Corporate governance and its effect on the performance on family and non-family companies listed on the Cyprus stock exchange.

The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and performance of firms operating in Cyprus and to apply these findings to a private university in Cyprus, namely the Frederick University of Cyprus (thereafter FUCy). The main objective of the research is to apply the research findings to the improvement of course programmes in accounting and finance and business administration. The research focuses on firms operating in Cyprus. However this research is supported by overseas research in the area. In contrast to most previous studies it was found that family firms (thereafter FFs) have a negative impact on firm performance however the results of the study provide significant evidence that the implementation of corporate governance mechanisms by FFs can lead to performance benefits. It was found that FFs that operate in markets where there is full compliance with the CGC have a positive impact on firm values. Ensuring more effective corporate governance practices and adequate information disclosure are likely to increase the confidence of investors in the firm and make the FFs less risky to invest in. This will result in lower costs of capital and higher firm values as a result. Furthermore, the results of this study generally suggest that the adoption of corporate governance mechanisms has some important implications for FFs in the CSE. Corporate governance can greatly assist the FF sector via the introduction of better management practices and greater opportunities for growth through the utilisation of non-executive directors. Effective corporate governance mechanisms are likely to result in boards exerting much needed pressure for improved performance by ensuring that the interests of the firms are served. Empirical evidence also shows differences in the effect of corporate governance mechanisms for firms operating in the Alternative Market compared to the Main and Parallel Markets. For firms in the Alternative Market, a market with low corporate governance standards, the effect of several corporate governance variables was significant. For firms operating in AM, it was found that leverage and board size had a significant negative impact on Tobin’s Q value, in contrast to the firms operating in the MM & PM. In addition, the number of meetings, insider ownership and the presence of audit committees plays a more important positive role in the AM compared to MM&PM. Substantial differences between markets are also shown for the relationship of corporate governance factors and ROA. However in contrast to this there is significant evidence from the perception of CSE managers that the benefits of corporate governance are not fully understood. Further to this there is also evidence of a lack of corporate governance education to students on accounting and finance and business administration degree programs in Cyprus. This evidence is based on data received from a sample of students and faculty interviews at FUCy, one of three private universities operating in the Republic of Cyprus. The main recommendation of the research is that a new module be introduced for both the accounting and finance and business administration degrees to meet the increasing need for corporate governance education. This will meet the needs of the Cyprus business world where the role of corporate governance in business is increasing. This module will cover the main aspects concerning corporate governance. It should be mentioned that in recent years major professional accounting bodies have increased the coverage of corporate governance in their courses and their syllabi. This addition will result in benefits to the students and improvements in the relevant degree programmes. The research is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction concerning the research area. Chapter 2 outlines the research statement, objectives, theoretical background and literature review on the subject. Chapter 3 outlines the methodology of the research whereas Chapter 4 outlines the actual project activity and what helped and hindered the activity. Chapter 5 provides an analysis of the findings of the research whereas Chapter 6 provides the conclusions, suggestions for future research and recommendations. Finally chapter 7 is a reflective account of the researcher’s personal and professional learning. It also discussed the impact the project has on the various stakeholders

Statistical Learning in Wasserstein Space

We seek a generalization of regression and principle component analysis (PCA) in a metric space where data points are distributions metrized by the Wasserstein metric. We recast these analyses as multimarginal optimal transport problems. The particular formulation allows efficient computation, ensures existence of optimal solutions, and admits a probabilistic interpretation over the space of paths (line segments). Application of the theory to the interpolation of empirical distributions, images, power spectra, as well as assessing uncertainty in experimental designs, is envisioned

Multicompartment thermoresponsive gels: Does the length of the hydrophobic side group matter?

Multicompartment thermoresponsive gels are novel materials with fascinating self-assembly and interesting applications. The aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the effect of the length of the alkyl side group of a hydrophobic monomer on the thermoresponsive and self-assembly behaviour of terpolymers. Specifically twelve well-defined terpolymers based on the hydrophilic monomers 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA), and on the hydrophobic monomer ethyl-, n-butyl or n-hexyl methacrylate (EtMA, BuMA or HMA) of varying architectures (ABC, ACB, BAC and statistical) were synthesised using Group Transfer Polymerisation. The A, B and C blocks were based on PEGMA, the alkyl containing methacrylate monomer, and DMAEMA, respectively. The molecular weights (MWs) and compositions of the polymers were kept the same. The polymers and their precursors were characterised in terms of their MWs, MW distributions and compositions. Aqueous solutions of the polymers were studied by turbidimetry, hydrogen ion titration, light scattering and rheology to determine their cloud points, pKas, hydrodynamic diameters and thermoresponsive behaviour and investigate the effect of the architecture and the hydrophobic alkyl side group of the terpolymers. It was found that the pKas and the Tgs were mostly affected by the hydrophobicity of the side groups and not by the architecture, while the cloud points and the sol-gel transition of the polymers were affected by both the length of the alkyl side group and the polymer architecture. Interestingly the sharpest sol-gel transitions and stable multicompartment hydrogels were observed for the ABC triblock copolymers with the short alkyl-side groups even though the sol-gel transition occurred at higher temperatures

Urban encounters: juxtapositions of difference and the communicative interface of global cities

This article explores the communicative interface of global cities, especially as it is shaped in the juxtapositions of difference in culturally diverse urban neighbourhoods. These urban zones present powerful examples, where different groups live cheek by jowl, in close proximity and in intimate interaction — desired or unavoidable. In these urban locations, the need to manage difference is synonymous to making them liveable and one's own. In seeking (and sometimes finding) a location in the city and a location in the world, urban dwellers shape their communication practices as forms of everyday, mundane and bottom-up tactics for the management of diversity. The article looks at three particular areas where cultural diversity and urban communication practices come together into meaningful political and cultural relations for a sustainable cosmopolitan life: citizenship, imagination and identity

Antinematic local order in dendrimer liquids

We use monomer-resolved numerical simulations to study the positional and orientational structure of a dense dendrimer solution, focusing on the effects of dendrimers' prolate shape and deformability on the short-range order. Our results provide unambiguous evidence that the nearest-neighbor shell of a tagged particle consists of a mixture of crossed, side-by-side, side-to-end, and end-to-end pair configurations, imposing antinematic rather than nematic order observed in undeformable rodlike particles. This packing pattern persists even at densities where particle overlap becomes sizable. We demonstrate that the antinematic arrangement is compatible with the A15 crystal lattice reported in several dendrimer compounds.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Maximal power output of a stochastic thermodynamic engine

Classical thermodynamics aimed to quantify the efficiency of thermodynamic engines, by bounding the maximal amount of mechanical energy produced, compared to the amount of heat required. While this was accomplished early on, by Carnot and Clausius, the more practical problem to quantify limits of power that can be delivered, remained elusive due to the fact that quasistatic processes require infinitely slow cycling, resulting in a vanishing power output. Recent insights, drawn from stochastic models, appear to bridge the gap between theory and practice in that they lead to physically meaningful expressions for the dissipation cost in operating a thermodynamic engine over a finite time window. Indeed, the problem to optimize power can be expressed as a stochastic control problem. Building on this framework of stochastic thermodynamics we derive bounds on the maximal power that can be drawn by cycling an overdamped ensemble of particles via a time-varying potential while alternating contact with heat baths of different temperature (Tc cold, and Th hot). Specifically, assuming a suitable bound M on the spatial gradient of the controlling potential, we show that the maximal achievable power is bounded by [Formula presented]. Moreover, we show that this bound can be reached to within a factor of [Formula presented] by operating the cyclic thermodynamic process with a quadratic potential