Interest Rate Changes and Commercial Bank Revenues and Costs

This paper estimates statistical cost. and revenue curves for a cross-section of banks in the years 1962-75. The primary data cover reported accounting or book rates of return. Approximations are also made to estimate economic or total returns. These approximations take into account changes in capital values during the year as a result of movements in interest rates measured by market yields of government securities of the proper duration. Book rates of return and costs adjust towards each other so that marginal rates received or paid for different activities tend to equalize. On the other hand, the rates of adjustment are slow. While movements in the cost of demand and time deposits correlate well with changes in market rates, not all of the advantages of interest rate ceilings are given up to depositors. Movements in interest rates cause sharp fluctuations in total returns. These movements are sharp enough so that in several years economic losses occurred rather than reported book profits. Furthermore, over this period the net economic returns of classes of assets were poorly correlated with their risks (their variance of returns).

Comparative chromatography of chloroplast pigment

Methods for isolation of low concentration pigments of the cocklebur species are described. The methods entail two step chromatography so that the different sorption properties of the various pigments in varying column parameters can be utilized. Columnar and thin layer methods are compared. Many conditions influence separability of the chloroplasts

Process of Perfection Method and Its Adaptability in EFL Classrooms of Nepal

Teaching and learning are a never-ending process—a continuum. So, change is inevitable. Our practices, perspectives and assessment procedures must be changed in accordance with the changing law of nature. What was considered best yesterday may not remain best today. It is educators who need to keep themselves abreast of new methodologies, trends and discoveries to cater to the changing needs of students. This study attempts to illustrate how innovative and effective Process of Perfection (POP) method of teaching is and how this method can be adapted in our EFL classrooms to maximise the learning outcomes of students whose English language competence may or may not be high and classrooms may or may not be well-equipped with ICT tools and adequate number of teaching resources. 6 English language teachers and 40 students from the only private school that implemented POP method of Global Classroom curriculum were selected to survey the effectiveness and adaptability in the teaching of the English language. The researcher employed mixed-methods research to undertake the study where two different sets of questionnaires for both the teachers and the students were used to collect data. The findings demonstrated that advantages outnumbered disadvantages in a country like Nepal. Teachers want to use this teaching method because after having been acquainted with this method of teaching, they no longer have difficulty designing hands-on activities. Each textbook contains recommended activities that are designed according to the lesson. And this teaching method basically facilitates three types of learners: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. The students also feel happy as this method is a joyful and effective learning process. However, they sometimes have difficulties grasping the concept of some English grammar lessons that are of higher level

Teaching Students How to Tame the Warrant with the Toulmin Model in EFL/ESL Settings

This teaching practice paper deals with some practical ideas of teaching the concept of ‘warrant’ in Toulmin’s mode of argumentation within EFL/ESL settings. While most students are familiar with making claims and providing evidence to support them, they may not understand the role of the warrant in connecting claims and reasons. Therefore, there is a strong need for teaching students how warrant plays a key role in argumentative writing. This teaching practice paper aims at bridging the gulf between some writing theories and useful examples to dissect the complexities of teaching warrant in writing classes

Family Involvement, Clinician Beliefs and Child Psychiatric Rehospitalization

Psychiatric rehospitalization is estimated to fall between 30% and 50% among children and adolescents and is said to be the result of complex relationships between clinical and non-clinical child, family and service system factors. Psychiatric rehospitalization has been noted as an unfavorable outcome of inpatient treatment because of the associated economic to society and the family and emotional costs to the family and patient. Therefore, several attempts have been made in the relevant literature to identify and understand factors that will reduce the risk of rehospitalization in this population. In the context of parent professional collaboration, clinician beliefs and family involvement have been indicated as important aspects of treatment among children and youth. To better understand how clinician beliefs and family involvement in treatment influence psychiatric rehospitalization, a prospective study was conducted across four phases on the child and adolescent inpatient units at a large psychiatric facility in Southern California. Data was collected from parents (N=167) of hospitalized children (ages 8-13) and adolescents (ages 14-17) and from a multidisciplinary psychiatric clinical team (N=27). Study findings indicated that neither clinician beliefs nor parent participation in inpatient activities significantly predicted psychiatric rehospitalization. Parent perceptions of empowering behaviors on the part of clinicians, previous hospitalization and psychosocial risk significantly predicted psychiatric rehospitalization. Clinician beliefs did not moderate the relationship between empowering clinician behaviors and psychiatric rehospitalization. Additionally, nearly one-quarter of the children were rehospitalized within 90 days of discharge. Most of the children rehospitalized within the intervening period, were previously hospitalized, had 1 to 2 psychosocial risk factors, longer lengths of stay and were diagnosed with an internalizing disorder. The findings presented may be used to inform research, practice and policies aimed at improving mental health outcomes for children and adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral disorders

Mothering, Migration and the Global Village: Understanding Support for Mothering in the 21st Century Caribbean

This paper discusses some of the key findings from an exploratory study of Caribbean migrant mothers in Trinidad and Tobago and the role of the global media and web resources in supporting them as twenty-first century mothers. Social Capital theory was applied for assessing the importance of parental support networks for migrant mothers. The methodology employed included analysis of secondary data such as parenting web sites. Migrant mothers interviewed were identified through the snowball sampling method and questioned on their sources of support in their new home. The study reveals that post-modern Caribbean families are greatly affected by migration. Support networks are part of a mother’s social capital and many benefits are derived from those networks, whether local, trans-national, multi-national or virtual. Though these networks may be weakened through migration, information and telecommunications technology are of key importance in facilitating the maintenance of old and the building of new support networks. The role of the “village” in providing support remains significant. However, the village in the twenty-first century can now be conceptualized as ‘real’ or virtual’ spaces

Writing for Specific Audiences: A Comparative Study of Teaching Writing in Nepal and the U.S.

This paper explores the disparities in teaching writing and evaluation between the United States and Nepal, focusing on the crucial concept of writing for a specific audience. In the U.S., there's an increasing emphasis on the need for students to tailor their writing to cater to distinct audiences. However, the educational system in Nepal primarily values rigid rules and standards over audience-oriented writing. I argue that teaching students to write for specific audiences is paramount for effective communication and underscores the concept of "learning transfer," where knowledge gained should be applicable across different contexts. While U.S. education standards advocate audience-oriented writing, standardized tests often fail to assess this essential skill. I contend that incorporating audience-specific writing assessments in standardized tests can significantly improve writing education. Some data were collected from 15 secondary-level English language teachers in Nepal. Findings demonstrate that instructors are not aware of the practice of teaching writing for a specific purpose. Ultimately, the paper calls for a shift in writing instruction to prioritize adaptability, context, and the intended audience. It underscores that writing is fundamentally about communication and that understanding the specific audience's needs is vital for effective expression, irrespective of geographical and educational system differences

Sickle cell disease in adults

This issue of eMedRef provides information to clinicians on sickle cell disease in adults

Composição do Conselho de Administração e desempenho bancário em um pequeno estado insular em desenvolvimento: o caso de Curaçao

Based on agency theory, this paper contributes to the literature by assessing the effects of Supervisory Board size, gender diversity, and multiple directorship on performance within the banking industry of the small island developing state: Curacao. The research made use of the data drawn from annual reports of locally generated banks and its subsidiaries. Results from linear regressions indicate a positive relationship between multiple directorship and bank performance, and a negative association between bank outcomes and both gender diversity and board size. According to these results, it is concluded that the legislation on corporate governance for credit institutions in Curacao should incorporate a maximum number of members on the board, as well as promote interlocking directorates and quotas by gender.Basado en la teoría de agencias, este documento contribuye a la literatura al evaluar los efectos del tamaño del Consejo de Administración, la diversidad de género y los directorios múltiples en el desempeño de los bancos en Curazao. Se utilizaron datos de informes anuales de bancos locales y sus subsidiarias. Los resultados de las regresiones lineales indican una relación positiva entre los directorios múltiples y el desempeño del banco, y una asociación negativa entre los resultados del banco y la diversidad de género y el tamaño del directorio. Se recomienda que la legislación sobre gobierno corporativo para bancos en Curazao incorpore un número máximo de miembros en el Consejo, así como promueva los directorios múltiples y las cuotas por género.Com base na teoria da agência, este trabalho contribui para a literatura avaliando os efeitos do tamanho do Conselho de Administração, a diversidade de gênero e os múltiplos diretórios sobre o desempenho dos bancos em Curaçao. Foram utilizados dados de relatórios anuais de bancos locais e suas subsidiárias. Os resultados das regressões lineares indicam uma relação positiva entre os diretórios múltiplos e o desempenho do banco, e uma associação negativa entre o desempenho dos bancos e a diversidade de gênero e o tamanho do diretório. É recomendável que a legislação de governança corporativa para bancos em Curaçao incorpore um número máximo de membros no Conselho, assim como promova múltiplos diretórios e cotas por gênero

Deformity Removal from Handwritten Text Documents using Variable CycleGAN

Text recognition systems typically work well for printed documents but struggle with handwritten documents due to different writing styles, background complexities, added noise of image acquisition methods, and deformed text images such as strikeoffs and underlines. These deformities change the structural information, making it difficult to restore the deformed images while maintaining the structural information and preserving the semantic dependencies of the local pixels. Current adversarial networks are unable to preserve the structural and semantic dependencies as they focus on individual pixel-to-pixel variation and encourage non-meaningful aspects of the images. To address this, we propose a Variable Cycle Generative Adversarial Network (VCGAN) that considers the perceptual quality of the images. By using a variable Content Loss (Top-k Variable Loss (TVk) ), VCGAN preserves the inter-dependence of spatially close pixels while removing the strike-off strokes. The similarity of the images is computed with TVk considering the intensity variations that do not interfere with the semantic structures of the image. Our results show that VCGAN can remove most deformities with an elevated F1 score of 97.40% and outperforms current state-of-the-art algorithms with a character error rate of 7.64% and word accuracy of 81.53% when tested on the handwritten text recognition system.TRUEpu