Value Relevance of Financial and Non-Financial Information: Evidence from the Gaming Industry

Using financial and non-financial data from casino gaming firms listed in the United States from 1999–2017, we explore two research questions: (1) Is financial information value relevant to financial markets in the casino gaming industry? (2) Does non-financial information have incremental explanatory power over financial information? In general, we find that accounting numbers can explain a firm’s market value and stock returns in the casino gaming industry, except for accounting accruals, which may behave differently compared to other industries. We also find that non-financial information, such as the number of table games, number of slot machines, and their relative proportion, have significant value relevance in explaining market valuation. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the value relevance of financial and non-financial information in the casino gaming industry. We also provide analysis of firms characterized by these non-financial attributes. Keywords: hospitality, casino, gaming, value relevance, table games, slot machines JEL Code: L83, M19, M4

Contracting social services in China: the case of the Integrated Family Services Centres in Guangzhou

This article uses the Integrated Family Services Centres (IFSCs) as an example to illustrate the contractual relationship between the state and NGOs and the capacities of government officials to implement the contracting-out of services in China. The data from 12 focus groups in 2015 indicated that local governments treated IFSCs as foot-soldiers by asking them to fulfil duties beyond their service contracts. Moreover, Guangzhou government’s fragmented service evaluation arrangements and workload-oriented criteria were unable to effectively assess the impact of social work practices. The study concluded that appropriate legislation is required to safeguard the rights of NGOs

iTag: Incentive-Based Tagging

In social tagging systems, such as Delicious1 and Flickr2, users are allowed to annotate resources (e.g., Web URLs and images) with textual descriptions called tags. Tags have proven to be invaluable building blocks in algorithms for searching, mining and recommending resources. In practice, however, not all resources receive the same attention from users, and as a result, most tags are added to the few highly-popular resources, while most of the resources receive few tags. Crucially, this incomplete tagging on resources can severely affect the effectiveness of all tagging applications. We present iTag, an incentive-based tagging system, which aims at improving tagging quality of resources, by incentivizing taggers under budget constraints. Our system is built upon traditional crowdsourcing systems such as Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). In our demonstration, we will show how our system allows users to use simple but powerful strategies to significantly improve the tagging quality of resources.published_or_final_versio

Understanding Water Level Changes in the Great Lakes by an ICA-Based Merging of Multi-Mission Altimetry Measurements

Accurately monitoring spatio-temporal changes in lake water levels is important for studying the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources, and for predicting natural hazards. In this study, we applied multi-mission radar satellite altimetry data from the Laurentian Great Lakes, North America to optimally reconstruct multi-decadal lake-wide spatio-temporal changes of water level. We used the results to study physical processes such as teleconnections of El Niño and southern oscillation (ENSO) episodes over approximately the past three-and-a-half decades (1985–2018). First, we assessed three reconstruction methods, namely the standard empirical orthogonal function (EOF), complex EOF (CEOF), and complex independent component analysis (CICA), to model the lake-wide changes of water level. The performance of these techniques was evaluated using in-situ gauge data, after correcting the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) process using a contemporary GIA forward model. While altimeter-measured water level was much less affected by GIA, the averaged gauge-measured water level was found to have increased up to 14 cm over the three decades. Our results indicate that the CICA-reconstructed 35-year lake level was more accurate than the other two techniques. The correlation coefficients between the CICA reconstruction and the in situ water-level data were 0.96, 0.99, 0.97, 0.97, and 0.95, for Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, respectively; ~7% higher than the original altimetry data. The root mean squares of errors (RMSE) were 6.07 cm, 4.89 cm, 9.27 cm, 7.71 cm, and 9.88 cm, respectively, for each of the lakes, and ~44% less than differencing with the original altimetry data. Furthermore, the CICA results indicated that the water-level changes in the Great Lakes were significantly correlated with ENSO, with correlation coefficients of 0.5–0.8. The lake levels were ~25 cm higher (~30 cm lower) than normal during EI Niño (La Niña) events

Arc Discharge Synthesis and Photoluminescence of 3D Feather-like AlN Nanostructures

A complex three-dimensional (3D) feather-like AlN nanostructure was synthesized by a direct reaction of high-purity Al granules with nitrogen using an arc discharge method. By adjusting the discharge time, a coral-like nanostructure, which evolved from the feather-like nanostructure, has also been observed. The novel 3D feather-like AlN nanostructure has a hierarchical dendritic structure, which means that the angle between the trunk stem and its branch is always about 30° in any part of the structure. The fine branches on the surface of the feather-like nanostructure have shown a uniform fish scale shape, which are about 100 nm long, 10 nm thick and several tens of nanometers in width. An alternate growth model has been proposed to explain the novel nanostructure. The spectrum of the feather-like products shows a strong blue emission band centered at 438 nm (2.84 eV), which indicates their potential application as blue light-emitting diodes

Molecular evolution of vertebrate sex-determining genes

Y-linked Dmy (also called dmrt1bY) in the teleost fish medaka, W-linked Dm-W in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), and Z-linked Dmrt1 in the chicken are all sex chromosome-linked Dmrt1 homologues required for sex determination. Dmy and Dm-W both are Dmrt1 palalogues evolved through Dmrt1 duplication, while chicken Dmrt1 is a Z-linked orthologue. The eutherian sex-determining gene, Sry, evolved from an allelic gene, Sox3. Here we analyzed the exon–intron structures of the Dmrt1 homologues of several vertebrate species through information from databases and by determining the transcription initiation sites in medaka, chicken, Xenopus, and mouse. Interestingly, medaka Dmrt1 and Dmy and Xenopus Dm-W and Dmrt1 have a noncoding-type first exon, while mouse and chicken Dmrt1 do not. We next compared the 5′-flanking sequences of the Dmrt1 noncoding and coding exons 1 of several vertebrate species and found conservation of the presumptive binding sites for some transcription factors. Importantly, based on the phylogenetic trees for Dmrt1 and Sox3 homologues, it was implied that the sex-determining gene Dmy, Dm-W, and Sry have a higher substitution rate than thier prototype genes. Finally, we discuss the evolutionary relationships between vertebrate sex chromosomes and the sex-determining genes Dmy/Dm-W and Sry, which evolved by neofunctionalization of Dmrt1 and Sox3, respectively, for sex determining function. We propose a coevolution model of sex determining gene and sex chromosome, in which undifferentiated sex chromosomes easily allow replacement of a sex-determining gene with another new one, while specialized sex chromosomes are restricted a particular sex-determining gene

Effect of MWCNTs on Gastric Emptying in Mice

After making model of gastric functional disorder (FD), part of model mice were injected intravenously (i.v.) with oxide multi-walled carbon nanotubes (oMWCNTs) to investigate effect of carbon nanotubes on gastric emptying. The results showed that NO content in stomach, compared with model group, was decreased significantly and close to normal level post-injection with oMWCNTs (500 and 800 μg/mouse). In contrast to FD or normal groups, the content of acetylcholine (Ach) in stomach was increased obviously in injection group with 500 or 800 μg/mouse of oMWCNTs. The kinetic curve of emptying was fitted to calculate gastric motility factor k; the results showed that the k of injection group was much higher than FD and normal. In other words, the gastric motility of FD mice was enhanced via injection with oMWCNTs. In certain dosage, oMWCNTs could improve gastric emptying and motility

Computer-Aided Patient-Specific Coronary Artery Graft Design Improvements Using CFD Coupled Shape Optimizer

This study aims to (i) demonstrate the efficacy of a new surgical planning framework for complex cardiovascular reconstructions, (ii) develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled multi-dimensional shape optimization method to aid patient-specific coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG) design and, (iii) compare the hemodynamic efficiency of the sequential CABG, i.e., raising a daughter parallel branch from the parent CABG in patient-specific 3D settings. Hemodynamic efficiency of patient-specific complete revascularization scenarios for right coronary artery (RCA), left anterior descending artery (LAD), and left circumflex artery (LCX) bypasses were investigated in comparison to the stenosis condition. Multivariate 2D constraint optimization was applied on the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft, which was parameterized based on actual surgical settings extracted from 2D CT slices. The objective function was set to minimize the local variation of wall shear stress (WSS) and other hemodynamic indices (energy dissipation, flow deviation angle, average WSS, and vorticity) that correlate with performance of the graft and risk of re-stenosis at the anastomosis zone. Once the optimized 2D graft shape was obtained, it was translated to 3D using an in-house “sketch-based” interactive anatomical editing tool. The final graft design was evaluated using an experimentally validated second-order non-Newtonian CFD solver incorporating resistance based outlet boundary conditions. 3D patient-specific simulations for the healthy coronary anatomy produced realistic coronary flows. All revascularization techniques restored coronary perfusions to the healthy baseline. Multi-scale evaluation of the optimized LIMA graft enabled significant wall shear stress gradient (WSSG) relief (~34%). In comparison to original LIMA graft, sequential graft also lowered the WSSG by 15% proximal to LAD and diagonal bifurcation. The proposed sketch-based surgical planning paradigm evaluated the selected coronary bypass surgery procedures based on acute hemodynamic readjustments of aorta-CA flow. This methodology may provide a rational to aid surgical decision making in time-critical, patient-specific CA bypass operations before in vivo execution

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

All-cause mortality and risk factors in a cohort of retired military male veterans, Xi'an, China: an 18-year follow up study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Risk factors of all-cause mortality have not been reported in Chinese retired military veterans. The objective of the study was to examine the risk factors and proportional mortality in a Chinese retired military male cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 1268 retired military men aged 55 or older were examined physically and interviewed using a standard questionnaire in 1987. The cohort was followed up every two years and the study censored date was June30, 2005 with a follow-up of up to 18 years. Death certificates were obtained from hospitals and verified by two senior doctors. Data were entered (double entry) by Foxbase, and analysis was carried out by SAS for Windows 8.2. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to compute hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total person-years of follow-up was 18766.28. Of the initial cohort of 1268 men, 491 had died, 748 were alive and 29 were lost to follow up. Adjusted mortality (adjusted for age, blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, triglycerides, alcohol, exercise, and existing disease) was 2,616 per 100,000 person years. The proportional mortality of cancer, vascular disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) were 39.71%, 28.10% and 16.90% respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age, cigarettes per day, systolic blood pressure, triglyceride, family history of diseases (hypertension, stroke and cancer), existing diseases (stroke, diabetes and cancer), body mass index, and age of starting smoking were associated with all-cause mortality, HR (95%CI) was1.083(1.062–1.104), 1.026(1.013–1.039), 1.009(1.003–1.015), 1.002(1.001–1.003), 1.330(1.005–1.759), 1.330(1.005–1.759), 1.444(1.103–1.890), 2.237(1.244–4.022), 1.462(1.042–2.051), 2.079(1.051–4.115), 0.963(0.931–0.996)and 0.988(0.978–0.999)respectively. Compared with never-smokers, current smokers had increased risks of total mortality [HR 1.369(1.083–1.731)], CHD [HR 1.805 (1.022–3.188)], and lung cancer [HR 2.939 (1.311–6.585)].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The three leading causes of diseases were cancer, CHD and stroke, and COPD. Aging, cigarette smoking, high systolic blood pressure, high triglyceride, family history of cancer, hypertension and stroke, existing cases recovering from stroke, diabetes and cancer, underweight, younger age of smoking were risk factors for all-cause mortality. Quitting cigarette smoking, maintaining normal blood pressure, triglyceride and weight are effect control strategies to prevent premature mortality in this military cohort.</p