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Since inception, National Sample Survey (NSS) is the only large-scale household survey in India, periodically collecting data on morbidity and health care conditions in the country. In these surveys, information for all members of sample households was gathered either from head or a key informant of the household. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study was developed to examine whether the use of proxy respondents influences population estimates of morbidity prevalence rates and factors associated with morbidity prevalence rates among adults based on latest 60th round NSS data on morbidity and health care.

The results showed that use of proxy in this survey had severely affected morbidity prevalence rates among adult persons aged 18 years and above. The result showed that use of proxy in the NSS 60th round survey had resulted in underestimation of morbidity prevalence rates among adults in such a way that overall morbidity prevalence rate was 45 per cent higher in direct interviews (148 per 1,000 adult persons) compared to those answered by proxies (81, p<0.001). There were variations in underreporting of morbidities by socio-economic and demographic characteristics of proxies but the direction of the association was the same.

The study conclude that morbidity data from the NSS can be used regardless of use of proxies and that the association between worse health condition and socio-economic and demographic factors persisted even when information was collected from a proxy. However, suitable adjustments for proxy-reporting should be made while estimating realistic population at risk from the NSS data.

This is the first manuscript that has made an attempt to examine the effect of proxy-reporting on morbidity prevalence in NSS data. Since its inception in 1955, NSS data are the only data source available in India on morbidity and health care conditions. A large number of research manuscripts have been published using this data and there were serious concerns among the researchers on data quality particularly about the reporting of health status. NSS 60th round first time provided information on reporting status, i.e. proxy vs self. In this context, the present study made an effort in this direction.

To provide an overview of the guidance for proxy firms and investment advisers included in the Staff Legal Bulletin released this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after its four-year comprehensive review of the proxy system.

Discusses briefly the context in which the SEC’s review was conducted; the general themes of the guidance provided; the most notable aspects of the guidance; and the matters that were expected to be, but were not, addressed by the SEC.

The guidance does not go as far in regulating proxy advisory firms as many had anticipated it would. The key obligations specified in the guidance are imposed on the investment advisers who engage the proxy firms. The responsibilities, policies and procedures mandated do not change the fundamental paradigm that has supported the influence of proxy firms – that is, investment advisers continue to be permitted to fulfill their duty to vote client shares in a “conflict-free manner” by voting based on the recommendations of independent third parties, and continue to be exempted from the rules that generally apply to persons who solicit votes or make proxy recommendations.

The SEC staff states in the Bulletin that it expects that proxy firms and investment advisers will conform to the obligations imposed in the Bulletin “promptly, but in any event in advance of [the 2015] proxy season.”

Practical guidance from experienced M&A lawyers.

In late January 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules for investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) requiring them to adopt and disclose to clients proxy voting policies and procedures. Concurrently, the SEC adopted new rules for registered investment companies (funds) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act) requiring them to disclose their proxy voting policies and procedures to their shareholders and to file their voting records with the SEC. The compliance dates for the new Rules are approaching fast. The Rules should have a significant impact on disclosure of proxy voting by advisers and funds. In a recent survey it conducted, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) noted that, of the approximately 3,700 fund groups that will be affected by the Rules, only eleven funds publicly disclose their proxy voting policies on their public websites. Of the eleven funds, seven disclose their proxy voting records and none discloses its policies with respect to conflicts of interest.

We examine the empirical relationship between direct equity agency costs measures and corporate governance control mechanisms to control equity agency costs. We measure the three direct agency cost proxies commonly used in the literature: the operating expense; asset turnover; and selling, general, and administrative (SGA) ratios. Internal corporate governance control mechanisms examined are inside ownership (IO), outside ownership concentration (OC), the size of the board of directors (BODs), and the composition of the BODs (proportion of nonexecutive (NE) directors and separation of chief executive officer (CEO) and board chair). The external corporate governance control mechanism examined is the size of bank debt (short-term debt). Univariate and multivariate tests reveal that the only statistically significant relationship between corporate governance control mechanisms and direct equity agency cost measures is the negative relationship between the proportion of IO and direct agency costs. The asset utilization ratio (asset turnover) ratio is the best proxy for direct equity agency costs and can be useful for event studies of announcement period excess returns.

This study aims to examine the role of institutional investors (using proxy voting and voice) in influencing the decisions and governance landscape of their investee firms.

The authors use exploratory research design due to the underdevelopment of the problem phenomena, especially in the context of emerging economies. Using asset management companies (AMC) as a proxy for institutional investors, the authors use a multiple case study design. This design was relevant in the setting as it assured triangulation by studying the same phenomenon across firms with distinct characteristics. The authors sourced the data for the multiple cases from primary sources (such as semi-structured interviews) and secondary sources (such as official Webpages and social media pages of AMC and examination of archival documents). Finally, the authors used qualitative content analysis to analyse the data.

The findings suggest that shareholder activism by institutional investors has grown in India over the period, particularly in matters related to corporate governance, related party transactions, remuneration and compensation. These AMC in India use proxy voting services for advising on voting resolutions in their investee companies. However, voting by AMC does not generally affect resolution results. This is particularly true in the presence of a high concentration of promoter holdings in investee companies.

The study is a novel attempt in an emerging market context to explore the role of institutional investors in influencing firm decisions and improving the governance landscape of the company using proxy voting and voice. This is especially important as the institutional framework in emerging markets is not as strong as in developed markets.

This paper presents an empirical analysis of trade credit supplied by Japanese manufacturing firms and General Trading Companies. After reviewing major trade credit models and relevant Japanese literature, empirical tests examine the applicability of existing trade credit theories. Results indicate existing trade credit theory has little power to explain the level of trade credit supplied by Japanese firms. Instead, support is found for the information and risk sharing models in the Japanese keiretsu literature and the financial channeling process by which lending institutions supply General Trading Companies with liquidity that is, in turn, supplied to manufacturing firms.

Designing digital artifacts is not a linear, straightforward process. This is particularly true when applying a user-centered design approach, or co-design, with users who are unable to participate in the design process. Although the reduced participation of a particular user group may harm the end result, the literature on solving this issue is sparse. In this article, proxy design is outlined as a method for involving a user group as proxy users to speak on behalf of a group that is difficult to reach. The article investigates the following research question: How can roleplaying be embedded in co-design to engage users as proxies on behalf of those who are unable to represent themselves?

The article presents a design ethnography spanning three years at a cancer rehabilitation clinic, where digital artifacts were designed to be used collaboratively by nurses and patients. The empirical data were analyzed using content analysis and consisted of 20 observation days at the clinic, six proxy design workshops, 21 telephone consultations between patients and nurses, and log data from the digital artifact.

The article shows that simulated consultations, with nurses roleplaying as proxies for patients ignited and initiated the design process and enabled an efficient in-depth understanding of patients. Moreover, the article reveals how proxy design as a method further expanded the design. The study findings illustrate: (1) proxy design as a method for initiating design, (2) proxy design as an embedded element in co-design and (3) six design guidelines that should be considered when engaging in proxy design.

The main contribution is the conceptualization of proxy design as a method that can ignite and initiate the co-design process when important users are unreachable, vulnerable or unable to represent themselves in the co-design process. More specifically, based on the empirical findings from a design ethnography that involved nurses as proxy users speaking on behalf of patients, the article shows that roleplaying in proxy design is a fitting way of initiating the design process, outlining proxy design as an embedded element of co-design.

This study focused on parents' health anxiety by proxy about their children when they started learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic, to explore the impact of academic stress by parent-proxy on parents' learning support services with the mediating role of health anxiety by parent-proxy and the moderating role of parental educational level.

In total, 8,940 primary school students' parents participated in the study. Bootstrapping was performed to test the constructed model.

(1) Academic stress by parent-proxy positively predicted health anxiety by parent-proxy. (2) Health anxiety by parent-proxy significantly positively predicted learning support services. (3) Academic stress by parent-proxy also significantly positively predicted learning support services. (4) Academic stress by parent-proxy positively predicted parents' learning support services through the mediating effect of health anxiety by parent-proxy. (5) Parental educational level moderated the relationship between academic stress by parent-proxy, health anxiety by parent-proxy, and learning support services. Academics and parents will benefit from the conclusions of this study in both theory and practice.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, offline learning has been replaced with online learning, which has brought with it many physical and mental health problems, including additional academic stress. Most studies on learning support services have focused on offline learning. However, this study explored the relationships between academic stress by parent-proxy, health anxiety by parent-proxy, learning support services, and parental educational level in the context of online learning. Results show that it is necessary to pay attention to academic stress and health to provide children with appropriate learning support services.

Although wireless grids have been originally thought of as isolated processing clusters, the possibility of their approaching – and connecting to – a fixed network allows for a huge expansion of their processing power, due to the resources available in wired grids potentially accessible through such a network. The interoperation of mobile ad hoc grids and resources available in wired grids is, however, a problem still to be tackled in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this problem.

A prototype is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the interoperation between wireless and wired grids, thus providing a basis for the development of novel applications that can build on this interoperation.

The outcome of the paper comprises the analysis of the necessary requirements for the interoperation between wireless and wired grids, the proposal of two different interoperation approaches, and the provision of a qualitative assessment of the implications of these approaches.

There are many points that the authors intend to address as future work. First, they are aware of the need for performing some quantitative analyses of their proxy implementations. Second, they intend to investigate the possibility of mobile ad hoc grids to process tasks coming from wired grids. Third, they are interested in allowing the submission of tasks that present interdependencies (workflows) from mobile devices in the mobile ad hoc grid.

The paper investigates the interoperation of wireless and wired grids. Such an interoperation may open new perspectives of practical use of wireless devices in scenarios such as emergency response networks and field research systems, to name a few.

The paper provides a first step into the interoperation of wireless and wired grids, thus yielding a basis for the development of novel applications that can build upon this interoperation. This is believed to be of interest to both the grid and mobile computing communities.