Doppler echocardiographic changes found in diastolic dysfunction

Diastolic dysfunction may be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In this article, an overview of the pathophysiology of diastolic dysfunction is discussed and the findings of Doppler echocardiography used to aid in its diagnosis are reviewed.     

The characteristics and development of the Swiss franc repurchase agreement market

With the reinterpretation of repurchase agreements (repos) by the tax authority and the revision of the national bank law in 1997, allowing the Swiss national bank (SNB) to use repos as monetary policy instrument, the prerequisites for the development of a Swiss franc repo market were given. The development of the repo market in Switzerland only came up in 1999 with the provision of an integrated trading and settlement system provided by SegaInterSettle AG (SIS), Eurex and Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) in collaboration with the SNB. The following paper provides an overview of the basic characteristics and structure of the Swiss franc repo market as well as of the development it has undergone since 1999. It also discusses what motives and reasons the banks possess to actively participate in the Swiss franc repo market. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Credit Suisse.     

Liquidity Pools, Risk Sharing, and Financial Contagion

This paper reevaluates the Allen–Gale (2000) analysis of interbank deposits to explain financial contagion. This paper modifies the pecking order of asset liquidation developed in Allen–Gale, which is essential in fragility analysis. Furthermore, we also provide a claim structure called liquidity pool that can both achieve risk sharing and prevent financial contagion across regions when asymmetric information about bank assets is absent. This model can partly explain why bank panics reduced substantially after the founding of the Fed and the role of IMF in regional financial crises.     

The effect of audit firm size on audit prices: A study of the Australian Market

The effect of audit firm size on prizes is a complex function of competition in the market for audit services, product differentiation, and scale economics to large firms. In this study, a competitive market is supported in Australia with product differentiation to Bif Eight accounting firms. Specially, Big Eight accounting firms have significantly higher audit prices than non-Big Eight firms. This results holds for ‘large’ and ‘small’ auditees. A test is also made of price cutting in the Australian market. Price cutting is defined as lower initial audit fees than continuing engagement fees for a comparable audit. Test results do not evidence price-cutting behavior by accounting firms. There is in fact weak evidence that initial audit fees are higher than continuing engagement fee levels. Higher initial fees suggest that accounting firms may recover at least some of the audit start-up costs immediately.     

The signalling process in initial public offerings

This study uses a sample of Singapore IPOs to examine the signalling process at the time of a new issue of shares. The multiple regression analysis results support three testable implications of the Grinblatt and Hwang model. We show that (1) the value of the firm is positively related to the fractional holding of the issuer, (2) the degree of underpricing is an increasing function of the variance, and (3) firm value is positively related to the degree of underpricing.     

The geographic sources of foreign subsidiaries' innovations

This study contributes to the literature on the nature and evolution of the multinational enterprise by exploring the geographic origins of the knowledge sources utilized by foreign subsidiaries during the process of technological innovation. Through a synthesis of the multinational literature and the broader literature on external sources of innovation, I develop and test a set of hypotheses that explain the conditions under which innovating subsidiaries are likely to draw upon sources of knowledge located in the home base of the firm and/or the subsidiary's host country environment. The hypotheses are tested through an analysis of the citations listed on over 10,000 patents issued to U.S. greenfield subsidiaries between 1980 and 1990. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.