The Conglomerate Discount in Germany and the Relationship to Corporate Governance

This paper documents the conglomerate discount for all available German firms and the DAX 30 firms in detail. It shows a moderate discount of about 0.06 based on German comparable firms and of about 0.20 for a combined sample of German and European peer groups. I further examine the relationship between the discount and industry concentration as well as uncertainty of valuation. Finally, I document that corporate governance behavior affects the conglomerate discount.conglomerate discount, corporate governance

Selecting Comparables for the Valuation of European Firms

This paper investigates which comparables selection method generates the most precise forecasts when valuing European companies with the enterprise value to EBIT multiple. We also consider the USA as a reference point. It turns out that selecting comparable companies with similar return on assets clearly outperforms selections according to industry membership or total assets. Moreover, we investigate whether comparables should be selected from the same country, from the same region, or from all OECD members. For most European countries, choosing comparables from the 15 European Union member states yields the best forecasts. In contrast, for the UK and the US, comparables should be chosen from the same country only.comparables, selection method, valuing companies, forecasts, EBIT, industry membership, ROA

Worldscope meets Compustat: A Comparison of Financial Databases

With this study we are the first to systematically compare today’s two major counterparts as a source of accounting and financial data for researchers: Compustat North America by Standard & Poor’s and Worldscope by Thomson Financial. This investigation is conducted for U.S. and partly Canadian data over an extensive period from 1985 to 2003. We examine more than 650 data items available in both databases and address the question of whether or not the decision for one or the other source may have an impact on the outcome of research projects. It is probably commonly assumed that this impact is minor, but it also leaves room to question certain results. We show that the use of both databases should lead to comparable results, but also find that if, e.g. a size bias, is not treated with care the quality of results may differ considerable. Furthermore after 1998 the number of firms covered by Worldscope exceeds the one covered by Compustat by about one fourth.Worldscope, Compustat, financial databases

The Impact of Industry Classification Schemes on Financial Research

This paper investigates industry classification systems. During the last 50 yearsthere has been a considerable discussion of problems regarding the classification ofeconomic data by industries. From my perspective, the central point of each classificationis to determine a balance between aggregation of similar firms and differentiationbetween industries. This paper examines the structure and content ofindustrial classification schemes and how they affect financial research. I use classificationsystems provided by the Worldscope and the Compustat database. First,this study gives a detailed description of the structure and methodology of industrialclassification systems and the relevance in leading finance and accounting journals.Second, I construct a benchmark classification system to measure the performanceof different systems and provide evidence that some systems a more homogeneousin terms of value drivers than others. Third, I examine how multiple valuation isinfluenced by industry classification and show that the results vary significantly fordifferent systems

The Impact of Industry Classification Schemes on Financial Research

This paper investigates industry classification systems. During the last 50 years there has been a considerable discussion of problems regarding the classification of economic data by industries. From my perspective, the central point of each classification is to determine a balance between aggregation of similar firms and differentiation between industries. This paper examines the structure and content of industrial classification schemes and how they affect financial research. I use classification systems provided by the Worldscope and the Compustat database. First, this study gives a detailed description of the structure and methodology of industrial classification systems and the relevance in leading finance and accounting journals. Second, I construct a benchmark classification system to measure the performance of different systems and provide evidence that some systems a more homogeneous in terms of value drivers than others. Third, I examine how multiple valuation is influenced by industry classification and show that the results vary significantly for different systems.industry classification

Test Set-up for Power Factor Correction Boost Converter Circuits

This thesis will be the second part of a project whose goal is to build a test set-up of a DC-DC boost converter in the power electronics lab at h-da. Thanks to this set-up, future students will be able to see the differences between several control techniques with Power Factor Correction (PFC) in a boost converter. The main specification of the project is to transform the input energy into an output voltage of 50 DCV with a limitation of maximum 60 DCV. Since the power factor has become an element to take into account especially when it comes to charging batteries, it is very important to use power factor correction techniques. And this converter will be made by means of two different types of PFC control circuits: Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) and Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM). So, the goal of this project is to test if this build-up works, to improve the safety circuit, to research about the different types of PFC circuits and to design and build them the in some interchangeable PCBs in order to make the circuit more didactic for students

Ultrafast electro-nuclear dynamics of H2 double ionization

The ultrafast electronic and nuclear dynamics of H2 laser-induced double ionization is studied using a time-dependent wave packet approach that goes beyond the fixed nuclei approximation. The double ionization pathways are analyzed by following the evolution of the total wave function during and after the pulse. The rescattering of the first ionized electron produces a coherent superposition of excited molecular states which presents a pronounced transient H+H- character. This attosecond excitation is followed by field-induced double ionization and by the formation of short-lived autoionizing states which decay via double ionization. These two double ionization mechanisms may be identified by their signature imprinted in the kinetic-energy distribution of the ejected protons

Red-Sequence Galaxies at High Redshift by the COMBO-17+4 Survey

We investigate the evolution of the galaxy population since redshift 2 with a focus on the colour bimodality and mass density of the red sequence. We obtain precise and reliable photometric redshifts up to z=2 by supplementing the optical survey COMBO-17 with observations in four near-infrared bands on 0.2 square degrees of the COMBO-17 A901-field. Our results are based on an H-band-selected catalogue of 10692 galaxies complete to H=21.7. We measure the rest-frame colour (U_280-V) of each galaxy, which across the redshift range of our interest requires no extrapolation and is robust against moderate redshift errors by staying clear of the 4000A-break. We measure the colour-magnitude relation of the red sequence as a function of lookback time from the peak in a colour error-weighted histogram, and thus trace the galaxy bimodality out to z~1.65. The (U_280-V) of the red sequence is found to evolve almost linearly with lookback time. At high redshift, we find massive galaxies in both the red and the blue population. Red-sequence galaxies with log M_*/M_sun>11 increase in mass density by a factor of ~4 from z~2 to 1 and remain nearly constant at z<1. However, some galaxies as massive as log M_*/M_sun=11.5 are already in place at z~2.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Rules for query rewrite in native XML databases

In recent years, the database community has seen many sophisticated Structural Join and Holistic Twig Join algo-rithms as well as several index structures supporting the evaluation of twig query patterns. Even though almost all XML query evaluation proposals in the literature use one of those evaluation methods, we believe that (1) there is no internal representation that enables a smooth transition between the XQuery language level and physical algebra operators, and (2) there is still no approach that consid-ers the combination of content-and-structure indexes, Struc-tural Join, and Holistic Twig Join algorithms to speed up the evaluation of twig queries. To overcome this deficit, we propose an enhancement to Starburst’s Query Graph Model as an internal representation for XML query languages such as XQuery. This representation permits the usage of simple (binary) join operators—such as Structural Joins—and com-plex (n-way) join operators—such as Holistic Twig Joins— as part of the logical algebra. For twig queries, we define a set of rewrite rules which initiate query graph transforma-tions towards improved processability, e. g., to fuse adjacent binary join operators to a complex join operator. To en-hance the evaluation flexibility of twig queries, we come up with further rewrite rules to prepare query graphs—even be-fore query transformation—for making the most of existing joins and indexes. 1