Information Content of Financial Youtube Channel: Case Study of 3PROTV and Korean Stock Market

We investigate the information content of 3PROTV, a south Korean financial youtube channel. In our sample we found evidence for the hypothesis that the channel have information content on stock selection, but only on negative sentiment. Positively mentioned stock had pre-announcement spike followed by steep fall in stock price around announcement period. Negatively mentioned stock started underperforming around the announcement period, with underreaction dynamics in post-announcement period. In the area of market timing, we found that change of sentimental tone of 3PROTV than its historical average predicts the lead value of Korean market portfolio return. Its predictive power cannot be explained by future change in news sentiment, future short term interest rate, and future liquidity risk.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Do We Price Happiness? Evidence from Korean Stock Market

This study explores the potential of internet search volume data, specifically Google Trends, as an indicator for cross-sectional stock returns. Unlike previous studies, our research specifically investigates the search volume of the topic 'happiness' and its impact on stock returns in the aspect of risk pricing rather than as sentiment measurement. Empirical results indicate that this 'happiness' search exposure (HSE) can explain future returns, particularly for big and value firms. This suggests that HSE might be a reflection of a firm's ability to produce goods or services that meet societal utility needs. Our findings have significant implications for institutional investors seeking to leverage HSE-based strategies for outperformance. Additionally, our research suggests that, when selected judiciously, some search topics on Google Trends can be related to risks that impact stock prices.Comment: 8 page

Design and Evaluation of a Customized and Body-powered Prosthesis using Fingertip Trajectories based on Polar Coordinate Analysis

Department of Mehcanical EngineeringThis thesis presents a design and evaluation of a customized finger prosthesis that generates a natural finger motion. The design of the prosthesis followed two primary requirements: i) the size of the prosthesis should reflect that of an amputee???s finger; ii) the prosthesis should enable the natural finger motion of the amputee. To achieve these aims, two methods were employed: i) an incomplete four-bar mechanism by utilizing the remaining joint of a subject as the joint in the mechanism; ii) a fingertip trajectory analysis in polar coordinates to model the natural finger motion as only one degree of freedom (DOF). A serially connected incomplete four-bar mechanism was applied to create an under-actuation system. The under-actuation system operated by a metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint rotation of the amputee which makes proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint rotations. The system does not need any actuators to control the two joint rotations, but employs the residuum of the amputee as an actuator. The fingertip trajectory was considered as the typical factor to represent the natural finger motion, and a new curve fitting method in the polar coordinate of the fingertip trajectory was proposed. The method represents not only the finger motion of a single subject but also of people in general using the same order equation. To make the proposed mechanism move like the natural finger motion of the amputee, a fingertip trajectory curve from the curve fitting method was used as a reference for the mechanism in an optimization process. During the optimization process, the design variables were chosen by considering data from the finger amputee (e.g. residuum size, expected phalangeal lengths, etc.) as well as the requirements of the finger prosthesis. A modular wearable interface was proposed to allow the system to be worn easily and the system joint to be manually aligned to the finger joint accurately. As we focused on the design of the finger prosthesis, the prototype was manufactured based on the finger information of a normal subject before applying it to the actual finger amputee. The performance of the proposed system was verified by intensive experiments for grasping and manipulation while wearing the proposed system.clos

A Cultural Analysis of the Relationship Between Nationalism and Populism: The Case of South Korea

This study focuses on the relationship between nationalism and populism by analysing the political history of Korea. Populism studies have merely dealt with the cases in East Asia on those issues, as general literature remains a normative understanding of those issues and democracy, overlooking the tentative research cases in the region. The comparative studies of populism develop with a minimalist definition, emphasising the antagonism between the homogenous groups—‘the elite’ and ‘the people’. However, this minimalist definition homogenised heterogeneous natures of ‘the elite’, ‘the people’, and their forms of confrontations in different regional and historical contexts. This study expands the cases for populism studies while clarifying the relationship between nationalism and populism. The historical experience of people in South Korea is an excellent example of analysing the interaction between the nation-state and society. This thesis contributes to introducing new dimensions, the temporality of political economy and the spatiality of political cleavage. With nation and state decoupled, the meanings of the people varied significantly across Korean political history, causing the populistic elements in the country. A strong and administrative-oriented state vis-à-vis society resulted in the absence of horizontal confrontation between the Left and Right, instead conceptualising social demands as national, strengthened by a vertical antagonism between society and the state. The rapid development of the national economy enforced this verticality. Korean history has been prevalent with the imagination of power relations between the state high above and the people or society below. Analysing political history in South Korea provides an opportunity to innovate the recent definition of populism regarding its global political activism of nationalism and democracy

A collagen gel-coated, aligned nanofiber membrane for enhanced endothelial barrier function

Herein, a collagen gel-coated and aligned nanofiber membrane named Col-ANM is developed, which remarkably improves endothelial barrier function by providing biochemical and topographical cues simultaneously. Col-ANM is fabricated by collagen gel coating process on an aligned polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofiber membrane, which is obtained by a simple electrospinning process adopting a parallel electrode collector. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured on Col-ANM exhibit remarkably enhanced endothelial barrier function with high expression levels of intercellular junction proteins of ZO-1 and VE-cadherin, a high TEER, and a cellular permeability compared with the artificial porous membranes in commercial cell culture well inserts. The enhanced endothelial barrier function is conjectured to be attributed to the synergistic effects of topographical and biochemical cues provided by the aligned PCL nanofibers and collagen gel in the Col-ANM, respectively. Finally, the reactive oxygen species is applied to the HUVEC monolayer formed on the Col-ANM to destroy the tight junctions between HUVECs. The destruction of the tight junctions is demonstrated by the decreased TEER value overtime. Results indicate the potential of Col-ANM in modeling endothelial barrier dysfunction-related diseases.11Ysciescopu

All-dielectric metasurface imaging platform applicable to laser scanning microscopy with enhanced axial resolution and wavelength selection

Metasurfaces composed of artificially fabricated nano-sized structures have shown extraordinary potential for the precise control of light. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, a metasurface application to reduce the axial size of the point spread function in laser scanning microscopy. The all-dielectric metasurface has wavelength selectivity over the whole visible range, and confinement of the excitation point spread function of the electromagnetic field. These two unique features allow the metasurface to be applied to laser scanning microscope systems. Numerical and experimental demonstrations of the proposed all-dielectric metasurface are reported, showing sharp implicit spectral filtering in the visible range and enhanced axial confinement by observing actin filaments in NIH3T3 cells. We believe that our approach can provide a useful insight on the practicality of using metasurfaces as an imaging platform. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement11Ysciescopu

Modernizing Old Photos Using Multiple References via Photorealistic Style Transfer

This paper firstly presents old photo modernization using multiple references by performing stylization and enhancement in a unified manner. In order to modernize old photos, we propose a novel multi-reference-based old photo modernization (MROPM) framework consisting of a network MROPM-Net and a novel synthetic data generation scheme. MROPM-Net stylizes old photos using multiple references via photorealistic style transfer (PST) and further enhances the results to produce modern-looking images. Meanwhile, the synthetic data generation scheme trains the network to effectively utilize multiple references to perform modernization. To evaluate the performance, we propose a new old photos benchmark dataset (CHD) consisting of diverse natural indoor and outdoor scenes. Extensive experiments show that the proposed method outperforms other baselines in performing modernization on real old photos, even though no old photos were used during training. Moreover, our method can appropriately select styles from multiple references for each semantic region in the old photo to further improve the modernization performance.Comment: Accepted to CVPR 2023. Website: https://kaist-viclab.github.io/old-photo-modernizatio

Reduction in residual cyantraniliprole levels in spinach after various washing and blanching methods

Pesticides are used to protect crops from pests and diseases. However, as many pesticides are toxic to humans, it is necessary to assess methods that can remove pesticide residues from agricultural products before human consumption. Spinach is consumed immediately after a relatively simple washing and heating process in the Republic of Korea. Cyantraniliprole is used as a systemic insecticide during spinach cultivation, which means it might remain in the crop after processing. Consequently, it is important to assess whether residues can be reduced to levels that are harmless to the human body after processing. This study investigated lowering the residual cyantraniliprole levels in spinach after washing and blanching. The amount of cyantraniliprole residue in the spinach samples sprayed with cyantraniliprole during cultivation was analyzed using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS). The time of each washing and blanching method was set at 1, 3, and 5 min. The residual levels of cyantraniliprole decreased by 15.1–54.6% and 60.1–93.5% based on the washing and blanching methods employed. The most effective washing method to lower residual cyantraniliprole levels was steeping with a neutral detergent, resulting in cyantraniliprole reduction by 42.9–54.6%. When spinach was blanched after steeping washing with a neutral detergent, the largest removal rates of 77.9 and 91.2% were observed after 1 and 3 min of blanching, respectively. Blanching for 5 min after steeping and running washing exhibited the highest reduction rate of 93.5%. Therefore, a considerable amount of cyantraniliprole residue in spinach could be removed by washing or blanching. Based on the results of this study, blanching after steeping washing can be implemented as an effective method of lowering pesticide concentrations in spinach and other crops, thereby reducing their potential toxicity to humans upon consumption

Assessing the impact of urbanization on storm runoff in a peri-urban catchment using historical change in impervious cover

his paper investigates changes in storm runoff resulting from the transformation of previously rural landscapes into peri-urban areas. Two adjacent catchments (∼5 km2) located within the town of Swindon in the United Kingdom were monitored during 2011 and 2012 providing continuous records of rainfall, runoff and actual evaporation. One catchment is highly urbanized and the other is a recently developed peri-urban area containing two distinct areas of drainage: one with mixed natural and storm drainage pathways, the other entirely storm drainage. Comparison of observed storm hydrographs showed that the degree of area serviced by storm drainage was a stronger determinant of storm runoff response than either impervious area or development type and that little distinction in hydrological response exists between urban and peri-urban developments of similar impervious cover when no significant hydraulic alteration is present. Historical levels of urbanization and impervious cover were mapped from the 1960s to the 2010s based on digitized historical topographic maps and were combined with a hydrological model to enable backcasting of the present day storm runoff response to that of the catchments in their earlier states. Results from the peri-urban catchment showed an increase in impervious cover from 11% in the 1960s to 44% in 2010s, and introduction of a large-scale storm drainage system in the early 2000s, was accompanied by a 50% reduction in the Muskingum routing parameter k, reducing the characteristic flood duration by over 50% while increasing peak flow by over 400%. Comparisons with changes in storm runoff response in the more urban area suggest that the relative increase in peak flows and reduction in flood duration and response time of a catchment is greatest at low levels of urbanization and that the introduction of storm water conveyance systems significantly increases the flashiness of storm runoff above that attributed to impervious area alone. This study demonstrates that careful consideration is required when using impervious cover data within hydrological models and when designing flood mitigation measures, particularly in peri-urban areas where a widespread loss in pervious surfaces and alteration of drainage pathways can significantly alter the storm runoff response. Recommendations include utilizing more refined urban land use typologies that can better represent physical alteration of hydrological pathways