Two Essays on Antecedents and Effects of Board Female Representation Non-Conformity

Despite mounting societal demands for board gender diversity, some firms deviate below traditional norms, i.e., under-conform to expectations, while others adhere to them. To explain this variation within a national context, we build on insights from the emerging corporate governance deviance theory and gender role congruity theory. Using panel data on a globally-representative set of firms, Essay 1 shows that firms with higher entrepreneurial orientation are more likely to go below the national norms for board gender diversity. Our results also reveal that having more slack resources weakens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and under-conformity. This study contributes to the comparative gender diversity literature and augments our knowledge of the institutional logics perspective for a global investigation of gender diversity on the board. Given the current popularity of board gender composition arguments, particularly in comparative corporate governance literature, and growing attention to the organizational agency, the intersection of these two provides a ground that is of interest for scholars of both institutional theory and corporate governance field. Also, previous studies acknowledge the importance of isomorphic institutional norms to explain performance implications of the gender profiles of board of directors, leaving the variation within the same national or industry context unexplored. Building on insights from resource dependence theory, Essay 2 examines whether and how deviating above the industry norms (i.e., over-conformity) for female representation on boardrooms has different performance consequences for firms, depending on the stakeholder group influenced. Specifically, we find that accounting performance is reinforced as perceived by the managers and employees within the firm; market performance is unaffected as perceived by shareholders, and innovation performance is decreased as perceived by innovation resource providers. Hence, the performance effect of over-conformity depends on the stakeholder group considered. Overall, we contribute to resource dependence theory by emphasizing the role of various stakeholders in valuation of women’s presence. Moreover, this study extends our understanding of the boundary conditions for value creation by female directors by focusing on corporate governance deviance literature

Macroscopic network circulation for planar graphs

The analysis of networks, aimed at suitably defined functionality, often focuses on partitions into subnetworks that capture desired features. Chief among the relevant concepts is a 2-partition, that underlies the classical Cheeger inequality, and highlights a constriction (bottleneck) that limits accessibility between the respective parts of the network. In a similar spirit, the purpose of the present work is to introduce a new concept of maximal global circulation and to explore 3-partitions that expose this type of macroscopic feature of networks. Herein, graph circulation is motivated by transportation networks and probabilistic flows (Markov chains) on graphs. Our goal is to quantify the large-scale imbalance of network flows and delineate key parts that mediate such global features. While we introduce and propose these notions in a general setting, in this paper, we only work out the case of planar graphs. We explain that a scalar potential can be identified to encapsulate the concept of circulation, quite similarly as in the case of the curl of planar vector fields. Beyond planar graphs, in the general case, the problem to determine global circulation remains at present a combinatorial problem

Digging Into Selection Criteria for Accelerator Acceptance: What Kind of Owners Are More Attractive?

Drawing on signaling theory, we aid in the identification of the rarely acknowledged impact of business owner’s features on acceptance to accelerator programs. Using a multi-national sample of 10,298 observations for startups in 166 countries over 2016-2018, we show that accelerators do not evaluate applicants uniformly. We find that entrepreneurs from developing countries are less likely to be accepted by accelerators than entrepreneurs from developed economies. Counterintuitively, we also find an advantage for female entrepreneurs in accelerator acceptance. Further, our results suggest a positive impact of education. Accelerators are a growing provider of entrepreneurial resources and a main driver of growth and innovativeness. Despite the extant literature demonstrating the benefits of accelerators, determinants of acceptance to these programs, particularly at the individual level, are underexplored. Here, we extend entrepreneurship literature and show some sources of variation in access to international accelerator programs. Our comparative study enhances business owners’ insight for application to entrepreneurial resources

An improved optimization technique for estimation of solar photovoltaic parameters

The nonlinear current vs voltage (I-V) characteristics of solar PV make its modelling difficult. Optimization techniques are the best tool for identifying the parameters of nonlinear models. Even though, there are different optimization techniques used for parameter estimation of solar PV, still the best optimized results are not achieved to date. In this paper, Wind Driven Optimization (WDO) technique is proposed as the new method for identifying the parameters of solar PV. The accuracy and convergence time of the proposed method is compared with results of Pattern Search (PS), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Simulated Annealing (SA) for single diode and double diode models of solar PV. Furthermore, for performance validation, the parameters obtained through WDO are compared with hybrid Bee Pollinator Flower Pollination Algorithm (BPFPA), Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), Generalized Oppositional Teaching Learning Based Optimization (GOTLBO), Artificial Bee Swarm Optimization (ABSO), and Harmony Search (HS). The obtained results clearly reveal that WDO algorithm can provide accurate optimized values with less number of iterations at different environmental conditions. Therefore, the WDO can be recommended as the best optimization algorithm for parameter estimation of solar PV

New method for analytical photovoltaic parameters identification: meeting manufacturer’s datasheet for different ambient conditions

At present, photovoltaic energy is one of the most important renewable energy sources. The demand for solar panels has been continuously growing, both in the industrial electric sector and in the private sector. In both cases the analysis of the solar panel efficiency is extremely important in order to maximize the energy production. In order to have a more efficient photovoltaic system, the most accurate understanding of this system is required. However, in most of the cases the only information available in this matter is reduced, the experimental testing of the photovoltaic device being out of consideration, normally for budget reasons. Several methods, normally based on an equivalent circuit model, have been developed to extract the I-V curve of a photovoltaic device from the small amount of data provided by the manufacturer. The aim of this paper is to present a fast, easy, and accurate analytical method, developed to calculate the equivalent circuit parameters of a solar panel from the only data that manufacturers usually provide. The calculated circuit accurately reproduces the solar panel behavior, that is, the I-V curve. This fact being extremely important for practical reasons such as selecting the best solar panel in the market for a particular purpose, or maximize the energy extraction with MPPT (Maximum Peak Power Tracking) methods

Post-Traumatic Pulmonary Pseudocyst following Blunt Chest Trauma; a Case Report

Traumatic pulmonary pseudocyst is a rare complication of chest trauma that has been poorly documented and usually resolves without specific treatment. Here, we present a case of pulmonary pseudocyst in a child with chest trauma without obvious symptoms. It is important to consider this diagnosis in patients with chest trauma to avoid unnecessary invasive procedures

The Comparative Effect of Portfolio Assessment and Peer-Assessment on EFL Learners' Critical Thinking and Speaking Achievement

This study compared the effects of portfolio assessment and peer-assessment on EFL learners’ critical thinking and speaking achievement. For this purpose, 32 EFL learners attending Diplomat Institute in Tehran were non-randomly selected based on their scores on PET. They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups of 16.  The portfolio assessment group went through the procedure of creating portfolio based on Evaluation Portfolio Model recommended by Valencia and Calfee (1991). The peer-assessment group practiced peer-assessment according to Yamashiro and Johnson's (1997) Model. Finally, both experimental groups took a speaking test of PET and a critical thinking questionnaire as posttests. The data analysis using RM ANOVA revealed that both experimental groups had similarly a higher post-treatment level of critical thinking. The analysis of a Mann-Whitney U test on the gain scores revealed that the level of post-treatment speaking in the peer-assessment group was significantly higher compared to the portfolio assessment group

Factors Affecting Patients' Preferences Based on the Mixing Factors of Marketing Services in Hospital Selection

oai:ojs.ijhs.shmu.ac.ir:article/696Background: Today, health care market has become a competitive market. Various factors affect the care of the hospital and the choice of hospital by patients. The present study aimed to investigate the effective factors on patients' preferences based on the mixing factors of marketing services in hospital selection. Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was performed on 300 patients referred to educational hospitals in Iran in 2018. The instrument used was a researcher-made questionnaire include two sections (demographic and Patients' Preferences questionnaire). Data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical. Results: Among the 7 components, the highest and the lowest mean and standard deviation were related to staff (1.03 ± 3.89) and location (1.10 ± 2.96), respectively. The index value of the RMSEA for the compiled model it is equal to 0.059, comparative fit index (CFI) is 0.837 and the IFI index is 0.839. Employee component with coefficient of 1.00 and price component with coefficient of 0.72 had the highest and the least effect. Conclusions: Staff and physicians and hospital space have the greatest role in attracting patients. Therefore, it is expected that the hospital management will make the essential planning, and by intervening in the process of work of physicians and staff. Key words: Patient preferences, mixed Marketing, marketing of health services, Hospital