Does digital transformation matter for operational risk exposure?

Basel Committee recommends banks maintain a capital buffer for operational risk exposure based on business volumes, assuming aggressive actions for quicker business growth could increase risk exposures. We argue that technological innovations expose banks to more operational risk because technology helps increase business volume, but system failure, problems with internal processes, and disruptions from external and internal security threats are inherent to technology. Based on 10 years of data for 264 banks from 43 countries, we find that digitalized banking operation is an underlying driver of operational risk that comes with increased business volume. Banks proactively take more operational risks by increasing cyber spending to tackle FinTech competition in the digitalized economy. Digitalization could generally matter for operational risk exposure, but the natural experiment does not find cybersecurity threats per se could increase operational risks even though cybersecurity appears to be a serious threat to digital banking. The study creates new avenues for future research

Inter-Code Comparison of Computational VERA Depletion Benchmark Using OpenMC, OpenMC-ONIX and DRAGON

This research focuses on the comparative analysis of the PWR fuel assembly based on VERA depletion benchmark problems using community-developed open source Monte Carlo code OpenMC, python based burnup code system ONIX (a coupling interface for Monte Carlo code OpenMC), and deterministic DRAGON code. The depletion analysis was performed using OpenMC and ONIX with ENDF/B-VII.1 nuclear data library, and DRAGON with SHEM-361 based DRAGLIB format library (ENDF/B-VII.1). The code-to-code analysis on the evolution of , atom number density, and power distribution as a function of burnup has been performed and the result shows a good agreement with the maximum difference within 200 pcm at EOC. However small discrepancy around 90 pcm has been observed in  calculated by DRAGON compared to OpenMC in the presence of integral fuel burnable absorbers (IFBA). The above-mentioned codes have been validated successfully for the first time against PWR fuel assembly based on VERA depletion benchmark problems. It can be concluded that initial implementation of these codes at the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering under Military Institute of Science and Technology, Dhaka, was successful and that further research works are to be performed to utilize these codes for depletion/neutronics calculation of existing 3MW TRIGA Mark-II research reactor and VVER-type power reactor that is to be commissioned in Bangladesh

Erratum: Flt3L dependence helps define an uncharacterized subset of murine cutaneous dendritic cells

[No abstract available

Flt3L dependence helps define an uncharacterized subset of murine cutaneous dendritic cells

Skin-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells with critical roles in both adaptive immunity and tolerance to self. Skin DCs carry antigens and constitutively migrate to the skin-draining lymph nodes (LNs). In mice, Langerin-CD11b- dermal DCs are a low-frequency, heterogeneous, migratory DC subset that traffics to LNs (Langerin-CD11b- migDCs). Here, we build on the observation that Langerin-CD11b- migDCs are Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) dependent and strongly Flt3L responsive, which may relate them to classical DCs. Examination of DC capture of FITC from painted skin, DC isolation from skin explant culture, and from the skin of CCR7 knockout mice, which accumulate migDCs, demonstrate these cells are cutaneous residents. Langerin-CD11b- Flt3L-responsive DCs are largely CD24(+) and CX 3 CR1 low and can be depleted from Zbtb46-DTR mice, suggesting classical DC lineage. Langerin-CD11b- migDCs present antigen with equal efficiency to other DC subsets ex vivo, including classical CD8α cDCs and Langerin+CD103+ dermal DCs. Finally, transcriptome analysis suggests a close relationship with other skin DCs, and a lineage relationship with other classical DCs. This work demonstrates that Langerin- CD11b- dermal DCs, a previously overlooked cell subset, may be an important contributor to the cutaneous immune environment

Limnology of Chanda beel

A limno-biological investigation was conducted in Chanda beel over a period of 8 months from June ‘95 to January ‘96. The floodplain showed temporal spatial and vertical variation in physico-chemical as well as biological conditions. During study period, physico-chemical parameters were within the suitable range for fish culture. Plankton population was higher in true beel areas. Both phytoplankton and zooplankton showed direct relationship among themselves. Presence of several indication plankton genera showed that the floodplain was eutrophic in nature

SNR Improvement and Bandwidth Optimization Technique Using PCM-DSSS Encryption Scheme

Cryptography, the scheme of information stashing and verification, entirely deals with protocols, algorithms and strategies to ensure the precise security facility of the signal consistently by hindering unauthorized access to the confidential information. Albeit in most of the encryption schemes, certain impediments are faced by the service providers such as the expansion of required bandwidth, the fragile encryption technique, the consumption of maximum bandwidth in security purpose, less priority to improvement of SNR of the system, the complexity in decryption and so forth.  This paper illustrates the SNR enhancement & bandwidth optimization technique in security purpose using PCM- DSSS sample by sample encryption scheme. For this purpose, after sampling of a signal, simple mathematical operation is performed in each sample with a time varying arbitrary weights. This arbitrary weight can be obtained from D/A conversion of pseudo noise sequence. Since the bandwidth consumption in security purpose can be minimized in this scheme, a significant portion of unused bandwidth can be used to improve the SNR of the system by reducing quantization noise of encrypted samples. By the same token, the possibility of SNR improvement is demonstrated by reckoning the quantization noise while introducing additional quantization step

Corporate governance structure and climate‐related financial disclosure: conventional banks versus Islamic banks

This paper examines whether the different corporate governance structures of conventional banks (CBs) and Islamic banks (IBs) have varying effects on their respective climate-related disclosure (CRD). Employing a unique dataset of CBs and IBs' CRD and corporate governance structures for the period of 2016–2019, we found that their respective corporate governance structures did indeed affect their CRD in different ways. Our findings suggest that CBs disclose more climate-related information than IBs because IBs focus on Sharia compliance which does not emphasise the protection of the environment, while CBs may be more responsive to shareholders' and stakeholders' demands on climate and environment. These effects were stronger with the quality of governance, that is, CBs disclose more climate-related information with the governance quality, while IBs disclose even less when their governance quality increases. The findings of this study have important implications for climate change, especially the Paris Accord and The 26th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP26). There are also policy implications for sustainable financial markets and the financial services sector

Plasmonic temperature sensor using D-shaped photonic crystal fiber

Peer reviewe

CEO Turnover in Large Banks: Does Tail Risk Matter?

Using a unique international dataset, we show that the CEOs of large banks exhibit an increased probability of forced turnover when their organizations are more exposed to idiosyncratic tail risks. The importance of idiosyncratic tail risk in CEO dismissals is strengthened when there is more competition in the banking industry and when stakeholders have more to lose in the case of distress. Overall, we document that the exposure to idiosyncratic tail risk offers valuable signals to bank boards on the quality of the choices made by CEOs and these signals are different from those provided by accounting and market measures of bank performance and by idiosyncratic volatility. In contrast, systematic tail risk is usually filtered out from the firing decision, only becoming important for forced CEO turnovers in the presence of a major variation in the costs that the exposure to this risk generates for shareholders and the organization