Profitability of contrarian strategies in the Chinese stock market

This paper reexamines the profitability of loser, winner and contrarian portfolios in the Chinese stock market using monthly data of all stocks traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange covering the period from January 1997 to December 2012. We find evidence of short-term and long-term contrarian profitability in the whole sample period when the estimation and holding horizons are 1 month or longer than 12 months and the annualized returns of contrarian portfolios increases with the estimation and holding horizons. We perform subperiod analysis and find that the long-term contrarian effect is significant in both bullish and bearish states while the short-term contrarian effect disappears in bullish states. We compare the performance of contrarian portfolios based on different grouping manners in the estimation period and unveil that decile grouping outperforms quintile grouping and tertile grouping, which is more evident and robust in the long run. Generally, loser portfolios and winner portfolios have positive returns and loser portfolios perform much better than winner portfolios. Both loser and winner portfolios in bullish states perform better than those in the whole sample period. In contrast, loser and winner portfolios have smaller returns in bearish states in which loser portfolio returns are significant only in the long term and winner portfolio returns become insignificant. These results are robust to the one-month skipping between the estimation and holding periods and for the two stock exchanges. Our findings show that the Chinese stock market is not efficient in the weak form. These findings also have obvious practical implications for financial practitioners.Comment: 24 pages (including 4 figures and 9 tables) + 5 supplementary figures + 10 supplementary table

Time-varying return predictability in the Chinese stock market

China's stock market is the largest emerging market all over the world. It is widely accepted that the Chinese stock market is far from efficiency and it possesses possible linear and nonlinear dependence. We study the predictability of returns in the Chinese stock market by employing the wild bootstrap automatic variance ratio test and the generalized spectral test. We find that the return predictability vary over time and significant return predictability is observed around market turmoils. Our findings are consistent with the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis and have practical implications for market participants.Comment: 11 Latex pages including 2 figures and 1 tabl

Investigation of the spatial distribution of dangling bonds in light-soaked hydrogenated amorphous silicon

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科電子物性デバイス金沢大学工学部We report on a detailed investigation of the spatial distribution of dangling bonds (DB\u27s) in light-soaked hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films. The results for light soaking at different light intensities (3 W/cm2 and 300 mW/cm2) show that the inverse power-law DB distribution, Nυ(x)=Cυx-α, holds regardless of the light soaking intensity. Here, Nυ(x) is the volume density of DB\u27s at depth x measured from the surface, and Cυ and α(≈0.6) are constants. The nonuniform spatial distribution of DB\u27s in light-soaked a-Si:H is thought to originate from a nonuniform distribution of photocarriers during light soaking rather than from an inhomogeneity of the material. The same annealing behavior of light-induced DB\u27s was observed regardless of the thickness of the sample and regardless of whether the sample was light soaked from one side or from both sides. This result, together with the observation of identical spin characteristics, indicates that the light-induced DB\u27s at various depths of a given a-Si:H sample are identical in nature. The surface DB density is found to be much less sensitive to light soaking than the bulk DB density and can be assumed unchanged if the light-soaking intensity is not much higher than 300 mW/cm2 and the light-soaking time is shorter than ∼10 h. We show that the conventional method of estimating the surface DB density is no longer appropriate for light-soaked a-Si:H, due to the highly nonuniform distribution of DB\u27s in the material. The nonuniform distribution of DB\u27s can lead to significant disagreements between different techniques in quantifying the Staebler-Wronski effect and should therefore be taken into account in studies of the SW effect

Metastable-defect generation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

金沢大学理工研究域We report on the effects of intense light soaking at room temperature (RT) and at 77 K on the defect density in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). It is found that at short light-soaking times, light soaking at RT is more efficient in creating metastable defects than at 77 K. With increasing light-soaking time, however, 77-K light soaking causes the defect density to increase at a higher rate than does RT light soaking. There are signs that the saturated value of the defect density for 77-K light soaking is larger than that for RT light soaking. Qualitatively, a correlation exists between the increase in the defect density and the decrease in the photoconductivity; however, an inverse proportionality is not observed between the photoconductivity and defect density. For a given defect density, the photoconductivity is smaller for 77-K light soaking than for RT light soaking. The defects generated by 77-K light soaking are found to be stable at 77 K. However, significant annealing of defects occurs after raising the sample temperature to RT. Light-induced annealing of defects is also observed. We explain our results by adopting the views that there is a broad distribution of defect-annealing activation energies and that the defects with small annealing activation energies are more effective recombination centers than those with large annealing activation energies. We show that many other related experimental results can also be accounted for by the above views. © 1994 The American Physical Society

Capacity for heat absorption by the wings of the butterfly Tirumala limniace (Cramer)

Butterflies can directly absorb heat from the sun via their wings to facilitate autonomous flight. However, how is the heat absorbed by the butterfly from sunlight stored and transmitted in the wing? The answer to this scientific question remains unclear. The butterfly Tirumala limniace (Cramer) is a typical heat absorption insect, and its wing surface color is only composed of light and dark colors. Thus, in this study, we measured a number of wing traits relevant for heat absorption including the thoracic temperature at different light intensities and wing opening angles, the thoracic temperature of butterflies with only one right fore wing or one right hind wing; In addition, the spectral reflectance of the wing surfaces, the thoracic temperature of butterflies with the scales removed or present in light or dark areas, and the real-time changes in heat absorption by the wing surfaces with temperature were also measured. We found that high intensity light (600–60,000 lx) allowed the butterflies to absorb more heat and 60−90° was the optimal angle for heat absorption. The heat absorption capacity was stronger in the fore wings than the hind wings. Dark areas on the wing surfaces were heat absorption areas. The dark areas in the lower region of the fore wing surface and the inside region of the hind wing surface were heat storage areas. Heat was transferred from the heat storage areas to the wing base through the veins near the heat storage areas of the fore and hind wings

Isolation and characterisation of 17 microsatellite DNA loci from RAD reduced-representation genomes for Asian warty newts, genus Paramesotriton (Caudata: Salamandridae)

Asian warty newts, genus Paramesotriton, are endemic to southern China and northern Vietnam. Despite the achievements in biodiversity, molecular systematics and biogeography of species in this genus, population genetic diversity studies are lacking due to the lack of economical and available genetic markers. In this study, we developed 17 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci from RAD simplified genomic data for the Asian warty newts, genus Paramesotriton and successfully completed cross-species amplification tests on 20 samples of four species of Paramesotriton. These microsatellite markers can be used as important tools to study population genetic structure, levels of gene flow, population differentiation, mating systems and landscape genetics within the genus Paramesotriton and, thus, to make scientific conservation decisions and actions for the conservation of these rare and endangered amphibians

Dissection of the genetic basis of oil content in Chinese peanut cultivars through association mapping

Background: Peanut is one of the primary sources for vegetable oil worldwide, and enhancing oil content is the main objective in several peanut breeding programs of the world. Tightly linked markers are required for faster development of high oil content peanut varieties through genomics-assisted breeding (GAB), and association mapping is one of the promising approaches for discovery of such associated markers. Results: An association mapping panel consisting of 292 peanut varieties extensively distributed in China was phenotyped for oil content and genotyped with 583 polymorphic SSR markers. These markers amplified 3663 alleles with an average of 6.28 alleles per locus. The structure, phylogenetic relationship, and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated two subgroups majorly differentiating based on geographic regions. Genome-wide association analysis identified 12 associated markers including one (AGGS1014_2) highly stable association controlling up to 9.94% phenotypic variance explained (PVE) across multiple environments. Interestingly, the frequency of the favorable alleles for 12 associated markers showed a geographic difference. Two associated markers (AGGS1014_2 and AHGS0798) with 6.90–9.94% PVE were verified to enhance oil content in an independent RIL population and also indicated selection during the breeding program. Conclusion: This study provided insights into the genetic basis of oil content in peanut and verified highly associated two SSR markers to facilitate marker-assisted selection for developing high-oil content breeding peanut varieties

Genome‐wide expression quantitative trait locus analysis in a recombinant inbred line population for trait dissection in peanut

The transcriptome connects genome to the gene function and ultimate phenome in biology. Sofar, transcriptomic approach was not used in peanut for performing trait mapping in bi-parentalpopulations. In this research, we sequenced the whole transcriptome in immature seeds in apeanut recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and explored thoroughly the landscape oftranscriptomic variations and its genetic basis. The comprehensive analysis identified total49 691 genes in RIL population, of which 92 genes followed a paramutation-like expressionpattern. Expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis identified 1207 local eQTLs and15 837 distant eQTLs contributing to the whole-genome transcriptomic variation in peanut.There were 94 eQTL hot spot regions detected across the genome with the dominance of distanteQTL. By integrating transcriptomic profile and annotation analyses, we unveiled a putativecandidate gene and developed a linked marker InDel02 underlying a major QTL responsible forpurple testa colour in peanut. Our result provided a first understanding of genetic basis of whole-genome transcriptomic variation in peanut and illustrates the potential of the transcriptome-aidapproach in dissecting important traits in non-model plants