Wealth Effects of Dividend Announcements on Bondholders: The Case of Taiwan Bond Market

Although bonds play an important role in U.S. capital markets, this financial instrument is less common in the emerging markets. Taiwan is a typical case. In fact, both bond issuances and bond transactions in Taiwan have been declining in the past years. Consistent with the previous studies, this research documents that wealth transfer effects exist between bondholders and stockholders. We hypothesize that this wealth transfer discourages investors from investing in bond markets because companies in Taiwan seem to care less about the interest of bondholders. Using the event study methodology, we examine the price change of bonds and stocks in Taiwan capital market around cash dividend announcements. We find that there are significant abnormal returns before cash dividend announcements from 30 days to 60 days and that there is insignificant price change of bonds during the three-day period around the announcement. Possible explanations of the results include low bond trading volumes, insider trading before announcements, and mixing signaling and wealth transfer effects. Although this study cannot prove that the results are directly related to management holdings, we tend to believe that insider trading somehow matters

Extraction of single-trial cortical beta oscillatory activities in EEG signals using empirical mode decomposition

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Brain oscillatory activities are stochastic and non-linearly dynamic, due to their non-phase-locked nature and inter-trial variability. Non-phase-locked rhythmic signals can vary from trial-to-trial dependent upon variations in a subject's performance and state, which may be linked to fluctuations in expectation, attention, arousal, and task strategy. Therefore, a method that permits the extraction of the oscillatory signal on a single-trial basis is important for the study of subtle brain dynamics, which can be used as probes to study neurophysiology in normal brain and pathophysiology in the diseased.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper presents an empirical mode decomposition (EMD)-based spatiotemporal approach to extract neural oscillatory activities from multi-channel electroencephalograph (EEG) data. The efficacy of this approach manifests in extracting single-trial post-movement beta activities when performing a right index-finger lifting task. In each single trial, an EEG epoch recorded at the channel of interest (CI) was first separated into a number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Sensorimotor-related oscillatory activities were reconstructed from sensorimotor-related IMFs chosen by a spatial map matching process. Post-movement beta activities were acquired by band-pass filtering the sensorimotor-related oscillatory activities within a trial-specific beta band. Signal envelopes of post-movement beta activities were detected using amplitude modulation (AM) method to obtain post-movement beta event-related synchronization (PM-bERS). The maximum amplitude in the PM-bERS within the post-movement period was subtracted by the mean amplitude of the reference period to find the single-trial beta rebound (BR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed single-trial BRs computed by the current method were significantly higher than those obtained from conventional average method (<it>P </it>< 0.01; matched-pair Wilcoxon test). The proposed method provides high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through an EMD-based decomposition and reconstruction process, which enables event-related oscillatory activities to be examined on a single-trial basis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The EMD-based method is effective for artefact removal and extracting reliable neural features of non-phase-locked oscillatory activities in multi-channel EEG data. The high extraction rate of the proposed method enables the trial-by-trial variability of oscillatory activities can be examined, which provide a possibility for future profound study of subtle brain dynamics.</p

Associations between blood glucose level and outcomes of adult in-hospital cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study

Additional file 3: Table S3. Features, interventions, and outcomes of cardiac arrest events stratified by the presence of measurement of blood glucose level after sustained return of spontaneous circulation

Study on the Stability of DeoxyArbutin in an Anhydrous Emulsion System

The skin-whitening agent, deoxyArbutin, is a potent tyrosinase inhibitor that is safer than hydroquinone and arbutin. However, it is thermolabile in aqueous solutions, where it decomposes to hydroquinone. Pharmaceutical and cosmetic emulsions are normally oil-in-water (o/w) or water-in-oil (w/o) systems; however, emulsions can be formulated with no aqueous phase to produce an anhydrous emulsion system. An anhydrous emulsion system could offer a stable vehicle for compounds that are sensitive to hydrolysis or oxidation. Therefore, to enhance the stability of deoxyArbutin in formulations, we chose the polyol-in-silicone, anhydrous emulsion system as the basic formulation for investigation. The quantity of deoxyArbutin and the accumulation of hydroquinone in both hydrous and anhydrous emulsions at various temperatures were analyzed through an established high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. The results indicated that water increased the decomposition of deoxyArbutin in the formulations and that the polyol-in-silicone, oil-based, anhydrous emulsion system provided a relatively stable surrounding for the deoxyArbutin that delayed its degradation at 25 °C and 45 °C. Moreover, the composition of the inner hydrophilic phase, containing different amounts of glycerin and propylene glycol, affected the stability of deoxyArbutin. Thus, these results will be beneficial when using deoxyArbutin in cosmetics and medicines in the future

Double primary bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung and papillary thyroid carcinoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Double primary bronchogenic carcinoma and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid are extremely rare. We describe the case of a patient who underwent surgical resection for these two cancers.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 56-year-old man presented to our hospital complaining of a cough with blood-tinged sputum. A slowly growing mass in the left lobe of the lung had been noted for about 1 year. He underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery of the left lower lobe and mediastinal lymph node dissection through an 8 cm utility incision. Pathology revealed a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma and the dissected lymph nodes were negative for malignancy. He also complained of a mass in his neck, which had grown slowly for over 5 years. A computed tomography scan of the neck revealed a left thyroid mass compressing the trachea towards the right side. There was no cervical lymphadenopathy. A left thyroid lobectomy was performed and pathology revealed a papillary carcinoma. Thus, he underwent a second operation to remove the right lobe of the thyroid. He underwent subsequent adjuvant chemotherapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In a review of the literature, it appears that there has only been one previously reported case of these two cancers, which was in Japan. The relationship between these two cancers is still unclear, and more case reports are required to determine this relationship.</p

Association Between Net Vertebral Artery Flow Volume and Non-AF Stroke: A Retrospective 2-Year Analysis

Objectives: Association between net vertebral artery flow volume (NVAFV) and stroke types remains unclear. We hypothesize NVAFV is low in patients with posterior circulation infarction (PCI) and an ideal cut-off value for discriminating PCI from anterior circulation infarction (ACI) and controls may be present.Materials and Methods: As study candidates, we retrospectively enrolled hospitalized patients with first-time non-AF stroke within 2-years period. Consecutive non-AF, non-stroke subjects were enrolled as the control group. We compared NVAFV values among the PCI, ACI, and control groups.Results: Overall, 866 candidates—213, 418, and 235 candidates in the PCI, ACI, and control groups, respectively—were enrolled. NVAFV (mean ± SD) values were 134.8 ± 52.7, 152.3 ± 59.2, and 172.0 ± 54.7 mL/min in the PCI, ACI, and control groups, respectively. Statistics revealed significant difference (p &lt; 0.001) among three groups. To use NVAFV as a diagnostic parameter, the AUC of any two groups should be between 0.58 and 0.69. Most (93.6%) of the controls had NVAFV above 100 mL/min. The odds ratio of any non-AF stroke is 3.48 if the NVAFV is below 100 mL/min.Conclusions: NVAFV is lowest in non-AF PCI group. Low NVAFV is associated with both non-AF ACI and PCI. No ideal cut-off value is available to discriminate PCI from other two conditions. We agree that an NVAFV of 100 mL/min is the lower limit of a normal value. Any value below 100 mL/min indicates high stroke risk and implies diffuse cerebral atherosclerosis and impaired cerebral perfusion

Adaptive Synaptic Memory via Lithium Ion Modulation in RRAM Devices

Biologically plausible computing systems require fine- grain tuning of analog synaptic characteristics. In this study, lithium- doped silicate resistive random access memory with a titanium nitride (TiN) electrode mimicking biological synapses is demonstrated. Biological plausibility of this RRAM device is thought to occur due to the low ionization energy of lithium ions, which enables controllable forming and filamentary retraction spontaneously or under an applied voltage. The TiN electrode can effectively store lithium ions, a principle widely adopted from battery construction, and allows state- dependent decay to be reliably achieved. As a result, this device offers multi- bit functionality and synaptic plasticity for simulating various strengths in neuronal connections. Both short- term memory and long- term memory are emulated across dynamical timescales. Spike- timing- dependent plasticity and paired- pulse facilitation are also demonstrated. These mechanisms are capable of self- pruning to generate efficient neural networks. Time- dependent resistance decay is observed for different conductance values, which mimics both biological and artificial memory pruning and conforms to the trend of the biological brain that prunes weak synaptic connections. By faithfully emulating learning rules that exist in human’s higher cortical areas from STDP to synaptic pruning, the device has the capacity to drive forward the development of highly efficient neuromorphic computing systems.In this study, lithium- doped silicate resistive random access memory with a titanium nitride (TiN) electrode is shown to mimic biological synapses. The TiN electrode effectively stores lithium ions, a principle widely adopted from battery construction, and enables reliable state- dependent decay. This device offers multi- bit functionality and synaptic plasticity, short- term memory and long- term memory, spike- timing- dependent plasticity and paired- pulse facilitation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163426/3/smll202003964-sup-0001-SuppMat.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163426/2/smll202003964_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163426/1/smll202003964.pd