Efficiency and Foreign Ownership in Banking: An International Comparison

This paper estimates cost and profit efficiency for Latin American and the Caribbean banking sectors. This study also conducts a comparative analysis of the performance of foreign and domestic banks operating in these counties. Using a model proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995), a common cost and profit frontiers with country-specific environmental variables have been estimated for a panel of 427 banking firms from sixteen countries. The empirical analysis reveals the importance of the environmental variables in explaining the efficiency differences among countries. The results show that profit efficiency levels are well below those corresponding to cost efficiency, implying that the most important inefficiency is on the revenue side. The results further indicate that on average foreign banks are more efficient than domestic banks.Banking, efficiency, foreign ownership

The Relationship between Evolutionary Coupling and Defects in Large Industrial Software

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Evolutionary coupling (EC) is defined as the implicit relationship between 2 or more software artifacts that are frequently changed together. Changing software is widely reported to be defect-prone. In this study, we investigate the effect of EC on the defect proneness of large industrial software systems and explain why the effects vary. We analysed 2 large industrial systems: a legacy financial system and a modern telecommunications system. We collected historical data for 7 years from 5 different software repositories containing 176 thousand files. We applied correlation and regression analysis to explore the relationship between EC and software defects, and we analysed defect types, size, and process metrics to explain different effects of EC on defects through correlation. Our results indicate that there is generally a positive correlation between EC and defects, but the correlation strength varies. Evolutionary coupling is less likely to have a relationship to software defects for parts of the software with fewer files and where fewer developers contributed. Evolutionary coupling measures showed higher correlation with some types of defects (based on root causes) such as code implementation and acceptance criteria. Although EC measures may be useful to explain defects, the explanatory power of such measures depends on defect types, size, and process metrics.Peer reviewe

3D Geometric Analysis of Tubular Objects based on Surface Normal Accumulation

This paper proposes a simple and efficient method for the reconstruction and extraction of geometric parameters from 3D tubular objects. Our method constructs an image that accumulates surface normal information, then peaks within this image are located by tracking. Finally, the positions of these are optimized to lie precisely on the tubular shape centerline. This method is very versatile, and is able to process various input data types like full or partial mesh acquired from 3D laser scans, 3D height map or discrete volumetric images. The proposed algorithm is simple to implement, contains few parameters and can be computed in linear time with respect to the number of surface faces. Since the extracted tube centerline is accurate, we are able to decompose the tube into rectilinear parts and torus-like parts. This is done with a new linear time 3D torus detection algorithm, which follows the same principle of a previous work on 2D arc circle recognition. Detailed experiments show the versatility, accuracy and robustness of our new method.Comment: in 18th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing, Sep 2015, Genova, Italy. 201

Robust semi-automated path extraction for visualising stenosis of the coronary arteries

Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is useful for diagnosing and planning treatment of heart disease. However, contrast agent in surrounding structures (such as the aorta and left ventricle) makes 3-D visualisation of the coronary arteries difficult. This paper presents a composite method employing segmentation and volume rendering to overcome this issue. A key contribution is a novel Fast Marching minimal path cost function for vessel centreline extraction. The resultant centreline is used to compute a measure of vessel lumen, which indicates the degree of stenosis (narrowing of a vessel). Two volume visualisation techniques are presented which utilise the segmented arteries and lumen measure. The system is evaluated and demonstrated using synthetic and clinically obtained datasets

Pearling: stroke segmentation with crusted pearl strings

We introduce a novel segmentation technique, called Pearling, for the semi-automatic extraction of idealized models of networks of strokes (variable width curves) in images. These networks may for example represent roads in an aerial photograph, vessels in a medical scan, or strokes in a drawing. The operator seeds the process by selecting representative areas of good (stroke interior) and bad colors. Then, the operator may either provide a rough trace through a particular path in the stroke graph or simply pick a starting point (seed) on a stroke and a direction of growth. Pearling computes in realtime the centerlines of the strokes, the bifurcations, and the thickness function along each stroke, hence producing a purified medial axis transform of a desired portion of the stroke graph. No prior segmentation or thresholding is required. Simple gestures may be used to trim or extend the selection or to add branches. The realtime performance and reliability of Pearling results from a novel disk-sampling approach, which traces the strokes by optimizing the positions and radii of a discrete series of disks (pearls) along the stroke. A continuous model is defined through subdivision. By design, the idealized pearl string model is slightly wider than necessary to ensure that it contains the stroke boundary. A narrower core model that fits inside the stroke is computed simultaneously. The difference between the pearl string and its core contains the boundary of the stroke and may be used to capture, compress, visualize, or analyze the raw image data along the stroke boundary

Investigation of Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis in Horses and Donkeys in Muş Province of Turkey

The purpose of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis in equidae in the province of Muş, Turkey. The study material consisted of 210 equidae including 159 horses and 51 donkeys in Mus province. In serum samples, anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies and titers were detected using Sabin Feldman Dye Test (SFDT). Seropositivity was found in 115 (54.76 %) of the 210 equidae tested in the study. The rate of seropositivity in donkeys (92.16%) was higher than the rate in horses (42.77%), and statistical significance was observed (P<0.001). T. gondii antibody was detected in 68 (42.77%) of the horse sera examined by SFDT. When T. gondii seropositivity was evaluated according to gender, it was found to be 47.92% in females and 32.92% in males. No statistical difference was observed between the gender groups (P> 0.05). When T. gondii seropositivity was evaluated according to age, seropositivity rate in the equidae older than 10 years was found to be higher as 46.67%, but no statistical significance was observed among the age groups. T. gondii antibody was detected in 47 (92.16%) of donkey sera examined by SFDT. When T. gondii seropositivity was evaluated according to gender, the rate of seropositivity was found to be 89.47% in females and 93.75% in males. No statistical significance was observed between the gender groups (P>0.05). When T. gondii seropositivity was evaluated according to age, the seropositivity rate in those older than 10 years was found to be higher as 96.30%, but  no statistical significance was observed among the age groups (P>0.05). As a result of scanning the equidea in Muş province by SFDT, seropositivity rate was found as 42.77% in horses and 92.16% in donkeys.Keywords: Donkey, Horse, SFDT, Toxoplasma gondii, Toxoplasmosi

ABNORMALNI POVRAT NA EX-DAY DIONICE: DOKAZI S TURSKOG TRŽIŠTA DIONICA

This study examines the impact of the ex-day of stock dividend on stock return and volume on Borsa Istanbul stock exchange. The data covers 1,220 stock dividends associated with 305 companies over the period 1997-2018. A positive abnormal return and volume is seen around the ex-day of stock dividend. The cumulative average excess return over market return starts to significantly rise ten days before ex-day and reaches its highest level on the ex-day before falling back in the days following. Our findings show that abnormal return around ex-day is strongly associated with stock dividend pay-out ratio, asset size and a company’s market value. The share of listed companies with higher stock dividend pay-out ratio or lower asset size or lower market capitalization, can generate respectively 5.97%, 6.08% and 5.88% abnormal return over market index return.Ovaj rad ispituje utjecaj „ex-day“ dividende na prinos i volumen dionica na burzi Borsa Istanbul. Podaci obuhvaćaju 1.220 dioničkih dividendi povezanih s 305 poduzeća u razdoblju od 1997. do 2018. godine. Pozitivan abnormalan prinos i volumen primjećuju se oko dana kada dionica gubi pravo na dividendu (ex-day). Kumulativni prosječni višak povrata nad tržišnim prinosom počinje značajno rasti deset dana prije ex-day-a i dostiže svoju najveću razinu na ex-day prije nego što se smanji u danima koji slijede. Rezultati pokazuju da je abnormalan prinos oko ex-day-a snažno povezan s omjerom isplate dividendi dionica, veličinom imovine i tržišnom vrijednošću poduzeća. Dionice Borsa Istanbul poduzeća koje kotiraju na burzi s većim omjerom isplate dividendi dionica i one sa skromnom imovinom ili niskom tržišnom kapitalizacijom mogu generirati 5,97%, 6,08% i 5,88% abnormalan povrat u odnosu na tržišni indeks