• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.87-99
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• 2020

The study aims to investigate factors that determine dividend payout policy using 336 non-financial firm year observations covering the period 2005 to 2016 in Malaysia. We found a significant positive relationship between corporate board size, board members average age, board tenure and dividend payout policy. We also found a strong negative effect and statistically insignificant relationship of board diversity, board independence, CEO duality and dividend payout policy. Additional, financial leverage has a negative effect on dividend payout policy. It is also noticed that firms with diverse boards are more likely to pay dividends and tend to pay larger dividends than those with non-diverse boards. Our results suggest that board diversity has a significant impact on dividend payout policy. Impact of board diversity on dividend payout policy is particularly conspicuous for firms with potentially greater agency problems. Our findings are consistent with the argument that corporate board traits enhancement positively affect the dividend payout policy which is beneficial for shareholders. This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on board traits and its implications for firms. The dividend payout policy signals good news to investors. Corporate board traits and firm's financial decision are the factors that disrupt the dividend decision.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 2010

The wild silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) is a polyphagous silk producing insect that feeds on Terminalia arjuna, T. tomentosa and Shorea robusta and is distributed in the forest belts in different states of India. Phenotypically distinct populations of the A. mylitta are called "eco-race" or "ecotypes". Genetic improvement of this wild silkworm has not progressed much due to lack of adequate information on the factors that control the expression of most of the economically important traits. Considering the amazing technological advances taking place in molecular biology, it is envisaged that it is now possible to take greater control on these intractable traits if a combination of genetic, molecular and bioinformatics tools are used. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping is one such approach that has extensively been used in both animal and plant system to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for a number of economically important traits. LD mapping has a number of advantages over conventional biparental linkage mapping. Therefore, LD mapping is considered more efficient for gene discovery to meet the challenge of connecting sequence diversity with heritable phenotypic differences. However, care must be taken to avoid detection of spurious associations which may occur due to population structure and variety interrelationships. In this review, we discuss how LD mapping is suitable for the dissection of complex traits in wild silkworms (Antheraea mylitta).

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2010

The bivoltine tropical tasar ecoraces of Antheraea mylitta Drury produces cocoons for seed production under seed crop rearing (July-August with $22{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ temperature and 50~70% relative humidity) and for silk production under commercial crop rearing (September-December with $17{\sim}27^{\circ}C$ temperature and 60~80% relative humidity). To consider the impact of hybrid vigour on egg, larva, cocoon and silk related commercial traits, the $F_1$ hybrids made among Daba, Jata and Raily ecoraces were assessed successively for three years. The hybrid vigour in the $F_1$ hybrid of Daba$\times$Jata ($T_7$) was positive for egg fertility (+23.1%), shell weight (+25.6%), silk yield (+79.0%) and filament length (+68.1%), with filament of high denier (11.98d) and reduced larval span (-7.1%). The Jata$\times$Daba ($T_8$) hybrid has shown negative heterosis in egg fertility (-8.0%) compared to the other F1 hybrids, Daba$\times$Raily ($T_9$) and Raily$\times$Daba ($T_{10}$), when they rise simultaneously during the commercial crop season. The better performance of parental ecoraces ($T_4$ to $T_6$) in their commercial traits during commercial crop over parents of seed crop ($T_1$ to $T_3$) and the superior performance of $F_1$ hybrids ($T_7$ to $T_{10}$) over parents of commercial crop ($T_4$ to $T_6$) during commercial crop season indicates the apparent hybrid vigour in tasar $F_1$ hybrids. As the Daba$\times$Jata ($T_7$) and Jata$\times$Daba ($T_8$) $F_1$ hybrids have shown highest hybrid vigour, their rearing during commercial crop can optimize the silk productivity and commercial sustenance of the tasar silk industry.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2023

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance (defined as companies' ownership structure and board of directors' characteristics) on cash holdings in the context of Oman. This study leverages a quantitative panel pooled regression on a dataset of Omani non-financial firms from 2009-2015. The findings of this study are generally in line with the predictions of Agency Theory and Mentoring and Busyness Hypotheses. The analysis demonstrates that a large stockholder size has a significant positive relationship with cash holding. Meanwhile, a positive (but insignificant) relationship was also found between institutional ownership and cash holding. Furthermore, state ownership was found to exhibit a significant negative relationship with cash holding. In terms of the board of directors' traits, this study's findings suggest that board sizes have a positive (but insignificant) relationship with cash holding. Furthermore, busy and independent boards were found to have a significant positive relationship with cash holding. The above findings suggest that boards with such traits are less effective in providing oversight on managers' actions, which would then increase Omani non-financial firms' cash holdings.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.338-347
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• 2015

Reinforcement cells are used to aid grass growth and taken together, this serves to extend greenery beyond the conventional spaces of lawns, tree pits, gardens, and parks, and is advantageous to urban cities since space for greening is often limited. Drought has variable effects on plant life and the resilience of turf to drought resistance also varies with species. Changes in photosynthetic ability were more pronounced for media rather than grass species. The media of sand without organic matter was found to be least suited for drought resistance. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and digital image analysis (DIA) data were generally in favour of Zoysia species as oppose to A. compressus. In A. compressus, selective traits such as, a more extensive root system and lower specific leaf area (SLA) were not an underlying factor that assisted this grass with enhanced drought resistance. Generally, WUE was found to be strongly related to plant characterises such as overall biomass, photosynthetic features as well as the lushness indexes, and specific leaf area. This study found a strong relationship between WUE and a suite of plant characteristics. These traits should serve as useful selection criteria for species with the ability to resist water stress.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2023

Twenty-five Eucalyptus clones (14 E. camaldulensis - EC and 11 interspecific eucalypt hybrid clones - EH) grown in three contrasting sites were evaluated for the growth and few wood traits at 4 years of age. The stability, genotype-site interaction and suitability of these clones for pulp and solid wood industry sectors were studied. Growth of eucalypt clones was significantly higher at site 1 with higher rainfall, but wood density did not differ significantly from lower rainfall sites. Kraft pulp yield (KPY) decreased from sites 1 to 3 based on moisture availability, but not between two groups of clones. Volumetric shrinkage (VS) was significantly higher in EC clones at site 3 with lowest rainfall, but there was no specific trend at other two sites with maximum (site 1) and intermediate (site 2) rainfall. The mechanical traits modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) were at par in sites 1 and 2, but significantly lower at the driest site 3. The growth rate had a significant positive correlation with KPY, MOR and MOE and a negative correlation with VS, but no significant impact on wood density in both groups of clones. Genotype×environment interaction (G×E) was evident in most traits due to the difference in response of clones to moisture availability. Since wood density was negatively correlated to KPY, it has to be kept at an optimum level for the profitability of pulp industry. There was no significant difference between EC and EH clones for most traits except VS at site 3. Stability of clones varied across sites in different traits, and hence clones may be selected for deployment at each site by screening for growth, followed by wood density, considering the relationship of growth and density with other traits required by pulp and solid wood industry sectors.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.249-253
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• 2009

Raily ecorace of Indian tasar silkworm is wild in nature and distributed abundantly in dense deciduous forest on Shorea robusta (Sal) in Bastar ($17^{\circ}4'$ and $20^{\circ}34'$ N, $80^{\circ}15'$ and $82^{\circ}15'$ E and altitude ranging from 150 to 1200 mMSL) forest ranges of Chhattisgarh, India. It is represented by about 20 populations. Out of those, eleven populations showed intra- as well as inter- population variability based on phenotypic expression and also in major economic traits viz. cocoon weight, shell weight, filament length and denier. Genetic diversity in these eleven populations was studied using Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. The band profiles generated with eight ISSR primers have depicted variation in band size. All the primers exhibited polymorphism which is an indicative of the genetic variation in individual Raily silkworm. Among the populations, total polymorphism recorded was 76%. The population genetic aspects assessed through POPGENE software package are discussed in the paper. Nei's gene diversity (h) ranged from 0.194 to 0.337 exhibiting high heterozygosity. Relevance of the present study is of high significance in formulating conservation strategies and sustainable utilization of the economically important Raily ecorace of Antheraea mylitta.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.23-75
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• 1995

A major change occuring in the workplace is the willingness of union leaders, managers, and workers to experiment with various work schedules and to work toward the improvement in the QWL(quality of work life). In this study, the writer measures the level of QWL, embodies components of QWL, testifies the difference of QWL according to the demographical traits, and develops some scales to measure QWL in merchant ships. To achieve objectives of the paper, 11 hypotheses were established and a questionnaire was used, 894 proper data was obtained from 2, 910 Korean seamen working in merchant ships. Results of analyses are as follows : 1) The components of QWL in merchant ships are job, employee satisfaction, wage, welfare, working condition, supervise, colleague relations, initiative, and organization management. 2) Seamen of merchant ships are satisfied with job, supervise, colleague relations, and organization management. They are dissatisfied employee satisfaction, wage, welfare, and working condition. 3) According to demographical traits, the number of the factors significant difference(P<0.05) among components of QWL are 9 for type of ships, 8 ages of seamen, 7 for married or single, nationality of ships, and education level respectively, 5 for seamen career, for 4 rank on board and trading route of ships respectively, 2 for whether union or not and whether union involvement or not respectively, and 1 for department on board. 4) Results which tested hypotheses are as follows : For the components of QWL, married men are more satisfactory than an unmarried men, officers are more dissatisfactory than ratings, old men are more satisfactory than young men, men in high education level are more dissatisfactory than men in low education level, those who are much careers as a seaman are more satisfactory than those who are little careers as a seaman. There are significant differences in the components of QWL according to nationality and type of ships. There are insignificant differences in the components of QWL according to the shipboard department, whether union is or not, whether union involvement is or not, and trading route of ships.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.640-646
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• 1997

To determine variations in leaflet length (LL), leaflet width (LW), leaflet size (LS), and leaflet shape index (LSI), and their association with eight agronomic traits, characterization data of 884 soybean accessions which were grown in the autumn of 1992 in Taiwan were analyzed. LL ranged from 4.3 to 14.7 cm, and LW ranged from 2.8 to 9.7 cm. Also, LS (LL $\times$ LW) ranged from 12.1 to 124.6 $\textrm{cm}^2$. The absolute variation of LL, LW, and LS was not large because of limitation in vegetative growth by short day length. None was classified as a large leaflet based on the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) descriptors. LSI (LL /LW) ranged from 1.21 to 3.06, and three accessions were classified as narrow leaflet. There were differences in ranges and means of LL, LW, LS, and LSI between and within temperate and tropical accessions. LL, LW, LS, and LSI had highly significant positive correlations with seven agronomic traits and highly significant negative correlation with 100-seed weight except LW for all accessions. There was variation in the closeness of association among leaflet traits, and between and within temperate and tropical accessions. Generally, LL, LW, and LS were more closely associated with days to flowering, plant height at $R_1$ and $R_8$, number of pods per plant; LSI was more closely associated with 100-seed weight than other traits.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2012

Tropical tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta Drury experiences extreme temperature stress conditions during its life cycle particularly during diapauses and first crop. The present study witnessed the impact of high temperature on some biochemical profiles and egg production (fecundity) of semi-domesticated Daba and Shorea robusta (Sal) based wild ecorace Laria during seed cocoon (pupa) preservation. Cocoons of Daba and Laria were treated with high temperature at $40^{\circ}C$ for 10 days in a BOD incubator. The protein profile and carbohydrate content in the hemolymph and fat body and total haemocyte count (THC) in the hemolymph of pupa were investigated. Further, the fecundity and fertility of egg was assessed. Significant increase in the protein concentration was observed in the hemolymph with reduction in the fat body (p<0.05). The difference in protein concentration was highly significant between the semidomesticated Daba and wild ecorace Laria (p<0.05). High pupal mortality (20%) and reduced fecundity (10-15%) in Daba was noticed compared to wild Laria. Also an increased THC (>28000) was recorded in Laria. The study infers the potentials of wild ecoraces in sustaining the extreme temperature conditions and need of adopting suitable package of practices for the preservation of diapause seed cocoons during extreme summer conditions. There is possibility to introgression thermal stress resistant traits in the semi-domesticated races of tasar silkworm by resorting to conventional breeding plans with wild races and keeping the thermal stress induced response as markers.