Analyzing Earnings Management for Cross-listed Firms and Interaction between Two Futures Exchanges

The first essay examines the impact of investor protection, market monitoring, and liquidity on the firm-level and country-level earnings management using a sample of 432 firms from 34 countries cross-listed in the U.S. The major findings are as follows: First, cross-listed firms from countries with strong legal system, strong outside investor rights, more institutional investors, and higher financial transparency are less likely to engage in earnings management. In addition, in countries with strong investor protection or market monitoring, the level of earnings management is more pronounced for illiquid firms as compared to liquid firms. Second, cross-listed firms following IFRS have lower propensity in earnings management than those following the U.S. GAAP. Third, the degree of earnings management for cross-listed firms is greater in the home country than in the U.S. market. Fourth, cross-listed firms have higher earnings management in the pre-listing period than in the post-listing period. Fifth, foreign firms listed in U.S. major markets have lower propensity to engage in earnings management than those listed in the OTC market. The findings remain robust with the inclusion of industry fixed effects and GMM estimation. All findings are largely consistent with my hypotheses that better investor protection, greater market monitoring, and higher liquidity reduce the extent of earnings management. The second essay examines the relative contribution to price discovery process of EURO/USD currency futures traded on two major exchanges: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), using the intraday data in 2010. The relative contribution to price discovery is estimated using the information share approach of Hasbrouck (1995). Empirical findings indicate that CME accounts for approximately 87% of price discovery in the EURO/USD market and its contribution is substantially larger in the morning than that in the afternoon. This study also examines the effect of trading characteristics, including volume, quoted bid-ask spread, and price volatility, on information share. CME’s price discovery leadership is attributed to its high trading activity, low transaction costs, and lower volatility. The results support the liquidity hypothesis that a market with greater liquidity contributes more to price discovery

Local wavefield velocity imaging for damage evaluation

Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging or Acoustic Wavefield Imaging has been widely used to evaluate structural damages and internal features. Inspecting complete wavefield time history for damage identification is tedious and error-prone. A more effective way is by extracting damage-related information into a single image. A wavefield velocity imaging method that maps the local estimates of group or phase velocity is proposed. Actual velocity values rather than arbitrarily-scaled intensities are mapped, enabling damage sizing without the need of supervised training or inspecting wavefield propagation video. Performance of the proposed method was tested by inspecting a 100 mm by 100 mm area of a 2 mm thick stainless steel specimen. Local phase velocity maps of A0 mode showed a half-thickness hole of 2 mm diameter as significant change in local phase velocity from the nominal 2 m/ms. Full width at half maximum of relevant velocity profiles proved the accuracy and consistency of the damage sizing

Rapid identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection by a new array format-based surface plasmon resonance method

Tubercle bacillus [TB] is one of the most important chronic infectious diseases that cause millions of deaths annually. While conventional smear microscopy and culture methods are widely used for diagnosis of TB, the former is insensitive, and the latter takes up to 6 to 8 weeks to provide a result, limiting the value of these methods in aiding diagnosis and intermediate decisions on treatment. Therefore, a rapid detection method is essential for the diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and recurrence monitoring. A new surface plasmon resonance [SPR] biosensor based on an array format, which allowed immobilizing nine TB antigens onto the sensor chip, was constructed. Simultaneous determination of multiple TB antibodies in serum had been accomplished with this array-based SPR system. The results were compared with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, a conventional immunological method. Array-based SPR showed more advantages in providing label-free and real-time detection. Additionally, the high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of TB infection showed its potential for future development of biosensor arrays for TB diagnosis

Illiquidity Premium and Monetary Conditions in Emerging Markets: An Empirical Examination of Taiwan Stock Markets

This study empirically examines the illiquidity premium of Taiwan stock markets and its relationship with monetary policies. We find that commonly used illiquidity measures are generally sensitive and capable of capturing market illiquidity, particularly during the most volatile periods. Evidence shows that unconditional illiquidity is significantly priced across three illiquidity measures during the sample period. Aggregate market illiquidity innovations are noticeably affected by monetary policies. The results of Granger causality tests reveal that expansive monetary policy improves market illiquidity, whereas restrictive policy adversely affects market liquidity. Keywords: Illiquidity; illiquidity premium; monetary policy; asset pricing; Granger's causality tests JEL Classifications: G11, G12, G15 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.895

3,3′-Di-tert-butyl-2′-hydr­oxy-5,5′,6,6′-tetra­methyl­biphenyl-2-yl benzene­sulfonate

In the title compound, C30H38O4S, the hydroxyl group bonded to one phenyl ring and an O atom of the benzene­sulfonate group attached to the other phenyl ring of the biphenyl backbone of the structure are involved in an intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond. The dihedral angle between the planes of the two aromatic rings of the biphenyl unit is 70.4 (2)°

Full HD JPEG XR Encoder Design for Digital Photography Applications

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