Training New Executive MBA Faculty and Staff: A Case Approach

Teaching new faculty and staff how to handle Executive MBA students can be an interesting challenge. Even skilled and experienced educators may not be prepared to translate what has worked well for them with other student groups to the EMBA world. It is generally well established that case teaching can be an effective way to teach Executive level students (Barnes, et. al. 2001). They engage in active learning, and often can bring their experiences to bear on issues in a case that others did not see

THE COST STRUCTURE OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Microfinance institutions are important, particularly in developing countries, because they expand the frontier of financial intermediation by providing loans to those traditionally excluded from formal financial markets. This paper presents the first systematic statistical examination of the performance of MFIs operating in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. A cost function is estimated for MFIs in the region from 1999-2004. First, the presence of subsidies is found to be associated with higher MFI costs. When output is measured as the number of loans made, we find that MFIs become more efficient over time and that MFIs involved in the provision of group loans and loans to women have lower costs. However, when output is measured as volume of loans rather than their number, this last finding is reversed. This may be due to the fact that such loans are smaller in size; thus for a given volume more loans must be made.Eastern Europe, banking, microfinance, efficiency

Human Capital Indicators and Academic Success in Executive MBA Programs: A multi-program study

This paper investigates various human capital indicators as predictors of academic success for students in Executive MBA programs. Previous literature has focused on student performance in traditional full-time MBA programs and typically only for a single school. Data was examined from two different universities, with over 130 Executive MBA students. Undergraduate GPA had a statistically significant, positive relation to academic success in the Executive MBA program, while other factors, including GMAT scores and age, were not found to be as important in predicting academic success in the Executive MBA programs

The less economic freedom a state has, the more political connections local firms need

Daniel M. Gropper, John S. Jahera Jr. and Jung Chul Park argue this is the case for US bank

From Number Crunching To Organizational Leadership: Can Distance Education Adequately Handle The Range Of Graduate Business Classes?

With distance education delivery technology improving almost continuously, many Universities are seeking out distance education opportunities to expand their programs.   We seek to examine the effectiveness of the distance delivery approach across the range of types of courses offered in MBA programs – from the organizational leadership classes to the more quantitative “number crunching” classes.   Student performance in several types of MBA courses was evaluated as a result of presenting the same material on-campus (synchronously) and via distance education (asynchronously) in three different kinds of graduate business courses; a course in organizational leadership, an analytical course in managerial economics, and a quantitative methods course.   A number of individual variables (e.g., GMAT scores, undergraduate GPA) were included as explanatory factors regarding student performance.   Using multiple hierarchical regression analysis, the asynchronous distance delivery model was determined to have no adverse impact on student performance across all of these different types of MBA courses, indicating that indeed distance education techniques can adequately handle this broad range of graduate business classes

Two-dimensional streptavidin crystals on giant lipid bilayer vesicles

Streptavidin was crystallized on giant bilayer vesicles (20-60 mum) in sucrose solution at various pH values. The streptavidin-coated vesicles exhibited unique roughened spherical and prolate ellipsoidal shapes, illustrating resistance to curvature of the two-dimensional crystals. Studies indicated that the spheroids and prolate ellipsoids correspond to different crystal morphologies. Through confocal microscopy, the various crystal morphologies on vesicle surfaces were observed under different solution conditions. Unlike two-dimensional (2D) streptavidin crystals grown in ionic buffer that assume the P1, P2, and C222 lattices at pH 4, 5.5, and 7, respectively (Wang et al. Langmuir 1999, 15, 154 1), crystals grown in sucrose with no added salt show only the lowest density C222 lattice due to strong electrostatic interactions

Third Bose Fugacity Coefficient in One Dimension, as a Function of Asymptotic Quantities

In one of the very few exact quantum mechanical calculations of fugacity coefficients, Dodd and Gibbs (\textit{J. Math.Phys}.,\textbf{15}, 41 (1974)) obtained $b_{2}$ and $b_{3}$ for a one dimensional Bose gas, subject to repulsive delta-function interactions, by direct integration of the wave functions. For $b_{2}$, we have shown (\textit{Mol. Phys}.,\textbf{103}, 1301 (2005)) that Dodd and Gibbs' result can be obtained from a phase shift formalism, if one also includes the contribution of oscillating terms, usually contributing only in 1 dimension. Now, we develop an exact expression for $b_{3}-b_{3}^{0}$ (where $b_{3}^{0}$ is the free particle fugacity coefficient) in terms of sums and differences of 3-body eigenphase shifts. Further, we show that if we obtain these eigenphase shifts in a distorted-Born approximation, then, to first order, we reproduce the leading low temperature behaviour, obtained from an expansion of the two-fold integral of Dodd and Gibbs. The contributions of the oscillating terms cancel. The formalism that we propose is not limited to one dimension, but seeks to provide a general method to obtain virial coefficients, fugacity coefficients, in terms of asymptotic quantities. The exact one dimensional results allow us to confirm the validity of our approach in this domain.Comment: 29 page

THE COST STRUCTURE OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Microfinance institutions are important, particularly in developing countries, because they expand the frontier of financial intermediation by providing loans to those traditionally excluded from formal financial markets. This paper presents the first systematic statistical examination of the performance of MFIs operating in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. A cost function is estimated for MFIs in the region from 1999-2004. First, the presence of subsidies is found to be associated with higher MFI costs. When output is measured as the number of loans made, we find that MFIs become more efficient over time and that MFIs involved in the provision of group loans and loans to women have lower costs. However, when output is measured as volume of loans rather than their number, this last finding is reversed. This may be due to the fact that such loans are smaller in size; thus for a given volume more loans must be made.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40195/3/wp809.pd

Safety of dabigatran etexilate for the secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in children

This open-label, single-arm, prospective cohort trial is the first phase 3 safety study to describe outcomes in children treated with dabigatran etexilate for secondary venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention. Eligible children aged 12 to <18 years (age stratum 1), 2 to <12 years (stratum 2), and >3 months to <2 years (stratum 3) had an objectively confirmed diagnosis of VTE treated with standard of care (SOC) for ‡3 months, or had completed dabigatran or SOC treatment in the DIVERSITY trial (NCT01895777) and had an unresolved clinical thrombosis risk factor requiring further anticoagulation. Children received dabigatran for up to 12 months, or less if the identified VTE clinical risk factor resolved. Primary end points included VTE recurrence, bleeding events, and mortality at 6 and 12 months. Overall, 203 children received dabigatran, with median exposure being 36.3 weeks (range, 0-57 weeks); 171 of 203 (84.2%) and 32 of 203 (15.8%) took capsules and pellets, respectively. Overall, 2 of 203 children (1.0%) experienced on-treatment VTE recurrence, and 3 of 203 (1.5%) experienced major bleeding events, with 2 (1.0%) reporting clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding events, and 37 (18.2%) minor bleeding events. There were no on-treatment deaths. On-treatment postthrombotic syndrome was reported for 2 of 162 children (1.2%) who had deep vein thrombosis or central-line thrombosis as their most recent VTE. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships of dabigatran were similar to those in adult VTE patients. In summary, dabigatran showed a favorable safety profile for secondary VTE prevention in children aged from >3 months to <18 years with persistent VTE risk factor(s). This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02197416. (Blood. 2020;135(7):491-504