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Stronger Support (stronger + support)
Selected AbstractsDETECTING THE HISTORICAL SIGNATURE OF KEY INNOVATIONS USING STOCHASTIC MODELS OF CHARACTER EVOLUTION AND CLADOGENESISEVOLUTION, Issue 2 2005Richard H. Ree Abstract Phylogenetic evidence for biological traits that increase the net diversification rate of lineages (key innovations) is most commonly drawn from comparisons of clade size. This can work well for ancient, unreversed traits and for correlating multiple trait origins with higher diversification rates, but it is less suitable for unique events, recently evolved innovations, and that exhibit homoplasy. Here I present a new method for detecting the phylogenetic signature of key innovations that tests whethere the evolutionary history of the candidate trait is associated with shorter waiting times between cladogenesis events. The method employs stochastic models of character evolution and cladogenesis and integrates well into a Bayesian framework in which uncertainty in historical inferences (such as phylogenetic relationships) is allowed. Applied to a well-known example in plants, nectar spurs in columbines, the method gives much stronger support to the key innovation hypothesis than previous tests. [source] Glamour Acquirers, Method of Payment and Post-acquisition Performance: The UK EvidenceJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1-2 2003Sudi Sudarsanam We study the effect of different acquirer types, defined by financial status and their payment methods, on their short and long-term performance, in terms of abnormal returns using a variety of benchmark models. For a sample of 519 UK acquirers during 1983,95, we examine the abnormal return performance of acquirers based on their pre-bid financial status as either glamour or value acquirers using both the price to earnings (PE) ratio and market to book value ratio (MTBV). Value acquirers outperform glamour acquirers in the three-year post-acquisition period. One interpretation is that glamour firms have overvalued equity and tend to exploit their status and use it more often than cash to finance their acquisitions. As we move from glamour to value acquirers, there is a greater use of cash. Our results are broadly consistent with those for the US reported by Rau and Vermaelen (1998). However, in contrast to their study, we find stronger support for the method of payment hypothesis than for extrapolation hypothesis. Cash acquirers generate higher returns than equity acquirers, irrespective of their glamour/ value status. Our conclusions, based on four benchmark models for abnormal returns, suggest that stock markets in both the US and the UK may share a similar proclivity for over-extrapolation of past performance, at least in the bid period. They also tend to reassess acquirer performance in the post-acquisition period and correct this overextrapolation. These results have implications for the behavioural aspects of capital markets in both countries. [source] The formal Darwinism project: a mid-term reportJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007A. GRAFEN Abstract For 8 years I have been pursuing in print an ambitious and at times highly technical programme of work, the ,Formal Darwinism Project', whose essence is to underpin and formalize the fitness optimization ideas used by behavioural ecologists, using a new kind of argument linking the mathematics of motion and the mathematics of optimization. The value of the project is to give stronger support to current practices, and at the same time sharpening theoretical ideas and suggesting principled resolutions of some untidy areas, for example, how to define fitness. The aim is also to unify existing free-standing theoretical structures, such as inclusive fitness theory, Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS) theory and bet-hedging theory. The 40-year-old misunderstanding over the meaning of fitness optimization between mathematicians and biologists is explained. Most of the elements required for a general theory have now been implemented, but not together in the same framework, and ,general time' remains to be developed and integrated with the other elements to produce a final unified theory of neo-Darwinian natural selection. [source] The Relationship Between Cohabitation and Marital Quality and Stability: Change Across Cohorts?JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2003Claire M. Kamp Dush The relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital dysfunction was examined with a total sample of 1,425 spouses in two U.S. marriage cohorts: those married between 1964 and 1980 (when cohabitation was less common) and those married between 1981 and 1997 (when cohabitation was more common). Spouses in both cohorts who cohabited prior to marriage reported poorer marital quality and greater marital instability. When selection factors for cohabitation and subsequent marital instability were included in the statistical model, cohabitors in both cohorts continued to exhibit poorer marital quality and greater marital instability. These findings lend stronger support to an experience of cohabitation perspective than to a selection perspective as an explanation for why couples who cohabit before marriage tend to have more troubled relationships. [source] Subjective Well-Being and PeaceJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 2 2007Ed Diener Hierarchical generalized linear modeling was employed to examine the relations between person-level subjective well-being (SWB) and peace-relevant attitudes, and how these relations vary across nations in the World Values Survey. Person-level SWB was associated with more confidence in the government and armed forces, greater emphasis on postmaterialist values, stronger support for democracy, less intolerance of immigrants and racial groups, and greater willingness to fight for one's country. These associations were moderated at the nation level by liberal development, violent inequality, gross domestic product, and nation-level SWB. The moderator effects indicate that happy people are not completely blind to the conditions of their society and that their endorsement of peace attitudes is sensitive to whether the conditions for peace do exist. [source] Public Opinion of Teen, Classroom, and Formal Court StylesJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003MARK G. HARMON B.A. ABSTRACT The present research examined the views of a community sample regarding teen court, classroom court, and formal/traditional court. Participants read vignettes of teen offenders who had committed crimes of high or low severity and were given relatively severe or mild sentences through one of the three courts. Results revealed stronger support for teen court than the other courts, a general preference for harsh sentences, and a preference for match between crime and punishment. The results of this study indicate that teen courts are seen as providing an appropriate means to sentence juvenile offenders and are likely to receive public support for their continued operation. [source] CEO Duality and Firm Performance during China's Institutional TransitionsMANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2007Mike W. Peng abstract Does CEO duality , the practice of one person serving both as a firm's CEO and board chair , contribute to or inhibit firm performance? Agency theory suggests that CEO duality is bad for performance because it compromises the monitoring and control of the CEO. Stewardship theory, in contrast, argues that CEO duality may be good for performance due to the unity of command it presents. The empirical evidence, largely from developed economies, is largely inconclusive. This article joins the debate by extending empirical work to the largely unexplored context of institutional transitions. Our findings, based on an archival database covering 403 publicly listed firms and 1,202 company-years in China, offer stronger support for stewardship theory and relatively little support for agency theory. Finally, we also call for a contingency perspective to specify the nature of conditions such as resource scarcity and environmental dynamism under which CEO duality may be especially valuable. [source] | |||||||||||||