Corporate Governance and Transparency: A Research Study Investigating CEO Duality in Fortune Ranked Companies

The fiduciary oversight expected from the board of directors has intensified because of corporate scandals of corruption and fraudulent financial reporting within the US. The Federal Government, Securities and Exchange Commission, American stock exchanges, and shareholders are demanding corporate transparency in these matters. This longitudinal study examines CEO duality of the largest firms in the US as a whole and by industry sector. Concentrating on the agency theory, this paper investigates the two-tier compliance status within the largest 500 firms in the US, as reported by Fortune Magazine in 2008 and 2010. This study seeks to reveal the degree to which CEO duality roles exist today in large US publicly traded corporations. The investigation began by reviewing the 2008 CEO duality status. Further analysis incorporated the 2010 top 500 revenue-generating firms in the US. The combination of titles held by CEOs remained consistent from 2008 to 2010. However, in 2008, CEO/Chairman title ranked first and it ranked third in 2010, which is a 68.4 percent decrease from 2008 to 2010. Further review reveals CEO/President title witnessed a 110 percent increase from 2008 to 2010 and ranks first in 2010. The 2010 increase in CEO/President titles and a decrease in CEO/Chairman titles are consistent with the principal-agency theory. There is a gap within the existing literature addressing the current governance trends within large US companies in order to heighten corporate disclosure and transparency. This research study can have global implications because of the internationalization of capital markets and the volume of cross-listings

An Empirical Investigation Focusing on the Composition and Performance of the Fortune 500

Each year Fortune Magazine categorizes American corporations into a snapshot view of how each performed in the previous year. The list compiles the top 500 companies based upon revenue. The following article looks closer at the NAICS industry sectors that make up the 2008 Fortune 500 list and the performance level of each sector represented using multiple dimensions of analysis. This research investigates the 2008 Fortune 500 companies in terms of their NAICS industry sector, geography, revenue generation, and profitability. The study further explores employment levels and labor productivity within and across sectors. Additionally, the education levels attained by the top executive are revealed. Finally, the report compares industry sectors in an effort to better understand the composition of the 2008 Fortune 500 list and its contribution to the American economy as a whole

Augmented reality-based remote family visits in nursing homes

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many nursing homes had to restrict visitations. This had a major negative impact on the wellbeing of residents and their family members. In response, residents and family members increasingly resorted to mediated communication to maintain social contact. To facilitate high-quality mediated social contact between residents in nursing homes and remote family members, we developed an augmented reality (AR)-based communication tool. In this study, we compared the user experience (UX) of AR-communication with that of video calling, for 10 pairs of residents and family members. We measured enjoyment, spatial presence and social presence, attitudes, behavior and conversation duration. In the AR-communication condition, residents perceived a 3D projection of their remote family member onto a chair placed in front of them. In the video calling condition, the family member was shown using 2D video. In both conditions, the family member perceived the resident in the video calling mode on a 2D screen. While residents reported no differences in their UX between both conditions, family members reported higher spatial presence for the AR-communication condition compared to video-calling. Conversation durations were significantly longer during AR-communication than during video calling. We tentatively suggest that there may be (unconscious) differences in UX during AR-based communication compared to video calling

The discontinuous Galerkin method for fractional degenerate convection-diffusion equations

We propose and study discontinuous Galerkin methods for strongly degenerate convection-diffusion equations perturbed by a fractional diffusion (L\'evy) operator. We prove various stability estimates along with convergence results toward properly defined (entropy) solutions of linear and nonlinear equations. Finally, the qualitative behavior of solutions of such equations are illustrated through numerical experiments

The Baum-Connes Conjecture via Localisation of Categories

We redefine the Baum-Connes assembly map using simplicial approximation in the equivariant Kasparov category. This new interpretation is ideal for studying functorial properties and gives analogues of the assembly maps for all equivariant homology theories, not just for the K-theory of the crossed product. We extend many of the known techniques for proving the Baum-Connes conjecture to this more general setting

Ghrelin suppresses insulin secretion in human islets and type 2 diabetes patients have diminished islet ghrelin cell number and lower plasma ghrelin levels

Peer reviewe

Evaluation of outreach services for primary care and mental health; assessing the impact

Objectives: This paper reports an evaluation, carried out for London Health Libraries, of the impact of outreach services to primary care and mental health workers in thirteen different settings. The main aims of the project were to identify the impact being made by the service, and to produce best practice guidelines for outreach services in this kind of ‘difficult’ community setting. Methods: Methods used were: analysis of documents (all 13 services); analysis of any evaluation already performed by or for the service (all 13 services); interviews with outreach librarians (11 services); questionnaire survey of a representative sample of users (8 services, with 66 returned questionnaires, 35% response rate). The services evaluated were very diverse, in terms of setting, structure, functions and activities, and extent and nature of self-evaluation and reporting. The evaluation was therefore largely qualitative, in order to deal with the lack of a consistent ‘template’ for analysis. Emphasis was placed on trying to identify critical incidents , where it could be shown unambiguously that the outreach services made a difference to practice. Study limitations included the difficulty of summarising and comparing very different situations and diverse services, difficulty in identifying critical incidents, and an inability to study ‘non-users’. Findings: Service recipients felt better informed, more up- to-date, more aware of resources, more confident and supported in their work, and saved time. Services contributed to a richer information environment. Direct impacts, demonstrably improved patient care, cost savings etc., were more difficult to establish

The sharp-interface limit for the Navier--Stokes--Korteweg equations

We investigate the sharp-interface limit for the Navier--Stokes--Korteweg model, which is an extension of the compressible Navier--Stokes equations. By means of compactness arguments, we show that solutions of the Navier--Stokes--Korteweg equations converge to solutions of a physically meaningful free-boundary problem. Assuming that an associated energy functional converges in a suitable sense, we obtain the sharp-interface limit at the level of weak solutions