Financial Development And Growth In Middle Eastern Countries

This paper studies the relationship between financial intermediation and economic growth in a sample of Middle Eastern countries.  The results are consistent with the hypothesis that a well-functioning banking system promotes economic growth.  Moreover, the results suggest that market-specific factors may hinder financial markets’ ability to play hypothesized roles, while enhancing the role of intermediaries.  The paper’s general conclusion is that financial development does affect economic growth.  However, market specific factors affect the magnitude and significance of this effect.  The implication is that studies should control for market-specific factors to assess the relationship between financial development and growth

Consideration of Administrative Monetary Penalties in Nuclear Safety and Security

An Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) is a penalty imposed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), without court involvement for a violation of a regulatory requirement. An AMP can be applied against any individual or corporation subject to the Nuclear Safety Control Act, which regulates the development, production and use of nuclear energy and the production, possession and use of nuclear and radioactive material. However, AMPs are not the same as criminal offences. They are civil sanctions which try to secure compliance through the application of monetary penalties for non-compliance with regulatory requirements. The AMP program was introduced in 2013 in Canada and to this date over 30 penalties have been issued. In all of these cases, the violations were related to handling and security of radioactive material. Based on these issued penalties investigations were conducted to discover pros and cons of the AMP system and to propose potential improvements for future implementation. This paper also addresses some of the complicated issues of the system, such as the economic aspect of the process, and the subjectivity and relative ease of issuing these penalties. In order to improve nuclear security in Canada, the regulator must be aware of possible violations of the Nuclear Safety Control Act and work on prevention of these violations. It is postulated that current AMP policy may not motivate individuals or corporations to report violations. The paper gives recommendations on modifications which could be implemented to motivate self – identification of violation, and give significant benefit to the AMP system. Other than the issued AMPs, the paper will analyze data obtained through the survey conducted on human readiness to self – identify violations in the nuclear industry under different circumstances. This confirms that the modified AMP policy would improve the body of knowledge and provide significant information on violations of the Nuclear Safety Control Act and improve nuclear security

Consolidation, Concentration, And Valuation In The Banking Industry

We assess whether gains in wealth associated with bank consolidation are the result of reduced competition by examining effects of merger announcements on values of bidders, targets and rivals. The results suggest that gains in wealth are not due to increases in market power at the level of individual banks. Specifically, we find that returns to bidders, targets and rivals are unrelated to the effects of mergers on concentration

Bank Acquisition Announcements And Intra-Industry Effects

In this paper we attempt to assess whether gains in wealth associated with bank consolidation are the result of economic efficiencies by analyzing effects of bank merger announcements on the values of bidders, targets, and rival banks in the target’s geographical area.  We find target banks earn positive returns, while bidding banks sustain negative returns at acquisition announcement. These findings are consistent with previously reported results in the bank consolidation literature.  We also find rival banks earn positive returns that are enhanced when the target bank is in distress. We suggest the results are consistent with the view that investors interpret acquisition announcements as positive, geographically specific signals that may, in turn, reflect event-specific or bank-specific characteristics rather than expectations of increased efficiencies

Experiences with Teaching Nuclear Security Professional Development Courses for Health Physicists

Health physicists are professionals that are experts in the recognition, evaluation, and control of health hazards to permit the safe use and application of radiation. They typically have broad knowledge in radiation (ionizing and non-ionizing), biology, ecology and safety. With this wealth expertise we believe the health physicists would be useful partners in an effective security culture. As such over three years, a total of seven professional enrichment courses have been offered by the authors to health physics and radiation protection professionals, both nationally and internationally. Five have been through the Health Physics Society meetings, one through the International Radiation Protection Association meeting, and one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This paper will briefly introduce these courses and will include learning objectives and descriptions of courses’ content. There was limited documented course participant feedback with only 1 of the 7 courses having documented course evaluations. Through both written and verbal feedback to the instructors it was clear the courses were well received

Musculoskeletal Sarcoidosis and Rheumatoid Factor

Articular manifestations of sarcoidosis were present in 19 of our 60 patients (32%). This correlates with previously reported studies. In all of our cases but one, the articular manifestations subsided in eight weeks. This fact and the absence of hyperuricemia are in contradistinction to other studies for which we have no adequate explanation

Problem Solving Booths Report

Community Social Design. Working with a range of organisations including, Public Health England, Health London Partnership, Mayor of London, London Councils, 'Street to Scale', Thrive London, and OWLs we developed a number of research activities activities which included the development of mental health public engagement tools, creating instructions for citizens to build their own versions of the tools and creating animations as instructions for the projects website. We also designed an event based public engagement activity on the Piccadilly line in London with the Metropolitan Police with the general public. Herewith is the report, generated by Thrive LDN, a partner in the project, documenting some of the methods, research and the deployment of the objects and services that were created through the project

Estimating Soil Moisture Under Low Frequency Surface Irrigation Using Crop Water Stress Index

The present study investigated the relationship between the crop water stress index (CWSI) and soil moisture for surface irrigated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, Delta Pine 90b) at Maricopa, Arizona during the 1998 season. The CWSI was linked to soil moisture through the water stress coefficient Ks that accounts for reduced crop evapotranspiration when there is a shortage of soil water. A stress recovery coefficient Krec was introduced to account for reduced crop evapotranspiration as the crop recovered from water stress after irrigation events. A soil water stress index (SWSI) was derived in terms of Ks and Krec . The SWSI compared reasonably well to the CWSI, but atmospheric stability correction for the CWSI did not improve comparisons. When the CWSI was substituted into the SWSI formulation, it gave good prediction of soil moisture depletion (fDEP; when to irrigate) and depth of root zone depletion (Dr ; how much to irrigate). Disagreement was greatest for fDEP\u3c0.6 because cotton is less sensitive to water stress in this range

i-Soapbox

The i-Soapbox is a working prototype that spatialises - places - political speech