The Valuation Effects of Private Placements of Public Corporations' Common Stock

Outside shareholders should benefit when the firm issues common stock through a private placement. Our propositions are (1) that the private issue of common equity creates a value-maximizing insider that has the incentive and ability to monitor and discipline, and thereby reduce agency costs and (2) investors can reduce uncertainty about the value of thinly traded stock by observing the share price negotiated by the well-informed buyer. Both of these benefits are especially applicable to small firms. Our empirical evidence supports hypotheses based on these propositions

The Valuation Effects of Private Placements of Public Corporations\u27 Common Stock

Outside shareholders should benefit when the firm issues common stock through a private placement. Our propositions are (1) that the private issue of common equity creates a value-maximizing insider that has the incentive and ability to monitor and discipline, and thereby reduce agency costs and (2) investors can reduce uncertainty about the value of thinly traded stock by observing the share price negotiated by the well-informed buyer. Both of these benefits are especially applicable to small firms. Our empirical evidence supports hypotheses based on these propositions

TOWARD AN APPRAISAL OF THE FMHA FARM CREDIT PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY OF THE EFFICIENCY OF BORROWERS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

A production frontier methodology is used to measure the overall efficiency of a sample of farms obtaining credit from the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) compared to nonparticipants. The study did not find evidence that the efficiency of FmHA farms improved between 1981 and 1984. Results indicate that the overall efficiency of FmHA borrowers is associated with selected financial characteristics of the farms.Agricultural Finance,

Aerodynamic Analysis of a Generic Fighter with a Chine Fuselage/Delta Wing Configuration Using Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation

The Modular Transonic Vortex Investigation (MTVI) program at NASA Langley Research Center investigated the transonic characteristics of generic fighter configurations with chined fuselages and delta wings. Previous experiments show that the fuselage and leading edge vortex interactions are detrimental to the vehicle’s aerodynamic characteristics for angles of attack greater than 23º at low angles of sideslip. This is largely due to abrupt asymmetric vortex breakdown, which leads to pronounced pitch-up and significant nonlinearities in lateral stability that could result in roll departure. An improved understanding of the exact origins of this nonlinear behavior would improve future fighter design, and predictive capabilities of such nonlinearities could drastically reduce the cost associated with flight testing new or modified aircraft. The nonlinearities experienced by the MTVI configuration at 30 degrees angle of attack, Reynolds number of 2.68x106, and Mach number of 0.4 are computed using Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation. Computational predictions of rolling moment compare very well with previous wind tunnel experiments at the same conditions, including the abrupt, nonlinear increase in rolling moment as a function of sideslip angle at small sideslip angles. A detailed investigation of the CFD data confirms that this nonlinearity is due to a rapid change in the flow field structures from symmetric to asymmetric vortex breakdown

The Post Hurricane Harvey Respiratory Protection Training Program

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of an outreach program which included safety training and the distribution of personal protection kits in the Houston area in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. METHODS: Outreach: 71 volunteers conducted training sessions at 19 different sites and distributed a total of 1187 kits. Follow-up study: We conducted telephonic interviews to collect data on respiratory symptoms and obtain perceptions of the quality of the safety training provided among 83 participants. RESULTS: Participants reported an increase in airway symptoms four weeks after Hurricane Harvey. Outreach efforts were felt to be effective by a majority of participants. CONCLUSION: Future studies may adopt some of the best practices from our training efforts in terms of utilizing a combination of verbal demonstrations and written training guidelines on proper respirator usage

Climate change projections of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP)

We investigate major results of the NARCCAP multiple regional climate model (RCM) experiments driven by multiple global climate models (GCMs) regarding climate change for seasonal temperature and precipitation over North America. We focus on two major questions: How do the RCM simulated climate changes differ from those of the parent GCMs and thus affect our perception of climate change over North America, and how important are the relative contributions of RCMs and GCMs to the uncertainty (variance explained) for different seasons and variables? The RCMs tend to produce stronger climate changes for precipitation: larger increases in the northern part of the domain in winter and greater decreases across a swath of the central part in summer, compared to the four GCMs driving the regional models as well as to the full set of CMIP3 GCM results. We pose some possible process-level mechanisms for the difference in intensity of change, particularly for summer. Detailed process-level studies will be necessary to establish mechanisms and credibility of these results. The GCMs explain more variance for winter temperature and the RCMs for summer temperature. The same is true for precipitation patterns. Thus, we recommend that future RCM-GCM experiments over this region include a balanced number of GCMs and RCMs

A Sequence in the Drosophila H3-H4 Promoter Triggers Histone Locus Body Assembly and Biosynthesis of Replication-Coupled Histone mRNAs

Compartmentalization of RNA biosynthetic factors into nuclear bodies (NBs) is a ubiquitous feature of eukaryotic cells. How NBs initially assemble and ultimately affect gene expression remains unresolved. The histone locus body (HLB) contains factors necessary for replication-coupled histone mRNA transcription and processing and associates with histone gene clusters. Using a transgenic assay for ectopic Drosophila HLB assembly, we show that a sequence located between, and transcription from, the divergently transcribed H3-H4 genes nucleates HLB formation and activates other histone genes in the histone gene cluster. In the absence of transcription from the H3-H4 promoter, “proto-HLBs”, containing only a subset of HLB components, form and the adjacent histone H2a-H2b genes are not expressed. Proto-HLBs also transiently form in mutant embryos with the histone locus deleted. We conclude that HLB assembly occurs through a stepwise process involving stochastic interactions of individual components that localize to a specific sequence in the H3-H4 promoter

Recurrence of chronic venous ulcers on the basis of clinical, etiologic, anatomic, and pathophysiologic criteria and air plethysmography

AbstractIntroduction: Leg ulcers associated with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) frequently recur after healing. The risk of recurrence has not been well defined for patients in different anatomic and hemodynamic groups. We reviewed the risk of ulcer recurrence on the basis of clinical, etiologic, anatomic, and pathophysiologic criteria and hemodynamic characteristics of the affected limb as assessed with air plethysmography (APG). Methods: Ninety-nine limbs with class 6 CVI were assessed clinically and with standing duplex ultrasound scanning and APG for the definition of clinical, etiologic, anatomic, and pathophysiologic criteria. Leg ulcers were treated with high-pressure compression protocols. Surgical correction of venous abnormalities was offered to patients with appropriate conditions. After ulcer healing, the limbs were placed in compressive garments and followed at 6-month intervals for ulcer recurrence. Results: The mean patient age was 54.3 years, and 46% of the patients were female. Corrective venous surgery was performed in 37 limbs. The mean follow-up time for all 99 limbs was 28 months. The ulcer recurrence rate with life table was 37% ± 6% at 3 years and 48% ± 10% at 5 years. The patients who underwent venous surgery had a significantly lower recurrence rate (27% ± 9% at 48 months) than did those patients who had not undergone surgery (67% ± 8% at 48 months; P =.005). The patients with deep venous insufficiency (DVI; n=51) had significantly higher recurrence rates (66% ± 8% at 48 months) than did the patients without DVI (n = 48; 29% ± 9% at 48 months; P =.006). This difference was significant even after accounting for the effects of surgery (P =.03).The hazard ratio of ulcer recurrence increases by 14% for every unit increase in the venous filling index (VFI; P =.001). This remains significant even after accounting for the effects of surgery (P =.001). The combination of DVI and a VFI of more than 4 mL/s yields a risk of ulcer recurrence of 43% ± 9% at 1 year and 60% ± 10% at 2 years. Conclusion: Leg ulcers associated with CVI have a high rate of recurrence. Ulcer recurrence is significantly increased in patients with DVI and in patients who do not have venous abnormalities corrected surgically. The VFI obtained from APG is useful in the prediction of increased risk for recurrence, particularly in association with anatomic data. (J Vasc Surg 2002;35:723-8.

The role of conversation in health care interventions: enabling sensemaking and learning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Those attempting to implement changes in health care settings often find that intervention efforts do not progress as expected. Unexpected outcomes are often attributed to variation and/or error in implementation processes. We argue that some unanticipated variation in intervention outcomes arises because unexpected conversations emerge during intervention attempts. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of conversation in shaping interventions and to explain why conversation is important in intervention efforts in health care organizations. We draw on literature from sociolinguistics and complex adaptive systems theory to create an interpretive framework and develop our theory. We use insights from a fourteen-year program of research, including both descriptive and intervention studies undertaken to understand and assist primary care practices in making sustainable changes. We enfold these literatures and these insights to articulate a common failure of overlooking the role of conversation in intervention success, and to develop a theoretical argument for the importance of paying attention to the role of conversation in health care interventions.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Conversation between organizational members plays an important role in the success of interventions aimed at improving health care delivery. Conversation can facilitate intervention success because interventions often rely on new sensemaking and learning, and these are accomplished through conversation. Conversely, conversation can block the success of an intervention by inhibiting sensemaking and learning. Furthermore, the existing relationship contexts of an organization can influence these conversational possibilities. We argue that the likelihood of intervention success will increase if the role of conversation is considered in the intervention process.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>The generation of productive conversation should be considered as one of the foundations of intervention efforts. We suggest that intervention facilitators consider the following actions as strategies for reducing the barriers that conversation can present and for using conversation to leverage improvement change: evaluate existing conversation and relationship systems, look for and leverage unexpected conversation, create time and space where conversation can unfold, use conversation to help people manage uncertainty, use conversation to help reorganize relationships, and build social interaction competence.</p