One of the curiosities about the Japanese banking sector for Westerners is the close connection between banks and the financial authority, namely Ministry of Finance (MoF). One of the important sources of this connection is the practice called amakudari. Amakudari symbolizes the practice under which retired government officials "descend from their heaven" to be employed in the private sector. T...

In this paper, uniform, critically decimated lter banks are used to approximate nonuniform lter banks wherein di erent lters have approximately the same magnitude response, but di erent phase, thus forming a linear periodically timevarying lter whose characteristics are similar to those of a nonuniform bank. This is done by post-processing a number of selected subbands of a uniform bank using a...

This study examines whether the random allocation of single and joint saving accounts to cash crop farmers in rural Ethiopia is associated with changes decision-making authority control over resources that ultimately lead labor effort, schooling allocations, income, consumption, agricultural investments, output. Women children work more when deposit are available. Likewise, meaningful effects o...

We investigated the synergetic effect between light-emitting diode (LED) lighting efficiency and building energy savings in heating and cooling using an alternative thermal operating system (ATOS) of indoor LED lighting integrated with the ventilation system of a building as an active cooling device. The heat generated from LED lighting and the indoor lighting illuminance were experimentally de...

This cross-sectional observational study assessed the pattern of musculoskeletal disorder (MSDs) suffered by bank office workers in Kuwait. A self-administered validated questionnaire was used that included the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ12). Of 750 employees, 80% suffered at least 1 episode of MSD during the previous year and 42% suffered ...

Energy simulation models are developed with EnergyPlus for two office buildings in a R&D center in Shanghai, China to evaluate the energy cost savings of green building design options compared with the baseline building. As a R&D center of an international IT corporation, there are data centers in the two buildings, which make them different from typical office buildings. The data centers house...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) expects a bank to practice effective risk management regardless of whether the bank performs the activity internally or through a third party. A bank’s use of third parties does not diminish the responsibility of its board of directors and senior management to ensure that the activity is performed in a safe and sound manner and in compliance w...

This paper constitutes part of a broader research initiative sponsored by The World Bank Group, Office in Brazil, to analyze the economics of cattle ranching and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the view of The World Bank. The author thanks Sergio Marg...

This publication was produced by the World Bank Office for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The series " Working Paper " does not constitute an official document of the World Bank. It is published and distributed in an informal way with the aim to encourage discussion and comments of the community working on issues presented in this paper. The results, interpretations, judgments and conc...