A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Eco-Cultural Background on Investment Decision Making by Professional Fund Managers

Theories of cultural psychology, cultural finance, and sociology provided the foundation for a cross-cultural model of investment decision making. Using a combination of interviews and self-report questionnaires with fund managers from China and the West (72 interviews and 187 questionnaires respectively) it was found that five key investment behaviours differed between Chinese and Western fund managers. These included preference towards macroeconomic information, top-down stock selection, utilising contextual information in management evaluation, choice of average holding period, and holding time for a losing stock. It was further found that individualistic cultural values and holistic thinking, which in the research of cross-cultural behavioural differences have traditionally been observed as influential, were not mediating factors in investment decision making. In contrast, the economic context of a fund manager’s domestic country was identified as an influential factor in the development of a mindset supportive of investment decision making. Similarly, cross-cultural differences in the use of intuition during the investment decision making process were found to relate more to contextual factors (i.e., Chinese or Western market) rather than individuals’ cognitive style. On the other hand, personal cognitive style are expected to impact the association between one investment behavioural difference - the choice of average holding period, and investment returns. In other words, opting for a longer holding period is only detrimental in the case of fund managers who display a greater than average preference for holistic thinking, regardless of cultural background. These findings both support and extend the current financial literature and have implications for investment practice, investors’ education, and policy making

Positivity-Preserving Well-Balanced Central Discontinuous Galerkin Schemes for the Euler Equations under Gravitational Fields

This paper designs and analyzes positivity-preserving well-balanced (WB) central discontinuous Galerkin (CDG) schemes for the Euler equations with gravity. A distinctive feature of these schemes is that they not only are WB for a general known stationary hydrostatic solution, but also can preserve the positivity of the fluid density and pressure. The standard CDG method does not possess this feature, while directly applying some existing WB techniques to the CDG framework may not accommodate the positivity and keep other important properties at the same time. In order to obtain the WB and positivity-preserving properties simultaneously while also maintaining the conservativeness and stability of the schemes, a novel spatial discretization is devised in the CDG framework based on suitable modifications to the numerical dissipation term and the source term approximation. The modifications are based on a crucial projection operator for the stationary hydrostatic solution, which is proposed for the first time in this work. This novel projection has the same order of accuracy as the standard $L^2$-projection, can be explicitly calculated, and is easy to implement without solving any optimization problems. More importantly, it ensures that the projected stationary solution has the same cell averages on both the primal and dual meshes, which is a key to achieve the desired properties of our schemes. Based on some convex decomposition techniques, rigorous positivity-preserving analyses for the resulting WB CDG schemes are carried out. Several one- and two-dimensional numerical examples are performed to illustrate the desired properties of these schemes, including the high-order accuracy, the WB property, the robustness for simulations involving the low pressure or density, high resolution for the discontinuous solutions and the small perturbations around the equilibrium state.Comment: 57 page

Monoclonal antibody-based serological methods for detection of Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV), a member of the genus <it>Tobamovirus</it>, can be transmitted by seeds and infects many cucurbit species, causing serious yield losses in cucumber and watermelon plants. In this paper, five serological methods including antigen-coated plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ACP-ELISA), triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TAS-ELISA), Dot-immunobinding assay (DBIA), direct tissue blot immunoassay (DTBIA) and immunocapture reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (IC-RT-PCR) were described for detection and diagnosis of CGMMV.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the purified CGMMV particles as immunogens, six murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced. Five serological methods were established using the MAb 4H1 and detection sensitivity was compared using purified preparations and infected-plant tissue extracts. The detection sensitivity of ACP-ELISA was 0.16 ng of purified CGMMV, whereas TAS-ELISA was more sensitive than ACP-ELISA with a minimum detection of 0.04 ng of purified CGMMV. The sensitivities of TAS-ELISA and DBIA were similar for detecting CGMMV in infected-plant tissue extracts, and were four times higher than ACP-ELISA. The IC-RT-PCR was the most sensitive method, which could detect as little as 0.1 pg of purified virus. The detection sensitivity of IC-RT-PCR for CGMMV-infected plant tissues was about 400 times higher than that of TAS-ELISA and DBIA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The established ACP-ELISA, TAS-ELISA, DBIA and DTBIA are suitable for routine CGMMV detection of large-scale samples in the field survey, while IC-RT-PCR is more sensitive and suitable for acquiring information about the viral genome.</p

Expression of a LINE-1 endonuclease variant in gastric cancer: its association with clinicopathological parameters

BACKGROUND: Long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1 or L1), the most abundant and only autonomously active family of non-LTR retrotransposons in the human genome, expressed not only in the germ lines but also in somatic tissues. It contributes to genetic instability, aging, and age-related diseases, such as cancer. Our previous study identified in human gastric adenocarcinoma an upregulated transcript GCRG213, which shared 88% homology with human L1 sequence and contained a putative conserved apurinic/apyrimidinic endonucleas1 domain. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was carried out by using a monoclonal mouse anti-human GCRG213 protein (GCRG213p) antibody produced in our laboratory, on tissue microarray constructed with specimens from 175 gastric adenocarcinoma patients. The correlation between GCRG213p expression and patient clinicopathological parameters was evaluated. GCRG213p expression in gastric cancer cell lines were studied using Western blotting analysis. L1 promoter methylation status of gastric cancer cells was tested using methylation-specific PCR. BLASTP was used at the NCBI Blast server to identify GCRG213p sequence to any alignments in the Protein Data Bank databases. RESULTS: Most primary gastric cancer, lymph node metastases and gastric intestinal metaplasia glands showed positive GCRG213p immunoreactivity. High GCRG213p immunostaining score in the primary gastric cancer was positively correlated with tumor differentiation (well differentiated, p = 0.001), Lauren’s classification (intestinal type, p < 0.05) and a late age onset of gastric adenocarcinoma (≥65 yrs; p < 0.05). GCRG213p expression has no association with other clinicopathological parameters, including survival. Western blotting analysis of GCRG213p expression in gastric cancer cells indicated that GCRG213p level was higher in gastric cancer cell lines than in human normal gastric epithelium immortalized cell line GES-1. Partial methylation of L1 in gastric cancer cells was confirmed by methylation-specific PCR. BLASTP program analysis revealed that GCRG213p peptide shared 83.0% alignment with the C-terminal region of L1 endonuclease (L1-EN). GCRG213p sequence possesses the important residues that compose the conserved features of L1-EN. CONCLUSIONS: GCRG213p could be a variant of L1-EN, a functional member of L1-EN family. Overexpression of GCRG213p is common in both primary gastric cancer and lymph node metastasis. These findings provide evidence of somatic L1 expression in gastric cancer, and its potential consequences in the form of tumor

Proteomic analysis of spinal cord tissue in a rat model of cancer-induced bone pain

BackgroundCancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is a moderate to severe pain and seriously affects patients’ quality of life. Spinal cord plays critical roles in pain generation and maintenance. Identifying differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in spinal cord is essential to elucidate the mechanisms of cancer pain.MethodsCIBP rat model was established by the intratibial inoculation of MRMT-1 cells. Positron emission tomography (PET) scan and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to measure the stats of spinal cord in rats. Label free Liquid Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) were used to analyze the whole proteins from the lumbar spinal cord. Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, and verified using Western blot and immunofluorescence assay.ResultsIn the current study, CIBP rats exhibited bone damage, spontaneous pain, mechanical hyperalgesia, and impaired motor ability. In spinal cord, an hypermetabolism and functional abnormality were revealed on CIBP rats. An increase of synaptic vesicles density in active zone and a disruption of mitochondrial structure in spinal cord of CIBP rats were observed. Meanwhile, 422 DEPs, consisting of 167 up-regulated and 255 down-regulated proteins, were identified among total 1539 proteins. GO enrichment analysis indicated that the DEPs were mainly involved in catabolic process, synaptic function, and enzymic activity. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis indicated a series of pathways, including nervous system disease, hormonal signaling pathways and amino acid metabolism, were involved. Expression change of synaptic and mitochondrial related protein, such as complexin 1 (CPLX1), synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP25), synaptotagmin 1 (SYT1), aldehyde dehydrogenase isoform 1B1 (ALDH1B1), Glycine amidinotransferase (GATM) and NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase subunit A11 (NDUFA11), were further validated using immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis.ConclusionThis study provides valuable information for understanding the mechanisms of CIBP, and supplies potential therapeutic targets for cancer pain

Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome Caused by Streptococcus suis Serotype 2

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus suis serotype 2 ( S. suis 2, SS2) is a major zoonotic pathogen that causes only sporadic cases of meningitis and sepsis in humans. Most if not all cases of Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) that have been well-documented to date were associated with the non-SS2 group A streptococcus (GAS). However, a recent large-scale outbreak of SS2 in Sichuan Province, China, appeared to be caused by more invasive deep-tissue infection with STSS, characterized by acute high fever, vascular collapse, hypotension, shock, and multiple organ failure. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We investigated this outbreak of SS2 infections in both human and pigs, which took place from July to August, 2005, through clinical observation and laboratory experiments. Clinical and pathological characterization of the human patients revealed the hallmarks of typical STSS, which to date had only been associated with GAS infection. Retrospectively, we found that this outbreak was very similar to an earlier outbreak in Jiangsu Province, China, in 1998. We isolated and analyzed 37 bacterial strains from human specimens and eight from pig specimens of the recent outbreak, as well as three human isolates and two pig isolates from the 1998 outbreak we had kept in our laboratory. The bacterial isolates were examined using light microscopy observation, pig infection experiments, multiplex-PCR assay, as well as restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) and multiple sequence alignment analyses. Multiple lines of evidence confirmed that highly virulent strains of SS2 were the causative agents of both outbreaks. CONCLUSIONS: We report, to our knowledge for the first time, two outbreaks of STSS caused by SS2, a non-GAS streptococcus. The 2005 outbreak was associated with 38 deaths out of 204 documented human cases; the 1998 outbreak with 14 deaths out of 25 reported human cases. Most of the fatal cases were characterized by STSS; some of them by meningitis or severe septicemia. The molecular mechanisms underlying these human STSS outbreaks in human beings remain unclear and an objective for further study

Montecarlo based quantitative Kramers-Kronig test for PEMFC impedance spectrum validation

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a very powerful tool to study the behaviour of electrochemical systems. At present, it is widely used in the fuel cell field in order to study challenging cutting edge issues as membrane drying or gas diffusion layer flooding amongst others. The proper analysis of impedance data requires the fulfilment of four fundamental conditions: causality, linearity, stability and finiteness. The non compliance with any of these conditions may lead to biased, or even misguided, conclusions. Therefore it is critical to verify the compliance of these conditions before accepting any analysis performed on an experimental spectrum. This is even more important in a fuel cell experimental spectrum analysis, since fuel cells are markedly non stationary systems. The aim of this work is to establish an impedance spectrum quantitative validation technique to validate the whole experimental spectrum and to identify the individual points within a spectrum that do not comply any of the four conditions, in order to remove these inconsistent points from the analysis. The designed validation method consists in a Kramers Kronig (KK) validation test, by equivalent electrical circuit fitting, coupled with a Montecarlo error propagation method. In a first step, the experimental spectrum is fitted to a particular electrical equivalent circuit, which satisfies the KK relations. Then, in a second step, a statistical Montecarlo method is used in order to propagate the model fitting parameter uncertainty through the model. Using this approach, a consistency region is built for a given confidence level: the experimental points inside this region are considered consistent for the given confidence level, whereas the outside points are rejected. The method was used on PEMFC experimental impedance spectra; and it successfully managed to identify inconsistent points, associated to no stationarities.The authors are very grateful to the Generalitat Valenciana for its economic support in form of Vali+d grant (Ref: ACIF-2013-268).Giner Sanz, JJ.; Ortega Navarro, EM.; Pérez-Herranz, V. (2015). Montecarlo based quantitative Kramers-Kronig test for PEMFC impedance spectrum validation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 40(34):11279-11293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.03.135S1127911293403