The quality of Neuer Markt quarterly reports : an empirical investigation

For the Neuer Markt year 2001 is not considered as one of its best, compared to its prior performance. Investors who once piled into the Neuer Markt have now become wary of the exchange, which was launched in 1997 as Europe’s leading growth market and answer to the U.S.‘s Nasdaq Stock Market. The Neuer Markt’s reputation has been marred by the misleading information policy from several Neuer Markt companies, publishing false annual and quarterly data. Some of these companies are responsible for having misinformed investors of their pending bankruptcies. Under these circumstances, it is time to find an explanation for the dramatic loss of credibility in Neuer Markt enterprises. Finding an answer, two aspects come under consideration: • What type of information (annual versus quarterly reports) was available for investors and • of what quality were these provided data. Interim reports can be seen as important instrument in the reporting system to inform all kinds of investors. For this reason we examine the quality of Neuer Markt quarterly reports by concentrating on the disclosure level of 52 Neuer Markt companies‘ reports for the third quarter 1999 and 2000. To enable comparison we establish four disclosure indexes that measure the report’s compliance with the Neuer Markt Rules and Regulations as well as with IAS and US GAAP interim reporting standards. The results demonstrate that the level of disclosure has increased over time. Then we aim to find typical attributes of Neuer Markt enterprises that provide high or low level of accounting information in their quarterly reports. Nevertheless the study also shows that there is not any correlation between market capitalization and the quality of interim reports. However, it can be suggested that an additional enforcement mechanism could improve quality and lure investors back. A step towards this aim is the standardization project of quarterly reports of Deutsche Boerse AG

Burnout, Job Stress, and Job Satisfaction in Two Public Health Nursing Units

This thesis examines burnout, job stress, and job satisfaction in two public health nurse organizations, located in two different regions. A total of 35 individuals were interviewed, and 31 individuals were surveyed. The major finding was the experience of burnout is a complex experiential synthesis of the constructs job satisfaction, morale, job stress, and self perception. Data suggest intraorganizational processes mediate burnout and the shift from job satisfaction to job dissatisfaction

Transforming Hawai'i

This study examines the role of coercion in the unification of the Hawaiian Islands by Kamehameha I between 1782 and 1812 at a time of increasing European contact. Three interrelated themes in Hawaiian political evolution are examined: the balance between coercion and consent; the balance between general structural trends and specific individual styles of leadership and historical events; and the balance between indigenous and European factors. The resulting synthesis is a radical reinterpretation of Hawaiian warfare that treats it as an evolving process heavily imbued with cultural meaning. Hawaiian history is also shown to be characterised by fluid changing circumstances, including crucial turning points when options were adopted that took elements of Hawaiian society on paths of development that proved decisive for political unification. These watershed moments were neither inevitable nor predictable. Perhaps the greatest omission in the standard discourse on the political evolution of Hawaiian society is the almost total exclusion of modern indigenous Hawaiian scholarship on this topic. Modern historians from the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa argue that political leadership and socioeconomic organisation were much more concensus-based than is usually allowed for. Above all, this study finds modern indigenous Hawaiian studies a much better fit with the historical evidence than more conventional scholarship

Social Networking Behaviors: Role of personality, perceived risk, and social influences

With the growth in use of social media, various security and privacy concerns are burgeoning. Motivated by the phenomenon of OSN use and the potentially risky behaviors it involves, the present study has two main objectives: (1) to understand the effect of individuals’ perceived risk on OSN use and risky OSN behaviors; and (2) to understand the role of social influence on OSN use and risky OSN behaviors. In this work in progress a theoretical model is developed for an empirical examination

Education and Dementia in the Context of the Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses and Qualitative Analyses

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Cognitive reserve (CR) or brain reserve capacity explains why individuals with higher IQ, education, or occupational attainment have lower risks of developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or vascular dementia (VaD). The CR hypothesis postulates that CR reduces the prevalence and incidence of AD or VaD. It also hypothesizes that among those who have greater initial cognitive reserve (in contrast to those with less reserve) greater brain pathology occurs before the clinical symptoms of disease becomes manifest. Thus clinical disease onset triggers a faster decline in cognition and function, and increased mortality among those with initial greater cognitive reserve. Disease progression follows distinctly separate pathological and clinical paths. With education as a proxy we use meta-analyses and qualitative analyses to review the evidence for the CR hypothesis.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>We searched PubMed, PsycoINFO, EMBASE, HealthStar, and Scopus databases from January 1980 to June 2011 for observational studies with clear criteria for dementia, AD or VaD and education. One hundred and thirty-three articles with a variety of study designs met the inclusion criteria. Prevalence and incidence studies with odds ratios (ORs), relative risks or original data were included in the meta-analyses. Other studies were reviewed qualitatively. The studies covered 437,477 subjects. Prevalence and incidence studies with pooled ORs of 2.61 (95%CI 2.21–3.07) and 1.88 (95%CI 1.51–2.34) respectively, showed low education increased the risk of dementia. Heterogeneity and sensitivity tests confirmed the evidence. Generally, study characteristics had no effect on conclusions. Qualitative analyses also showed the protective effects of higher education on developing dementia and with clinical disease onset hastening a decline in cognition and function, and greater brain pathology.</p> <h3>Conclusion/Significance</h3><p>This systematic review and meta-analyses covering a wide range of observational studies and diverse settings provides robust support for the CR hypothesis. The CR hypothesis suggests several avenues for dementia prevention.</p> </div

SEFA Hub and Spoke Evaluation - year two progress report and interim findings 2014-15

This report details findings from the second year of a four-year evaluation of the ‘Hub and Spoke’ initiative, being undertaken by the University of Bedfordshire. Funded by the Child Sexual Exploitation Funders’ Alliance (CSEFA), this initiative aims to improve services in relation to child sexual exploitation (CSE). It utilises the expertise, resources and infrastructure of an established voluntary sector CSE service (the ‘Hub’) by locating experienced CSE workers (known as ‘Spoke workers’) into new service delivery areas. The evaluation assesses the extent to which the Hub and Spoke model triggers cultural and systemic change in the way that services engaging with young people respond to CSE.

An accelerator mode based technique for studying quantum chaos

We experimentally demonstrate a method for selecting small regions of phase space for kicked rotor quantum chaos experiments with cold atoms. Our technique uses quantum accelerator modes to selectively accelerate atomic wavepackets with localized spatial and momentum distributions. The potential used to create the accelerator mode and subsequently realize the kicked rotor system is formed by a set of off-resonant standing wave light pulses. We also propose a method for testing whether a selected region of phase space exhibits chaotic or regular behavior using a Ramsey type separated field experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, some modest revisions to previous version (esp. to the figures) to aid clarity; accepted for publication in Physical Review A (due out on January 1st 2003

A DEVOPS PERSPECTIVE: THE IMPACT OF ROLE TRANSITIONS ON SOFTWARE SECURITY CONTINUITY

Prior studies have claimed that, with evolving technologies, continuity processes in Development and Operations (DevOps) needs to be re-evaluated consistently. In this context, this study examines a relatively new continuity process -- continuous software security. With regulatory compliance and ubiquitous cyberattacks, it becomes increasingly important to integrate security into DevOps. Presently, DevOps developers assume the role of systems operators and software developers to facilitate Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD). Assuming multiple roles involves role transitioning that requires developers to psychologically disengage from their current role and engage in another. Gradually, this may cause mental exhaustion. Therefore, implementing continuous security may add more complexity to DevOps, instigating more stress to software developers. Given this concern, we draw on Role Transition Theory and Cognitive Load Theory to examine whether integrating security into DevOps would aggravate developers’ job burnout, which would eventually undermine continuous security practices