Inheritance of Plant Height and Other Agronomic Traits in Nine Crosses of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

The USSR is the world leader in production of sunflower seeds harvesting about 4 to 4.5 million hectares per year with production remaining fairly stable since 1960. The US and Argentina rank second and third having planted about 1.6 and 1.3 million hectares during 1981 respectively. Spain, China, Romania, Bulgaria, Australia, and Canada follow in importance. The total amount of land devoted to sunflower production in the world increased from 8.4 million hectares in the 1960\u27s to more than 11.6 million in 1981. Sunflower became a commercial crop· in the US during the late 1960\u27s. Production during the 1970\u27s increased from a few thousand to 2.1 metric tons due to the establishment of markets in Europe and also the development of hybrids, which were higher in yield and oil content. Sunflower is commercially important because it produces more oil per unit land than any other crop in many areas. The crude mea1 obtained after removal of the oi1 has a protein content of 38-40%, making it a valuable protein supplement for poultry, sheep, swine, and cattle. The hulls and heads which remain after the seed is removed can be processed to yield pectin. Some large seed is used whole and roasted seed much like peanuts, whereas some seed is dehull ed and the kerne1s so1d as confectionary nuts . Smaller whole seed is used in rations for pet birds and small animals, as well as in home feeders for wild birds. Breeding programs should be based on sound genetic principles. Estimates of genetic variability and heritability type of gene action, and the number of genes associated with a trait provide useful guidelines to determine the value of source populations and appropriate procedures to use in a breeding program. Genetic variation of characters associated with plant growth, morphological or physiological differences may serve as a basis for development of inbred lines and hybrids with improved agronomic traits. Variability of traits such as plant height, flowering, and maturity can be particularly useful because it allows for development of types adapted to an array of environments and agronomic regions. Plant height is an important characteristic in sunflower production. Yields of tall hybrids can be reduced due to lodging. Lodging as high as 80% was observed in a test of 56 hybrids planted at White, South Dakota, in 1983, emphasizing the importance of short hybrids. Early hybrids can also overcome yield losses caused by flowering during hot dry weather and early frost. Variation among other traits; such as leaf number and internode length, seems to have less apparent value. This research was conducted to study the mode of inheritance of plant height, leaf number, internode length, flowering, and their relationship in crosses of two short inbred lines of sunflower selected from PI 386323 and PI 386316 with a number of inbred lines commonly used in production of sunflower hybrids

Capital Structure Decision, Importance and implementation(The Case of KSE)

Financial management of the capital structure decision is one of the most important decisions. Capital structure decisions in the areas of corporate finance are at the heart of many decisions. These so dividend policies, project financing, the issuance of long-term securities, mergers and financing of copies, and so on. This thesis focuses on the determinants of capital structure for the non-financial firms listed on the Karachi Stock exchange (KSE). The sample period selected for the study was 1993-2002. The effect of five explanatory variables is measured on leverage ratio which is calculated by dividing the total debt by total assets.  We first present some descriptive statistics on our selected variables. The most interesting finding of our descriptive statistics is the highest leverage ratio for textile industry whereas the average profitability of textile industry is negative.  Our explanation of this fact is the continuous year to year understatement to the profit by family controlled firms in the textile industry in order to deprive government of taxes and minority shareholders of dividend. The profit figure is thus negative on average for all years that brings down the equity figure and raises the debt percentage in overall financing. We used five explanatory variables to measure their effect on leverage ratio.  Three of our variables were significantly related to leverage ratio whereas the remaining two variables were not statistically significant in having relationship with the debt ratio.  Our results approve the prediction of trade-off theory in case of tangibility variable whereas the growth (GT) variable confirms the agency theory hypothesis. Size (SZ) variable neither confirms to the prediction of trade-off theory nor to asymmetry of information theory. KEY WORDS; Capital structure, Karachi Stock exchange, Dividend policie

Pricing of Risk, Various Volatility Dynamics and Macroeconomic Exposure of Firm Returns: New Evidence on Age Effect

While investigating the role of age effect in detecting the risks-return tradeoff, various volatility dynamics and macroeconomic exposure of firm returns, this research study employs monthly data from Pakistani stock market for the period from 1998 to 2012. For this purpose, three generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models were functioned: GARCH-M for risks-return tradeoff, GARCH (1, 1) for capturing different volatility dynamics and EGARCH for asymmetric and leverage effect. This study rests on the following outcomes. Firstly, we unravel that age effect is flag rising in the debate of risks-return tradeoff. Secondly, in the course of exploring whether the firm age matters from the context of asymmetry and leverage effect, we find that it is certainly the case. Thirdly, age effect holds considerable role in determining various volatility dynamics. Finally, we expose that macroeconomic variables affect stock returns differently depending upon firm age, signifying the role of age effect. Keywords: firm age, risks-return trade-off, volatility dynamic and macroeconomic exposure. JEL Classifications: G10, G11, G1

Demystifying the role of a state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from the manufacturing sector in Malaysia

The aim of this research is to examine the role of state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance. We employed ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares regressions to analyze the effects of state ownership on firm performance. We go beyond existing research on state ownership by carefully disentangle investment objectives of state-controlled financial institutions. Such state ownership can be classified as profit-oriented and non-profit-oriented, in which the former consider return on investment to be the primary investment objective, whereas the latter prioritizes socio-economic development. We found that profit-oriented state ownership is an effective corporate governance mechanism and provides political patronage to the firm in the form of firm’s specific resources and credit financing. Although nonprofit-oriented state ownership firms also receive similar political patronage, they tend to be associated with inefficiencies such as the free-rider problems, bureaucracies and political intervention in firm management. We conclude that state ownership consists of heterogeneous entities with respect to corporate governance and firm performance

Demistifikacija uloge državnog vlasništva u korporativnom upravljanju i rezultatima poslovanja tvrtki: Dokaz iz proizvodnog sektora Malezije

The aim of this research is to examine the role of state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance. We employed ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares regressions to analyze the effects of state ownership on firm performance.We go beyond existing research on state ownership by carefully disentangle investment objectives of state-controlled financial institutions. Such state ownership can be classified as profit-oriented and non-profit-oriented, in which the former consider return on investment to be the primary investment objective, whereas the latter prioritizes socio-economic development. We found that profit-oriented state ownership is an effective corporate governance mechanism and provides political patronage to the firm in the form of firm’s specific resources and credit financing. Although nonprofit-oriented state ownership firms also receive similar political patronage, they tend to be associated with inefficiencies such as the free-rider problems, bureaucracies and political intervention in firm management. We conclude that state ownership consists of heterogeneous entities with respect to corporate governance and firm performance.Svrha ovog istraživanja je ispitati ulogu državnog vlasništva u korporativnom upravljanju i rezultatima poslovanja tvrtki. Primijenili smo običnu regresiju kvadrata i dvofaznu regresiju najmanjih kvadrata da bismo analizirali učinak državnog vlasništva na performansu tvrtki. Idemo dalje od postojećih istraživanja učinka državnog vlasništva pažljivim razmatranjem ciljeva ulaganja financijskih ustanova pod kontrolom države. Takvo državno vlasništvo može biti klasificirano kao profitno i neprofitno orijentirano državno vlasništvo u kojoj prva orijentacija uzima u obzir povrat na investicije kao glavni cilj ulaganja, dok druga daje prioritet socioekonomskim ciljevima. Utvrdili smo da je profitno orijentirano državno vlasništvo efektivan mehanizam za korporativno upravljanje i osigurava političko pokroviteljstvo tvrtkama da pristupe svojim specifičnim sredstvima i kreditnom financiranju. Dok neprofitno orijentirano državno vlasništvo također dobiva slično političko pokroviteljstvo, sklono je povezivanju s nedostacima, kao što su problemi “slobodnog jahača” (free-rider problems), birokratska i politička intervencija u menadžmentu tvrtki. Zaključujemo da je državno vlasništvo heterogeni subjekt u odnosu na korporativno upravljanje i rezultate poslovanja tvrtki

FineCodeAnalyzer: Multi-perspective source code analysis support for software developer through fine-granular level interactive code visualization

Source code analysis is one of the important activities during the software maintenance phase that focuses on performing the tasks including bug localization, feature location, bug/feature assignment, and so on. However, handling the aforementioned tasks on a manual basis (i.e. finding the location of buggy code from a large application) is an expensive, time-consuming, tedious, and challenging task. Thus, the developers seek automated support in performing the software maintenance tasks through automated tools and techniques. However, the majority of the reported techniques are limited to textual analysis where the real developers’ concerns are not properly considered. Moreover, existing solutions seem less useful for the developers. This work proposes a tool (called as FineCodeAnalyzer) that supports an interactive source code analysis grounded on structural and historical relations at fine granular-level between the source code elements. To evaluate the performance of FineCodeAnalyzer, we consider 74 developers that assess three main facets: (i) usefulness, (ii) cognitive-load, and (iii) time efficiency. For usefulness concern, the results show that FineCodeAnalyzer outperforms the developers’ self-adopted strategies in locating the code elements in terms of Precision, Recall, and F1-Measure of accurately locating the code elements. Specifically, FineCodeAnalyzer outperforms the developers’ strategies up to 47%, 76%, and 61% in terms of Precision, Recall, and F1-measure, respectively. Additionally, FineCodeAnalyzer takes 5% less time than developers’ strategies in terms of minutes of time. For cognitive-load, the developers found FineCodeAnalyzer to be 72% less complicated than manual strategies, in terms of the NASA Tool Load Index metric. Finally, the results indicate that FineCodeAnalyzer allows effectively locating the code elements than the developer’s adopted strategies

Comparison of Weibull and Gaussian Mixture Models for Wind Speed Data Analysis

In order to have a reliable estimate of wind energy potential of a site, high frequency wind speed and direction data recorded for an extended period of time is required. Weibull distribution function is commonly used to approximate the recorded data distribution for estimation of wind energy. In the present study a comparison of Weibull function and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) as theoretical functions are used. The data set used for the study consists of hourly wind speeds and wind directions of 54 years duration recorded at Ijmuiden wind site located in north of Holland. The entire hourly data set of 54 years is reduced to 12 sets of hourly averaged data corresponding to 12 months. Authenticity of data is assessed by computing descriptive statistics on the entire data set without average and on monthly 12 data sets. Additionally, descriptive statistics show that wind speeds are positively skewed and most of the wind data points are observed to be blowing in south-west direction. Cumulative distribution and probability density function for all data sets are determined for both Weibull function and GMM. Wind power densities on monthly as well as for the entire set are determined from both models using probability density functions of Weibull function and GMM. In order to assess the goodness-of-fit of the fitted Weibull function and GMM, coefficient of determination (R2) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) tests are also determined. Although R2 test values for Weibull function are much closer to ‘1’ compared to its values for GMM. Nevertheless, overall performance of GMM is superior to Weibull function in terms of estimated wind power densities using GMM which are in good agreement with the power densities estimated using wind data for the same duration. It is reported that wind power densities for the entire wind data set are 307 W/m2 and 403.96 W/m2 estimated using GMM and Weibull function, respectively

Pricing of risk and volatility dynamics on an emerging stock market: evidence from both aggregate and disaggregate data

This study analyses risk-return trade-off and behaviour of various volatility dynamics including: volatility, its persistence, mean reversion and speed of mean reversion along with asymmetry and leverage effect on the Pakistani stock market by employing aggregate (aggregate market level) and disaggregate (sectoral level) monthly data for the period from 1998 to 2012. Three generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models were applied: GARCH (1,1) for various volatility dynamics; EGARCH for asymmetric and leverage effect and GARCH-M for pricing of risk. The outcomes of the study are as follows: first, the volatility shocks are quite persistent but with varying degrees across the sectors. Both the ARCH effect (short-term effect) and GARCH effect (long-term effect) play their role in generating conditional future stock returns volatility. Further, overall the volatility process is mean reverting; however, the speed of mean reversion varies across the sectors. Secondly, the current study finds little evidence of asymmetry and leverage effect at both aggregate and disaggregates data. Thirdly, the pricing of risk (positive risk premium) is also evident, particularly at the disaggregate data in the Pakistani stock market. Finally, this research study sets the implications for both the policy makers and investors

Stock Market Reaction to Political Events (Evidence from Pakistan)

This study examines the impact of events of different nature like: political, natural calamities and terrorism on the share prices of the financial sector of Pakistan. A sample of 14 companies are selected randomly from the financial sector (Insurance and Banking) listed on the KSE-100 index. The time span is of four years i-e 2007-10. The data is analyzed through paired samples t-test statistics. The results indicate that events have significant impact on the stock prices and prices behave negatively when a major event emerges on national or international front. A joint effort is required from different individuals, stake holders, regulators, economists, investors, government and foreign officials to secure the effectiveness of the financial market in Pakistan from the curse of political pressure, terrorists and suicidal bombing which in return help in the prosperity of the country. To encourage and motivate the investors both domestically or internationally the governance system in country should be fair and transparent and secure environment would increase the morale of the investors. Keywords: Paired sample t-test statistics; Events study Method Approach, Stock Price