Effects of sentiment and emotion of campaign pitch on crowdfunding performance: A cross-cultural comparison

This study examines the effects of two extreme sentiments (positive vs. negative) and eight types of emotion (anger, fear, anticipation, trust, surprise, sadness, joy, and disgust) implied by the wording of the campaign pitch on the outcomes of crowdfunding, and how these effects would vary according to cultural differences (Western vs. Eastern). We analyze a sample drawn from 17,289 crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter in the "design" and "technology" category to examine how feelings can affect the success, the number of backers, and pledged amounts for crowdfunding projects. We find three regularities by using propensity score match to map Western campaigns to Eastern ones. First, negative sentiment is adversely associated with the success probability but positively related to backer count in the Eastern culture subsample. Second, specific emotions have a larger impact on crowdfunding success among Western culture projects. Third, the statistical significance and direction of the concerning effects differ across the two cultures. Our findings stay robust when we add more controls in a stepwise way. Hence, the study contributes to the literature and provides suggestions for practitioners by exploring the role of derived feelings in the crowdfunding campaign pitch and the entrepreneurial pitch at the early financing stage

Quantum Transport in Low Dimensional Disordered Systems

Contains report on one research project.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAALO3-86-K-0002

A comparison of the career interests, locus of control, attitude, and achievement scores of community college introduction to business "on-campus" students and "open-circuit instructional television" students

The problem of this study was a comparison of the career interests, locus of control, attitude, and achievement scores of community college introduction to business "on-campus" students and "open-circuit instructional television" students. The "on-campus" sample included 102 students enrolled in traditionally taught "introduction to business" classes and the "open-circuit instructional television" sample included 279 students enrolled in the "introduction to business" telecourse offered for credit in four community colleges in a multi-campus district

Modeling charge polarization voltage for large lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles

Purpose: Polarization voltage of the lithium-ion battery is an important parameter that has direct influence on battery performance. The paper aims to analyze the impedance characteristics of the lithium-ion battery based on EIS data. Design/methodology/approach: The effects of currents, initial SOC of the battery on charge polarization voltage are investigated, which is approximately linear function of charge current. The change of charge polarization voltage is also analyzed with the gradient analytical method in the SOC domain. The charge polarization model with two RC networks is presented, and parts of model parameters like Ohmic resistance and charge transfer impedance are estimated by both EIS method and battery constant current testing method. Findings: This paper reveals that the Ohmic resistance accounts for much contribution to battery total polarization compared to charge transfer impedance. Practical implications: Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the model with the proposed identification method, which provides the foundation for battery charging optimization. Originality/value: The paper analyzed the impedance characteristics of the lithium-ion battery based on EIS data, presented a charge polarization model with two RC networks, and estimated parameters like Ohmic resistance and charge transfer impedance.Peer Reviewe

Estrogen Receptor Beta and p53 Play Integral Roles in Estradiol Mediated Protection against Colon Tumor Development

Hormone replacement therapy and estrogen replacement therapy have shown the ability to reduce risk of colon cancer development in clinical and animal studies, but in vitro research has been unable to reproduce an estradiol (E2) induced response in colon cancer cell lines. We demonstrated that young adult mouse colonocytes (YAMC, non-malignant colonocytes) exhibit an anti-proliferative response to E2 treatment. These cells demonstrate reduced cell culture growth and increased apoptosis in response to E2. YAMC cells containing an activated Ras mutation are considered to be malignantly transformed, and lose the ability to respond to E2 treatment. Fulvestrant (ICI) was used as an estrogen receptor antagonist to determine that these results were estrogen receptor mediated. Furthermore, this effect was demonstrated to require the presence of ER? through the use of a transgenic ERbeta knockout mouse. In these mice, the presence of E2 significantly reduced the formation of azoxymethane induced premalignant lesions. Since YAMC cells exhibit an anti-proliferative response to E2 treatment, we utilized isogenic YAMC cell lines with and without a dominant negative p53 mutation to demonstrate that this E2 induced action involves p53 activity. E2 treatment results in increased p53 transcriptional activity and a pro-apoptotic change in expression of p53 downstream targets. Presence of the dominant negative p53 mutant nullifies these effects of E2 treatment. The involvement of p53 in the previously described protection against AOM induced premalignant lesions, was investigated using wild type and heterozygous p53 knockout (Het p53KO) mice. The reduction in p53 protein corresponded to reduced effectiveness of E2 treatment on the prevention of premalignant lesion formation in Het p53KO mice. In summary, our data indicate that E2 treatment induces anti-proliferative responses in non-malignant colonocytes and protects against the formation of carcinogen-induced premalignant lesions. These effects require the presence of functional ER? and p53. Further studies are required to more thoroughly elucidate the specific interactions and downstream effects of ER? and p53 in response to E2 stimulation

A review of optimal planning active distribution system:Models, methods, and future researches

Due to the widespread deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs) and the liberalization of electricity market, traditional distribution networks are undergoing a transition to active distribution systems (ADSs), and the traditional deterministic planning methods have become unsuitable under the high penetration of DERs. Aiming to develop appropriate models and methodologies for the planning of ADSs, the key features of ADS planning problem are analyzed from the different perspectives, such as the allocation of DGs and ESS, coupling of operation and planning, and high-level uncertainties. Based on these analyses, this comprehensive literature review summarizes the latest research and development associated with ADS planning. The planning models and methods proposed in these research works are analyzed and categorized from different perspectives including objectives, decision variables, constraint conditions, and solving algorithms. The key theoretical issues and challenges of ADS planning are extracted and discussed. Meanwhile, emphasis is also given to the suitable suggestions to deal with these abovementioned issues based on the available literature and comparisons between them. Finally, several important research prospects are recommended for further research in ADS planning field, such as planning with multiple micro-grids (MGs), collaborative planning between ADSs and information communication system (ICS), and planning from different perspectives of multi-stakeholders

A Novel Prognostic Biomarker of Luminal Breast Cancer: High CD39 Expression Is Related to Poor Survival

BackgroundCD39 is one of the functional surface markers for T regulatory cells, the prognostic role and immune-related effects of CD39 in luminal breast cancer (BC) patients has not been evaluated yet. The aim of the current study was to explore the association between CD39 expression and clinic pathological characteristics and the prognosis in luminal BC patients.MethodsClinical information and RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) expression data were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Patients were divided into a high or low CD39 expression group by the optimal cutoff value (4.18) identified from the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The relationships between CD39 expression and clinic pathological features were evaluated by the corresponding statistical tests. Survival analyses were applied to evaluate the overall survival between the high and low CD39 expression groups in luminal BC. Furthermore, Gene Expression Omnibus datasets were used for external data validation. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was also performed, and CIBERSORT was used to analyze the immune cell populations.ResultsAnalysis of 439 cases of tumor data showed that CD39 was overexpressed in luminal BC. The multivariable analysis suggested that CD39 expression was an independent prognostic factor for luminal BC patients. GSEA suggested that CD39 might play an important role in luminal BC progression through immune regulation. Analysis of immune cell patterns revealed high CD39 expression correlated to a higher proportion of CD8+ T cells and M2 macrophages.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that CD39 expression correlates with the prognosis of luminal BC through TCGA database mining. Further studies are warranted further to elucidate this potential novel therapeutic strategy for BC