Risk and return analysis of tax adjusted versus unadjusted REITS indexes and other financial indexes

This study develops the tax adjusted and unadjusted Malaysian real estate investment trusts (REITs) indexes based on the value weighted approach by using a monthly data of 19 Malaysian REITs from January 1999 to December 2014. It also investigates the performance of the tax adjusted versus unadjusted Malaysian REITs indexes and other financial indicators, and diversification benefit of the Malaysian REITs, Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), Kuala Lumpur Property Index (KLPI) and Malaysia 3-month Treasury bills based on the Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory. The study finds that the tax adjusted REITs index outperforms the unadjusted REITs index, KLCI and KLPI based on the coefficient of variation (CV). The Malaysia 3-month T-bills provides the lowest CV and it is considered to be the best performing asset for risk averse investors. Furthermore, Malaysian REITs are found to have a lower positive correlation with the KLCI than the KLPI, indicating that it has a higher diversification benefit. Malaysia 3-month Treasury bills are negatively correlated with the other financial indicator

The Effect of an Occluder on the Accuracy of Depth Perception in Optical See-Through Augmented Reality

Three experiments were conducted to study the effect of an occluder on the accuracy of nearield depth perception in optical-see-through augmented reality (AR). The first experiment was a duplicate experiment of the one in Edwards et al. [2004]. We found more accurate results than Edwards et al.’s work and did not find the occluder’s main effect or its two-way interaction effect with distance on the accuracy of observers’ depth matching. The second experiment was an updated version of the first one using a within-subject design and a more accurate calibration method. The results were that errors ranged from –5 to 3 mm when the occluder was present, –3 to 2 mm when the occluder was absent, and observers judged the virtual object to be closer after the presentation of the occluder. The third experiment was conducted on three subjects who were depth perception researchers. The result showed significant individual effects

Deep learning structure for directed graph data

Deep learning structures have achieved outstanding success in many different domains. Existing research works have proposed and presented many state-of-the-art deep neural networks to solve different learning tasks in various research fields such as speech processing and image recognition. Graph neural networks (GNNs) are considered as a type of deep neural network and their numerical representation from the graph does improve the performance of networks. In the real-world cases, data is not only in the form of simple graph, but also they could contain direction information in the graph resulting in the so-called directed graph data. This thesis will introduce and explain the first attempt in this domain to apply Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) on adjacency matrix for graph convolutional neural networks and propose SVD-GCN. This thesis also utilizes the framelet decomposition to help better filter the graph signals, thus to improve novel structure’s performance in node classification task and to enhance the robustness of the model when encountering high-level noise attack. The thesis also applies the new model on link prediction tasks. All the experimental results demonstrate SVD-GCN’s outstanding performances in both node-level and edgelevel learning tasks

Electrokinetic separation of co-solutes into bimodal fibers by electrospinning

Composite and chemically/physically distinct fibers of sodium poly[2-(3-thienyl)-ethoxy-4-butylsulfonate] (PTEBS) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) were formed by electrospinning from a homogeneous aqueous solution containing PTEBS and PEO co-solutes. Composite nanofibers of diameter of ∼60nm were electrospun from an aqueous solution. The addition of ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) to the water solution resulted in “bimodal” electrospun fibers consisting of distinct large diameter white PEO fiber segments and small diameter black PTEBS fiber segments. The optical absorptionspectrum of the composite PTEBS/PEO nanofibers did not exhibit the characteristic peak around 460nm, which is present in the bulk spectrum

The Analysis of Influencing Factors of Trademark Strategy Implementation in Chinese Small and Middle Enterprises

It is an era of knowledge economy and globalization nowadays. Intellectual property has increasingly become a competitive weapon and strategic wealth of the company. Market competition has risen to brand competition. The well-known trademarks became the most valuable infinite asset of the enterprise. However, there is a widespread phenomenon that small and middle enterprises (SMEs) donot have their own trademark, which causes they just get a small part of the profits as well as low competitiveness. Through the SWOT analysis the article discusses important factors that influence the effectiveness of the implementation of the trademark strategy of SMEs, supporting SMEs to cultivate their own trademarks, building well-known trademarks and enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises

Leader-following identical consensus for Markov jump nonlinear multi-agent systems subjected to attacks with impulse

The issue of leader-following identical consensus for nonlinear Markov jump multiagent systems (NMJMASs) under deception attacks (DAs) or denial-of-service (DoS) attacks is investigated in this paper. The Bernoulli random variable is introduced to describe whether the controller is injected with false data, that is, whether the systems are subjected to DAs. A connectivity recovery mechanism is constructed to maintain the connection among multi-agents when the systems are subjected to DoS attack. The impulsive control strategy is adopted to ensure that the systems can normally work under DAs or DoS attacks. Based on graph theory, Lyapunov stability theory, and impulsive theory, using the Lyapunov direct method and stochastic analysis method, the sufficient conditions of identical consensus for Markov jump multi-agent systems (MJMASs) under DAs or DoS are obtained, respectively. Finally, the correctness of the results and the effectiveness of the method are verified by two numerical examples

Secreted NS1 of Dengue Virus Attaches to the Surface of Cells via Interactions with Heparan Sulfate and Chondroitin Sulfate E

Dengue virus (DENV) nonstructural protein-1 (NS1) is a secreted glycoprotein that is absent from viral particles but accumulates in the supernatant and on the plasma membrane of cells during infection. Immune recognition of cell surface NS1 on endothelial cells has been hypothesized as a mechanism for the vascular leakage that occurs during severe DENV infection. However, it has remained unclear how NS1 becomes associated with the plasma membrane, as it contains no membrane-spanning sequence motif. Using flow cytometric and ELISA-based binding assays and mutant cell lines lacking selective glycosaminoglycans, we show that soluble NS1 binds back to the surface of uninfected cells primarily via interactions with heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate E. DENV NS1 binds directly to the surface of many types of epithelial and mesenchymal cells yet attaches poorly to most peripheral blood cells. Moreover, DENV NS1 preferentially binds to cultured human microvascular compared to aortic or umbilical cord vein endothelial cells. This binding specificity was confirmed in situ as DENV NS1 bound to lung and liver but not intestine or brain endothelium of mouse tissues. Differential binding of soluble NS1 by tissue endothelium and subsequent recognition by anti-NS1 antibodies could contribute to the selective vascular leakage syndrome that occurs during severe secondary DENV infection

Innovation and firm performance: The moderating role of intellectual capital among Chinese companies

This study examines the impact of innovation on firm performance and how intellectual capital (IC) moderates the association between innovation and firm performance. We apply an innovation index that measures the frequency of innovative related words, which appear in firm financial reports to proxy for innovation. IC is estimated through the value-added IC (VAICTM) model. This study analyses Chinese firm-year observations of financial profitability (firm value) datasets, which total 19,152 (18,276) over the years from 2007 to 2019. Results indicate that the innovation index is positively related to financial profitability and firm market value. Moreover, the moderating outcomes suggest that IC boosts the positive relationship between innovation index and firm performance. Overall, this study highlights the importance of having innovation and IC together for gaining firm competitive advantages and progressing profitably. That is, firms should be innovative and must manage their IC well

Vitamin D3 eradicates Helicobacter pylori by inducing VDR-CAMP signaling

BackgroundVitamin D3 [VitD3, 1,25 (OH)2D3] is known to have immunomodulatory and anti-microbial properties; however, its activity against Helicobacter pylori is unclear. In this study, we established H. pylori infection models in wild-type and VitD3 receptor (VDR) knockdown mice and analyzed the effects of VitD3 and their underlying mechanisms.MethodsVDR+/+ and VDR+/– mice were intragastrically infected with the H. pylori SS1 strain. After confirmation of H. pylori infection, mice were treated with different doses of VitD3. The infection levels in stomach tissues were quantified using the colony-forming assay, and the expression levels of the VDR and cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) in the gastric mucosa were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and western blotting.ResultsThe gastric mucosa of VDR+/– mice was more susceptible to H. pylori colonization and had lower levels of VDR and CAMP expression than that of VDR+/+ mice. H. pylori infection upregulated VDR and CAMP expression in the stomach of both wild-type and mutant mice, and VitD3 treatment resulted in further increase of VDR and CAMP levels, while significantly and dose-dependently decreasing the H. pylori colonization rate in both mouse groups, without affecting blood calcium or phosphorus levels.ConclusionOur data indicate that oral administration of VitD3 reduces the H. pylori colonization rate and upregulates VDR and CAMP expression in the gastric mucosa, suggesting a role for VitD3/VDR/CAMP signaling in the eradication of H. pylori in the stomach. These findings provide important insights into the mechanism underlying the anti-H. pylori activity of VitD3 and should be useful in the development of measures to eradicate H. pylori