University of Stirling

About: University of Stirling is a education organization based out in Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 7722 authors who have published 20549 publications receiving 732940 citations. The organization is also known as: Stirling University.

Female board appointments and firm valuation: short and long-term effects

Abstract: The presence of women on boards of directors has become a high profile issue in recent years. Several studies, based largely on data from countries with Anglo-Saxon corporate governance systems, have investigated the influence of female board appointments on firm performance. This study focuses on the impact of female directors in Spain, where debate about this topic has been intense for two reasons: the recommendation in 2006 by Spain’s Unified Good Governance Code of positive discrimination in favour of female board appointments and the passing in 2007 of a Gender Equality Act by the Spanish parliament. Our paper analyses the short and long term effect of the appointment of female directors prior to these events. We use an event study to analyze the short term stock market reaction to the appointment of female directors and a multiple regression approach, using the system GMM estimation procedure, to assess the long term influence on firm value of female boardroom appointments. We find that the stock market reacts positively in the short term to the announcement of female board appointments, suggesting that investors on average believe that female directors add value. This belief appears to be confirmed by our regression results which show that female board appointments are positively associated with firm value over a sustained period. These results suggest that the legislative changes in Spain make economic sense as well as advancing the cause of women in Spanish boardrooms.

The structure and functional significance of variations in the connective tissue within muscle.

Abstract: The amount of intramuscular connective tissue (IMCT) and its morphological distribution is highly variable between muscles of differing function. The functional roles of this component of muscle have been poorly understood, but a picture is gradually emerging of the central role this component has in growth, transmission of mechanical signals to muscle cells and co-ordination of forces between fibres within a muscle. The aim of this review is to highlight recent advances that begin to show the functional significance of some of the variability in IMCT. IMCT has a number of clearly defined roles. It patterns muscle development and innervation, and mechanically integrates the tissue. In developing muscles, proliferation and growth of muscle cells is stimulated and guided by cell-matrix interactions. Recent work has shown that the topography of collagen fibres is an important signal. The timing and rates of expression of connective tissue proteins also show differences between muscles. Discussion of mechanical roles for IMCT has traditionally been limited to the passive elastic response of muscle. However, it is now clear that IMCT provides a matrix to integrate the contractile function of the whole tissue. Mechanical forces are co-ordinated and passed between adjacent muscle cells via cell-matrix interactions and the endomysial connective tissue that links the cells together. An emerging concept is that division of a muscle into fascicles by the perimysial connective tissue is related to the need to accommodate shear strains as muscles change shape during contraction and extension.

Stability and Instability in Ungulate Populations: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract: While many populations of large mammals are stable from year to year, some show persistent oscillations associated with high mortality. This article investigates the causes of variation in population stability in ungulates by comparing the contrasting dynamics of two naturally regulated island populations: the Soay sheep population of Hirta (St. Kilda), where numbers fluctuate by 60%-70% every 3 or 4 yr as a result of overcompensatory winter mortality, and the red deer population of the North Block of Rum, where numbers have been stable for over a decade. We suggest that the contrasting dynamics of these two populations are caused by differences in fecundity and maturation rate. Red deer show relatively low fecundity and slow maturation, and increases in population density depress both fecundity and juvenile survival. In contrast, the relatively rapid development of Soay sheep allows them to evade densitydependent effects on reproduction and survival until the population exceeds winter carrying capacity b...

Gold as an inflation hedge

Abstract: This paper attempts to reconcile an apparent contradiction between short‐run and long‐run movements in the price of gold. The theoretical model suggests a set of conditions under which the price of gold rises over time at the general rate of inflation and hence be an effective hedge against inflation. The model also demonstrates that short‐run changes in the gold lease rate, the real interest rate, convenience yield, default risk, the covariance of gold returns with other assets and the dollar/world exchange rate can disturb this equilibrium relationship and generate short‐run price volatility. Using monthly gold price data (1976–1999), and cointegration regression techniques, an empirical analysis confirms the central hypotheses of the theoretical model.