Recent evidence documents a clustering of gross underwriting spreads on initial public offerings (IPOs) at seven percent. This trend is puzzling for several reasons. First, if association with a high reputation underwriter is valuable, why don’t all firms select high reputation underwriters? Second, what incentives do underwriters have to engage in costly reputation enhancement relative to thei...

The composition of ice-rafted debris (IRD) within a sediment core from the European continental slope (core OMEX-2K; 49 50 N, 13 260 W) has been examined using environmental magnetic analyses. The data demonstrate compositional variability of the IRD within Heinrich layers 2 (H2) and 1 (H1) and these differences are most readily explained by changes in the contribution of different IRD sources ...

This paper introduces a methodology for soil slope stability analysis based on optimization, limit equilibrium principles and method of slices. In this study, the slope stability analysis problem is transformed into a constrained nonlinear optimization problem. To solve that, a Self-Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (GA) is utilized. In this study, the slope stability safety factors are the objective ...

The effects of several components of ophthalmic preparations on isolated rabbit cornea were studied by continuous electrophysiologic monitoring followed by fixation for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Benzalkonium chloride (0.001 percent), thimerosal (0.0004 percent), and amphotericin B (0.0025 percent) all briefly increased ion transport, then greatly decreased epithelial resistance. Sever...

Collagen tripeptide (CTP) is a collagen hydrolysate containing a high concentration of tripeptides with a Gly-X-Y sequence, such as Gly-Pro-Hyp. To test the effects of this preparation, we compared the absorption of peptides in humans after ingestion of a tripeptide fraction of CTP (CTP-100), a CTP preparation containing ca. 50% Gly-X-Y tripeptides (CTP-50), and a collagen peptide that did not ...

Due to recent developments in concert hall design, there is an increasing interest in the analysis of sound energy decays consisting of multiple exponential decay rates. It has been considered challenging to estimate parameters associated with double-rate (slope) decay characteristics, and even more challenging when the coupled-volume systems contain more than two decay processes. To meet the n...