The Determinants of Bankruptcy for Chinese Firms

The global financial crisis in 2008 increased the number of business failures in the U.S. as well as in China. The Chinese economy has also been affected by the recent global financial crisis given the fact that the Chinese economy depends heavily on international trade. Our study tries to find the determinants of bankruptcy in Chinese firms. Both logit and survival model analyses provide consistent results on the determinants in predicting distressed firms in China. Our results suggest that firms with liquidity problems and firms experiencing a decline in profits are more likely to file for bankruptcy. In addition, we find that, compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), collectively-owned enterprises, private-owned enterprises, and foreign-owned businesses are more likely to file for bankruptcy. This conclusion is robust after controlling for regional differences. The findings of this study show that the financial variables developed by Altman [Financial ratios, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy. Journal of Finance, 23(3), 589–609] and Ohlson [Financial ratios and probabilistic prediction of bankruptcy. Journal of Accounting Research, 18(1), 109–131] perform reasonably well in determining business failures of Chinese firms even though SOEs and shadow financing exist in China

Improved Insulin Resistance and Lipid Metabolism by Cinnamon Extract through Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are transcriptional factors involved in the regulation of insulin resistance and adipogenesis. Cinnamon, a widely used spice in food preparation and traditional antidiabetic remedy, is found to activate PPARγ and α, resulting in improved insulin resistance, reduced fasted glucose, FFA, LDL-c, and AST levels in high-caloric diet-induced obesity (DIO) and db/db mice in its water extract form. In vitro studies demonstrate that cinnamon increases the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors γ and α (PPARγ/α) and their target genes such as LPL, CD36, GLUT4, and ACO in 3T3-L1 adipocyte. The transactivities of both full length and ligand-binding domain (LBD) of PPARγ and PPARα are activated by cinnamon as evidenced by reporter gene assays. These data suggest that cinnamon in its water extract form can act as a dual activator of PPARγ and α, and may be an alternative to PPARγ activator in managing obesity-related diabetes and hyperlipidemia

Exploratory Spatial Analysis of in vitro Respiratory Syncytial Virus Co-infections

The cell response to virus infection and virus perturbation of that response is dynamic and is reflected by changes in cell susceptibility to infection. In this study, we evaluated the response of human epithelial cells to sequential infections with human respiratory syncytial virus strains A2 and B to determine if a primary infection with one strain will impact the ability of cells to be infected with the second as a function of virus strain and time elapsed between the two exposures. Infected cells were visualized with fluorescent markers, and location of all cells in the tissue culture well were identified using imaging software. We employed tools from spatial statistics to investigate the likelihood of a cell being infected given its proximity to a cell infected with either the homologous or heterologous virus. We used point processes, K-functions, and simulation procedures designed to account for specific features of our data when assessing spatial associations. Our results suggest that intrinsic cell properties increase susceptibility of cells to infection, more so for RSV-B than for RSV-A. Further, we provide evidence that the primary infection can decrease susceptibility of cells to the heterologous challenge virus but only at the 16 h time point evaluated in this study. Our research effort highlights the merits of integrating empirical and statistical approaches to gain greater insight on in vitro dynamics of virus-host interactions

Effects of Altitude on Fire Smoke Diffusion in Semi-Lateral Smoke Exhaust Highway Tunnels

This paper aims to study the effects of altitude and the size of smoke outlet on fire smoke diffusion and discharge in semi-lateral smoke exhaust highway tunnels. At first, simulations of semi-lateral smoke exhaust highway tunnels were carried out in FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator), then the distribution laws of temperature, CO concentration, smoke mass flow, and visibility in the tunnel under the conditions of different altitudes and smoke outlet areas were analyzed to figure out the effects of altitude and size of smoke outlet on fire smoke diffusion and discharge in the said tunnels. The results suggest that, in case of the same fire source power, the velocity of smoke diffusion increases with the altitude; for curves of different altitudes, the tunnel roof temperature features are basically the same, that is, the higher the altitude, the higher the temperature at the tunnel roof. When the fire source power is 20 MW, the smoke mass flow at the smoke outlet decreases with the increase of altitude, but the CO concentration grows with it, indicating that the smoke exhaust efficiency is higher in high-altitude areas. When the altitude reaches 4200 m and the fire source power is 20 MW, with the increase of smoke outlet area, the smoke discharge effect of the tunnel shows an upward trend, taking both the smoke discharge effect and economy into consideration; the smoke outlet should take a size of 4 x 3 m

Sequential method for rapid early diagnosis of white spot syndrome virus in crayfish

We developed a practical method to rapidly detect and diagnose latent white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in infected crayfish that were non-symptomatic for WSSV. This method included a simplified extraction of DNA template, optimized loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and final visualization of the product by means of staining with SYBR green I. Using this method, WSSV was detected in crayfish that had been artificially infected in two ways: at 5 h after injection, and 24 h after feeding with tissue from WSSV-infected crayfish (at a stage when such infected crayfish were non-symptomatic), and a thousand times or more dilution can omit fluorescent background when SYBR green I was used. Results indicate that this was a rapid, convenient, and highly sensitive method for the early diagnosis and detection of WSSV. The whole detection procedure took less than one hour to complete.Key words: White spot syndrome virus, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, SYBR green I, Procambarus clarkii, early diagnosis

An Experimental Investigation on the Mechanical Properties of Gangue Concrete as a Roadside Support Body Material for Backfilling Gob-Side Entry Retaining

Development of a safe and economical roadside support body (RSB) material is the key to successful backfilling gob-side entry retaining (GER). By means of laboratory tests, this paper studied the effects of the water-cement ratio, aggregate content, and age on the contractibility and resistance increasing speed, compressive strength, and postpeak carrying capacity of the concrete with gangues as an aggregate. It also discussed the rationality and adaptability of gangue concrete as a RSB material for backfilling GER. The experimental results show that the compressive strength of gangue concrete increases with age, and that the strength of gangue concrete demonstrates a nonlinear decreasing trend with the increase of the cementing material’s water-cement ratio. The water-cement ratio in the range of 0.46–0.60 has the most significant regulation effect on the strength of gangue concrete. Mixing with a certain amount of coal gangue enhances the postpeak carrying capacity of concrete, preventing the sample from impact failure. The field experimental results report that as a RSB material, gangue concrete can meet the design and application requirements of GER with gangue backfilling mining. A RSB material featuring high safety, high waste utilization rate, fast construction speed, and low costs is provided

Tracking the nematicity in cuprate superconductors: a resistivity study under uniaxial pressure

Overshadowing the superconducting dome in hole-doped cuprates, the pseudogap state is still one of the mysteries that no consensus can be achieved. It has been suggested that the rotational symmetry is broken in this state and may result in a nematic phase transition, whose temperature seems to coincide with the onset temperature of the pseudogap state $T^*$ around optimal doping level, raising the question whether the pseudogap results from the establishment of the nematic order. Here we report results of resistivity measurements under uniaxial pressure on several hole-doped cuprates, where the normalized slope of the elastoresistivity $\zeta$ can be obtained as illustrated in iron-based superconductors. The temperature dependence of $\zeta$ along particular lattice axis exhibits kink feature at $T_{k}$ and shows Curie-Weiss-like behavior above it, which may suggest a spontaneous nematic transition. While $T_{k}$ seems to be the same as $T^*$ around the optimal doping and in the overdoped region, they become very different in underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$. Our results suggest that the nematic order, if indeed existing, is an electronic phase within the pseudogap state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure