The influence of boards of directors’ characteristics on strategic decision-making: Evidence from Greek companies

This article is available open access from the publisher’s website at the link below.This study explores the influence Boards of Directors’ demographic characteristics on the process of making strategic decisions. Empirical testing is based on a sample of 105 Greek companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. The results suggest that educational level affect both the financial reporting and the hierarchical decentralisation in the strategic decision-making process. Also, functional background of executives was found to be related with financial reporting. However, the educational specialty did not appear to have any significant influence on the strategic decision-making process. In light of these findings, implications for practitioners are made and avenues for future research are suggested

Strategic decision-making processes as a mediator of the effect of board characteristics on company innovation: A study of publicly-listed firms in Greece

Based on the Upper Echelons Theory that suggests the demographic characteristics of executives are linked to organisational processes and outcomes, the paper proposes that strategic decision-making processes mediate the relationship between board members’ demographic characteristics and corporate innovation relating to product, process and organization. Based on questionnaires completed by 101 CEOs of Greek listed firms, the findings confirm that reporting and formalization as decision processes mediate the effect of board characteristics on innovation. Sound financial and formal mechanisms encourage Greek executives to take risks and invest in product or service innovation. Findings show that the executives’ educational level is positively associated with financial reporting and rule formalization activities due to the changes that have been occurred in the Greek education system over recent decades. Functional background is found to influence only financial reporting activities. Finally, the managerial implications of this study are discussed

CD28 and T cell antigen receptor signal transduction coordinately regulate interleukin 2 gene expression in response to superantigen stimulation.

Activation of an immune response requires intercellular contact between T lymphocytes and antigen-presenting cells (APC). Interaction of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) with antigen in the context of major histocompatibility molecules mediates signal transduction, but T cell activation appears to require the induction of a second costimulatory signal transduction pathway. Recent studies suggest that interaction of CD28 with B7 on APC might deliver such a costimulatory signal. To investigate the role of CD28 signal transduction during APC-dependent T cell activation, we have used Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) presented by a B7-positive APC. We used anti-B7 monoclonal antibodies and a mutant interleukin 2 (IL-2) promoter construct, unresponsive to CD28-generated signals, in transient transfection assays to examine the contribution of the CD28-B7 interaction to IL-2 gene activation. These studies indicate that the CD28-regulated signal transduction pathway is activated during SE stimulation of T cells and plays an important role in SE induction of IL-2 gene expression through its influence upon the CD28-responsive element contained within the IL-2 gene promoter. This effect is particularly profound in the activation of the IL-2 gene in peripheral blood T cells

Effect of pressure on the electronic structure of hcp Titanium

The effect of pressure on the hexagonal close-packed structure of titanium is investigated. The lattice parameters of the equilibrium structure were determined in terms of the Gibbs free energy using the Epitaxial Bain Path method. When this process was repeated for several pressures, the effect of pressure on the lattice parameters was revealed. The calculated lattice parameters were in good agreement with the experimental and theoretical results. The effects of pressure on parameters depending on the electronic structure such as conductivity and resistivity in the ground state were also investigated up to 30 GPa using density functional theory.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Solvation forces in Ising films with long-range boundary fields: density-matrix renormalization-group study

Using the quasi-exact density-matrix renormalization-group method we calculate the solvation forces in two-dimensional Ising films of thickness L subject to identical algebraically decaying boundary fields with various decay exponents p. At the bulk critical point the solvation force acquires a universal contribution which is long-ranged in L due to the critical fluctuations, a phenomenon known as the critical Casimir effect. For p = 2, 3 and 50, we study the scaling behaviour of the solvation force along the pseudo-phase coexistence and along the critical and sub-critical isotherms.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Molecular Physic

Bodily attractiveness and egalitarianism are negatively related in males.

Ancestrally, relatively attractive individuals and relatively formidable males may have had reduced incentives to be egalitarian (i.e., to act in accordance with norms promoting social equality). If selection calibrated one's egalitarianism to one's attractiveness/formidability, then such people may exhibit reduced egalitarianism ("observed egalitarianism") and be perceived by others as less egalitarian ("perceived egalitarianism") in modern environments. To investigate, we created 3D body models of 125 participants to use both as a source of anthropometric measurements and as stimuli to obtain ratings of bodily attractiveness and perceived egalitarianism. We also measured observed egalitarianism (via an economic "dictator" game) and indices of political egalitarianism (preference for socialism over capitalism) and "equity sensitivity." Results indicated higher egalitarianism levels in women than in men, and moderate-to-strong negative relationships between (a) attractiveness and observed egalitarianism among men, (b) attractiveness and perceived egalitarianism among both sexes, and (c) formidability and perceived egalitarianism among men. We did not find support for two previously-reported findings: that observed egalitarianism and formidability are negatively related in men, and that wealth and formidability interact to explain variance in male egalitarianism. However, this lack of support may have been due to differences in variable measurement between our study and previous studies

The lysine residue in the membrane-spanning domain of the beta chain is necessary for cell surface expression of the T cell antigen receptor.

The TCR is a complex receptor composed of seven polypeptide chains consisting of a ligand-binding subunit, Ti, and a putative signal-transducing subunit, CD3. Phylogenetically conserved charged amino acid residues within the membrane-spanning domains present in all seven chains of the TCR have been proposed to be important in the association between Ti and CD3. Using a Ti beta chain-deficient mutant of the cell line Jurkat, site-directed mutagenesis and transfection of Ti beta chain cDNA was performed to assess the importance of the lysine residue at position 290 within the membrane-spanning domain of the Ti beta chain to expression of the TCR complex. These studies demonstrated that the lysine residue, and not simply conservation of either basic charge or secondary structure, is important at this position

A filter design approach to maximize ampacity of cables in nonsinusoidal power systems

This paper presents an optimal design of the C-type passive filters for the effective utilization of the power cables under nonsinusoidal conditions based on maximization of the harmonic derating factor (HDF) of a power cable, where maintaining the load true power factor at an acceptable range is desired. According to IEEE Standard 519, the total harmonic distortions of the voltage and current measured at the point of common coupling are taken into account as main constraints of the proposed approach. The presented numerical results show that the proposed approach provides higher current carrying capacity, or ampacity of the cables under nonsinusoidal conditions when compared to the traditional approaches based on minimization of the current total harmonic distortion and maximization of the true load power factor. A numerical case study is presented to demonstrate the proposed approach