The cross-listing decision and the home bias in international equity investments

This paper examines the relationship between the choice of the destination market for cross-listing and the home bias of investors. We use two measures of home bias, the domestic bias (the degree of overinvestment in the home market), and the foreign bias (the degree of over-/under-investment in a foreign market). First, we find a strong relationship between the domestic bias of investors and cross-listing decisions of firms. In particular, the level of cross-listing activity of firms from a particular market is negatively related to the domestic bias of the home market investors, while the level of cross-listing activity of firms towards a particular market is negatively related to the domestic bias of the host market investors. Second, we find a strong relationship between the foreign bias and cross-listings. In particular, the level of cross-listing activity from one market to another is positively related to the foreign bias in investments allocation of the home market investors as well as of the host market investors. Overall, these results suggest that corporate managers, when making a cross-listing decision, may be prone to the same behavioral/familiarity bias as investors

Alveolar macrophages and Toll-like receptor 4 mediate ventilated lung ischemia reperfusion injury in mice.

BackgroundIschemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury is a sterile inflammatory process that is commonly associated with diverse clinical situations such as hemorrhage followed by resuscitation, transient embolic events, and organ transplantation. I-R injury can induce lung dysfunction whether the I-R occurs in the lung or in a remote organ. Recently, evidence has emerged that receptors and pathways of the innate immune system are involved in recognizing sterile inflammation and overlap considerably with those involved in the recognition of and response to pathogens.MethodsThe authors used a mouse surgical model of transient unilateral left pulmonary artery occlusion without bronchial involvement to create ventilated lung I-R injury. In addition, they mimicked nutritional I-R injury in vitro by transiently depriving cells of all nutrients.ResultsCompared with sham-operated mice, mice subjected to ventilated lung I-R injury had up-regulated lung expression of inflammatory mediator messenger RNA for interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand-1 and -2, paralleled by histologic evidence of lung neutrophil recruitment and increased plasma concentrations of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and high-mobility group protein B1 proteins. This inflammatory response to I-R required toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4). In addition, the authors demonstrated in vitro cooperativity and cross-talk between human macrophages and endothelial cells, resulting in augmented inflammatory responses to I-R. Remarkably, the authors found that selective depletion of alveolar macrophages rendered mice resistant to ventilated lung I-R injury.ConclusionsThe data reveal that alveolar macrophages and the pattern recognition receptor toll-like receptor-4 are involved in the generation of the early inflammatory response to lung I-R injury

On the role of cultural distance in the decision to cross-list

This paper examines the role of culture in the choice of the destination market for cross-listing firms. We argue that firms cross-list in markets with greater cultural similarities, because 1) investors are more willing to invest in culturally familiar firms and 2) managers seek to avoid potential conflicts with culturally disparate investors and managers. Employing Hofstede's cultural dimensions, we find that firms from developed countries display greater cross-listing propensity towards culturally similar countries. These results are robust to various alternative cultural measures. We further find that it is mainly the difference in uncertainty avoidance and individualism that affect cross-listing decisions

The Emperor\u27s New Clothes: A Survey of Significant Court Decisions Interpreting Pennsylvania\u27s Sovereign Immunity Act and Its Waivers

This article surveys and analyzes the history of sovereign immunity in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The article traces the adoption of sovereign immunity, its abrogation by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the General Assembly\u27s reaffirmation of the doctrine in the Sovereign Immunity Act. The article provides a review of the important sections of the Sovereign Immunity Act and examines many of the appellate decisions which have addressed the Act and the waivers of immunity contained therein

Medium-Term Impacts of Grassland and Forestry Integration on the Environmental Performance of a New Zealand Pastoral System

At the IGC in 2008, we presented a paper outlining a project that aimed to improve the economic and environmental performance of a New Zealand hill country pastoral catchment farm system. This project was undertaken by engaging a wide group of sector stakeholders in visioning, modelling, planning and implementing significant land use change within a 296-hectare pastoral farm. In recognition of developing sectoral views of agricultural sustainability, the major changes involved pine afforestation, livestock production intensification, protection of waterways and indigenous bush restoration. The report in 2008 outlined the positive impacts on key farm systems and water quality performance indicators after 4 years. Additional data on these and other parameters have been collected in the subsequent 20+ years. Some indicators have not followed expectations – in afforested sub-catchments, nitrate-N concentrations in drainage waters have steadily increased and no significant decreases in annual suspended sediment loads have been detected. Other indicators have changed as expected – with the exclusion of livestock access to riparian areas, indigenous bush understory has regenerated and stream ammonium-N concentration spikes have decreased; and stream water temperatures have decreased with headwater afforestation. Improvements in animal productivity have reduced emissions intensity from 25 to 15 kg CO2-e per kg product. Afforestation and associated carbon sequestration have more than offset livestock and soil emissions to move the system from a net CO2 source to a projected net CO2 sink for the next 100+ years

Thickness and Conductivity of Metallic Layers from Pulsed Eddy Current Measurements

Coatings and surface treatments find a wide range of technological applications; they can provide wear resistance, oxidation and corrosion protection, electrical contact or isolation and thermal insulation. Consequently, the ability to determine the thickness of coated metals is important for both process control and in-service inspection of parts. Presently ultrasonic, thermal, and eddy current inspection methods are used, depending on the circumstances. A number of commercial instruments for determining the thickness of nonconducting coatings on metal substrates are based on the fact that the impedance change of the coil decreases exponentially with the distance of the coil from the metal (the lift-off effect). However, these instruments are not suitable for determining the thickness of metal layers on conducting substrates

Effect of atomic transfer on the decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate

We present a model describing the decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate, which assumes the system to remain in thermal equilibrium during the decay. We show that under this assumption transfer of atoms occurs from the condensate to the thermal cloud enhancing the condensate decay rate

The effects of coronary α₁-adrenergic stimulation on coronary blood flow and left ventricular function

This study examines the α-adrenergic constrictor tone varies with intensity of exercise, the effects of coronary α1-adrenergic blockade on left ventricular contractile function and regional myocardial perfusion, and compares the effects of increasing coronary blood flow by removing α1-constrictor tone