Corporate Credit Risk Assessment of BIST Companies

Assessing credit risk allows financial institutions to plan future loans freely, to achieve targeted risk management and gain maximum profitability. In this study, the constructed risk assessment models are on a sample data which consists of financial ratios of enterprises listed in the Bourse Istanbul (BIST). 356 enterprises are classified into three levels as the investment, speculative and below investment groups by ten parameters. The applied methods are discriminant analysis, k nearest neighbor (k-NN), support vector machines (SVM), decision trees (DT) and a new hybrid model, namely Artificial Neural Networks with Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS). This study will provide a comparison of models to build better mechanisms for preventing risk to minimize the loss arising from defaults. The results indicated that the decision tree models achieve a superior accuracy for the prediction of failure. The model we proposed as an innovation has an adequate performance among the applied model

Socio-Economic Differences in the Development of Rural Areas in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Case Study

In Bosnia and Herzegovina some rural municipalities with similar population density are very different regarding key demographic and economic indicators like migration, unemployment and average wages. According to the existing studies in Europe the answer for differential economic performance is firstly in the potential of local community to recognize, strengthen and utilize less mobile assets in the form of economic, social, cultural and natural capital. Secondly, researchers point to the synergy between those assets and external networking and using information and communications technology in reaching new markets and resources. Understanding the reasons for differential economic performance and more or less competitiveness in rural areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina could thus be a key element in devising practical strategies and programs for sustainable rural development. This could also contribute to the programming of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the future. The aim of the study is by comparing the most and least developed rural municipalities to investigate the reasons for the differences in economic performance, in particular, to investigate the role of capitals or tangible and less tangible factors influencing development outcomes. In order to achieve that, the authors have chosen high and low performing municipalities according to the criteria of population density, rurality and proximity to large city. In order to have more clear picture, community profiling is conducted and data was collected by surveying community stakeholders. The analysis showed that in high performing municipality all capitals are accessible and properly utilized with space for improvement while low performing municipality has many problems and higher need for change and new strategy of development

Comparison of the Helicobacter Pylori Diagnosis Methods with Analytic Network Process

Helicobacter pylori is infecting %70-80 of the world’s population and is assumed to cause gastric diseases. Diagnosis of the bacteria is crucial for the treatment of the bacteria related infections. Histology, culture, urea breath test, stool antigen test some of the diagnosis methods each having specific strength and weaknesses as sensitivity, specificity, cost, easiness, time, effectiveness in the treatment and laboratory requirements. In this study, three of the commonly used H. pylori diagnosis methods: histology, culture and urea breath test, are evaluated with Analytic network process (ANP) and the rank of the criteria and alternatives are obtained. The evaluation of the methods and the rank of the diagnosis methods can reduce time, cost, and validity of the test results

ACTN3 polymorphism prevalence in general population of six Balkan countries

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of RR, RX and XX genotypes of rs1815739 single nucleotide polymorphism of ACTN3 gene in general population of six Balkan countries. This SNP is currently thought to give genetic predisposition for advantageous sport performance, with its R allele positively correlating with better performance in strength/power sports, and X allele being present in higher frequency in elite athletes in endurance disciplines. A total of 483 individuals (281 males and 202 females) from seven populations from six countries was tested. Samples were collected by buccal swabbing method, DNA was isolated according to salting-out protocol and genotyping was performed using PCR and RFLP analysis. Obtained results suggest that RR and RX genotypes (43.7% and 44.1%, respectively) are overrepresented when compared to XX genotype (12.2%). The XX genotype in the study samples is present in lower frequency when compared to the global (16-18%) and European (18%) average. This study reports the first population data on genotype prevalence in sports-related genes for this part of Europe and is the beginning of research interests that intend to investigate genetic predispositions of elite athletes from this region competing internationally in different disciplines