Answering complex questions that involve multiple entities and multiple relations using a standard knowledge base is an open and challenging task. Most existing KBQA approaches focus on simpler questions and do not work very well on complex questions because they were not able to simultaneously represent the question and the corresponding complex query structure. In this work, we encode such complex query structure into a uniform vector representation, and thus successfully capture the interactions between individual semantic components within a complex question. This approach consistently outperforms existing methods on complex questions while staying competitive on simple questions.

This article analyses whether leverage affects firm value and does so using a panel of 196 Taiwanese listed companies during the 13-year (1993-2005) period. We employ an advanced panel threshold regression model to test whether there is a 'threshold' debt ratio which causes there to be asymmetrical relationships between debt ratio and firm value. We adopt Tobin's Q as proxy for firm value. We find that there are two threshold effects between debt ratio and firm value, and these are 9.86% and 33.33%. When the debt ratio is less than 9.86%, Tobin's Q (i.e. firm value) increases by 0.0546%, with an increase of 1% in the debt ratio. When the debt ratio is between 9.86% and 33.33%, we find Tobin's Q increases by only 0.0057%, with an increase of 1% in the debt ratio. But when the debt ratio is greater than 33.33%, there is no relationship between debt ratio and firm value. We therefore conclude that there must be a threshold debt ratio of less than 33.33% at which point firm value stops increasing. These results are consistent with the trade-off theory, which suggests that there is a static amount of debt which prompts managers to find the 'optimal capital structure' that maximizes firm value when the benefits of debt equal the marginal cost of debt.

This study revisits coal consumption, CO 2 emissions and economic growth nexus for both China and India using a newly developed Bootstrap ARDL model over the period of 1969-2015. Empirical results indicate no long-run relationship among these three variables for both China and India, and Granger causality test based on Bootstrap ARDL model indicates a feedback between coal consumption and economic growth, between economic growth and CO 2 emissions and between coal consumption and CO 2 emissions in China. However, we find a one-way Granger causality running from coal consumption to economic growth and the feedback hypothesis is confirmed between economic growth and CO 2 emissions and between coal consumption and CO 2 emissions in India. The coefficients signal that coal consumption is an important factor towards the promotion economic growth in both China and India. For China, higher economic growth reduces CO 2 emissions, while for India, it further increases CO 2 emissions. Our empirical results have important policy implications for the government conducting effective energy polices to promote economic growth in both China and India.

This study applies asymmetric Granger causality test, proposed by Hatemi-J (2011; 2012) to revisit military expenditures-growth nexus for the world top 6 defense spenders over 1988-2013. Empirical results indicate that the military expenditure-led hypothesis is supported in China and Japan. However, the growth-led hypothesis is supported in four countries, i.e. France, Russia, Saudi Arabia and US. Except for Saudi Arabia, strong economic growth by no means implies automatic expansion of military expenditures. Defense planning in these countries is a matter of matching their limited resources to attain the suitable priorities. The more threats they perceived, the more military spends. This evidence provides useful insight into the behavior of other potential defense suppliers.

Using a panel of 242 Taiwanese listed firms during a ten-year period (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006), this study tests whether there is an optimal ratio of ownership ultimate control that maximizes firm value. This work adopts Tobin's q as the proxy for firm value and finds that cash flow rights less than 27.8 percent and control rights between 32.34 percent and 34.03 percent are an optimal level of ownership ultimate control to maximize firm value. This distribution of financing sources propels the nonlinear relationship uncovered in this study and sheds light on legal aspects of Taiwan's system of ownership structure.