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This paper proposes the use of a gauge function as a measure of technical efficiency. The measure of technical inefficiency from a gauge function is desirable as the estimation of a gauge function is not subject to the endogeneity problem under the behavioral assumption of profit maximization in the competitive market.

The authors address three important properties of a gauge function, i.e. linear homogeneity, monotonicity and convexity in inputs and outputs, and show how such properties are utilized in its estimation. Then, the authors apply the estimation of a gauge function to US Blacksmiths in 1850 and 1880 to show that a failure to satisfy such properties may lead to an incorrect inference on the technical efficiency.

The authors find that the Blacksmiths in the 1850s were technically more efficient than the ones in the 1880s, indicating technical regress in Blacksmithing when the properties are satisfied.

This paper introduces a measure of technical inefficiency from a gauge function and shows how to estimate the gauge function parametrically for the measure. The authors show McFadden's gauge function and its properties, which differ from the properties of other distance functions. The authors emphasize linear homogeneity as well as monotonicity and convexity in inputs and outputs, which must be satisfied in the estimation of a gauge function.

Points out that the trend in the USA and the UK to adopt business codes of ethics has been followed in recent years by Australian business organizations. Presents findings from two studies which involved the top 500 Australian enterprises. The first examined the likelihood of code adoption in relation to such variables as organization type, size, income and major activities. The second was concerned with the actual nature of the content to determine whether codes were designed to deal with ethical issues, corporate values and ethical decision skills rather than with management policies and legal issues; and whether a code was in fact a code of ethics as opposed to rules on business etiquette and behaviour.

Our objective was to compare the physical health status of adult prisoners with and without a mental illness. Mental illness was diagnosed in a sample of 557 Australian prisoners using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Physical health measures included self‐reported chronic health conditions, recent health complaints and symptoms, self‐assessed health using the Short‐Form 36 Health Survey (SF‐36), and markers of infectious diseases known to be highly prevalent among prisoner populations (hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C). Men and women with a mental illness had lower scores on the SF‐36 compared with those without a mental illness indicating poor overall health. Adjusting for age and sex, a diagnosis of any mental illness (symptoms of psychosis, anxiety or affective disorder) was positively associated with a history of head injury, back problems, asthma, peptic ulcers, cancer, and epilepsy/seizures. There was a significant association between post traumatic stress disorder and asthma, a history of head injury, peptic ulcers, and cancer. There was no significant difference in the proportion of current tobacco smokers in the mentally ill and nonmentally ill groups (81% vs. 77%, p = 0.33). However, those with a mental illness were less likely than those with no diagnosis to exercise in the past 4 weeks (79% vs. 89%, p = 0.002). Mentally ill prisoners also have significant physical co‐morbidity compared with the non‐mentally ill. These findings suggest that those providing mental health services to prisoners should adopt a holistic approach embracing both mental and physical health.

The purpose of this study aims to synthesize a novel donor–acceptor dye based on phenothiazine as a donor (D) and nonconjugated spacer was devised and synthesized by condensing of 2,2'-(1H-indene-1,3(2H)-diylidene) dimalononitrile with aldehyde and the practical synthesis methodology as given in Scheme 1.

The prepared phenothiazine dye was systematically experimentally and theoretically examined and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H,13C NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (IR) and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory DT-DFT calculations were implemented to determine the electronic properties of the new dye

The UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of the synthesized dye was investigated in a variety of solvents with varying polarities to demonstrate positive solvatochromism correlated with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). The probe’s quantum yields (Фf) are experimentally measured in ethanol, and the Stokes shifts are found to be in the 4846–9430 cm⁻¹ range.

The findings depicted that the novel (D-π-A) chromophores may act as a significant factor in the organic optoelectronics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether new store locations by two incumbent supermarket chains in Singapore were consistent with a preemptive strategy.

The methodology involved collecting store location data and using a geographical technique (Thiessen polygons) for inferring the existence of a preemptive strategy.

The analyses revealed that while NTUC Fairprice’s (the dominant incumbent) new store location strategy was consistent with a preemptive strategy, the second ranked player’s (Cold Storage) was not. Being the dominant incumbent, NTUC Fairprice had the incentive (protect its dominant position) as well as ability (scale, low costs and a merchandise mix that appealed to the mass market) to adopt a preemptive strategy. Cold Storage, on the other hand, lacked both the incentive (appeal to the narrow expatriate segment) and the ability (scale or low costs) to follow a preemptive location strategy.

The analyses did not distinguish between the opening of large vs small stores because the data on store sizes were not available. The analyses focused on an earlier time period because the implementation of the analytical technique (construction of polygons) was more feasible during the timeframe.

The paper identifies conditions under which it may be appropriate for firms to follow a preemptive strategy.

The paper adopts a highly appropriate methodology (Thiessen polygons) that takes into account the locations of own as well as competitor’s stores for analyzing the new store locations by supermarket chains. The paper’s conclusions about the conditions under which preemptive strategies are likely to be adopted can be useful to future researchers as well as managers.

This study aims to better understand the effects of speeches as a valuable communication tool for central banks. It extends the analysis of the effects of public speeches on jumps to determine whether individual speakers matter partly because of their name, position or institution.

This study detects intraday jumps using a robust-to-jump volatility estimator that accounts for deterministic seasonality. As a result, this study removes spurious jumps that occur when volatility is high and consider the relatively small jumps that occur when volatility is low. After identifying jumps, this study examines their reactions to senior official speeches and macroeconomic news surrounding the US and European Union (EU) financial crises.

Despite having the most influential individual speakers, this study finds that the impact of the Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) is mitigated because the two institutions have a relatively small impact on currency jumps. This finding shows that the speaker’s name is more important than his or her institution affiliation. While the Federal Reserve Bank President and Chief Executive, as well as ECB board members, significantly reduce jump sizes, particularly during the EU crisis period, both the Fed Chairman and the ECB President increase the magnitude of the jump in both the US crisis and noncrisis periods, contributing to market instability.

The implications of the results include international portfolio management, currency derivatives pricing and hedging, risk management and market efficiency.

The findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of senior official speech attributes on currency jumps in various economic states. The results raise questions about the speaker’s name, institution and position’s effectiveness in calming markets and reducing uncertainty.

Large-scale financial scandals in business have increased public awareness of fraud and the need for forensic accounting (FA) services. Despite a steadily growing body of knowledge of FA, Huber (2012) argued that the term FA is ill defined. This paper aims to support the development of a nomenclature for FA by gathering evidence on the prevalence of the term in the Southern Hemisphere. Hence the authors ask how, when, where and in which context the term FA appears. In analysing the evidence gathered, the authors also aim to identify changes to the use of the term. Finally, they intend to make suggestions for future development and research relating to the term to advance knowledge. The authors also aim to suggest a definition for the term FA.

To obtain evidence to support the development of an accepted definition for FA, a rigorous search of the literature is performed, using a structured review framework.

The findings of this paper demonstrate the prevalence of the term FA in publications in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but that limited publications from SA create opportunities for researchers from emerging economies to publish in the FA field. This meta-analysis shows among others a strong focus on the role of FA in fraud prevention and increased reliance on websites (in contrast to reliance on academic literature) for information on FA. This research identifies changes to the use of the term and concludes that the narrow definition of FA prevails. Delivering on the third objective of this paper, the authors provide insights into future developments in FA and find that a need exists to explore FA in a much wider context.

The research is limited to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Limitations exist in that the authors focused particularly on high-quality journals and excluded other journals from our search. As they were specifically searching for the use of the term “forensic accounting”, they excluded any other term, e.g. fraud auditing, from the research. Future research may well expand the search terminology.

Without an established definition of the commonly used term forensic accounting, the general public will be confused about the services that can be expected from forensic accountants. To date, FA definitions have been formulated mostly intuitively; however, if FA is to grow as a field, an accepted definition needs to be formulated.

FA offers a new area of growth in the accounting field. Clarification of exactly what is meant by the term has implications for future careers in the field of accounting.

To date, no study of this nature has been undertaken anywhere in the world.