Environmental uncertainty and the market pricing of earnings smoothness

Environmental uncertainty induces variability in an organization's reported earnings, and accentuates the information asymmetry between its managers and outside stakeholders. Managers operating in an environment of high uncertainty, therefore, have an incentive to reduce such variability by smoothing income numbers. We investigate the stock market response to earnings smoothness for firms operating in an environment of high uncertainty. We measure income smoothing by the negative correlation of a firm's change in discretionary accruals with its change in pre-managed earnings as per Tucker and Zarowin (2006). Using future earnings response coefficient (FERC) methodology to measure the informativeness of smoothed earnings, and two measures of environmental uncertainty, this paper documents that current stock price incorporates more information about future earnings for firms operating in high uncertain environments, thus supporting the informational value view of income smoothing

The effects of alcohol pricing policies on consumption, health, social and economic outcomes, and health inequality in Australia: A protocol of an epidemiological modelling study

Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Introduction Alcohol use and misuse are associated with substantial health and social issues in Australia and internationally. Pricing policy is considered as one of the most effective means to reduce risky drinking and related harms. This protocol paper describes a study that will model and estimate the effects, effectiveness and cost-benefit of alcohol pricing policy initiatives in reducing risky drinking, health and social harms, and health inequalities among subpopulations in Australia. Methods and analysis The study is a modelling and epidemiological study using data from various resources, such as survey, previous literatures and response agencies. A number of statistical procedures will be undertaken to evaluate the impact of different alcohol pricing policy initiatives on various outcomes, including alcohol consumption in population subgroups, and health and social problems, and to measure health inequalities and cost-effectiveness of those proposed pricing policies, such as a 10% tax increase on all alcohol beverages or introduction of a minimum unit price. Ethics and dissemination The ethics approval of this study was obtained from the College Human Ethics Sub-Committee of the La Trobe University on 9 November 2017 (Ref: S17-206). While examining the heterogeneous effects of price policy across population subgroups, this study will provide the first comprehensive estimates of the likely impacts of alcohol price changes on health inequalities. The study will also provide sophisticated economic analyses of the impact of price policy changes, which is critical information for policy makers and will assist policy makers in directing resources to a more efficient alcohol strategy. Results will be made available to communities and societies, health departments and other researchers. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019

Modelling the effects of alcohol pricing policies on alcohol consumption in subpopulations in Australia

AIMS: To model the effects of a range of alcohol pricing policies on alcohol consumption in subpopulation groups (e.g. alcohol consumption pattern, and age and income groups) in Australia. DESIGN: We used estimated price elasticities to model the effects of proposed pricing policies on consumption for 11 beverage categories among subpopulation groups. SETTING: Australia. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1789 adults (16+ years) who reported they purchased and consumed alcohol in the 2013 Australian International Alcohol Control Study, an adult population survey. MEASUREMENTS: Mean and percentage changes in alcohol consumption were estimated for each scenario across subgroups. The policy scenarios evaluated included: (1) increasing the excise rate 10% for all off-premise beverages; (2) replacing the wine equalization tax with a volumetric excise rate equal to the current spirits tax rate; (3) applying a uniform excise tax rate to all beverages equal to the current sprits tax rate and a 10 or 20% increase in it; and(4) introducing a minimum unit price (MUP) on all beverages categories at $1.00, 1.30 or 1.50. FINDINGS: The effects of different tax and MUP policies varied greatly across different subgroups. The effects of the MUP policy on alcohol consumption increased rapidly in the range from$1.00 to $1.50. Applying a uniform tax rate across all beverages equal to current spirits tax rate, or a 10 or 20$1.30 or $1.50 could reduce consumption particularly among harmful drinkers and lower-income drinkers, with comparatively smaller impacts on moderate and higher-income drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Both uniform excise tax and minimum unit price policies are predicted to reduce alcohol consumption in Australia. Minimum unit price policies are predicted to have a greater impact on drinking among harmful drinkers than moderate drinkers

Electrosprayed boron nitride nanosheet aggregates for enhanced acoustic energy harvesting with poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofiber membranes

While often regarded as an annoyance, noise conceals a surprisingly abundant source of untapped energy that can be efficiently harvested to power a variety of micro-devices. However, achieving high electric outputs from acoustic energy harvesters remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we employ a one-step approach that integrates electrospining and electrospraying techniques to fabricate a single-layer composite membrane, comprising a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofiber network with uniformly dispersed boron nitride nanosheet aggregates (BNNS-A) for sound energy harvesting. Our 3 × 4 cm2 +PVDF/-BN device generates peak voltage and current outputs of 174.2 V and 19.2 µA, respectively, when exposed to 115 dB, 230 Hz sound. Remarkably, this device exhibits the highest voltage output among other similar PVDF-based acoustoelectric devices operating under comparable sound conditions. Furthermore, the incorporation of BNNS-A enhances maximum peak power output by 30-fold compared to pure PVDF nanofiber devices. This study provides a profound understanding of endogenous triboelectricity mechanism in nanocomposites and presents a promising approach for producing high-performance nanofiber acoustoelectric devices

Clinical outcome of preimplantation genetic diagnosis and screening using next generation sequencing

© 2014 Tan et al.Background: Next generation sequencing (NGS) is now being used for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in blastocyst trophectoderm (TE) cells from in vitro fertilized embryos. However, few data are available regarding the clinical outcome, which provides vital reference for further application of the methodology. Here, we present a clinical evaluation of NGS-based preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening (PGD/PGS) compared with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array-based PGD/PGS as a control.Results: A total of 395 couples participated. They were carriers of either translocation or inversion mutations, or were patients with recurrent miscarriage and/or advanced maternal age. A total of 1,512 blastocysts were biopsied on D5 after fertilization, with 1,058 blastocysts set aside for SNP array testing and 454 blastocysts for NGS testing. In the NGS cycles group, the implantation, clinical pregnancy and miscarriage rates were 52.6% (60/114), 61.3% (49/80) and 14.3% (7/49), respectively. In the SNP array cycles group, the implantation, clinical pregnancy and miscarriage rates were 47.6% (139/292), 56.7% (115/203) and 14.8% (17/115), respectively. The outcome measures of both the NGS and SNP array cycles were the same with insignificant differences. There were 150 blastocysts that underwent both NGS and SNP array analysis, of which seven blastocysts were found with inconsistent signals. All other signals obtained from NGS analysis were confirmed to be accurate by validation with qPCR. The relative copy number of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for each blastocyst that underwent NGS testing was evaluated, and a significant difference was found between the copy number of mtDNA for the euploid and the chromosomally abnormal blastocysts. So far, out of 42 ongoing pregnancies, 24 babies were born in NGS cycles; all of these babies are healthy and free of any developmental problems.Conclusions: This study provides the first evaluation of the clinical outcomes of NGS-based pre-implantation genetic diagnosis/screening, and shows the reliability of this method in a clinical and array-based laboratory setting. NGS provides an accurate approach to detect embryonic imbalanced segmental rearrangements, to avoid the potential risks of false signals from SNP array in this study

Evidence for ethnicity and location as regulators of the newborn blood metabolome: a monozygous twin study

Introduction: Monochorionic, diamniotic (MCDA) monozygotic twins share nearly all genetic variation and a common placenta in utero. Despite this, MCDA twins are often discordant for a range of common phenotypes, including early growth and birth weight. As such, MCDA twins represent a unique model to explore variation in early growth attributable primarily to in utero environmental factors. Methods: MCDA twins with a range of within-pair birth weight discordance were sampled from the peri/postnatal epigenetic twin study (PETS, Melbourne; n = 26 pairs), Beijing twin study (BTS, Beijing; n = 25), and the Chongqing longitudinal twin study (LoTiS, Chongqing; n = 22). All PETS participants were of European-Australian ancestry, while all Chinese participants had Han ancestry. The average of the birth weight difference between the larger and smaller co-twins for all twin pairs was determined and metabolomic profiles of amino acids, TCA cycle intermediates, fatty acids, organic acids, and their derivatives generated from cord blood plasma by gas chromatograph mass spectrometry. Within and between co-twin pair analyses were performed to identify metabolites specifically associated with discordance in birth weight. Multivariable regression and pathway enrichment analyses between different regions were performed to evaluate the geographical effects on the metabolism of MCDA twin pairs. Results: PETS twins showed a markedly different metabolic profile at birth compared to the two Chinese samples. Within-pair analysis revealed an association of glutathione, creatinine, and levulinic acid with birth weight discordance. Caffeine, phenylalanine, and several saturated fatty acid levels were uniquely elevated in PETS twins and were associated with maternal BMI and average within pair birth weight, in addition to birth weight discordance. LoTiS twins had higher levels of glutathione, tyrosine, and gamma-linolenic acid relative to PETS and BTS twins, potentially associated with eating habits. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential role of underlying genetic variation (shared by MZ twins), in utero (non-shared by MZ twins) and location-specific (shared by MZ twins) environmental factors, in regulating the cord blood metabolome of uncomplicated MCDA twins. Future research is needed to unravel these complex relationships that may play a key role in phenotypic metabolic alterations of twins independent of genetic diversity

Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry: An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange-correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclear-electronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an "open teamware"model and an increasingly modular design

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive jet production in polarized proton collisions at square root of s = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A(LL) and the differential cross section for inclusive midrapidity jet production in polarized proton collisions at s=200 GeV. The cross section data cover transverse momenta 5 < p(T)< 50 GeV/c and agree with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD evaluations. The A(LL) data cover 5 < p(T)< 17 GeV/c and disfavor at 98% C.L. maximal positive gluon polarization in the polarized nucleon