Analysis of International Patent Applications for Inventions Like Traditional Herbal Medicines

Numerous applications have been filed for patents based on bio-inventions in the Indian patent office. Although there is not any international patent, there is a system of international patent applications whereby the applicant may designate name of countries where they wish to file application for patents nationally. According to international patent classification, the concern class for such a patent applications is A61K36/00. More particularly, the international class (IC) A61K36/00 relates to medicinal preparations of undetermined constitution containing material from algae, lichens, fungi or plants, or derivatives thereof (e.g., traditional herbal medicines). International applications filings under patent cooperation treaty (PCT) for patent purposes can be accessed at the Patentscope (patent search tool of WIPO). All international patent applications for such TK-based inventions have been accessed online at Patentscope using the classification code A61K36 for this study.

Comparison of Different Image Data Augmentation Approaches

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have gained prominence in the research literature on image classification over the last decade. One shortcoming of CNNs, however, is their lack of generalizability and tendency to overfit when presented with small training sets. Augmentation directly confronts this problem by generating new data points providing additional information. In this paper, we investigate the performance of more than ten different sets of data augmentation methods, with two novel approaches proposed here: one based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform and the other on the Constant-Q Gabor transform. Pretrained ResNet50 networks are finetuned on each augmentation method. Combinations of these networks are evaluated and compared across three benchmark data sets of images representing diverse problems and collected by instruments that capture information at different scales: a virus data set, a bark data set, and a LIGO glitches data set. Experiments demonstrate the superiority of this approach. The best ensemble proposed in this work achieves state-of-the-art performance across all three data sets. This result shows that varying data augmentation is a feasible way for building an ensemble of classifiers for image classification (code available at https://github.com/LorisNanni).

Disasters and Domestic Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia in 2013-2017

The tourism sector is the leading sector in Indonesia's economic development in the future. One of the potential demand for Indonesia tourism sector comes from domestic tourist arrivals who show an increasing trend each year. On the other hand, the number of disasters in Indonesia in the last 10 years also showed an increasing trend. Starting from this phenomenon, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of disasters on domestic tourist arrivals in Indonesia. The analytical method used is descriptive analysis and panel data with Fixed Effect Model (FEM) approach. In this study, natural disasters were proxied through frequency of disasters and the number of fatalities. The results of the analysis indicate that frequency of disasters and the number of fatalities have a negative effect on the domestic tourist arrivals. However, only the number of fatalities has a statistically significant effect. Economic variables which also have a significant effect on domestic tourist arrivals are GRDP/capita, CPI, population, number of hotel rooms and accessibility. All of these variables have a positive effect on domestic tourist arrivals. Keywords: Disasters, panel data, tourism, domestic tourist JEL Classification code: Z38; O20; R58.

Airline Chief Executive Officer and Corporate Social Responsibility

The aim of this research is to explore the determinants of airline CSR. Stakeholder theory is the theoretical underpinning. Chief executive officers (CEOs) are the research target, which is theoretically underpinned by upper echelon theory. For data collection, this study used data from COMPUSTAT, EXECUCOMP, KLD MSCI, LinkedIn, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Standard industry classification code 4512 was employed to obtain information on airline companies. Moreover, the number of observations was 154, the number of firms was 15, and the study period was 1999–2016. CSR domains include employment, the environment, and the product. The explanatory attributes are the CEO’s age, tenure, education, share ownership, stock option, and duality. Ordinary least squares and feasible generalized least squares regression analyses were executed for hypothesis testing. Regarding the results, employment CSR was positively affected by CEO age. This study found an inverted U-shaped relationship between CEO tenure and environmental CSR. Environmental CSR was also negatively influenced by stock options. Product CSR was positively associated with CEO age, whereas it was negatively associated with CEO duality.

Financial literacy among high school teenagers in a developing country context - an empirical study with reference to high school students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Both developed and developing countries and economies have become increasingly concerned about the level of financial literacy of their citizens. Previous studies indicate that unlike the case in the industrialized world, the issue of financial literacy is a contemporary issue in the developing world, and it is an understudied field in this context. This study was initiated to survey the level of basic financial literacy among high school students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Such a study corresponds to global initiatives such as by OECD requesting scholars to show case the level of financial literacy among young people in different countries/contexts. The data collection instrument was a standard questionnaire that measures the level of basic financial literacy of high school teenagers in Ethiopia. The questionnaire is based on the instrument originally developed by Lusardi and Mitchell, (2005); and this study uses the slightly updated version used by Van Rooij, Lusardi and Alessie, (2011) that measures basic financial literacy from angles of numeracy, interest compounding, inflation, time value of money, and money illusion. The study concludes that the level of financial literacy is not fairly good among the high school students. The high school students in the capital are not well versed with the basic financial literacy dimensions/measurements, mainly with the assessments of interest compounding, inflation, time value of money, and money illusion. The worst assessment results are a 90.8% failure in the money illusion question, a 70.9% failure in interest compounding assessment question, and a 62.7% failure in the time value of money assessment question. These are followed by a 58.4% failure in the inflation assessment question and a 31.3% failure in the easiest assessment question of numeracy. By and large, these findings testify that the high school students in Addis Ababa have serious deficiency in basic financial literacy. Policy makers and educators may need to seriously pay attention to this shocking deficiency in the level of basic financial literacy among the high school students and take measures to educate the youth this basic life skill at young age while they are still at school.JEL Classification Code: D14

The Influence of Demographic Matters and Interest on Passenger’s Switching Intention: Evidence of Travelers in the Developing Country Indonesia

Background: After the official operation of the Jakarta-Cikampek elevated highway, a socio-demographic picture of Indonesian travel passengers, as well as their interest in switching transportation preferences was provided. This elevated highway shortened travel time and discouraged users from changing to other transportation modes. This study is likely to become a future research foundation for the switching behavior of passengers. Objective: This study aims to analyze demographic factors and interests on passenger’s switching of transportation preference. Methods: A total of 720 questionnaires were distributed to land transportation passengers at concentrated points with a response rate of 89.17% and 642 valid answers. The obtained data were analyzed using quantitative descriptive techniques with cross tab methods. Results: The results showed that age, education level, and type of work influenced the desire of passengers to switch transportation modes, as opposed to gender. Most of the passengers interested in using land modes, such as the highway, were dominated by intercity between provinces travel buses and refused to change to other means of transportation. Meanwhile, passengers that used rented cars tended to switch to other forms of transportation. Conclusion: This research is useful and acts as a reference for managers of each transportation mode to set high priorities for particular consumers based on detailed socio-demographics to retain or attract new potential customers. JEL Classification Code: D12, L92, R41.

Enhancing national standards for meat and dairy industry

The subject of research is standardization as one of the forms of technical regulation in the food industry of Ukraine, in particular in the production of milk and milk products, meat and meat products, determination of safety and quality parameters of the specified food raw materials and finished products made from those, as well as installations and equipment for the food industry. The purpose of the study is to analyze the state of standardization in the production of dairy and meat products, highlight the existing problems and possible ways to solve them, as well as outline the role that the Technical Committee for Standardization 140 “Milk, meat and products of their processing” should play in these processes. Methods. During the research, a systematic approach was used to research factual materials, in particular scientific and scientific-practical literature, regulatory legal acts, regulatory documents and the like, abstract-logical approach to the synthesis of research results and the formulation of conclusions. The results of the study. National standards of Ukraine DSTU is the base of the technical regulation in relation to food products and methods of their control. The above also applies to standardization in the field of milk and meat products, which is within the competence scope of the Technical Committee for Standardization 140 “Milk, meat and products of their processing”. Technical Committee 140 carries out significant work to develop new and update existing national standards in accordance with its area of competence, in particular, it has significant success in harmonizing international and European standards. As of January 15, 2021, according to the classification code 67.100 (Milk and milk products) out of 203 standards of the nationwide force, 103 standards (50.7%) were developed by harmonizing the relevant international standards EN, ISO, etc. According to the classification code 67.120 (Meat, meat products and other animal products) – 202 units, 26 units and 14.1 %, respectively, according to the classification code 67.260 (Installations and equipment for the food industry) – 99 units, 86 units and 86.9%, respectively. The issue of attracting extra-budgetary funds for the harmonization of international standards and the implementation of the entire range of works on standardization is urgent. The issue of proper regulatory support for the production and operation of specialized technological equipment for food and processing industry enterprises is relevant, for which it is advisable to combine the domestic traditions of standardization with the priorities of safety and hygiene of machines, as well as ecology, which are in force in international practice. Scope of research results. The results of the studies performed will be used in the field of technical regulation, in particular, national standardization, of milk and milk products, meat and meat products, determination of safety and quality indicators of the specified food raw materials and finished products made from it, as well as installations and equipment for the food industry.

Effect of Real Earnings Management on Firm Performance: Evidence from India

This study investigates the effect of real earnings management (REM) on firms’ future performance in India. The sample comprises a balanced panel of 108 non-financial firms belonging to 21 industries (as per the two-digit NIC classification code) from 2006 to 2018. The proxy for REM given by Roychowdhury (2006) is used to measure REM, and the firm’s performance is measured through return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and price-to-earnings (PE) ratio. While ROA and ROE are measures of accounting performance, PE captures market performance. To explore the impact of REM activities on firms’ future performance, a Generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator is used in a dynamic panel setting. Since the proxy variables for performance is measured on a lead year basis, the analysis is restricted to the period 2006–2017. We also control for firm size, financial stability and growth. Our research reflects that Indian firms usually manipulate earnings by reducing discretionary expenditures. Regression results indicate that REM activities affect both accounting and market performance negatively.

COVID-19 and the selection problem in national cause-of-death statistics

The World Health Organization has issued international instructions for certification and classification (coding) of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as cause of death. Central to these instructions is the selection of the underlying cause of death for a public health preventive purpose. This article focuses on two rules for this selection: (1) that a death due to COVID-19 should be counted independently of pre-existing conditions that are suspected of triggering a severe course of COVID-19 and (2) that COVID-19 should not be considered as due to anything else. The article argues that observance of the first rule may not always lead to an optimal selection from a preventive point of view and that in the future the ascertainment of an animal source of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) would make it possible to reconceptualize ‘COVID-19′ and create a zoonotic classification code by means of which a factor of a greater preventive value could be selected than what is currently possible.