Showing papers by "Mahidol University International College published in 2014"

Estimating the Effect of Entrenched Boards on Firm Value Using Geographic Identification

Abstract: We show that firms located geographically close to one another share a similar probability of having staggered boards (or classified boards), an effect probably due to investor clientele, local competition, and social interactions. We then exploit the variation across the zip codes in the incidence of staggered boards and estimate the effect of staggered boards on firm value (measured by Tobin’s Q). We use as our instrumental variable the proportion of firms located in the same zip code that have staggered boards, excluding firm i. The evidence shows that staggered boards reduce firm value significantly.

Powerful CEOs and capital structure decisions: evidence from the CEO pay slice (CPS)

Abstract: Motivated by agency theory, we explore how powerful CEOs view leverage. Because of the agency conflict, CEOs may adopt sub-optimal leverage levels that promote their own private benefits at the expense of shareholders. Using Bebchuk et al. (2011) CEO pay slice (CPS) to gauge CEO power, we find that powerful CEOs view leverage negatively and avoid high debt. However, CEOs appear to adopt sub-optimal leverage only when their power is sufficiently consolidated. Relatively weak CEOs do not seem to avoid leverage. The effect of CEO power on capital structure decisions is thus nonmonotonic. Our results imply that agency problems lead to self-serving behaviour only when managers command sufficient influence in the company. Finally, we also show that our conclusion is unlikely confounded by endogeneity.

Parallel streaming frequency-based aggregates

Abstract: We present efficient parallel streaming algorithms for fundamental frequency-based aggregates in both the sliding window and the infinite window settings. In the sliding window setting, we give a parallel algorithm for maintaining a space-bounded block counter (SBBC). Using SBBC, we derive algorithms for basic counting, frequency estimation, and heavy hitters that perform no more work than their best sequential counterparts. In the infinite window setting, we present algorithms for frequency estimation, heavy hitters, and count-min sketch. For both the infinite window and sliding window settings, our parallel algorithms process a "minibatch" of items using linear work and polylog parallel depth. We also prove a lower bound showing that the work of the parallel algorithm is optimal in the case of heavy hitters and frequency estimation. To our knowledge, these are the first parallel algorithms for these problems that are provably work efficient and have low depth.

Predicting acute acetaminophen hepatotoxicity with acetaminophen-aminotransferase multiplication product and the Psi parameter.

Abstract: Context. Prediction of potential hepatotoxicity is important for individualizing therapy with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in patients with acute acetaminophen overdose. Acetaminophen-aminotransferase multiplication product (APAP × AT) and the Psi Parameter (Psi) have been reported to be the predictors of acetaminophen hepatotoxicity. Objective. To determine the validity of APAP × AT and Psi in predicting hepatotoxicity secondary to acute acetaminophen overdose. Materials and methods. We retrospectively reviewed acute acetaminophen overdose cases who were treated with NAC at Siriraj Hospital, Thailand during January 2004–June 2012. The patients’ ages were 12 years or more. Initial acetaminophen concentration (mg/L) and aminotransferase (IU/L) were multiplied to obtain APAP × AT. Psi were derived from initial acetaminophen concentrations (mg/L) and lag time (hours) to NAC therapy. The cut-off values for APAP × AT and Psi were 1500 mg∙IU/L2 and 5 mM∙h, respectively. Hepatotoxicity (defined as aspartate or...

The voice-to-technology (V2T) encounter and the call centre servicescape: Navigation, spatiality and movement

Abstract: Purpose – Because the voice-to-technology (V2T) encounter remains under-theorised, the purpose of this paper is to overcome this gap by investigating customers use of the interactive voice response (IVR) system and “the customer journey” through the call centre service system. Design/methodology/approach – From an interpretive study of a UK call centre, the metaphorical aspects of language used to represent the service process are analysed, accompanied by an examination of how the servicescape dimensions of spatial layout and signs are constituted in the call centre service process, and the resulting implications for virtual-aural navigation. Findings – Despite no physical movement, customers represent their experience of navigating “through” the service process in spatial terms. Therefore, understanding precisely how servicescape dimensions are reconfigured within the virtual-aural setting of the call centre is necessary to appreciate customer experience of V2T but also voice-to-voice (V2V) encounters. T...

Creative industries and their role in the creative value chain – a comparative study of SMEs in Canada and Thailand

Abstract: The terms ‘creative economy’ and ‘creative industries’ refer to emerging models of development that play a major role in both creativity and in the intellectual capital for economic development, while the creative value chain is one of the most straightforward and widely recognised methods used in analysing the structure and function of creative industries. This paper has three objectives: 1) to identify the role of SMEs in the creative value chain; 2) to compare the role of SMEs in the creative value chain in Canada and Thailand; 3) to identify the challenges that Thai SMEs face in the creative value chain and to see what lessons can be learned from Canadian SMEs. This research is one of the first studies to compare the role of SMEs in the creative value chain, especially in the context of a comparative study between a developed and a developing country.

Is the quantity-quality trade-off in call centres a false dichotomy?

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing conceptualisation of quantity and quality in call centres as conflicting or contradictory, and through qualitative analysis, demonstrate that quantity and quality may not necessarily operate as a trade-off. Design/methodology/approach – Existing literature is reviewed to show how quantity-quality has been conceptualised to date, followed by an analysis of quantity-quality manifestations based upon an in-depth field study of work and service in a large and complex call centre operation. Advisors’ work practices were observed during their interactions with customers, which provided rich insights into the nature of live calls and service provision in 13 different teams, supplemented with informal semi-structured interviews with team managers, coaches, and centre managers. Findings – The paper demonstrates that quantity and quality operate as a trade-off when the unit of analysis is the individual advisor or individual call fragment. However, if t...

Coping with homelessness: an expectant mother's homeless pathway

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to add to the understanding of homelessness by exploring and analysing the homeless pathway of a young expectant mother as she negotiates her way through temporary accommodation and comes to terms with her circumstances and new identity as a person without a home. Design/methodology/approach – A phenomenological interviewing approach was used in order to gain insights into the subject's lived daily world from her perspective. Themes were then identified that encapsulated the essential qualities of the interview. Findings – The stress and negative emotions of being homeless appear to be accentuated significantly due to pregnancy, taking the potential for the positive feelings associated with pregnancy away from the participant. Structural factors such as the homelessness legislation and affordable housing supply had a strong influence over her homeless pathway, resulting in feelings of a loss of control over her destiny and choices and subsequent feelings of low self-...

Mobile media usage by undergraduates and implications for m-learning instructional design

Abstract: As the first step to develop a new m-learning instructional design, this research assessed 48 types of mobile media that undergraduates use. Participants included 439 Thai students from 16 different majors. Principal component analysis and t-test results indicated that students with more advanced computer software skills used a wider range of mobile media for learning than did students with basic computer software skills. Students' advancement in using mobile media for learning was perceived as presenting better academic and study skills. The results from this research could provide a guideline for designing a novel m-learning instruction.

Resolutions of the Coulomb operator: VIII. Parallel implementation using the modern programming language X10.

Abstract: Use of the modern parallel programming language X10 for computing long-range Coulomb and exchange interactions is presented. By using X10, a partitioned global address space language with support for task parallelism and the explicit representation of data locality, the resolution of the Ewald operator can be parallelized in a straightforward manner including use of both intranode and internode parallelism. We evaluate four different schemes for dynamic load balancing of integral calculation using X10's work stealing runtime, and report performance results for long-range HF energy calculation of large molecule/high quality basis running on up to 1024 cores of a high performance cluster machine. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Value of Feedback and Conferencing in the Process Approach to Writing for Filipino and Thai Students in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract: Using two groups of university students who enrolled in English 102, one from the Philippines and one from Thailand, this study looked into the role feedback and conferencing played in the process writing approach of the respondents. This study used a descriptive-qualitative causal design, adopting Dana Ferris’ 1995 research in multiple-draft composition classrooms done at the California State University in Sacramento. To suit the specific needs of this study, Ferris’ questionnaire was modified. Survey results were tabulated and questions placed under ordinal categories were averaged using SPSS. Results were analyzed using Categorical Data Analysis (CDA).Other questions were dealt with using a qualitative survey data analysis, a process of systematically searching for and arranging the answers to open-ended questions. This study underscores four major findings. First, students both the quantitative and qualitative forms of assessment of their essays. Second, students preferred the process approach to writing, relying on the benefits the model promised them. Third, earlier drafts were found to have had positive influence on the succeeding drafts and the final copy. Lastly, this study demonstrates that revision is central in the improvement of every essay.

Using practice theory to analyse value propositions and value facilitation in self-reliance training

Abstract: This paper analyses how a transformative service provider delivers self-reliance training in an attempt to improve well-being. The training process is examined for value propositions and value facilitation from the production phase of value creation in service-dominant (SD) logic. The analysis of value creation is supported by practice theory, which has become influential in literature on SD logic. More specifically, the paper utilises the concepts of field, habitus, and practice from Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The analysis demonstrates that the service provider attempts to embed value in the value production phase, firstly by situating practices within the broader field of self-reliance to emphasise its benefits, and secondly by introducing key aspects of the self-reliant habitus which are important for improving one’s well-being.

Does Corporate Governance Quality Affect Analyst Coverage? Evidence from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)

Abstract: We examine the impact of corporate governance quality on the extent of analyst coverage. The evidence based on nearly 3,000 firms indicates that more analysts are likely to cover firms with weaker corporate governance. In particular, as corporate governance quality falls by one standard deviation, analyst following increases by 11.40%. Our evidence is consistent with the notion that poor governance results in a wider divergence between the stock’s market price and the fundamental value. Analysts prefer to cover companies with poor governance because it allows them to generate trading commissions by offering shareholders a particularly compelling story about why a stock’s fundamental value and the current price differ.

Thailand vs. egypt: reflections on the concept of electoral dictatorship

Abstract: Thailand and Egypt have seen some striking parallels in the past few years, culminating in military overthrows of elected governments, acts which were widely supported by the middle classes. This paper examines middle class thinking behind opposition to the governments, and subsequent support for the military takeovers. Both Pheu Thai and the Muslim Brotherhood won elections based on real support, including among middle class voters, although the margins of victory were smaller than sometimes portrayed. (The Muslim Brotherhood won slightly under 52% of the popular vote in 2012; Pheu Thai won just under 50% in 2011.) Once elected, they abused power, pursued their own narrow agendas, and seemed

Social Networks and Transnationalism: A Content Analysis of Selected Filipino Migrant Workers’ Facebook Posts as a Transnational Engagement Tool

Abstract: This paper used quantitative-qualitative mixed methods via content analysis, observing the present-day transnational ties of Filipino migrants in the cyber-space. It specifically employed Facebook as a leading social network through which the subjects’ transnational engagements took shape. Using social networks, particularly Facebook, as emerging tools to carry out ethnographic studies, this paper aimed to identify and establish a pattern of transnational involvements Filipino migrants in this study had. This study first used a quantitative approach by way of tabulations, noting down the transnational posts of the subjects and their reaction/s and/ or behavior in relation to varying issues they engage in. The tabulations were used to (1) identify the different transnational activities the subjects have via Facebook, and (2) establish a pattern of Transnationalism they manifest. This paper sought to produce baseline data from which future research can be based. It also sought to underpin the emerging importance of social networks as a data-collection instrument. An issue that is currently under-researched in the regional and international academic discussions and the global public sphere, this paper used the quantitative design to qualitative, as content analysis of the subjects’ posts on their Facebook walls was ultimately done.

Thai Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Different Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels

Abstract: This research study focuses on the willingness to pay for food products that have different front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels, namely include the monochrome Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) label, the colorcoded GDA label, and the traffic light label. While there has been a proposal to adopt the traffic light label, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health currently requires five types of snacks to display the monochrome GDA label. The nth price auction was the method employed in this experiment to elicit the willingness to pay from seventy two Thai consumers. The participants had to bid for two types of seaweed and two types of almonds, affixed with three different types of FOP labels or a plain label. The grilled and fried seaweeds contain different amounts of fat, whilst the unsalted and salted almonds contain different levels of sodium. The results show that all of the FOP labels, including the monochrome GDA label, add price premiums to both healthy and unhealthy foods. The traffic light label is effective in influencing consumers’ demand, since consumers are willing to pay higher prices for healthier products. In addition, participants were also divided into two groups, after providing one group with additional information about the meanings of the different FOP labels. Under the traffic light label, the group provided with the extra information gave higher valuations on healthier foods.

Human Security & ASEAN Transboundary Haze: An Idea That Never Came

Abstract: In 2003 ASEAN Heads of State committed themselves with the Bali Concord II to a dedicated plan of action on the regional level to deal with transboundary environmental issues such as degredation and pollution. Implicit in this statement is the economic, health and broader security implications of transboundary haze emanating from massive forest fires in Kalimantan (Borneo) Indonesia which began in a massive nature in 1997 and have since occurred annually no less than 11 times. While ASEAN has engaged this security issue with integrative rhetoric annual fires attest to the fact that regional level mechanisms cannot stop this phenomenon. It is my argument that human security interests in the realm of haze pollution will be sacrificed for national security concerns of economy and as such regional level frameworks add little value and are essentially empty frameworks. I will demonstrate that economic interests both private and public in logging and palm oil production are the reason why nothing substantial has been done to stop haze pollution. As such the nature of human security and ASEAN’s equivalent of comprehensive security rings hollow not due to regime stability as Gerstl posits but to domestic and foreign economic interests linked to the larger political economy.

Powerful CEOs and Corporate Risk-Taking: Evidence from the CEO Pay Slice (CPS)

Abstract: We explore the role of powerful CEOs on the extent of risk-taking, using Bebchuk, Cremers, and Peyer’s (2011) CEO pay slice (CPS). Based on more than 12,000 observations over 20 years (1992-2012), our results reveal a non-monotonic association. In particular, relatively less powerful CEOs exhibit risk aversion, resulting in less risky strategies. However, when the CEO has his power consolidated beyond a certain point, he is less likely to compromise with other executives, leading to less moderate decisions and more risky strategies. We estimate that the CEO has to wield considerable power, i.e. around the 75th percentile of CPS, before significantly more risk-taking is observed. Finally, we show that our results are unlikely vulnerable to endogeneity.

Cambodian-Thai Relations during the Khmer Rouge Regime: Evidence from the East German Diplomatic Archives 1

Abstract: Unsurprisingly, the scholarly literature on Democratic Kampuchea focuses on the Khmer Rouge’s internal policies, notably aspects of their ideology and regime of terror. By and large, Democratic Kampuchea is seen as a hermetically sealed hermit state with little engagement in foreign relations. If indeed foreign policy is scrutinized, most accounts are limited to a discussion of the Khmer Rouge’s relations to China and the Cambodian-Vietnamese war of the late 1970s. The similarly troublesome, if non-escalating relationship between Democratic Kampuchea and Thailand during the Khmer Rouge’s time in power is rarely touched upon in the scholarly literature on Cambodia. Based on an analysis of primary sources from the East German diplomatic archives, this paper aims to help filling this historiographical gap by providing an account on Thai-Cambodian relations during the period of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), framed by a discussion of some basic principles of Khmer Rouge foreign policy.

Beyond Zudilin's conjectured q-analogue of Schmidt's problem

Abstract: Using the methodology of (rigorous) experimental mathematics, we give a simple and motivated solution to Zudilin's question concerning a q-analogue of a problem posed by Asmus Schmidt about a certain binomial coefficients sum. Our method is based on two simple identities that can be automatically proved using the Zeilberger and q-Zeilberger algorithms. We further illustrate our method by proving two further binomial coefficient sums.

Geography and CEO luck: where do CEOs tend to be lucky?

Abstract: CEOs are ‘lucky’ when they receive stock option grants on days when the stock price is the lowest in the month of the grant, implying opportunistic timing (Bebchuk et al., 2010). We extend Bebchuk et al. (2010) by investigating the geographic peer effects of CEO luck. Our evidence shows that a CEO is significantly more likely to be lucky when other CEOs in the surrounding area are not lucky. It appears that a CEO tends to practice opportunistic timing of option grants when such a practice is less prevalent and thus less noticeable in the nearby area, probably in order to avoid detection. We estimate that the marginal geographic effect on a given CEO’s luck is 18.36%, which is both statistically and economically significant. Our results suggest that regulators should look for corporate opportunistic behaviour where it is not expected.

Co-adaptation in a Handwriting Recognition System

Abstract: Handwriting is a natural and versatile method for human-computer interaction, especially on small mobile devices such as smart phones. However, as handwriting varies significantly from person to person, it is difficult to design handwriting recognizers that perform well for all users. A natural solution is to use machine learning to adapt the recognizer to the user. One complicating factor is that, as the computer adapts to the user, the user also adapts to the computer and probably changes their handwriting. This paper investigates the dynamics of co-adaptation, a process in which both the computer and the user are adapting their behaviors in order to improve the speed and accuracy of the communication through handwriting. We devised an information-theoretic framework for quantifying the efficiency of a handwriting system where the system includes both the user and the computer. Using this framework, we analyzed data collected from an adaptive handwriting recognition system and characterized the impact of machine adaptation and of human adaptation. We found that both machine adaptation and human adaptation have significant impact on the input rate and must be considered together in order to improve the efficiency of the system as a whole.