Search results

Neural networks offer an alternative to numerical scoring schemes for credit granting and extension decisions. A standard back‐ propagation neural network running on a DOS personal computer is used with 125 credit applicants whose loan outcomes are known. Applicant characteristics are described as input neurons receiving values representing the individuals' demographic and credit information. Three categories of payment history, delinquent, charged‐off, and paid‐off, are used as the networks output neurons to depict the loan outcomes. After training on part of the data, correct classifications were made on 76–80% of the holdout sample.

In response to the financial crisis that began in 2007, United States President Barack Obama signed H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, into law on July 21, 2010. “Dodd-Frank” is intended to correct certain problems in financial markets by federally regulating the activities of independent municipal financial advisors and comprehensively expanding regulatory oversight over credit rating agencies. This article reviews the legislation and its financial management rationale, and discusses its actual and potential impact on the future operations of the municipal securities market and its participants.

In 2010 the Dodd-Frank Law was passed in response to the 2008 recession. However, questions arose regarding the federal agenciesʼ ability to regulate the economy in general and the utility of financial regulations in particular. This work examines and discusses the challenges associated with the uncertainty of the administrative environment in which agencies have been drafting regulations in response to Dodd-Frank. A lack of administrative clarity as a result of Congressional politics led to regulatory capture and operational paralysis on the part of federal agencies tasked with implementing the Act. In this type of environment it becomes very difficult for regulatory agencies to be effective and competent when regulations have not all been drafted yet and legislation is continuously changing. This article critically examines the recent proposed changes to the Dodd-Frank Law. Specifically, it delineates the manner in which the legislative instability has impacted the Federal Reserve Bankʼs capacity to effectively implement the necessary rules for mitigating economic risks.

OUR elder son, a fledgling Frank Johnson on a provincial daily newspaper, frequently telephones his reference enquiries home rather than directing them to his paper's library or his friendly neighbourhood one. He does this because he gets priority service from his Ma; and she is happy to oblige because she can, at the same time, check up on his diet and the state of his laundry.

The increasing economic importance and the number of born global firms make it worthwhile to study what leads to their success in the international market. To better understand this international business phenomenon, we conducted in‐depth interviews with managers, coupled with public database and Web site searches. Research propositions were developed based on an extensive qualitative method. The relationship between organizational culture, information technology capability, and performance is proposed in the context of born global firms, based on viewing the concept of IT capability from the resource‐based view. We further provide recommendations for managers, theoretical contributions and suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test control methods for real‐time automatic presser‐foot force control in industrial sewing machines. In this work, a closed‐loop controller that controls presser‐foot maximum vertical displacement is presented and compared to existing solutions that adjust force depending on sewing speed. Automatic force control can reduce problems such as stitch irregularity, stitch distortions and material damage, besides making material handling easier.

An electromagnetic force actuator was integrated in an industrial lockstitch machine. A computer‐based control system was designed implementing either speed‐variable force control, closed‐loop control, or emulating a traditional constant‐force system. Maximum presser‐foot displacement values were measured and analysed in relevant sewing situations, and seam quality was assessed.

Constant‐force control does not allow optimal force setting at all speeds. Speed‐variable force control is an improvement, but requires empirical setting of the speed‐force relation, not always assuring optimal operation. Closed‐loop control adapts force to the requirement of each sewing situation more precisely. Sewing quality is good and material handling is eased.

The actuator has to be optimised regarding response time and maximum force. Some aspects in the behaviour of the control system and actuator have to be further studied.

The proposed control system enables the automatic setting and adaptation of force to all sewing situations, making material handling easier at low speeds without compromising feeding performance at high speed. The closed‐loop controller may be used as a teach‐in system for speed‐dependent control.

This is the first prototype of a closed‐loop control system for presser‐foot force on a lockstitch sewing machine and the first comparative study of control methods for presser‐foot force control.

The purpose of this study is to investigate five well‐established issues of gender stereotype, analyzing data obtained from 811 family businesses in eight diverse countries, with the objective of testing the relationship between male and female owner/managers of these businesses and these stereotypes in a managerial context.

This eight country study involved survey research using hierarchal regression to test five hypotheses involving gender stereotypes relating to family business management. The eight countries, USA, Egypt, France, Argentina, Serbia, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Croatia, provided a mixture of entrepreneurial demographics and context.

Only one hypothesis supported a gender stereotype. As the percentage of female managers increases, so does the use of group rather than individual decision‐making. The other four variables – formal versus informal management style, conflict among family members, use of sophisticated financial analysis, and use of outside consultants, advisors and professional services – did not change significantly with the percentage of female owner/managers. For control variables, as the number of employees increased, the percentage of female owner/managers decreased, and females tended to own/manage service, rather than product, firms.

These findings offer “theory into practice” implications for owner/managers of family businesses, as well as for those who assist such businesses.

These findings provide a theoretical contribution to the study of family business because clear answers to gender management similarities and differences in family firms remain elusive, and these results expand, modify and clarify the understanding of gender issues in family business.

While family firms constitute a highly important component of most countries' economies, and in many countries a sizable portion of these family businesses are owned and managed by women, there has been minimal study of gender issues in family business ownership and management. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap.

The research design was self‐reported survey research, which is the most commonly used methodology in family business research and for small business and entrepreneurship quantitative research.

In contrast to early (pre‐1980) gender comparisons in management and entrepreneurship, and in support of the majority of more recent studies, this investigation found no significant relationships between the gender of family business owner‐managers and ten management characteristic variables in a sample of 593 family businesses in six countries.

These findings add to the limited and currently inconclusive body of knowledge regarding gender issues specifically in family business, and more generally in entrepreneurship and management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether indirect police contacts through observational learning models impact students’ trust in the police and their perceptions of police bias.

The study is based on a survey at two public universities in the mid-western and southern regions of the USA (921 out of 1,089 responses were retained for this study). The empirical analysis relied on a principle component factor analysis and a multivariate regression analysis.

Results show that three observational learning models (live, verbal, and symbolic) significantly influence perceptions of the police. In particular, the symbolic model is significant regardless of students’ direct and indirect contact experiences with the police.

This study is the first to examine the modeling effects on attitudes toward the police applying the classic social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura. The results highlight the importance of indirect police contact experiences in shaping young citizens’ perceptions of the police.