A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF NIFTY 50 AND EQUITY FUNDS UNDER TIER-II OF NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME

The National Pension Scheme (NPS) is a defined contribution and a corporate pension fund that provides financial assistance to all Indian citizens. There are two types of accounts in the National Pension Scheme: Tier I and Tier II. Tier I is a mandatory deposit pension fund account and Tier II is a voluntary pension account. Tier I and Tier II is are consisted of different assets namely, equity, government security and alternative asset. The equity schemes are directly linked with the market. The return of all the fund managers in equity schemes are not same as the portfolio of all the fund managers are not same. Secondary data has been collected from respective websites of Pension Fund Managers and has been used to calculate mean, SD, Variance, and Correlation to predict the performance of equity funds. ANOVA and T-test have been for assessing the comparative analysis of the different fund managers under equity scheme in tier II. As per the study, LIC PF and ICICI PF are the best performer during the study period. The performance of SBI PF is poor among other equity funds under Tier-II of NPS during the study period. In term of risk, LIC PF is the higher risky equity fund and UIT PF is the lowest risky equity fund under Tier-II of NPS. It can be said that investors need to be high-risk taker to invest in that LIC PF. Through the risk analysis during said period of time, it is found that the ability to observe risk differs in equity funds under Tier-II of NPS. The main reason for this being a voluntary account of Tier -II. As there is no lock-in period in this account, the investors mostly use for a short-term purpose. In the recent decision of the government, Tier-II offers a lock-in period for 3 years with tax benefit. This decision may be affected the investment pattern of the investors. KEY WORDS: - National Pension Scheme, Performance, Equity Scheme, Nifty 50

Ex ante, ex post risk and bank capital ratios: an empirical investigation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of leverage, regulatory capital and tier-I capital ratios on the ex ante and ex post risk of Japanese banks.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, the authors have implemented a panel of 507 commercial and cooperative banks of Japan over the period extending from 2001 to 2020, using a two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) framework.FindingsThe overall sample banks' results show that the impact of leverage, regulatory capital and tier-I capital ratios on ex ante and ex post risk is positive. The findings reveal that the effects of regulatory and tier-I capital ratios on ex post risk are negative (positive) for commercial (cooperative) banks, high-liquid, low-liquid and high-growth banks in Japan. In addition, the regulatory capital ratio is more beneficial for risk due to its power to absorb losses. The lagged coefficient indicates that banks require more time to adjust their ex post and ex ante risk during crisis period than during normal economic conditions.Practical implicationsThe heterogeneity in results has practical implications for regulators, policymakers and bank managers in formulating the capital requirement guidelines with respect to ex ante and ex post risk across different categories and characteristics of banks.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating the impact of leverage, regulatory capital and tier-I capital ratios on the ex ante and ex-post risk of Japanese commercial and cooperative banks over the period from 2001 to 2020. The insights into the impact of leverage, regulatory capital and tier-I capital ratios on the ex ante and ex post risk of well-capitalized, under-capitalized, high and low-liquid banks are new in the context of Japan.

Validating ADME QSAR Models Using Marketed Drugs

Problems with drug ADME are responsible for many clinical failures. By understanding the ADME properties of marketed drugs and modeling how chemical structure contributes to these inherent properties, we can help new projects reduce their risk profiles. Kinetic aqueous solubility, the parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA), and rat liver microsomal stability constitute the Tier I ADME assays at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Using recent data generated from in-house lead optimization Tier I studies, we update quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) models for these three endpoints and validate in silico performance against a set of marketed drugs (balanced accuracies range between 71% and 85%). Improved models and experimental datasets are of direct relevance to drug discovery projects and, together with the prediction services that have been made publicly available at the ADME@NCATS web portal ( https://opendata.ncats.nih.gov/adme/ ), provide important tools for the drug discovery community. The results are discussed in light of our previously reported ADME models and state-of-the-art models from scientific literature. Graphical Abstract [Figure: see text]

Recommendations for Toxicological Investigation of Drug-Impaired Driving and Motor Vehicle Fatalities – 2021 Update

ABSTRACT This report describes updates to the National Safety Council’s (NSC) Alcohol, Drugs, and Impairment Division’s (ADID) recommendations for drug testing in Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) cases and motor vehicle fatalities. The updates are based on a survey of drug testing practices in laboratories in the United States and Canada, a comprehensive review of the prior recommendations, and data and research on drugs most frequently detected in DUID cases. A consensus meeting was held with representative forensic science practitioners and the authors of this report to update recommendations. No changes were made to the Tier I scope; however, there were changes to cutoffs of some analytes for blood, urine and oral fluid. Due to increased prevalence in DUID cases, trazodone and difluoroethane were added to the Tier II scope. For clarification, Tier I cutoffs reflect free concentrations, and hydrolysis is recommended but not required. The consensus panel concluded that urine is an inferior matrix to blood and oral fluid as it may represent historical use or exposure unrelated to observed impairment; therefore, future iterations of these recommendations will not include urine as a recommended matrix. Laboratories currently testing urine should work with traffic safety partners to encourage the use of blood and oral fluid as more appropriate specimens and adjust their capabilities to provide that testing.

Tiered Neuroscience and Mental Health Professional Development in Liberia Improves Teacher Self-Efficacy, Self-Responsibility, and Motivation

After acquiring knowledge of the neuroscience of learning, memory, stress and emotions, teachers incorporate more cognitive engagement and student-centered practices into their lessons. However, the role understanding neuroscience plays in teachers own affective and motivational competencies has not yet been investigated. The goal of this study was to investigate how learning neuroscience effected teachers’ self-efficacy, beliefs in their ability to teach effectively, self-responsibility and other components of teacher motivation. A pilot training-of-trainers program was designed and delivered in Liberia combining basic neuroscience with information on social, emotional, behavioral and mental health issues faced by students. Tier I of the professional development was a 2 weeks workshop led by a visiting neuroscientist. A subset of the 24 Tier I secondary science teachers formed a Leadership Team who adapted the content to the Liberian context and subsequently led additional workshops and follow-up sessions for the Tier II secondary science teachers. Science teachers in both tiers completed the affective-motivational scales from the internationally vetted, multiscale Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning Teacher Knowledge Survey from the OECD. Tier II teachers completed the survey in a pre-post-delayed post design. Tier I teachers completed the survey after the workshop with their attitudes at that time and separately with retrospective projections of their pre-workshop attitudes. Ten of the 92 Tier II teachers participated in structured interviews at follow-up. Statistical analysis of survey data demonstrated improved teacher self-efficacy, self-responsibility for student outcomes, and motivation to teach. Qualitatively, teachers expressed more confidence in their ability to motivate students, engage them through active learning, and manage the class through positive rather than negative reinforcement. Teachers’ own self-regulation improved as they made efforts to build supporting relationships with students. Together, these results demonstrated that (i) teacher affective-motivational attitudes can be altered with professional development, (ii) basic neuroscience, as knowledge of how students learn, can improve teacher competency, and (iii) a training-of-trainers model can be effective in a low and middle income country for disseminating neuroscience knowledge, increasing teachers’ knowledge of students’ social and emotional needs, and promoting educational improvement.