This paper evaluates and compares the performance of Sharia-compliant banks with their conventional counterparts operating in Pakistan. Data of five completely Islamic Banks(IBs) and fifteen Conventional Banks (CBs), from Pakistan, have been used for the study. Study period comprises of six years from year 2008 to year 2013. Bank's orientation, efficiency, quality of assets and stability are the measures used to compare the performance of Shariah-compliant and conventional banks. The Islamic Banks in Pakistan are younger in age and smaller in size compared to the Conventional Banks. Based on the financial ratios of two types of banks, we find that the business model of Islamic Banks is inferior to the model of Conventional Banks. Islamic Banks are less cost efficient than Conventional Banks. However, Islamic Banks have superior asset quality with better bank stability position.

China's recent removal of short-selling and margin trading bans on selected stocks enables testing of the relative effect of margin trading and short selling. We find the prices of the shortable stocks decrease, on average, relative to peer A-shares and cross-listed H-shares, suggesting that short selling dominates margin trading effects. Contrary to the regulators' intention and recent developed market empirical evidence, liquidity declines and bid-ask spreads increase in these shortable stocks. Consistent with Ausubel (1990), these results imply that uninformed investors avoid the shortable stocks to reduce the risk of trading with informed investors.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the announcement and implementation of short sales and margin trading regulation affects Chinese stock returns and trading volume. On 31 March 2010, the Chinese regulators launched a pilot programme, allowing short sales and margin trading for 50 Shanghai Stock Exchange and 40 Shenzhen Stock Exchange stocks. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an event study approach to compare market model abnormal returns (ARs) of the pilot firms with two distinct matched firm samples. A volume event study is also conducted to examine abnormal trading activity surrounding the key events in the pilot stocks. Findings – Negative ARs follow both the announcement and implementation of short selling and margin trading. This suggests the negative impact of short sales dominates the positive impact of margin trading on an average. Volume also declines, which is consistent with uninformed investors’ seeking to avoid trading against informed traders. Originality/value – The paper appears to be the first to address the impact of both the announcement and implementation of short selling and margin trading rule changes on returns and liquidity using individual stock data.

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Microscale and nanoscale robots, frequently referred to as future cargo systems for targeted drug delivery, can effectively convert magnetic energy into locomotion. However, navigating and imaging them within a complex colloidal vascular system at a clinical scale is exigent. Hence, a more precise and enhanced hybrid control navigation and imaging system is necessary. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) has been successfully applied to visualize the ensemble of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with high temporal sensitivity. MPI uses the concept of field-free point (FFP) mechanism in the principal magnetic field. The gradient magnetic field (|∇B|) of MPI scanners can generate sufficient magnetic force in MNPs; hence, it has been recently used to navigate nanosized particles and micron-sized swimmers. In this article, we present a simulation analysis of the optimized navigation of an ensemble of microsized polymer MNP-based drug carriers in blood vessels. Initially, an ideal two-dimensional FFP case is employed for the basic optimization of the FFP position to achieve efficient navigation. Thereafter, a nine-coil electromagnetic actuation simulation system is developed to generate and manipulate the FFP position and |∇B|. Under certain vessel and fluid conditions, the particle trajectories of different ferromagnetic polymer ratios and |∇B| were compared to optimize the FFP position.