Do mergers create value for acquirers? - Evidence from U.S. merger contests

In this thesis, I examine whether carrying out a merger creates or destroys acquirer value in the long-term. The results of prior literature regarding long-term merger impact on the acquirer are inconclusive and potential to causal identification issues. In a recent working paper, Malmendier, Moretti, and Peters (2014) offer an improvement to the previously employed control groups, whose returns are used as a proxy for the returns of the acquirer, in the absence of the merger. Malmendier, Moretti, and Peters (2014) investigate contested mergers and suggest that, with respect to stock returns, acquirers are likely to be more similar to unsuccessful bidders than to the previously used benchmarks. The results of Malmendier, Moretti, and Peters (2014) indicate that carrying out a merger leads to a severe value disruption in terms of long-term stock performance. In this thesis, I test and critically assess the validity of their results. Thus, this thesis provides an essential robustness check for the authors' results, but also discusses the possible issues related to the novel approach employed to detect long-term abnormal returns. In assessing the value impact, I use both the event-time and calendar-time methodologies, and the improved benchmarks, unsuccessful bidders. The sample used in this thesis covers a more recent and longer period of time than that of Malmendier, Moretti, and Peters (2014), and it is also larger in size indicating a better reliability. The data set consists of 93 U.S. merger contests all comprising one acquirer and one unsuccessful bidder. The mergers are completed during February 1985 and March 2012. To be included in the sample, the bids by the acquirer and the unsuccessful bidder have to be overlapping and the companies have to have ex-ante an equal chance of winning the merger contest. The data on bids announcements is extracted from the Securities Data Company's (SDC) U.S. Mergers and Acquisitions Database. The stock price and accounting data is obtained from the Center for Research in Securities Prices (CRSP) and COMPUSTAT, respectively. Furthermore, I use Kenneth French Data Library to obtain average industry returns. My results build upon a large body of mergers and acquisition literature and they also have real life implications. Based on my results, I do not find evidence of consistent post-merger acquirer value disruption. However, no long-term value creation is detected either. My results are robust across the transaction characteristics, measurable omitted variables, which could potentially bias the estimates

Physiological signal-based emotion recognition from wearable devices

The interest in computers recognizing human emotions has been increasing recently. Many studies have been done about recognizing emotions from physical signals such as facial expressions or from written text with good results. However, recognizing emotions from physiological signals such as heart rate, from wearable devices without physical signals have been challenging. Some studies have given good, or at least promising results. The challenge for emotion recognition is to understand how human body actually reacts to different emotional triggers and to find a common factors among people. The aim of this study is to find out whether it is possible to accurately recognize human emotions and stress from physiological signals using supervised machine learning. Further, we consider the question what type of biosignals are most informative for making such predictions. The performance of Support Vector Machines and Random Forest classifiers are experimentally evaluated on the task of separating stress and no-stress signals from three different biosignals: ECG, PPG and EDA. The challenges with these biosginals from acquiring them to pre-processing the signals are addressed and their connection to emotional experience is discussed. In addition, the challenges and problems on experimental setups used in previous studies are addressed and especially the usability problems of the dataset. The models implemented in this thesis were not able to accurately classify emotions using supervised machine learning from the dataset used. The models did not perform remarkably better than just randomly choosing labels. PPG signal however performed slightly better than ECG or EDA for stress detection

Finnish WorldSkills Achievers' Vocational Talent Development and School-to-Work Pathways

This paper examines the perceptions of vocational expertise and school-to-work pathways among WorldSkills Competition (WSC) achievers and their co-workers and employers within the Finnish context. At the biennial international WSC, young people (aged 18-to-23 years) from over 60 countries demonstrate their skills in more than 40 trades. Individualized training for this competition is provided through the cooperation of vocational institutions (e.g., expert coaches, team leaders and competition panellists) and industry (e.g., mentors, sponsors, materials, equipment). Semi-structured thematic interviews (N=51) were conducted in 2013 and 2014 with former Finnish WSC medal or diploma winners (n=18) who had since begun their working lives (1-to-15 years of work experience). Their employers (n=16) and colleagues (n=17) were also interviewed. Results showed that in addition to vocation-specific knowledge and skills, problem-solving skills, creativity, social skills and self-regulatory skills were acknowledged as the most significant elements of vocational expertise. The findings also indicated that formal vocational education combined with deliberate practice and training based on expert mentoring improved the long-term career progress and vocational expertise of the WSC achievers

Using New Models to Analyze Complex Regularities of the World

This commentary to the recent article by Musso et al. (2013) discusses issues related to model fitting, comparison of classification accuracy of generative and discriminative models, and two (or more) cultures of data modeling. We start by questioning the extremely high classification accuracy with an empirical data from a complex domain. There is a risk that we model perfect nonsense perfectly. Our second concern is related to the relevance of comparing multilayer perceptron neural networks and linear discriminant analysis classification accuracy indices. We find this problematic, as it is like comparing apples and oranges. It would have been easier to interpret the model and the variable (group) importance’s if the authors would have compared MLP to some discriminative classifier, such as group lasso logistic regression. Finally, we conclude our commentary with a discussion about the predictive properties of the adopted data modeling approach. 

Nainen työparina, kokemuksia ensihoitotyössä

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, kuinka Etelä-Savon pelastuslaitoksella ensihoitotyössä työsken-televät kokevat työparinsa sukupuolen, onko sillä merkitystä ja vaikuttaako se työtehtävistä suoriutumi-seen. Tutkimuksesta saatuja tuloksia voi jatkossa mahdollisesti hyödyntää ensihoitokoulutuksen kehit-tämisessä ja pelastuslaitoksen omassa koulutustarjonnassa. Aineisto kerättiin lokakuussa 2011 strukturoidulla kyselylomakkeella, jossa oli lisäksi kolme avointa ky-symystä, joilla tarkennettiin muita kysymyksiä. Lisäksi kyselyn lopussa oli mahdollisuus tuoda oma mie-lipide aiheesta esille. Kyselyyn vastanneista 49 henkilöstä miehiä oli 36 ja naisia 13. Tutkimuksen vasta-usprosentiksi tuli 81,7 %. Tutkimuksen tulokset analysointiin ja käsiteltiin Webropol-ohjelman sekä Ex-cel-laskentataulukon avulla. Tulokset esitettiin frekvensseinä ja prosenttiosuuksina. Tuloksia havainnol-listettiin lisäksi graafisina taulukkoina sekä pylväs- että ympyrädiagrammeina. Avoimet kysymykset täydensivät strukturoituja kysymyksiä ja niistä on poimittu työhön suoria lainauksia. Tuloksista käy ilmi, että tärkeimpinä ominaisuuksina ensihoitotyössä selviytymisen kannalta pidettiin työkokemusta, paineensietokykyä, vuorovaikutus- ja ammattitaitoa. Jokseenkin merkittävinä ominai-suuksina pidettiin fyysistä kuntoa, ajo- ja organisointitaitoa sekä koulutusta. Sukupuolen merkitystä en-sihoitotyössä selviytymisen kannalta pidettiin vähiten tärkeimpänä seikkana. Tätä täydensivät myös avoimet kysymykset, joissa niin nais-kuin miesvastaajatkin toivat ilmi miessukupuolen eduksi fyysistä kuntoa vaativat nosto- ja kantamistehtävät ja naissukupuolelle ominaiseksi piirteeksi rauhallisuuden ja hyvät vuorovaikutustaidot sekä empaattisuuden.The purpose of the research was to find out how first aid workers feel about the gender of their co-workers, how the gender matters and if it affects managing the duties. The results from the research could possibly be made use of in first aid education and in the educational supply of rescue department. The material for this research was collected in October 2011 by a structured questionnaire which included three open questions to give more details about other questions. At the end of the questionnaire it was possible to bring up everybody’s own thoughts about the topic. 49 people answered the questionnaire and 36 were men and 13 women. The response rate of the research was 81,7%. The results were analysed and processed with Webropol- program and Excel- array. The results were also illustrated using graphi-cal arrays, histograms and circle diagrams. The open questions complemented the structured questions and some straight quotations have been picked from the answers. The results show the most important qualities in first aid job. The most important qualities to support surviving were work experience, stress tolerance, interaction and professional skills. Good physical health, driving and organizing skills and education were also considered as important abilities. The less important thing for surviving in first aid was gender. The open questions supported this statement. Both men and women agreed about men’s advantage of having good physical health, which was needed in lifting and carrying duties. Women’s typical features were calmness, good interaction skills and empathy

Engineering students' perceptions of teaching : teacher-created atmosphere and teaching procedures as triggers of student emotions

The engineering education field has concentrated more on rationality and knowledge than on emotions, even though the latter are important in students' learning processes and in the engineering profession. This study examined engineering students' descriptions of the roles of teaching in their perceived emotions. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on data from interviews with 26 engineering students. The results show that students' emotions are influenced by their perceptions of 1) a teacher-created atmosphere, such as teacher interest, enthusiasm, emotions, and encouragement, and 2) teaching procedures, such as course arrangements, lectures, public performances, and active learning. The findings call for more attention to the nuances of student - teacher relationships in engineering classrooms, as they can affect the ways in which students experience teaching procedures, as well. These results can help engineering educators better understand students' teaching-related emotions and make instructional choices that enhance student emotions that are conducive to learning.Peer reviewe

Hyvinvointiryhmä mielenterveys- ja päihdekuntoutujille

Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli järjestää mielenterveys- ja päihdekuntoutujille ravitsemukseen ja liikuntaan liittyvä ryhmä. Tarkoituksena oli myös kerätä tietoa ryhmäläisten kokemuksista saamastaan vertais- ja ryhmätuesta ja asioista, jotka auttavat heitä toteuttamaan terveellistä elämäntapaa. Hyvinvointiryhmä toteutettiin Etelä-Karjalan sosiaali- ja terveyspiirin mielenterveys- ja päihdekuntoutujien päivätoimintayksikössä. Ryhmä kokoontui kuusi kertaa ja piti sisällään alku-ja loppukartoitukset sekä kaksi ryhmäkertaa ravitsemuksesta ja kaksi ryhmäkertaa liikunnasta. Tutkimus oli toiminnallinen ja kvalitatiivinen eli laadullinen tutkimus. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin hyvinvointiryhmään osallistuneilta mielenterveys- ja päihdekuntoutujilta teemahaastatteluilla ja havainnoimalla. Jatkotutkimusaiheet nousivat teoriatiedon ja analysoitavan aineiston pohjalta. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella ryhmätuella on suuri merkitys mielenterveys- ja päihdekuntoutujien elämäntapamuutoksessa. Ryhmään osallistuneet olivat sitä mieltä, että hyvinvointiryhmä toimi hyvin motivointikeinona muuttaa elämäntapoja terveellisimmiksi. Muita tärkeitä motivointikeinoja elämäntapamuutoksessa oli ryhmän lisäksi painon ja fyysisen kunnon muutokset parempaan sekä ryhmän antama alku muutokselle ja ryhmässä luodut tavoitteet. Ryhmä toimi hienosti yhteen ja ryhmäytyminen tapahtui nopeasti. Hyvinvointiryhmä vahvisti osallistujien tietoja ravitsemuksesta ja liikunnasta. Hyvinvointiryhmä toi osallistujille myös vinkkejä arkipäivän terveellisiin elämäntapoihin.The purpose of this study was to arrange nutritional and physical activities for a group of mental health and substance abuse patients. Another purpose was to collect information about the experiences of peer and group support provided among the group members and the factors that will help them to carry out a healthy lifestyle. The wellbeing group was set up in the day care unit of the mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation services in the area of South Karelia Social and Health Care District. The group met six times, and interviews were conducted in the beginning and in the end. In addition, there were two meetings on nutritional matters and two meetings on physical activity. The study was functional and qualitative. The data were collected by interviewing and observing the group members. Topics for further research rose on the basis of theory and the analyzed material. Based on the results from the study, group support is of great importance for mental health and substance abuse patients aiming for a lifestyle change. The group participants agreed that the wellbeing group worked well as a way of motivating the change towards a healthier lifestyle. In addition to the group activities, other important ways to motivate a lifestyle change included the changes for the better in the participants’ weight and physical condition, the group support facilitating the beginning of the change, and the goals created together. The group worked well together and grouping happened quickly. The wellbeing group activities increased the participants’ knowledge about nutrition and physical activity. The group brought the participants also tips about an everyday healthy lifestyle