The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Financial Performance of Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain during 2004-15

Following the 2007 global financial crisis, more than 15 M&A transactions took place among financial institutions in the kingdom of Bahrain. This paper evaluates the impact of M&As on the financial performance of four such deals between banks in Bahrain. Data was collected from financial statements of the banks and the Bankscope database during 2004–2015. 15 accounting ratios were applied to CAMEL Rating Model approach. Financial modelling with Excel has been applied to test for the significance of changes in the financial performance of the banks three years before and three years after mergers. No significant difference in the financial performance of the local banks between pre and post M&As in the kingdom of Bahrain was observed. No significant difference in the financial performance of the acquirer bank or the target bank was observed except Bahraini Saudi Bank (target bank) which showed significant improvement in the financial performance after the merger with acquirer bank namely Al Salaam Bank. No significant change in the overall CAMEL ratios was observed for all banks involved in the M&As in Bahrain during 2004-15. The study provides an empirical analysis of the M&As before and after the mergers which can serve as a basis for further evaluation of future strategy of the banking sector in the kingdom of Bahrain

Physio-Chemical and Mechanical Behaviour of(Pinussylvestris) as Binders on Foundry Core Strength

The mechanical potential of sand core binders made withPinussylvestris has been examined. Ota silica base sand bonded with 6% of cassava starch in admixed proportion of Pinussylvestris was tested for tensile, compressive strength and permeability to establish the binding efficiency. Tensile strength of the green baked core were oven baked at 50°C, 100°C, 150°C and 200°C.The cylindrically shaped permeability specimens were tested with permeability meter. Study revealed thatPinussylvestris showed an improve properties at 6% cassava starch at 200°C

Internal pilot insertion for polar codes

Two internal pilot insertion methods are proposed for polar codes to improve their error correction performance. The presented methods are based on a study of the weight distribution of the given polar code. The insertion of pilot bits provided a new way to control the coding rate of the modified polar code on the basis of the Hamming weight properties without sacrificing the code construction and the related channel condition. Rate control is highly demanded by 5G channel coding schemes. Two short-length polar codes were considered in the work with successive cancellation list decoding. The results showed that advantages in the range of 0.1 to 0.75 dB were obtained in the relative tolerance of the modified coded signal to the additive white Gaussian noise and fading channels at a bit error rate of 10−4. The simulation results also revealed that the performance improvements were possible with a careful insertion of the pilots. The modified polar code with pilot insertion provided performance improvement and offered the control of the coding rate without any added complexity at both the encoder and the decoder

Degradation Behaviour of Polyester/Nano-Locust Bean Pods Ash (LBPA) composite

An assessment of the degradation characteristics of LBPA reinforced polyester composite after soil burial was investigated. Nano-LBPA was prepared using a Sol - gel technique. The composite were subjected to soil burial test; the role of this test was to study the degradability, effect of microorganism present in the soil and moisture absorption on the mechanical properties of the composites. Impact, tensile, hardness and flexural properties of the composites were determined before and after soil burial tests for 30, 60 and 90days.  Water absorption of the composite was studied for 24hours and their weight loss evaluated. The percentage drop in impact, tensile, flexural and hardness values after 90days exposure were approximately 42%, 34%, 65% and 23% respectively. Tensile modulus decreased approximately up to 57% and flexural modulus decreased approximately up to 41% after 90days. It was generally observed that the weight loss and percentage moisture absorption increases with increase filler loading

CNG-diesel dual fuel engine: a review on emissions and alternative fuels

This review paper is focusing on the investigations and studies on emissions of applying the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in the CNG-Diesel engines. As well as, the paper is highlighting studies that involved in the search for alternative fuels to be used for less emissions and good performance vehicles. Moreover, illustrating the developments occurred in this field for the previous five years, from year 2010 to year 2015. And, as observed, many researches indicate that there is a significant decreasing in emissions in the existence CNG-Diesel and other alternative fuels when comparing with the conventional pure diesel heavy duty vehicles engines. Furthermore, there are some attempts of finding alternative fuels were discussed in this paper

Perception of concept and practice of social power in development interventions in Malawi

The study examined research participants’ perception of social power in intervention programmes in Malawi. Two districts and four villages with active participation in the intervention programmes were purposively selected. Focus group participants were purposively identified, while the snow balling procedure was employed to select key informants. A total of 375 participants consisting of 219 men and 156 women (to better explore the viewpoints of men from those of women) were drawn from the two study locations. Data were analysed by content analysis. The results showed that >98% of participants stated that power meant the ‘capacity of a social actor to influence decisions and secure compliance of other social actors. Less than 98% also perceived ‘power’ as the leadership ability of a social actor but few participants with high level of power shared this construct. Further analysis informed that power was perceived as the act of guiding fellow social actors to plan and implement activities serving common interest while another 50% of respondents perceived power as a mere potential ability to influence. Statistics however showed only 3.7% of relatively powerful social actors from agricultural extension workers and 1.3 % of sexual and reproductive health interventionists shared power as potential ability to influence way of thinking and doing. Therefore, stakeholders of development intervention should recognize experienced social actors and traditions as power indicators since these will enhance effective extension policy process aimed at development intervention among rural populace

Mutation of BRAF V600E in Iraqi Female Patients Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

هدفت هذه الدراسة الى التحري عن وجود طفرة BRAF V600E من عدمها في الاناث التي تم تشخيصهن بالاصابة بسرطان الثدي وفي اعمار مختلفة، حيث تم جمع عينات الدم والانسجة من 46 مريضة وباعمار(46± 3.54)، حيث تم تقسيمها اللى مجموعتين، المجموعة التي  تحت العلاج الكيمياوي وعددها 31 مصابة والمجموعة الاخرى بدون علاج كيمياوي وعددها 15 مصابة كما تم مقارنة النتائج مع مجموعة الاصحاء كمجموعة سيطرة وعددهم 23 شخصا وباعمار(47.93±3.05) سنة.تم اجراء  تفاعل البلمرة المتسلسل ( (PCR وباستخدام بوادئ تم تصميمها ضمن الدراسة الحالية على جميع العينات. اظهرت النتائج عدم وجود علاقة مابين الاصابة بسرطان الثدي وطفرة BRAF V600E في المرضى العراقين المشمولين بالدراسة الحالية.This study aimed to investigate the possible presence of BRAF V600E mutation in the Iraqi female patients who diagnosed with breast cancer in different ages, in which Blood and tissue samples were collected from 46 female patients with  age (46.73±3.54);Those were divided into two groups; who took chemotherapy (31 persons) as treated group and without chemotherapy as an untreated group (15 persons) and from (23) healthy person with age(47.93±3.05).  Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were done with newly designed primers. The results revealed no correlation between breast cancer occurrence and BRAF V600E mutation in the Iraqi patients enrolled  in the current study. &nbsp

Properties Evaluation of Natural Weathered Polyester/Nano-Locust Bean Pods Ash (LBPA) Composite

Nano-Locust bean Pod Ash (LBPA) reinforced polyester matrix composite was developed via Sol-gel techniques to investigate the mechanical and physical properties of the composite after weathering. The mechanical and physical test samples were prepared according to ASTM standard. The composite were subjected to weathering tests to study the effect of natural weather and its degradation on the properties of the composites. The moisture absorption of the composite after 24 hours as well as the weight loss of the test samples after degradation was evaluated. Percentage water absorption of the composite increased with increase in percentage reinforcement composition. The percentage weight losses also increase as the percent reinforcement in the composite increases. Weight loss of the test samples after 30 days shows the highest weight loss values. Approximately 54%, 11%, 86%, and 43% drop in values after 90days exposure was recorded for impact, tensile, flexural and hardness test values respectively. The reduction in modulus values recorded for tensile and flexural was approximately 51% and 8%. Keywords: Nanosized LBPA; polyester composite; Natural weathering; Properties  

Prediction Modeling of 28-Day Concrete Compressive Strength using Artificial Neutral Network

Compressive strength of concrete at the age of 28 days is an important parameter for the design of concrete structures and waiting for that length of time to obtain the value can be tasky. This study developed an alternative approach using Artificial Neutral Network (ANN) to estimate or predict the compressive strength of concrete at 28th day from early age results. In the study concrete cubes of mix ratio 1:2:4 were cast with different water-cement ratios (0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.65) and their seventh (7th) and twenty-eighth (28th) day strength were measured in the laboratory. In all, 400 cubes of 150 x 150 x 150mm of 200 sets were subjected to compressive strength test using Avery Denison Universal Testing Machine of 2000 kN load capacity at a constant load application of 15kN/s. ANN model was then developed using the time series tool of ANN in MATLAB 7.12.0 (R2011a) applying back propagation algorithm. Out of the 200 sets of results, 110 sets (55%) were used for the training of the network while 30 sets (15%) were used to validate and 60 sets (30%) to test the network. The result of the crushing test shows that the higher the compressive strength at seventh (7th) day the higher it will be at twenty-eighth (28th) day. The result of the ANN model shows a good correlation between the seventh (7th) day compressive strength and the twenty-eighth (28th) day compressive strength with training and validation correlation coefficients of 0.99751 and 0.99736 respectively. It was also found that the ANN model is quite efficient in determining the twenty-eighth (28th) day compressive strength of concreteas the predicted strength values match very well with those obtained experimentally with a correlation coefficient of 0.99675

Translation Studies: Some Problematic Aspects of Arabic Poetry Translation

From the time of its foundation, translation has not stopped to play its essential role of conveying messages across languages and cultural difficulties. Among all types of problems discussed in translation, the translation of poetry, in general, requires a deep understanding of the connotative meaning of words and of other shades of meanings accompanying the use of a different vocabulary in poetry. This study highlights the need for a compromise between practical and theoretical translation in guessing right the translated material by making efforts to minimize the gap between the original poem and its translation. The aim of this study is twofold. The first part will present some perceptions given by some academic translators dealt with Arabic poetry translation in different periods of time. The second will focus on the three schools of modern Arabic poetry as classified by Arab scholars. This study also discusses some terminological terms used in Arabic poetry and how they are rendered into English