In one of the worst political scandals of the 1990s, a large number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote checks on nonexistent balances in what has become known as the House bank scandal. Agency theory tells us that the most entrenched members of the House should be more likely to consume excessive perquisites in the form of writing more bad checks. In this paper, we employ a Tobit model to test whether more entrenched members of the House engaged in excessive writing of bad checks. Our results support the agency-theoretic interpretation and confirm that entrenched members were more likely to write a greater number of bad checks.

No description available.

Deep row incorporation of biosolids is an alternative land application method that may allow higher than currently permitted mine land reclamation application rates. Biosolids treated by various processes possess characteristics that uniquely affect metal solubility and mobility due to their influence on metal speciation. The objectives of this research were to compare the effects of biosolids stabilization type and rate on heavy metal solubility, mobility, and speciation. Two rates each of Alexandria, (Virginia) anaerobically digested (213 and 426 dry Mg ha-1) and Blue Plains (Washington, DC) lime-stabilized (329 and 657 dry Mg ha-1) biosolids were placed in trenches at a mineral sands mine reclamation site in Dinwiddie County, Virginia in June and July 2006. Vertical and lateral transport of heavy metals from the biosolids seams were determined by analyzing leachate collected in zero tension lysimeters below the trenches and suction lysimeters adjacent to the trenches. Chloride (Cl-), sulfate (SO42-), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO43-), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and pH were also determined within the dissolved fractions (< 0.45 µm) collected on September 8, 2006, November 3, 2006, January 5, 2007, June 8, 2007, and September 7, 2007 as input for the speciation program MINTEQA2. Silver, Cd, Pb, and Sn did not move vertically or laterally to any significant extent. Lime-stabilized biosolids produced higher cumulative metal mass transport per sampling period for Cu (967 g ha-1), Ni (171 g ha-1), and Zn (1027 g ha-1) than the anaerobically digested biosolids and control during the 15-month period following entrenching. Barium mass loss was similar for both biosolids. All metals moved primarily with particulates. MINTEQA2 predicted the majority of the metals within the dissolved fraction were present as free ions. As pH decreased and time increased, the amount of association with fulvic acids decreased allowing more free ions and binding with inorganic ligands. Little movement into groundwater demonstrates that anaerobically digested and lime-stabilized biosolids can be land-applied at high rates with little concern of heavy metal contamination of groundwater under these conditions. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

This study examines whether firms' decisions to offer company stock in defined contribution (DC) plans are explained by managers' corporate control motives. Using a large sample of proxy voting outcomes, I find that employee ownership in DC plans is significantly and positively associated with the level of voting support for management sponsored proposals. This suggests that managers encourage employee DC holdings in company stock in order to receive higher voting support in favor of management. The effects of employee ownership on voting outcomes are significantly greater in subsample tests than in full sample tests: management proposals opposed by Institutional Shareholder Services, management proposals of close votes, director election votes receiving more than 20% of votes withheld, and say-on-pay frequency proposals.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2014 / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Arroyos are entrenched channels characterized by near-vertical walls of alluvium and flat channel bottoms. Historic channel entrenchment in the southwest United States during the late AD 1800s and early 1900s has stimulated extensive research on these dynamic fluvial systems. The near-synchronous episodes of arroyo entrenchment and aggradation in Kanab Creek and other drainages in southern Utah during the last ~1 Ka has led many researches to argue that hydroclimatic forcings drive arroyo processes. These hypotheses remain largely untested, and there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the timing of these events and the specific mechanisms responsible for arroyo formations. Previous work established an alluvial chronology for the kanab canyon reach of Kanab creek, but it remained unclear if arroyo events in this reach were continuous with those downstream or synchronous with events in the disconnected arroyo in the upper basin. Using deailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic descriptions coupled with AMS radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, a new chronostratigraphic record of arroyo entrenchment and aggradation for kanab creek is produced in this study. Results suggest at least five periods of fluvial aggradation and episodic arroyo entrenchment during the middle-to late-Holocene, with aggradation occuring from ~6.2 to 3.67 ka (Qfl), ~3.2 to 2.5 ka (Qf2), ~2.2 to `.45 ka (Qf3), 1.4 to 0.8 ka (Qf4), and 0.75 to 0.14 ka (Qf5). This record is compared to regional alluvial and paleoclimate records to explore potential allogenic and autogenic forcing mechanisms. Rapid transitions from exceptional drought to pluvial periods are quasi-synchronous with regional arroyo entrenchment over the last ~1.5 Ka, but the lack of clear correlations amongst the regional alluvial records and between paleoclimate records beyond 1.5 Ka suggests that internal geomorphic thresholds are important controls on the timing of entrenchment in individual catchments. Previous research on arroyo dynamics has largely focused on the timing of entrenchment. The few studies that have investigated the processes related to aggradation have used historic observations, and not the stratigraphic record of arroyo deposits. In this study, the alluvial records from three reaches of Kanab Creek are combined to test models of the processes and geometric patterns of paleoarroyo aggradation. Results indicate that aggradation initially propagates upstream and then transitions to synchronous vertical aggradation along the entire channel profile as arroyos approach complete filling.

This dissertation consists of three essays on the effect of excess compensation and corporate governance changes on the firm’s performance. The first paper utilizes a cost minimization stochastic frontier approach to investigate the efficiency of director total compensation. Our findings suggest that board members are over compensated. We show that, on average, the director actual compensation level is above the efficient compensation level by around 63%. Our results suggest that an increase in director excess compensation decreases the likelihood of CEO turnover, reduces the turnover-performance sensitivity, and increases managerial entrenchment. Thus, the surplus in director compensation is directly associated with managerial job security and entrenchment. Furthermore, although director excess compensation is not significantly inversely related to the firm’s future performance, it has an indirect negative effect on future performance through its impact on the entrenchment-performance relationship. Therefore, this essay proposes that the overcompensation of directors is directly associated with a board culture predicated by mutual back-scratching and collusion between the CEO and the board members. The second essay tests the effect of an exogenous shock, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, on the structure of corporate boards and their efficiency as a monitoring mechanism. The results suggest an increase in the participation of independent directors at the expense of insiders. Consequently, we investigate the implications of board composition changes on CEO turnover and firm value. We document a noticeable reduction in CEO turnover in the post-SOX period. We also demonstrate that, after SOX, a board dominated by independent directors is less likely to remove a CEO due to poor performance. Finally, we highlight a negative association between the change in board composition and firm value. We propose that our findings are predicated on an off equilibrium result whereby firms were forced to modify iv their endogenously chosen board composition. Therefore, contrary to the legislators’ objectives, we suggest that the change in board structure brought about inefficient monitoring and promoted an unfavorable tradeoff between independent directors and insiders. The third essay examines the relationship between the firm’s governance structure and its value during different economic conditions. We show that both relative industry turnover and CEO entrenchment increase during economic downturns. We also find that relative industry turnover and managerial entrenchment have opposite impacts on the value of the firm throughout the recessionary period. While industry turnover leads to an appreciation in firm value, managerial entrenchment reduces shareholders’ wealth. The negative impact of managerial entrenchment on firm value, however, outweighs the positive impact of industry turnover. Accordingly, we propose that a recession provides managers with a good opportunity to camouflage their behavior and extract more private benefits and, thus, blame the poor performance on bad economic conditions.

1 online resource (ix, 442 leaves) / No abstract available / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)