345 research outputs found
Main determinants of financial reporting quality in the Lebanese banking sector
The study aims to investigate the potential determinants that may influence the quality of financial reporting of 88 annual reports of a sample of 22 Lebanese banks for the period 2012-2015.
Financial reporting quality index with 40 items was used as the dependent variable, while bank specific characteristics of leverage, size, and profitability as well as corporate governance features of board independence, ownership structure, and board size constitute the independent variables.
Using multivariate OLS model, the results indicate that financial leverage, ownership structure and board size has significant and positive relationship with financial reporting quality. On the other hand, bank size, profitability and board independence were found to be not statistically significant in explaining the quality of financial reporting of banking sector in Lebanon.
The results reveal that better financial reporting quality of the annual reports in banking sector can be achieved by having higher proportion of debts, higher ownership by the shareholders, and higher board size. These findings could be of interest to potential investors, management and regulators in the process of financial reporting quality enhancement.peer-reviewe
The impact of social media usage on performance of the banking sector in Middle East and North Africa countries
Most of the studies on social media usage (SMU) are based on the individual view while some are from the organizational viewpoint. Nevertheless, most of these studies were conducted in developed economies and concentrated on large organizations. However, not many studies have examined the actual impact of SMU on performance of banking sector.
This research, therefore, fills this gap by looking at the SMU -specifically Facebook usage- in the banking sector of twelve different countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The data is drawn from the annual reports of 102 banks as well as from Social-baker database during the period of 2012 – 2016.
Seven simple linear regression models are applied to find the impact of SMU on each facet of bank performance. The results of the research indicated a positive significant impact of SMU on financial and non-financial performance of banks in MENA countries in terms of profitability, growth and environmental performance.
Therefore, this research recommends that managers of the banking sector in MENA countries should be conscious that their banks’ performance could be enhanced by developing capabilities and competences related to SMU and by having a strong intention to use these tools.peer-reviewe
Key polynomials for simple extensions of valued fields
Let be a simple transcendental extension
of valued fields, where is equipped with a valuation of rank 1. That
is, we assume given a rank 1 valuation of and its extension to
. Let denote the valuation ring of . The purpose
of this paper is to present a refined version of MacLane's theory of key
polynomials, similar to those considered by M. Vaqui\'e, and reminiscent of
related objects studied by Abhyankar and Moh (approximate roots) and T.C. Kuo.
Namely, we associate to a countable well ordered set the are called {\bf key
polynomials}. Key polynomials which have no immediate predecessor are
called {\bf limit key polynomials}. Let .
We give an explicit description of the limit key polynomials (which may be
viewed as a generalization of the Artin--Schreier polynomials). We also give an
upper bound on the order type of the set of key polynomials. Namely, we show
that if then the set of key polynomials has
order type at most , while in the case
this order type is bounded above by , where stands
for the first infinite ordinal.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:math/060519
Auditors perceptions towards the effectiveness of the international standard on auditing 240 Red Flags : evidence from Lebanon
Most of the studies on auditors’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of the international standard on auditing 240 Red Flags (RF) were conducted in developed economies.
This research, therefore, fills the gap by aiming to determine whether RF can be helpful for Lebanon certified public accountant (LCPA) working in auditing firms by detecting fraudulent financial reporting (FFR).
Data were collected using a questionnaire that was distributed to a random sample of 130 LCPA. The results support that there is a positive significant association between pressures and FFR occurrence in Lebanon.
However, there were no support for opportunities and attitudes to be associated with FFR occurrence. Moreover, the findings provide a strong evidence that ISA 240 RF for FFR can help external auditors in detecting material mis-statement (MM) due to fraud in Lebanon.
Therefore, the current research recommends LCPA working in the audit firms in Lebanon to focus their efforts more on high quality RF, which will in turn facilitate fraud detection in the financial statements.peer-reviewe
Knowledge and attitude towards mental illness among health and non-health university students in Riyadh
Background: Mental illness can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, and residence. Studying the attitude and knowledge about mental illnesses among university students is important, because they are the future decision makers dealing with such problems. The aim of this study was to assess level of knowledge and attitude towards mental illnesses among health and non-health university students in Riyadh.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study on students of the governmental universities in Riyadh with both health and non-health speciality. The total sample size was 587 students. The questionnaire was designed electronically, and the link was distributed through social media. It included socio-demographic questions, 17 questions to assess knowledge and 22 questions to assess the attitudes. The statistical tests used were chi square, independent sample t-test, spearman’s correlation and multiple linear regression tests.Results: More than half of the participants had a positive attitude toward mental illness (52%). Only 13.46% of university students had good knowledge about mental illness. Significant higher level of good knowledge and positive attitude were reported among health college students compared to non-health (24.7% versus 7.9% for good knowledge and 60.8% versus 48.3 for positive attitude respectively). Attitude towards mental illness can be successfully predicted by using the knowledge score about mental illness and the type of college.Conclusion: Low percentage of university students had good knowledge about mental illness and their attitude towards mental illness was generally positive. Health college students had better attitude and knowledge about mental illness than non-health
Three-centre cluster structure in 11C and 11B
Studies of the 16O(9Be,alpha 7Be)14C, 7Li(9Be,alpha 7Li)5He and 7Li(9Be,alpha
alpha t)5He reactions at E(beam)=70 and 55 MeV have been performed using
resonant particle spectroscopy techniques. The 11C excited states decaying into
alpha+7Be(gs) are observed between 8.5 and 13.5 MeV. The alpha+7Li(gs),
alpha+7Li*(4.652 MeV) and t+8Be(gs) decays of 11B excited states between 9 and
19 MeV are observed. The decay processes are used to indicate the possible
three-centre 2alpha+3He (2alpha+3H) cluster structure of observed states. This
cluster structure is more prominent in the positive-parity states, where two
rotational bands with large deformations are suggested. Excitations of some of
the observed T=1/2 resonances coincide with the energies of previously measured
T=3/2 isobaric analogs of the 11Be states,indicating that these states may have
mixed isospin.Comment: Contribution for the proceedings of the NUSTAR'05: NUclear STructure,
Astrophysics and Reactions, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; accepted for
publication in Journal of Physics
Search for emission of unstable Be clusters from hot Ca and Ni nuclei
The possible occurence of highly deformed configurations is investigated in
the Ca and Ni di-nuclear systems as formed in the Si +
C and Si + Si reactions, respectively, by using the
properties of emitted light charged particles. Inclusive as well as exclusive
data of the heavy fragments (A 6) and their associated light charged
particles (p, d, t, and -particles) have been collected at the IReS
Strasbourg VIVITRON Tandem facility with two bombarding energies
Si) = 112 and 180 MeV by using the ICARE charged particle
multidetector array, which consists of nearly 40 telescopes. The measured
energy spectra, velocity distributions, in-plane and out-of-plane angular
correlations are analysed by Monte Carlo CASCADE statistical-model calculations
using a consistent set of parameters with spin-dependent level densities.
Although significant deformation effects at high spin are needed, the remaining
disagreement observed in the Si + C reaction for the S
evaporation residue suggests an unexpected large unstable Be cluster
emission of a binary nature.Comment: 13 pages latex, 9 eps figures. Paper presented at the XXXIX
International Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio(Italy) January 22-27,
2001 (to be published at Ricerca Scientifica ed Educazione Permanente
ACE2 polymorphisms impact COVID-19 severity in obese patients
A strong association between obesity and COVID-19 complications and a lack of prognostic factors that explain the unpredictable severity among these patients still exist despite the various vaccination programs. The expression of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the main receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is enhanced in obese individuals. The occurrence of frequent genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ACE2 is suggested to increase COVID-19 severity. Accordingly, we hypothesize that obesity-associated ACE2 polymorphisms increase the severity of COVID-19. In this study, we profiled eight frequently reported ACE2 SNPs in a cohort of lean and obese COVID-19 patients (n = 82). We highlight the significant association of rs2285666, rs2048683, rs879922, and rs4240157 with increased severity in obese COVID-19 patients as compared to lean counterparts. These co-morbid-associated SNPs tend to positively correlate, hence proposing possible functional cooperation to ACE2 regulation. In obese COVID-19 patients, rs2285666, rs879922, and rs4240157 are significantly associated with increased blood nitrogen urea and creatinine levels. In conclusion, we highlight the contribution of ACE2 SNPs in enhancing COVID-19 severity in obese individuals. The results from this study provide a basis for further investigations required to shed light on the underlying mechanisms of COVID-19 associated SNPs in COVID-19 obese patients
Structure of 12Be: intruder d-wave strength at N=8
The breaking of the N=8 shell-model magic number in the 12Be ground state has
been determined to include significant occupancy of the intruder d-wave
orbital. This is in marked contrast with all other N=8 isotones, both more and
less exotic than 12Be. The occupancies of the 0 hbar omega neutron p1/2-orbital
and the 1 hbar omega, neutron d5/2 intruder orbital were deduced from a
measurement of neutron removal from a high-energy 12Be beam leading to bound
and unbound states in 11Be.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
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