The impact of corporate governance indicators on firm value: evidence of shariah compliant and shariah non-compliant firms in Pakistan

The existing literature highlights the several issues related to the implementation of corporate governance codes and problems of firm valuation in developing countries like Pakistan. Although codes of corporate governance and regulations have been formulated in Pakistan, there are several violations of laws and codes observed in the corporate sectors of Pakistan such as Crescent Bank, Mehran Bank, and Taj Company. Firms listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have failed to effectively implement the codes of corporate governance particularly due to ownership structure, pyramidal structure, and board structure which significantly influence the firm value. Moreover, most of the listed companies are not able to fulfil the Shariah compliant screening criteria of KMI Islamic Index. Past literature affirms the issues related to Principal- Principal (PP) conflict as most of the firms are owned by the family businesses. The underpinning objective of the current study is to investigate the impact of corporate governance indicators on firm value of PSX and KMI listed companies. The theoretical framework of the current study is based on Principal-Principal agency theory and the concept of “Maqasid al-Shariah”. A total of 312 firms (164 Shariah Compliant and 148 Shariah Non-Compliant) were taken as samples from the KMI screening list for the period of 2009 to 2018. The results of the present study reveal that ownership, pyramidal, and board structures have a significant association with PP conflict and firm value except board independence. Moreover, PP conflict mediates the relationship between ownership, pyramidal structure, and board structure of listed firms. Based on the findings, the current study suggests that implementation of Shariah laws and regulations can facilitate firms in minimizing the PP conflict and effective implementation of codes of corporate governance

Does bank size and operational efficiency matters? an impact of financial gearing and asset management on Islamic bank’s performance in Pakistan

Purpose: The persistent growth of Islamic banks has been the distinction of the Muslim world financial background in the 1980s and 1990s. Through a network that spans more than 62 countries and an asset base of more than $169 billion; Islamic banks are now performing a progressively more significant role in their particular economies. The core objective of this study is to find the impact of some of the key bank-specific factors (internal determinants) on the profitability of Islamic banks in Pakistan. Factors that opted in this study are bank size, operating efficiency, gearing ratio and asset management. Secondary data was obtained from 5 Islamic banks in Pakistan from year 2007 to 2015. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used to analyze the empirical findings. The estimation results show that bank size significantly and positively influence the bank profitability while the asset management inversely affects the bank profitability. For future studies, it is recommended that more sample size and determinant factors can be included in determining the impact on bank's profitability

COST ANALYSIS OF CATH LAB PROCEDURES DONE AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF NORTH INDIA

Cardiovascular Diseases in the community as a whole call for a detailed cost analysis of invasive procedures done in our hospital to have a broad over- view of financial implications these diseases have on people. Methodology:A prospective observational study was carried out for a period of one year to do a cost analysis of invasive cardiac procedures done at our hospital. Results:Costs were divided into direct and in-direct costs. It was found that CAG was the most expensive of all the procedures and material cost incurred was the highest followed by the rest. Conclusion: A well planned team approach is needed to manage these cases within the financial reach of general masses

Optimized Kalman filters for sensorless vector control induction motor drives

This paper presents the comparison between optimized unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and optimized extended Kalman filter (EKF) for sensorless direct field orientation control induction motor (DFOCIM) drive. The high performance of UKF and EKF depends on the accurate selection of state and noise covariance matrices. For this goal, multi objective function genetic algorithm is used to find the optimal values of state and noise covariance matrices. The main objectives of genetic algorithm to be minimized are the mean square errors (MSE) between actual and estimation of speed, current, and flux. Simulation results show the optimal state and noise covariance matrices can improve the estimation of speed, current, torque, and flux in sensorless DFOCIM drive. Furthermore, optimized UKF present higher performance of state estimation than optimized EKF under different motor operating conditions

Minimizing Asymmetric Information in Online Markets through Knowledge Management

This article is about the role of knowledge management in minimizing the asymmetric information in online business. The asymmetry of information is the prime concern in online markets where consumer and seller are located in distant locations and they cannot see each other.  The success of ecommerce business depends heavily on the minimization of asymmetric information between the seller and buyers. As the online business is done through codified knowledge and it is easy to manage the codified knowledge so by efficient use of KM principles and processes it has now become easy to minimize the asymmetric information among the seller and buyers. The article discusses the types of asymmetric information which can ne be minimized through use of codified online knowledge. 

Conceptual model of cost-benefit analysis for monetary and non-monetary items in industrialised building system (IBS) project

Industrialised Building System (IBS) is known as a construction system that consists of a combination of components manufactured either on-site or off-site then positioned and assembled into structures. Among the benefits of IBS construction includes labour cost reduction, support desirable environment; maximize efficient use of resources and waste minimisation towards sustainable construction. However, the Malaysian construction industry still has a low take-up rate on IBS construction. The benefits of IBS are more reliable to be presented in a tangible (monetary) value and intangible (nonmonetary) basis rather than descriptive benefits. Hence, to promote the project's viability via IBS, Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) can be used to identify the soft issue or non-direct cost and elicits more transparency in IBS projects. This paper presents the conceptual review of the fundamental theory of CBA on the measurement of cost and benefits that can be converted as a weighing impact for an IBS project. An initial conceptual model known as CBA-IBS model is proposed as an approach that a decision maker can use to find the balance between the amount of effort invested in the initial cost of IBS construction and the realised revenues. This study concluded that CBA is able to foster the viability of IBS in more comprehensive criteria of monetary and non-monetary benefits

Size premium, value premium and market timing: evidence from an emerging economy

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the market timing strategy in different market conditions (i.e. up, down, normal and in-financial-crisis situation) in the emerging market of Pakistan over the period 1995 to 2015. Furthermore, this study tests the validity of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and Fama and French model. Design/methodology/approach - This study considers monthly stock returns of 167 firms and constructs six different portfolios on the basis of different size and book to market ratio. The Treynor and Mazuy model is used to capture the market timing strategy. Findings - The results indicate evidence of the market timing in normal market conditions. However, there is less supportive evidence of market timing in up-market, down-market and in-financial-crisis situations. This study also confirms the validity of the capital asset pricing model and Fama and French three-factor model with strong support of value premium and size premium in the stock market. Practical implications - The findings of this study are helpful to companies in estimating the cost of issuing equity more accurately. The investors can use market timing to make their investment in a more better and profitable manner. Originality/value - Unlike other previous studies, this study considers an extended period to test the validity of the capital asset pricing model and Fama and French model. In addition, this study is novel in testing the marketing timing of the firms in the context of emerging economy of Pakistan.Objetivo - Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar la estrategia de sincronización del mercado en diferentes condiciones de mercado (es decir, situación al alza, a la baja, normal y en situación de crisis financiera) en el mercado emergente de Pakistán durante el período 1995 a 2015. Además, este estudio prueba la validez de la modelo de valoración de activos de capital (CAPM) y modelo Fama y francés. Diseño / metodología / enfoque - Este estudio considera los rendimientos mensuales de las acciones de 167 empresas y construye seis carteras diferentes sobre la base de diferentes tamaños y relaciones entre libros y mercado. El modelo de Treynor y Mazuy se utiliza para capturar la estrategia de sincronización del mercado. Recomendaciones - Los resultados indican evidencia de la sincronización del mercado en condiciones normales de mercado. Sin embargo, hay menos evidencia de apoyo de la sincronización del mercado en situaciones de mercado al alza, a la baja y en situaciones de crisis financiera. Este estudio también confirma la validez del modelo de fijación de precios de los activos de capital y el modelo de tres factores de Fama y el francés con un fuerte apoyo de la prima de valor y la prima de tamaño en el mercado de valores. Implicaciones prácticas - Los hallazgos de este estudio son útiles para que las empresas estimen con mayor precisión el costo de emisión de acciones. Los inversores pueden utilizar la sincronización del mercado para hacer su inversión de una manera mejor y más rentable. Originalidad / valor - A diferencia de otros estudios anteriores, este estudio considera un período extendido para probar la validez del modelo de valoración de activos de capital y el modelo francés y de Fama. Además, este estudio es novedoso al probar el momento de comercialización de las empresas en el contexto de la economía emergente de Pakistán

Differentially Private Release of Heterogeneous Network for Managing Healthcare Data

With the increasing adoption of digital health platforms through mobile apps and online services, people have greater flexibility connecting with medical practitioners, pharmacists, and laboratories and accessing resources to manage their own health-related concerns. Many healthcare institutions are connecting with each other to facilitate the exchange of healthcare data, with the goal of effective healthcare data management. The contents generated over these platforms are often shared with third parties for a variety of purposes. However, sharing healthcare data comes with the potential risk of exposing patients’ sensitive information to privacy threats. In this article we address the challenge of sharing healthcare data while protecting patients’ privacy. We first model a complex healthcare dataset using a heterogeneous information network that consists of multi-type entities and their relationships. We then propose DiffHetNet , an edge-based differentially private algorithm, to protect the sensitive links of patients from inbound and outbound attacks in the heterogeneous health network. We evaluate the performance of our proposed method in terms of information utility and efficiency on different types of real-life datasets that can be modeled as networks. Experimental results suggest that DiffHetNet generally yields less information loss and is significantly more efficient in terms of runtime in comparison with existing network anonymization methods. Furthermore, DiffHetNet is scalable to large network datasets

The Effect of Leverage on Financial Health of the Firms: A Study from Cement Industry of Pakistan

This research paper has tried to measure the relationship between leverage and profitability of firms in the cement industry of Pakistan. Debt to equity is used to measure the leverage of the companies in the cement industry in Pakistan. Short term debt to equity (STD/E) and long term debt to equity (LTD/E) are considered as leverage variables .Return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) are used to measure the financial performance of the companies. For this research paper 10 cement companies are considered, listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange during the time period 2008-2012. To measure the relationship between leverage and profitability of firms in the cement industry of Pakistan regression model and descriptive statistics have been used. Our results found negative and significant relationship between leverage and profitability of the firm. Keywords: Leverage, Profitability, Cement industry, Capital Structur

Phenotypic Diversity among Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare) Germplasm of Pakistan

Fennel is facing continuous challenge with reference to biotic and abiotic stresses that can be solved with the knowledge of available germplasm of fennel in the country or worldwide. Selection of fennel genotype on the basis of research interest can never been accomplished without gene pool. The aim of the present study was to explore the phenotypic diversity among selective fennel accession and identify lines having high yielding potential. In the present study thirty fennel accessions were sown in PGRI, NARC. Irrigation practice was carried out during the growing period. Data was recorded during different growth stages and after harvesting. Nine morphological parameters under study include plant height, number of umbels/plant, umbel diameter, rays produced/umbel, fruits produced/umble, fruit color and fruit shape. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA, Tukey Honest Significance Test and Multivariate cluster Analysis using Minitab Software version 20.0. High diversity was observed among the quantitative traits of thirty accessions. Qualitative traits of accessions from similar region had considerable resemblance. Fennel germplasm collected from Punjab gives outstanding performance with reference to phenotypic traits. Accessions were identified as potential sources including: 21293 (maximum plant height, Punjab, Jhang, Chiniot), 21209 ( great height, Punjab, Faisalabad), 21737 (short height, Punjab, Layyah, Karore Chak-84) 21699 (maximum number of rays/umbel, Punjab, Pakpattan) and 21722 (maximum number of umbels , Punjab, Narowal, Talwandi Bhandran in short 21722 due to high yield was identified as potential sources to be included in future breeding programs for the improvement of fennel varieties