Socioeconomic Determinants of Suicide in Iran: Panel Data Study

Background: A set of experiences that leads to the destruction of individual’s self-esteem are the main causes of suicide. Socioeconomic factors can be reasons for this event. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of socioeconomic variables on suicide. Methods: A panel data model was used to investigate the impact of socioeconomic indexes on the number of suicides in each province of Iran from 2001-2016. The data of socioeconomic variables were obtained from the statistical center of Iran, and data for the number of suicides in each province were obtained from the forensic science department. The analysis was conducted using estimated generalized least squares method by EViews version 8. Results: The lowest and highest number of suicides was in 2001 (4.97 per 100,000 populations) and 2004 (5.97 per 100,000 populations), respectively and the average rate of suicide from 2001 to 2013 was 1.01 also unemployment, divorce, and industrialization rates have high impact on suicides for both sexes in P<0.05. Conclusion: Living skills training should be provided to the members of the societies as a short-term plan and in the long-term, improving the economic condition of people should be conduct to reduce the number of suicides.

Cross sections Data Adjustment For KRITZ-2:13

Over the past years, the cross-sections reaction data has been re-evaluated several times, in order to approximate the nuclear model measurements with the predictions with great reliability. In our work, uncertainty analysis caused by the data on the neutron factor (Keff) and the reactivity temperature coefficient (RTC), in addition to nuclear data adjustment related to the nuclear reactor physics have been done for KRITZ-2:13 reactor, with ENDF/B - VII.1, ENDF/B - VIII.0 and JENDL - 4.0 evaluations by the nuclear code MCNP6.1. Our analysis detects that the greatest uncertainty on Keff and RTC in the studied libraries comes from the capture and fission reaction contributions respectively, for U-238 and U-235. The previous reactions and their covariances were adjusted using the generalized least squares method (GLLSM), in order to contribute to improve the data needed for neutron simulation of experiments and to ensure the installations safety, where Keff and RTC represent neutron parameters reflecting the modification effects in the data.

Conformity or differentiation? A U-shaped relationship between peers’ CSR and focal firms’ CSR

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of peers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) on focal firms’ CSR from an integrated perspective. The current study aims to explore whether as peers’ CSR increases focal firms’ CSR would first decrease and then increase. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a sample consisting of Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2016. Hypotheses are tested by generalized least squares method to minimum heterogeneity and autocorrelation concern. Findings The results show that focal firms’ CSR would first decrease and then increase with the increase in peers’ CSR. Furthermore, this paper found that corporate visibility would stress more value on CSR differentiation strategy and environmental uncertainty would stress more value on CSR conformity strategy, such that the U-shaped relationship would be more pronounced in high corporate visibility or low environmental uncertainty situation. Practical implications The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers and managers. For researchers, it is important to understand how focal firms would practice CSR in response to peers’ CSR, especially through an integrated perspective. For managers, the results show that the best way to invest in CSR activities in response to peers’ CSR follows a U-shaped curve, and corporate visibility and environmental uncertainty are important factors to be considered to make CSR decisions. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by proposing and examining a U-shaped relationship between peers’ CSR and focal firms’ CSR, which stresses the conformity and differentiation value of CSR simultaneously. Besides, to fully map the effects of peers’ CSR and focal firms’ CSR, this paper considers the moderating roles of internal and external contingencies on this non-linear relationship between the peers’ CSR and focal firms’ CSR.

Constructing a summary index using the standardized inverse-covariance weighted average of indicators

Researchers often want to examine the relationship between a variable of interest and multiple related outcomes. To avoid problems of inference that arise from testing multiple hypotheses, one can create a summary index of the outcomes. Summary indices facilitate generalizing findings and can be more powerful than individual tests. In this article, we introduce a command, swindex, that implements the generalized least-squares method of index construction proposed by Anderson (2008, Journal of the American Statistical Association 103: 1481–1495). We describe the command and its options and provide an example based on Blattman, Fiala, and Martinez’s (2014, Quarterly Journal of Economics 129: 697–752) evaluation of a cash transfer program in Uganda.

Does Institutional Ownership and Bank Monitoring Affect Agency Conflicts? Evidence from an Emerging Market

Introduction/Main Objectives: This study examines the effect of institutional ownership, proxied by government and private ownership, and bank monitoring on agency conflicts. Background Problems: The previous literature focused on agency conflicts, particularly those between managers and shareholders in developed markets, with much less evidence being presented from emerging ones. Novelty: We consider the role of creditors (the banks) in mitigating agency conflicts, and the managers’ irresponsible behavior, which in previous studies has been largely under-elaborated. Research Methods: Using 1,525 observations of 305 non-financial companies that were listed in the 2011-2015 period, we employ the generalized least squares method to deal with potential econometric concern such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity. Finding/Results: We find that institutional ownership and bank monitoring, proxied by the number of banks and the share of their loans, are negatively related to agency conflicts. Conclusion: Banks and institutional ownership lead to lower agency conflicts. However, one should mitigate free-rider problems emanated from these relationships.

Circadian Rhythm of Salivary Immunoglobulin A and Associations with Cortisol as A Stress Biomarker in Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

Salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) has been proposed as a potential indicator of welfare for various species, including Asian elephants, and may be related to adrenal cortisol responses. This study aimed to distinguish circadian rhythm effects on sIgA in male and female Asian elephants and compare patterns to those of salivary cortisol, information that could potentially have welfare implications. Subjects were captive elephants at an elephant camp in Chiang Mai province, Thailand (n = 5 males, 5 females). Salivette® kits were used to collect saliva from each elephant every 4 h from 06:00 to 22:00 h for 3 consecutive days (n = 15 samples/elephant). Enzyme immunoassays were used to quantify concentrations of IgA and cortisol in unextracted saliva. Circadian rhythm patterns were determined using a generalized least-squares method. Both sIgA and cortisol followed a circadian rhythm, although the patterns differed. sIgA displayed a daily quartic trend, whereas cortisol concentrations demonstrated a decreasing linear trend in concentrations throughout the day. There was no clear relationship between patterns of sIgA and salivary cortisol, implying that mechanisms of control and secretion differ. Results demonstrate for the first time that circadian rhythms affect sIgA, and concentrations follow a daily quartic pattern in Asian elephants, so standardizing time of collection is necessary.

Green Loan as a Tool for Green Financing

The article describes one of the main tools of green financing — the green loan. This is a loan designed for environmental projects related to agriculture, renewable energy sources, environmentally friendly industry, etc. The tasks are to analyze the current research on this topic, to study the regulatory aspects of green lending, its main types, impact on the bank economic indicators, advantages and disadvantages. The analysis of the current research has shown insufficient development of the idea of the green loan. It is only the theoretical aspect of its influence on the bank activities that has been defined, not its practical effect. The authors studied the green loan impact on the results of the bank activities on the example of overdue loans. For the analysis, they used the panel data of 10 out of 24 largest banks in China in 2012–2017. The evaluation is based on a random effects model. The calculations have been done by means of the generalized least-squares method in MSEXCEL. It has been revealed that green loans in the loan portfolio of the bank contribute to the overdue loans decrease. It has been determined that the main factors influencing the decision making by the borrower and the lender are reputation, public, equity and regulatory pressure, alternative capital pools, credit profiles, availability, capital requirements. However, there is no standard credit documentation for the green loan today. To make this financial tool efficient and sound, it is necessary to further develop regulations, to change approaches to disclosing information on sustainability issues in the non-financial part of annual reporting. The authors have made a conclusion about the rapid development and expansion of the green loan due to the flexible conditions for its provision and availability.

Isotonic regression analysis of Guzerá cattle growth curves

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to apply data transformation via isotonic regression in growth curves studies of Guzerá cattle whose data presented disturbances characterized by decreased body weight in certain age groups. Weight-age data were collected on newly weaned Guzerá males according to the methodology of weight gain tests (WGT) defined by the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders (ABCZ). The Logistic, Von Bertalanffy and Gompertz models were fitted to weight-age data using the generalized least squares method for non-linear regression models through the Gauss-Newton algorithm. The proposed transformation based on isotonic regression theory proved to be efficient; and the Logistic model was the best to describe the growth of animals, with a high percentage of convergence (100%) and goodness of fit assessed by the mean squared error (MSE) and the coefficient of determination (R2).