442 research outputs found
Corporate Governance Reform and Reemergence from Bankruptcy: Putting the Structure Back in Restructuring
A company\u27s descent into bankruptcy may result from one or more troubling factors. Often the failing enterprise has adopted a poor business model, been led by deficient management, or labored under an unworkable capital structure. More often than not, a business failure is also accompanied by a less-than-ideal corporate governance structure within the organization. The failure to adopt an effective corporate governance model often leads to a sterile, inactive board of directors and may hasten a firm\u27s demise. Conversely, proper corporate governance may prevent a business\u27s slide into Chapter 11. Indeed, several studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between corporate performance and effective corporate governance.\u27 Board independence and equity ownership, along with the mantras of good governance, can create an environment in which management is effectively monitored and bankruptcy generally is avoided.
But what happens when an organization does fail? Traditionally, the focus in Chapter 11 restructurings has been on financial and managerial reform, largely ignoring equally important issues of firm governance. Attention to governance concerns, however, can greatly benefit firms emerging from bankruptcy. In reorganization, a failed firm stands at a critical juncture at which it must take a course of action that will ensure its successful revival. This course of action must include the restructuring of its corporate governance structure to incorporate, inter alia, both the election of independent outside directors and the use of equity ownership to incentivize these directors to effectively monitor management. In order to promote the firm\u27s sound future, the debtor must undertake both this corporate restructuring and the traditional financial and managerial restructuring that occurs during Chapter 11.
Business leaders within the firm, institutional investors, and even bankruptcy judges can influence and encourage a firm\u27s decision to reform its governance structure. Indeed, many institutional investors currently demand the placement of independent, outside directors on the board prior to any infusion of additional capital. Bankruptcy judges must utilize the feasibility requirement to inquire into the firm\u27s efforts at corporate governance reform, while the debtor company must create the kind of vital board that is crucial to its future survival and success. Whether on the road to or from bankruptcy, firms will benefit from adopting an effective corporate governance structure. The adoption of an independent board and an equity ownership plan, as urged by governance theorists, is an essential means of ensuring the firm\u27s successful emergence from reorganization, future survival, and performance
Lung cancer treatment outcomes in recipients of lung transplant
BACKGROUND: Lung transplant recipients develop lung cancer more commonly than the general population. The best treatment approach for these patients is unclear. The goal of this study is to evaluate treatment outcomes in this population. METHODS: We used the Cleveland Clinic lung transplant database to identify patients diagnosed with lung cancer at the time of or after lung transplant. Transplant and lung cancer-related data were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Among 847 patients underwent lung transplant between 2005 and 2013, 17 (2%) were diagnosed with lung cancer and included. Median age was 61 (range, 48–70) years. Majority were stage I/II (n=11), one had stage IIIA, five had stage IV. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were more common than small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (n=15 vs. 2). Curative treatment was performed as lobectomy in native lung (n=1), and radiation in transplanted lung (n=2). Chemotherapy was given in 10 patients, primarily carboplatin-based doublets with docetaxel, pemetrexed, or etoposide. Six of these received palliative chemotherapy for either metastases at diagnosis (n=3) or recurrence after early stage disease (n=3). Except for one patient with complete response, all others had progressive disease following palliative chemotherapy. Overall, patients who received chemotherapy had a median survival of 7.5 months from the initiation of chemotherapy, but 30% developed grade 5 sepsis. Median survival for stage I–IIIA and stage IV were 23.2 and 2.5 months respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer in lung transplant recipients carries various clinical courses. Patients with metastatic disease have substantial toxicities from chemotherapy and poor survival. Early stage patients should be offered treatment with modified dosages to decrease the risk of severe toxicities
Trajectory Mapping and Applications to Data from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
The problem of creating synoptic maps from asynoptically gathered trace gas data has prompted the development of a number of schemes. Most notable among these schemes are the Kalman filter, the Salby-Fourier technique, and constituent reconstruction. This paper explores a new technique called trajectory mapping. Trajectory mapping creates synoptic maps from asynoptically gathered data by advecting measurements backward or forward in time using analyzed wind fields. A significant portion of this work is devoted to an analysis of errors in synoptic trajectory maps associated with the calculation of individual parcel trajectories. In particular, we have considered (1) calculational errors; (2) uncertainties in the values and locations of constituent measurements, (3) errors incurred by neglecting diabatic effects, and (4) sensitivity to differences in wind field analyses. These studies reveal that the global fields derived from the advection of large numbers of measurements are relatively insensitive to the errors in the individual trajectories. The trajectory mapping technique has been successfully applied to a variety of problems. In this paper, the following two applications demonstrate the usefulness of the technique: an analysis of dynamical wave-breaking events and an examination of Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite data accuracy
The role of laser interstitial thermal therapy in enhancing progression-free survival of difficult-to-access high-grade gliomas: A multicenter study
Surgical extent-of-resection has been shown to have an impact on high-grade glioma (HGG) outcomes; however, complete resection is rarely achievable in difficult-to-access (DTA) tumors. Controlled thermal damage to the tumor may have the same impact in DTA-HGGs. We report our multicenter results of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) in DTA-HGGs. We retrospectively reviewed 34 consecutive DTA-HGG patients (24 glioblastoma, 10 anaplastic) who underwent LITT at Cleveland Clinic, Washington University, and Wake Forest University (May 2011–December 2012) using the NeuroBlate® System. The extent of thermal damage was determined using thermal damage threshold (TDT) lines: yellow TDT line (43°C for 2 min) and blue TDT line (43°C for 10 min). Volumetric analysis was performed to determine the extent-of-coverage of tumor volume by TDT lines. Patient outcomes were evaluated statistically. LITT was delivered as upfront in 19 and delivered as salvage in 16 cases. After 7.2 months of follow-up, 71% of cases demonstrated progression and 34% died. The median overall survival (OS) for the cohort was not reached; however, the 1-year estimate of OS was 68 ± 9%. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.1 months. Thirteen cases who met the following two criteria—(1) <0.05 cm(3) tumor volume not covered by the yellow TDT line and (2) <1.5 cm(3) additional tumor volume not covered by the blue TDT line—had better PFS than the other 21 cases (9.7 vs. 4.6 months; P = 0.02). LITT can be used effectively for treatment of DTA-HGGs. More complete coverage of tumor by TDT lines improves PFS which can be translated as the extent of resection concept for surgery
The star formation history of the Large Magellanic Cloud star cluster NGC1751
The HST/ACS colour-magnitude diagrams (CMD) of the populous LMC star cluster
NGC1751 present both a broad main sequence turn-off and a dual clump of red
giants. We show that the latter feature is real and associate it to the first
appearance of electron-degeneracy in the H-exhausted cores of the cluster
stars. We then apply to the NGC1751 data the classical method of star formation
history (SFH) recovery via CMD reconstruction, for different radii
corresponding to the cluster centre, the cluster outskirts, and the underlying
LMC field. The mean SFH derived from the LMC field is taken into account during
the stage of SFH-recovery in the cluster regions, in a novel approach which is
shown to significantly improve the quality of the SFH results. For the cluster
centre, we find a best-fitting solution corresponding to prolonged star
formation for a for a timespan of 460 Myr, instead of the two peaks separated
by 200 Myr favoured by a previous work based on isochrone fitting. Remarkably,
our global best-fitting solution provides an excellent fit to the data - with
chi^2 and residuals close to the theoretical minimum - reproducing all the CMD
features including the dual red clump. The results for a larger ring region
around the centre indicate even longer star formation, but in this case the
results are of lower quality, probably because of the differential extinction
detected in the area. Therefore, the presence of age gradients in NGC1751 could
not be probed. Together with our previous findings for the SMC cluster NGC419,
the present results for the NGC1751 centre argue in favour of multiple star
formation episodes (or continued star formation) being at the origin of the
multiple main sequence turn-offs in Magellanic Cloud clusters with ages around
1.5 Gyr.Comment: To appear soon in MNRAS. 12 pages, better printed in colou
Observations and Implications of the Star Formation History of the LMC
We present derivations of star formation histories based on color-magnitude
diagrams of three fields in the LMC from HST/WFPC2 observations. A significant
component of stars older than 4 Gyr is required to match the observed
color-magnitude diagrams. Models with a dispersion-free age-metallicity
relation are unable to reproduce the width of the observed main sequence;
models with a range of metallicity at a given age provide a much better fit.
Such models allow us to construct complete ``population boxes'' for the LMC
based entirely on color-magnitude diagrams; remarkably, these qualitatively
reproduce the age-metallicity relation observed in LMC clusters. We discuss
some of the uncertainties in deriving star formation histories. We find,
independently of the models, that the LMC bar field has a larger relative
component of older stars than the outer fields. The main implications suggested
by this study are: 1) the star formation history of field stars appears to
differ from the age distribution of clusters, 2) there is no obvious evidence
for bursty star formation, but our ability to measure bursts shorter in
duration than 25% of any given age is limited by the statistics of the
observed number of stars, 3) there may be some correlation of the star
formation rate with the last close passage of the LMC/SMC/Milky Way, but there
is no dramatic effect, and 4) the derived star formation history is probably
consistent with observed abundances, based on recent chemical evolution models.Comment: Accepted by AJ, 36 pages including 12 figure
Stellar Populations in Three Outer Fields of the LMC
We present HST photometry for three fields in the outer disk of the LMC
extending approximately four magnitudes below the faintest main sequence
turnoff. We cannot detect any strongly significant differences in the stellar
populations of the three fields based on the morphologies of the
color-magnitude diagrams, the luminosity functions, and the relative numbers of
stars in different evolutionary stages. Our observations therefore suggest
similar star formation histories in these regions, although some variations are
certainly allowed. The fields are located in two regions of the LMC: one is in
the north-east field and two are located in the north-west. Under the
assumption of a common star formation history, we combine the three fields with
ground-based data at the same location as one of the fields to improve
statistics for the brightest stars. We compare this stellar population with
those predicted from several simple star formation histories suggested in the
literature, using a combination of the R-method of Bertelli et al (1992) and
comparisons with the observed luminosity function. The only model which we
consider that is not rejected by the observations is one in which the star
formation rate is roughly constant for most of the LMC's history and then
increases by a factor of three about 2 Gyr ago. Such a model has roughly equal
numbers of stars older and younger than 4 Gyr, and thus is not dominated by
young stars. This star formation history, combined with a closed box chemical
evolution model, is consistent with observations that the metallicity of the
LMC has doubled in the past 2 Gyr.Comment: 30 pages, includes 10 postscript figures. Figure 1 avaiable at
ftp://charon.nmsu.edu/pub/mgeha/LMC. Accepted for publication in Astronomical
Journa
Integrated-light VRI imaging photometry of globular clusters in the Magellanic clouds
We present accurate integrated-light photometry in Johnson/Cousins V, R, and
I for a sample of 28 globular clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. The majority
of the clusters in our sample have reliable age and metallicity estimates
available in the literature. The sample encompasses ages between 50 Myr and 7
Gyr, and metallicities ([Fe/H]) between -1.5 and 0.0 dex. The sample is
dominated by clusters of ages between roughly 0.5 and 2 Gyr, an age range
during which the bolometric luminosity of simple stellar populations is
dominated by evolved red giant branch stars and thermally pulsing asymptotic
giant branch (TP-AGB) stars whose theoretical colours are rather uncertain. The
VRI colours presented in this paper have been used to calibrate stellar
population synthesis model predictions.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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