the impact of foreign remittances on private sector investment and the moderating role of banking sector development in Sub-Saharan African Countries. Research design, data, and methodology-The study has used a sample of 15 Sub-Saharan African countries and data for the years 1986 – 2017. Data was obtained from the World Bank Development Indicator (WDI) Database. Panel data diagnostic tests were conducted to ascertain the suitability of the data for regression analysis. The data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, while the hypothesis was tested through hierarchical regression analysis. Results- The finding of this study indicates that foreign remittances and banking sector development had a significant and positive effect on private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Besides, the banking sector development significantly moderated the foreign remittances and private sector investment relationship. Conclusions- Based on the results, the study concludes that banking sector development has an important influence on foreign remittances and private sector investment nexus. Due to the antagonistic interaction between foreign remittance and banking sector development, the study recommends the use of alternative ways of channeling remittances to private investment such as; issuance of diaspora bonds and appeal for direct investment by citizens living abroad.

Sclerotinia rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a devastating disease that poses a serious threat to perilla production in Korea. Identifying effective sources of resistance offers long term prospects for improving management of this disease. Screening disease resistant genetic resources is important for development of disease-resistant, new cultivars and conduct related research. In the present study, perilla germplasm were screened in vitro against S. sclerotiorum using detached leaf method. Among 544 perilla accessions, two were highly resistant (IT226504, IT226533), five were resistant (IT226561, IT226532, IT226526, IT226441, and IT226589), five were moderately resistant (IT226525, IT226640, IT226568, IT220624, and IT178655), 16 were moderately susceptible, 31 were susceptible, and 485 were highly susceptible. The resistant accessions in this study could serve as resistance donor in the breeding of Sclerotinia rot resistance or subjected to selection procedure of varietal development for direct use by breeders, farmers, researchers, and end consumers.

This study was conducted to determine the number of days required to break a plant’s dormancy and promote subsequent crop growth in new varieties of Gomchwi through the 4℃ treatment. Three new varieties of Gomchwi namely, ‘Sammany’, ‘Gommany’, and ‘Damogy’ were observed in this study. The rate of leaf emergence of ‘Sammany’ after 15-day of 4℃ treatment was 100%, while ‘Gommany’, and ‘Damogy’ took 20-days and 10-days, respectively to reach to 97.9% rate of leaf emergence. After 10-days of 4℃ treatment, ‘Damogy’ grew faster than the other varieties. and Harvest time for ‘Damogy’ was on January 18th, after 5-days of 4℃ treatment and yield was observed to be the highest at 15-days of 4℃ treatment. ‘Sammany’ was next with a minimum of 10-days of 4℃ treatment, although 15-days is more preferred for better harvest. ‘Gommany’ on the other hand, did not grow enough for harvest by January 18th, and its harvest time was delayed to January 31st. It needed a minimum of 15-days and preferentially 20-days of 4℃ treatment to grow normally and be ready for harvest. The plant height, leaf length and leaf petiole length appeared to grow better by extending duration of the 4℃ treatment. The number of leaves of ‘Sammany’ and ‘Gommany’ varieties was three leaves for the 5-days treatment which may be due to the incomplete breaking of dormancy. Regarding the yield per plant, ‘Sammany’ yielded 112.3 grams (g) in 15-days treatment, and ‘Gommany’ yielded 106.5 g in 25-days treatment. In the case of ‘Damogy’, it yielded 123.5 g and 183 g in the 10-days and 25-days treatment respectively. It is concluded that ‘Damogy’, ‘Sammany’ and ‘Gommany requires 10, 15, and 20 days of 4℃ treatment to break the plant’s dormancy and promote better plant growth.

오늘날 경제의 발전과 함께 여러 가지 환경 문제가 발생했다. 자연스레 사람들은 환경에 대한 관심이 높아졌으며 특히 식수에 대한 안전성과 오염도 조사에 대한 중요성이 부각되고 있다. 우리나라 국민들이 식수로 이용하는 지하수에서 우라늄 및 222Rn 이 다수 지역에서 검출되고 있다. 따라서 이 연구는 지하수 내 포함된 222Rn 농도를 측정하는데 보다 정확한 측정을 위한 방법을 알아보고자 한다. 실험은 알파, 베타 펄스의 분석이 용이한 펄스파형분석 기능을 가진 저 준위 액체섬광계수기를 이용하여 실험하였다. 지하수 시료와 혼합하는 섬광체의 조제, 유효기간은 시간이 지날수록 검출값은 낮아지고, 에너지 스펙트럼도 낮은 쪽으로 channel 이동이 있었다. 섬광체의 구입시기가 오래 될수록, 개봉한 후 방치시간이 지날수록 검출값이 낮아짐을 확인했다. 사용목적이 다른 섬광체를 사용했을 경우 channel 이동으로 에너지를 확인할 수 있다.

The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers of university and industry cooperation and to develop recommendations for the internal ecosystem of technology commercialization. The research method used is a survey of three categories of experts from 9 universities of Almaty (researchers, technology transfer managers, spin-off-owners). Despite the strong efforts of the government of Kazakhstan in building innovation infrastructure, there is a low level of innovation activity, less than 5% of university inventions are transferred into the industry. The results of the expert survey showed that the main barriers for cooperation between university and industry are: lack of resources to build university-industry links, lack of time due to high teaching load, poor qualification of technology transfer managers and lack of networking with industry. Based on the results of the expert survey, it is proposed to develop the ecosystem for the commercialization of university-based technologies, for which the following economic activities are important: human resources, financing, intellectual property management system, and intermediary infrastructure. The results of this study can be applied in developing the strategies and policies for universities, public research organizations, as well as for national R&D and higher education policies.

Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) satellite magnetic data are used to investigate the latitudinal variation of the storm-time meso-scale field-aligned currents by defining a new metric called the FAC range. Three major geomagnetic storm events are considered. Alongside SymH, the possible contributions from solar wind dynamic pressure and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) BZ are also investigated. The results show that the new metric predicts the latitudinal variation of FACs better than previous studies. As expected, the equatorward expansion and poleward retreat are observed during the storm main phase and recovery phase respectively. The equatorward shift is prominent on the northern duskside, at ~58° coinciding with the minimum SymH and dayside at ~59° compared to dawnside and nightside respectively. The latitudinal shift of FAC range is better correlated to IMF BZ in northern hemisphere dusk-dawn magnetic local time (MLT) sectors than in southern hemisphere. The FAC range latitudinal shifts responds better to dynamic pressure in the duskside northern hemisphere and dawnside southern hemisphere than in southern hemisphere dusk sector and northern hemisphere dawn sector respectively. FAC range exhibits a good correlation with dynamic pressure in the dayside (nightside) southern (northern) hemispheres depicting possible electrodynamic similarity at day-night MLT sectors in the opposite hemispheres.

This paper is a part of the series on positron annihilation spectroscopy of two-phase diffuse gas-and-dust aggregates, such as interstellar medium and the young remnants of type II supernovae. The results obtained from prior studies were applied here to detect the relationship between the processes of the annihilation of the K-shell electrons and incident positrons, and the effects of these processes on the optical spectra of their respective atoms. Particular attention was paid to the Doppler broadening of their optical lines. The relationship between the atomic mass of the elements and the Doppler broadening, ΔλD (Å), of their emission lines as produced in these processes was established. This relationship is also illustrated for isotope sets of light elements, namely 3 6 7 7 9 10 11 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 He, Li, Li, Be, Be, B, and B. A direct correlation between the γ-line luminosity ( Eγ =1.022 MeV) and D Δλ (Å) was proved virtually. Qualitative estimates of the structure of such lines depending on the positron velocity distribution function, f(E), were made. The results are presented in tabular form and can be used to set up the objectives of further studies on active galactic nuclei and young remnants of type II supernovae.

Spectroscopic observations of barium star ζ Capricornus (HD204075) obtained at the 8.2 m telescope of the European Southern Observatory, with a spectral resolving power R = 80,000 and signal to noise ratio greater than 300, were used to refine the atmospheric parameters. We found new values for effective temperature (Teff = 5,300 ± 50 K), surface gravity (log g = 1.82 ± 0.15), micro-turbulent velocity (vmicro = 2.52 ± 0.10 km/s), and iron abundance (log N (Fe) = 7.32 ± 0.06). Previously published abundances of chemical elements in the atmosphere of HD204075 were analyzed and no correlations of these abundances with the second ionization potentials of these elements were found. This excludes the possible influence of accretion of hydrogen and helium atoms from the interstellar or circumstellar environment to the atmosphere of this star. The accretion of nuclear processed matter from the evolved binary companion was primary cause of the abundance anomalies. The young age of HD204075 allows an estimation of the time-scale for the creation of the abundance anomalies arising from accretion of interstellar hydrogen and helium as is the case of stars with low magnetic fields; which we estimate should exceed 108 years.

This research is to investigate the effect of borosilicate glass powder on neutron shielding capability of cement mortar. The average particle size of the borosilicate glass powder was 13 μm. It was found that the addition of borosilicate glass powder increased 28 day compressive strength. In addition, neutron shielding capability of cement mortar also increased by the addition of borosilicate glass powder. Considering our earlier findings on enhanced thermal neutron shielding of cement mortar by borosilicate glass powder, the use of borosilicate glass powder was found to be effective to shield neutron when the cement mortar was exposed to the neutron radiation. It can be concluded that borosilicate glass powder is a good alternative material for neutron shielding purposes.