Taxation and Capital Structure Choice – Evidence from a Panel of German Multinationals

This paper analyzes the impact of taxes and lending conditions on the financial structure of multinationals' foreign affiliates. The empirical analysis employs a large panel of affiliates of German multinationals in 26 countries in the period from 1996 until 2003. In accordance with the theoretical predictions, the effect of local taxes on leverage is positive for both types of debt. Moreover, while adverse local credit market conditions are found to reduce external borrowing, internal debt is increasing, supporting the view that the two channels of debt finance are substitutes.corporate income tax, multinationals, capital structure, firm-level data

The Impact of Thin-Capitalization Rules on Multinationals' Financing and Investment Decisions

This paper analyzes the role of Thin-Capitalization rules for capital structure choice and investment decisions of multinationals. A theoretical analysis shows that the imposition of such rules tends to affect not only the leverage and the level of investment but also their tax-sensitivity. An empirical investigation of leverage and investment reported for affiliates of German multinationals in 24 countries in the period between 1996 and 2004 offers some support for the theoretical predictions. While Thin-Capitalization rules are found to be effective in restricting debt finance, investment is found to be more sensitive to taxes if debt finance is restricted.Corporate Income Tax, Multinationals, Leverage, Thin-Capitalization Rules, Firm-Level Data

Taxation and Capital Structure Choice – Evidence from a Panel of German Multinationals

This paper analyzes the impact of taxes and lending conditions on the financial structure of multinationals’ foreign affiliates. The empirical analysis employs a large panel of affiliates of German multinationals in 26 countries in the period from 1996 until 2003. In accordance with the theoretical predictions, the effect of local taxes on leverage is positive for both types of debt. Moreover, while adverse local credit market conditions are found to reduce external borrowing, internal debt is increasing, supporting the view that the two channels of debt finance are substitutes

The Impact of Thin-Capitalization Rules on Multinationals’ Financing and Investment Decisions

This paper analyzes the role of Thin-Capitalization rules for capital structure choice and investment decisions of multinationals. A theoretical analysis shows that the imposition of such rules tends to affect not only the leverage and the level of investment but also their tax-sensitivity. An empirical investigation of leverage and investment reported for affiliates of German multinationals in 24 countries in the period between 1996 and 2004 offers some support for the theoretical predictions. While Thin-Capitalization rules are found to be effective in restricting debt finance, investment is found to be more sensitive to taxes if debt finance is restricted

Machine Learning Based Diagnostics of Developmental Coordination Disorder using Electroencephalographic Data

We report on promising results concerning the fast and accurate diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) which heavily impacts the life of affected children with emotional and behavioral issues. Using a machine learning classifier on spectral data of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and unfolding the traditional frequency bandwidth in a fine-graded equidistant 99-point spectrum we were able to reach an accuracy of over 99.35 percent having only one misclassification. Our machine learning work contributes to healthcare and information systems research. While current diagnostic methods in use are either complicated, time-consuming, or inaccurate, our automated machine-based approach is accurate and reliable. Our results also provide more insights into the relationship between DCD and brain activity which could stimulate future work in medicine

Main Body Aerodynamics

Our senior design project entails designing, analyzing the front upper aerodynamic nose for the Formula SAE at VCU’s race team. Currently there are no provisions on the chassis to provide relief for parasitic loss of speed & efficiency due to drag. Since Formula SAE is focused on building a engineered, safe, and efficient vehicle our aerodynamic design will help with handling, downforce, and fuel economy all while reducing drag. Our Aerodynamic design will play a key role not only in how the Formula car is perceived aesthetically, but our calculations will be a large determining factor in the cars overall final performance. Our group started the project by initially consulting texts to better grasp knowledge on aerodynamic systems and their role in contributing to an efficient vehicle. With our research we were able to come up with numerous design considerations and gained more insight into how aerodynamics systems are analyzed. Once we conducted our background research we made some rough sketches of what we wanted the aero to look like. With these 2-D drawings we gathered equations necessary to calculate the drag coefficient and conducted a theoretical analysis of our 2D version to compare to our 3D calculations that will be solved using ANSYS. Our research showed us that the tear drop is generally thought to be the best shape so we based our drawings off of that consideration. Once we had a rough sketch, we started modeling the aero using an existing drawing of the chassis in Solidworks. At this stage we created a few different types of models so that in the future we would be able to quickly differentiate the aspects of our drawings that reduced the coefficient of drag. Moving forward with the project we expect to encounter many other problems associated with our design and analysis. However our aim is to narrow down our 3D designs and consider the aspects that reduced drag. This will allow us to come up with a further refined result. Once our data is analyzed we can conduct a comparison of our initial designs versus our final product and gain understanding as to what is needed to quickly and efficiently design aero in the future. This project will entail engineering through hand calculations, designing for real world problems using surface models in solidworks, and performing an analysis using the finite element method & computational fluid dynamics.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1066/thumbnail.jp

Effects of physiological state upon nitrosoguanidine-mediated allelic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain XS-380, a. heteroallelic diploid strain, carries six genetically analyzed loci on the left arm of chromosome VII. Nitrosoguanidine (NMG) at low concentrations was observed to cause allelic recombination (either mitotic recombination or gene conversion) of the heteroallelic loci with low lethality. The NMG-inducible heteroallelic system was used in studies of the relationship of mutagenic action to DNA replication in both randomly and synchronously growing yeast cultures. Studies of asynchronous cultures in balanced logarithmic growth, in the early stationary phase, and in the early phases of amino acid starvation indicated that each locus had a characteristic recombinant response. Two of these conditions, amino acid starvation and early stationary phase, produced a drastic reduction in numbers of induced recombinants. Moreover, after onset of amino acid starvation, a timed series of samples could be individually induced by pulse mutagenesis to show that the mutagen response decreased by the time that DNA synthesis stopped. Similar results were also obtained by substituting cycloheximide treatment for the amino acid starvation conditions in the time course experiment. However, a definite relationship of mutagenic response to DNA replication could not be demonstrated by amino acid starvation or cycloheximide inhibition, because coordinate protein synthesis may be necessary for the maintenance of DNA synthesis. Synchronous cultures also produced ambiguous responses to NMG-mediated pulse mutagenesis. The frequency of inducible mitotic gene conversion increased rapidly before initiation of a discrete synchronous doubling of total DNA. In contrast, high levels of inducible mitotic recombination could also be obtained during the period of DNA replication with decreasing levels toward the end of the first round of DNA doubling. Most of the markers on the chromosome arm displayed similar cyclic variations in recombination frequency. It was suggested that the cyclic activity of DNA repair enzymes may be responsible for the variations of inducible prototroph frequencies during synchronous growth. No definite direction of recombination or polarity could be observed on the chromosome