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This report describes Rapid Prototyping (RP) ‐aided assessment and preoperative planning for treatment of bilateral multifocal pelvic limb deformities in a 1 year old German Shepherd dog. Computed tomography (CT) scans were acquired on a General Electric CT scanner and converted to solid models using Mimics software from Materialise. Stereolithography patterns were prototyped using QuickCast build style on a SLA ‐190. Room temperature vulcanized silicone molds were constructed and three sets of polyurethane patterns were cast for pre‐surgical planning and rehearsal. The paper compares traditional osteotomy planning procedures using only radiographs and 2D CT images to planning with full‐scale physical biomodels. The biomodels had a clearly beneficial impact on the accuracy of surgery and positively influenced the clinical outcome.

Optimization techniques can be used to design geometrically complex components with a wide variety of optimization criteria. However, such components have been very difficult and costly to produce. Layered fabrication technologies such as electron beam melting (EBM) open up new possibilities though. This paper seeks to investigate the integration of structural optimization and direct metal fabrication process.

Mesh structures were designed, and optimization problems were defined to improve structural performance. Finite element analysis code in conjunction with nonlinear optimization routines were used in MATLAB. Element data were extracted from an STL‐file, and output structures from the optimization routine were manufactured using an EBM machine. Original and optimized structures were tested and compared.

There were discrepancies between the performance of the theoretical structures and the physical EBM structures due to the layered fabrication approach. A scaling factor was developed to account for the effect of layering on the material properties.

Structural optimization can be used to improve the performance of a design, and direct fabrication technologies can be used to realise these structures. However, designers must realize that fabricated structures are not identical to idealized CAD structures, hence material properties much be adjusted accordingly.

Integration of structural optimization and direct metal fabrication was reported in the paper. It shows the process from design through manufacturing with integrated analysis.

The aim of this study is to perform a comparative study on sandwich structures with several types of three-dimensional (3D) reticulate cellular structural core designs for their low-energy impact absorption abilities using powder bed additive manufacturing methods. 3D reticulate cellular structures possess promising potentials in various applications with sandwich structure designs. One of the properties critical to the sandwich structures in applications, such as aerospace and automobile components, is the low-energy impact performance.

Sandwich samples of various designs, including re-entrant auxetic, rhombic, hexagonal and octahedral, were designed and fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS) process using nylon 12 as material. Low-energy drop weight test was performed to evaluate the energy absorption of various designs. Tensile coupons were also produced using the same process to provide baseline material properties. The manufacturing issues such as geometrical accuracy and anisotropy effect as well as their effects on the performance of the structures were discussed.

In general, 3D reticulate cellular structures made by SLS process exhibit significantly different characteristics under low-energy drop weight impact compared to the regular extruded honeycomb sandwich panels. A hexagonal sandwich panel exhibits the largest compliance with the smallest energy absorption ability, and an octahedral sandwich panel exhibits high stiffness as well as good impact protection ability. Through a proper geometrical design, the re-entrant auxetic sandwich panels could achieve a combination of high energy absorption and low response force, making it especially attractive for low-impact protection applications.

There has been little work on the comparative study of the energy absorption of various 3D reticulate cellular structures to date. This work demonstrates the potential of 3D reticulate cellular structures as sandwich cores for different purposes. This work also demonstrates the possibility of controlling the performance of this type of sandwich structures via geometrical and process design of the cellular cores with powder bed additive manufacturing systems.

The study investigates the relevance for stock markets of voluntary disclosure of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) extensions [based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or US-GAAP] for an international sample of US cross-listed firms.

The study examines if the disclosure of XBRL extensions by a firm provides relevant information to market participants. Towards that end, this paper investigates whether this type of disclosure affects the level of information asymmetry between insiders and investors and if it is value relevant. This study measures information asymmetry by bid-ask spread and value relevance by stock price or Tobin's Q.

After a certain level of disclosure of XBRL extensions, the impact on stock pricing is negative (creates noise on stock markets). Controlling for that phenomenon, both IFRS and US-GAAP XBRL extensions are value relevant. Second, results indicate that XBRL extensions are positively (negatively) related to stock market value for firms that exhibit positive (negative) earnings. This suggests a complementary effect between earnings and XBRL extensions on their relation with stock price or Tobin's Q. Finally, the results also indicate that both IFRS extensions and US-GAAP extensions are associated with lower information asymmetry (i.e. bid-ask spread).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the relevance of XBRL extensions under IFRS for US cross-listed firms since the availability of the IFRS taxonomy for foreign private issuers that prepare financial statements under IFRS standards.

This study aims to assess if the voluntary reporting of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a widely used non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) measure, has effects on information asymmetry and value relevance and how the adjustments to GAAP earnings made to derive it contribute to these effects. This study focuses on firms from two countries with contrasting institutional settings, Canada and France.

Relying on multivariate analyses and using Heckman’s procedure to address the sample self-selection issue, this study first estimates the likelihood of a firm to report adjusted EBITDA. Then, this study examines if adjusted EBITDA, as well as the adjustments made to GAAP earnings to derive adjusted EBITDA (adjustments), affect a firm’s information asymmetry and its value. These adjustments are essentially GAAP-grounded items that are discarded by management to derive non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA. The dependent variables are share price volatility, as a proxy for information asymmetry, alongside market-to-book and stock market return as indicators of value.

In terms of the used sample, results suggest that Canadian firms are much more likely to report adjusted EBITDA than French firms. Chief executive officer (CEO) attributes (CEO power) appears to increase such likelihood. Moreover, for both Canadian and French firms, adjusted EBITDA is associated with reduced stock market volatility, an indication of lower information asymmetry, as well as higher market-to-book and returns, suggesting value relevance. The results also indicate that investors view the adjustments to GAAP earnings made by management to derive adjusted EBITDA as not value relevant (similar to noise). The GAAP-grounded elements that management discard to derive adjusted EBITDA actually increase information asymmetry.

This study adds to prior research on the interface between a CEO attributes and governance and non-GAAP reporting. This study also provides evidence that, despite very different institutional settings, non-GAAP reporting conveys relevant information to capital markets’ participants in both France and Canada. Hence, a country’s institutional setting may have a differential impact on the disclosure choice but not on the resulting value relevance of such disclosure. Finally, this study extends the non-GAAP literature by examining the value relevance of a widely used yet under-researched measure, adjusted EBITDA.

This article aims to explore whether a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) transparency alleviates a firm's cash holdings.

CSR transparency ratings encompass both the quantity and the quality of CSR practices, as validated by Bloomberg. While based upon firm-specific disclosure, transparency ratings impound additional information gathered independently by Bloomberg and thus bridge the gap between CSR disclosure and CSR performance. The authors use ordinary least squares estimators, and the authors concentrate on a panel of S&P 500 index companies over the period of 2012–2018 to examine the effect of CSR transparency on corporate cash holdings.

The authors document that a higher level of CSR transparency induces a lower level of corporate cash holdings. Additional results imply that this negative relationship is more pronounced for firms suffering from high information asymmetry, with low financial reporting quality and for those with weak governance. Further analyses document that higher CSR transparency can help firms to enjoy lower cost of debt and to be less financially constrained, enabling high CSR transparent firms to obtain external financing more easily and at a lower cost, thus lowering the need to hoard cash. Ultimately, the study findings suggest that CSR transparency increases the market value relevance of an additional dollar in cash holdings.

The authors contribute to both research streams of CSR and corporate cash holdings as they provide evidence about the influence of CSR transparency as a monitoring and insurance-like mechanism on corporate cash holdings.

This study aims to assess the informativeness of carbon emission data for the stock markets and the mediating role played by financial analysts and the quality of the governance on this issue.

Relying on structural equation modelling, the authors assess the relation between embedded CO₂ disclosure or CO₂ emissions disclosure and the stock market valuation (Tobin Q), considering the mediating roles played by financial analysts (external monitoring) and corporate governance (internal monitoring).

Results based on a sample of North American firms in the oil and gas industry are the following. The disclosure of embedded CO₂ is negatively associated with a firm’s market value, but this association is mediated by analyst following and corporate governance. The disclosure of yearly CO₂ emissions is also negatively related to stock market value, while corporate governance mediates this negative impact, and analysts following does not. Considering that yearly CO₂ emissions represent short-term environmental risks, whereas embedded CO₂ represents long-term environmental risks, it appears important to consider embedded CO₂ when studying the impact of carbon disclosure on firm value. The authors also show that a firm’s environmental performance (measured by Carbon Disclosure Project – CDP) is positively associated with two mediating variables (i.e. analyst following and corporate governance).

The study results suggest that CO₂ emissions information is less relevant than embedded CO₂ in attracting financial analysts when they are assessing a firm’s value because it represents short-term environmental risks, whereas embedded CO₂ represents long-term environmental risks. Therefore, the authors consider important to include embedded CO₂ when studying the impact of environmental disclosure on a firm’s value.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether formally disclosing an earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) number reduces the information asymmetry between managers and investors beyond the release of GAAP earnings. The paper also assess if EBITDA disclosure enhances the value relevance and the predictive ability of earnings.

The authors explore the interface between GAAP and non-GAAP reporting as well as the impact of corporate governance on the quality of non-GAAP measures.

Results suggest that EBITDA reporting is associated with greater analyst following and with less information asymmetry. The authors also document that EBITDA reporting enhances the positive relationship between earnings and stock pricing as well as future cash flows. Moreover, it appears that corporate governance substitutes for EBITDA reporting for stock markets. Hence, EBITDA helps market participants to better assess earnings valuation when a firm’s governance is weak. Inversely, when governance is strong, releasing EBITDA information has a much smaller impact on the earnings-stock price relation.

The authors revisit the issue of how corporate governance relates with earnings quality by considering the potentially confounding effect of EBITDA reporting; it appears that such reporting substitutes for governance in moderating the relation between governance and earnings quality.

The purpose of this paper is to assess if a firm’s ethical lapses, which result from unethical behavior or actions, influence its social disclosure (SD) practices as well as how ethical lapses affect both the firm’s legitimacy within society and its standing in financial markets. This study addresses two-related questions: do a firm’s ethical lapses undermine the credibility of its SD in financial markets, either directly or through a firm’s legitimacy? Do ethical lapses affect a firm’s market value and is this effect mediated by SD and legitimacy?

Three hypotheses are derived based on two theoretical approaches, information economics and institutional theory. The hypotheses lead ultimately to an examination of a firm’s legitimacy. Ethical lapses are inspired by the Global Reporting Initiative grid and by ISO 26000.

The results suggest that a firm’s ethical lapses underlie its SD practices and affect its legitimacy and standing in financial markets, the latter being proxied by financial analysts’ forecasts.

The limitations of this study include that alternative ways exist to measure the constructs employed, the measurement of SD is subject to discretionary choices, and the North American sample results may not be generalizable to other countries.

The originality and contributions of this study are based on the use of information economics and institutional theory in a complementary way that recognizes information as serving various purposes and constituencies. Additionally, the paper extends prior research on the SD aspects of CSR by showing it matters to both financial markets and non-financial stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incidence of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) on stock market assessment of intangibles and voluntary disclosure about innovation.

The authors develop three regression models. The first model investigates the stock market valuation of intangible assets and disclosure about innovation. The second model desegregates earnings to assess the relevance of components related to intangibles. The third model investigates how intangible expenses and voluntary disclosure affect analysts forecast dispersion.

Results show that the value relevance of intangible assets and expenses improves with the adoption of IAS 38. Overall, results indicate a decrease in the value relevance of voluntary disclosure about innovation under IFRS. More specifically, results suggest some overlap in the information content of mandated and voluntary disclosure for stock market valuation of intangible assets under IFRS. Findings also suggest that voluntary disclosure moderates market's assessment of expensed intangibles under both Canadian GAAP and IFRS.

IAS 38 requires entities to recognize an intangible asset if certain criteria are met and to disclose specific information about it. In such a context, market participants may refer to a greater extent to financial reporting and to a lesser extent to voluntary disclosure when valuating intangibles.

Managers will have an incentive to better target their communications to ensure a degree of complementarity with financial reporting. In this sense, this study contributes to the voluntary disclosure literature.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between mandatory disclosure and voluntary disclosure about intangibles and evaluate the impact of IFRS on this matter.