Capital Structure, Firm Performance and the Recent Financial Crisis

We examine the impact of financial leverage on firm performance. By analyzing stock and operating performances of top ten Canadian oil & gas companies for a ten year period (2004-2013), we find that leverage has a strong negative relationship with performance, for all three periods in concern, that is the pre-crisis (2004-2006), crisis (2007-2009), and post-crisis recovery (2010-2013) periods. These results hold both in univariate and cross-sectional set up even after controlling for firm specific variable

Did Canada Survive the Financial Crisis Better than the United States?

This paper compares and contrasts the influence of leverage on firm performance between the United States and Canada. By analyzing 10 largest oil & gas companies each from Canada and the US, we find that leverage has a negative impact on firm performance for both these countries. Moreover, we find strong evidence that the performance gap between high and low leverage firms is lower in Canada, and the results are prominent during the financial crisis of the last decade

The Organizational Structure of the Securities Company Under the Law of Vietnam Current

Purpose: The article researches on the organizational structure of securities company under the Securities Law 2019 in order to point out some limitations and shortcomings and propose for recommendations to improve law about organizational structure on this form of company.   Theoretical framework: Recent literature points out that securities companies play very important role in the development of Vietnam's stock market. However, in the current stage of development, from the influence and impact of international integration and the increasingly fierce competitive pressure, the securities companies have encountered many difficulties to survive. In there, limits and problems in regulations about securities company organizational structures has caused many difficulties for these companies when organization and operation. On the other hand, in the context of judicial reform in Vietnam, the issue of complete law system and expanding the freedom to business has always been paid special attention by the Party and Vietnam State.   Design/methodology/approach: The authors have combined traditional research methods of legal science such as legal analysis method, legal efficiency assessment method and legal comparison method.   Findings: According to research, regulations on the organizational structure of a securities company are directly related to the efficiency of management and administration of this company. In there, Supervisory Board/Internal Audit Committee always ensuring to limit negative and fraudulent acts of the company’s leaders, to better ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the company's members and customers. Therefore, the authors have proposed several solutions such as the need to stipulate the mandatory requirement of a Supervisory Board for the securities trading company under the model of limited liability company, and expand and strengthen the powers of the Supervisory Board/Internal Audit Committee, independent members in securities companies doing business in the form of joint stock company. These are important bases to contribute to perfecting the Law on the organizational structure of securities companies in Vietnam and further enhancing the stability and safety of the Vietnamese stock market.   Research, Practical & Social implications: This research may support many develop future research in Vietnam. At the same time, the research to help foreign investors' activities in Vietnam's stock market.   Originality/value: The research of the freedom to business and organizational structure of securities companies become more and more urgent and very important in Vietnam

Analysis of rDNA reveals a high genetic diversity of Halophila major in the Wallacea region

The genus Halophila shows the highest species diversity within the seagrass genera. Southeast Asian countries where several boundary lines exist were considered as the origin of seagrasses. We hypothesize that the boundary lines, such as Wallace’s and Lydekker’s Lines, may act as marine geographic barriers to the population structure of Halophila major. Seagrass samples were collected at three islands in Vietnamese waters and analyzed by the molecular maker ITS. These sequences were compared with published ITS sequences from seagrasses collected in the whole region of interest. In this study, we reveal the haplotype and nucleotide diversity, linking population genetics, phylogeography, phylogenetics and estimation of relative divergence times of H. major and other members of the Halophila genus. The morphological characters show variation. The results of the ITS marker analysis reveal smaller groups of H. major from Myanmar, Shoalwater Bay (Australia) and Okinawa (Japan) with high supporting values. The remaining groups including Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Two Peoples Bay (Australia) and Tokushima (Japan) showed low supporting values. The Wallacea region shows the highest haplotype and also nucleotide diversity. Non-significant differences were found among regions, but significant differences were presented among populations. The relative divergence times between some members of section Halophila were estimated 2.15–6.64 Mya

Anharmonic EXAFS and its Parameters of HCP Crystals: Theory and Comparison to Experiment

A new theory for ab initio calculation of the anharmonic Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and its parameters of hcp crystals has been developed based on the single- shell model. Analytical expressions for the anharmonic contributions to the amplitude and to the phase of EXAFS and a new anharmonic factor have been derived. The EXAFS cumulant expressions are formulated based on the anharmonic correlated Einstein model. The EXAFS function and its parameters contain anharmonic effects at high temperature and appoach those of the harmonic model at low temperature. Numerical results for Zn agree well with the experimental values

Studying of The Viability of Selected Probioitcs in Soy Milk to Develop A Functional Beverage Product

In this research, Lactobacillus casei (L.casei) and  Lactobacillus plantarum (L.plantarum) were added into two soymilk products. The number of survival probiotics as well as the effects of probiotic strains, soymilk brands and additives to the quality of final product were also studied. The initial number was added around 107 to 108(CFU/ml) into Fami and Vinasoy soy milk. The number of survival probiotics was stable during the first four weeks with about 107 (CFU/ml) and then decreased to around 106 (CFU/ml) in the sixth week. In term of soymilk’s quality, the pH decreased dramatically while the Brix fell slowly after storing seven days in both soymilk products. The influence of food additive-fructose oligosaccharides adding to microencapsulate probiotics was also examined to increase storage time and final product quality

Postbuckling of functionally graded cylindrical shells based on improved Donnell equations

This paper presents an analytical approach to investigate the buckling and postbuckling of functionally graded cylindrical shells subjected to axial and transversemechanical loads incorporating the effects of temperature. Material properties are assumed to be temperature independent, and graded in the thickness direction accordingto a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. Equilibrium equations for perfect cylindrical shells are derived by using improved Donnell shell theory taking into account geometrical nonlinearity. One-term approximate solution is assumed to satisfy simply supported boundary conditions and closed-form expressions of buckling loads and load-deflection curves are determined by Galerkin method. Analysis shows the effects of material and the geometric parameters, buckling mode, pre-existent axial compressive and thermal loads on the nonlinear response of the shells

Performance Analysis of Hybrid ALOHA/CDMA RFID Systems with Quasi-decorrelating Detector in Noisy Channels

In this paper we investigate the performance of a hybrid Aloha/CDMA radio frequency identification (RFID) system with quasi-decorrelating detector (QDD). Motivated by the fact that the QDD outperforms the conventional decorrelating detector (DD) in noisy network scenarios, we study and propose using QDD as one of the most promising candidates for the structure of RFID readers. Performance analysis in terms of bit error rate and the RFID system efficiency is considered considering CDMA code collision and detection error. Computer simulations are also performed, and the obtained results of QDD-based structure are compared with those of DD-based one to confirm the correctness of the design suggestion in different practical applications of tag identification and missing-tag detection

Damage detection for a cable-stayed Bridge under the effect of moving loads using Transmissibility and Artificial Neural Network

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been widely used for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in the last decades. To detect damage in the structure, ANN often uses input data consisting of natural frequencies or mode shapes. However, this data is not sensitive enough to accurately identify minor structural defects. Therefore, in this study, we propose to use transmissibility to generate input data for the input layer of ANN. Transmissibility uses output signals exclusively to preserve structural dynamic properties and is sensitive to damage characteristics. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed approach, a cable-stayed bridge with a wide variety of damage scenarios is employed. The results show that the combination of transmissibility and ANN not only accurately detect damages but also outperforms natural frequencies-based ANN in terms of accuracy and computational cost