A Methodology to measure shareholder value orientation and shareholder value creation aimed at providing a research basis to investigate the link between both magnitudes

Does shareholder value orientation lead to shareholder value creation? This article proposes methods to quantify both, shareholder value orientation and shareholder value creation. Through the application of these models it is possible to quantify both dimensions and examine statistically in how far shareholder value orientation explains shareholder value creation. The scoring model developed in this paper allows quantifying the orientation of managers towards the objective to maximize wealth of shareholders. The method evaluates information that comes from the companies and scores the value orientation in a scale from 0 to 10 points. Analytically the variable value orientation is operationalized expressing it as the general attitude of managers toward the objective of value creation, investment policy and behavior, flexibility and further eight value drivers. The value creation model works with market data such as stock prices and dividend payments. Both methods where applied to a sample of 38 blue chip companies: 32 firms belonged to the share index IBEX 35 on July 1st, 1999, one company represents the “new economy” listed in the Spanish New Market as per July 1st, 2001, and 5 European multinational groups formed part of the EuroStoxx 50 index also on July 1st, 2001. The research period comprised the financial years 1998, 1999, and 2000. A regression analysis showed that between 15.9% and 23.4% of shareholder value creation can be explained by shareholder value orientation.

Computing infinite plans for LTL goals using a classical planner

Classical planning has been notably successful in synthesizing finite plans to achieve states where propositional goals hold. In the last few years, classical planning has also been extended to incorporate temporally extended goals, expressed in temporal logics such as LTL, to impose restrictions on the state sequences generated by finite plans. In this work, we take the next step and consider the computation of infinite plans for achieving arbitrary LTL goals. We show that infinite plans can also be obtained efficiently by calling a classical planner once over a classical planning encoding that represents and extends the composition of the planningdomain and the B¨uchi automaton representingthe goal. This compilation scheme has been implemented and a number of experiments are reported.

Predictors of political orientation among US-born Mexican Americans: cultural identification, acculturation attitudes and socioeconomic status

With each passing election, U.S. political campaigns have renewed their efforts in courting the “Latino vote,” yet the Latino population is not a culturally homogenous voting bloc. This study examined how cultural identifications and acculturation attitudes in U.S. born Mexican Americans interacted with socioeconomic status (SES) to predict political orientation. Individuals who held stronger Mexican identity and supported biculturalism as an acculturation strategy had a more liberal orientation, while belonging to a higher SES group and holding stronger assimilation attitudes predicted a less liberal orientation. Mexican cultural identification interacted with SES such that those who held a weaker Mexican identity, but came from a higher social class were less liberal and more moderate in their political orientation. Weak Mexican identification and higher SES also predicted weaker endorsement of bicultural acculturation attitudes, which in turn, mediated the differences in political orientation. The acceptance of one’s ethnic identity and endorsement of bicultural attitudes predicted a more liberal political orientation. In light of these findings, political candidates should be cautious in how they pander to Latino constituents—referencing the groups’ ethnic culture or customs may distance constituents who are not strongly identified with their ethnic culture.

Social value orientation as a moral intuition: Decision-making in the dictator game

We studied the decision making process in the Dictator Game and showed that decisions are the result of a two-step process. In a first step, decision makers generate an automatic, intuitive proposal. Given sufficient motivation and cognitive resources, they adjust this in a second, more deliberated phase. In line with the social intuitionist model, we show that one s Social Value Orientation determines intuitive choice tendencies in the first step, and that this effect is mediated by the dictator s perceived interpersonal closeness with the receiver. Self-interested concerns subsequently leadto a reduction of donation size in step 2. Finally, we show that increasing interpersonal closeness can promote pro-social decision-making.

Hydrodynamic induced deformation of and orientation of a microscopic elastic filament

We describe simulations of an elastic filament immersed in a fluid and subjected to a body force. The coupling between the fluid flow and the friction that the filament experiences induces bending and alignment perpendicular to the force. With increasing force there are four shape regimes, ranging from slight distortion to an unsteady tumbling motion. We also find marginally stable structures. The instability of these shapes and the alignment are explained by induced bending and nonlocal hydrodynamic interactions. These effects are experimentally relevant for stiff microfilaments.

Particle orientation distribution in Y-Fe2O3magnetic tapes by Mössbauer and hysteresis loop measurements

The particle orientation in several Y-Fe2O3magnetic tapes has been quantitatively evaluated by using the data of both Mössbauer and hysteresis loop measurements performed in the three orthogonal directions. A texture function has been obtained as a development of real harmonics. The profile of the texture function gives the quality of the different magnetic tapes. A different degree of particle orientation at the surface of the tape is evidenced by means of conversion electron Mössbauer spectra.

Lipase Improvement: Goals and strategies

Lipases have received great attention as industrial biocatalysts in areas like oils and fats processing, detergents, baking, cheese making, surface cleaning, or fine chemistry . They can catalyse reactions of insoluble substrates at the lipid-water interface, preserving their catalytic activity in organic solvents. This makes of lipases powerful tools for catalysing not only hydrolysis, but also various reverse reactions such as esterification, transesterification, aminolysis, or thiotransesterifications in anhydrous organic solvents. Moreover, lipases catalyse reactions with high specificity, regio and enantioselectivity, becoming the most used enzymes in synthetic organic chemistry. Therefore, they display important advantages over classical catalysts, as they can catalyse reactions with reduced side products, lowered waste treatment costs, and under mild temperature and pressure conditions. Accordingly, the use of lipases holds a great promise for green and economical process chemistry.

ACACIA: an agent-based program for simulating behavior to reach long-term goals

We present ACACIA, an agent-based program implemented in Java StarLogo 2.0 that simulates a two-dimensional microworld populated by agents, obstacles and goals. Our program simulates how agents can reach long-term goals by following sensorial-motor couplings (SMCs) that control how the agents interact with their environment and other agents through a process of local categorization. Thus, while acting in accordance with this set of SMCs, the agents reach their goals through the emergence of global behaviors. This agent-based simulation program would allow us to understand some psychological processes such as planning behavior from the point of view that the complexity of these processes is the result of agent-environment interaction.

Lipase Improvement: Goals and strategies

Lipases have received great attention as industrial biocatalysts in areas like oils and fats processing, detergents, baking, cheese making, surface cleaning, or fine chemistry . They can catalyse reactions of insoluble substrates at the lipid-water interface, preserving their catalytic activity in organic solvents. This makes of lipases powerful tools for catalysing not only hydrolysis, but also various reverse reactions such as esterification, transesterification, aminolysis, or thiotransesterifications in anhydrous organic solvents. Moreover, lipases catalyse reactions with high specificity, regio and enantioselectivity, becoming the most used enzymes in synthetic organic chemistry. Therefore, they display important advantages over classical catalysts, as they can catalyse reactions with reduced side products, lowered waste treatment costs, and under mild temperature and pressure conditions. Accordingly, the use of lipases holds a great promise for green and economical process chemistry.

Particle shape and orientation in laser diffraction and static image analysis size distribution analysis of micrometer sized rectangular particles

Laser diffraction (LD) and static image analysis (SIA) of rectangular particles [United States Pharmacopeia, USP30-NF25, General Chapter <776>, Optical Miroscopy.] have been systematically studied. To rule out sample dispersion and particle orientation as the root cause of differences in size distribution profiles, we immobilize powder samples on a glass plate by means of a dry disperser. For a defined region of the glass plate, we measure the diffraction pattern as induced by the dispersed particles, and the 2D dimensions of the individual particles using LD and optical microscopy, respectively. We demonstrate a correlation between LD and SIA, with the scattering intensity of the individual particles as the dominant factor. In theory, the scattering intensity is related to the square of the projected area of both spherical and rectangular particles. In traditional LD the size distribution profile is dominated by the maximum projected area of the particles (A). The diffraction diameters of a rectangular particle with length L and breadth B as measured by the LD instrument approximately correspond to spheres of diameter ØL and ØB respectively. Differences in the scattering intensity between spherical and rectangular particles suggest that the contribution made to the overall LD volume probability distribution by each rectangular particle is proportional to A2/L and A2/B. Accordingly, for rectangular particles the scattering intensity weighted diffraction diameter (SIWDD) explains an overestimation of their shortest dimension and an underestimation of their longest dimension. This study analyzes various samples of particles whose length ranges from approximately 10 to 1000 μm. The correlation we demonstrate between LD and SIA can be used to improve validation of LD methods based on SIA data for a variety of pharmaceutical powders all with a different rectangular particle size and shape.