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What do stories of loss sound like 70 years after the Holocaust and how are they remembered in the places where the losses themselves occurred? When Steven Hopman returned to Poland in 2010, as part of the March of the Living's (MOL) Montreal contingent of survivors tasked with educating students about the Holocaust, he grappled with how best to narrate a coherent and shareable story. This article shares his struggle to go public with the 'salvaged remnants' of his experiences while detailing the strategies he employed to describe what was beyond loss and could not be shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FactSet is a comprehensive database for financial, economic, and industry data and research. It is increasingly being used by researchers and students at academic institutions. The database contains a wide range of content and formats, including data, news, filings, and research reports. FactSet sources data from various places and provides clear documentation and citations for each dataset. It also offers guides, tutorials, and training resources for new users, including a financial research certification program. The platform has a user-friendly interface and customizable features, but training is needed to fully utilize its features. FactSet's search and filter features are powerful but may be confusing for novice users. The most powerful research tool in FactSet is the "Screening" tab, which allows users to filter down companies, securities, and funds based on specific criteria. FactSet's pricing is on the high end but is reasonable considering the amount of data and analysis features provided. FactSet's main competitors are Bloomberg Terminals, LSEG Workspace, and S&P Capital IQ, but FactSet distinguishes itself with its institution-wide remote access and intuitive user interface. FactSet is a useful resource for financial research and analysis in academic and business settings, particularly for buy-side and sell-side analysts. It is beneficial for business students and faculty in teaching and research. Overall, FactSet is a great choice for companies and universities in need of large amounts of financial data. [Extracted from the article]

IPO firms in the technology industry are regarded as vulnerable due to their limited resources, inexperience, and relatively short technology and product lifecycles. They also lack a track record to signal to the market that they are equipped with sufficient ability to overcome the challenges faced in this highly competitive environment. This study examines whether board diversity helps IPO firms perform better in such a challenging environment; furthermore, we explore the potential contingencies that magnify or weaken the benefits of board diversity by examining how its impact is moderated by firm size and board tenure. Using a sample of 363 IPO events within technology firms over 11 years, we find that higher board diversity is associated with better post-IPO performance; however, a larger firm size and longer board tenure decrease the value created by board diversity. The findings are robust to alternative measures of performance and board diversity. Our study contributes to the literature by demonstrating the significant impact of board diversity on the performance of technology IPO firms as well as explaining the conditions under which boards effectively execute their resource dependence roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article empirically examines how relative exploration affects high-tech companies' initial public offering (IPO) performance. Analysis of data from 225 high-tech companies listed in the SSE Sci-Tech innovation board (SSE STAR) market shows that high-tech companies with high exploratory innovation tend to generate inferior IPO performance compared to those with high exploitative innovation. Further, we explore the moderating effects of political ties and university cooperation from the triple helix perspective. Results suggest that political ties and university cooperation can alleviate the negative relationship between relative exploration and IPO performance. These findings contribute to the literature on how exploration-exploitation affects external financing by integrating exploration-exploitation and triple helix interactions research. These offer important practical implications for high-tech companies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the capability of the historical simulations of phase 5 and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5/6) in reproducing the temporal and spatial characteristics of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) and its impact on global surface air temperature (SAT), surface equivalent potential temperature (Thetae_sfc) and precipitation. The IPO index time series simulated by CMIP5/6 models deviated from observations and struggled to capture the phase evolution characteristics of the IPO. Nevertheless, CMIP5/6 models successfully captured the horseshoe‐shaped sea surface temperature anomaly in the Pacific. Additionally, the CMIP5/6 models were able to simulate the IPO's 10–30‐year period. Notably, the simulated IPO index exhibited a statistically significant upward trend, which was absent in observations. Additionally, the IPO‐related global land SAT, Thetae_sfc and precipitation simulated by CMIP5/6 models performed differently in boreal winter and boreal summer. Furthermore, the IPO‐related global land SAT performed better in CMIP5/6 models during boreal winter than that in boreal summer. In CMIP6 models, it improved during both boreal winter and summer compared to CMIP5 models. In terms of the IPO‐related global land Thetae_sfc, CMIP5/6 models also performed better during boreal winter than in boreal summer. However, CMIP5 models outperformed CMIP6 models during the boreal summer. In terms of the IPO‐related global land precipitation, CMIP5/6 models performed better during boreal summer compared to boreal winter. Moreover, the IPO‐related global land precipitation in CMIP6 models improved significantly in boreal winter, but almost the same in boreal summer, compared to CMIP5 models. Further studies showed that the enhancements in simulating IPO's spatial pattern did not correspond to improvements in the model's ability to simulate IPO's global teleconnections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study conducts a systematic literature review of San Diego’s innovation ecosystem to analyse its evolution, dynamics, the most influential (key) stakeholders, and success factors. 1,405 documents from Scopus and 809 documents from Web of Science (WoS) were retrieved and analysed to obtain a final sample of twenty articles. The ecosystem’s key organisational stakeholders were identified as UC San Diego, research institutes, venture capitalists, pioneer and leading companies and intermediary organisations. Regarding success factors, key political factors include research funding, other public funding and policies that foster, for example, the actors’ geographical proximity. Key economic factors include start-up support systems, company acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs). Several vital social factors, such as collaboration, social networks and risk-taking culture, were also identified. Finally, the key technological success factors include technology transfer, specific focus areas and critical mass in research and development. This systematic review, complemented by expert interviews, provides a comprehensive view and validation of the stakeholders and factors that have contributed to the emergence, evolution and dynamics of the innovation ecosystem. The study also exemplifies an originally nonleading city’s path to success, which can provide valuable innovation policy and planning insights for other nonleading regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging market IPO companies have a unique position in these markets, often representing the forefront of innovation and development. In the context of research, this article aims to investigate the relationship between CEO characteristics and R&D expenditures of IPO companies in emerging markets. The importance of this topic was emphasized, as emerging market IPO companies play a crucial role in economic development and innovation, and CEO characteristics may have an impact on the company’s research and development expenditures. This article focuses on the personal characteristics of CEO, such as their educational background, age, work experience, shareholding ratio in equity incentive plans, and CEO turnover, and proposes a series of hypotheses, including the relationship between these characteristics and R&D(Research and Development) expenses. In terms of research methods, this article mentions the quantitative research methods used, including data collection, variable measurement, and statistical analysis. These methods will be used to validate a series of hypotheses, including the relationship between educational background and R&D expenditure, age and R&D expenditure, work experience and R&D expenditure, equity incentive plan shareholding ratio and R&D expenditure, as well as the relationship between CEO turnover and R&D expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The different stakeholder groups and their influence on value distribution have received increasing attention from organizations and academia. In the recent stakeholder literature, there has been a theoretical development on value distribution, considering the attributes of strategic importance and power; however, the literature still lacks empirical studies to analyze and understand the relationship. This paper examines the association between stakeholders' power and strategic importance and the value distribution to them by publicly traded companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). To obtain relevant information on companies' treatment of their stakeholders, we analyzed the content of 104 prospectuses for the TSX IPO process from 2008 to 2019. The results reveal that power and strategic importance are relevant to the distribution of value to stakeholders and that the strategic importance of stakeholders has a more significant influence than their power. Regarding contributions, our study advances previous debates in stakeholder literature in theoretical and practical terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on three large ensemble (LE) historical simulations, this study explored the contribution of low‐frequency internal variability (IV) modes to global mean sea surface temperature anomaly (GmSST) during 1920–2010. The dominant contributions of low‐frequency IV modes to GmSST in the three large ensembles are quite different. The low‐frequency IV modes in the Indo‐Pacific Ocean (i.e., IPO and IOBW) dominate the low‐frequency GmSST signal for the CESM2 and MPI LEs (the ensemble median contribution value reaches 70%–80%), while the low‐frequency IV modes in the North Atlantic dominate for the FGOALS‐g3 LE (contribute more than 50%). CESM2 LE and MPI LE can reasonably reproduce the impact of low‐frequency modes in the Indo‐Pacific ocean as observed, but FGOALS‐g3 LE underestimates this impact and overestimates the extratropical impact (on GmSST) of the North Atlantic. After removing the external forcing, it still retains the excessive signs in low‐frequency IV modes in FGOALS‐g3 LE over the North Atlantic. Furthermore, we used a pattern adjustment approach to revise the surplus effect in the North Atlantic. After revision, the contribution of decadal IVs in the North Atlantic to GmSST is reduced by 30%. Meanwhile, the tropical contribution in the Indo‐Pacific Ocean is increased and that is closer to the observed one. This approach can be employed to revise the weak or strong IV signals in other regions or LEs, which is meaningful for reducing the uncertainty of IV signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shipping industry transports nearly 80% of the goods worldwide and requires large funding. The shipping industry shifted from debt to equity as the source of funding in the last decade. Because most shipping companies already had their initial public offering before 2013, these companies tend to engage in follow-on equity offerings (FPO). However, the challenge faced by the shipping companies is the lack of knowledge on successful FPO. The purpose of this study is to identify the most influential factors affecting shipping companies’ FPO from the investor perspective. This research applies a hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making model integrating the fuzzy-Delphi method and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory, processing survey responses covering four dimensions and 16 criteria from 33 investment experts. The results show that financial indicator is the primary cause affecting offering condition, technical indicators. An increase in earnings per share would help the financial performance of the shipping companies to appear most attractive to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal securities law creates a divide between the haves and the have-nots: On one side are the wealthy, who can invest in private companies; on the other side stand the rest of us, noses pressed up against the glass. Ordinary (or retail) investors are on the outside looking in because generally they can only invest in companies after they have gone public. Even the traditional process of going public typically keeps coveted initial public offering (IPO) shares in the hands of the rich. Put differently, even as a private firm debuts on the public markets, the wealthy take their cut before everyone else can get a taste. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) invert the traditional process by using a merger, rather than an IPO, to bring a private company public. In doing so, they allow the public access to those private companies the conventional IPO denies them. But today SPACs are in decline, due in part to pressure from scholars and regulators who argue that SPACs are nothing more than back-door IPOs. Bucking the dominant narrative, we argue that SPACs are more than disguised IPOs. Indeed, their innovation is to radically expand the investment opportunities available to ordinary investors. Thus, SPACs offer a rare chance to reevaluate core assumptions underpinning the U.S. public securities markets--chief among them, that the law must prevent average investors from investing in anything but publicly traded securities. SPACs create a revolutionary public market in information about still-private companies, a situation unseen since before the Securities Act of 1933. In this Article, we use hand-collected data to empirically examine what this public market for private firms looks like. We argue that, with much-needed reform, SPACs could offer a viable, valuable, and more democratic alternative to the traditional IPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwriters play a pivotal role in the IPO process. Information entropy, a tool for measuring the uncertainty and complexity of information, has been widely applied to various issues in complex networks. Information entropy can quantify the uncertainty and complexity of nodes in the network, providing a unique analytical perspective and methodological support for this study. This paper employs a bipartite network analysis method to construct the relationship network between underwriters and accounting firms, using the centrality of underwriters in the network as a measure of their influence to explore the impact of underwriters' influence on the distribution of interests and audit outcomes. The findings indicate that a more pronounced influence of underwriters significantly increases the ratio of underwriting fees to audit fees. Higher influence often accompanies an increase in abnormal underwriting fees. Further research reveals that companies underwritten by more influential underwriters experience a decline in audit quality. Finally, the study reveals that a well-structured audit committee governance and the rationalization of market sentiments can mitigate the negative impacts of underwriters' influence. The innovation of this paper is that it enriches the content related to underwriters by constructing the relationship network between underwriters and accounting firms for the first time using a bipartite network through the lens of information entropy. This conclusion provides new directions for thinking about the motives and possibilities behind financial institutions' cooperation, offering insights for market regulation and policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines whether the structure of the risk factor disclosure in an IPO prospectus helps explain the cross-section of first-day returns in a sample of Chinese initial public offerings. This paper analyzes the semantics and content of risk disclosure based on an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. From both long-term and short-term perspectives, this paper explores how the information effect and risk effect of risk disclosure play their respective roles. The results show that risk disclosure has a stronger risk effect at the semantic novelty level and a more substantial information effect at the risk content level. A novel aspect of the paper lies in the use of text analysis (semantic novelty and content richness) to characterize the structure of the risk factor disclosure. The study shows that initial IPO returns negatively correlate with semantic novelty and content richness. We show the interaction between risk effect and information effect on risk disclosure under the nature of the same stock plate. When enterprise information transparency is low, the impact of semantic novelty and content richness on the IPO market is respectively enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how in the context of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), the investment decisions affect the likelihood of their subsequent exit strategies. We use OLS and probit regression as well as Weibull distribution of residual values, given its reliability and validity for studying lifetime analysis. Based on a sample of 8722 VC-backed ventures with the first investment dates between 1999 and 2018 in United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK), the results show that the presence of CVCs positively affects the funding amounts and the duration of the investment. CVC funds are more generous and more patient than Independent Venture Capital (IVC) funds regarding their investments in ventures. Moreover, the findings provide evidence that the exit strategies are directly influenced by the funding amounts and the duration of the investment which are influenced, in turn, by the fund type. Greater funding increases the likelihood of IPO exit which is reduced by longer investment duration. Our results are robust to alternative estimation methods, namely two-stage treatment-effects regressions. These results help the various stakeholders (VC funds, investors, ventures) make crucial decisions regarding investment amounts and duration, and exit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An 11-year-old boy with profound hearing loss from birth has had his hearing restored within 30 days of being treated with AK-OTOF, a gene therapy developed by Akouos. The therapy was well tolerated, and no serious adverse events were reported. AK-OTOF is designed to restore hearing in individuals with a genetic form of hearing loss caused by mutations in the otoferlin gene. This breakthrough in gene therapy for hearing loss has been a goal of scientists for over 20 years. [Extracted from the article]

A reliable projection of future risk of decadal megadrought is crucial to adaption and mitigation over eastern China in future climate changes. However, it's difficult to forecast the time of megadrought, which is dominated by internal variability of the model. Using a 50-member ensemble of simulations from the Community Earth System Model Version 2 Large Ensemble (CESM2-LE), it is found that, under the medium-high emission scenario (i.e., SSP3-7.0), internal variability account for all the uncertainty of decadal precipitation variability over eastern China, and the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) could contribute about 30% to the internal uncertainty during future period (2021–2080). Finally, an emergent constraint based on IPO phase is applied to reduce the uncertainty of simulated precipitation and to forecast the future megadrought risk. The constrained precipitation changes show that northern China will experience a high megadrought risk in the 2050s–2060s, and Yangtze River Valley will experience a high megadrought risk in the 2030s–2040s. These will have great benefit to specific strategies of social infrastructure in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a multi-period information-theoretic model of initial public offering (IPO) in the presence of an adverse selection problem that addresses both underpricing in an IPO and subsequent underperformance in the long run. In this model, information asymmetry exists among the owner of a firm going IPO, underwriter(s), informed analysts and uninformed investors. Information asymmetry between the owner and the investors is reduced through both the initial information production by some investors and the evaluations by informed analysts in the subsequent periods as new information arrives on the market. By incorporating future uncertainty, subsequent information revelation, certain firm-specific constraints and the actions of the agents, the optimal or sub-optimal actions of the agents are identified. The model explains why firms going public are underpriced at the IPO and, on average, underperform in the long run. The results are also compatible with social comparison explanations from a behavioral finance perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) took the financial world by storm from 2020 to 2022 as an alternative to initial public offerings (IPOs). SPACs' usage during this time period was novel. Wall Street leveraged this unique financial vehicle to enrich themselves at the expense of mom-and-pop investors on Main Street. Though recent years have seen the use of SPACs decline precipitously in the face of regulatory threats from Capitol Hill and adverse rulings from state courts, this saga is rich with lessons. Foremost among them is determining how a financial instrument that created record-breaking poor returns was able to reach public markets in the first place and how such an outcome can be avoided in the future. This Note attempts to answer that question so the regulators of tomorrow can learn from the trials experienced by the regulators of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies that cold surges over the South China Sea (SCS) have experienced a significant change on decadal time scales. The results indicate that cold surges occur more frequently after the early 2000s than before and are at least partially explained by changes in circulation patterns. Both the negative phase of the Scandinavian (SCA) pattern and the cold phase of the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) can induce increased cold surges and the IPO effect dominates in recent decades. When the IPO shifts to its cold phase, low-level cyclones are induced over the western North Pacific through a Gill response. The northeasterlies along the northwest flank of the cyclones further lead to intensified cold surges over the SCS. The above processes can be reproduced in coupled models, suggesting a robust connection between the IPO and cold surges. The present findings highlight the role of tropical forcing and bring insight into understanding of the future climate variability and change over East Asia during boreal winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has been conducted to identify the impact of publicly offered companies in the BIST Technology sector on the index. The aim is to contribute to the development of more informed and effective strategies for investors in their future investment decisions. Focusing on 12 businesses that went public on the BIST Technology index in 2021 and 2022, their initial public offering (IPO) dates have been considered as event days. The relationship between index returns and these dates has been evaluated through an Event Study methodology. The analysis has revealed that, particularly in 2022, IPOs of businesses had a significant impact on index returns and the number of abnormal returns during this period was high. This finding helps to better understand the influence of IPO processes and developments in the technology sector on capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of oil price uncertainty on IPO volume in the oil and gas sector. By using the implied volatility of oil options, a forward-looking uncertainty measure, we identify the effect of uncertainty on the going-public decision. Oil price uncertainty exhibits a strong negative relation to IPO volume. A one standard deviation decrease in the implied volatility results in a 29% increase in the number of quarterly IPOs. The effect is concentrated among the price-sensitive upstream producers. We further report that uncertainty positively impacts the IPO withdrawal decision and increases the value of postponing the offering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a mixed duopoly model with quality‐differentiated products. The public firm offers its product for free to eligible individuals, while the private firm chooses its product quality and price to maximize profit. We calibrate the model to health insurance for the U.S. working‐age population, with Medicaid being the public firm. We examine distributional implications of policies that expand Medicaid to various degrees. Despite potentially significant inefficiency of Medicaid, its expansion is welfare improving. Central to these findings is the significant market power of the private firm when left unchecked, which is increasingly disciplined as more individuals become Medicaid eligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This teaching case illustrate the use of concepts and implications associated with capital structure, cost of third-party capital, financial leverage, and bankruptcy costs to support strategic decision-making by the management of a publicly-held company (Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional - CSN) listed on Brazil Stock Exchange and Over-the-Counter Market ([B]³ Stock Exchange) and on the New York Stock Exchange. Method: Data were obtained through financial reports, such as the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Explanatory Notes, and also from consultations with Management Reports, material facts disclosed, and also media facts. Main Results: The case guides a decision by the company in the short term, such as investing in operational performance, renegotiating terms, selling assets, and carrying out an Initial Public Offering of a subsidiary. Relevance / Originality: This teaching case innovates by illustrating the economic and financial situation of a company, involving issues such as operational performance, cash generation and capital structure for the decision-making process. Such analysis is important both for the academic and organizational contexts because it is a theoretical application in a real company. Theoretical / Methodological Contributions: The case contributes to a more in-depth analysis of the consequences of excessive indebtedness linked to low cash generation by an entity, the impact of debt costs on the company’s results and management attitudes towards the excess of indebtedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of soft computing techniques can be largely found in engineering sciences. These include the design and optimization of navigation systems for use in land, sea, and air transportation systems. In this paper, an attempt is made to leverage on novel metaheuristic optimization approaches for designing integrated navigation systems. For this purpose, a simplified version of the inclined planes system optimization (called SIPO) algorithm alongside its two standard and modified versions are used in comparison with the two conventional methods of genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization. Considerations are made on an INS/GNSS problem with IMU MEMS modules. Outputs are presented in terms of statistical and performance indicators, such as runtime, fitness, convergence, navigation accuracy (velocity, latitude, longitude, altitude, roll, pitch, yaw), and routing along with the ranking of algorithms. Competitive performance and relative superiority of the standard IPO over other methods in evaluating results have been confirmed. So that compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms (GA, PSO, IPO, and MIPO), the best runtime rank with a value of 6/4 by SIPO and the best performance rank of fitness, navigation accuracy for the two assumed IMU modules, and the total rank with values of 4/4, 149/60, 165/60, and 332/128 obtained by IPO, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do interactions between institutional investors and sponsors affect the quotations in IPOs? This paper provides evidence that connections between the above two agencies result in variations in the institutional investors' quoted prices and quotation frequency in China stock market. Using a Bartik-style identification strategy that links shocks to connections between institutional investors and sponsors in China, we find that a stronger connection between a sponsor and an institutional investor lowers the quoted price to a realistic level and increases the probability that the investor joins the quotation of the sponsor's main-board IPO during the "three highs" period in which the "favor quotation" is common. This relationship will be more significant for quotation frequency when more investors are connected to sponsors within a city. Moreover, the mouth-to-mouth effect tends to be weaker in cities with more investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While shipping stocks are risky investments, their realized returns are found to be consistently lower than expectations derived from a mean-variance framework. The objective of the paper is to examine whether additional characteristics of the return distribution, in particular, extreme positive (maximum) return, are significant in the pricing of shipping stocks. Using U.S. data of publicly listed firms, we find that shipping stocks with a higher daily maximum return in the previous month exhibit significantly lower subsequent returns, suggesting that investors are willing to pay a higher price and accept a lower expected return for such stocks. Our results are robust at portfolio and firm levels after controlling for a barrage of risk factors. Consistent with prospect theory, we corroborate evidence of preference among shipping investors towards lottery-like payoffs. The implications of our work are relevant to investment managers who consider including shipping stocks in their portfolios, to investment bankers providing valuations for the pricing of shipping initial and secondary public offerings, or for mergers and acquisitions, and to shipping firms seeking to estimate their cost of capital in the context of investment appraisal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact generated by the accelerated development of NFT's creates a series of risks and legal problems, among which the legal, the impact on intellectual property, the protection of the purchasers of this type of tokens, fraud prevention and the possible impact of NFT's on financial markets are the most important. The purpose of this document is to analyze whether the regulatory framework of the securities market is applicable to NFT's based on the following assumptions: i) NFT's, understood individually as a digital representation, cannot be considered as securities; ii) in States where the definition of securities includes the concept of "investment contract", NFT's could be considered as securities, as long as they meet the requirements of the Howey Test; iii) in States where there is no definition of investment contracts, NFT's could be considered as securities, provided that they meet the requirements for such purpose--the existence of a negotiable right, issued in mass or in series within a public offering of securities, and that its purpose is to obtain resources from the public by way of investment--; and iv) that the recognition of NFT's as securities would lead to the application of regulatory frameworks of the capital market in matters such as registration before the financial authorities, provision of information and investor protection schemes. This text will describe the origin and current scenario of NFT's. Likewise, the different positions of supervisory and regulatory authorities at a global level will be analyzed with respect to these tokens; and, finally, some reflections will be made from the point of view of securities market regulation with respect to the aforementioned non-fungible tokens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify macroeconomic factors that influence IPO implementation in selected Central and Eastern European capital markets. Survey based research has been conducted within a sample of non-financial companies operating in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The results suggest that favorable macroeconomic conditions such as GDP growth, low interest rates or positive development of local capital markets promote companies´ interest in IPO implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lytic bacteriophages able to infect and kill Dickeya spp. can be readily isolated from virtually all Dickeya spp. containing environments, yet little is known about the selective pressure those viruses exert on their hosts. Two spontaneous D. solani IPO 2222 mutants (0.8% of all obtained mutants), DsR34 and DsR207, resistant to infection caused by lytic phage vB_Dsol_D5 (ΦD5) were identified in this study that expressed a reduced ability to macerate potato tuber tissues compared to the wild-type, phage-susceptible D. solani IPO 2222 strain. Genome sequencing revealed that genes encoding: secretion protein HlyD (in mutant DsR34) and elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) (in mutant DsR207) were altered in these strains. These mutations impacted the DsR34 and DsR207 proteomes. Features essential for the ecological success of these mutants in a plant environment, including their ability to use various carbon and nitrogen sources, production of plant cell wall degrading enzymes, ability to form biofilms, siderophore production, swimming and swarming motility and virulence in planta were assessed. Compared to the wild-type strain, D. solani IPO 2222, mutants DsR34 and DsR207 had a reduced ability to macerate chicory leaves and to colonize and cause symptoms in growing potato plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology startups play an essential role in the economy--with seven of the ten largest companies rooted in technology, and venture capital investments totaling approximately $300B annually. Yet, important startup outcomes (e.g., whether a startup raises venture capital or gets acquired) remain difficult to forecast--particularly during the early stages of venture formation. Here, we examine the impact of an essential, yet underexplored, factor that can be observed from the moment of startup creation: founder personality. We predict psychological traits from digital footprints to explore how founder personality is associated with critical startup milestones. Observing 10,541 founder--startup dyads, we provide large-scale, ecologically valid evidence that founder personality is associated with outcomes across all phases of a venture's life (i.e., from raising the earliest funding round to exiting via acquisition or initial public offering). We find that openness and agreeableness are positively related to the likelihood of raising an initial round of funding (but unrelated to all subsequent conditional outcomes). Neuroticism is negatively related to all outcomes, highlighting the importance of founders' resilience. Finally, conscientiousness is positively related to early-stage investment, but negatively related to exit conditional on funding. While prior work has painted conscientiousness as a major benefactor of performance, our findings highlight a potential boundary condition: The fast-moving world of technology startups affords founders with lower or moderate levels of conscientiousness a competitive advantage when it comes to monetizing their business via acquisition or IPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communications in connection with an initial public offering (IPO) are excluded from the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). Unsurprisingly, IPO issuers do not share projections publicly--the liability risk is too great. By contrast, communications in connection with a merger are not excluded from the safe harbor, and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) routinely share their merger targets' projections publicly. Does the divergent application of the PSLRA's safe harbor in traditional IPOs and SPAC mergers create an opportunity for "regulatory arbitrage" and, if so, what should be done about it? This Article offers a framework for evaluating these timely questions and for evaluating claims of regulatory arbitrage more broadly. The analysis brings into sharp focus the contestable policy choices that undergird the IPO exclusion to the PSLRA's safe harbor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at improving the accuracy and efficiency of scattering information from multiple targets in near-field regions, this paper proposes a near-field iterative physical optics (IPO) method based on a modified near-field Green's function for the composite electromagnetic scattering analysis of multiple hybrid dielectric and conductor targets. According to the electric field and magnetic field integral equation, the electric and magnetic current were updated utilizing the Jacobi iteration method. Then, by introducing an expansion center lying in the neighborhood of the source point, Green's function was modified for near-field scattering between multiple hybrid dielectric and conductor targets. To accelerate the implementation of the procedure, the multilevel fast multipole method, the fast far-field approximation, and parallel multicore programming were introduced. Numerical results indicate that there is good agreement between the results calculated by the near-field IPO method and MLFMM solver in commercial software FEKO while significantly reducing the computational burden. To fully exploit the scattering information, the high resolution range profiles (HRRP) of different targets under different conditions were analyzed, which can be further applied for automatic target detection and recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resurgence of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ("SPACs") in the U.S. securities market has demonstrated potential as an alternative to the traditional initial public offering ("IPO"). However, the evolution of SPACs from their fraudulent "blank check" ancestors has left the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") weary of SPACs' continued presence in the market. Currently, SPACs exist as an exception to Rule 419 and the Penny Stock Reform Act of 1990, thereby allowing them to escape the rigorous disclosure requirements that not only eradicated their ancestors, but also significantly burdened the timeline of the traditional IPO process. While many consider SPACs a unique opportunity for non-institutional investors to reap benefits similar to those seen in private equity, a closer look into their evolution in the market suggests an entirely different conclusion. This Comment offers a critical assessment of the SPAC structure and advances unique regulatory solutions. It begins with a focus on the landscape surrounding the SPAC structure, looking to the evolution of securities market regulations and the rise and evolution of the SPAC as an alternative to the traditional IPO. Following discussions on the various tensions present in the current form, this Comment sheds light on persistent issues lingering within the current form, illustrating the necessity for SPAC reform. Finally, this Comment proposes four solutions--bringing back investor voice, mitigating dilution to the investors, tidying disclosure requirements, and revisiting due diligence--and argues the need for SPAC creators to accept guidance from the SEC and look inward to SPAC performance to undergo self-reform in order to avoid the possibility of SPACs being regulated out of existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The merger and acquisition world has experienced an uptick in deal flow since 2016, reaching unprecedented levels in 2020 due to enhanced private equity funding and market volatility. While the market volatility spurred by COVID-19 halted traditional initial public offerings (IPOs), the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market exploded. The flurry of SPAC activity in the United States triggered the development of SPAC markets worldwide. Unfortunately, SPACs' great rise to fame in the past few years has come at a cost--fraud. As such, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is left grappling with how to best regulate the market moving forward, avoiding a return to rampant fraud that plagued the market in the 1980s. This Note assesses the current SPAC regulatory framework in the United States and abroad. The solution suggests that capital markets should impose modest preventative measures that enable SPACs to occupy their own sphere in capital markets while also affording greater investor protections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a conceptual approach to articulate the political-economy inspired literature on the financialisation of cities with a critical reading of collaborative-communicative planning theory to recognise the active role of planners in the multi-scalar, collective 'making' of financialisation by cities. More particularly, I stretch Hilferding's original idea on founder's profit, which was associated with the financial gains obtained from Initial Public Offerings and trading of company shares in open markets. In collaboration with private investors and producers of urban space, planners in cash strapped cities and states search for solutions to invest in better cities by anticipating their exclusive rights to various streams of income, while co-promoting and extracting part of urban founder's profit in doing so. Nevertheless, a communication that is framed around the representational spaces and language of financial models triggers planners' increasing entanglements with finance in the transformation of cities into abstract tradeable income yielding assets. A methodological-heuristic case study illustrates how tracing the models enables us to follow the money, exposing the contradictory role of collaborative-communicative planning and demand for a project with alternative time-space epistemologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general consensus that the UK needs strong public equity markets. To help to ensure Britain is well‐positioned on this front, the Financial Conduct Authority reformed the London Stock Exchange's listing regime in 2021 to foster initial public offerings (IPOs). This article outlines and evaluates these IPO‐related reforms, assessing their potential to resuscitate the UK's public equity markets. The article puts the IPO‐related reforms into context by considering whether the fostering of strong equity markets is a sensible policy goal and by assessing what laws governing publicly traded companies can contribute to this endeavour. The article acknowledges that the specific IPO reforms may increase IPO activity but concludes that concerns about strong public markets will continue to exist. This is because the reforms do not address stock market exits or the 'over'‐regulation of public companies which discourages reliance on equity markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- Written communication differences across cultures can set the tone for effective or disastrous business relationships. Although English has been the go-to language in business, managers from different countries can significantly differ in how they convey the firms' information. This study explored these differences by examining the documentation presented by foreign corporations as part of their initial public offering (IPO) in the USA, particularly Chinese firms. Design/methodology/approach -- This work examined cultural-related differences in written communications by looking at foreign corporations' descriptions of their strengths, strategies and challenges included in F-1 documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the IPO process. The sample consisted of 97 American depositary receipts (ADRs) identified in the Bank of New York Mellon's ADR directory from 2003 to 2015. Findings -- This study found that Chinese firms significantly differ from other countries' firms in depicting their strengths, strategies and challenges. Research limitations/implications -- Limitations have to do with the sample size. Future research may address this by considering other depositary markets, not just the USA. Originality/value -- The results will be significant for potential ADRs investors; they must be conscious of these differences in the written documentation submitted by Chinese firms compared to other foreign firms. The market should also be aware of these differences, as the Chinese seem less open to sharing information about the under spinning of their operations and financial prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An event study was used to assess whether there are significant impacts on the Colombian abnormal returns of the stock market from the public offers (opas, for its initials in Spanish) made on the companies Nutresa and sura. Defining the event as January 17, 2022, which is related to the award of the first opas and the announcement of a second round of these transactions, statistical evidence was found that this event had a significant effect on the returns of the Colombian stock market. The results hold under the different estimated specifications, the returns were statistically different during the event compared to those that would have been observed in normal times without the presence of the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]