Antioxidation responses of maize roots and leaves to water deficit and rewatering under partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) were investigated using a pot system. Plants were cultured using three irrigation methods, i.e. conventional irrigation (CI), alternate PRI (APRI) and fixed PRI (FPRI) with...

China has been experiencing urbanization at an unprecedented rate over the last two decades. This study analyzes the impact of urbanization on land occupation. Cities are clustered by their functions and development stages, which is illustrated by a cluster tree, a dynamic tree that depicts the...

The first essay uses a model of profit-maximizing hospitals to examine hospital responses to global budgeting in the forms of dumping and cost shifting. The main findings include: (1) Hospitals dump insured patients when the covered services are priced under costs. Whetherthe budget target is...

Agriculture has been essentially the backbone of economic growth for centuries. The sector has provided employment for the majority of the world population for generations, and has served as a powerful force in transforming of economies towards an industry- and service- based. In many countries,...

We develop a model in which time-varying real investment opportunities lead to time-varying adverse selection in the market for initial public offerings. The model is consistent with several stylized facts known about the IPO market: economic expansions are associated with a dramatic increase in...

From the perspective of corporate financial accounting, we examine empirically the impact of corporate financial factors on the voluntary disclosure of environmental information. Using a sample of 138 chemical industry listed companies in China, we find that more companies disclose environment...

In this paper, we study the empirical performance of structural credit risk models by examining the default probabilities calculated from these models with different time horizons. The parameters of the models are estimated from firm's bond and equity prices. The models studied include Merton...

We develop a model in which time-varying real investment opportunities lead to time-varying adverse selection in the market for initial public offerings. The model is consistent with several stylized facts known about the IPO market: economic expansions are associated with a dramatic increase in...