The Estimation of Stochastic Cost Functions of Malaysian Commercial Banks and Its Policy Implications to Bank Restructuring

The present paper examines stochastic cost functions of Malaysian commercial banks from 1991 to 1997 periods and catches the changes in their management structure and technical efficiency. Then, we also discuss policy implications for bank integration and competition policy which is the part of current financial reform that reinforces the banking sector. However, little microeconomic analysis of the Malaysian banking business has been conducted. The only known serious academic research in this area is by (Katib and Mathews, 2000). The present paper contributes to the expansion of their study in two respects. Firstly, we have estimated the cost function, availing ourselves of SEA based on a parametric approach. Secondly, our model also includes as a factor the existence of bad debts. According to our results, we observed economies of scale clearly, but economies of scope and technological progress were not observed. Regarding the policy implication, the result of our analysis suggests strongly that the current policy is appropriate.Economies of scale, Economies of scope, Technical efficiency, Cost function, Banking, Malaysia, Financial liberalization

Canonical Correlation Analysis of Principal Component Scores for Multiple-set Random Vectors

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is often used to analyze correlations between the variables of two random vectors. As an extension of CCA, multiple-set canonical correlation analysis (MCCA) was proposed to analyze correlations between multiple-set random vectors. However, sometimes interpreting MCCA results may not be as straightforward as interpreting CCA results. Principal CCA (PCCA), which uses CCA between two sets of principal component (PC) scores, was proposed to address these difficulties in CCA. We propose multiple-set PCCA (MPCCA) by applying the idea to multiple-set of PC scores. PCs are ranked in descending order according to the amount of information they contain. Therefore, it is enough to use only a few PC scores from the top instead of using all PC scores. Decreasing the number of PC makes it easy to interpret the result. We confirmed the effectiveness of MPCCA using simulation studies and a practical example

Influence of friction stir welding conditions on joinability of oxide dispersion strengthened steel / F82H ferritic/martensitic steel joint

AbstractAs one of the joining methods for the reduced activation materials to realize the fusion reactors with high efficiency in the future, friction stir welding (FSW) is selected for fabricating the dissimilar butt joint between oxide-dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy and F82H, and the effect of FSW conditions on joinability of this dissimilar joint was examined. The sound dissimilar joint can be produced under the condition that ODS plate is set on the advancing side and the FSW tool is plunged into F82H. As for the mild steel backside plate, the sound joint can be fabricated in the case of 150rpm rotational speed and 50mm/min traveling speed. On the other hand, by employing the silicon nitride backside plate, the total heat input should be decreased to obtain the sound joint, where the traveling speed is 100 or 150mm/min and rotational speed is 150rpm. In addition, the finite element heat conduction analyses indicate that the influence of traveling speed on the joinability with the mild steel backside plate seems to be smaller than that with the silicon nitride plate and the allowable range of the appropriate traveling speed for the joint becomes to be wider by employing the silicon nitride backside plate

Palladium-Catalyzed SN2′-Cyclization of Ambivalent (Bromoalkadienyl)malonates : Preparation of Medium- to Large-Membered Endocyclic Allenes

A palladium-catalyzed reaction of preparing various endocyclic allenes was developed. The substrates for the reaction were readily available ω-(pronucleophile-tethered)-3-bromo-1,3-alkadienes, and a palladium-catalyst facilitated their unimolecular SN2'-cyclization in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide to give the corresponding 9- to 16-membered endocyclic allenes in fair yields of up to 67% together with the dimeric 16- to 32-membered endocyclic bis-allenes and other oligomeric/polymeric intermolecular reaction products. For higher yields of the monomeric endocyclic allenes, the reaction needed to be conducted under high-dilution conditions. Using a chiral palladium-catalyst, axially chiral endocyclic allenes were obtained in up to 70% ee

Radioprotection by p53 Regulatory Agents

Radiation damage to normal tissues is one of the most serious concerns in radiation therapy, and the tolerance dose of the normal tissues limits the therapeutic dose to the patients. p53 is well known as a transcription factor closely associated with radiation-induced cell death. We recently demonstrated the protective effects of several p53 regulatory agents against low-LET X- or γ-ray-induced damage. Although it was reported that high-LET heavy ion radiation (>85 keV/μm) could cause p53-independent cell death in some cancer cell lines, whether there is any radioprotective effect of the p53 regulatory agents against the high-LET radiation injury in vivo is still unclear. In the present study, we verified the efficacy of these agents on bone marrow and intestinal damages induced by high-LET heavy-ion irradiation in mice. We used a carbon-beam (14 keV/μm) that was shown to induce a p53-dependent effect and an iron-beam (189 keV/μm) that was shown to induce a p53-independent effect in a previous study. Vanadate significantly improved 60-day survival rate in mice treated with total-body carbon-ion (p < 0.0001) or iron-ion (p < 0.05) irradiation, indicating its effective protection of the hematopoietic system from radiation injury after high-LET irradiation over 85 keV/μm. 5CHQ also significantly increased the survival rate after abdominal carbon-ion (p < 0.02), but not iron-ion irradiation, suggesting the moderate relief of the intestinal damage. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of p53 regulators on acute radiation syndrome induced by high-LET radiation