MODERATING EFFECT OF FIRM SIZE ON CAPITAL STRUCTURE DETERMINANTS: EVIDENCE FROM INDIAN FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY

Present research paper examines the determinants of capital structure decision of Indian food processing industry and assesses the moderating effect of firm size on this relationship. Using financial data of 40 firms for 10 years (2009–10 to 2018–19), panel least square regression analysis has been performed for data analysis. Based on regression results, the study concludes tangibility, tax rate, and cash flow as significant determinants of long-term borrowing for overall sample firms. On the other hand, tangibility, liquidity and profitability are significant factors affecting short-term borrowings of selected companies. Further, the study confirms that size of the firm moderates the effect of selected determinants on debt ratio of different categories of firms. It is, further, found that small size firms employ more debt with increasing profitability whereas medium and large size firms tend to reduce their debt levels with increasing profitability. The research findings will enhance understanding of capital structure determinants by probing the moderating impact of company size on it. The findings will be helpful to corporate managers in forming their borrowing strategies based on the relative size. Further, they can identify important factors to be considered while choosing debt or equity or in case of debt either short term or long term

CAPITAL STRUCTURE AS DETERMINANT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

One of the most critical decisions in corporate finance is to decide about the source of fund to be employed. The mix of debt – equity used to generate funds is termed as Capital Structure (CS). Research on Capital Structure and its impact on financial performance has gained momentum from the pioneering article of Modigliani and Miller (1958). Since then it has been one of the most debated and controversial aspects of corporate finance. Researchers have contributed in form of theories as well as empirical findings to study the relation between capital structure and financial performance. Current paper reviews the existing studies in the area of CS and financial performance and also propose a conceptual model that describes the interrelationship between CS and financial performance based on detailed discussion of widespread literature. This model reckons important variables of financial performance affected by CS which help research scholars in further investigation. Researchers can use this model to perform empirical testing to fill the research gaps identified and enrich the existing literature

Allosteric Inhibition of Factor XIIIa. Non-Saccharide Glycosaminoglycan Mimetics, but Not Glycosaminoglycans, Exhibit Promising Inhibition Profile

Factor XIIIa (FXIIIa) is a transglutaminase that catalyzes the last step in the coagulation process. Orthostery is the only approach that has been exploited to design FXIIIa inhibitors. Yet, allosteric inhibition of FXIIIa is a paradigm that may offer a key advantage of controlled inhibition over orthosteric inhibition. Such an approach is likely to lead to novel FXIIIa inhibitors that do not carry bleeding risks. We reasoned that targeting a collection of basic amino acid residues distant from FXIIIa’s active site by using sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) or non-saccharide GAG mimetics (NSGMs) would lead to the discovery of the first allosteric FXIIIa inhibitors. We tested a library of 22 variably sulfated GAGs and NSGMs against human FXIIIa to discover promising hits. Interestingly, although some GAGs bound to FXIIIa better than NSGMs, no GAG displayed any inhibition. An undecasulfated quercetin analog was found to inhibit FXIIIa with reasonable potency (efficacy of 98%). Michaelis-Menten kinetic studies revealed an allosteric mechanism of inhibition. Fluorescence studies confirmed close correspondence between binding affinity and inhibition potency, as expected for an allosteric process. The inhibitor was reversible and at least 9-fold- and 26-fold selective over two GAG-binding proteins factor Xa (efficacy of 71%) and thrombin, respectively, and at least 27-fold selective over a cysteine protease papain. The inhibitor also inhibited the FXIIIa-mediated polymerization of fibrin in vitro. Overall, our work presents the proof-of-principle that FXIIIa can be allosterically modulated by sulfated non-saccharide agents much smaller than GAGs, which should enable the design of selective and safe anticoagulants

A Survey on Block Chain and Bitcoin – Challenges & Applications

Block chain is as of late presented and changing the advanced world conveying another point of view to security, flexibility and productivity of framework. While at first promoted by Bit Coin, Block chain is significantly more than an establishment for digital money. It offers a safe method to trade any sort of good administration or exchange. This paper exhibits an exhaustive review on Block chain Technology and Bit coin. Bitcoin has emerged as the most successful crypto currency since its appearance back in 2009. Besides its security robustness, two main properties have probably been its key to success: anonymity and decentralization. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive description on the details that make such crypto currency an interesting research topic in the privacy community. We perform an exhaustive review of the bitcoin anonymity research papers that have been published so far and we outline some research challenges on that topic

EXAMINING THE RELATION BETWEEN MARKET VALUE AND CO2 EMISSION: STUDY OF INDIAN FIRMS

In the present era, sustainable business practices have become an important metric for measuring the organisational effectiveness. Shareholders have added sustainability as an important dimension of firms’ performance and consider it as value relevant for determining the market value of any company. Given the premises, present study examines the impact of CO2 emission on the market value of the firm (measured by market-to-book value ratio and Tobin’s Q ratio) in the context of a developing country. Current study is based on panel data of 230 firm-year observations collected from the annual report of Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and annual report of sample companies. Using panel least square regression analysis, the findings indicate significant adverse impact of CO2 emission on the firm value. In other words, shareholders assign negative value to higher discharge of carbon dioxide and reflect the same by lowering the market value of shares. Further, the results are checked for robustness using generalised method of moments (GMM) and the conclusions are found coinciding. Present findings have important implications for regulatory authorities, policy makers, and practicing managers

Effect of music on post-exercise recovery rate in young healthy individuals

Background: Music has been used in exercise classes for many decades. The role of music in increasing the exercise performance is well recognized but there is very little information about effect of music on post-exercise recovery time.Methods: The present study was conducted to see the effect of musical sounds on post-exercise recovery time following moderate exercise with Harvard step test in young healthy volunteers. 30 young healthy volunteers (17 males, 13 females) aged between 17 to 20 years were recruited for the study. Pulse rate, systolic BP, diastolic BP were recorded prior to exercise in lying down position. The participants were subjected to moderate exercise by Harvard step test for 3 minutes on 3 consecutive days. They were allowed to rest in silence on 1st day, rest with hearing slow music on 2nd day and rest with hearing fast music on 3rd day. During the post-exercise relaxation time PR, SBP and DBP were measured immediately and after every 1 min. until the parameters returned to resting values. Data was statistically analysed using ANOVA test and 0.05 level of significance was set prior to the study.Results: The result showed that with slow music, recovery time of pulse rate (5.2 ± 2.1), systolic blood pressure (3.9 ± 1.1) and diastolic blood pressure (3.2 ± 1.7) were significantly faster as compared to both no music and fast music.Conclusion: The study concluded that music hastens post-exercise recovery and slow music has greater relaxation effect than fast or no music.

Plasmin Regulation through Allosteric, Sulfated, Small Molecules

Plasmin, a key serine protease, plays a major role in clot lysis and extracellular matrix remodeling. Heparin, a natural polydisperse sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is known to allosterically modulate plasmin activity. No small allosteric inhibitor of plasmin has been discovered to date. We screened an in-house library of 55 sulfated, small glycosaminoglycan mimetics based on nine distinct scaffolds and varying number and positions of sulfate groups to discover several promising hits. Of these, a pentasulfated flavonoid-quinazolinone dimer 32 was found to be the most potent sulfated small inhibitor of plasmin (IC50 = 45 μM, efficacy = 100%). Michaelis-Menten kinetic studies revealed an allosteric inhibition of plasmin by these inhibitors. Studies also indicated that the most potent inhibitors are selective for plasmin over thrombin and factor Xa, two serine proteases in coagulation cascade. Interestingly, different inhibitors exhibited different levels of efficacy (40%–100%), an observation alluding to the unique advantage offered by an allosteric process. Overall, our work presents the first small, synthetic allosteric plasmin inhibitors for further rational design