Alien Registration- Foster, George R. (Madison, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/6576/thumbnail.jp

Market-to-Revenue Multiples in Public and Private Capital Markets

The behavior and determinants of market-to-revenue ratios in public and private capital markets is examined. Three samples are analysed: (1) all publicly traded stocks listed at some time on the New York Stock Exchange/American Stock Exchange/National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System in the 1980—2004 period; (2) sample of over 300 so-called ‘internet companies’ in the 1996—2004 period; and (3) over 5500 privately held venture capital-backed companies in the 1992—2004 period. Both company size and the most recent revenue growth rate are found to explain significant variation across companies in their market-to-revenue multiples — smaller companies and companies with higher recent revenue growth rates have higher multiples. We also document how the capital market appears to use a broad-based information set when setting market-to-revenue multiples for companies with negative revenue growth rates — transitory revenue growth components appear to be identified (in a probabilistic sense) by the capital market. Contrary to much anecdotal comment, we present evidence that the capital market behaved directionally along the lines predicted by capital market theory in the pricing of internet stocks in the 1996—2004 period

Biases in Multi-Year Management Financial Forecasts: Evidence From Private Venture-Backed U.S. Companies

This paper studies the properties and determinants of managers’ multi-year financial forecasts. Using one- to five-year-ahead forecasts reported by private venture-backed firms, we ask whether, by how much, and why biases in managers’ forecasts of revenues, expenses and profits depend on the forecasting horizon and the verifiability of assets. We find that profitability forecasts contain a strategic component, in that [1] one-year-ahead revenue (expense) forecasts are slightly and asymmetrically pessimistic (optimistic), while five-year-ahead forecasts are hugely and asymmetrically optimistic (pessimistic); and [2] biases in revenue and expense forecasts are larger, the harder to verify or more intangible-intensive are firms’ assets

Blur discrimination and its relation to blur-mediated depth perception

Retinal images of three-dimensional scenes often contain regions that are spatially blurred by different amounts, owing to depth variation in the scene and depth-of-focus limitations in the eye. Variations in blur between regions in the retinal image therefore offer a cue to their relative physical depths. In the first experiment we investigated apparent depth ordering in images containing two regions of random texture separated by a vertical sinusoidal border. The texture was sharp on one side of the border, and blurred on the other side. In some presentations the border itself was also blurred. Results showed that blur variation alone is sufficient to determine the apparent depth ordering. A subsequent series of experiments measured blur-discrimination thresholds with stimuli similar to those used in the depth-ordering experiment. Weber fractions for blur discrimination ranged from 0.28 to 0.56. It is concluded that the utility of blur variation as a depth cue is constrained by the relatively mediocre ability of observers to discriminate different levels of blur. Blur is best viewed as a relatively coarse, qualitative depth cue

VOFilter, Bridging Virtual Observatory and Industrial Office Applications

VOFilter is an XML based filter developed by the Chinese Virtual Observatory project to transform tabular data files from VOTable format into OpenDocument format. VOTable is an XML format defined for the exchange of tabular data in the context of the Virtual Observatory (VO). It is the first Proposed Recommendation defined by International Virtual Observatory Alliance, and has obtained wide support from both the VO community and many Astronomy projects. OpenOffice.org is a mature, open source, front office applications suite with the advantage of native support of industrial standard OpenDocument XML file format. Using the VOFilter, VOTable files can be loaded in OpenOffice.org Calc, a spreadsheet application, and then displayed and analyzed as other spreadsheet files. Here, the VOFilter acts as a connector, bridging the coming VO with current industrial office applications. Virtual Observatory and technical background of the VOFilter are introduced. Its workflow, installation and usage are presented. Existing problems and limitations are also discussed together with the future development plans.Comment: Accepted for publication in ChJAA (9 pages, 2 figures, 185KB

Finite-element implementation for electron transport in nanostructures

We have modeled transport properties of nanostructures using Green’s-function method within the framework of the density-functional theory. The scheme is computationally demanding, so numerical methods have to be chosen carefully. A typical solution to the numerical burden is to use a special basis-function set, which is tailored to the problem in question, for example, the atomic-orbital basis. In this paper we present our solution to the problem. We have used the finite-element method with a hierarchical high-order polynomial basis, the so-called p elements. This method allows the discretation error to be controlled in a systematic way. The p elements work so efficiently that they can be used to solve interesting nanosystems described by nonlocal pseudopotentials. We demonstrate the potential of the implementation with two different systems. As a test system a simple Na-atom chain between two leads is modeled and the results are compared with several previous calculations. Secondly, we consider a thin hafnium dioxide (HfO2) layer on a silicon surface as a model for a gate structure of the next generation of microelectronics.Peer reviewe

Stat2 loss disrupts damage signalling and is protective in acute pancreatitis

The severity of sterile inflammation, as seen in acute pancreatitis, is determined by damage-sensing receptors, signalling cascades and cytokine production. Stat2 is a type I interferon signalling mediator that also has interferon-independent roles in murine lipopolysaccharide-induced NF-κB-mediated sepsis. However, its role in sterile inflammation is unknown. We hypothesised that Stat2 determines the severity of non-infective inflammation in the pancreas. Wild type (WT) and Stat2-/- mice were injected intraperitoneally with caerulein or L-arginine. Specific cytokine-blocking antibodies were used in some experiments. Pancreata and blood were harvested 1 h and 24 h after the final dose of caerulein and up to 96 h post L-arginine. Whole-tissue phosphoproteomic changes were assessed using label-free mass spectrometry. Tissue-specific Stat2 effects were studied in WT/Stat2-/- bone-marrow chimera and using Cre-lox recombination to delete Stat2 in pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1(Pdx1)-expressing cells. Stat2-/- mice were protected from caerulein- and L-arginine-induced pancreatitis. Protection was independent of type I interferon signalling. Stat2-/- mice had lower cytokine levels including TNFα and IL-10 and reduced NF-kB nuclear localisation in pancreatic tissue compared to WT. Inhibition of TNFα improved (inhibition of IL-10 worsened) caerulein-induced pancreatitis in WT but not Stat2-/- mice. Phosphoproteomics showed down-regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) mediators but accumulation of Ser412-phosphorylated Tak1. Stat2 deletion in Pdx1-expressing acinar cells (Stat2flox/Pdx1-cre ) reduced pancreatic TNFα expression, but not histological injury or serum amylase. WT/Stat2-/- bone-marrow chimera mice were protected from pancreatitis irrespective of host or recipient genotype. Stat2 loss results in disrupted signalling in pancreatitis, upstream of NF-κB in non-acinar and/or bone marrow derived cells. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Spectra of globular clusters in the Sombrero galaxy: evidence for spectroscopic metallicity bimodality

We present a large sample of over 200 integrated-light spectra of confirmed globular clusters (GCs) associated with the Sombrero (M104) galaxy taken with the DEIMOS instrument on the Keck telescope. A significant fraction of the spectra have signal-to-noise levels high enough to allow measurements of GC metallicities using the method of Brodie & Huchra (1990). We find a distribution of spectroscopic metallicities ranging from -2.2 < [Fe/H] < +0.1 that is bimodal, with peaks at [Fe/H] ~ -1.4 and -0.6. Thus the GC system of the Sombrero galaxy, like a few other galaxies now studied in detail, reveals a bimodal spectroscopic metallicity distribution supporting the long-held belief that colour bimodality reflects two metallicity subpopulations. This further suggests that the transformation from optical colour to metallicity for old stellar populations, such as GCs, is not strongly non-linear. We also explore the radial and magnitude distribution with metallicity for GC subpopulations but small number statistics prevent any clear trends in these distributions.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, MNRAS accepte