The Efficiency of Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from the MENA and Asian Countries Islamic Banking Sectors

The paper investigates the efficiency of the Islamic banking sectors in 16 MENA and Asian countries during the period of 2001-2006. The efficiency estimates of individual banks are evaluated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The results suggest that the MENA Islamic banks have exhibited higher mean technical efficiency relative to their Asian Islamic bank counterparts.with pure technical inefficiency outweighs scale inefficiency in both the MENA and Asian countries banking sectors. The empirical findings also indicate that banks from the MENA region were the most efficient banks by dominating the top part of efficiency frontier over the period.Islamic Banks, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Schur Polynomials and the Yang-Baxter equation

We show that within the six-vertex model there is a parametrized Yang-Baxter equation with nonabelian parameter group GL(2)xGL(1) at the center of the disordered regime. As an application we rederive deformations of the Weyl character formule of Tokuyama and of Hamel and King.Comment: Revised introduction; slightly changed reference

The Efficiency of Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from the MENA and Asian Countries Islamic Banking Sectors

The paper investigates the efficiency of the Islamic banking sectors in 16 MENA and Asian countries during the period of 2001-2006. The efficiency estimates of individual banks are evaluated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The results suggest that the MENA Islamic banks have exhibited higher mean technical efficiency relative to their Asian Islamic bank counterparts.with pure technical inefficiency outweighs scale inefficiency in both the MENA and Asian countries banking sectors. The empirical findings also indicate that banks from the MENA region were the most efficient banks by dominating the top part of efficiency frontier over the period

The Efficiency of Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from the MENA and Asian Countries Islamic Banking Sectors

The paper investigates the efficiency of the Islamic banking sectors in 16 MENA and Asian countries during the period of 2001-2006. The efficiency estimates of individual banks are evaluated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The results suggest that the MENA Islamic banks have exhibited higher mean technical efficiency relative to their Asian Islamic bank counterparts.with pure technical inefficiency outweighs scale inefficiency in both the MENA and Asian countries banking sectors. The empirical findings also indicate that banks from the MENA region were the most efficient banks by dominating the top part of efficiency frontier over the period

Hopf algebras and Markov chains: Two examples and a theory

The operation of squaring (coproduct followed by product) in a combinatorial Hopf algebra is shown to induce a Markov chain in natural bases. Chains constructed in this way include widely studied methods of card shuffling, a natural "rock-breaking" process, and Markov chains on simplicial complexes. Many of these chains can be explictly diagonalized using the primitive elements of the algebra and the combinatorics of the free Lie algebra. For card shuffling, this gives an explicit description of the eigenvectors. For rock-breaking, an explicit description of the quasi-stationary distribution and sharp rates to absorption follow.Comment: 51 pages, 17 figures. (Typographical errors corrected. Further fixes will only appear on the version on Amy Pang's website, the arXiv version will not be updated.

Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change

Personalized peptide-based vaccination for treatment of colorectal cancer: rational and progress

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers globally and is associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. A large proportion of patients with early stage CRC who undergo conventional treatments develop local recurrence or distant metastasis and in this group of advanced disease, the survival rate is low. Furthermore there is often a poor response and/or toxicity associated with chemotherapy and chemo-resistance may limit continuing conventional treatment alone. Choosing novel and targeted therapeutic approaches based on clinicopathological and molecular features of tumors in combination with conventional therapeutic approach could be used to eradicate residual micrometastasis and therefore improve patient prognosis and also be used preventively. Peptide-based vaccination therapy is one class of cancer treatment that could be used to induce tumor-specific immune responses, through the recognition of specific antigen-derived peptides in tumor cells, and this has emerged as a promising anti-cancer therapeutic strategy. The aim of this review was to summarize the main findings of recent studies in exciting field of peptide-based vaccination therapy in CRC patients as a novel therapeutic approach in treatment of CRC

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Fitting multiphasic logistic functions to the lactation curves of Gir x Friesian crossbred dairy cattle in Malaysia

The data used in this study consisted of milk yield (kg) taken at approximately fortnightly intervals from Gir x Friesian crossbred dairy cattle raised at Institut Haiwan Kluang, Malaysia. The data were first edited, smoothed and then fitted with mono-, di- and triphasic logistic functions. In general, parameter estimates for the first lactation were reasonable. However, for the second lactation the estimates were erratic and unreasonable because this was the atypical lactation for which the multiphasic functions were obviously unsuitable. Residual mean squares for the di- and triphasic functions of the first lactation were very similar (0.0002 and 0.0004, respectively) and smaller for the monophasic function (0.0894). For the second lactation, residual mean squares for the triphasic function (0.001) was the lowest compared to those for the mono- and diphasic functions (0.0345 and 0.0315). For the first lactation, the monophasic function did not fit the data well because it had large residuals. The di- and triphasic functions were almost similar in fitting the lactation and had low residuals. For the second lactation, both the mono- and diphasic functions did not fit the data very well and had rather large residuals. The triphasic function was the most fitting and had small residuals. Derived functions were generally lower for the first lactation than the second lactation: initial milk yields (4.88 to 6.0 kg versus 9.9 to 11.8 kg);  peak milk yields (5.8 to 9.6 kg versus 12.8 to 15.7 kg) and 305-day milk yields (1147.7 to 1328.6 kg versus 1687.4 to 2296.1 kg)