Information disclosure and SME financing: A study of firms in the ASEAN region

This study investigates the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) and audited financial statements on small and medium enterprise (SME) financing, as well as their influence on SMEs’ collateral issues in acquiring bank loans, based on the information asymmetry theory. The study applies the ordinary least squares (OLS) test, the two-stage least squares test, and the probit regression model for the analysis. The sample consists of 12,165 firms in eight ASEAN countries between 2009 and 2018. The data used in the analysis was sourced from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS) provided by the World Bank. The results reveal that financial statements and ICT have a positive relationship with SMEs’ bank credit accessibility and a negative relationship with collateral issues faced by SMEs in accessing bank loans. Thus, SMEs that use financial statements and ICT have more financing opportunities than those that don’t. The impacts of financial statements and ICT are stronger in counties with a more developed financial infrastructure. Additionally, this study found that economic development enables SMEs to access cheaper finance and mitigate collateral problems. These outcomes contribute to the enhancement of SME financing and promote SMEs’ information disclosure in the ASEAN region. Promoting SMEs’ information disclosure is also crucial for banks in mitigating bad debt. Therefore, encouraging and supporting SMEs to adopt financial statements and ICT can be beneficial to both SMEs and banks

Acquisition of Visually Guided Swing Motion Based on Genetic Algorithms and Neural Networks in Two-Armed Bipedal Robot

Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE lntemational Conference on Robotics and Automation Albuquerque, New Mexico - April 199

Panoramic-Environmental Description as Robots\u27 Visual Short-Term Memory

Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Leuven, Belgium, May 199

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (TMS/tDCS) and Rehabilitation for Stroke and Parkinson’s

The aim of this study was to clarify and compare the efficacies of rehabilitation using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), in convalescing stroke and Parkinson’s disease patients. For both types of stimuli, kinetic analysis and performance analysis of upper limb motor paralysis and gait analysis showed an increase in speed of movement, and an improvement in performance was observed. Both stimuli resulted in significant improvement compared with a sham stimulus. Change in speed of movement and performance was observed with both tDCS and cTBS, but there was not a significantly large difference between the stimuli. Improved movement due to reduction of excessive tension caused by spasticity was observed. In patients with Parkinson’s disease, gait speed and step length were increased. It is suggested that performance was improved because movement became smoother. The efficacy of tDCS and cTBS in patients with motor disorders caused by stroke or Parkinson’s disease will probably be further improved when combined with physical therapy