The effects of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relation

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderating effects of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relation in emerging market firms. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines the impacts by estimating the empirical model in which a firm’s accounting profitability is a dependent variable, while financial leverage, board size, board independence, CEO duality, CEO ownership, state ownership and the interaction variables are predictors. The paper uses the panel data set of 295 listed firms in Vietnam in the period 2011-2015 and two key econometric methods for panel data, namely, the two-stage least square instrumental variable and general moments method. Findings The paper finds the evidence for the significant and positive effect of board size, board independence and state ownership on the financial leverage–profitability relation. The effect of CEO duality on the financial leverage–profitability relation tends to be negative, and the impact CEO ownership inclines to be positive, although both of them are statistically insignificant. The results are consistent across different estimation methods. Originality/value This paper is the first investigating the moderating effect of various corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relationship in emerging market firms

Debt financing and firm performance: The moderating role of board independence

This article investigates the moderating role of board independence in the relationship between debt financing and performance of emerging market firms. We have used an empirical model in which the firm’s accounting profitability is a dependent variable and the independent variables are debt financing, board independence, the interaction variable made of debt financing and board independence as well as various control variables. Our analysis is based on a panel data set of 300 listed firms in Vietnam between 2013 and 2017. Our study finds that debt financing has a significantly negative effect and that board independence reduces the adverse impact of debt financing on accounting profitability. Our results are consistent across different estimation models and methods

Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning with Human Strategies

Deep learning has enabled traditional reinforcement learning methods to deal with high-dimensional problems. However, one of the disadvantages of deep reinforcement learning methods is the limited exploration capacity of learning agents. In this paper, we introduce an approach that integrates human strategies to increase the exploration capacity of multiple deep reinforcement learning agents. We also report the development of our own multi-agent environment called Multiple Tank Defence to simulate the proposed approach. The results show the significant performance improvement of multiple agents that have learned cooperatively with human strategies. This implies that there is a critical need for human intellect teamed with machines to solve complex problems. In addition, the success of this simulation indicates that our multi-agent environment can be used as a testbed platform to develop and validate other multi-agent control algorithms.Comment: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Melbourne, Australi

Ho Chi Minh Thoughts On The Relationship Between Economic Development, Culture And People

Creatively applying Ho Chi Minh's thought and our Party's view on the dialectical relationship between economic development and culture, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp and better implement the orientation of harmonious combination between economic development and cultural development. economic and cultural development, building people, realizing social progress and justice right in each step and each development policy. To do so, each economic policy must aim at cultural and human development, progress and social justice; Every cultural policy, people building, every implementation of social progress and justice must contribute to economic development. Any error or bias towards the economy or culture, human, progress and social justice in the planning and implementation of policies of the Party and State will negatively affect the implementation of the Party's and State's policies. implementation of the socio-economic development plan in general, as well as for each specific field. Because these goals have a dialectical relationship, there is an interaction in the development process. Keywords: Ho Chi Minh Thought, development, economy, cultural development, people. DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/54-05 Publication date:December 31st 202

Aspects of cardiovascular risk in an Australian population study

Prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of death in men and women, is both a global and national public health priority. Prevention efforts have generally focused on well-known lifestyle (e.g., physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, smoking) and metabolic (e.g., overweight/obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia) risk factors. It is also important for public health strategies to consider emerging risk factors, innovative approaches to risk factors, and evidence in middle-aged men and women, to develop effective prevention strategies. This thesis explored innovative aspects of cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of middle-aged and older Australian men and women (“the 45 and Up Study”) by examining: 1) emerging or lesser known risk factors such as raw vegetable intake (Chapter 3), sedentary behaviour (Chapter 4, Appendix 1) and psychological distress (Chapter 5); 2) the single versus joint influence of lifestyle risk factors on incident type 2 diabetes (Chapter 4, Appendix 1) and hypertension (Chapter 5); 3) potential gender differences (Chapters 3-5, Appendix 1), and female-specific behaviours such as breastfeeding (Chapters 6-7). Overall, findings support Australian recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, alcohol intake and infant breastfeeding. While the importance of reducing known risk factors for CVD prevention was evident, the role of raw vegetable intake, sedentary behaviour and psychological distress was inconclusive. Breastfeeding was associated with a lower maternal risk of CVD. Findings confirmed that adopting a cluster of healthy lifestyle behaviours can reduce CVD risk in the middle-aged and older population. Potential gender differences were explored and identified. This thesis contributes to the literature by exploring innovative aspects of cardiovascular risk that are relevant to middle-aged adults, particularly women, as well as informs health care providers, researchers and policy makers

Private Sector Corruption in Vietnam: From Legislation to its Impact on the Economy

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze Vietnamese legal legislation regarding corruption in the private sector, identify its current shortcomings, and assess its impact on the Vietnamese economy since its adoption in 2018.   Theoretical framework: There have been many studies to assess corruption in Vietnam in many aspects, including the overview of corruption in Vietnam, the influence of corruption on economic development, and the consequences of corruption. However, there is still much to investigate and learn about the impact of the current provisions on corruption in the private sector on Vietnam’s economy.   Design/methodology/approach:  The study uses secondary data from the Provincial Competitiveness Index Report (PCI Vietnam) issued by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Besides, the article analyzes Vietnam's Corruption Control Index (CCI), which is assessed annually by the World Bank (WB). At the same time, the authors refer to the data on Vietnam's GDP and make a comparison with the CC index to  clarify the article’s objective. The authors also use a qualitative method by analyzing previous studies to assess the corruption in the private sector in Vietnam, the rules of law concerning private corruption, and its impact on the economy.   Findings:  Vietnam has had specific legislative achievements in criminalizing private corruption in the 2015 Criminal Law and promulgating anti-corruption provisions in the 2018 Anti-Corruption Law. These regulations had a positive impact on Vietnam's economy. However, corruption in the private sector in Vietnam is quite severe, especially bribery in business.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  We suggest future research of in-depth analysis of the causes and effects of specific kinds of corruption acts in the private sector.   Originality/value:  The results indicate that the new provisions on corruption in the private sector since it was adopted have positively affected the development of Vietnam's economy and the fight against corruption

A smoothed four-node piezoelectric element for analysis of two-dimensional smart structures

This paper reports a study of linear elastic analysis of two-dimensional piezoelectric structures using a smoothed four-node piezoelectric element. The element is built by incorporating the strain smoothing method of mesh-free conforming nodal integration into the standard four-node quadrilateral piezoelectric finite element. The approximations of mechanical strains and electric potential fields are normalized using a constant smoothing function. This allows the field gradients to be directly computed from shape functions. No mapping or coordinate transformation is necessary so that the element can be used in arbitrary shapes. Through several examples, the simplicity, efficiency and reliability of the element are demonstrated. Numerical results and comparative studies with other existing solutions in the literature suggest that the present element is robust, computationally inexpensive and easy to implement

An improved quadrilateral flat element with drilling degrees of freedom for shell structural analysis

This paper reports the development of a simple and efficient 4-node flat shell element with six degrees of freedom per node for the analysis of arbitrary shell structures. The element is developed by incorporating a strain smoothing technique into a flat shell finite element approach. The membrane part is formulated by applying the smoothing operation on a quadrilateral membrane element using Allman-type interpolation functions with drilling DOFs. The plate-bending component is established by a combination of the smoothed curvature and the substitute shear strain fields. As a result, the bending and a part of membrane stiffness matrices are computed on the boundaries of smoothing cells which leads to very accurate solutions, even with distorted meshes, and possible reduction in computational cost. The performance of the proposed element is validated and demonstrated through several numerical benchmark problems. Convergence studies and comparison with other existing solutions in the literature suggest that the present element is efficient, accurate and free of lockings

BARRIERS PREVENTING EFL TEACHERS FROM PARTICIPATING AND CONSTRUCTING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Communities of practice (CoPs) appeared to be one of the possible solutions for professionals, especially EFL teachers, who have to deal with an increasing number of complicated tasks and problems which cannot be individually solved effectively. However, CoPs were reported in several studies not to reach the popularity they deserve. Hence, this study is aimed at identifying the barriers that prevent EFL teachers from participating and constructing CoPs. The study was conducted in different cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta. A questionnaire was employed to examine participants’ agreement on the suggested barriers described in the theoretical framework, and interviews were used to confirm and improve the results of the quantitative data collected. Regarding the research participants, 116 EFL teachers in public schools and English centers in the Mekong Delta responded to the questionnaire, while seven of them were chosen to conduct the interviews. The findings were classified into teacher-related and organization-related barriers. While the former includes cultural and psychological factors, the latter consists of barriers from school leaders’ power and policies.  Article visualizations