7,846 research outputs found
Legal determinants of external finance revisited : the inverse relationship between investor protection and societal well-being
This paper investigates relationships between corporate governance traditions and quality of life as measured by a number of widely reported indicators. It provides an empirical analysis of indicators of societal health in developed economies using a classification based on legal traditions. Arguably the most widely cited work in the corporate governance literature has been the collection of papers by La Porta et al. which has shown, inter alia, statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for investor protection. We show statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for societal health. Our comparative evidence suggests that the interests of investors may not be congruent with the interests of wider society, and that the criteria for judging the effectiveness of approaches to corporate governance should not be restricted to financial metrics
U.S.-Mongolian Relations: Two Years of Progress
No abstract available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjia.v0i7.134 The Mongolian Journal of International Affairs; Number 7, 2000, Pages 3-
The environmental impacts of different mask options for healthcare settings in the UK
During the COVID-19 pandemic, different strategies emerged to combat shortages of certified face masks used in the healthcare sector. These strategies included increasing production from the original manufacturing sites, commissioning new production facilities locally, exploring and allowing the reuse of single-use face masks via various decontamination methods, and developing reusable mask alternatives that meet the health and safety requirements set out in European Standards. In this article, we quantify and evaluate the life-cycle environmental impacts of selected mask options available for use by healthcare workers in the UK, with the objective of supporting decision- and policy-making. We investigate alternatives to traditional single-use face masks like surgical masks and respirators (or FFP3 masks), including cloth masks decontaminated in washing machines; FFP3 masks decontaminated via vapour hydrogen peroxide, and rigid half masks cleaned with antibacterial wipes. Our analysis demonstrates that: (1) the reuse options analysed are environmentally preferential to the traditional “use then dispose” of masks; (2) the environmental benefits increase with the number of reuses; and (3) the manufacturing location and the material composition of the masks have great influence over the life-cycle environmental impacts of each mask use option, in particular for single-use options
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Decision making through use of interoperable simulation software
Many building simulation computer programs, originally developed on mainframe computers for research purposes, can now run on the powerful workstation and personal computers that are available to most architectural and engineering firms. Major efforts have been underway during the last decade to compile these programs on personal computers and make them available to a wider range of building professionals. However, even with the addition of user-friendly front- and back-ends, their use is still limited to a small number of specialized consultants. Considering the tremendous benefits of informed decisions that these programs can support, it is critical to address and resolve the issues that are associated with their limited acceptance. In this paper, the authors report on their research and development efforts to better understand decision-making and develop computer tools that will facilitate the use of simulation software during the building design process. They present a brief analysis of decision-making and then describe how they try to address it in building design through the development of the Building Design Advisor (BDA). Moreover, the authors elaborate on the major issues that they have encountered, discuss lessons learned, and offer recommendations for short- and long-term developments in this area
Political Regimes and Sovereign Credit Risk in Europe, 1750-1913
This article uses a new panel data set to perform a statistical analysis of political regimes and sovereign credit risk in Europe from 1750 to 1913. Old Regime polities typically suffered from fiscal fragmentation and absolutist rule. By the start of World War I, however, many such countries had centralized institutions and limited government. Panel regressions indicate that centralized and?or limited regimes were associated with significant improvements in credit risk relative to fragmented and absolutist ones. Structural break tests also reveal close relationships between major turning points in yield series and political transformations
Bursts of activity in collective cell migration
Dense monolayers of living cells display intriguing relaxation dynamics,
reminiscent of soft and glassy materials close to the jamming transition, and
migrate collectively when space is available, as in wound healing or in cancer
invasion. Here we show that collective cell migration occurs in bursts that are
similar to those recorded in the propagation of cracks, fluid fronts in porous
media and ferromagnetic domain walls. In analogy with these systems, the
distribution of activity bursts displays scaling laws that are universal in
different cell types and for cells moving on different substrates. The main
features of the invasion dynamics are quantitatively captured by a model of
interacting active particles moving in a disordered landscape. Our results
illustrate that collective motion of living cells is analogous to the
corresponding dynamics in driven, but inanimate, systems
Joint 3D modelling of the polarized Galactic synchrotron and thermal dust foreground diffuse emission
We present for the first time a coherent model of the polarized Galactic
synchrotron and thermal dust emissions which are the main diffuse foreground
for the measurement of the polarized power spectra of the CMB fluctuations with
the Planck satellite mission. We produce 3D models of the Galactic magnetic
field including regular and turbulent components, and of the distribution of
matter in the Galaxy, relativistic electrons and dust grains. By integrating
along the line of sight we construct maps of the polarized Galactic synchrotron
and thermal dust emission for each of these models and compare them to
currently available data. We consider the 408 MHz all-sky continuum survey, the
23 GHz band of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the 353 GHz
Archeops data.}{The best-fit parameters obtained are consistent with previous
estimates in the literature based only on synchrotron emission and pulsar
rotation measurements. They allows us to reproduce the large scale structures
observed on the data. Poorly understood local Galactic structures and
turbulence make difficult an accurate reconstruction of the observations in the
Galactic plane. Finally, using the best-fit model we are able to estimate the
expected polarized foreground contamination at the Planck frequency bands. For
the CMB bands, 70, 100, 143 and 217 GHz, at high Galactic latitudes although
the CMB signal dominates in general, a significant foreground contribution is
expected at large angular scales. In particular, this contribution will
dominate the CMB signal for the B modes expected from realistic models of a
background of primordial gravitational waves
Optimized quantum nondemolition measurement of a field quadrature
We suggest an interferometric scheme assisted by squeezing and linear
feedback to realize the whole class of field-quadrature quantum nondemolition
measurements, from Von Neumann projective measurement to fully non-destructive
non-informative one. In our setup, the signal under investigation is mixed with
a squeezed probe in an interferometer and, at the output, one of the two modes
is revealed through homodyne detection. The second beam is then
amplitude-modulated according to the outcome of the measurement, and finally
squeezed according to the transmittivity of the interferometer. Using strongly
squeezed or anti-squeezed probes respectively, one achieves either a projective
measurement, i.e. homodyne statistics arbitrarily close to the intrinsic
quadrature distribution of the signal, and conditional outputs approaching the
corresponding eigenstates, or fully non-destructive one, characterized by an
almost uniform homodyne statistics, and by an output state arbitrarily close to
the input signal. By varying the squeezing between these two extremes, or
simply by tuning the internal phase-shift of the interferometer, the whole set
of intermediate cases can also be obtained. In particular, an optimal quantum
nondemolition measurement of quadrature can be achieved, which minimizes the
information gain versus state disturbance trade-off
Corporate Governance in Latin America
This paper analyzes recent trends of Latin America's institutional development regarding investor protection. In spite of the underdevelopment of the region's financial markets, there is slow movement towards legal reforms intended to protect investors and make regional markets more attractive to investors; current inadequacies in the region's legal institution's generate high levels of ownership concentration, poor access to external equity financing, and narrow equity markets. The evidence in this paper, based on firm-level data for six countries, shows that, like legal protection of investors, appropriate firm-level corporate governance is linked to lower costs for capital, better valuation, performance, and dividend payments across countries. Firms can compensate for their countries' legal deficiencies by distinguishing themselves through improved corporate governance practices, thus increasing transparency and limiting potential conflict between large and minority shareholders. Firms can additionally look for capital by issuing ADRs, as they have in recent years, although this practice undermines local capital markets. In the end, firms and regulators must improve their governance structures and shareholder protections if they are to meet the improved benchmarks of developed nations brought about by Asian, European, and U.S. scandals in recent years
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