Two essays on analyst bias and management entrenchment

This dissertation examines the interactions of corporate governance on analyst behavior. Analyst bias is well documented in the previous literature. However, the relationship between managerial entrenchment and analyst bias has not been explored. In my first essay, I hypothesize that while analysts strike a balance between personal reputation and revenue generation for their employers, entrenched managers of covered firms are more likely to induce analysts’ collaboration using management access and underwriting businesses. My hypothesis suggests that managerial entrenchment is a potential source of analyst bias. Consistent with my hypothesis, using the G-Index as a proxy for managerial entrenchment, I show that analysts provide more upward biased recommendations as managerial entrenchment becomes worse. Interestingly, I find that affiliated analyst bias is present only for medium level entrenchment sample where G-Index is between 6 and 13. Furthermore, my results show that recent regulations are very effective to alleviate conflict of interest since regulations emphasize the importance of reputation and eliminate the tools managers use to induce analysts to bias their research. In my second essay, I hypothesize that it is more difficult for firms that grant investors weak shareholder rights to raise equity, and that since any difficulty in firm commitment offerings transferred to underwriters, they would ask for higher underwriting spreads to compensate for the difficulty and put more efforts to promote SEOs. Consistent with this hypothesis, I find that analyst recommendations on firms with weak shareholders rights increase sharply, starting one year prior to SEOs, and their recommendations reverse back two months after the SEOs. Issuing firms that grant investors strong shareholder rights do not experience such an increase and then a decrease in analyst recommendations surrounding their SEOs. Furthermore, I find that underwriting spreads are positively related to analyst recommendations and inversely related to shareholder rights. My findings suggest that firms with weak shareholders rights have to pay underwriters more to raise capital and thus suffer financially. Overall, my results improve our understanding of interactions between corporate governance and analyst behavior, and highlight the importance of corporate governance in corporate financing

Recovery of 3-D objects with multiple curved surfaces from 2-D contours

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Inference of 3-D shape from 2-D contours in a single image is an important problem in machine vision. Often, techniques to solve this problem examine each surface in the scene separately whereas our perception of their shapes clearly depends on the interplay between them as well. In this paper, we describe a technique that attempts to recover the shapes of all the surfaces of an object simultaneously, though it is limited to objects made of zero-Gaussian curvature surfaces. Our technique is based on an analysis of three kinds of symmetries defined in the paper and the constraints that derive from them, and from other boundaries. This technique uses some of the constraints developed in an earlier paper that was limited to examining a zero-Gaussian curvature surface cut by parallel planes. This restriction has been removed here and the constraints have been reformulated to allow integration of constraints from all the neighboring surfaces. Results on some complex examples are shown

Hasan Zekâî el-Kâdirî’nin Gül Risâlesi

Hasan Zekâî el-Kâdirî, 20. Yüzyılda yaşamış Molla Çelebi Tekkesi şeyhlerinden Mehmed Eşref Efendi’nin halifesidir. Hasan Zekâî el-Kâdirî’nin “Gül Risâlesi” Kâdirî tâcında kullanılan gül sembolünün dînî-tasavvufî anlamını, tarihî arka planını anlatmak üzere kaleme alınmıştır. Kâdirî tâcına işlenen gül motifi, Abdülkâdir-i Geylânî’nin Bağdat’a girişi esnasındaki şeyhlerin kendisine gönderdiği su dolu kâseye kış mevsiminde Hakk’ın kendisine ikramıyla gül koyması hadisesine dayanır. Risâlede, gül motifi, Kâdirî gülünün şeklî esasları, tâcda kullanılan iplik ve sembollerin tasavvufî mânâları açıklanmıştır. Bu çalışmada Hasan Zekâî el-Kâdirî’nin hayatı hakkında kısaca bilgi verilmiş, kaleme aldığı “Gül Risâlesi”nin tanıtımı, günümüz alfabesine aktarımı ve değerlendirmesi yapılmıştır. Kâdirî tâcında yer alan gülün, üzerine işlenen motiflerin, kullanılan ipliklerin her birinin tasavvufî bir hakikati sembolize ettiği, tasavvuf âdâb ve erkânını, sûfî irfanını estetik bir biçimde yansıttığı tespit edilmiştir

Perception of 3-D Surfaces from 2-D Contours

Inference of 3-D shape from 2-D contours in a single image is an important problem in machine vision. We survey classes of techniques proposed in the past and provide a critical analysis. We propose that two kinds of symmetries in figures, which are known as parallel and skew symmetries, give significant information about surface shape for a variety of objects. We derive the constraints imposed by these symmetries and show how to use them to infer 3-D shape. We discuss the zero Gaussian curvature (ZGC) surfaces in depth and show results on the recovery of surface orientation for various ZGC surfaces. © 1993 IEE

Investigation of the Factors Influencing the Infection Control Nurses' Educational Activities

Giriş: Hastane enfeksiyonlarını önleme çalışmalarında rutin uygulamalar, enfeksiyon kontrol ekibi ve bu ekibin anahtar üyesiolan enfeksiyon kontrol hemşiresi tarafından yürütülmektedir. Enfeksiyon kontrol hemşiresinin temel görevleri; sürveyans,eğitim, haberleşme ve rapor etmedir. Amaç: Bu çalışma, enfeksiyon kontrol hemşirelerinin katıldıkları ve uyguladıklarısürekli eğitim faaliyetlerini etkileyen faktörleri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Yöntem: Araştırmanın örneklemini İstanbulilindeki 50 ve daha fazla yatak kapasitesine sahip kamu, üniversite ve özel hastanelerde görev yapan 115 enfeksiyon kontrolhemşiresi oluşturmuştur. Veriler; hemşirelerin sosyodemografik ve mesleki özellikleri, katıldıkları eğitim faaliyetleri ilekurumda uyguladıkları eğitim faaliyetlerini içeren 18 soruluk anket formu kullanılarak gündüz mesaisi içinde toplanmıştır.Verilerin analizinde, yüzdelik, frekans, ortalama, Pearson ki kare, Student t testi uygulanmıştır. Bulgular: Enfeksiyon kontrolhemşirelerinin %43.4'ünün bir yıldan beri enfeksiyon kontrol hemşiresi olarak çalıştığı, yarısının lisans ve lisansüstü öğrenimgördüğü, %84'ünün hastane enfeksiyonlarına yönelik eğitim programına katıldığı, ancak %57.3'ünün aldığı eğitimleri yeterlibulmadığı belirlenmiştir. Hemşirelerin çoğunluğunun, kendilerini geliştirmek için bilimsel etkinliklere katıldığı; öğrenimdüzeyi yükseldikçe derneklere üyelik, kongre ve eğitim toplantılarına katılımın arttığı belirlenmiştir. Hemşirelerin çoğunluğu,kurumlarında yaptığı eğitimlerde sıklıkla anlatım yöntemi ve bilgisayar projeksiyonu kullandığını ve eğitim yaparkenzorlandığını (%63) ifade etmiştir. Sonuç: Hemşirelerin öğrenim düzeyi yükseldikçe kurumda uyguladıkları eğitimlerdeyaşadıkları sorunlar azalmaktadır. Enfeksiyon kontrol hemşirelerinin eğitim faaliyetlerinin niteliğini arttırmak ve yaşadıklarıgüçlükleri azaltmak için eğitim programlarının geliştirilmesi ve eğitici eğitimlerinin düzenlenmesi önerilmiştir. Background: Routine procedures for the prevention of hospital infections are performed by the infection control team and infection controlnurse having the key member of this team. The main tasks of the infection control nurse are surveillance, training, communication andreporting. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the ongoing educational activities that infection control nursesboth participate and perform. Methods: The sample of the study included 115 infection control nurses who worked in ≥50 bed capacitystate,university and private hospitals located in Istanbul. The data was collected using an 18-item questionnaire of infection control nurseson the socio-economical and occupational characteristics, training activities which they are attended and applicated in their hospitals. Thedata were collected by an 18-item questionnaire filled via interview. For the analysis of the data, percent, frequency, mean, Pearson chisquareand Students t-tests were used. Results: 43.4% of nurses worked for one year as an infection control nurses, half had completedbachelor of sciences or post-graduate education, 84% had attended to training programs on hospital infections, but 57.3 % were not satisfiedof their trainings. It has been reported that the majority of the nurses attended the scientific courses to improve themselves; and as theeducational level increased, the attendance to scientific activities and getting memberships in societies, congresses and educational meetingswere accelerated. Most of the nurses give trainings in their institutes by using some training techniques computer projections. Most 63% ofthe nurses have difficulty during training. Conclusion: As the educational level of the infection control nurses rises, problems regardingtrainings decrease. It is suggested that, in order to increase the quality of the training activities of the infection control nurses and to decreasethe difficulties continual, training programs should be improved and train-the- trainer activities should be redesigned

Recovery of 3-D objects with multiple curved surfaces from 2-D contours

Inference of 3-D shape from 2-D contours in a single image is an important problem in machine vision. Often, techniques to solve this problem examine each surface in the scene separately whereas our perception of their shapes clearly depends on the interplay between them as well. In this paper, we describe a technique that attempts to recover the shapes of all the surfaces of an object simultaneously, though it is limited to objects made of zero-Gaussian curvature surfaces. Our technique is based on an analysis of three kinds of symmetries defined in the paper and the constraints that derive from them, and from other boundaries. This technique uses some of the constraints developed in an earlier paper that was limited to examining a zero-Gaussian curvature surface cut by parallel planes. This restriction has been removed here and the constraints have been reformulated to allow integration of constraints from all the neighboring surfaces. Results on some complex examples are shown. © 1994

Distinct Roles for Neuropilin1 and Neuropilin2 during Mouse Corneal Innervation

Trigeminal sensory innervation of the cornea is critical for protection and synthesis of neuropeptides required for normal vision. Little is known about axon guidance during mammalian corneal innervation. In contrast to the chick where a pericorneal nerve ring forms via Npn/Sema signaling, mouse corneal axons project directly into the presumptive cornea without initial formation of an analogous nerve ring. Here we show that during development of the mouse cornea, Npn1 is strongly expressed by the trigeminal ganglion whereas Npn2 is expressed at low levels. At the same time Sema3A and Sema3F are expressed in distinct patterns in the ocular tissues. Npn1sema−/− mutant corneas become precociously and aberrantly innervated by nerve bundles that project further into the corneal stroma. In contrast, stromal innervation was not affected in Npn2−/− mutants. The corneal epithelium was prematurely innervated in both Npn1sema−/− and Npn2−/− mutants. These defects were exacerbated in Npn1sema−/−;Npn2−/− double mutants, which in addition showed ectopic innervation of the region between the optic cup and lens vesicle. Collectively, our data show that Sema3A/Npn1 and Sema3F/Npn2 signaling play distinct roles and both are required for proper innervation of the mouse cornea

Rational swept surface constructions based on differential and integral sweep curve properties

A swept surface is generated from a profile curve and a sweep curve by employing the latter to define a continuous family of transformations of the former. By using polynomial or rational curves, and specifying the homogeneous coordinates of the swept surface as bilinear forms in the profile and sweep curve homogeneous coordinates, the outcome is guaranteed to be a rational surface compatible with the prevailing data types of CAD systems. However, this approach does not accommodate many geometrically intuitive sweep operations based on differential or integral properties of the sweep curve - such as the parametric speed, tangent, normal, curvature, arc length, and offset curves - since they do not ordinarily have a rational dependence on the curve parameter. The use of Pythagorean-hodograph (PH) sweep curves surmounts this limitation, and thus makes possible a much richer spectrum of rational swept surface types. A number of representative examples are used to illustrate the diversity of these novel swept surface forms - including the oriented-translation sweep, offset-translation sweep, generalized conical sweep, and oriented-involute sweep. In many cases of practical interest, these forms also have rational offset surfaces. Considerations related to the automated CNC machining of these surfaces, using only their high-level procedural definitions, are also briefly discussed

Neocortical Axon Arbors Trade-off Material and Conduction Delay Conservation

The brain contains a complex network of axons rapidly communicating information between billions of synaptically connected neurons. The morphology of individual axons, therefore, defines the course of information flow within the brain. More than a century ago, Ramón y Cajal proposed that conservation laws to save material (wire) length and limit conduction delay regulate the design of individual axon arbors in cerebral cortex. Yet the spatial and temporal communication costs of single neocortical axons remain undefined. Here, using reconstructions of in vivo labelled excitatory spiny cell and inhibitory basket cell intracortical axons combined with a variety of graph optimization algorithms, we empirically investigated Cajal's conservation laws in cerebral cortex for whole three-dimensional (3D) axon arbors, to our knowledge the first study of its kind. We found intracortical axons were significantly longer than optimal. The temporal cost of cortical axons was also suboptimal though far superior to wire-minimized arbors. We discovered that cortical axon branching appears to promote a low temporal dispersion of axonal latencies and a tight relationship between cortical distance and axonal latency. In addition, inhibitory basket cell axonal latencies may occur within a much narrower temporal window than excitatory spiny cell axons, which may help boost signal detection. Thus, to optimize neuronal network communication we find that a modest excess of axonal wire is traded-off to enhance arbor temporal economy and precision. Our results offer insight into the principles of brain organization and communication in and development of grey matter, where temporal precision is a crucial prerequisite for coincidence detection, synchronization and rapid network oscillations