Negative Size Effect Research Articles

Productive and Destructive Group Contests: An Experimental Investigation

In this study, we experimentally test the theoretical results of a contest game between groups when the value of the prize is fixed and when it is endogenously determined. It can decrease with contest efforts of all groups as in the case of an armed conflict or a lawsuit. The value of the prize can also increase with contest efforts as in the case of a patent race. We also analyze the impact of different groupings of players on contest efforts. We observe overinvestment and no negative effect of group size whether the prize value is exogenous or endogenous. Also, a productive contest seems to have no positive effect on individual investments. A destructive contest, however, does have a significant negative impact, but this effect is reduced with a larger number of competing groups.

Experimental study on shear mechanical characteristics and its size effect of concrete joints based on BP neural network method

In order to study the shear mechanical characteristics and its size effect on concrete joints, this paper uses the RDS-200 shear test system developed by GCTS company to carry out the indoor direct shear tests on concrete joint specimens with five kinds of JRC and five grades of joint surface size under five normal stress conditions. The results show that the pre-peak shear stiffness of concrete joints is not significantly affected by JRC and normal stress, but is significantly affected by the joint surface size. The pre-peak shear stiffness decreases with the increase of joint surface size, when the joint surface size increases from 35 mm to 95 mm, the pre-peak shear stiffness of specimens with JRC being 0 ∼ 2, 4 ∼ 6, 8 ∼ 10, 12 ∼ 14 and 16 ∼ 18 decreased by 66.96 %, 63.87 %, 71.67 %, 64.57 % and 66.32 %, respectively, with an average of 66.68 %. Moreover, with the increase of joint surface size, the decrease rate of pre-peak shear stiffness decreases gradually, which is basically exponential, that is because the pre-peak shear stiffness has negative size effect. In addition, the peak shear strength of concrete joints increases with the increase of normal stress and JRC, and the relationship between peak shear strength and normal stress conforms to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion. Furthermore, there is no obvious size effect on the peak shear strength of concrete joints in the range of 35–95 mm. An intelligent prediction method for predicting the peak shear strength and pre-peak shear stiffness of concrete joints considering JRC, joint surface size and normal stress was established. The prediction results show that the BP Neural Network optimized by genetic algorithm can effectively predict the peak shear strength and pre-peak shear stiffness of concrete joints, the average error of peak shear strength is about 4.91 %, and the average error of pre-peak shear stiffness is 9.37 %. The conclusions can provide some reference for the evaluation of shear instability of rock joints in surface and underground rock engineering.

Anomalous size effects of ultra-small graphene sheets on the thermal properties of macroscopic films

Graphene films assembled from graphene nanosheets have achieved a wide range of applications in thermal management due to their ultra-high thermal conductivity. Although it is well established in the micron range that increasing the lateral size of graphene sheets enhances the thermal conductivity of graphene films. However, the preparation of large-size graphene sheets and their assembly into ordered film structures remain challenging, which impedes the development of high-performance thermally conductive graphene films. Herein, by unifying the properties of graphene sheets and preparation processes, we correlate the thermal conductivity of graphene films and the lateral size of starting sheets ranging from 0.32 to 20.32 μm and probe the underlying mechanism from the perspectives of macroscopic and microscopic structural defects. Surprisingly, decreasing lateral size to 0.32 μm achieved as high in-plane thermal conductivity (K//, 1550.06 ± 12.99 W/mK) and significantly higher through-plane thermal conductivity (K⊥, 8.11 ± 0.08 W/mK) of graphene films as the case of 20.32 μm. Besides, the commonly overlooked size effect of K⊥ shows an unexpected negative correlation, and the size effect of K// is also not monotonically increasing. These phenomena are correlated with micro-structure defects and lattice defects. Mechanism analysis reveals that thermally induced gas generation and the complex gas-sheet interactions during micro-structure evolution play a critical role in the size effect and may explain the unexpected negative size effect in the sub-micro range. These findings in size effects provide theoretical guidance for the selection of raw materials in fabricating highly thermally conductive graphene films.

Revealing the contribution of corporate sustainability practices to financial performance: Case of BIST Sustainability 25 Index companies

The purpose of the paper is to study the impact of corporate sustainability practices on the financial performance of companies included in the BIST Sustainability 25 Index. To assess the efficiency and quality of corporate sustainability, general (ESG Disclosure Index) and partial (Environmental Disclosure Index, Social Disclosure Index, and Corporate Governance Disclosure Index) indices were used, calculated based on content analysis of sustainability reports. Based on the two given types of indices and four types of financial performance indicators (return on assets, return on equity, assets turnover ratio, and Tobin’s Q), two types of regression models (GEN models and PART models) were built, and eight analytical models were examined. Company size and leverage were included as control variables in each model. The regression analysis results were contradictory, partially confirming the conclusions of some scientists and refuting the findings of others. A study of GEN models revealed that companies implementing more effective general corporate sustainability practices have a significant positive impact only on return on equity; as for other measures (return on assets, assets turnover ratio, and Tobin’s Q), an insignificant relationship between them and ESG Disclosure Index was found. Results of the PART models analysis revealed a significant positive effect of the Social Disclosure Index on return on equity and assets turnover ratio and a negative relationship between the Corporate Governance Disclosure Index and assets turnover ratio. Using control variables for the two types of models showed a significant negative effect of company size on Tobin’s Q. AcknowledgmentThis study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ukraine within the project “Development of a mechanism for the sustainable development of economic systems in the conditions of military operations and post-war recovery of the economy” (Registration number of the project: 0124U000463).

Human Capital Investments and Family Size in Italy: IV Estimates Using Twin Births as an Instrument

Abstract Human capital investments at an early age appear crucial for individual outcomes. Family size might affect these investments influencing parental time and economic resources invested in children’s education. This feature is related to the children quantity-quality trade-off proposed by Becker that has been investigated only for a few countries because of data limitations. We investigate this issue for Italy – even in the absence of Census data relating family of origin to children’s educational outcomes – using many waves of the Survey on Household Income and Wealth of the Bank of Italy and focusing on the educational attainments of 19–23 years old. We use twin births as an instrumental variable to identify exogenous variations in family size. In contrast with the results from other developed countries, we find a significant negative effect of family size on children’s education, probably related to the low quality of education in some regions of the country and to the poor public assistance of families with children. We show that these findings are robust to a number of checks. The effects appear stronger for women, Southern regions, low-income families and when spacing between births is limited, suggesting that both time and financial constraints are mechanisms at work. We also find strong birth order effects.

The impact of ESG on return -Based on the information technology industry

This study aims to explore the correlation between ESG ratings and returns in the electronic communication industry, and analyze the factors that affect this relationship. Firstly, there is a significant positive correlation between ESG ratings and returns, indicating the correlation between environmental, social, and governance factors and the profitability of enterprises in the electronic communication industry. Secondly, the study identified institutional investors as intermediaries who can actively adjust the relationship between ESG ratings and returns, thereby strengthening this correlation. However, there is a significant difference between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises, and ESG ratings are significantly correlated with the returns of state-owned enterprises, while they are not significant in private enterprises. In addition, the study also showed a negative moderating effect of company size on the relationship between ESG ratings and returns, indicating that company size may affect the impact of ESG factors on profitability, especially within larger companies.

The Moderating Effect of Institutions in Government Expenditures - Economic Development Nexus in ECOWAS Countries

The total effect of growing public spending on economic development is ambiguous, especially with today’s realities of exposure to international trade and domestic factor such as institutions. Hence, the objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that good institutions moderate the effect of large government size on economic development. The study employed secondary data covering the period 1986 to 2018 and Arellano and Bover’s Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) panel estimation technique was used to achieve the study objective. Data on Gross Domestic Product per capita, government size, population growth rate, inflation rate, gross fixed capital formation, human development index (HDI) and financial development were sourced from World Development indicator database while data on institutions was obtained from International County Risk Guide database. The study found that the stated hypothesis is validated i.e good institutions mitigate any negative effect of large government size on economic development for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The study therefore, concluded that the relationship between government size and economic development depends on quality of institutions in ECOWAS countries. It is recommended that member countries should embrace democratic governance and build democratic institutions in order to promote government stability. More so, there is need to tightening up of existing public sector rules and regulations on corruption and the setting up of anti-corruption institutions to fight corruption and check corrupt behaviour in the ECOWAS countries.

Analysis of factors influencing stock returns with firm size as a moderating variable in the garment and textile industry listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) 2016-2020

The problem of this research was entering the era “New Normal” has become an opportunity for economic players to invest in the capital market. Due to the unstable economic conditions, Therefore, investors need to conduct fundamental analysis in macro and micro economics so that their investments can obtain high stock returns the objective of this research was analysis of Factors Affecting Stock Returns with Firm Sizeas Moderating Variable in the Garment and Textile Industry Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) 2016-2020. The methodology of this research was the collection of data using the scondary data by annual report firm Garment and Tekstil in BEI. The samples used in research as many as 16 firm with technique purposive sampling. The results of the study showed that there is no effect significant of ROE, DER, DER onstock returns. There is a significant negative effect of Interest Rates and Firm Size on stock returns. Variable Firm Size was also not proven to play a moderating role in the influence of ROE, DER, and CR, but Firm Size was able to significantly moderatinge the effect of interest rates on stock returns of garment and textile companies 2016-2020.

Does team size and tenure matter for European pension funds?

ABSTRACT Pension funds are investment vehicles quite different from mutual funds, because they are specifically designed to provide retirement benefits. We examine the effect of management team size and experience on the ability to capture flows, generate performance (returns and alphas), and risk (value at risk) in a sample of European equity pension funds. To achieve this objective, we resort to cointegration econometric methodology. After analysing the stationarity of the series, we estimate four different proposed relationships to lower the short-run and long-run effects of team size and manager experience on different metrics of pension funds. Our findings reveal a negative short-term effect of team size on pension fund flows and returns, but not on risk-adjusted performance (alpha). Additionally, team size shows a relationship with value at risk (VaR), leading to decreased expected losses as team size increases. Conversely, manager experience positively influences flows in the long run but has negative effects on alpha, not impacting returns.

On the Question of the Sign of Size Effects in the Elastic Behavior of Foams

Due to their good ratio of stiffness and strength to weight, foam materials find use in lightweight engineering. Though, in many applications like structural bending or tension, the scale separation between macroscopic structure and the foam’s mesostructure like cells size, is relatively weak and the mechanical properties of the foam appear to be size dependent. Positive as well as negative size effects have been observed for certain basic tests of foams, i.e., the material appears either to be more compliant or stiffer than would be expected from larger specimens. Performing tests with sufficiently small specimens is challenging as any disturbances from damage of cell walls during sample preparation or from loading devices must be avoided. Correspondingly, the number of respective data in literature is relatively low and the results are partly contradictory.In order to avoid the problems from sample preparation or bearings, the present study employs virtual tests with CT data of real medium-density ceramic foams. A number of samples of different size is “cut” from the resulting voxel data. Subsequently, the apparent elastic properties of each virtual sample are “measured” directly by a free vibrational analysis using finite cell method, thereby avoiding any disturbances from load application or bearings. The results exhibit a large scatter of the apparent moduli per sample size, but with a clear negative size effect in all investigated basic modes of deformation (bending, torsion, uniaxial). Finally, the results are compared qualitatively and quantitatively to available experimental data from literature, yielding common trends as well as open questions.

COVID-19 and Grade Inflation: Analysis of Undergraduate GPAs During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic required adaptation to a new learning environment creating challenges for students and instructors. A reduction in student-teacher contact and the lack of supervision should have led to a decline in students’ academic performance. Nonetheless, studies report increases in grades during the pandemic. Yet, limited information is available regarding the persistence of this impact. This study utilizes a hierarchical mixed effect model to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university grades. Using unique class-level data containing chronological variables and institutional, instructor, and student characteristics, spanning Fall 2010 to Spring 2021 of 7,852 undergraduate classes, it is shown class average grade point averages (GPAs) in the College of Agriculture at Texas A&M University increased for the three semesters most impacted by COVID-19. Average class GPAs increased by 0.22 points in Spring 2020 because of COVID-19 and then approximately 0.18 points in the subsequent next two semesters. The negative effect of class size decreased during COVID-19, implying online classes have different size effects than traditional classes. Additionally, the positive effect of SAT scores on grades decreased. One implication of this study is that COVID-19 may not only have a direct, significant, impact on GPAs but may also indirectly affect GPAs through altering the effects of variables on GPAs. The causal mechanisms by which the changes occurred are an area for further research. JEL Codes: I21, I29

Impact of Profitability, Firm Size and Investment Opportunities on Earning Quality: Evidence from Pakistan

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the impact of profitability, firm size, and investment opportunities on earning quality of companies in Pakistan. For this purpose, 100 non-financial companies were selected from the top industries of Pakistan registered on the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2021. This study has taken earning quality as a dependent variable, while profitability, firm size and investment opportunities are used as the independent variables.
 Design/ Methodology/ Approach: For the purpose of investigation, descriptive statistics are presented and the multi co-linearity test, Hausman test, and random effect regression model are conducted. A purposive sampling technique is used in this research.
 Findings: The research indicates that the profitability and investment opportunities have a significant and positive effect on earning quality of the companies. On the other side, the research demonstrated that the firm size has a significant negative effect on earning quality. The reason behind this relation is that the large-scale firms expands their discretionary accruals and manipulate the earnings as they want to show the healthy financial circumstances of the company in the market, so that they can attract investors. Therefore, by doing this manipulation, earning quality is impacted, which indicates the negative effect of firm size.
 Implications/ Originality/ Value: This study would help the investors and stakeholders to better understand the financial condition of the non-financial companies of Pakistan before investment. Depending upon all the results, it is recommended that all companies must improve their earning quality and present it without manipulation so that the investors and other stakeholders can make more investments and profits.

Does the Capital Structure Affect the Discretionary and Non-discretionary Firm Performance? Evidence from Vietnam

This study strives to describe how the nexus between capital structure (CAS) and firm performance (FIP) changes with and without earnings management (EAM), which previous studies have not fully addressed. For this purpose, we divide the FIP into discretionary performance (DIP) and non-discretionary performance (NDIP). Subsequently, we examine the effect of CAS on both with each studied separately to recognize the conceptual drivers in the nexus between CAS and FIP. We use the dataset of firms listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) during the period from 2018 to 2022. Our findings reveal that there is a negative and noteworthy impact of CAS proxied by leverage on both DIP and NDIP, which is in line with trade-off theory (TOT) and pecking-order theory (POT). Because non-discretionary accruals (NDA) play an important role in EAM, firm action is consistent with TOT or POT and, thus, this study suggests dividing EAM into discretionary accruals (DA) and NDA to test CAS theories. Additionally, Vietnamese firms use EAM to lessen the negative effect of CAS and firm size. Finally, besides the theoretical contributions, the findings of this study have important empirical implications for managers, shareholders and other stakeholders.

Investigating the determinants of working capital in the Gulf Cooperation Council

This study aims to identify the determinants affecting the working capital of non-financial companies listed on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). All non-financial companies listed on Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait were collected and resulted in a total of 532 companies during the period of 2008–2021. The final sample included 135 companies (25.38 percent of the total number of non-financial companies in the GCC) that had at least 10 years of data out of the 14 years. This paper applied the panel regression (random and fixed effects techniques); the insignificant result of the Hausman test favored the random effect results. The results argued that there is a negative significant effect of leverage, profitability, and firm size on working capital. This suggests that high-leveraged companies tend to have less working capital and this is due to the commitment to servicing the debts. In addition, large companies tend to have less working capital since they have huge expenses to pay and this affects negatively their working capital level. Also, an interesting result is that highly profitable companies tend to have less working capital since they include themselves in more projects. While, there is a positive significant effect of growth and cash flow on working capital, which confirms that high-growth companies tend to have better working capital.

Corporate governance systems and financial risks: A developing country evidence

Banks are one of the essential pillars of the financial sector (Alzuod & Alqhaiwi, 2022), however, banking is a high-risk industry (de Andres & Vallelado, 2008). The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the board’s structure and ownership structure on the financial risks of Jordanian commercial banks. Data was gathered manually from the financial reports. Notably, the study addressed two types of financial risks: liquidity risk and credit risk. The study sample included commercial banks listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) to cover the period 2014–2019. To achieve the study’s objectives, multiple regression analysis was run to test the hypotheses. The results reveal a negative, statistically significant impact of the board size, institutional ownership, and bank size on liquidity risk. The results also demonstrated a negative effect of board independence, ownership concentration, bank size, and CEO duality on credit risk. In sum, the results support previous studies that found a statistically significant role of corporate governance mechanisms in reducing financial risks. The study recommended the need to enhance foreign investment and institutional ownership.

Per capita food expenditure in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar: Is there household economies of scale?

This paper empirically investigates the existence of economies of scale in food consumption, the share of food expense in total household expenditure, and the determinants of per capita food expenditure in Myanmar. The study was conducted with a total of 400 respondents from Nay Pyi Taw region and the survey took place in October 2021. The results are presented into two sections. In the first section, the descriptive statistics of the variables such as the respondents’ age, household size, education and residence are reported. The household monthly income was 227.51 USD, household monthly food expenditure was 112.49 USD, household monthly per capita food expenditure was 36.69 USD, and the share of food expenditure to total household expenditure was 70.20 % on average. In the second section, the inferential statistics of the variables are reported using the Pearson’s correlation analysis and regression analysis. Significant negative relationships were found between adult-equivalent household size and per capita food expenditure, and between income and the share of food expense in total household expenditure. The negative effect of household size on per capita food expenditure indicated by the regression analysis suggested that economies of scale in food consumption existed among the study households. Policy makers therefore need to consider economies of scale when designing the poverty alleviation programs.

Firm Size and Market Value of Firms Trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange: Does Dividend Policy Offer an Indirect Path?

Objective: Research focuses on the direct effect of firm size on the market value at the expense of covariates such as dividend policy. Therefore, this study investigated the mediation effect of dividend policy on the relationship between firm size and market value. Methodology: Panel research design was employed with a target of 54 companies listed at the Nairobi security exchange in Kenya, operational in the relatively stable economy period between 2008 and 2017. Data were sourced from published audited financial reports. Analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study tested for full mediation, partial mediating, or lack of mediation. Data analysis was facilitated using STATA (version 15) software. Findings: The results showed that firm size had a negative and significant effect on market value (b1=-0.378 p<0.001) and that dividend policy had no significant effect on market value, b2=-0.035, p>0.05. The researcher concluded that there was no ground for mediation. Originality: The results confirm that dividend policy does not mediate between firm size and market value, albeit in the Kenyan Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) context, and provides reasons to explore other proxies of dividend policy. In finding that dividend policy does not mediate in the relationship between firm size and market value, this study becomes the first one to justify working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic since the issue of dividends does not arise working at home. Practical Implications: The negative effect of firm size on market value is an interesting finding that implies that with the emergence of technology, firm size is inversely proportional to market value. Consequently, small firms can exploit technology more effectively than large firms to boost their market value.

Can a proposed double branch multimodality-contribution-aware TripNet improve the prediction performance of the microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma based on small samples?

To evaluate the potential improvement of prediction performance of a proposed double branch multimodality-contribution-aware TripNet (MCAT) in microvascular invasion (MVI) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on a small sample. In this retrospective study, 121 HCCs from 103 consecutive patients were included, with 44 MVI positive and 77 MVI negative, respectively. A MCAT model aiming to improve the accuracy of deep neural network and alleviate the negative effect of small sample size was proposed and the improvement of MCAT model was verified among comparisons between MCAT and other used deep neural networks including 2DCNN (two-dimentional convolutional neural network), ResNet (residual neural network) and SENet (squeeze-and-excitation network), respectively. Through validation, the AUC value of MCAT is significantly higher than 2DCNN based on CT, MRI, and both imaging (P < 0.001 for all). The AUC value of model with single branch pretraining based on small samples is significantly higher than model with end-to-end training in CT branch and double branch (0.62 vs 0.69, p=0.016, 0.65 vs 0.83, p=0.010, respectively). The AUC value of the double branch MCAT based on both CT and MRI imaging (0.83) was significantly higher than that of the CT branch MCAT (0.69) and MRI branch MCAT (0.73) (P < 0.001, P = 0.03, respectively), which was also significantly higher than common-used ReNet (0.67) and SENet (0.70) model (P < 0.001, P = 0.005, respectively). A proposed Double branch MCAT model based on a small sample can improve the effectiveness in comparison to other deep neural networks or single branch MCAT model, providing a potential solution for scenarios such as small-sample deep learning and fusion of multiple imaging modalities.

Substitution and size effect for factor demand revisited

We reconsider the decomposition of the comparative statics effect of a factor price increase on (unconditional) factor demand into a substitution and a size (or level) effect. While for the own price effect the substitution effect and the size effect go into the same negative direction, the cross price effect cannot be signed unambiguously, in general. But for two cases of regularity, homotheticity and complementarity, the size effect is negative. We furthermore show by example that in both special cases the cross substitution effects are still ambiguous, but that under complementarity the unconditional effect is always negative. Hence, if the cross substitution effect happens to be positive, it is dominated by the negative size effect in this case. We further show by example that without such regularity assumptions the cross price effect is ambiguous. Finally, we study the impact of a factor price increase on the cost, which can also increase or decrease.

Competitive hydrogenation of alkynes and olefins: Application for the analysis of size sensitivity

In this study, the researchers applied the competitive hydrogenation of two similar terminal alkynes (or olefins) to develop a new kinetic approach to evaluate size effects in catalytic processes and differentiate active sites. This method is based on the analysis of differential selectivity, using phase trajectories of reactions. An analysis of the phase trajectories shows that the hydrogenation of terminal alkynes occurs on the same type of active sites of palladium catalysts (faces). The negative size effect in alkyne hydrogenation, under the action of palladium catalysts with a particle size of 6.6–24 nm, is associated only with the geometric factor. Contrary to alkynes, hydrogenation of olefins takes place on at least two types of active sites. The reasons for the dependence of the apparent turnover frequency of alkyne hydrogenation on the particle size for Ziegler systems are considered. Moreover, the hypotheses about the catalytically active sites of Pd-P nanoparticles in the hydrogenation of alkynes are discriminated.