Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A market microstructure perspective on the price formation of cross-listed stocks

Over the past two decades, globalization in capital markets has led to the growth of equity listings in more than one market. Such growth has heightened the levels of competition among stock exchanges, especially in terms of attracting more foreign listings and the associated business opportunities. Hence, nding ways to achieve a competitive advantage over other markets is becoming more crucial for exchanges. This has emphasized the need to understand how prices are formed in multiple markets. In that respect, this thesis intends to add to the understanding of the price formation process for stocks with foreign listings through three empirical studies. In terms of application, this thesis focuses on Canadian stocks which are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and cross-listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The rst essay contributes to our understanding of the impact of news arrival on price discovery. It employs macroeconomic news announcements as proxies for new information and examines the impact of these announcements on price discovery of cross-listed stocks. This study reveals that price discovery shifts signi cantly from Canada to the U.S. during days with a macroeconomic news announcement, regardless of the origin of the news. This nding shows that markets di¤er in terms of information processing capability, particularly with regard to the processing of market-wide information. The second essay examines the dynamics of price discovery for cross-listed stocks. We model the interactions between daily price discovery measures, trading volume, bid-ask spread, and algorithmic trading activity using a vector autoregression, taking into account lagged and contemporaneous relations among the variables. We observe
The Determinants of CEO Compensation: Evidence from Family-Owned Listed Corporations in Karachi Stock Exchange

This study investigates the role of various factors to determine CEO compensation in family-owned listed companies in Karachi Stock Exchange. Using the pooled data with 66 registered companies from 2010 to 2012, OLS method has been used to determine CEO compensation. It is found that the firm size is a significant contributing factor, which effect CEO compensation. In addition if the CEO belongs to the family, then his compensation is less because his compensation is made in terms of job security as well as status. Moreover, if the CEO holds more than one chair, his compensation decreases. This may owe to the fact that dual power may affect its efficiency and reduce performance of company adversely affect CEO compensation. Finally, the number of directors on the board increased, the compensation of the CEO also escalated. Escalating board size indicate that more capable and eligible people, well equipped with skills and resources become part of organization which strongly effect performance, market position and goodwill of company and intensifying CEO pay scale
Retinal neuroprotection by hypoxic preconditioning is independent of hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α expression in photoreceptors

Hypoxic preconditioning stabilizes hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF) 1α in the retina and protects photoreceptors against light‐induced cell death. HIF‐1α is one of the major transcription factors responding to low oxygen tension and can differentially regulate a large number of target genes. To analyse whether photoreceptor‐specific expression of HIF‐1α is essential to protect photoreceptors by hypoxic preconditioning, we knocked down expression of HIF‐1α specifically in photoreceptor cells, using the cyclization recombinase (Cre)–lox system. The Cre‐mediated knockdown caused a 20‐fold reduced expression of Hif‐1α in the photoreceptor cell layer. In the total retina, RNA expression was reduced by 65%, and hypoxic preconditioning led to only a small increase in HIF‐1α protein levels. Accordingly, HIF‐1 target gene expression after hypoxia was significantly diminished. Retinas of Hif‐1α knockdown animals did not show any pathological alterations, and tolerated hypoxic exposure in a comparable way to wild‐type retinas. Importantly, the strong neuroprotective effect of hypoxic preconditioning against light‐induced photoreceptor degeneration persisted in knockdown mice, suggesting that hypoxia‐mediated survival of light exposure does not depend on an autocrine action of HIF‐1α in photoreceptor cells. Hypoxia‐mediated stabilization of HIF‐2α and phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT 3) were not affected in the retinas of Hif‐1α knockdown mice. Thus, these factors are candidates for regulating the resistance of photoreceptors to light damage after hypoxic preconditioning, along with several potentially neuroprotective genes that were similarly induced in hypoxic knockdown and control mice.
Internet and User-Generated Content Versus High Street Travel Agencies: A Latent Gold Segmentation in the Context of Italy

This study aims at profiling Italian consumers based on their views for and against disintermediation along with the extent to which user-generated content (UGC), rather than information provided by high street travel agencies, influences their choices. A web-based survey was carried out and a convenience sample of 1,699 complete questionnaires was obtained. Latent gold segmentation was applied to three factors identified by running exploratory factor analysis on a list of 12 statements used to investigate the respondents’ views toward the topic of disintermediation and UGC. Three clusters were identified: “lookers,” “moderate bookers,” and “bookers. ” A chi-square test shows that significant differences exist between the three clusters based on age, education, income, and the extent to which they change accommodation suggested by a travel agent after having read UGC. Contributions to the body of knowledge and managerial implications are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.
Customer centricity: the construct and the operational antecedents

Despite the relevant attention paid both by the academic and by the practitioner communities, extant understanding and knowledge about how to implement customer centricity is substantially scarce. The author draws on the occasional literature on customer centricity published over the last years in marketing and other disciplines, and on 43 field interviews with managers (marketers and non-marketers), consultants and academicians to move toward the establishment of a customer centricity theory. This work identifies and refines the domain of customer centricity, defines customer centricity under an operational viewpoint and provides a comprehensive framework for grounding further research on the topic, through the deepening of the personal, organizational, inter-organizational and instrumental antecedents of the adoption of a customer-centric strategy. The work concludes with managerial implications suggesting that, despite the enthusiasm around customer centricity, a thorough analysis of the contextual factors must be carried out to understand whether to be customer-centric or not. Further, some organizational and supply-chain implications are discussed.
Examining online Purchasing Behavior: A case of Pakistan

The initiation of the Internet brought a new way of advertising and selling the products. Most of the people use internet for purchasing the goods but there still some reasons due to which people hesitate from online buying. The attitudes of the people towards buying online are different. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors due to which the consumers feel hesitation from online shopping. For this purpose a questionnaire based survey was conducted and the questionnaires were circulated among the students of different universities and general public. 5 point likert scale was used to examine the responses. The responses were analyzed by means of frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation analysis. The results of the analysis showed that most of the people already shop online and prefer to shop online but there are some reasons such as Psychological Factors, Social Factors Emotional Factors, and Privacy which affect buyer’s attitudes to purchases online. The privacy and security are big problems affecting the behavior of the people to purchase online. Various attitudes of the consumers toward online purchasing are catered in the study which reveals that purchasing online are easy, comfortable and better than conventional shopping due to a variety of factors. The listed factors subject provides are prices, Convenience, and recommendation. The study also concludes that security and privacy are the major factors that hesitates consumers to purchases products online. The ratio of hesitation towards online shopping is more, which is mostly due to insecure payments and transaction of invalid and cyber hacking.
The Effect of Ownership Structure on Corporate Performance of Listed Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange: An Empirical Evidence of Iran

This research has investigated the effect of ownership structure on performance of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. The research hypotheses are based on the type of relationship between ownership structure and corporate performance. To test each hypothesis, four models defined based on dependent variables. The sample is consisted of 68 companies during the years 1384 (April 2006) to 1388 (March 20, 2010). Statistical method used in this research was panel data. Findings indicate that there is significant and negative relationship between "the amount of ownership of biggest shareholder" and firm performance. There is a positive and significant relation between "the amount of ownership of five greater shareholders" and firm performance. The relationship between "the amount of ownership of institutional shareholders" and "the amount of ownership of managerial shareholders" and "the amount of ownership of individual shareholders" is significant and negative.
L-DWARF BINARIES IN THE 20-PARSEC SAMPLE

We have used the NICMOS NIC1 camera on the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain high-resolution near-infrared images of 27 nearby ultracool dwarfs with formal distance estimates less than 20 parsecs. One target, 2MASS J22551861-5713056, is resolved as a binary system, with a 4:1 flux ratio in the F110W passband. The primary has spectral type L6, and the revised spectroscopic parallax places it at a distance of ∼12 parsecs. The secondary is likely to have a spectral type between L8 and T1. The remaining 26 dwarfs are unresolved. Combining the present results with our earlier NICMOS (Near-Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer) observations and literature data, high-resolution imaging exists for 72 of the 85 L dwarfs in the current 20-parsec census. We derive a formal frequency of 15.3+5.1−3.3% for resolved binaries in the local L-dwarf population. The frequency drops to 12.5+5.3−3.0% if we take Malmquist bias into account. The NICMOS observations are capable of detecting systems with mass ratios q>0.2, but all known binaries are near equal-mass, suggesting that low-q systems either fail to form, or have short lifetimes.
Activation of KATP channels by H2S in rat insulin‐secreting cells and the underlying mechanisms

H2S is an important gasotransmitter, generated in mammalian cells from l‐cysteine metabolism. As it stimulates KATP channels in vascular smooth muscle cells, H2S may also function as an endogenous opener of KATP channels in INS‐1E cells, an insulin‐secreting cell line. In the present study, KATP channel currents in INS‐1E cells were recorded using the whole‐cell and single‐channel recording configurations of the patch‐clamp technique. KATP channels in INS‐1E cells have a single‐channel conductance of 78 pS. These channels were activated by diazoxide and inhibited by gliclazide. ATP (3 mm) in the pipette solution inhibited KATP channels in INS‐1E cells. Significant amount of H2S was produced from INS‐1E cells in which the expression of cystathinonie gamma‐lyase (CSE) was confirmed. After INS‐1E cells were transfected with CSE‐targeted short interfering RNA (CSE‐siRNA) or treated with dl‐propargylglycine (PPG; 1–5 mm) to inhibit CSE, endogenous production of H2S was abolished. Increase in extracellular glucose concentration significantly decreased endogenous production of H2S in INS‐1E cells, and increased insulin secretion. After transfection of INS‐1E cells with adenovirus containing the CSE gene (Ad‐CSE) to overexpress CSE, high glucose‐stimulated insulin secretion was virtually abolished. Basal KATP channel currents were significantly reduced after incubating INS‐1E cells with a high glucose concentration (16 mm) or lowering endogenous H2S level by CSE‐siRNA transfection. Under these conditions, exogenously applied H2S significantly increased whole‐cell KATP channel currents at concentrations equal to or lower than 100 μm. H2S (100 μm) markedly increased open probability by more than 2‐fold of single KATP channels (inside‐out recording) in native INS‐1E cells (n= 4, P < 0.05). Single‐channel conductance and ATP sensitivity of KATP channels were not changed by H2S. In conclusion, endogenous H2S production from INS‐1E cells varies with in vivo conditions, which significantly affects insulin secretion from INS‐1E cells. H2S stimulates KATP channels in INS‐1E cells, independent of activation of cytosolic second messengers, which may underlie H2S‐inhibited insulin secretion from these cells. Interaction among H2S, glucose and the KATP channel may constitute an important and novel mechanism for the fine control of insulin secretion from pancreatic β‐cells.
Risk mitigating strategies in the food supply chain

Food safety events in the recent past have generated significant media attention and resulted in increased concerns over the food on the plate. A recent study (Degeneffe et al., 2007) on consumer perceptions of bio-terrorism and food safety risks shows increasing concern over food safety and corresponding decreasing confidence in security of the U.S. food supply. While there are some mandated safety and security practices for the firms in the food supply chain the economic incentives for the firms to actively address food safety throughout the supply chain are less clear. Security practices often require significant investments in both within the firm and across the supply chain but do not show tangible returns. Also, higher investments in securing the firmsâ€™ processes and products do not necessarily make the food products more safe if the supply chain partners exhibit higher risks. However, a risk that is realized can potentially bankrupt the firm. Some high-profile cases of food safety outbreaks have had substantial economic consequences such as, lost sales, recall and compensation costs, damaged goodwill and hence impact on future markets. Such incidents can lead the firms out of business and the impact is not contained just at the firm level but also felt throughout the food supply chain. The issues of economic incentives and disincentives for risk mitigation strategies and investments, in a highly vulnerable area such as food sector, are an emerging area of concern both in private and public sector management as well as academic research. The research questions of interest that this paper addresses are: How much should the firm invest to address the security and safety risks that it faces? The optimum investment levels, among other things, are a function of the probabilities of contamination levels exceeding the maximum acceptable standards set. We consider a specification for the contamination levels follow gamma distribution as it exhibits the fat tail property which suggests that extreme events are more likely than predicted by the normal Gaussian form. Previous work by Mohtadi and Murshid(2007) has highlighted the fat-tail nature of extreme events for chemical, biological and radionuclear (CBRn) attacks, which are of intentional nature. However, for food safety risks of unintentional nature the fat-tail nature of the distribution though suggested, is not yet established in literature. The present model leaves less scope for analytical solutions but lends itself to numerical methods, which we employ to examine the firm strategies. Our preliminary model and its analysis suggest that infact for very low levels of risk exposure no investment in security is required! However, as the standards loosen and risk increases the optimum amount of investments also increase. Though the result here are intuitively consistent, they are largely dependent on the parametric specification of the model and their sensitivity to the parameter values is yet to be tested.
When service fails: The role of the salesperson and the customer

Service failures and consequent recoveries have been identified as a critical determinant of customer retention. Hence, effective service recovery programs warrant further exploration. In particular, with the current emphasis on relationship selling, salespeople should learn how to improvise to serve their customers effectively, including solving problems when service failure occurs. Therefore, alternatives to current common practices in industry should be investigated. The results of the present study suggest that by providing customers a choice of service recovery options, salespeople can augment customers' sense of control and ultimately their satisfaction with the service recovery and the overall service transaction. The investigation also proposed that customer satisfaction would be contingent upon the importance of the service. However, study findings revealed that this was not the case. Implications of the findings are also discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Can Chinese Target Firms Raise Value through Cross-border M&As? The Role of Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions in China

We provide empirical evidence on how cross-border acquisitions from the perspective of an foreigner acquirer differ from domestic transactions, based on stock and operating performance measures. We analyze the shareholder wealth effects of 663 domestic and international acquisitions announced by Chinese corporations between 1993 and 2006. We find some difference between national and cross-border mergers. We find that foreign acquirers experience significantly higher stock and operating performance than for domestic transactions. Higher target gains for cross-border transactions are consistent with the acquirer`s ability to correctly value or capture synergies in cross-border takeovers. We also analyze the role of corporate governance in cross-border acquisitions. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that for cross-border acquisitions, the abnormal returns to the target firm stockholders are increasing in the ownership of the state and entrepreneur. However, we find that takeover premiums are decreasing in the domestic acquirer`s with the increasing of the state owned shares. This result suggests that foreign acquirers have to compensate target firm shareholders for exposing them to worse corporate governance regimes. These results suggest that corporate governance practices have valuation effects. We also examine the sources of wealth gains in Chinese targets of foreign acquirers. We find that exchange and taxes are important in justifying the target premium in foreign takeovers than in domestic takeovers. Taken together, our results suggest that the realization of synergy is the main motive behind foreign takeovers. A probit analysis suggests that takeovers of foreign firms less likely to make deals in which shareholders have positive change in ROE. How ever, interestingly, the dummy for B Shares or H shares is positively related with domestic takeover premium, indicate that the financial transparency and adequate information disclosure are crucial in transition economies.
Planning to Grow? Exploring the Effect of Business Planning on the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

The impact of business planning on performance (survival, growth, profit) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been debated in strategic management and entrepreneurship research for decades. This study clarifies prior inconsistent findings by unbundling the generalized construct of ‘business planning’ into three components: i) crafting an inspiring vision, ii) employing a system of success metrics and iii) developing a marketing plan. We examine how each of these components, and their interactions, influence SME growth, controlling for firm age and target market. A recent survey of SMEs from multiple countries provided the dataset of 393 firms to test these relationships.
Analysis of different winding topologies for canned switched reluctance machines

Due to the fact of a simple and robust cross-section design switched reluctance machines are perfectly suited to drive hydraulic pumps; either as dry-running version or as canned version for seal-less applications. Besides copper and iron losses, very high losses are produced additionally in the stator and rotor can shields of the seal-less version. These can losses usually count more than 60% of the total losses and have a big impact on the thermal behavior and stability of the switched reluctance drive. Different winding topologies for switched reluctance machines are analyzed for both pump versions with the main focus on the can losses.
Considering context, place and culture: the National Latino and Asian American Study

This paper provides a rationale for, and overview of, procedures used to develop the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). The NLAAS is nationally representative community household survey that estimates the prevalence of mental disorders and rates of mental health service utilization by Latinos and Asian Americans in the US. The central aims of the NLAAS are to: 1) describe the lifetime and 12‐month prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the rates of mental health services use for Latino and Asian American populations using nationwide representative samples of Latinos and Asian Americans, 2) assess the associations among social position, environmental context, and psychosocial factors with the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and utilization rates of mental health services, and 3) compare the lifetime and 12‐month prevalence of psychiatric disorders, and utilization of mental health services of Latinos and Asian Americans with national representative samples of non‐Latino whites (from the National Comorbidity Study‐Replication) (NCS‐R) and African Americans (from the National Survey of American Life) (NSAL). This paper presents new concepts and methods utilized in the development of the NLAAS to capture and investigate ethnic, cultural and environmental considerations that are often ignored in mental health research. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.