Foreign banks, profits, market power and efficiency in PICs: some evidence from Fiji

Studies on bank profitability vis-à-vis market power and efficiency span a number of years, many countries, regions and methods. Yet, the experiences of the Pacific’s small states – where foreign banks are widespread and bank profits relatively high – remain unknown, leaving policy-makers ill-informed regarding relevant policy development. This study fills a huge gap in literature by providing some evidence on the issue in a Pacific Island context. Two market power hypotheses – the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) and the relative market power (RMP) hypotheses together with two measures of the efficient structure (ES) hypothesis – X and scale efficiencies are estimated. The nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique is used to estimate efficiency scores for banks in Fiji over the period 2000 to 2010 and the dynamic GMM to estimate the relationships between market power and efficiency vis-à-vis profitability. Results show that the RMP and ES hypotheses might hold, but not the SCP. Profits appear to persist over time. Policy implications are considerable including that any suggestions to limit further mergers and acquisitions of banks in the region may have to be properly debated

Novel LiMnPO4 nanocomposite material for high-power lithium battery cathodes

Lithium ion batteries are emerging as one of the most promising technology for high powered energy storage applications. LiMnPO4, is currently one of the most promising cathode materials for lithium batteries considering its low cost, environmental safety, high theoretical capacity and operating voltage (4.1 V vs Li/Li+), achievable within the stability window of conventional carbonate ester-based electrolytes. The practical use of LiMnPO4 is however limited by several intrinsic obstacles: (1) low electrical and ionic conductivity; (2) kinetic limits of Li+ diffusion and; (3) large volume change between LiMnPO4 and MnPO4 phases during charge/discharge cycles. In this dissertation, a novel sol-gel procedure has been developed to produce LiMnPO4 and carbon coating derived from the in-situ addition of sucrose. This work has shown how the purity of the prepared materials can be modulated by the temperature and atmosphere used. Focusing on how the inclusion of a two-step heating regime can help produce phase pure LiMnPO4 at a lower temperature. Results have shown that variations in the thermal treatment of the dried gel precursor can produce pure LiMnPO4 or produce an impure phase such as Mn2P2O7. It also shows that the temperature at which pure, stable and highly crystalline LiMnPO4 is produced can be reduced significantly (400°C instead of 900ºC). The electrochemical performance was best at when tested under higher temperatures of 40°C and for products synthesised with the final heating step at 700°C. Further, when analysing LiMnPO4/carbon composite, the G band peak shifted to a lower wavenumber with increased temperature due to the increase in delocalised π electrons caused by the transformation of alkenic C=C chains to aromatic hexagonal rings. It was found that the ID/IG ratios of the carbon increased with temperature, confirming an increase in D band peak intensity, attributed to the material being in a pyrolysis state. This is critical information as it indicates that the material is not yet in a graphitised stage and that the ID/IG ratio does not imply the extent of graphitisation but confirms that the carbon is approaching the state of graphitisation. Because of the close link between the electric conductivity and delocalisation of the π electrons, this study shows that the optimisation of the heat-treatment of the LiMnPO4/carbon composite is critical to the rate capability of the cathode material

Dalitz Plot Analysis of the Decay D^+ --> K^- pi^+ pi^+ and Indication of a Low-Mass Scalar K pi Resonance

We study the Dalitz plot of the decay D^+ --> K^- pi^+ pi^+ with a sample of 15090 events from Fermilab experiment E791. Modeling the decay amplitude as the coherent sum of known K pi resonances and a uniform nonresonant term, we do not obtain an acceptable fit. If we allow the mass and width of the K^*_0(1430) to float, we obtain values consistent with those from PDG but the chi^2 per degree of freedom of the fit is still unsatisfactory. A good fit is found when we allow for the presence of an additional scalar resonance, with mass 797 +/- 19 +/- 43 MeV/c^2 and width 410 +/- 43 +/- 87 MeV/c^2. The mass and width of the K^*_0(1430) become 1459 +/- 7 +/- 5 MeV/c^2 and 175 +/- 12 +/- 12 MeV/c^2, respectively. Our results provide new information on the scalar sector in hadron spectroscopy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Barriers and Delays in Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Services: Does Gender Matter?

Background:. Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health problem with known gender-related disparities. We reviewed the quantitative evidence for gender-related differences in accessing TB services from symptom onset to treatment initiation. Methods:. Following a systematic review process, we: searched 12 electronic databases; included quantitative studies assessing gender differences in accessing TB diagnostic and treatment services; abstracted data; and assessed study validity. We defined barriers and delays at the individual and provider/system levels using a conceptual framework of the TB care continuum and examined gender-related differences. Results:. Among 13,448 articles, 137 were included: many assessed individual-level barriers (52%) and delays (42%), 76% surveyed persons presenting for care with diagnosed or suspected TB, 24% surveyed community members, and two-thirds were from African and Asian regions. Many studies reported no gender differences. Among studies reporting disparities, women faced greater barriers (financial: 64% versus 36%; physical: 100% versus 0%; stigma: 85% versus 15%; health literacy: 67% versus 33%; and provider-/system-level: 100% versus 0%) and longer delays (presentation to diagnosis: 45% versus 0%) than men. Conclusions:. Many studies found no quantitative gender-related differences in barriers and delays limiting access to TB services. When differences were identified, women experienced greater barriers and longer delays than men

Experimental evidence for a light and broad scalar resonance in D+→π−π+π+D^+\to \pi^-\pi^+\pi^+ decay

From a sample of $1172 \pm 61$ $D^+ \to \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+$ decay, we find $\Gamma (D^+ \to \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+) / \Gamma (D^+ \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+) = 0.0311 \pm 0.0018 ^{+0.0016}_{-0.0026}$. Using a coherent amplitude analysis to fit the Dalitz plot of this decays, we find strong evidence that a scalar resonance of mass $478^{+24}_{-23} \pm 17$ MeV/$c^2$ and width $324^{+42}_{-40} \pm 21$ MeV/$c^2$ accounts for approximately half of all decays.Comment: 10 pages, 3 eps figure

Asymmetries between the production of D+ and D- mesons from 500 GeV/c pi- nucleon interactions as a function of xF and pt**2

We present asymmetries between the production of D+ and D- mesons in Fermilab experiment E791 as a function of xF and pt**2. The data used here consist of 74,000 fully-reconstructed charmed mesons produced by a 500 GeV/c pi- beam on C and Pt foils. The measurements are compared to results of models which predict differences between the production of heavy-quark mesons that have a light quark in common with the beam (leading particles) and those that do not (non-leading particles). While the default models do not agree with our data, we can reach agreement with one of them, PYTHIA, by making a limited number of changes to parameters used

Mass Splitting and Production of Σc0\Sigma_c^0 and Σc++\Sigma_c^{++} Measured in 500GeV500 {GeV} π−−\pi^- -N Interactions

From a sample of $2722 \pm 78$ $\Lambda_c^+$ decaying to the $pK^-\pi^+$ final state, we have observed, in the hadroproduction experiment E791 at Fermilab, $143 \pm 20$ $\Sigma_c^0$ and $122 \pm 18$ $\Sigma_c^{++}$ through their decays to $\Lambda_c^+ \pi^{\pm}$. The mass difference $M(\Sigma_c^0) - M(\Lambda_c^+$) is measured to be $(167.38\pm 0.29\pm 0.15) {MeV}$; for $M(\Sigma_c^{++}) - M(\Lambda_c^+)$, we find $(167.76\pm 0.29\pm0.15) {MeV}$. The rate of $\Lambda_c^+$ production from decays of the $\Sigma_c$ triplet is (22\pm 2\pm 3) {%} of the total $\Lambda_c^+$ production assuming equal rate of production from all three, as measured for $\Sigma_c^0$ and $\Sigma_c^{++}$. We do not observe a statistically significant $\Sigma_c$ baryon-antibaryon production asymmetry. The $x_F$ and $p_t^2$ spectra of $\Lambda_c^+$ from $\Sigma_c$ decays are observed to be similar to those for all $\Lambda_c^+$'s produced.Comment: 15 pages, uuencoded postscript 3 figures uuencoded, tar-compressed fil

Search for the Flavor-Changing Neutral-Current Decays D+→π+μ+μ−D^+\to \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^- and D+→π+e+e−D^+\to \pi^+ e^+ e^-

We report the results of a search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decays $D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^-$ and $D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ e^+ e^-$ in data from Fermilab charm hadroproduction experiment E791. No signal above background is found, and we obtain upper limits on branching fractions, $B(D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^-) < 1.8 \times 10^{-5}$ and $B(D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ e^+ e^-) < 6.6 \times 10^{-5}$, at the 90\% confidence level.Comment: nine pages with figures; compressed, uuencoded postscrip