Directors' and officers' liability insurance and acquisition outcomes

We examine the effect of directors' and officers' liability insurance (D&O insurance) on the outcomes of merger and acquisition (M&A) decisions. We find that acquirers whose executives have a higher level of D&O insurance coverage experience significantly lower announcement-period abnormal stock returns. Further analyses suggest that acquirers with a higher level of D&O insurance protection tend to pay higher acquisition premiums and their acquisitions appear to exhibit lower synergies. The evidence provides support for the notion that the provision of D&O insurance can induce unintended moral hazard by shielding directors and officers from the discipline of shareholder litigation. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.postprin

Cretaceous-Tertiary findings, paradigms and problems

The asteroid hypothesis has stimulated numerous studies of the paleontological record at Cretaceous/Tertiary time as well as of geological indicators of environmental crisis preserved in the rock record. Both extinctions and geological anomalies often occur at times that do not appear to be synchronous or instantaneous. The record includes paleontological indicators of dinosaurs, terrestrial flora, marine planktonic organisms, and shallow water marine macrofauna and geological phenomena include occurrences of iridium and other platinum metals, trace elements, clay mineralogy, shocked minerals, soot, microspherules, and isotopes of osmium, strontium and carbon. These findings are reviewed in the context of the alternate hypotheses of an exogenic cause, involving either a single asteroid impact or multiple commentary impacts, and an endogenic cause, involving intense global volcanism and major sea level regression

Directors' and officers' liability insurance and loan spreads

We analyze the effect of directors' and officers' liability insurance (D&O insurance) on the spreads charged on bank loans. We find that higher levels of D&O insurance coverage are associated with higher loan spreads and that this relation depends on loan characteristics in economically sensible ways and is attenuated by monitoring mechanisms. This association between loan spreads and D&O insurance coverage is robust to controlling for endogeneity (because both could be related to firm risk). Our evidence suggests that lenders view D&O insurance coverage as increasing credit risk (potentially via moral hazard or information asymmetry). Further analyses show that higher levels of D&O insurance coverage are associated with greater risk taking and higher probabilities of financial restatement due to aggressive financial reporting. While greater use of D&O insurance increases the cost of debt, we find some evidence that D&O insurance coverage appears to improve the value of large increases in capital expenditure for firms with better internal and external governance. © 2013.postprin

Benthic Filter Feeding: A Natural Eutrophication Control

The importance of the benthic filter feeding community as a natural control on eutrophication is considered. The important environmental factors favorable for such a control are relatively shallow water depths and a dense benthic filter feeding commmunity of small animals. The criteria are summarized in the equivalence of the water recycling time, τρ, for the benthic community and the time constant, τρ, for phytoplankton growth. The criteria are applied specifically to the conditions that exist in South San Francisco bay

Radical political unionism reassessed

Defections from European social-democratic parties and a resurgence of union militancy have prompted some to diagnose a new left-wing trade unionism across Europe. This comment on the article by Connolly and Darlington scrutinizes trends in France and Germany but primarily analyses recent developments in Britain. While there are some instances of disaffiliation from the Labour Party, support for electoral alternatives, growth in political militancy and emphasis on new forms of internationalism, these have been limited. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that we are witnessing the making of a new radical collectivism

Photoelectrochemical cells based on inherently conducting polymers

This review of photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) based on inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) deals with the mechanisms of operation and the various factors that influence the overall efficiency of PECs. The factors addressed include ICP composition and oxidation state, the use of nanostructured surfaces and interfaces, and the PEC electrolyte and redox mediator

Een dubbele dijk met driedubbele doelen

De huidige zeedijk in de Eemsdelta voldoet niet meer aan de veiligheidsnormen. Omdat de dijk in een aardbevingsgevoelig gebied ligt is dijkversterking urgent. Daarnaast heeft Noordoost-Groningen behoefte aan nieuwe economische impulsen, en is voor de natuur in het Eems-estuarium kwaliteitsverbetering dringend gewenst. Dit was aanleiding voor de provincie Groningen om te onderzoeken of een innovatieve, multifunctionele dubbele dijk haalbaar is. Daarmee kunnen drie doelen worden bereikt: meer veiligheid, nieuwe economische dragers en meer biodiversiteit

Measuring functional ability in healthy ageing: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in the Philippine older population

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the empirical support of the functional ability concept in the healthy ageing framework developed by the WHO in a sample of the Philippine older population. According to this framework, environmental factors may enhance or hinder functional ability, which is the person's ability to do what they value, broadly represented by subjective well-being. Moreover, this network of relationships may be moderated by personal characteristics such as gender. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. SETTING: Philippines, general population. PARTICIPANTS: Respondents of the 2016 National Disability Prevalence Survey/Model Functioning Survey aged 50+ (N=2825). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Latent (unobserved) measures of functional ability, environmental factors (physical environmental factors and social network and support) and subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect and evaluative well-being) were obtained from different items from the survey questionnaire using a SEM framework. RESULTS: We found that the relationship between environmental factors and the three components of subjective well-being considered in this study was partially explained by differences in functional ability. The portion of those effects accounted for by functional ability was comparatively larger for the physical than for the social environmental factors. We found no evidences of gender differences in this network of relationships. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the relevance of functional ability at explaining the relationship between environmental factors and subjective well-being in older adults. Future studies may replicate these findings longitudinally and including other relevant measures as the person's objective level of intrinsic capacity