Socially Responsible Investment in a Changing World

Socially responsible investment funds make up a growing segment of the investment world. This work considers the impact of including SRI in an investor portfolio both normally and during crisis times. Regimes are identified using Markov switching models. This study is based on return data of four indices, namely, the MSCI World Index, S&P 500, Eurostoxx 50, and the socially responsible index - Advanced Sustainable Performance Index (ASPI). The approaches used are portfolio optimization, GARCH and Markov switching models. Our work shows that a socially responsible index is a good asset to keep in a portfolio. Our simulation results suggest that a very risk-averse investor during the time period between 1992 to 2009 might allocate up to 75% of his portfolio in socially responsible index. We also present a framework which uses binary integer programming to construct a social index designed to prepare optimal diversification from a fixed given equity index

Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Risk Analytics

Risks exist in every aspect of our lives, and can mean different things to different people. While negative in general they always cause a great deal of potential damage and inconvenience for stakeholders. Recent engineering risks include the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster from the 2011 tsunami, a year that also saw earthquakes in New Zealand, tornados in the US, and floods in both Australia and Thailand. Earthquakes, tornados (not to mention hurricanes) and floods are repetitive natural phenomenon. But the October 2011 floods in Thailand were the worst in 50 years, impacting supply chains including those of Honda, Toyota, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Nippon Steel, Tesco, and Canon. Human-induced tragedies included a clothing factory fire in Bangladesh in 2012 that left over 100 dead. Wal-Mart and Sears supply chains were downstream customers. The events of Bhopal in 1984, Chernobyl in 1986, Exxon Valdez in 1989, and the Gulf oil spill of 2010 were tragic accidents. There are also malicious events such as the Tokyo Sarin attach in 1995, The World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001, and terrorist attacks on subways in Madrid (2004), London (2005), and Moscow (2010). The news brings us reports of such events all too often. The next step up in intensity is war, which seems to always be with us in some form somewhere in the world. Complex human systems also cause problems. The financial crisis resulted in recession in all aspects of the economy. Risk and analytics has become an important topic in today’s more complex, interrelated global environment, replete with threats from natural, engineering, economic, and technical sources (Olson and Wu, 2015)

Business intelligence in risk management: Some recent progresses

Risk management has become a vital topic both in academia and practice during the past several decades. Most business intelligence tools have been used to enhance risk management, and the risk management tools have benefited from business intelligence approaches. This introductory article provides a review of the state-of-the-art research in business intelligence in risk management, and of the work that has been accepted for publication in this issue of Information Sciences

Cripto-1 overexpression is involved in the tumorigenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human Cripto-1, a member of the EGF-CFC family, is indispensable for early embryonic development. Cripto-1 plays an important oncogenic role during tumorigenesis and is overexpressed in a wide range of epithelial carcinomas, yet little is known about Cripto-1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The aim of this study was to analyze the roles of Cripto-1 in the progression and clinical characteristics in NPC clinical samples and cell lines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The expression of Cripto-1 at mRNA level was detected by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real time RT-PCR, and western blot was used to examine the protein expression. Cripto-1 expression and its clinical characteristics were investigated by performing immunohistochemical analysis on a total of 37 NPC clinical tissue samples. Lentiviral vectors were constructed to get an efficient expression of anti-Cripto-1 siRNA in CNE-2 and C666-1 cells, with invalid RNAi sequence as control. After the inhibition of the endogenous Cripto-1, the growth, cell cycle and invasion of cells were detected by MTT, FACS and Boyden chamber assay respectively. Moreover, <it>in vivo</it>, the proliferation of the tumor cells was evaluated in xenotransplant nude mice model with whole-body visualizing instrument.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results of real-time RT-PCR and western blot showed that the expression level of Cripto-1 was markedly higher in NPC cell lines than that in the immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelial cell at both mRNA and protein levels. RT-PCR of 17 NPC tissues showed a high expression rate in 76.5% (13/17) cases. In an immunohistochemical study, Cripto-1 was found to express in 54.1% (20/37) cases of NPC. In addition, Cripto-1 overexpression was significantly associated with N classification (<it>p </it>= 0.034), distant metastasis (<it>p </it>= 0.036), and clinical stage (<it>p = </it>0.007). Inhibition of endogenous Cripto-1 by lentivirus-mediated RNAi silencing technique suppressed NPC cell growth and invasion <it>in vitro</it>. <it>In vivo</it>, the average weight (<it>p </it>= 0.026) and volume (<it>p </it>= 0.044) of tumor in CNE-2/GFP⁺/Cripto-1^-xenotransplant mice group were significantly lower than those in the control group. The Ki67 index was obviously lower in Cripto-1 RNAi treated tumors (<it>p </it>< 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Data of this study suggest that Cripto-1 overexpression is connected with the tumorigenesis and progression of NPC, lentivector-mediated RNAi might be feasible for the inhibition of the growth and invasion of NPC.</p

miRNAs as Regulators of Antidiabetic Effects of Fucoidans

open access articleDiabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease with a high mortality rate worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), and other small noncoding RNAs, serve as endogenous gene regulators through binding to specific sequences in RNA and modifying gene expression toward up- or down-regulation. miRNAs have become compelling therapeutic targets and play crucial roles in regulating the process of insulin resistance. Fucoidan has shown potential function as an a-amylase inhibitor, which may be beneficial in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In recent years, many studies on fucoidan focused on the decrease in blood glucose levels caused by ingesting low-glucose food or glucose-lowering components. However, the importance of miRNAs as regulators of antidiabetic effects was rarely recognized. Hence, this review emphasizes the antidiabetic mechanisms of fucoidan through regulation of miRNAs. Fucoidan exerts a vital antidiabetic effect by regulation of miRNA expression and thus provides a novel biological target for future research