Predictability of stock returns using financial statement information: Evidence on semi-strong efficiency of emerging Greek stock market

This article examines the predictability of stock returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) during 1993 to 2006 by using accounting information. Using panel data analysis, this article concludes that the selected set of financial ratios contains significant information for predicting the cross-section of stock returns. Results indicate that portfolios selected on the basis of financial ratios produce higher than average returns, suggesting that the emerging Greek market does not fully incorporate accounting information into stock prices and hence it is not semi-strong efficient

Career effectiveness and its determinants

Study of careers has become an important aspect in the fast changing organizational context. It has come to be increasingly recognized at present, that career management is the responsibility of both the individual as well as the organization. This empirical study tries to understand the important elements of individual and organizational career practices that affect an employee’s career effectiveness. Most of the previous studies have used the objective terms of career success such as remuneration and position as the criterion variable. But since career outcome expectations vary across individuals and also since the concept of career itself has evolved over time, it was decided to use a more comprehensive concept of career outcome namely career effectiveness as the outcome variable. Career effectiveness as defined by Hall (2002) has both long-term orientation such as identity and adaptability as well as short-term orientation such as career attitudes and performance. Further both behavioral aspects such as performance and adaptability and individual subjective aspects such as identity and attitudes make it a more comprehensive way of assessing career outcome. The results of this research study indicate that individual determinants such as career planning and knowledge of organizational politics and organizational level determinants such as training and development support, quality of performance feedback and supervisory support explain significant variances in the determination of employee career effectiveness.

Ultrafast photoinduced enhancement of nonlinear optical response in 15-atom gold clusters on indium tin oxide conducting film

We show that the third order optical nonlinearity of 15-atom gold clusters is significantly enhanced when in contact with indium tin oxide (ITO) conducting film. Open and close aperture z-scan experiments together with non-degenerate pump-probe differential transmission experiments were done using 80 fs laser pulses centered at 395 nm and 790 nm on gold clusters encased inside cyclodextrin cavities. We show that two photon absorption coefficient is enhanced by an order of magnitude as compared to that when the clusters are on pristine glass plate. The enhancement for the nonlinear optical refraction coefficient is ~3 times. The photo-induced excited state absorption using pump-probe experiments at pump wavelength of 395 nm and probe at 790 nm also show an enhancement by an order of magnitude. These results attributed to the excited state energy transfer in the coupled gold cluster-ITO system are different from the enhancement seen so far in charge donor-acceptor complexes and nanoparticle-conjugate polymer composites.Comment: To appear in Optics Express (2013); http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.21.00848

Association between Microalbuminuria and Risk Factors and complications among patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus, the most common endocrine disorder is characterised by metabolic abnormalities and long-term microvascular and macrovascular complications. The prevalence of diabetes is on the rise, more alarming in the developing countries. Besides multiplying risk for coronary heart disease, diabetes enhances the incidences of cerebrovascular accidents. Moreover it is the leading cause of acquired blindness and accounts for about a quarter of the cases with end stage renal disease as well as half of the cases of non-traumatic lower limb amputations. OBJECTIVES: To find the association between microalbuminuria and its risk factors and complications in south Indian type II Diabetes population attending PSGIMS&R, Peelamedu, Coimbatore. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred patients of Type II DM admitted to PSGIMS & R were studied. The patients were taken from both IP and OP of the hospital, based on random selection. Patients were considered to be diabetic based on WHO (2) criteria for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus which is : - 1) Symptoms of diabetes mellitus plus a random glucose concentration >200 (11.1mmol/l). The classic symptoms of diabetes mellitus include polyuria, polydipsia and unexplained weight loss OR 2) Fasting blood glucose >126 mg/dl (7.0mmol/l). Fasting is defined as no caloric intake for at least 8 hours OR 3) 2 hour post prandial glucose > 200mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l). Among diabetics, the above criteria were considered to include the patients for the study. OR 4)HbA1C> 6.5. Inclusion criteria for case selection: 1) Urine sugar – positive. 2) Fasting blood sugar > 126 mg/dl. Exclusion criteria for case selection: 1) Patients with macroalbuminuria, 2) Patients with congestive cardiac failure, urinary tract infection, 3) Ketonuria, 4) Pregnant patients, 5) Patients with overt diabetic nephropathy, The selected patients were studied in detail with history and physical examination. SUMMARY: We studied 100 Type II DM patients for detection of microalbuminuria through the dipstick method. The mean age between male and female and the mean age detection of DM is not statistically significant. 9 patients had severe microalbuminuria between 100 and 300 mg/dl. Incidence of microalbuminuria is 2.5 times more likely for the age group more than 50 years. All patients with HbA1C 7 with duration of DM > 15 years were positive for Microalbuminuria. Incidence of microalbuminuria is significantly associated with BMI > 25 kg/m^2. Incidence of microalbuminuria is 1.9 times more in patients with HDL < 30 mg /dl. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of microalbuminuria is estimated to be 38% in this study. Microalbuminuria shows a direct relationship with increasing age of patients and increasing duration of diabetes mellitus since diagnosis. A HbA1c value above 7% is associated with 50% or higherincidence of microalbuminuria. Patients with a body mass index of more than 25kg/m2 have significant increasein the incidence of microalbuminuria. Incidence of microalbuminuria is significantly associated with presence of hypertension, neuropathy, Ischemic heart disease, retinopathy and high body mass index. Microalbuminuria is inversely associated with HDL

OTMM based Proposal Classification and Clustering

In the current environment, important task in any agencies (government, private) are to be selection proper search proposal. The proposal groups into the respective discipline when the large number of proposals are received .There is need to classify research proposals into proper categories automatically this will speed up the research proposal classification work. The technique used for proposals classification is OTTM Based on this respective discipline proposal assign to their expert for verification and review purpose

Statistical-Based Forecasting of Avalanche Prediction

This paper describes the study carried out to predict few meteorological parameters of the nextday using the observed parameters of previous day through statistical methods. Multiple linear regression model was formulated for a hill station, Patsio, situated between Manali and Leh, for two winter months(December and January) separately. Twelve meteorological parameters were predicted using 18 predictorsob served on the previous day. Ten years data has been used for the computation of regression coefficients. A  comparison of the forecasted parameters with the observations was made through the regressionmodel. The prediction of the developed regression model was reasonably close to the observations.The relevant statistical error associated with the linear model (standard error) was also estimated. Theoutput of this regression model will be useful in developing knowledge-based and statistical-basedavalanche forecasting mode

Development and validation of RP HPLC method for simultaneous determination of picroside I, picroside II, phyllanthin and boeravinone B in a polyherbal hepatoprotective tablet formulation

Purpose: To develop and validate RP-HPLC method for simultaneous determination of four active ingredients: picroside I (PSI), picroside II (PSII), phyllanthin (PHY) and boeravinone-B (BVB) in a polyherbal hepatoprotective tablet formulation.Methods: The study was carried out using Waters X-Bridge, C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column with mobile phase consisting of 5 mM ammonium acetate in 10 % methanol and acetonitrile, with gradient programme at dual wavelengths of 220 nm and 274 nm and flow speed of 1 mL.min-1. The procedure was validated with respect to specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, system suitability, limit of detection (LOD) and of quantification (LOQ), and robustness in line with ICH specifications.Results: The method was linear within the concentration range of 25 to 200 %, and the values of correlation coefficients (R2) were &gt; 0.999. Intra-day and inter-day RSDs of PAs and RTs were &lt; 5.0 %, with recovery in the range of 100.0 - 106.0 %.Conclusion: The four active ingredients have with good resolution with regard to the method used. The method is rapid, simple, highly selective, sensitive and cost effective, which make it an efficient method for quality assurance