"Does the Appointment of the Outside Director Increase Firm Value? The Evidence from Taiwan"

We examine the stock market reaction to the announcement of outside director appointments in Taiwan. We employ a sample of 58 outside director announcements made by Taiwan Stock Exchange listed firms during the period 1 January, 1999 to 30 June, 2003. Using this data, we can test some important hypotheses regarding the role of outside directors in conjunction with other conditions for corporate performance in affecting the stock market reactions. Our empirical findings indicate that there exists a significantly positive reaction to the announcements. The cumulative abnormal returns ---one indicator of stock market reaction measured by using the methodology of market model based event study --- reached 4.776%. We also find that the abnormal returns are positive and higher with respect to each of the following characteristics: poorer prior corporate performance, the CEO as chairman of the board, larger free cash flow and a higher degree of information asymmetry. Further, we find that the announcement effect is decreasing as number of outside directors increases. Our findings are different from existing literature, for instance, those of Lin, Pope and Young (2003) and Rosenstein and Wyatt (1990) mainly because the outside director appointment is not mandatory in Taiwan. This suggests that the announcement effects could be different across countries. The appointment appears to be more beneficial for a country with poor corporate governance mechanisms.

An investigation into the role of human mesoderm induction-early response 1α (hMI-ER1α) in regulating growth of human normal and breast carcinoma cells

Mesoderm induction ~arly response 1 (mi-er 1) was first isolated as a novel fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-inducible immediate-early gene activated during mesoderm induction in Xenopus embryos (Paterno et al., 1997). The human orthologue of mi-er 1 shares 91% similarity to the Xenopus sequence at the amino acid level. Human mi-er 1 was shown to be highly expressed in breast carcinoma cell lines and breast tumours while remaining barely detectable in normal breast cell lines and breast tissue (Paterno et al., 1998). In addition, hMI-ER1 was found to interact with estrogen receptor a (Savicky et al., unpublished data) whose dysregulated expression contributes to breast tumour development. These data suggest that the expression of human MI-ER1 is associated with the neoplastic state in breast cancer. The alternate use of a facultative intron at the 3' end of hmi-er 1 gives rise to two major protein isoforms, hMI-ER1α and hMI-ER1β. Transcripts encoding the~ isoform are predominant in almost all tissues. Interestingly, the potent nuclear hormone receptor interaction motif (LXXLL; L represents leucine and X represents any amino acid) is present only in the C-terminus ofhMI-ERlα and hmi-er1α mRNA is observed mainly in endocrine tissues (Paterno et al., 2002). Sequence analysis also revealed that the only bona fide nuclear localization signal (NLS) is located in the C-terminus of~ isoforms (Paterno et al., 2002), suggesting distinct cellular functions ofhMI-ERlα and β isofonns. With all the conserved, functional protein domains, hMI-ER1 was found to interact with various transcriptional and growth regulatory proteins. Such interactions will be important for modulating cell growth in normal and neoplastic cells. In this study, we investigated the functional role of hMI-ERlα in regulating growth of normal and breast cancer cells. Transient overexpression of hMI-ERlα suppressed growth of normal cell lines, but has no significant effect on three breast carcinoma cell lines. In contrast, blocking hMI-ERlα expression by antisense strategy resulted in growth-inhibitory effects on breast cancer cell lines. And the preliminary data from Hoechst staining suggests that the growth-suppressive function of antisense hMIERlα in breast carcinoma cell lines is not due to induction of apoptosis

Collaborative Integration between IT Industry and Logistics Industry in Taiwan: A Case Study on T Company\u27s E-Logistics Plan

The IT industry is Taiwan’s most thoroughly globalized industry. In the IT industry, suppliers and customers are spread all over the world, so making logistics management more efficient is very important. With government’s sponsorship, Taiwan’s IT industry has introduced e-Procurement (Plans A and B) to make the whole procurement process among enterprises an electronic one. Thus e-Procurement became the fundamentals of e-SCM. In order to extend the benefits of e-procurement, Taiwan government continuously promote the IT industry to introduce e-Logistics (Plan D). The objectives of this paper are to study the collaborative integration between IT industry and logistics industry in Taiwan, and to investigate the progress of introducing e-Logistics into the IT industry. A PC manufacturer, T Company was selected for use in the case study. It was found that the logistics visibility elevation through “Track and Trace” and the achievement of VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) are the objectives of e-Logistics implementation. IT manufacturers worked out common business models. Then each supply chain can follow the common specification and implement their e-Logistics individually. This study found that not only the IT manufacturers gain the competitive advantages, but LSPs (Logistics service providers) also learn from collaborative commerce and provide better service for customers with the implementation of e-Logistics. Then eight guidelines were induced as the reference for other industries to implement e-Logistics afterward. Besides, some suggestions were proposed to IT industry, logistics industry, and government

Determination of Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Fe/MgO/Fe Magnetic Tunnel Junction: A DFT-Based Spin-Orbit Torque Approach

In our JunPy package, we have successfully combined the self-consistent Hamiltonian from first-principles calculations with the nonequilibrium Green's function method to calculate the noncollinear spin torque in the nm-scale magnetic heterojunctions. The spin-orbit coupling within the first-principles calculations is included to determine the magnetic anisotropy (MA) of an Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with a spin-orbit torque (SOT) method. The angular dependence of accumulative SOT indicates the biaxial and uniaxial MA corresponding to the in-plane and out-of-plane rotations of the free magnetization, respectively. Our results agree with the conventional MA energy calculation for a whole MTJ and provide insights into micro-spin dynamics of local magnetic moments.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

The effect of paternal psoriasis on neonatal outcomes: a nationwide population-based study

BackgroundPsoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease involving both environmental and genetic risk factors. Maternal psoriasis often results in poor pregnancies that influence both mothers and newborns. However, the influence of paternal psoriasis on the newborn remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether paternal psoriasis is associated with increased risk of adverse neonatal outcomes, within a nationwide population-based data setting.MethodsSingleton pregnancies were identified in the Taiwan National Health Insurance database and National Birth Registry between 2004-2011 and classified into four study groups according to whether mothers and spouses had psoriasis (paternal(−)/maternal(−), paternal(+)/maternal(−), paternal(−)/maternal(+), and paternal(+)/maternal(+)). Data were analyzed retrospectively. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) or hazard ratios (aHR) were calculated to evaluate the risk of neonatal outcomes between groups.ResultsA total of 1,498,892 singleton pregnancies were recruited. Newborns of fathers with psoriasis but not of mothers with psoriasis were associated with an aHR (95% CI) of 3.69 (1.65–8.26) for psoriasis, 1.13 (1.06–1.21) for atopic dermatitis and 1.05 (1.01–1.10) for allergic rhinitis. Newborns of mothers with psoriasis but not of fathers with psoriasis were associated with an aOR (95% CI) of 1.26 (1.12-1.43) for low birth weight (<2500 g) and 1.64 (1.10–2.43) for low Apgar scores, and an aHR of 5.70 (2.71–11.99) for psoriasis.ConclusionNewborns of fathers with psoriasis are associated with significantly higher risk of developing atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and psoriasis. Caution is advised for adverse neonatal outcomes when either or both parents have psoriasis

A lack of association between genetic polymorphisms in beta-defensins and susceptibility of psoriasis in Taiwanese: A case–control study

AbstractBackgroundGenetic predisposition of the inflammatory-host response may affect the development of psoriasis. Previous studies have shown that copy number variations (CNVs) of β-defensin genes (DEFB) are associated with the susceptibility of psoriasis in Caucasian populations.ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess the role of the CNVs of the DEFB4 gene and functional variants in the DEFB1 gene in Taiwanese patients with psoriasis.MethodsIn total, 196 patients with psoriasis and 196 control individuals were analyzed for the presence of the DEFB4 CNVs using the paralogue ratio test, and also for the DEFB1 polymorphisms rs11362, rs1800972, and rs1799946, using a polymerase chain reaction.ResultsNone of the polymorphisms were found to be associated with psoriasis. The distribution of DEFB4 genomic CNVs did not significantly differ between the control group and psoriasis group. The frequencies of patients who carried a greater than the median (≥ 5) number of copies did not significantly differ in patients with psoriasis and controls. The multivariate analysis similarly revealed that the DEFB4 CNVs were not associated with psoriasis (odds ratio = 1.03, 95% confidence interval = 0.89–1.19, p = 0.720). No significant difference was detected in the genotype and allele distribution for any of the individual DEFB1 polymorphisms between the cases and the controls. Finally, the overall haplotype frequency profiles derived from the three polymorphisms did not significantly differ between the cases and the controls.ConclusionOur results do not suggest that these genetic variants of the β-defensin genes contribute to the genetic background of psoriasis in Taiwanese patients

Social skills deficits and their association with Internet addiction and activities in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The aims of this study were to examine the association between social skills deficits and Internet addiction and activities in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as the moderators for this association. Methods A total of 300 adolescents, aged between 11 and 18 years, who had been diagnosed with ADHD participated in this study. Their Internet addiction levels, social skills deficits, ADHD, parental characteristics, and comorbidities were assessed. The various Internet activities that the participants engaged in were also examined. Results The associations between social skills deficits and Internet addiction and activities and the moderators of these associations were examined using logistic regression analyses. Social skills deficits were significantly associated with an increased risk of Internet addiction after adjustment for the effects of other factors [odds ratio (OR) = 1.049, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.030–1.070]. Social skills deficits were also significantly associated with Internet gaming and watching movies. The maternal occupational socioeconomic levels of the participants moderated the association between social skills deficits and Internet addiction. Conclusions Social skills deficits should be considered targets in prevention and intervention programs for treating Internet addiction among adolescents with ADHD

A Global Method for a Two-Dimensional Cutting Stock Problem in the Manufacturing Industry

A two-dimensional cutting stock problem (2DCSP) needs to cut a set of given rectangular items from standard-sized rectangular materials with the objective of minimizing the number of materials used. This problem frequently arises in different manufacturing industries such as glass, wood, paper, plastic, etc. However, the current literatures lack a deterministic method for solving the 2DCSP. However, this study proposes a global method to solve the 2DCSP. It aims to reduce the number of binary variables for the proposed model to speed up the solving time and obtain the optimal solution. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to current reference methods for solving the 2DCSP