Public regulatory reform and management earnings forecasts in a low private litigation environment

We examine the impact of continuous disclosure regulatory reform on the likelihood, frequency and qualitative characteristics of management earnings forecasts issued in New Zealand’s low private litigation environment. Using a sample of 720 earnings forecasts issued by 94 firms listed on the New Zealand Exchange before and after the reform (1999–2005), we provide strong evidence of significant changes in forecasting behaviour in the post-reform period. Specifically, firms were more likely to issue earnings forecasts to pre-empt earnings announcements and, in contrast to findings in other legal settings, those earnings forecasts exhibited higher frequency and improved qualitative characteristics (better precision and accuracy). An important implication of our findings is that public regulatory reforms may have a greater benefit in a low private litigation environment and thus add to the global debate about the effectiveness of alternative public regulatory reforms of corporate requirements

A hierarchically adaptable spatial regression model to link aggregated health data and environmental data

Health data and environmental data are commonly collected at different levels of aggregation. A persistent challenge of using a spatial regression model to link these data is that their associations can vary as a function of aggregation. This results into ecological fallacy if association at one aggregation level is used for inferencing at another level. We address this challenge by presenting a hierarchically adaptable spatial regression model. In essence, the model extends the spatially varying coefficient model to allow the response to be count data at larger aggregation levels than that of the covariates. A Bayesian hierarchical approach is used for inferencing the model parameters. Robust inference and optimal prediction over geographical space and at different spatial aggregation levels are studied by simulated data sets. The spatial associations at different spatial supports are largely different, but can be efficiently inferred when prior knowledge of the associations is available. The model is applied to study hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Da Nang city, Viet Nam. Decrease in vegetated areas corresponds with elevated HFMD risks. A study to the identifiability of the parameters shows a strong need for a highly informative prior distribution. We conclude that the model is robust to the underlying aggregation levels of the calibrating data for association inference and it is ready for application in health geography

Nutrition and feeding behaviour in two species of mud crabs Scylla serrata and Scylla paramamosain

Mud crabs of the genus Scylla are widely exploited for aquaculture in the Asia- Pacific region. In the current study, a series of in vivo experiments were carried to assess the protein requirement, protein sparing effects of starch and the capacity of Scylla serrata to digest diets that contained different animal and plant-based feed meals and different levels and types of starch. Results from a protein requirement study indicated that juvenile S. serrata fed diets containing 45% or 55% protein demonstrated significantly higher growth responses than those fed the diet containing 25% protein. The subsequent study was carried out to determine if responses to dietary protein could be influenced by using purified wheat, potato, rice or corn starch to manipulate the gross energy level of fishmeal- based diets (18 or 15.5 MJ kg-1), i.e., to see if starch had a protein sparing effect in these animals. Overall, growth responses in this study appeared to be positively correlated with the level of protein in the diet with the highest growth rates achieved using diets containing 45% protein, regardless of the energy level of the diet. In addition, at a dietary protein level of 40% there was no evidence that the source of starch had any significant impact on growth performance or feed utilisation suggesting it had no protein sparing effect. By contrast, it was found that growth of juvenile S. serrata was strongly correlated with the intake of digestible dietary protein. The investigation of the capacity of sub-adult S. serrata to digest different animal and plant- based feed meals showed that apparent dry matter digestibility (ADMD) and apparent gross energy digestibility (AGED) values were not significant different for most selected feed meals (cotton seed, poultry, canola, fishmeal, soybean, and lupin meal). Apparent crude protein digestibility (ACPD) for all test feed meals were relatively high (86-96%). A subsequent study was carried out to determine if purified starch from different sources influenced the digestibility of fishmeal based diets. Overall, most diets containing starch were readily digested by mud crabs. In particular, there were no negative impacts on the digestibility of major nutrients (e.g. protein) observed following the inclusion of wheat, rice or corn starch in formulated feeds. Nevertheless, the apparent starch digestibility (ASD) of wheat starch decreased significantly as the inclusion level was increased from 15% to 60%, although there was no significant effect on ACPD values. At a 30% inclusion level, the ASD of diets containing different starches decreased in the order corn > wheat > potato = rice. Moreover, ACPD values were significantly higher for diets containing corn or rice starch than for those containing wheat or potato starch. The capacity of another species of mud crab commonly exploited for aquaculture in South East Asia, S. paramamosain, to digest the local plant-based ingredients (defatted soybean meal, rice bran, cassava and corn flour) was also conducted in Vietnam. Overall, the findings of this study showed that at a 30% inclusion level diets containing soybean meal or rice bran were well digested by mud crabs. In particular, the ACPD and AGED values for all diets containing soybean meal were not significantly different from the fishmeal based reference diet. Likewise, all digestibility values for the diet containing 30% rice bran were relatively high and not significantly different from the reference diet. By contrast, diets containing cassava flour appeared to be poorly utilised since their digestibility values for all parameters were lower than those from other testingredients. In summary, the apparent digestibility of dry matter, protein and energy was in the following order (from most to least digestible) soybean meal ~ rice bran > corn flour > cassava flour. In the next study the effects of attractants in diets (chicken meal, betaine, tuna oil and bait enhancer), temperature (26.5oC, 28.5oC and 30.5oC), sex (female and male) and size (small, medium and large) on feeding responses of S. serrata were investigated. Significant differences were observed in the behavioral responses of mud crabs to diets containing different attractants. Specifically, consumption of diets with chicken meal or betaine was significantly higher than for other treatments. With the exception of betaine, no significant difference in food consumption was observed when attractant inclusion levels were raised from 2% to 5%. Overall, small crabs consumed significantly more of the ration (as a percentage of body weight) than larger crabs. Temperature showed a significant impact on most behaviour of mud crabs, excepting continuation response and there was some evidence that females were significantly more active than males. Light intensity was considered as a main factor effect to crab response since there were extremely high percentage time of crab spent in half-shaded of the Y –maze which valued at 95.6%, 93.8 and 94.4% (corresponded to small, medium and large size respectively) in comparison to those of crabs spent in the unshaded side. Overall, the findings from these studies demonstrated that mud crabs have a high capacity to digest a range of plant based feed ingredients. In particular, soybean meal appeared to be well digested by both species of mud crabs examined. It was also shown that a range of purified starches were well digested by S. serrata although starch inclusion in diets did not appear to reduce the requirement for protein to promote growth. Subsequent attractant studies demonstrated that chicken meal and betaine produced significantly elevated feeding responses and food consumption when added to diets. Based on these results we propose that these ingredients can be utilised to increase the attractiveness and consumption of artificial mud crab feeds

Lumped Parameters in Permanent Displacement

New dynamic spring and damping values, which are dependent on the frequency, have been introduced into calculations of horizontal permanent displacement. The new dynamic damping value, which is inversely proportional to the circular frequency, has the same form as the material damping, while the new value of stiffness increases with increase in circular frequency. Similar methods can be used to obtain new dynamic spring and damping values for other modes of vibrations such as vertical, rocking and torsional. An analytical treatment of the coupled rocking and sliding modes is presented which considers horizontal and vertical Coulomb friction forces, two-layered soil deposits and also the vertical vibration

Parametric Study of Horizontal Permanent Displacement on Sand

Dynamic loading such as cyclic loading should be taken into account in designing shallow foundations for any dynamically related structures. Horizontal permanent displacement, which can occur at any time due to wind and/or wave and dynamic loads of moving vehicles, can significantly reduce the bearing capacity of the footing. Effects of dynamic soil properties, e.g. frequency, Poisson\u27s ratio, Young\u27s modulus, on the permanent displacement are considered and the assumption of the linear variation between deformation and cycles can be used to predict the long-term horizontal permanent displacement. Sensitivity analyses for both pure sliding and coupled rocking and sliding vibrations of a rigid rectangular footing are also carried out with the following variables: internal damping, added soil mass, rocking level, amplitude of cyclic load and initial constant horizontal load

The Impact of Disclosure Reform and Alternative Sources of Earnings-Related Information on the Market Reaction to Firm-Based Earnings-Related Disclosures

Our study seeks to investigate changes in the market reaction to earnings-related disclosures following the introduction of the New Zealand continuous disclosure reform. We further extend to study whether these changes are different when there exist the alternative sources of earnings-related information. Using the sample of 580 earnings forecasts and 626 earnings announcements released by 94 firms listed on the New Zealand Exchange during the financial reporting periods ending from 31 January 1999 to 31 December 2005, we find evidence that the introduction of the disclosure reform has impacted to the market reaction to earnings-related disclosures and the availability of alternative sources of earnings-related information plays an important role in shaping this impact. Specifically, the market places less emphasis on post-disclosure reform management earnings forecasts issued by firms of which the alternative sources of earnings-related information are available. There is a significant reduction in the market reaction to earnings announcements in the post-disclosure reform period. This reduction is mainly driven by group of earnings announcements issued by firms of which the alternative sources of earnings-related information are not available. These findings suggest that while the enhancement of disclosure regulation in New Zealand is considered to have some positive impact on the financial environment which is consistent with regulatory intent, the regulators should be aware that the benefits from this disclosure regulation may not be universal and thus the increase in compliance costs borne by all firms could not accordingly be equally justified

The Influence of Corporate Governance on Management Earnings Forecast Behaviour in a Low Private Litigation Environment

We examine the influence of three external corporate governance mechanisms – continuous disclosure regulatory reform, analyst following and ownership concentration and one internal corporate governance mechanism – board structure, on the likelihood, frequency, horizon, precision and accuracy of management earnings forecasts in the low private litigation environment of New Zealand. Based on a sample of 1,082 management earnings forecasts issued by 125 firms listed on the New Zealand Exchange during the 1998-2007 financial reporting periods, we provide strong evidence that these four corporate governance mechanisms have a significant influence on management earnings forecast behaviour after effectively controlling for endogeneity, multicollinearity and self-selection bias problems. Specifically, firms monitored by effective corporate governance mechanisms were more inclined to pre-empt their earnings announcements with earnings forecasts (overall, non-routine and quantitative) and provide these earnings forecasts more frequently. These earnings forecasts issued by these firms were less optimistically biased. In addition, firms having more directors with accounting expertise on their boards and audit committees were more likely to provide earnings forecasts with longer horizon and smaller forecast error. Board size and the existence of a formally established audit committee are shown to have a positive impact on forecast error. A possible interpretation of our findings is that effective corporate governance mechanisms have been able to substitute for private enforcement alternative. Our findings should have important implications for the other low private litigation environments as well as for high private litigation environments such as the United States given the high economic and social costs that have been identified as being related to private litigation

Convergence of laughter in conversational speech: effects of quantity, temporal alignment and imitation

A crucial feature of spoken interaction is joint activity at various linguistic and phonetic levels that requires fine-tuned coordination. This study gives a brief overview on how laughing in conversational speech can be phonetically analysed as partner-specific adaptation and joint vocal action. Laughter as a feature of social bonding leads to the assumption that when laughter appears in dialogues it is performed by both interlocutors. One possible type of convergence is when the conversational partners adapt their amount of laughter during their interaction. This partner-specific adaptation for laughter has been shown by Campbell (2007a). Persons, initially unknown to each other and without any negative attitude to the unknown partner, had to talk in ten consecutive 30-min conversations (interval of one week). With each conversation the level of familiarity increased which was also reflected by the increasing number of their laughs. Smoski & Bachorowski (2003) also showed that familiarity plays a big role for the number of laughs: friends laugh more often together than strangers do. But there is also evidence that the level of social distance plays a role for phonetic convergence/divergence in speech in terms of extended voice onset time in stop consonants (Abrego-Collier et al. 2011). Figure 1 illustrates the convergence effect in terms of the number of laughs for two speech corpora of task-based dyadic conversations (Anderson et al. 1991 for a map task; Baker & Hazan 2011 for a spot-the-difference game) with rather high correlation values. However, the familiarity effec