Earnings quality: evidence from Canadian firms’ choice between IFRS and U.S. GAAP

For fiscal years starting on or after January 1, 2011, Canada abandoned Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), but permitted firms cross-listed in the U.S. to adopt U.S. GAAP instead. We document that the number of Canadian firms reporting under U.S. GAAP increased after Canada adopted IFRS. We find that cross-listed firms are more likely to choose IFRS if IFRS is the standard most commonly used by the leading global firms in their industry. In addition, we find that firms more likely to choose IFRS are larger, of civil law legal origin, have less U.S. operations, report exploration expense, have fewer U.S. shareholders and report higher stockholders’ equity under Canadian GAAP than under U.S. GAAP. Of these, we find that the convergence benefits of comparability with industry peers is the most significant determinant in firms’ choice of standard. Further, we are unable to document changes in earnings quality from cross-listed firms adopting IFRS or U.S. GAAP or that earnings quality changed for firms adopting IFRS relative to firms adopting U.S. GAAP

Using micro computed tomography to examine the larynx in cases of suspected strangulation- a comparison of case findings and control images

The examination of strangulation is one of the most challenging cause of death diagnoses encountered in forensic pathology. The injuries are often subtle and difficult to detect, especially in cases that lack superficial marks. Fractures of the laryngeal skeleton are commonly regarded as evidence of strangulation but these can be too subtle to be detected during autopsy. Micro-CT is a novel imaging technique that achieves a spatial resolution 1µm or less which lends itself to the examination of small and delicate structures such as the larynx. However, there is little information to date regarding the appearance of the larynx at this scale, thus complicating the interpretation of the micro-CT images. This study therefore uses micro-CT to examine ten larynges from strangulation deaths and to compare them to nineteen samples from donor individuals in order to distinguish between naturally occurring features and actual trauma. It was found that there are several features which mimic damage in the donor group. Using associated case information, initial trends and patterns of different strangulation methods were established

The stock market reaction to losing or gaining foreign private issuer status

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission designates foreign-domiciled firms with securities trading in the U.S. markets as either foreign private issuers (FPIs) or domestic filers and permits exemptions from U.S. domestic securities regulation for firms that qualify as FPIs. We study the stock market reaction to foreign-domiciled firms that lose or gain FPI status for an arguably exogenous reason while maintaining their cross-listing status. After loss of FPI status, foreign firms are required to comply with U.S. domestic issuers’ continuous filing requirements, such as filing quarterly financial statements using U.S. GAAP, disclosure of insider trading, and compliance with corporate governance requirements of U.S. domestic issuers. We document a significantly positive market reaction when foreign firms lose their exemptions and must comply with regulatory requirements of U.S. domestic issuers. Further, we find that the market reacts negatively to an increase in financial statement requirements and reacts positively to fully adopting U.S. corporate governance requirements

Finite Temperature Models of Bose-Einstein Condensation

The theoretical description of trapped weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensates is characterized by a large number of seemingly very different approaches which have been developed over the course of time by researchers with very distinct backgrounds. Newcomers to this field, experimentalists and young researchers all face a considerable challenge in navigating through the `maze' of abundant theoretical models, and simple correspondences between existing approaches are not always very transparent. This Tutorial provides a generic introduction to such theories, in an attempt to single out common features and deficiencies of certain `classes of approaches' identified by their physical content, rather than their particular mathematical implementation. This Tutorial is structured in a manner accessible to a non-specialist with a good working knowledge of quantum mechanics. Although some familiarity with concepts of quantum field theory would be an advantage, key notions such as the occupation number representation of second quantization are nonetheless briefly reviewed. Following a general introduction, the complexity of models is gradually built up, starting from the basic zero-temperature formalism of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. This structure enables readers to probe different levels of theoretical developments (mean-field, number-conserving and stochastic) according to their particular needs. In addition to its `training element', we hope that this Tutorial will prove useful to active researchers in this field, both in terms of the correspondences made between different theoretical models, and as a source of reference for existing and developing finite-temperature theoretical models.Comment: Detailed Review Article on finite temperature theoretical techniques for studying weakly-interacting atomic Bose-Einstein condensates written at an elementary level suitable for non-experts in this area (e.g. starting PhD students). Now includes table of content

Fermi Large Area Telescope Constraints on the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe

The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) includes photons with wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared, which are effective at attenuating gamma rays with energy above ~10 GeV during propagation from sources at cosmological distances. This results in a redshift- and energy-dependent attenuation of the gamma-ray flux of extragalactic sources such as blazars and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). The Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi detects a sample of gamma-ray blazars with redshift up to z~3, and GRBs with redshift up to z~4.3. Using photons above 10 GeV collected by Fermi over more than one year of observations for these sources, we investigate the effect of gamma-ray flux attenuation by the EBL. We place upper limits on the gamma-ray opacity of the Universe at various energies and redshifts, and compare this with predictions from well-known EBL models. We find that an EBL intensity in the optical-ultraviolet wavelengths as great as predicted by the "baseline" model of Stecker et al. (2006) can be ruled out with high confidence.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures, accepted version (24 Aug.2010) for publication in ApJ; Contact authors: A. Bouvier, A. Chen, S. Raino, S. Razzaque, A. Reimer, L.C. Reye

Genome modeling system: A knowledge management platform for genomics

In this work, we present the Genome Modeling System (GMS), an analysis information management system capable of executing automated genome analysis pipelines at a massive scale. The GMS framework provides detailed tracking of samples and data coupled with reliable and repeatable analysis pipelines. The GMS also serves as a platform for bioinformatics development, allowing a large team to collaborate on data analysis, or an individual researcher to leverage the work of others effectively within its data management system. Rather than separating ad-hoc analysis from rigorous, reproducible pipelines, the GMS promotes systematic integration between the two. As a demonstration of the GMS, we performed an integrated analysis of whole genome, exome and transcriptome sequencing data from a breast cancer cell line (HCC1395) and matched lymphoblastoid line (HCC1395BL). These data are available for users to test the software, complete tutorials and develop novel GMS pipeline configurations. The GMS is available at https://github.com/genome/gms

Genetic Variation in the Inflammation and Innate Immunity Pathways and Colorectal Cancer Risk

It is widely accepted that chronic inflammation plays a role in the etiology of colorectal cancer. Using a two-stage design, we examined the associations between colorectal cancer and common variation in 37 key genes in the inflammation and innate immunity pathways

Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling of Zymomonas mobilis during aerobic and anaerobic fermentations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Zymomonas mobilis </it>ZM4 (ZM4) produces near theoretical yields of ethanol with high specific productivity and recombinant strains are able to ferment both C-5 and C-6 sugars. <it>Z. mobilis </it>performs best under anaerobic conditions, but is an aerotolerant organism. However, the genetic and physiological basis of ZM4's response to various stresses is understood poorly.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles for ZM4 aerobic and anaerobic fermentations were elucidated by microarray analysis and by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses. In the absence of oxygen, ZM4 consumed glucose more rapidly, had a higher growth rate, and ethanol was the major end-product. Greater amounts of other end-products such as acetate, lactate, and acetoin were detected under aerobic conditions and at 26 h there was only 1.7% of the amount of ethanol present aerobically as there was anaerobically. In the early exponential growth phase, significant differences in gene expression were not observed between aerobic and anaerobic conditions via microarray analysis. HPLC and GC analyses revealed minor differences in extracellular metabolite profiles at the corresponding early exponential phase time point.</p> <p>Differences in extracellular metabolite profiles between conditions became greater as the fermentations progressed. GC-MS analysis of stationary phase intracellular metabolites indicated that ZM4 contained lower levels of amino acids such as alanine, valine and lysine, and other metabolites like lactate, ribitol, and 4-hydroxybutanoate under anaerobic conditions relative to aerobic conditions. Stationary phase microarray analysis revealed that 166 genes were significantly differentially expressed by more than two-fold. Transcripts for Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway genes (<it>glk, zwf, pgl, pgk, and eno</it>) and gene <it>pdc</it>, encoding a key enzyme leading to ethanol production, were at least 30-fold more abundant under anaerobic conditions in the stationary phase based on quantitative-PCR results. We also identified differentially expressed ZM4 genes predicted by The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) that were not predicted in the primary annotation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High oxygen concentrations present during <it>Z. mobilis </it>fermentations negatively influence fermentation performance. The maximum specific growth rates were not dramatically different between aerobic and anaerobic conditions, yet oxygen did affect the physiology of the cells leading to the buildup of metabolic byproducts that ultimately led to greater differences in transcriptomic profiles in stationary phase.</p