LGBT-supportive corporate policies, risk aversion and mitigation and economic policy uncertainty

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the effect of uncertain times on LGBT-supportive corporate policies, exploiting a novel text-based measure of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) that was recently constructed by Baker et al. (2016). LGBT-supportive policies have attracted a great deal of attention in the media lately. There is also a rapidly growing area of the literature that addresses LGBT-supportive policies specifically.Design/methodology/approachThe authors execute a regression analysis and several other robustness checks including propensity score matching (PSM) and an instrumental-variable analysis to mitigate endogeneity.FindingsThe authors' results show that companies significantly raise their investments in LGBT-supportive policies in times of greater uncertainty, reinforcing the risk mitigation view where LGBT-supportive policies create moral capital with an insurance-like effect that mitigates adverse consequences during uncertain times. The effect of EPU on LGBT-supportive policies is above and beyond its effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in general.Originality/valueThe authors' study is the first to explore the effect of uncertain times on LGBT-supportive corporate policies. The authors contribute to a crucial area of the literature that examines how firms respond to EPU. In addition, the authors enrich the literature on LGBT-friendly policies by showing that EPU is one of the significant determinants of LGBT-friendly policies.

Evaluasi Hasil Labioplasti Menggunakan Skor CLEFT-Q

Application of CLEFT-Q score instrument in the assessment of surgical outcomes for cleft lip and/or cleft palate based on patient reports is still relatively new. This study was aimed to establish the normative value of the Indonesian version of CLEFT-Q score in post-cleft lip surgery patients and to differentiate the results of cleft lip surgery according to the score based on the type of cleft, age, and sex. This was a preliminary study using the Indonesian CLEFT-Q instrument. Patients were interviewed for filling out the Indonesian version of CLEFT-Q after surgery. There were 75 samples in this study. Significant results were found in the association between age and CLEFT-Q score (p<0.05 and R>0.35). Variable selection for multi-variable analysis included cleft type and age in the model, where age alone indicated a significant relationship. The linear regression model involved the relationship between CLEFT-Q scores and gender, age, and cleft type as covariates. The correlation shown was classified as having moderate strength (R=0.46) for all covariates. In conclusion, the normative value of the Indonesian version of CLEFT-Q score with an approach to post-cleft lip surgery patients got a value that was in accordance with the highest standard in the literature, namely 91. The results of cleft lip surgery according to the Indonesian version of CLEFT-Q score based on the type of cleft, age and gender can be applied according to the literature.Keywords: cleft lip; cleft palate; cleft lip and palate; Indonesian version of CLEFT-Q Abstrak: Penerapan skor CLEFT-Q dalam penilaian luaran operasi bibir sumbing dan/atau langit-langit terbelah berdasarkan laporan pasien masih relatif baru. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mene-gakkan nilai normatif skor CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia pada pasien pasca operasi bibir sum-bing serta membedakan hasil operasi bibir sumbing menurut skor tersebut berdasarkan tipe cleft, usia, dan jenis kelamin. Jenis penelitian ialah studi pendahuluan penggunaan CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia. Pasien diwawancarai untuk melakukan pengisian CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia setelah operasi. Hasil penelitian mendapatkan total 75 sampel. Hasil bermakna ditemukan pada hubungan antara usia dan skor CLEFT-Q (p <0,05 dan R > 0,35). Seleksi variabel untuk analisis multivariabel mengikutsertakan tipe cleft dan usia di dalam model, dan variabel usia saja yang mengindikasikan adanya hubungan bermakna (95% CI 1,15-2,33; p=0,006). Model regresi linear melibatkan hubungan antara skor CLEFT-Q dengan jenis kelamin, usia, dan tipe cleft sebagai kovariat dan mendapatkan korelasi kekuatan sedang (R=0,46) untuk semua kovariat. Simpulan penelitian ini ialah nilai normatif skor CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia dengan pendekatan terhadap pasien pasca operasi bibir sumbing mendapatkan nilai yang sesuai dengan standar tertinggi pada kepustakaan yaitu 91. Hasil operasi bibir sumbing menurut skor CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia berdasarkan tipe cleft, umur dan jenis kelamin dapat diterapkan sesuai kepustakaan.Kata kunci: cleft lip; cleft palate; cleft lip and palate; skor CLEFT-Q berbahasa Indonesia

Assessment of Pain Severity and Associated Factors of Post Operative Pain Among Adult Patients in Public Hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021

Background: Post-operative pain management is one of the key responsibilities of health professionals. Failure to manage post-operative pain effectively will lead to increase morbidity and mortality, long hospital stay, increase health care costs, and patient dissatisfaction. Despite improved understanding of pain mechanisms, advances in pain management approach, and other focused initiatives large proportion of post-operative patient’s reports pain after surgery. Therefore the major aim of this study was to assess pain severity and associated factors among post-operative adult patients in public hospitals of Addis Ababa.Methods and materials: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 414 study participants were involved. Simple random sampling was used to select study participants. The data was collected by the standard questioner and checklist. The collected data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed by SPSS version 24.0 statistical software. Bi-variable analysis was employed to select independent predictors of pain severity and multivariable regression used to measure the association between independent and dependent variables. On bi-variable analysis, those variables with a value less than 0.20 were entered on multi-variable analysis. Finally, variables with a p-value < 0.05 were declared as independent predictors of the outcome variables.Results: A total of 406 study participants have responded to the interview giving a response rate of 98%. The overall incidence of moderate to severe pain was 85.5%. Preoperative analgesia adjusted odds ratio (confidence interval), 0.236(0.065-0.863), preoperative anxiety, 5.468(1.341-22.303), general surgery 7.627(1.901-30.602), orthopedics surgery, 7.195(1.055-49.094), size of the incision, 5.086(1.352-19.135), and postoperative analgesia; non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 5.611(2.000-15.737), and tramadol, 4.714(1.506-14.753) was independent predictors of postoperative moderate to severe pain.Conclusion: The study revealed that the overall incidence of postoperative pain was high in the study area. This reflects attention given to postoperative pain management is low. Preoperative analgesia, preoperative anxiety surgery type, incision length, and postoperative analgesia were independent predictors of postoperative pain.

Prophylactic Magnesium Supplementation and New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation in a General Critical Care Population: A Prescribing Preference Instrumental Variable Analysis

Aims Atrial fibrillation is frequently encountered in critical illness and causes adverse effects including haemodynamic decompensation, stroke and longer hospital stay. It is common to supplement serum magnesium for the purpose of preventing new-onset atrial fibrillation. However, no randomised studies support this practice in the non-cardiac surgery critical care population, and its effectiveness is unclear. We sought to investigate the effectiveness of magnesium supplementation in preventing new-onset atrial fibrillation in a mixed critical care population. Methods We conducted a single centre retrospective observational study of adult critical care patients. We employed a natural experiment design, using the supplementation preference of the bedside critical care nurse as an instrumental variable. Using the electronic patient record, magnesium supplementation opportunities were defined and linked to the bedside nurse. Nurse preference for administering magnesium was obtained using multilevel modelling. The results were used to define pro and anti supplementation groups, which were inputted into an instrumental variable regression to obtain an estimate of the effect of magnesium supplementation. Results 9,114 magnesium supplementation opportunities were analysed, representing 2,137 critical care admissions for 1,914 patients. There was significant variation in magnesium supplementation practices attributable to the individual nurse, after accounting for covariates. The instrumental variable analysis showed magnesium supplementation was associated with a 3% decreased chance of experiencing new-onset atrial fibrillation (95% CI -0.06 to -0.04, p = 0.03). Conclusions This study supports the strategy of routine magnesium supplementation, but further work is required to identify optimal serum magnesium targets for prophylaxis of atrial fibrillation.

Instrumental variable analysis using offspring BMI in childhood as an indicator of parental BMI in relation to mortality

Childhood BMI shows associations with adult mortality, but these may be influenced by effects of ill health in childhood on BMI and later mortality. To avoid this, we used offspring childhood BMI as an instrumental variable (IV) for own BMI in relation to mortality and compared it with conventional associations of own childhood BMI and own mortality. We included 36,097 parent–offspring pairs with measured heights and weights from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register and register-based information on death. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using adjusted Cox regression models. For all-cause mortality, per zBMI at age 7 the conventional HR = 1.07 (95%CI: 1.04–1.09) in women and 1.02 (95%CI: 0.92–1.14) in men, whereas the IV HR = 1.23 (95%CI: 1.15–1.32) in women and 1.05 (95%CI: 0.94–1.17) in men. Per zBMI at age 13, the conventional HR = 1.11 (95%CI: 1.08–1.15) in women and 1.03 (95%CI: 0.99–1.06) in men, whereas the IV HR = 1.30 (95%CI: 1.19–1.42) in women and 1.15 (95%CI: 1.04–1.29) in men. Only conventional models showed indications of J-shaped associations. Our IV analyses suggest that there is a causal relationship between BMI and mortality that is positive at both high and low BMI values.

Does board independence influence asset redeployability? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Purpose Exploiting an exogenous regulatory shock and a novel measure of asset redeployability, this paper aims to explore the effect of independent directors on asset redeployability. In particular, the authors use an innovative measure of asset redeployability recently developed by Kim and Kung (2016). This novel index has been rapidly adopted in recent literature. Design/methodology/approach Relying on a quasi-natural experiment, the authors execute a difference-in-difference analysis based on an exogenous regulatory shock to board independence. To mitigate endogeneity and demonstrate causation, the authors also perform propensity score matching, instrumental-variable analysis and Oster’s (2019) approach for testing coefficient stability. Findings The difference-in-difference estimates show that firms forced to raise board independence have significantly fewer redeployable assets after the shock than those not required to change board composition. This is consistent with the managerial myopia hypothesis. Subject to more intense monitoring, managers behave more myopically, focusing more on assets that are currently useful to the firm and less on redeployability in the future. Originality/value The study makes key contributions to the literature. First, the study is the first to examine the effect of board governance on asset redeployability. Second, the authors exploit an innovative index of asset redeployability that has been recently constructed in the literature. Third, by using a natural experiment, the results are much more likely to reflect causality than merely an association.

Does board gender diversity weaken or strengthen executive risk-taking incentives?

We investigate the effect of board gender diversity on managerial risk-taking incentives. Our results demonstrate that companies with stronger board gender diversity provide more powerful executive risk-taking incentives. It appears that female directors’ risk aversion exacerbates managers’ risk aversion, resulting in a sub-optimal level of risk-taking. To offset this tendency for too little risk, companies are induced to provide stronger risk-taking incentives. Specifically, an increase in board gender diversity by one standard deviation raises vega by 10.3%. Further analysis corroborates the results, including propensity score matching, entropy balancing, and an instrumental-variable analysis. Endogeneity appears to be unlikely, suggesting that female directors are not merely associated with, but probably bring about stronger risk-taking incentives.

First microsatellite markers for the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) and their application in analysis of parentage and genetic diversity

The European Robin is a small passerine bird associated with woodlands of Eurasia and North Africa. Despite being relatively widespread and common, little is known of the species’ breeding biology and genetic diversity. We used Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to develop and characterize microsatellite markers for the European Robin, designing three multiplex panels to amplify 14 microsatellite loci. The level of polymorphism and its value for assessing parentage and genetic structure was estimated based on 119 individuals, including seven full families and 69 unrelated individuals form Poland’s Białowieża Primaeval Forest and an additional location in Portugal. All markers appeared to be highly variable. Analysis at the family level confirmed a Mendelian manner of inheritance in the investigated loci. Genetic data also revealed evidence for extra-pair paternity in one family. The set of markers that we developed are proven to be valuable for analysis of the breeding biology and population genetics of the European Robin.

Analysis of Compositions of Flowback Water from Marcellus Shale Wells by Utilizing Data Mining Techniques

Volume and salt concentrations in Marcellus flowback water depend on geology, drilling and completions, stimulation and flowback operations. Recent studies include evaluations of geochemical origins based on the compostition concentrations, flowback sampling analysis and numerical studies. However, an in-depth understanding of chemical compositions as well as the changes of compositions is still needed. In this paper, we will first review the literature related to flowback water in Marcellus shale gas wells to fully understand the chemistry, geochemistry, and physics governing a fracture treatment, shut-in, and flowback. We will then gather all public and in-house flowback data, named as 3-week or 3-month flowback in this work, to build a data set of flowback water compositions. After data screening, we will then analyze this database using four different methods: geographical changes over time, linear regression, clustering and multi-variable analysis. New understandings such as the magnitude and prevailing trends of concentrations for target constituents as well as the correlations among flowback compositions, the differentiation between early and late time flowback water were obtained and explained on the basis of geochemistry and physics. This helps production companies and other stakeholders to better manage and reuse waste water for energy production.