Corporate pension plans as takeover deterrents

We use UK data to show that firms that sponsor a defined-benefit pension plan are less likely to be targeted in an acquisition and, conditional on an attempted takeover, they are less likely to be acquired. Our explanation is that the uncertainty in the value of pension liabilities is a source of risk for acquirers of the firm's shares, which works as a takeover deterrent. In support of this explanation we find that these same firms are more likely to use cash when acquiring other firms, and that the announcement of a cash acquisition is associated with positive announcement effects

Public Information and Inefficient Investment

In a general equilibrium economy with uninsurable aggregate liquidity shocks, we show that public information may trigger allocative inefficiency and liquidity crises. Entrepreneurs do not internalize the negative impact of their investment decisions on the equilibrium risk of liquidity shortage. A more informative public signal decreases the risk of a liquidity shock, but increases the risk of capital rationing conditional on a liquidity shock. In equilibrium, information quality has a non-monotonic effect on expected returns on investment and social welfare. An increase in the quality of public information has redistributive effects on welfare as entrepreneurs gain and financiers lose. Investment restrictions and targeted disclosure of information achieve constrained efficiency as competitive market equilibrium

Does family control matter? International evidence from the 2008-2009 financial crisis

We study whether and how family control affects valuation and corporate decisions during the 2008–2009 financial crisis using a sample of more than 8,500 firms from 35 countries. We find that family-controlled firms underperform significantly, they cut investment more relative to other firms, and these investment cuts are associated with greater underperformance. Further, we find that within family groups liquidity shocks are passed on through investment cuts across the group. Our evidence is consistent with families taking actions to increase the likelihood that the firms under their control and their control benefits survive the crisis, at the expense of outside shareholders

Hybrid forward osmosis-reverse osmosis for wastewater reuse and seawater desalination: Understanding the optimal feed solution to minimise fouling

© 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers To enhance the seawater desalination energy efficiency forward osmosis – reverse osmosis (FO-RO) hybrid system has recently been developed. In this process, the FO “pre-treatment” step is designed to use seawater (SW) as draw solution to filter the wastewater (WW) while reducing the seawater osmotic pressure. Thereby reducing the operating pressure of the RO to desalinate the diluted SW. However, membrane fouling is a major issue that needs to be addressed. Proper selection of suitable WWs is necessary before proceeding with large-scale FO-RO desalination plants. In this study, long-term experiments were carried out, using state-of-the-art FO membrane, using real WW and SW solutions. A combination of water flux modelling and membrane characterisation were used to assess the degree of membrane fouling and the impact on the process performance. Initial water flux as high as 22.5 Lm−2 h−1 was observed when using secondary effluent. It was also found that secondary effluent causes negligible flux decline. On the other hand, biologically treated wastewater and primary effluent caused mild and severe flux decline respectively (25% and 50% of flux decline after 80 hours, compared to no-fouling conditions). Ammonia leakage to the diluted seawater was also measured, concluding that, if biologically treated wastewater is used as feed, the final NH4+ concentration in the draw is likely to be negligible

GreenPRO: A novel fertiliser-driven osmotic power generation process for fertigation

© 2018 This study introduces and describes GreenPRO, a novel concept involving fertiliser-driven osmotic energy generation via pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The potential of GreenPRO was proposed for three objectives: (a) power generation, (b) water pressurisation for fertiliser-based irrigation, and (c) water treatment, as a holistic water-energy-food nexus process. Three pure agricultural fertilisers and two commercial blended fertiliser solutions were used as the draw solution and irrigation water as feed to test this concept for power generation. Theoretical thermodynamic simulation of the maximum extractable Gibbs energy, was first performed. After which, a series of bench-scale experiments were conducted to obtain realistic extractable energy data. The results showed that concentrated fertilisers potentially have 11 times higher energy than seawater. Even after accounting for the irreversibility losses due to constant pressure operation, the investigated pure fertilisers were found to have between 2.5 and 4.6 Wh/kg of energy. The outcomes from the flux and power density modelling were then validated with real experimental data. This study has successfully demonstrated that concentrated fertilisers can release a substantial amount of chemical potential energy when diluted for fertigation. This energy could be harnessed by transforming it into electric energy or pressure energy via PRO

Myeloid Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers of Immune Suppression in the Blood of Glioma Patients.

Although gliomas are confined to the central nervous system, their negative influence over the immune system extends to peripheral circulation. The immune suppression exerted by myeloid cells can affect both response to therapy and disease outcome. We analyzed the expansion of several myeloid parameters in the blood of low- and high-grade gliomas and assessed their relevance as biomarkers of disease and clinical outcome. Methods: Peripheral blood was obtained from 134 low- and high-grade glioma patients. CD14+, CD14+/p-STAT3+, CD14+/PD-L1+, CD15+ cells and four myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) subsets, were evaluated by flow cytometry. Arginase-1 (ARG1) quantity and activity was determined in the plasma. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to obtain a diagnostic score to discriminate glioma patients from healthy controls and between each glioma grade. A glioblastoma prognostic model was determined by multiple Cox regression using clinical and myeloid parameters. Results: Changes in myeloid parameters associated with immune suppression allowed to define a diagnostic score calculating the risk of being a glioma patient. The same parameters, together with age, permit to calculate the risk score in differentiating each glioma grade. A prognostic model for glioblastoma patients stemmed out from a Cox multiple analysis, highlighting the role of MDSC, p-STAT3, and ARG1 activity together with clinical parameters in predicting patient's outcome. Conclusions: This work emphasizes the role of systemic immune suppression carried out by myeloid cells in gliomas. The identification of biomarkers associated with immune landscape, diagnosis, and outcome of glioblastoma patients lays the ground for their clinical use

SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections: Incidence and Risk Factors in a Large European Multicentric Cohort of Health Workers.

Background: The research aimed to investigate the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections and their determinants in a large European cohort of more than 60,000 health workers. Methods: A multicentric retrospective cohort study, involving 12 European centers, was carried out within the ORCHESTRA project, collecting data up to 18 November 2021 on fully vaccinated health workers. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections was investigated with its association with occupational and social-demographic characteristics (age, sex, job title, previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, antibody titer levels, and time from the vaccination course completion). Results: Among 64,172 health workers from 12 European health centers, 797 breakthrough infections were observed (cumulative incidence of 1.2%). The primary analysis using individual data on 8 out of 12 centers showed that age and previous infection significantly modified breakthrough infection rates. In the meta-analysis of aggregated data from all centers, previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and the standardized antibody titer were inversely related to the risk of breakthrough infection (p = 0.008 and p = 0.007, respectively). Conclusion: The inverse correlation of antibody titer with the risk of breakthrough infection supports the evidence that vaccination plays a primary role in infection prevention, especially in health workers. Cellular immunity, previous clinical conditions, and vaccination timing should be further investigated