Showing papers by "Rider University published in 1999"

To Get What You Need: Healthy and Pathological Internet Use

Abstract: One's passion for the Internet can be healthy, pathologically addictive, or somewhere inbetween. Where a person falls on that continuum is determined by the cluster of needs that are being fulfilled by his or her Internet use and how the internet addresses those needs. This article suggests eight factors that can help clarify the healthy or unhealthy qualities of one's commitment to cyberspace activities, as well the effect of those activities on the person's underlying needs. It then explores the types of needs addressed by internet use. The "integration principle" is proposed as a rule of thumb for assessing pathological and healthy Internet use.

Land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal: potential damage of subsidence and sea level rise in southern New Jersey, USA

Abstract: Land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal combined with a global sea level rise creates a serious environmental problem in the coastal region. Groundwater withdrawal results in fluid pressure change in the layers. The pressure change in the layers induces both elastic and inelastic land compaction. The elastic compaction can be recovered if the water level rises again and inelastic compaction becomes permanent. Groundwater response to barometric pressure change is used to estimate the elastic compaction in this study. The storativity, specific storage and other layer and hydrological information are used to estimate the inelastic compaction of the layers due to fluid withdrawal. The discussed methods are applied to estimate and predict the subsidence potentials resulting from overdrafting of the groundwater in the southern New Jersey. The estimated subsidence is about 2–3 cm near the location of monitoring wells in Atlantic, Camden, Cumberland and Cape May Counties over the past 20 years. If the current trend of water-level drop continues, the average subsidence in southern New Jersey in the vicinity of some monitoring wells will be about 3 cm in the next 20 years. The rise of global sea level is about 2 mm/year on average. Because of the very gentle slope in southern NJ, the combination of subsidence and sea level rise will translate into a potentially substantial amount of land loss in the coastal region in each 20 year period. This combination will also accelerate the coastal flooding frequency and the erosion rate of the New Jersey coastal plain, and pose a serious threat to the coastal economy.

Mind-body therapy in the management and prevention of coronary disease.

Abstract: Conventional mind-body therapy has been proven a valuable noninvasive way to manage coronary disease. Yoga practice, especially, has been found to be valuable in preventing adverse outcomes of coronary disease by improving resistance to stress.

Further Evidence on Insider Selling Prior to Seasoned Equity Offering Announcements: The Role of Growth Opportunities

Abstract: Previous research documents significant abnormal net selling by insiders prior to seasoned equity offering announcements. This study documents that the abnormal net selling is significantly greater for growth firms than for mature firms. It also shows that growth firms experience poorer post-issue long-term price performance, which suggests greater overpricing for growth firms. Further analysis shows that greater insider selling prior to the offering announcement is associated with a greater price run-up prior to the announcement and is not associated with a more negative market reaction to the announcement. Overall, the results suggest that investors may be overly optimistic about future prospects of growth firms.

Using Financial Information to Differentiate Failed vs. Surviving Finance Companies in Thailand: An Implication for Emerging Economies

Abstract: This article combines qualitative and quantitative information from financial statements and auditors' reports with logistic models to differentiate failed from surviving finance companies in Thailand. Failed companies are those that were forced to suspend their operations in mid-1997. The results indicate that auditors' reports from the 1996 financial statements did not differentiate failed from surviving finance companies. On the other hand, the logistic regression models indicate that failed finance companies had lower profitability, lower foreign borrowing possibly due to their poorer credit rating, lower management quality, and smaller size. These models have relatively high predictive ability for failed finance companies and low expected costs of misclassification.

Private Placement of Common Equity and Earnings Expectations

Abstract: We examine earnings forecast revisions by analysts subsequent to the announcement of private equity placements. Results show that analysts make significant upward revisions to their forecasts for current-year earnings. Furthermore, these forecast revisions are significantly related to announcement-period abnormal returns, but not to the risk changes accompanying the equity placement. These findings are consistent with the information hypothesis, which suggests that private equity placements convey favorable information about future earnings.

The -theory of toric manifolds

Abstract: Toric manifolds, the topological analogue of toric varieties, are determined by an n-dimensional simple convex polytope and a function from the set of codimensionone faces into the primitive vectors of an integer lattice. Their cohomology was determined by Davis and Januszkiewicz in 1991 and corresponds with the theorem of DanilovJurkiewicz in the toric variety case. We use the Adams spectral sequence to compute the KO-theory of all toric manifolds and certain toric varieties.

The Signaling Power of Specially Designated Dividends

Abstract: We distinguish among the signaling, free cash flow, and wealth transfer hypotheses in explaining the stock price reaction to specially designated dividend (SDD) announcements. In a direct test of the signaling power of SDDs, we find both a larger stock price reaction and a significant upward revision of earnings forecasts for firms with Tobin's q less than one, but not for other firms. Our results support the conditional signaling hypothesis, which predicts greater effects of favorable information for low q firms. Taken together, our results for stock price effects and earnings forecast revisions do not support either the free cash flow or wealth transfer hypotheses.

An analysis of IS technical career paths and job satisfaction

Abstract: Technical career paths have been implemented in Information Systems (IS) departments to address the career development needs of employees whose career aspirations are not met by the traditional managerial career path. Understanding how to meet the needs of the technically oriented IS employee is important to IS career planning and development. Much has been written in both academic and popular literature about what composes a successful technical career path. Equity theory has been used in much of the existing research on technical career paths. This literature suggests that a successful technical career path should provide equitable rewards to those of a managerial career path. The present research establishes scales for four "key success factors" - equitable compensation, career path status, decision making influence, and career planning tool availability --- and examines the relationship of perceived equity of these factors to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is relevant to an organization because it has been shown to be related to motivation to stay in an organization and organizational commitment. IS personnel on a technical career path were surveyed with regard to their equity perceptions and job satisfaction. Scales for the perception of equity for all four success factors were established. Data analysis showed that only the perception of equity of career planning tool availability is related to job satisfaction for these employees. Implications for management and areas for further research are discussed.

Effect of dietary lipid level on lipid passage rate and lipid absorption efficiency in american robins (turdus migratorius)

Abstract: Thrushes consume a variety of fruit that differ greatly in nutrient composition, especially lipid content. Thrushes may be efficient at extracting energy from fruit diets by changing how they digest meals differing in lipid content. We tested for this capability in American robins (Turdus migratorius) by acclimating them to diets differing in lipid content and measuring passage rate and absorption efficiency of ingested lipids with radiolabeled markers. Birds acclimated to high-lipid (26% and 40% dwt) diets ingested less dry matter and retained ingested lipids in their gastrointestinal tract three times longer than when acclimated to a low-lipid (9%) diet. Absorption efficiency did not differ among diets (˜74%), suggesting robins minimize feeding time rather than maximize rate of energy gain when processing meals. Thus, robins slowed intake and passage rate of dietary lipids with increasing dietary lipid concentration while maintaining a steady lipid absorption efficiency. J. Exp. Zool. 283:408–417, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Site selection and behavior of sponge and bivalve borers in shells of the cretaceous oysters exogyra cancellata and pycnodonte mutabilis from delaware, U.S.A

Abstract: In shells of the oysters Exogyra cancellata and Pycnodonte mutabilis from the Mount Laurel and Marshalltown Formations (Campanian‐Maestrichtian), three‐quarters of all valves bear sponge borings (Entobia isp.) borings and 30% have borings of a lithophagid bivalve (Gastrochaenolites isp.). Non‐random distributions of these euendoliths, documented in this paper, may in part be accounted for by differential survival of sponge and lithophagid larvae and spat in varying circumstances. In addition, exterior shell architectures and post‐mortem orientations of shells are inferred to have prompted active geophobic (antigravity), rugophilic (groove‐seeking), and rheophilic (current‐seeking) behavior that enhanced survivorship of the settling larvae.

The relationship between research & development expenditure and executive compensation in high‐technology industries

Abstract: Outlines previous research on the links between RD and presents a study of the relationship between RD but mixed results for the relationship with cash flow. Discusses consistency with other research and the implications of the findings.

Getting blood from a stone: Squeezing an inexpensive lab/electronic classroom into a medium-sized academic library

Abstract: Realisation d'un centre de formation, equipe de 11 ordinateurs personnels, dans une bibliotheque universitaire. Ce centre sert a la fois a dispenser des cours et a travailler sur les ordinateurs

Hope and humor: using the hope scale in outcome studies

Abstract: Hope has been identified as a factor measured by the Hope Scale to evaluate effectiveness of treatment in outcome studies. Hope is defined as a goal-oriented cognitive construct comprised of two components, (a) the Pathways component is the individual's sense of planning strategies to reach goals and (b) the Agency component is the individual's determination to implement these goal-focused strategies. Using a Solomon Four-Group design, the relationship of the Hope Scale pretest to the posttest scores was evaluated. This study also explored the use of humor (a source of hope) in elevating total Hope Scale scores, the Agency component scores, and the Pathways component scores. 80 undergraduate students (57 women, 23 men) were ran domly assigned to one of four groups. Analysis indicated that administering the Hope Scale prior to treatment was not significantly associated with posttest scores, and the one-time 15-min. exposure to the humor intervention of reading Far Side comics was not sufficient to elevate ...