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Outlines the US development of the “too‐big‐to‐fail” (TBTF) doctrine following the collapse of the Continental Illinois Bank, reviews relevant research and explores the impact on the efficiency of the banking system. Uses 1983‐1985 call report data, explains the methodology and presents the results, which analyse economies and diseconomies of scope and scale between different types of loans; and levels of inefficiency for TBTF and non‐TBTF banks. Shows that TBTF banks had the greatest increase in inefficiency following Continental’s failure but reduced this in the following year, as did small banks which did not benefit from complete depository coverage. Confirms that the TBTF doctrine increased stability for all banks, but particularly those covered by the doctrine.

This paper aims to predict the 28-day compressive strength of recycled thermal insulation concrete more accurately.

The initial weights and thresholds of BP neural network are improved by genetic algorithm on MATLAB 2014 a platform.

Genetic algorithm–back propagation (GA-BP) neural network is more stable. The generalization performance of the complex is better.

The GA-BP neural network based on the training sample data can better realize the strength prediction of recycled aggregate thermal insulation concrete and reduce the complex orthogonal experimental process. GA-BP neural network is more stable. The generalization performance of the complex is better.

Theoretically, both democ/ratic legitimacy and government capacity are necessary for successful crisis management, like the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors argue that there are important variations for pandemic management in the developed and democratic world. However, are these equally needed in the developing world where democracy and capacity are present in varying degrees and in some countries with a vast deficit? This article analyzes how legitimacy and capacity affect citizens' satisfaction with the pandemic management in South Asia.

The study is based on a survey of 3,423 randomly selected respondents from Facebook users in South Asia. The survey data are presented and discussed along with information derived from secondary sources to put the data in the broader context of the South Asian countries. The authors apply ordinary linear regression for statistical analysis.

The findings suggest that citizens are content with the performance of government institutions in COVID-19 management. They emphasize material well-being, such as relief provisions and financial incentives during the crisis period. They are, however, less concerned about the legitimacy dimension, although democracy in South Asia is flawed with excessive restrictions on public freedom during the pandemic. The contradictory findings may be due to the public orientation towards authoritarian culture and their preference for strongman rule in crisis management.

The governments in South Asia may systematically use army and police forces to manage crises as people are more satisfied with their performance during COVID-19 management.

This is the first time data across South Asia have been collected and analyzed about crisis management.

Looks at ways software quality can be monitored and improved. Emphasizes the ability to deliver a software warranty by implementing the methodologies of statistical quality control in the software development process. Defines the quality of software, lists quality control activities and outlines the incomplete software life cycle. Provides a case study and looks at the economic value of warranty provision. Concludes that to work it must have good management but it could provide real changes in quality.

In this study, a formula is derived for the period specific beta (market risk) for a portfolio of financial assets that has been formed on the basis of directional forecasts. This is an important contribution to the literature since measuring the risk of an actively managed portfolio is problematic due to the fact that managers may change fund risk conditional on market expectations. The period‐specific nature of the measure is a significant advantage since historical fund returns are not required and the beta is not influenced by prior fund returns' deviations from the bench mark. The methodology employed allows for the development of a time series of fund betas that permits investigation into a number of important empirical issues. This study is also of practical interest from the perspective of risk management and for both portfolio performance and attribution. Finally, there are many active strategies based on directional forecasts and the approach used here encompasses a significant proportion of these.

Reviews the literature on economies of scale and scope in savings and loan institutions and uses 1980‐1987 US data to explore the cost effects of simultaneous production of outputs (mortgage loans, other loans and deposits), the impact of size and product‐specific economies of scale. Includes interest as a non‐operating cost and divides the sample into four groups based on asset values. Shows that total costs rose faster than assets, deposits or loans over the period; that there are product‐specific diseconomies of scale for deposits and loans‐ and that economies of scope were made by the larger firms following deregulation.

Reliance on statistical data on trade and development for Islamic countries cannot forecast the state of the future state of reconstruction of the Muslim World in this field. The limitation here is due to the age‐old debility of the Muslim World to project any significant economic, social and institutional transformation in the light of her own communal interest and self‐reliance. Thus the past economic data on trade and development variables show no pattern of future change. Forecasting with these data simply projects the past state of the Muslim World into the future. For these reasons, a model of reconstruction and transformation of the Muslim World on Islamic grounds necessitates reliance on normative issues. Yet these are issues that are First theoretically modelled and then empirically investigated for viability according to survey data.

It is becoming more and more apparent that the war on terror will not be won on the battlefield. This war—like the Cold War—is primarily a battle of ideas. Success depends on building support in the global community for a positive vision of international relations that is a credible alternative to that promoted by the terrorists.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly explore some recent curious interlocking of the ideology of markets and the practice of policy.

This particular discursive combine has most visibly been apparent in the concatenated birth and death of the US Defense Department's so‐called “Policy Analysis Market” (PAM). Yet PAM is but the most notorious example of a more sustained and pervasive attempt to use the technologies and disciplines of markets to render policy both better informed and more amenable to control through robust and seemingly incontestable systems of accountability. Given its prominence, our way in is through a brief description of PAM's origins and demise.

It is found that PAM and its similar brethren of markets for use in policy formation and judgement are less concerned with the capture of reality and more with the disciplining power of a curious “objectivity”.

Projects such as PAM are thus not easily challengeable on grounds of their veracity. Rather research that seeks to interrogate the use of market technologies in policy must look to their context and effects.