The long-term effects of foreign institutional ownership

Funding: European Research Council (ERC); Batten Institute; Batten Institute; Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management at Darden School of Business; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. "Close funding text: the authors acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC), the Batten Institute and the Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management at the Darden School of Business, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada."This paper challenges the view that foreign investors lead firms to adopt a short-term orientation and forgo long-term investment. We find instead that greater foreign institutional ownership fosters long-term investment in fixed capital, innovation, and human capital. Foreign institutional presence also leads to a higher innovation productivity. We identify these effects by exploiting the exogenous variation in foreign institutional ownership that follows the addition of a stock to the MSCI World index. Our findings are explained by the disciplinary role of foreign institutions on lazy managers worldwide.authorsversionpublishe

Fonemiese struktuur van die Sothotale: 'n sinchronies-vergelykende ontleding

African LanguagesD. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages

Towards a yellow tulp vaccine : preliminary studies exploiting the potential for cross-reactivity with related bufadienolides

Poisoning by Moraea pallida Bak. (yellow tulp) is the most important of all cardiac glycoside induced toxicoses which collectively account for 33% and 10% of deaths in large and small stock due to plant poisoning, respectively, in the Republic of South Africa. This study was conducted to investigate the potential for developing a vaccine against epoxyscillirosidine, the toxin contained by yellow tulp. Epoxyscillirosidine was extracted, isolated, purified and confirmed using 13C NMR spectroscopy. Bufalin and proscillaridine were purchased and together with epoxyscillirosidine were coupled to BSA and KLH to render them immunogenic. The immunogens (4 mg/ml) were emulsified with an equal volume of Montanide ISA, as an adjuvant. Adult male New Zealand White rabbits (n=15) were randomly assigned to 5 equal groups. Rabbits in groups I, II, III and IV were immunized with proscillaridine-BSA, bufalin-BSA, epoxyscillirosidine-KLH and epoxyscillirosidine-BSA conjugates, respectively. Group V served as control where animals were administered BSA only. The rabbits were immunized on Days 0, 21 and 42 by intradermal injection of 0.1ml of the vaccine at four sites on the dorsum. Blood was collected prior to each vaccination and on Day 67. An ELISA was performed to determine antibody response. Antibodies were raised against proscillaridine, bufalin and epoxyscillirosidine. Furthermore, the antibodies synthesized by Group I and II rabbits also cross-reacted with epoxyscillirosidine. However, the degree of cross-reactivity was low. This may be enhanced by optimizing the vaccine to induce stronger antibody response. The antibodies will be evaluated to determine the neutralization efficacy against epoxyscillirosidine.Poster presented at the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science Faculty Day, September 07, 2017, Pretoria, South Africa.Includes bibliographical referencesab201

Modeling Fine-Scale Cetaceans’ Distributions in Oceanic Islands : Madeira Archipelago as a Case Study

Species distributional estimates are an essential tool to improve and implement effective conservation and management measures. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate distributional estimates remains a challenge in many cases, especially when looking at the marine environment, mainly due to the species mobility and habitat dynamism. Ecosystems surrounding oceanic islands are highly dynamic and constitute a key actor on pelagic habitats, congregating biodiversity in their vicinity. The main objective of this study was to obtain accurate fine-scale spatio-temporal distributional estimates of cetaceans in oceanic islands, such as the Madeira archipelago, using a long-term opportunistically collected dataset. Ecological Niche Models (ENM) were built using cetacean occurrence data collected on-board commercial whale watching activities and environmental data from 2003 to 2018 for 10 species with a diverse range of habitat associations. Models were built using two different datasets of environmental variables with different temporal and spatial resolutions for comparison purposes. State-of-the-art techniques were used to iterate, build and evaluate the MAXENT models constructed. Models built using the long-term opportunistic dataset successfully described distribution patterns throughout the study area for the species considered. Final models were used to produce spatial grids of species average and standard deviation suitability monthly estimates. Results provide the first fine-scale (both in the temporal and spatial dimension) cetacean distributional estimates for the Madeira archipelago and reveal seasonal/annual distributional patterns, thus providing novel insights on species ecology and quantitative data to implement better dynamic management actions.This study was supported by: (i) INTERTAGUA, MAC2/1.1.a/385 funded by MAC INTERREG 2014-2020, (ii) Oceanic Observatory of Madeira throughout the project M142001-0145-FEDER-000001-OOM, and (iii) Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2020 granted to MARE UI&I. AD and FA have grants funded by ARDITI-Madeira's Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation, throughout the project M1420-09-5369-FSE000002. RF was partially supported by a FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/147225/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inclusive education in progress: policy evolution in four European countries

This paper seeks to compare the evolution of inclusive education policy in the four countries of an EU-funded research project (QualiTYDES) operating under the shared policy environment of the UN, EU and European Commission. A shared policy cannot of course be assumed to result in common legislative or provisional outcomes at national level. The different sociocultural, political, historical and economic contexts in each country shape its journey towards ‘compliance’ with an international convention (both pre- and post-ratification), and neither the route nor the destination can be assumed to be shared, given the scope for different interpretations of the same texts. This paper places the implementation trajectories of four European countries side by side as they attempt to move towards ‘inclusive’ education systems. Following a brief overview of the international education policy environment relating to the education of people with disabilities, we describe the national education policy responses in Ireland, Austria, Spain and Czech Republic in recent decades, including both legislation pertaining to special educational need and implementation of policies in practice. The comparison highlights the different manifestations of inclusive education current in each country, and also explores the challenges which have arisen as individual countries attempt to align international policy with provision in existing education systems, each with their own legacy interests, pressures and priorities. Examples of ‘gaps’ in this alignment are where learners with disabilities/SEN are likely to be failed, and represent the critical points at which barriers to fully inclusive education arise and negatively impact opportunity over the life course.The QualiTYDES research project was supported by the European Science Foundation [grant number 09-ECRP-032]; Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant number I343]; Irish Research Council (IRC, formerly IRCHSS) [grant number IRCHSS 09-ECRP-032]; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) [grant number EUI-2010-04,213]; and Czech Science Foundation [grant number P407/11/2009].Peer reviewe

Testing the Cosmological Constant as a Candidate for Dark Energy

It may be difficult to single out the best model of dark energy on the basis of the existing and planned cosmological observations, because many different models can lead to similar observational consequences. However, each particular model can be studied and either found consistent with observations or ruled out. In this paper, we concentrate on the possibility to test and rule out the simplest and by far the most popular of the models of dark energy, the theory described by general relativity with positive vacuum energy (the cosmological constant). We evaluate the conditions under which this model could be ruled out by the future observations made by the Supernova/Acceleration Probe SNAP (both for supernovae and weak lensing) and by the Planck Surveyor cosmic microwave background satellite.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, revtex

Western Diet-Fed, Aortic-Banded Ossabaw Swine: A Preclinical Model of Cardio-Metabolic Heart Failure.

The development of new treatments for heart failure lack animal models that encompass the increasingly heterogeneous disease profile of this patient population. This report provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that Western Diet-fed, aortic-banded Ossabaw swine display an integrated physiological, morphological, and genetic phenotype evocative of cardio-metabolic heart failure. This new preclinical animal model displays a distinctive constellation of findings that are conceivably useful to extending the understanding of how pre-existing cardio-metabolic syndrome can contribute to developing HF