• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.451-456
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• 2018

The use of single component distribution to describe the irregular stand structure of degraded forest often lead to bias. Such biasness can be overcome by the application of finite mixture distribution. Therefore, in this study, finite mixture distribution was used to characterise the irregular stand structure of the Gmelina arborea plantation in Omo forest reserve. Thirty plots, ten each from the three stands established in 1984, 1990 and 2005 were used. The data were pooled per stand and fitted. Four finite mixture distributions including normal mixture, lognormal mixture, gamma mixture and Weibull mixture were considered. The method of maximum likelihood was used to fit the finite mixture distributions to the data. Model assessment was based on negative loglikelihood value ($-{\Lambda}{\Lambda}$), Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that the mixture distributions provide accurate and precise characterisation of the irregular diameter distribution of the degraded Gmelina arborea stands. The $-{\Lambda}{\Lambda}$, AIC, BIC and RMSE values ranged from -715.233 to -348.375, 703.926 to 1433.588, 718.598 to 1451.334 and 3.003 to 7.492, respectively. Their performances were relatively the same. This approach can be used to describe other irregular forest stand structures, especially the multi-species forest.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2021

The stock markets in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries are the leading emerging markets globally. Therefore, it is pertinent to ascertain the critical drivers of stock market development in these economies. The currrent study empirically investigates to identify the linkages between stock market development, key macro-economic factors and institutional factors in the BRICS economies. The study covers the time period from 2000 to 2017. The dependent variable is the country's stock market development and the independent variables consist of six macroeconomic variables and five institutional variables. The study employs a panel cointegration test, Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), a Pooled Mean Group (PMG) approach and a heterogeneous panel non-causality test.The findings of the study indicate co-integration among the selected variables across the BRICS stock markets. Long-run estimations reveal that five macroeconomic variables and four variables related to institutional quality are positive and statistically significant. Further, short-run causalities between stock market capitalization and selected variables are detected through the test of non-causality in a heterogeneous panel setting. The findings suggest that policymakers in the BRICS countries should enhance robust macroeconomic conditions to support their financial markets and should strengthen the institutional quality drivers to stimulate the pace of stock market development in their countries.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.145-156
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• 2021

The research purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effects of technological readiness and innovation on logistics performance. To build up and maintain an important role in global supply chains, nowadays it is obvious that countries and logistics providers need to achieve competitive advantage in terms of digitalization. However, there is a lack of empirical studies about the impacts of information technologies and innovation potential on the logistics efficiency of countries. Hence, the study analyzes whether the corresponding pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) matter for the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and its dimensions. For determining the effects, the pooled regression approach is applied. The results show that technological readiness and innovation are positively and statistically significantly correlated with logistics performance: competence and quality of logistics services, efficiency of customs clearance processes, ability to track and trace consignments, frequency with which shipments reach consignee within scheduled or expected time, and ease of arranging competitively priced shipments. The findings of this study suggest that investments in innovations and technology progress improve countries' logistics efficiency, which is an important prerequisite for enabling Logistics 4.0 and thus, Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation of the economy and society.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.373-385
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• 2021

The objective of the study is to empirically investigate the impact of bank capital on the lending behavior of Vietnamese commercial banks from 2007 to 2019. Lending behavior is captured by two dimensions, including the quantity (loan growth) and quality (credit risk) of loans. Instead of investigating loan growth and credit risk separately, we combine these two aspects in our study and further develop the interaction term between capital buffers and credit risk to capture the asymmetric impact. We apply the dynamic model (regressed by the generalized method of moments) and the static models (regressed using the fixed effects, random effects, and the pooled regression approach) to perform regressions. The results show that banks with higher capital ratios tend to expand lending more, while the risk of credit portfolios is controlled at lower levels at these banks. Further analysis reveals that credit risk mitigates some aspects of the relationship between bank capital and loan expansion. The patterns remain robust across alternative measures and econometric techniques. The study provides insightful policy implications for bank managers and regulators in the process of upgrading capital resources to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking industry in an emerging country.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.733-739
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• 2021

This study investigates the relationships of energy firm-level characteristics, namely; firm size, firm leverage, and firm performance with board diligence among companies listed in Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the periods ranging from 2012 to 2019. The final sample of this study consists of 32 firm-year observations. A quantitative approach was adopted to test 3 specific hypotheses developed for the board diligence model. Using the Pooled OLS regression, this study finds that firm size and firm performance are negatively associated with board diligence. The results of this study indicate an insignificant association of firm leverage with board diligence. Besides, firm performance is related negatively to board diligence. This indicates that the board of companies with poor performance increases the number of its meetings because of the increased pressure on the board to improve its oversight operations and address the severe performance challenges. The increased number of board meetings observe the daily management of the company, increase the chances for discussions concerning the performance challenges, and come up with solutions faster. The directors are also likely to encounter heightened pressure to appear more engaged during a company's financial distress since lenders require a meeting of the board or with the board.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.263-276
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• 2021

This study examines the effect of international capital flows on corporate capital structures in Vietnam by analyzing panel data from all non-financial listed firms from 2005 to 2014 using pooled ordinary least square (OLS) with a variance estimator. The analysis includes a comparison of the signs and significance of the variable coefficients from the perking order and static trade-off theories to the empirical results to determine the optimum approach to the corporate capital structure given Vietnam's high-inflation environment. The results indicate that international capital flows have a positive relation to the debt ratio in the long term, and the relationship is more robust for 2005-2009 than for 2010-2014. Corporate capital structures adjusted to changes in the business environment in different sub-periods (2005-2009 and 2010-2014). When the economic environment became more favorable, the pecking order theory's predictive power increased, and that of trade-off theory lessened. Manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms required different capital structure decisions to fuel their operations and grow under foreign competition. The analysis demonstrates that firms should intensify their use of long-term debt relative to the availability of capital, which is an implication not only for firms in particular but also for industrial innovation overall.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.8
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• pp.453-463
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• 2021

The current study aims to investigate the relationship between CSRD and firm performance, as an indicator for corporate socially responsible behavior, and corporate market performance of listed companies on the Amman stock exchange (ASE). The study adopts a quantitative methodology and utilizes pooled data sets that was collected following content analysis approach of the annual reports for the period 2014 to 2019. The study sample consists of 42 listed companies. The study ran a multiple regression model in order to capture the relationship between the independent variable CSRD and the dependent variable that is Firm performance which was measured using Tobin's Q. The study also utilized five control variables in order to control the hypothesized relationship between CSRD and Firm Performance. The results indicate a negative but significant relationship between CSRD and corporate market performance measured by Tobin's Q. The results stand against the notion of the business case for CSR, and indicate the opposite position, so, the higher CSRD, the lower will be Tobin's Q. Such results support the notion of the institutional theory, and provide an initial evidence for legitimacy seeking behavior in Jordanian companies. However, the results indicate a lower level of awareness of CSR across investors and market players, which support arguments of the difference in market perceptions towards CSR.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.895-904
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• 2021

This study aims to investigate the impact of innovation on firm efficiency. Panel data of fourteen finance companies and nine technology companies from 2011 to 2019 on the Vietnam Stock Exchange Market is derived from audited financial statements, annual reports, and other crucial reports that are provided by Vietstock; macroeconomic variables are collected from the World Bank Database. A two-stage approach is used. First, use of the Data Envelopment Analysis methodology to measure firm efficiency. Second, use of the Pooled ordinary least squares, the Fixed effects model, and the Random effects model to investigate the impact of innovation on firm efficiency. Furthermore, the Generalized Method of Moments and the Tobit model are used to validate the impact of innovation on firm efficiency, and the t-test is used to confirm the difference in efficiency with and without the impact of innovation between two industries. The results show that there is a significant impact of innovation on efficiency, and innovation plays a more important in increasing the efficiency of the finance industry than the technology industry. Moreover, the relation between age and efficiency is like the U-shaped, and between size and efficiency is like the inverted U-shaped, whereas efficiency is not associated with inflation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.81-92
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• 2022

The necessity for a theoretical explanation of the negative association between capital structure and company performance is identified in this study. By focusing on accounting metrics of business performance, this study is the first to investigate the moderating effects of firm size between these variables using logical reasoning. Due to the possibility of endogeneity, this study applies a two-step system GMM approach with data from 285 non-financial enterprises from PSX over a 21-year period. For robustness, we employed pooled OLS, fixed effect, and two-step difference GMM. Our data show that leverage has a detrimental impact on business performance, with size acting as a moderator in the same direction. Our analysis empirically supports some studies while refuting others due to inconsistent results in the literature, but no study has theoretically justified their negative link. We believe that because larger companies have more and easier access to capital markets, they focus primarily on the amount of return, even if the investment is inefficient in terms of the rate of return, but small businesses do not. As a result of this thinking, firm managers' performance suffers as a result of leverage.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6899-6903
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• 2013

Background: Prevalence is a statistic of primary interest in public health. In the absence of good follow-up facilities, it is difficult to assess the complete prevalence of cancer for a given registry area. Objective: An attempt was here made to arrive at complete prevalence including limited duration prevalence with respect to selected sites of cancer for India by fitting appropriate models to 1, 3 and 5 years cancer survival data available for selected population-based registries. Materials and Methods: Survival data, available for the registries of Bhopal, Chennai, Karunagappally, and Mumbai was pooled to generate survival for breast, cervix, ovary, lung, stomach and mouth cancers. With the available data on survival for 1, 3 and 5 years, a model was fitted and the survival curve was extended beyond 5 years (up to 35 years) for each of the selected sites. This helped in generation of survival proportions by single year and thereby survival of cancer cases. With the help of survival proportions available year-wise and the incidence, prevalence figures were arrived for selected cancer sites and for selected periods. Results: The prevalence to incidence ratio (PI ratio) stabilized after a certain duration for all the cancer sites showing that from the knowledge of incidence, the prevalence can be calculated. The stabilized P/I ratios for the cancer sites of breast, cervix, ovary, stomach, lung, mouth and for life time was observed to be 4.90, 5.33, 2.75, 1.40, 1.37, 4.04 and 3.42 respectively. Conclusions: The validity of the model approach to calculate prevalence could be demonstrated with the help of survival data of Barshi registry for cervix cancer, available for the period 1988-2006.