1,381 research outputs found
The Effect of Globalization and Legal Environment on Voluntary Disclosure
We examine how interactions with foreign capital, product, and labor markets affect the disclosure practices of non-U.S. multinational firms. Drawing on literature related to multinationals, country-level legal institutions, and accounting disclosures, we expect that the relation between globalization and voluntary disclosure will be conditioned by the legal environment in a firm\u27s home country. Specifically, while firms from countries with a strong legal environment (e.g., common-law countries) already face pressure for good disclosure, globalization can increase the benefits associated with good disclosure to firms from weak legal environments (e.g., civil-law countries). We use a self-constructed voluntary disclosure index and hand-collected disclosure and foreign activity data for 643 non-U.S. firms from 30 countries for 2003. We find a significant interaction between globalization and the legal environment. This indicates that for the same level of globalization, there is more voluntary disclosure for firms based in weak legal environments. Our results suggest that globalization is an important variable that has been overlooked in much of the previous cross-country research
Ministry emphasises quality of medical training
One proposed mechanism of tumour escape from immune surveillance is tumour up-regulation of the cell surface ligan FasL, whichcan lead to apoptosis of Fas receptor (Fas) positive lymphocytes. Based upon this `coun-- rattack', we have developed a mathematical model inelAin tumour cell--lymphocyte ineA-- ction cell surface expression of Fas/FasL,an d their secreted soluble forms. The model predicts that (a) the production of soluble forms of Fas an d FasL will lead to thedown regulation of theimmun respon --fi (b) matrix metallopr otein se (MMP)ink'PTfiA ion should lead toin'x# sed membran FasLan result in a higher rate of Fas-mediated apoptosis for lymphocytesthan for tumour cells. Recen studieson can--# patient len support for theseprediction s. TheclinP-- l implication are two-fold. Firstly, the use of broad spectrum MMPin'#x tors asan`fi-- n`fi--'` cagenP may be compromised by their adverse e#ecton tumour FasL up-regulation Also, Fas/FasL insL action may havean impact on the outcome ofnA--x`#B onA in immunBB`fiAw`P-- ic trialssin` the finA common pathway of all these approaches is thetran - duction of deathsign-- swithin the tumour cell
Magnitude effects for experienced rewards at short delays in the escalating interest task
A first-person shooter video game was adapted for the study of choice between smaller sooner and larger later rewards. Participants chose when to fire a weapon that increased in damage potential over a short interval. When the delay to maximum damage was shorter (5 – 8 s), people showed greater sensitivity to the consequences of their choices than when the delay was longer (17 – 20 s). Participants also evidenced a magnitude effect by waiting proportionally longer when the damage magnitudes were doubled for all rewards. The experiment replicated the standard magnitude effect with this new video game preparation over time scales similar to those typically used in nonhuman animal studies and without complications due to satiation or cost
An Empirical Assist In Resolving The Classification Dilemma Of Workers As Either Employees Or Independent Contractors
The classification of workers as "employees" or "independent contractors" is important because the employer's legal responsibilities vary depending upon the nature of the working relationship. For federal tax purposes, the term "employee" is not clearly defined. However, the model developed in this study is able to correctly classify 96.6 percent of the judicial decisions (1980-2005) involving the status of a worker as either an employee or independent contractor. Also, the model demonstrates stability over time and between judicial venues
An Empirical Assist In Resolving The Classification Dilemma Of Workers As Either Employees Or Independent Contractors
The classification of workers as "employees" or "independent contractors" is important because the employer's legal responsibilities vary depending upon the nature of the working relationship. For federal tax purposes, the term "employee" is not clearly defined. However, the model developed in this study is able to correctly classify 96.6 percent of the judicial decisions (1980-2005) involving the status of a worker as either an employee or independent contractor. Also, the model demonstrates stability over time and between judicial venues
Modeling metallic island coalescence stress via adhesive contact between surfaces
Tensile stress generation associated with island coalescence is almost
universally observed in thin films that grow via the Volmer-Weber mode. The
commonly accepted mechanism for the origin of this tensile stress is a process
driven by the reduction in surface energy at the expense of the strain energy
associated with the deformation of coalescing islands during grain boundary
formation. In the present work, we have performed molecular statics
calculations using an embedded atom interatomic potential to obtain a
functional form of the interfacial energy vs distance between two closely
spaced free surfaces. The sum of interfacial energy plus strain energy provides
a measure of the total system energy as a function of island separation.
Depending on the initial separation between islands, we find that in cases
where coalescence is thermodynamically favored, gap closure can occur either
spontaneously or be kinetically limited due to an energetic barrier. Atomistic
simulations of island coalescence using conjugate gradient energy minimization
calculations agree well with the predicted stress as a function of island size
from our model of spontaneous coalescence. Molecular dynamics simulations of
island coalescence demonstrate that only modest barriers to coalescence can be
overcome at room temperature. A comparison with thermally activated coalescence
results at room temperature reveals that existing coalescence models
significantly overestimate the magnitude of the stress resulting from island
coalescence.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to PR
Learning Representations that Support Extrapolation
Extrapolation -- the ability to make inferences that go beyond the scope of
one's experiences -- is a hallmark of human intelligence. By contrast, the
generalization exhibited by contemporary neural network algorithms is largely
limited to interpolation between data points in their training corpora. In this
paper, we consider the challenge of learning representations that support
extrapolation. We introduce a novel visual analogy benchmark that allows the
graded evaluation of extrapolation as a function of distance from the convex
domain defined by the training data. We also introduce a simple technique,
temporal context normalization, that encourages representations that emphasize
the relations between objects. We find that this technique enables a
significant improvement in the ability to extrapolate, considerably
outperforming a number of competitive techniques.Comment: ICML 202
- …