Monitoring The Evolutionary Patterns of Technological Advances Based On the Dynamic Patent Lattice: A Modified Formal Concept Analysis Approach

The strategic importance of monitoring changes in technology has been highlighted for achieving and maintaining firms’ competitive positions. In this respect, among others, patent citation analysis has been the most frequently adopted tool. However, it is subject to some drawbacks that stem from only consideration of citing-cited information and time lags between citing and cited patents. In response, we propose a modified formal concept analysis (FCA) approach to developing dynamic patent lattice that can analyze the complex relations among patents and evolutionary patterns of technological advances. The FCA is a mathematical tool for grouping objects with shared properties based on the lattice theory. The distinct strength of FCA, vis-á-vis other methods, lies in structuring and displaying the relations among objects in the amount of data. The FCA is modified to take time periods into account for the purpose of technology monitoring. Specifically, patents are first collected and transformed into structured data. Next, the dynamic patent lattice is developed by executing a modified FCA algorithm based on patent context. Finally, quantitative indexes are defined and gauged to conduct a more detailed analysis and obtain richer information. The proposed dynamic patent lattice can be effectively employed to aid decision making in technology monitoring

Pricing of seasoned equity offers and earnings management

This study examines the relationship between earnings management by firms offering seasoned equity issues and the pricing of their offers. We hypothesize that seasoned equity offering (SEO) firms employing aggressive accounting decisions also more aggressively push up their offer prices, thereby leading to a decrease in the degree of underpricing. Consistent with our prediction (the issuer\u27s greed hypothesis), evidence indicates that SEO firms making opportunistic accounting decisions issue new shares at inflated prices. Our findings remain robust after controlling for other determinants of SEO underpricing and the possible endogeneity of pricing and earnings management

Market uncertainty and disclosure of internal control deficiencies under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

This study examines cross-sectional differences in stock market reactions to the disclosure of internal control deficiencies under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We hypothesize that the market punishment for internal control problems will be less severe for internal control disclosure that helps reduce market uncertainty around the disclosure. We also predict that such a relation is dependent on the types of disclosure and the market\u27s prior knowledge of the credibility of firms\u27 financial reporting. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that when firms disclose their internal control deficiencies, their abnormal stock returns are negatively associated with changes in market uncertainty (e.g., changes in the standard deviations of daily stock returns) around the disclosure. We also find that the impact of the uncertainty reduction is greater for voluntary disclosures of non-material weakness, especially those made in the context of previous suspicious events. The negative impact of changes in market uncertainty on the abnormal stock returns remains intact even after controlling for possible simultaneity. An analysis using financial analysts\u27 earnings forecasts dispersion as an alternative proxy for uncertainty confirms the results

Are all management earnings forecasts created equal? expectations management versus communication

Recent studies associate management earnings forecasts (MEFs) with expectations management. These studies, however, neither provide evidence on the extent and scope of expectations management through MEFs nor consider alternative incentives for issuing MEFs. Consequently, existing evidence does not help regulators assess whether MEFs effectively facilitate communication with investors. We investigate to what extent managers exploit their earnings forecasts as a tool of expectations management or as a communication device. By examining relations among MEFs, analysts\u27 forecasts, and actual earnings, we classify MEFs into three incentive categories: (1) expectations management, (2) communication, and (3) other incentives. We find that a significant proportion (approximately 45 percent) of MEFs is issued to convey accurate earnings information to the market (that is, communication incentive). We also find that the fraction of MEFs for the expectations-management incentive increases post-Regulation Fair Disclosure. The evidence from examination of the various managerial motives for each incentive category supports our classification. Additional analysis using alternative classifications based on bad/good news and pessimistic/optimistic forecasts reveals that our proposed classification of MEFs works better in defining expectations management than these other classifications. This implies that more caution is warranted in defining expectations management when investigating the association between managerial motives and incentives for issuing MEFs

The Role of IL-6 in Osteogenic and Neurogenic Differentiation Potentials of Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs)

Introduction: Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic soluble mediator which is involved with many different parts of inflammatory processes. Studies have shown that there is a significantly higher concentration of IL-6 in inflamed pulp tissues when compared to healthy pulp tissues. However, there are no comprehensive studies on how IL-6 can interact with dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) from healthy (H-DPSCs) and inflamed pulp tissues (I-DPSCs) and how it can affect the differentiation potential of DPSCs. Therefore, I hypothesized that IL-6 can promote osteogenesis while inhibiting neurogenesis from DPSCs. The aims of this study were to investigate the baseline differences between the H-DPSCs and I-DPSCs, and determine how IL-6 can affect the osteogenic and neurogenic differentiation potentials of DPSCs. Materials and Methods: H-DPSCs and I-DPSCs were isolated and cultured from 28 teeth consisting healthy impacted third molars (n=14) from patients with 17-27 years of age, and severely decayed molars (n=14) with spontaneous, sharp pain from patients with 24 – 56 years of age, respectively. The levels of IL-6 from H-DPSCs and I-DPSCs were measured by ELISA, and IL-6 and neutralizing IL-6 were added to H-DPSCs and I-DPSCs, respectively. Immunofluorescence and Alizarin Red staining, and western blot were performed to assess the differentiation potentials of DPSCs. The independent unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test were performed following quantification analysis. Results: H-DPSCs and I-DPSCs showed similar expression of stem cell markers including CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD105, while H-DPSCs showed lower level of IL-6 (p Conclusion: This study showed IL-6 has the capacities to enhance osteogenesis while hindering neurogenesis of DPSCs

Forefront Office in Service Systems: Concept and Design

Conventionally, service systems have been considered to comprise two main offices: the front office and the back office. However, a new managerial office is needed to relate customers with technology as technology-based services play a critical role for customers prior to two main offices. Nevertheless, there is no attention to management of this new area. In this sense, this paper suggests a novel concept of the “forefront office” as the new area to represent service activities. The forefront office is defined as a service facility which allows customers to be provided with services by themselves using technology-based services prior to the front office. For design of the proposed forefront office, a modified service blueprint is proposed. Following on the design structure of the forefront office, three topologies of the forefront office are also proposed based on the modified service blueprint. The forefront office is expected to reduce labour costs and improve customer satisfaction in terms of mass customization

Underwriter choice and earnings management: evidence from seasoned equity offerings

Using a sample of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), this paper examines the association between the choice of financial intermediary and earnings management. We contend that with more stringent standards for certification and intense monitoring, highly prestigious underwriters restrict firms\u27 incentives for earnings management to protect their reputation and to avoid potential litigation risks, while firms with greater incentives for earnings management avoid strict monitoring by choosing low-quality underwriters. Consistent with our predictions, we find an inverse association between underwriter quality and issuers\u27 earnings management. In addition, we find that underwriter quality is positively related to SEOs\u27 post-issue performance, even after controlling for the effect of earnings management. We also find that firms with low underwriter prestige and high levels of earnings management underperform the most. However, the effect of underwriter choice on post-issue performance does not last long

Positive and negative information transfers from management forecasts

We examine positive and negative information transfers associated with management earnings and revenue forecasts. Positive information transfers are due to industry commonalities whereas negative information transfers are caused by competitive shifts. We argue that positive and negative intra-industry information transfers offset each other and lead to an overall finding of no information transfers even though they exist. We also conjecture that the type of information transfers from the same management forecast can be positive or negative based on the characteristics of the information receiver. We hypothesize positive information transfers to non-rival firms and negative information transfers to rivals. Consistent with our prediction, we find negative (positive) information transfers between forecasting firms and non-forecasting rival (non-rival) firms in the same industry. Through analyses using competitors identified by Hoover\u27s and 10-K reports, we show more general evidence of negative information transfers to rival firms

The Convergence of Manufacturing and Service Technologies: A Patent Analysis Approach

Active technological convergence of manufacturing industries and service industries has been emerged as a core and essential phenomenon for recent business environment. Technology convergence has already been the basic force behind the both product innovation and service innovation, changing the ways in which firms interact with their customers. Despite the gravity, there has been limited approach to investigate the technological convergence of manufacturing technologies and service technologies from the empirical perspective. In response, this paper aims to investigate technological convergence between manufacturing technology and service technology using patent analysis. For this purpose, we define the service technology and manufacturing technology. Following on this, we analyze the USPC classification of those technologies to analyze the technological convergence. To investigate the dynamic change of convergence, 10-year-dyanamics are observed. As case studies, three industries which show high level of technological convergence of manufacturing and service - banking, healthcare, and education industries are selected and analyzed in detail