Search results

This paper aims to deal with the thermal resistance of multilayer nonwovens. The effect of fibre denier, cross-sectional shape and positioning within the layers were analysed with respect to the thermal resistance. Moreover, effect of compression on thermal resistance of the multilayer nonwoven structure have also be studied.

The study involves multiple layering of thermal bonded nonwoven webs and the effect of fibre denier and positioning of different nonwovens from the hot plate. To avoid the increase in thermal resistance because of the air gaps between layers, the nonwovens were enclosed within an acrylic frame to compress them to a thickness of 12 mm. Compressional behaviour of the nonwovens were tested at a rate of 5 mm/min with peak compressive load of 50 N. Multilayer nonwoven assemblies were tested for thermal resistance with compressive pressure of 3.5 gf/cm² and compared with that tested at zero pressure.

In the study, three-layered nonwoven structure, provided better thermal resistance than their single component counterparts. The structural characteristic of the multilayer nonwovens affected the conductive, convective and the radiative heat transfer. In a multi-layer nonwoven, the top most layer should have the finest fibre as possible. Second preference may be given to the middle and followed by bottom layers in terms of fibre fineness. However, fine solid fibres performed poorly in terms of compression and recovery resulting in poor thermal resistance under compressive load.

The experimental approach of controlling thickness while evaluating the thermal resistance will help in nullify the effect of air gaps between the layer interface, thus focussing on the effect of fibre denier and the positioning of nonwovens. This paper also discusses the unique properties of fine solid fibre and hollow fibres and their role in providing better thermal insulation for extreme cold weather applications.

This paper presents real time hardware implementation of DSP based 180 degree control algorithm and MATLAB SIMULINK based software Implementation for 3-phase 4-leg IGBT based voltage source inverter. Triggering pulses generated using Texas Instruments TMS 320F28335 DSP controller and that triggers the 6 IGBTs of Voltage source inverter. Results of pulse generated using DSP and output of the Voltage source inverter were captured using Digital Storage Oscilloscope. FFT analysis for output signal of software and hardware implementation presented with the analysis.

The present study tries to explore the various fund attributes that influence the mutual fund performance. Further, study examined the effect of mutual fund attributes namely, Net Asset Value (NAV), Portfolio turnover ratio (PTR), fund size (AUM), expense ratio (ExpR) and fund age (Age) on mutual fund's performance using gross return and risk-adjusted performance measures.

The study evaluated balanced panel data (short panel) comprising 81 Indian equity mutual fund schemes for the period of 2013–2019. The study estimated relationship between fund attributes (Net asset value, Portfolio turnover ratio, Fund age, fund size and Expense ratio) and fund performance (using gross return and risk-adjusted performance measures), through panel data regression using fixed-effects model as suggested by Hausman specification test on transformed data (due to high multicollinearity), with cluster-robust estimators due to the presence of heteroskedasticity in the model.

The findings of the study suggested that using gross return as fund performance measure, PTR, NAV, AUM, Age exhibit significant relationship with the fund performance whereas using risk-adjusted performance measures (Treynor ratio and Jensen alpha) NAV and ExpR significantly influences the fund performance. Identification of the significant relationship between fund characteristics and fund performance offers valuable insights to the investors and fund managers for rationally managing their portfolio with the ultimate objective of the wealth maximization.

The study considered only 81 equity mutual fund schemes. Some of the data were not available at the time of the study due to the policy of the company. The present study contributes significantly in examining the expected association between fund attributes and fund performance in the context of Indian mutual fund industry where this relationship were explored less.

The findings of the present study will help the investors to take the rational investment decision with the ultimate objective of maximum return with minimal risk. The findings also offer significant germane to the stakeholders in making rational decision-making process.

There is dearth of study concerning the relationship between mutual fund characteristics and fund performance with respect to Indian mutual fund industry. Therefore, study provides valuable insights to the area of the portfolio selection and management with respect to Indian mutual funds.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of earnings management on financial performance. In addition, the authors investigate whether corporate social responsibility has a moderating effect on the impact of earnings management on financial performance.

The empirical study is based on a sample of French companies listed on the CAC-All-Tradable index over the period 2008–2018. Feasible generalized least square regression method is used to estimate the econometric models.

Based on panel data of 3,003 French firm-year observations, the authors demonstrate that earnings management has a negative and significant impact on financial performance. Indeed, corporate social responsibility moderates positively the negative impact of earnings management on financial performance in the French context.

The findings have several implications for regulatory, investors and academic researchers. For regulators, it is appropriate to promote more several standards related to corporate social responsibility and earnings management. For investors, considering societal issues is very important in making decisions. For academic researchers, the results show that it is important to discover how corporate social responsibility can influence the relation between earnings management and financial performance.

The existing literature has generally focused on the impact of earnings management on financial performance and the empirical tests did not yield similar results. The study shows that corporate social responsibility has a moderating role in determining the impact of earnings management on financial performance.

Ranking and grading of architectural heritage (AH) are common for the conservation process. Decision-makers are often intuitively made decisions for the selection of the AH. However, on many occasions, these decisions are not transparent and sometimes focused only on a few aspects of the AH.

A transparent and robust methodology must be adopted to select and manage AH for the present and future generations. Selecting the list of parameters that are affecting the AH, and assessing their significance can strengthen the holistic assessment. From the literature, parameters and dimensions are identified for the evaluation of AH and its application for Odishan temple architecture (OTA). For minimizing biasedness associated with assessment, the research considered the opinion of experts, researchers and various stakeholders. For objective decision-making, the Delphi, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solutions (TOPSIS) methods were adopted.

Later, by observing the dimension-wise ranks and comparing the obtained grading of OTA with the existing state of protection, it was found that some temples, though having higher values with distinct dimension, lack significantly in other dimensions. However, for unbiased evaluation, all the possible dimensions should be considered. This methodology will also be useful for other decision-making processes concerning the same.

This research is limited to the OTA. However, this methodology can be adopted by changing the definitions of the parameters according to the contextual needs.

This methodology may be helpful for the further policy-making process for the conservation and management of such AH.

To date, OTA is not graded through such a methodology. Also, limited studies are found in similar line worldwide.

The paper aims to study the outreach and performance of business correspondent (BC) models, which are implemented as a subsidiary agent of banks to accelerate the financial inclusion (FI) mission in India. In this regard, the study illustrates BC's products and services rendered to customers, forms of delivery channels and BC's view on banking services and Kiosk-based BC programs.

The current paper is an empirical study based on surveying 200 Kiosk-based BCs working in the state of Kerala. After the preliminary screening analysis of the data with outlier deletion, removal of missing values and normality test, both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were executed followed by reliability test, convergent and discriminant validity tests. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CBSEM) was performed for CFA and inferential tests were carried out by using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) and Eviews.

Chiefly, eight operational forms of BCs were found from the field survey. Hypothetical tests show the significant impact of the serviceability of banks on BC's profitability. Validity tests such as average variance extracted (AVE), composite reliability (CR), maximum shared variance (MSV) and average shared variance (ASV) were established after the removal of the cross-loaded items of the questionnaire from the rotated component matrix. BCs perform main banking services especially bank account opening facility and Akshaya E-Centers are widely used for this model as Kiosk banking in the surveyed state.

So far, no study has encompassed empirical research on performance analysis and outreach of the BC model in the state of Kerala where this BC model well functions. Since the study is a novel form of banking channelization for FI, the study can contribute to understanding the further feasibility and future dimension of the model based on experimental views of BCs.

Using the most recent observations (2005‐2011) from a sample of UK listed companies, This paper aims to investigate whether Big 4 audit firms exhibit a “fee premium” and, if this is the case, whether the premium is related to the delivery of a better audit service.

Univariate tests, multivariate regressions and two methodologies that control for self‐selection bias are used to answer the proposed research questions. Data are collected from DataStream.

Findings provide consistent evidence about the existence of an “audit fee premium” charged by Big 4 firms while they do not highlight any significant relationship between audit quality and type of auditor with respect to the audit quality proxies investigated.

Evidence from this paper might signal the need for legislative intervention to improve the competitiveness of the audit market on the basis that its concentrated structure is leading to “excessive” fees for Big 4 clients. Findings might also enhance Big 4 client bargaining power. However, as the paper analyses only one country, generalizability of the results might be a limitation.

This study joins two streams of the extant literature that investigate the existence of a “Big 4 audit fee premium” and different levels of audit quality among Big 4 and non‐Big 4 clients. Evidence supports the concerns raised by the UK House of Lords in 2010 that the concentrated structure of the audit market could be the driver of “excessive” fees for Big 4 clients as it does not find differences in audit quality between Big 4 and non‐Big 4 clients.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of insider trading on analyst coverage and the properties of analyst earnings forecasts. Given the central role of analysts for information diffusion in stock markets, advancing understanding of the role insider trades may play in analyst coverage and forecasts, especially in the context of a changing legal environment (e.g. the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure [Reg FD]), should be a worthy goal.

To address the research questions, the authors run regressions in which the authors identify and control for as many possible determinants of analyst coverage and forecasts (e.g. firm size, information asymmetry and earnings performance) that are correlated with insider trades. To alleviate endogeneity concerns, the authors use three approaches. First, the authors extend the sample period to the post-Reg-FD period in which managers are not allowed to provide private information to financial analysts. Second, the authors measure analyst coverage in a window that is lagged by insider trades. Third, the authors employ firm-fixed-effects regressions in all the multivariate tests. Finally, following Larcker and Rusticus (2010), the authors conduct the impact threshold for a confounding variable test to assure that all regression analyses are indeed immune to the potential correlated-omitted-variable bias.

The authors find that the level of analyst coverage is positively related to the intensity of insider trades and that analyst coverage is more strongly associated with insider purchases than with insider sales. The authors also find that the positive association between analyst coverage and insider trades is less pronounced after the passage of Reg FD. Further investigations reveal that analysts revise their earnings forecasts upward following insider purchases, the informativeness of analyst forecast revisions significantly increases following insider purchases and optimistic bias in analyst forecast revisions is reduced as a result of insider purchases; the authors do not find similar evidence for insider sales.

A large body of insider trading literature (Johnson et al., 2009; Badertscher et al., 2011; Thevenot 2012; Skaife et al., 2013; Billings and Cedergren 2015; Dechow et al., 2016) provides evidence that insiders actively trade on their private information, such as their foreknowledge of price-relevant corporate events. This literature suggests that insider trades are potentially value-relevant and are informative about a firm’s future prospects. However, less research attention has been paid to investigating how insider trades might affect market participants’ (especially sophisticated participants’) behavior. This study contributes to understanding the role that insider trading may play in shaping analyst behavior.

Prior research (Frankel and Li, 2004; Lustgarten and Mande, 1995; Carpenter and Remmers, 2001; Seyhun, 1990) maintains that insider sales are less informative about a firm’s future prospects than are insider purchases because insider sales might take place for the liquidity and diversification purposes. By probing the stock price responses to insider selling activities, Lakonishok and Lee (2001), Jeng et al. (2003) and Fidrmuc et al. (2006) infer that insider selling is not informative about future firm performance. However, for such an inference, the authors cannot rule out the possibility that insider sales do convey value-relevant information, but the stock market does not react correctly to such trading information (Beneish and Vargus, 2002). Because the authors focus on examining analysts’ responses to insider sales, and analysts are supposed to be sophisticated in information processing, this study adds more compelling evidence for the notion that insider sales convey less information about a firm’s future prospects than do insider purchases.

There is an ongoing debate about the benefits and drawbacks of insider trading. Opponents of insider trading view insider trades as inequitable and immoral and assert that restricting insider trades curbs resource misallocation and benefits the whole society. Proponents contend that insider trading accelerates the price discovery process, increases market efficiency (Leland, 1992; Bernhardt et al., 1995; Choi et al., 2016) and may even play a role in rewarding and motivating executives (Roulstone, 2003; Denis and Xu, 2013). The authors add to this debate by documenting that insider trading increases the amount of information valuable to analyst research activities and helps enhance analyst services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to offer firm-level evidence of a positive association between insider trades and analyst coverage. By accounting for the post-Reg-FD regime, this paper is also the first to provide evidence on how analysts, in the absence of access to management’s private information because of the regime change by Reg FD, react to insider trades.