The economic impact of merger control legislation

Based on a unique dataset of legislative changes in industrial countries, we identify events that strengthen the competition control of mergers and acquisitions, analyze their impact on banks and non-financial firms and explain the different reactions observed with specific regulatory characteristics of the banking sector. Covering nineteen countries for the period 1987 to 2004, we find that more competition-oriented merger control increases the stock prices of banks and decreases the stock prices of non-financial firms. Bank targets become more profitable and larger, while those of non-financial firms remain mostly unaffected. A major determinant of the positive bank returns is the degree of opaqueness that characterizes the institutional setup for supervisory bank merger reviews. The legal design of the supervisory control of bank mergers may therefore have important implications for real activity

The economic impact of merger control: what is special about banking?

There is a long-standing debate about the special nature of banks. Based on a unique dataset of legislative changes in industrial countries, we identify events that strengthen competition policy, analyze their impact on banks and non-financial firms and explain the reactions observed with institutional features that distinguish banking from non-financial sectors. Covering nineteen countries for the period 1987 to 2004, we find that banks are special in that a more competition-oriented regime for merger control increases banks’ stock prices, whereas it decreases those of non-financial firms. Moreover, bank merger targets become more profitable and larger. A major determinant of the positive bank returns, after controlling inter alia for the general quality of institutions and individual bank characteristics, is the opaqueness that characterizes the institutional setup for supervisory bank merger reviews. Thus strengthening competition policy in banking may generate positive externalities in the financial system that offset unintended adverse side effects on efficiency introduced through supervisory policies focusing on prudential considerations and financial stability. Legal arrangements governing competition and supervisory control of bank mergers may therefore have important implications for real activity. JEL Classification: G21, G28, D4competition policy, financial regulation, legal institutions, mergers and acquisitions, Specialness of banks

Critical Thinking and Transformational Learning: Using Case Studies as Narrative Frameworks for Threshold Concepts

Critical thinking is an essential component to the occupational therapy process that is a timely skill with the rapid pace of change in our healthcare system. Critical thinking exposes assumptions, biases, beliefs and points of view and challenges a shift in epistemology by asking, ‘how do we know what we believe to know?’ Case studies are a tool to engage the learner in critical thinking and are commonly employed in occupational therapy curricula. Social determinants of health (SDH) describe environmental circumstances that affect health. The authors propose that SDH, embedded in case studies, serve as a threshold concept. A threshold concept serves as a means of transformative learning and promotion of critical thinking in occupational therapy education. Social determinants of health taught through case study presentation represent the authentic complex lives of those therapists serve, bolster student critical thinking, and help to consider the multiple perspectives that may challenge long held beliefs. Qualitative content analysis of 59 case studies for SDH content across one curriculum and five semesters, revealed cases built on client factors and foundational knowledge with missed opportunity to add SDH context. Eleven guidelines for case development are proposed to foster transformational learning. Intentional instructional approaches can assist educational programs to develop the professional change agents needed to serve communities and populations with a larger goal of health equity

GG Carinae: Discovery of orbital phase dependent 1.583-day periodicities in the B[e] supergiant binary

GG Carinae is a binary whose primary component is a B[e] supergiant. Using photometric data from TESS, ASAS, OMC, and ASAS-SN, and spectroscopic data from the Global Jet Watch to study visible He\,I, Fe\,II and Si\,II emission lines, we investigate the short-period variations which are exhibited in GG Car. We find a hitherto neglected periodicity of $1.583156\pm0.0002$\,days that is present in both its photometry and the radial velocities of its emission lines, alongside variability at the well-established $\sim$31-day orbital period. We find that the amplitudes of the shorter-period variations in both photometry and some of the emission lines are modulated by the orbital phase of the binary, such that the short-period variations have largest amplitudes when the binary is at periastron. There are no significant changes in the phases of the short-period variations over the orbital period. We investigate potential causes of the 1.583-day variability, and find that the observed period agrees well with the expected period of the $l=2$ f-mode of the primary given its mass and radius. We propose that the primary is periodically pulled out of hydrostatic equilibrium by the quadrupolar tidal forces when the components are near periastron in the binary's eccentric orbit ($e=0.5$) and the primary almost fills its Roche lobe. This causes an oscillation at the $l=2$ f-mode frequency which is damped as the distance between the components increases.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 14 pages, 14 figure

Exact location of dopants below the Si(001):H surface from scanning tunnelling microscopy and density functional theory

Control of dopants in silicon remains the most important approach to tailoring the properties of electronic materials for integrated circuits, with Group V impurities the most important n-type dopants. At the same time, silicon is finding new applications in coherent quantum devices, thanks to the magnetically quiet environment it provides for the impurity orbitals. The ionization energies and the shape of the dopant orbitals depend on the surfaces and interfaces with which they interact. The location of the dopant and local environment effects will therefore determine the functionality of both future quantum information processors and next-generation semiconductor devices. Here we match observed dopant wavefunctions from low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) to images simulated from first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. By this combination of experiment and theory we precisely determine the substitutional sites of neutral As dopants between 5 and 15A below the Si(001):H surface. In the process we gain a full understanding of the interaction of the donor-electron state with the surface, and hence of the transition between the bulk dopant (with its delocalised hydrogenic orbital) and the previously studied dopants in the surface layer.Comment: 12 pages; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A semifluorinated alkane (F4H5) as novel carrier for cyclosporine A: a promising therapeutic and prophylactic option for topical treatment of dry eye

Cyclosporine A (Cs) has been used as effective topical therapy for inflammatory dry eye disease since more than a decade. However, due to its lipophilic character, Cs is formulated as emulsions or oily solutions for topical application. This experimental study aimed to test if the use of semifluorinated alkanes (SFAs) as a preservative-free, well-tolerated non-stinging or burning vehicle maintains or even improves the benefits of Cs in the topical therapy of dry-eye disease. Desiccating stress was applied to C57BL/6 mice for 14 consecutive days to induce experimental dry-eye. Cs dissolved in SFA (perfluorobutylpentane = F4H5with 0.5% Ethanol), F4H5 with 0.5% ethanol only, 0.05% Cs (RestasisA (R)), and dexamethasone (MonodexA (R)) were applied three times daily beginning either at day 4 or day 11 of desiccating stress for up to 3 weeks after end of dry-eye induction. In comparison to other groups, Cs/F4H5 demonstrated high efficacy and earlier reduction of corneal staining. In this study, Cs/F4H5 had the ability to maintain conjunctival goblet cell density once applied on day 4. Flow cytometry analysis from cervical lymphnodes demonstrated a significantly lower CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in the Cs/F4H5 group following 3 weeks of therapy than at baseline, but no difference in regulatory T cells from regional lymphnodes were seen. Overall, compared to a commercially available Cs formulation (RestasisA (R)) and dexamethasone, Cs/F4H5 was shown to be equally effective but with a significantly faster therapeutic response in reducing signs of dry-eye disease in an experimental mouse model