The impact of liquidity risk determinants on profitability: An empirical study on islamic banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain

The sustainability of the banking system depends on the profitability and capital adequacy. Practically, profitability and liquidity are effective indicators of the corporate health and performance of not only the Islamic commercial banks but all profit-oriented ventures. Therefore, liquidity risk is considered as one of the serious concerns and challenges for modern era banks. As the global financial crisis spread, Islamic banks in Kingdom of Bahrain began to be affected; all of a sudden, some of the biggest Islamic banks, such as the Bahrain Islamic Bank, the Gulf Finance House and the Ithmar Bank, ended up with net losses. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the significant determinants of liquidity risk on the profitability of Islamic commercial banks in Bahrain during the 2007-2013 periods as well as to assess the impact of the global financial crisis on the profitability of these banks during the recovery period. Multiple regressions analysis was applied. By using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) the results revealed that all the independent variables are significant with both models ROA and ROE except financial leverage and deposits have a statistically insignificant impact on ROA- Capital adequacy, financial leverage, deposits and GDP have a positive and significant impact; whereas bank size and the global financial crisis have a negative impact and are statistically significant. From these results, it is recommended that these banks control and manage properly these variables in order to create a high level of liquidity in the banks which would achieve a good profitability, leading to the sustainability of the financial banking syste

Comparaison of rabies virus purification using different methods

Rabies is a viral zoonosis caused by negative-stranded RNA viruses of the Lyssavirus genus. It can affect all mammals including humans. Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans. Infection causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mainly in Asia and Africa. Most of these victims are children under the age of 15. Vaccination against rabies is still the sole way to fight against the disease. The aim of this work is to compare the purity of rabies vaccine purified by zonal centrifugation and chromatographic methods, in terms of residual DNA level, host cell protein (HCP) level and the overall recovery yield. For this purpose, Vero cells were grown under animal component free conditions, on Cytodex 1 microcarriers in VP-SFM medium. Vero cell growth and virus production were previously optimized; studies were conducted in a 7-L bioreactor. Virus replication phase was conducted using perfusion culture mode, viral harvests obtained through the culture were clarified, inactivated by BPL (Beta-propiolactone) and then pooled. The pooled harvests were purified by zonal centrifugation on a sucrose density gradient. The fractions of interest (11 in total) were pooled and checked for their antigenic activity according to the NIH potency test. They showed an activity of 61 UI/ml. The yield obtained was around 60%. To improve the overall yield, we have tested during a previous work several chromatography matrices (Sephacryl S200, Sephacryl S300, Sepharose 4FF,...). However the yield obtained was not high, around 40% in the best case. To improve this performance, we tested the Capto Core 700 (GE Healthcare Life Sciences) which a matrice that had a dual-functionality: size separation and binding chromatography, and was specially designed for the purification of large biological products such as viruses. The use of this matrice to purify rabies virus resulted in a yield of 84.5%, which was 2-fold and 1.5 fold higher than that obtained using chromatographic columns or zonal centrifugation, respectively. We also tested Monolytic chromatographic (CIMmultus™ QA-8 Advanced Composite Column) from BIA Separation. Such kind of media represents a new generation of chromatographic matrices with efficient mass transfer and better hydrodynamic properties. This allows fast and efficient separation of large molecules such as DNA and viruses. In our case, we were able to increase the purification yield to values close to 94%. It was the highest yield obtained compared to other methods used. Currently the content of the purified fractions collected using the different methods is analyzed to estimate the efficiency of DNA and HCP removal

Resiliency of Smart Power Meters to Common Security Attacks

AbstractThe development of Smart Grid power systems is gaining momentum in many countries leading to massive deployment of smart meters to realize the envisioned benefits. However, there are several concerns among the consumer communities and the service providers with respect to information security when it comes to the deployment of smart meters. This paper attempts to address the main challenge related to smart grid information security by examining the resiliency of smart meters to security threats and attacks. Several common information security attacks are being used to study their impact on the performance of smart meters in a controlled laboratory environment. Results obtained showed drastic effect on the functionality of smart meters and their associated data gathering servers

Manganese Induces Oxidative Stress, Redox State Unbalance and Disrupts Membrane Bound ATPases on Murine Neuroblastoma Cells In Vitro: Protective Role of Silymarin

Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element required for ubiquitous enzymatic reactions. Chronic overexposure to this metal may promote potent neurotoxic effects. The mechanism of Mn toxicity is not well established, but several studies indicate that oxidative stress play major roles in the Mn-induced neurodegenerative processes. Silymarin (SIL) has antioxidant properties and stabilizes intracellular antioxidant defense systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxic effects of MnCl2 on the mouse neuroblastoma cell lines (Neuro-2A), to characterize the toxic mechanism associated with Mn exposure and to investigate whether SIL could efficiently protect against neurotoxicity induced by Mn. A significant increase in LDH release activity was observed in Neuro-2A cells associated with a significant decrease in cellular viability upon 24 h exposure to MnCl2 at concentrations of 200 and 800 μM (P < 0.05) when compared with control unexposed cells. In addition, exposure cells to MnCl2 (200 and 800 μM), increases oxidant biomarkers and alters enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidant systems. SIL treatment significantly reduced the levels of LDH, nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species and the oxidants/antioxidants balance in Neuro-2A cells as compared to Mn-exposed cells. These results suggested that silymarin is a powerful antioxidant through a mechanism related to its antioxidant activity, able to interfere with radical-mediated cell death. SIL may be useful in diseases known to be aggravated by reactive oxygen species and in the development of novel treatments for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer or Parkinson diseases

Development of a vaccine production platform for poultry diseases in Africa: Newcastle Disease Virus non-replicative adenovirus-vectored vaccine

Poultry are a vital village livestock playing an important economic and nutritional role in the livelihoods of poor rural households in developing countries, including the Sub-Saharan Africa. Poultry production in Africa is threatened by infectious diseases such as Newcastle Disease (ND), which is highly contagious and endemic, with recurrent outbreaks that provoke heavy losses every year. ND is caused by the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), a negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus from the genus Avulavirus, family Paramyxoviridae. In particular, ND is one of the major problems in village chickens in most parts of Ethiopia where commercial poultry is routinely vaccinated with inactivated or live vaccines. Available ND vaccines are produced in specific pathogen free chicken embryonated eggs, whose supply is expensive and imported from Europe. The development and execution of the present project, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Center and presently in its initial phase, aims towards the implementation at the National Veterinary Institute (NVI), Ethiopia, of a technological platform for the production of veterinary vaccines based on the development of recombinant non-replicating adenoviral vectors, using the human adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5). The ND adenovirus vaccine proposed, expressing protective antigens from ND virus (NDV), will provide an efficient and cost-effective system to address the limitations associated with the current vaccines such as efficacy and virus shedding in flocks of vaccinated birds. The key success factor of the project relies on the development of a robust and cost-effective production platform using serum-free suspension HEK293 adapted cells expressing maximized rAd5 product yields. This will be achieved by augmenting the production cell mass and the cellular productivity beyond cell densities of 6 million cells per mL. Critical parameters and operating conditions impacting the yield and quality of the Ad vaccine will be identified and elevated in a rational process operating strategy that will lead to high-cell density productive infection in bioreactors. Process development and scale-up will be followed by a downstream processing, evaluation of immunogenicity, formulation and stability assays, and protective capacity assessments after viral challenge in the target animals. Recombinant adenoviruses have been generated carrying the NDV coding sequences for the fusion (F) or the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) proteins, and also for co-expression of both genes in a bicistronic construction. Phylogenetic analyses were primarily conducted to ensure a high degree of sequence identity of the genes cloned with the genoype of locally circulating strains. Recombinant protein expression was also designed and analyzed under different regulatory sequences aiming for selection of the most immunogenic variant. Following the initial phases of project execution, the subsequent steps will define the final parameters for high-cell density infection and rAd5 production for the animal studies. Here we discuss in detail the completed and upcoming project steps as well as the different strategies implemented to achieve the set objectives supporting the main goal of sustainable technology transfer and capacity building of the NVI in Ethiopia

The effects of pre-task music on exercise performance and associated psycho-physiological responses: a systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis of controlled studies

This systematic review summarized the studies that examined the pre-task music effects on performance aspects and quantitatively analyzed their outcomes. A systematic search for controlled studies investigating the acute effects of pre-task music on physical performance, cognitive aspects and associated psycho-physiological responses was performed through Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases up to 17 May 2023, with thirty studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Data was analyzed using the robust multilevel meta-analysis model of standardized mean difference "SMD" with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and prediction intervals (PI) were reported. Pre-task music induced improvements of completion time (SMD = -0.24; 95% CI = -0.46 to -0.01; PI = -0.82 to 0.35; p = 0.04), relative mean power (RMP) (SMD = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.16 to 0.60; PI = -0.36 to 1.12; p = 0.003) and fatigue (SMD = -0.20; 95% CI = -0.32 to -0.09; PI = -0.36 to -0.05; p = 0.01), moderate effects on relative peak power (RPP) (SMD = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.21 to 0.85; PI = -0.42 to 1.48; p = 0.005), and high effect on feeling scale (FS) (SMD = 2.42; 95% CI = 0.52 to 4.31; PI = -11.43 to 16.26; p = 0.03). Greater benefits were recorded in jumping performance in males than females (p = 0.01), and for active than trained subjects for completion time (p = 0.02), RPP (p = 0.02) and RMP (p = 0.03). Larger benefits were obtained for FS post-warming up than after testing (p = 0.04). Self-selected music induced greater effects than pseudo- and pre-selected for performance decrement index (p = 0.05) and FS (p = 0.02). It could be concluded that pre-task music improved psychological responses and fatigue-related symptoms associated with exercise performance enhancement

The Effect of Spatial Ability in Learning From Static and Dynamic Visualizations: A Moderation Analysis in 6-Year-Old Children

Previous studies with adult human participants revealed mixed effects regarding the relation between spatial ability and visual instructions. In this study, we investigated this question in primary young children, and particularly we explored how young children with varying levels of spatial abilities integrate information from both static and dynamic visualizations. Children (M = 6.5 years) were instructed to rate their invested mental effort and reproduce the motor actions presented from static and dynamic 3D visualizations. The results indicated an interaction of spatial ability and type of visualization: high spatial ability children benefited particularly from the animation, while low spatial ability learners did not, confirming therefore the ability-as-enhancer hypothesis. The study suggests that an understanding of children spatial ability is essential to enhance learning from external visualizations

The effects of pre-task music on exercise performance and associated psycho-physiological responses: a systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis of controlled studies

This systematic review summarized the studies that examined the pre-task music effects on performance aspects and quantitatively analyzed their outcomes. A systematic search for controlled studies investigating the acute effects of pre-task music on physical performance, cognitive aspects and associated psycho-physiological responses was performed through Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases up to 17 May 2023, with thirty studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Data was analyzed using the robust multilevel meta-analysis model of standardized mean difference “SMD” with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and prediction intervals (PI) were reported. Pre-task music induced improvements of completion time (SMD = −0.24; 95% CI = −0.46 to −0.01; PI = −0.82 to 0.35; p = 0.04), relative mean power (RMP) (SMD = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.16 to 0.60; PI = −0.36 to 1.12; p = 0.003) and fatigue (SMD = −0.20; 95% CI = −0.32 to −0.09; PI = −0.36 to −0.05; p = 0.01), moderate effects on relative peak power (RPP) (SMD = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.21 to 0.85; PI = −0.42 to 1.48; p = 0.005), and high effect on feeling scale (FS) (SMD = 2.42; 95% CI = 0.52 to 4.31; PI = −11.43 to 16.26; p = 0.03). Greater benefits were recorded in jumping performance in males than females (p = 0.01), and for active than trained subjects for completion time (p = 0.02), RPP (p = 0.02) and RMP (p = 0.03). Larger benefits were obtained for FS post-warming up than after testing (p = 0.04). Self-selected music induced greater effects than pseudo- and pre-selected for performance decrement index (p = 0.05) and FS (p = 0.02). It could be concluded that pre-task music improved psychological responses and fatigue-related symptoms associated with exercise performance enhancement