Generalized stretched ideals and Sally Conjecture

We introduce the concept of $j$-stretched ideals in a Noetherian local ring. This notion generalizes to arbitrary ideals the classical notion of stretched $\mathfrak{m}$-primary ideals of Sally and Rossi-Valla, as well as the concept of ideals of minimal and almost minimal $j$-multiplicity introduced by Polini-Xie. One of our main theorems states that, for a $j$-stretched ideal, the associated graded ring is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if two classical invariants of the ideal, the reduction number and the index of nilpotency, are equal. Our second main theorem, presenting numerical conditions which ensure the almost Cohen-Macaulayness of the associated graded ring of a $j$-stretched ideal, provides a generalized version of Sally's conjecture. This work, which also holds for modules, unifies the approaches of Rossi-Valla and Polini-Xie and generalizes simultaneously results on the Cohen-Macaulayness or almost Cohen-Macaulayness of the associated graded module by several authors, including Sally, Rossi-Valla, Wang, Elias, Corso-Polini-Vaz Pinto, Huckaba, Marley and Polini-Xie.Comment: 25 pages (modified the presentation of the material and added examples). Comments are welcom

Significant Rises and Declines in Nebraska Groundwater Levels (from Pre-Development as of Fall 1985)/Registered Irrigation Wells in Nebraska (as of January 1, 1986)

Date de l'opération : 1991 (SU) Inventeur(s) : Jacques Alain L’opération lancée à l’angle de la rue du Cardinal et de la place Viviani [ (Fig. n°1 : Localisation des zones fouillées), site J] a révélé des indices concernant les origines de l’urbanisme et son développement dans cette partie de la ville médiévale. Elle a permis d’observer des puits d’extraction de craie des Xe s. et XIe s. et les premières constructions à usage d’habitation dans le courant du XIe s. L’occupation de ces lieux n’..

Ownership structure and firm risk : evidence from China : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Manawatu campus, New Zealand

Essay one was published as Xie, F., Chi, J., & Liao, J. (2016.) From share issue privatisation to non-tradable share reform : A review of privatisation in China. Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 30(2), 90-104. https://doi.org/10.1111/apel.12149 A revised version of Essay two was published as Xie, F., Anderson, H.D., Chi, J., & Liao, J. (2019.) Does residual state ownership increase stock return volatility? Evidence from China's secondary privatization. Journal of Banking and Finance, 100, 234-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2019.01.012This thesis investigates the effects of ownership structure on firm risk in China. The first essay of this thesis provides an overview of the Chinese privatisation programmes that profoundly shapes the ownership structure of Chinese listed firms, and it reviews and discusses the corporate governance and firm outcomes resulting from the privatisation programmes in China. In particular, it presents a detailed survey of China’s privatisation programmes from its Share Issue Privatisation (SIP) to the Non-tradable Share (NTS) reform, Overall, it reveals that the SIP has achieved limited success in China, which is mainly due to the partial trading policy and partial privatisation characteristics, while the NTS reform yields greater improvements of governance mechanisms and outcomes. This thesis then, examines the impact of ownership structure on firm risk in privatised firms. Essay two examines the effect of residual state ownership on stock return volatility following the NTS reform. The empirical evidence shows that residual state ownership mitigates the stock return volatility. It indicates that state ownership retention in the aftermath of sudden privatisation reform can signal the government willingness to bear the firm risk. The mitigating effect is especially pronounced in firms controlled by the government agents. Furthermore, firms with higher government ownership reduce stock return volatility through implementing more conservative corporate policies. However, the volatility-mitigating effect appears to be temporary, lasting only for three years after state shares become fully tradable. Essay three investigates the relationship between the shareholdings of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) and stock price crash risk. This essay adopts a governance mechanism, threat of exit, to examine the role of QFIIs on stock price crash risk. The evidence shows that long investment horizon and existence of multiple QFIIs exert credible exit threat to discipline management, and in turn, reduce stock price crash risk. Further, it shows that the corporate site visits of portfolio firms by QFIIs is a channel through which the credible exit threat works effectively

Comment on Universal Reduced Potential Function for Diatomic Systems

First principles prove why a recent claim by R.H. Xie and P.S. Hsu (Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 243201 (2006)) on the scaling power of a covalent Sutherland parameter to expose a universal function cannot be validated.Comment: 1 page, at the UGent archive, 11 references, revised for publication in PR