The Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Changes and Board Independence Power on Selected Governance Practices at the Board Level

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and related stock listing requirements now require boards of publicly traded companies to have a majority of outside, independent directors to provide a counterbalance to the power of management on the board. SOX also mandated the existence of three board committees, audit, nominating, and compensation which had to be comprised solely of independent directors. Using a sample of 335 firms and 3,675 observations from the S&P 500 from 1999 to 2009, I use panel Poisson regressions in pre-SOX (1999-2003) and post-SOX (2004-2009) periods to test the effect of SOX structural changes at the board and committee levels on governance practices as measured by the Entrenchment Index. I first consider the direct relationships, suggesting positive relationships between the mandated requirements of board independence, the presence of audit, nominating and compensation committees, and the independence of these committees on governance practices supporting shareholder value at the board level in the pre- and post-SOX periods. In the pre-SOX period I find significant relationships between board independence and governance practices as well as significant relationships between the existence of audit, nominating, and compensation committees and governance practices; however, they were not in the direction hypothesized. I find no significant relationships in the post-SOX period. I then create a new construct, board independence power (comprised of dimensions of structure/prestige, ownership and expertise) to measure the latent power of the independent members of the board. I validate the construct quantitatively through a factor analysis and interviews with board members and lawyers specializing in corporate governance. I hypothesize that board independence power positively moderates the relationship between the SOX structural changes and selected governance practices supporting shareholder value at the board level. In the pre and post-SOX periods, board independence structure/prestige power significantly moderates the relationship between the existence of the mandated committees and selected governance practices supporting shareholder value when they were lagged for one and two time periods. Results of this study demonstrate that the SOX structural changes by themselves have not led to better governance practices by boards. This is important given the organizational attention, energy and cost necessary to fulfill the SOX requirements

Fluorescence study of the RecA-dependent proteolysis of LexA, the represser of the SOS system in Escherichia coli

AbstractThe fluorescence of the LexA protein, the common repressor of the SOS system in Escherichia coli decreases by about 30% upon incubation with the Ree A protein, and its cofactors ATP [or its non-hydroly sable analogue adenosine-5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate), ATPγS] Mg2+ and single-stranded DNA. In the absence of any one of these elements required for the RecA-dependent proteolysis of LexA, this fluorescence change was not observed. The final fluorescence change depends only upon the concentration of LexA regardless of that of RecA. The time course of the fluorescence decrease corresponds well with the kinetics of the decrease of intact LexA protein and the increase of its 2 proteolytic fragments as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These results allow us to use the fluorescence change as a signal for a detailed kinetic analysis. The velocity of the proteolysis (d[LexA]/dt) is proportional to the concentration of LexA and RecA indicating that the formation of the LexA-RecA complex is the limiting step

The Virtual Real

Digital technologies have led to the transformation of different types of information into binary form. This transformation changes the way one perceives materiality, space, and its relationship to information. On one level. cyberspace creates a condition in which communication, travel, and education occur at a fast and efficient rate. On another level, cyberspace allows one to exist within a different condition, another world created by simulation and virtual reality. However, one cannot engage these virtual worlds without the existence of physical space. Aside from being an essential element for human existence, physical space evokes human contact, which must occur to maintain one\u27s mental activity and emotional well being. For these reasons, physical space and cyberspace must begin to inform one another and establish a state of coexistence

A Persistent Simulation Environment for Autonomous Systems

The age of Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems (AUAS) is creating new challenges for the accreditation and certification requiring new standards, policies and procedures that sanction whether a UAS is safe to fly. Establishing a basis for certification of autonomous systems via research into trust and trustworthiness is the focus of Autonomy Teaming and TRAjectories for Complex Trusted Operational Reliability (ATTRACTOR), a new NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solution (CAS) project. Simulation Environments to test and evaluate AUAS decision making may be a low-cost solution to help certify that various AUAS systems are trustworthy enough to be allowed to fly in current general and commercial aviation airspace. NASA is working to build a peer-to-peer persistent simulation (P3 Sim) environment. The P3 Sim will be a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) environment were AUAS avatars can interact with a complex dynamic environment and each other. The focus of the effort is to provide AUAS researchers a low-cost intuitive testing environment that will aid training for and assessment of decisions made by autonomous systems such as AUAS. This presentation focuses on the design approach and challenges faced in development of the P3 Sim Environment is support of investigating trustworthiness of autonomous systems

The family and its involvement in the hospitalization, treatment and aftercare of the psychiatric patient.

Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1972 .S28. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1972