The Response of Firms' Leverage to Uncertainty: Evidence from UK Public versus Non-Public Firms

This paper empirically investigates the effects of uncertainty on firms' leverage. The analysis is carried out for a large panel of public and non-public UK manufacturing rms over 1999-2008. The empirical results provide evidence that firms use less short-term debt as they go through periods of high uncertainty. The leverage of non-public firms is more sensitive to idiosyncratic uncertainty in comparison to their public counterparts, yet macroeconomic uncertainty a ects both types of firms similarly. We finally end our investigation showing that the total impact of either type of uncertainty on firms' leverage is related to the amount of the cash buffer each firm carries

A New Approach for Reconstructing SUSY Particle Masses with a few fb^(-1) at the LHC

We describe a new cascade mass reconstruction approach to allow reconstruction of SUSY particle masses in long cascades (five or more particles) at the LHC with integrated luminosity as low as a few fb^(-1). This approach is based on a consecutive use of the endpoint method, an event filter and a combinatorial mass reconstruction method. The endpoint method gives a preliminary estimate of light sparticle masses. An event filter combining the maximum likelihood distributions for all events in the data sample allows suppression of backgrounds and gives a preliminary estimate of heavy sparticle masses. Finally, SUSY particle masses are reconstructed by a search for a maximum of a combined likelihood function constructed for each possible combination of five events in the data sample. SUSY data sample sets for the SU3 model point containing 80k events each were generated, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb^(-1). These events were passed through the AcerDET detector simulator, which parametrized the response of a detector. To demonstrate the stability and precision of the approach five different 80k event data sets were considered. Masses were reconstructed with a precision of about 10% for heavy sparticles and 10-20% for light sparticles.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, added 1 referenc

Do Health Workers' Preferences Influence their Practices? Assessment of Providers' Attitude and Personal use of new Treatment Recommendations for Management of Uncomplicated Malaria, Tanzania.

\ud \ud Due to growing antimalarial drug resistance, Tanzania changed malaria treatment policies twice within a decade. First in 2001 chloroquine (CQ) was replaced by sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for management of uncomplicated malaria and by late 2006, SP was replaced by artemether-lumefantrine (AL). We assessed health workers' attitudes and personal practices following the first treatment policy change, at six months post-change and two years later. Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2002 and 2004 among healthcare workers in three districts in South-East Tanzania using semi-structured questionnaires. Attitudes were assessed by enquiring which antimalarial was considered most suitable for the management of uncomplicated malaria for the three patient categories: i) children below 5; ii) older children and adults; and iii) pregnant women. Practice was ascertained by asking which antimalarial was used in the last malaria episode by the health worker him/herself and/or dependants. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with reported attitudes and practices towards the new treatment recommendations. A total of 400 health workers were interviewed; 254 and 146 in the first and second surveys, respectively. SP was less preferred antimalarial in hospitals and private health facilities (p<0.01) in the first round, and the preference worsened in the second round. In the first round, clinicians did not prefer SP for children below age of 5 and pregnant women (p<0.01), but two years later, they did not prefer it for all patient scenarios. SP was the most commonly used antimalarial for management of the last malaria episode for health workers and their dependants in both rounds, in the public sector (p<0.01). Health workers in the dispensaries had the highest odds of using SP for their own treatment [adjusted OR- first round: 6.7 (95%CI: 1.9-23.4); crude OR- second round: 4.5 (1.5-13.3)]. Following changes in malaria treatment recommendations, most health workers did not prefer the new antimalarial drug, and their preferences worsened over time. However, many of them still used the newly recommended drug for management of their own or family members' malaria episode. This indicates that, other factors than providers' attitude may have more influence in their personal treatment practices

Poverty, property rights and land management in Uganda

This study investigates the impact of poverty, social capital and land tenure on the adoption of soil fertility management (SFM) and conservation technologies in Uganda. Considering four land management technologies (fallowing, terracing and inorganic and organic fertilizers), the study estimates a multinomial logit model to link farmers’ characteristics to the choice of technologies. The findings show that investments in land management are driven by factors such as land tenure security, level of poverty and participation in community organizations (social capital), and, most importantly, that household level poverty reduces the probability of adoption of most of the technologies, while social capital and land tenure security increase it. The findings suggest that more efficient government efforts to reduce poverty would enhance the adoption of SFM technologies. Other policies that would enhance the adoption of sustainable land management practices are infrastructure development, tenure security through a more efficient system of land registration, and investment in and use of social capital institutions.poverty, social capital, property rights, soil fertility management, Uganda, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use,

Effects of television advertising on children: with special reference to pakistani urban children

The purpose of study is to deliberate upon the impacts of television advertising on children & to identify those critical impacts which lead to behavioral and eating disorder in children. Impacts of TV advertising were identified as unnecessary purchasing, low nutritional food and materialism. A questionnaire using five point likert scale was administered to 425 parents of children aged between 9-14 years, and studying in schools. Samples were drawn through convenience sampling approach from four cities of Pakistan namely Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur & Multan. Data were analyzed by using SPSS software. Pearson correlation was used to measure the relationships of the variables on one-to-one basis indicating the most correlated variable was Unnecessary Purchasing which had Pearson correlation value of 0.312 and significance value of 0.000. It was followed by a Materialism which had Pearson correlation value of 0.260 and significance value of 0.000. Then comes Low Nutritional Food being Pearson correlation value of 0.258 and significance value of 0.000. Testing of hypothesis found that television advertising increases the consumption of food that is unhealthy, having low nutritional values and high in Sugar, Fat and Salt (SFS) in children with F=30.146 & P=0.000. Subsequently, it was found that Television advertising leads to increase in unnecessary purchasing in children with F= 45.747 & P=0.000 and materialism in children with F=30.545 & P=0.000. So, it is summed up that TV advertising is affecting children by increasing their food consumption pattern, preference for low-nutrient, high in sugar, fat & salt (SFS) foods and beverages, change in attitude that is aggressive and violent in nature and inclination towards unnecessary purchasing

An environmental accounting approach to valuing the services of natural forests and woodlands in Swaziland

Economists and statisticians constructing the national income accounts usually overlook the many benefits derived by communities from natural forests and woodlands. This study attempted to impute a value for the ecosystem services of these resources in Swaziland employing an environmental accounting framework. The current measure of national income was found to underestimate GDP by 2% and under value national savings by 10% by not accounting for the flow and asset values of natural forests and woodlands. The study also revealed a very high dependence of the rural communities in Swaziland on natural forests and woodlands for their livelihoods as they derive more than 50% of the value of total household consumption expenditure from these resources. These results clearly indicate the significant contribution to and crucial role these resources play in the lives and wellbeing of the Swazi people and hence the importance of prudent management and utilisation of this resource sector.Environmental Economics and Policy,