A Note On The Determinants Of Equity Payouts

This study develops an equity distribution model to analyze dividend and share repurchase pay- ments to shareholders. Transaction costs increase and agency costs decrease as equity cash dis- tributions increase, suggesting that an optimal equity distribution exists that minimizes the sum of these two costs. A Tobit model relates the equity distribution yield (dividend and share repurchase distributions as a percent of market capitalization) to proxies of perceived undervaluation, finan- cial leverage, asset productivity, investment cash outflows, and agency costs. The results suggest that firms appearing undervalued, using little financial leverage, employing more productive as- sets, having fewer investment opportunities, or having greater dispersion of ownership distribute relatively more cash to shareholders through dividends and/or share repurchases. These findings support the existence of an optimal equity cash distribution policy that is unique to each firm

DO INVESTOR CLIENTELES HAVE A DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT ON PRICE AND VOLATILITY? THE CASE OF BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

The purpose of this research is to determine whether investor clienteles react in a different manner to the same information. Applying a technique developed by He (2012) to a firm like Berkshire Hathaway with two different classes of common stock allows us to test whether investor clienteles react in differential ways to the same information while holding other factors constant. Using a method developed by He (2012) we create an investor sentiment index (SE) to forecast prices of Berkshire Hathaway class A and class B shares. We find evidence that reactions of class A shareholders to news are more volatile, compared with class B. There is no evidence that volatility of SE can significantly affect the accuracy of forecasting. However, results of this study suggest that a more volatile SE index may lead to more unsteady outcomes in some rolling forecasts. The volatility differences in SE index and rolling forecasts stem from differential investor clienteles and their reactions the same news

Transcriptional networks specifying homeostatic and inflammatory programs of gene expression in human aortic endothelial cells.

Endothelial cells (ECs) are critical determinants of vascular homeostasis and inflammation, but transcriptional mechanisms specifying their identities and functional states remain poorly understood. Here, we report a genome-wide assessment of regulatory landscapes of primary human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) under basal and activated conditions, enabling inference of transcription factor networks that direct homeostatic and pro-inflammatory programs. We demonstrate that 43% of detected enhancers are EC-specific and contain SNPs associated to cardiovascular disease and hypertension. We provide evidence that AP1, ETS, and GATA transcription factors play key roles in HAEC transcription by co-binding enhancers associated with EC-specific genes. We further demonstrate that exposure of HAECs to oxidized phospholipids or pro-inflammatory cytokines results in signal-specific alterations in enhancer landscapes and associate with coordinated binding of CEBPD, IRF1, and NFκB. Collectively, these findings identify cis-regulatory elements and corresponding trans-acting factors that contribute to EC identity and their specific responses to pro-inflammatory stimuli

A NOTE ON THE EFFECTS OF PREPAYMENT RISK ON MORTGAGE COMPANIES AND MORTGAGE REITs

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether prepayment risk impacts the performance of mortgage companies and/or mortgage REITs. Previous research finds prepayment risk impacts bank returns and also impacts bank loan returns (He, 2007; Fayman & He, 2011). This paper uses regression analysis to measure the prepayment risk premium and then uses those results as a dependent variable in several separate regression models that utilize performance metrics as the independent variable. The results indicate that prepayment risk has a positive impact on sales growth in mortgage companies and also has a negative impact on ROE and a positive impact on ROA in mortgage companies. One possible explanation for this finding is mortgage companies may opt to sell mortgages faster in interest rate environments that have higher levels of prepayment risk. However, prepayment risk appears to have little to no impact on the performance of mortgage REITs

The Impact of Information Technology Outsourcing on Firm Profitability Measures

Some researchers have concluded that outsourcing of information technology (IT) provides benefits to firms including cost advantages, economies of scale and allowing more of a focus on core competencies. This paper attempts to determine if these benefits actually exist by comparing three financial measures, return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA) and profit margin, affirms that have varying levels of outsourcing. To empirically test for the existence of a difference between firms that outsource differing amounts of IT spending, data from 104 companies was gathered. Analysis of variance was selected as the primary statistical tool to test the relationship between the level of outsourcing and the profitability measures. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that there is not a significant difference between the amounts of IT outsourcing companies perform and any of the profitability measures used during the sample period. Further discussion continues related to the implications of the results

Information Technology Usage In Accounting Firms: The Best Versus The Rest

The purpose of this paper is to analyze information technology expenditures in public accounting firms from a multi-year sample.  This study also focuses on identifying possible IT spending trends in public accounting firms and attempts to determine if additional spending on IT increased the profitability of these firms

The Impact Of Information Technology Investments On Managerial Decision Making: Evidence From Dividend Payout

Investments in Information Technology (IT) are an increasing part of organizational expenditures in spite of the fact that there is little evidence in the existing literature that suggests these investments are related to the organization’s performance. The uncertainty of IT investment payoff should be reflected in other managerial decisions. This research examines Rozeff's (1982) agency cost/transaction cost tradeoff model to determine if IT investments are related to dividend payout ratios for an organization. A dividend payout model including an IT investment variable is estimated. The estimation results suggest that a significant positive relationship exists between dividend payout and a firm’s IT investments

C-fiber-related EEG-oscillations induced by laser radiant heat stimulation of capsaicin-treated skin

Nociceptive input reaches the brain via two different types of nerve fibers, moderately fast A-delta and slowly conducting C-fibers, respectively. To explore their distinct roles in normal and inflammatory pain we used laser stimulation of normal and capsaicin treated skin at proximal and distal arm sites in combination with time frequency transformation of electroencephalography (EEG) data. Comparison of phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (total) EEG to laser stimuli revealed three significant pain-related oscillatory responses. First, an evoked response in the delta-theta band, mediated by A-fibers, was reduced by topical capsaicin treatment. Second, a decrease of total power in the alpha-to-gamma band reflected both an A- and C-nociceptor-mediated response with only the latter being reduced by capsaicin treatment. Finally, an enhancement of total power in the upper beta band was mediated exclusively by C-nociceptors and appeared strongly augmented by capsaicin treatment. These findings suggest that phase-locking of brain activity to stimulus onset is a critical feature of A-delta nociceptive input, allowing rapid orientation to salient and potentially threatening events. In contrast, the subsequent C-nociceptive input exhibits clearly less phase coupling to the stimulus. It may primarily signal the tissue status allowing more long-term behavioral adaptations during ongoing inflammatory events that accompany tissue damage

Large scale structure around a z=2.1 cluster

The most prodigious starburst galaxies are absent in massive galaxy clusters today, but their connection with large scale environments is less clear at $z\gtrsim2$. We present a search of large scale structure around a galaxy cluster core at $z=2.095$ using a set of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies. We find that both color-selected star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) show significant overdensities around the $z=2.095$ cluster. A total of 8 DSFGs (including 3 X-ray luminous active galactic nuclei, AGNs) and 34 SFGs are found within a 10 arcmin radius (corresponds to $\sim$15 cMpc at $z\sim2.1$) from the cluster center and within a redshift range of $\Delta z=0.02$, which leads to galaxy overdensities of $\delta_{\rm DSFG}\sim12.3$ and $\delta_{\rm SFG}\sim2.8$. The cluster core and the extended DSFG- and SFG-rich structure together demonstrate an active cluster formation phase, in which the cluster is accreting a significant amount of material from large scale structure while the more mature core may begin to virialize. Our finding of this DSFG-rich structure, along with a number of other protoclusters with excess DSFGs and AGNs found to date, suggest that the overdensities of these rare sources indeed trace significant mass overdensities. However, it remains puzzling how these intense star formers are triggered concurrently. Although an increased probability of galaxy interactions and/or enhanced gas supply can trigger the excess of DSFGs, our stacking analysis based on 850 $\mu$m images and morphological analysis based on rest-frame optical imaging do not show such enhancements of merger fraction and gas content in this structure.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, ApJ accepte