Insider Trading after Repurchase Tender Offer Announcements: Timing versus Informed Trading

Abnormally high net insider selling is commonly observed after repurchase tender offer (RTO) announcements although, on average, firms experience positive abnormal returns in the years after the repurchases. We explore two potential explanations: liquidity trade timing and informed trading. Consistent with the notion that fixed price RTOs are more likely than Dutch-auction RTOs to signal undervaluation, the results suggest that insider selling after fixed price RTO announcements are driven largely by insiders who time their trades with the repurchase announcements. In contrast, selling after Dutch-auction RTOs seems to be driven primarily by informed traders who exploit mispricing associated with the repurchase announcements.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79151/1/j.1755-053X.2010.01074.x.pd

Programmable surfaces

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-135).Robotic vehicles walk on legs, roll on wheels, are pulled by tracks, pushed by propellers, lifted by wings, and steered by rudders. All of these systems share the common character of momentum transport across their surfaces. These existing approaches rely on bulk response among the fluids and solids. They are often not finely controllable and complex approaches suffer from manufacturing and practical operational challenges. In contrast I present a study of a dynamic, programmable interface between the surface and its surrounding fluids. This research explores a synthetic hydrodynamic regime, using a programmable surface to dynamically alter the flow around an object. Recent advances in distributed computing and communications, actuator integration and batch fabrication, make it feasible to create intelligent active surfaces, with significant implications for improving energy efficiency, recovering energy, introducing novel form factors and control laws, and reducing noise signatures. My approach applies ideas from programmable matter to surfaces rather than volumes. The project is based on covering surfaces with large arrays of small cells that can each compute, communicate, and generate shear or normal forces. The basic element is a cell that can be joined in arrays to tile a surface, each containing a processor, connections for power and communications, and means to control the local wall velocity The cell size is determined by the characteristic length scale of the flow field ranging from millimeters to centimeters to match the desired motion and fluidic system. Because boundary layer effects are significant across fluid states from aerodynamics to hydrodynamics to rheology, the possible implications of active control of the boundary layer are correspondingly far reaching, with applications from transportation to energy generation to building air handling. This thesis presents a feasibility study, evaluating current manufacturing, processing, materials, and technologies capabilities to realize programmable surfaces.by Amy Sun.Ph.D

Field fabrication of solar-thermal powered stream turbines for generation of mechanical power

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65).Providing adequate energy to developing countries is one of the greatest global technical challenges today. Fabrication is undergoing a revolution that parallels the digitization of computation and communications. Emerging affordable, "desktop" fabrication tools are providing the precision and repeatability necessary for regular people to design, manufacture, and install a system to convert solar thermal energy to useful work. In the spectrum of devices that use solar energy, this field-fabricated system exists in a space between crude solar cookers for heating food and complex, expensive photovoltaic cells. Computer control and high precision allows regular people to experimentally converge on a locally-appropriate design and implementation to solve the challenge of providing energy. This thesis describes a field producible, small-scale turbine that uses solar thermal energy to provide mechanical energy. I investigate a solar thermal steam-driven turbine system and build and evaluate several versions in field fabrication lab locations around the world. I consider the efficacy of deployment in rural developing areas.by Amy Sun.S.M

Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform

In 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission enacted the Securities Offering Reform (Reform), which relaxes “gun‐jumping” restrictions, thereby allowing firms to more freely disclose information before equity offerings. We examine the effect of the Reform on voluntary disclosure behavior before equity offerings and the associated economic consequences. We find that firms provide significantly more preoffering disclosures after the Reform. Further, we find that these preoffering disclosures are associated with a decrease in information asymmetry and a reduction in the cost of raising equity capital. Our findings not only inform the debate on the market effect of the Reform, but also speak to the literature on the relation between voluntary disclosure and information asymmetry by examining the effect of quasi‐exogenous changes in voluntary disclosure on information asymmetry, and thus a firm's cost of capital.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100337/1/joar12022.pd

Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform

In 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission enacted the Securities Offering Reform (Reform), which relaxes “gun-jumping” restrictions, thereby allowing firms to more freely disclose information before equity offerings. We examine the effect of the Reform on voluntary disclosure behavior before equity offerings and the associated economic consequences. We find that firms provide significantly more preoffering disclosures after the Reform. Further, we find that these preoffering disclosures are associated with a decrease in information asymmetry and a reduction in the cost of raising equity capital. Our findings not only inform the debate on the market effect of the Reform, but also speak to the literature on the relation between voluntary disclosure and information asymmetry by examining the effect of quasi-exogenous changes in voluntary disclosure on information asymmetry, and thus a firm's cost of capital

Relationship of Body Mass Index to Alcohol Consumption in College Freshmen

Objective. Assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and drinking in college freshman. Method. College freshman (N = 199) at a university completed the drinking questionnaires. Drinking amount and the alcohol problem index (RAPI) served as outcomes, and BMI was the independent variable. Results. RAPI scores were associated with gender, amount of drinking, and BMI (P < 0.001, F = 13.44). Increase of RAPI with drinking amount was larger for females (slope = 0.06) than for males (slope = 0.03). Conclusion. This information can be helpful when providing health promotion strategies to college students regarding nutrition modifications that would be most beneficial for their health

Peptide nanofiber hydrogel adjuvanted live virus vaccine enhances cross-protective immunity to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is prevalent in swine farms worldwide and is a major source of economic loss and animal suffering. Rapid genetic variation of PRRSV makes it difficult for current vaccines to confer protection against newly emerging strains. We recently demonstrated that a novel peptide nanofiber hydrogel (H9e) could act as a potent adjuvant for killed H1N1 vaccines. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate H9e as an adjuvant for PRRSV modified live virus (MLV) vaccines. Pigs were vaccinated with Ingelvac PRRSV MLV with or without H9e adjuvant before being challenged with the VR-2332 (parental vaccine strain) or MN184A (genetically diverse strain) PRRSV. Pigs vaccinated with MLV+H9e had higher levels of circulating vaccine virus. More importantly, pigs vaccinated with MLV+H9e had improved protection against challenge by both PRRSV strains, as demonstrated by reduced challenge-induced viremia compared with pigs vaccinated with MLV alone. Pigs vaccinated with MLV+H9e had lower frequency of T-regulatory cells and IL-10 production but higher frequency of Th/memory cells and IFN-γ secretion than that in pigs vaccinated with MLV alone. Taken together, our studies suggest that the peptide nanofiber hydrogel H9e, when combined with the PRRSV MLV vaccine, can enhance vaccine efficacy against two different PRRSV strains by modulating both host humoral and cellular immune responses