The Effect of Sustainability Information Disclosure on the Cost of Equity Capital: An Empirical Analysis Based on Gartner Top 50 Supply Chain Rankings

While disclosing financial information has been widely proved to reduce the financing cost of a company, the impact of non-financial information, such as sustainability information, disclosing on the financing cost of the company is still in debate. The goal of this paper is to explore the impact of disclosing sustainability-related information on the cost of equity for firms. The paper first introduces the concept of sustainability information disclosure, and then exhibits its benefit through exploring its impact on reducing a firm’s financing cost. It uses the Gartner supply chain top 50 rankings to construct the experiment environment to test for the effect of sustainability information disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The study uses the Gartner top 50 supply chain rankings from 2013 to 2017 to construct the experiment environment, and test for the sustainability information disclosure’s impact on reducing the cost of equity capital. The regressions, which are based on the 350 firm-year sample of the United States and the 604 global firm-year sample, indicate that sustainability information disclosure significantly reduced the cost of equity capital. This paper uses a fixed effect regression method to analyze the impact of sustainability information disclosure. According to the regression result, the sustainability information disclosure variable has a significant negative coefficient. The result is robust under many settings. Thus, the paper finds that sustainability information disclosure significantly diminishes the cost of equity capital, controlling for ESG information disclosure. It also discusses the implications of the findings and future research directions for sustainability information disclosure

Identity Authentication Security Management in Mobile Payment Systems

Mobile payment is a new payment method offering users mobility, reachability, compatibility, and convenience. But mobile payment involves great uncertainty and risk given its electronic and wireless nature. Therefore, biometric authentication has been adopted widely in mobile payment in recent years. However, although technology requirements for secure mobile payment have been met, standards and consistent requirements of user authentication in mobile payment are not available. The flow management of user authentication in mobile payment is still at its early stage. Accordingly, this paper proposes an anonymous authentication and management flow for mobile payment to support secure transaction to prevent the disclosure of users\u27 information and to reduce identity theft. The proposed management flow integrates transaction key generation, encryption and decryption, and matching to process users\u27 personal information and biometric characteristics based on mobile equipment authentication carrier

Topographic evolution of tidal flats based on remote sensing: an example in Jiangsu coast, Southern Yellow Sea

The topographic evolution of tidal flats is critical for local ecological conservation, coastal zone management, and physical oceanographic studies. However, obtaining this knowledge is often challenging due to the lack of frequently updated topographic data over large areas. With the explosion of remotely sensed data, the waterline method has become the most operational method for tidal flat topography acquisition. In this study, digital elevation models (DEMs) of the tidal flats around Tongzhou Bay on the Jiangsu coast were constructed using the waterline method for three periods (2013, 2015, and 2017) before and after the construction of phase I of the reclamation project. Furthermore, the topographic evolution characteristics were analyzed from four aspects: contours, area changes, erosion–deposition distribution, and typical cross-sections. The results showed that: 1) During the 5 years from 2013 to 2017, the overall tidal flat area (500 km2) of Tongzhou Bay on the Jiangsu coast had been in a state of deposition, with a total siltation thickness of 0.19 m. 2) The reclamation activities affected the topography of the tidal flats quickly, but the recovery was also rapid. During the implementation of the project (in 2015), the area of the tidal flats above the −2-m contour was rapidly reduced by 20 km2 but rapidly recovered to the pre-project level after the completion of the project (in 2017). 3) The reclamation project directly affected the distribution of erosion and siltation. Outside the seawall on the east side of the Yaosha sand ridge, the 0-m contour expanded rapidly to the outer sea, reaching more than 250 m/year. 4) The sandbars in Tongzhou Bay on the Jiangsu coast generally had a southward-moving trend. Over the past 40 years, the Yaosha sand ridge had shifted southward by 2,500 m and the Lengjiasha sand ridge by more than 5,000 m. This study provides a remote sensing solution for the topographic evolution of large tidal flats under the influence of human reclamation activities

Hemoglobin to red cell distribution width ratio as a prognostic marker for ischemic stroke after mechanical thrombectomy

BackgroundThe hemoglobin to red cell distribution width ratio (HRR) has been experimentally associated with the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, its relationship with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for AIS remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between HRR at admission, follow-up HRR, and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing MT.MethodsAcute ischemic stroke patients undergoing MT were consecutively enrolled from January 2017 to December 2022. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory information were collected. HRR was measured by dividing hemoglobin (Hb) by red cell distribution width (RDW) at admission and after 24 h of MT. Clinical outcomes after 3 months were evaluated using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). The primary outcome was poor prognosis (mRS > 2) at 3 months, while the secondary outcome was death within 3 months.ResultsA total of 310 patients were analyzed, of whom 216 patients (69.7%) had poor prognosis, and 92 patients (29.6%) died. Patients with a poor prognosis and death had significantly lower HRR levels at admission and after 24 h. HRR at admission was not associated with clinical outcomes according to multivariable logistic regression analysis. However, HRR after 24 h was significantly associated with poor prognosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.646, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.520–0.803, p < 0.001) and death (adjusted OR: 0.615, 95% CI: 0.508–0.744, p < 0.001). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated the predictive ability of HRR after 24 h, with areas under the curves of 0.790 for poor prognosis and 0.771 for death.ConclusionRapidly measurable HRR levels are an independent marker of outcome after MT in AIS patients. This may provide a reliable auxiliary outcome measure for clinical routine and interventional therapy

Molecular and morphological evidence support a new species of Rosaceae Prunus subg. Cerasus from Wuyishan National Park, southeast China

Prunus tongmuensis, a new species of cherry blossom, is described and illustrated from Wuyishan National Park, southeast China. This species is characterized by its tubular to nearly bottle-shaped receptacles and dark purple drupes. It can be distinguished from other wild cherry trees by its flowers and leaves, reddish brown young leaves, presence of 1–2 glands at the base of leaves, petioles densely covered with yellowish brown villi, longer pedicels (0.6–2.5 cm), villous pistil, and dark purple drupes. In the present study, we conducted a comprehensive morphological study based on specimens of the new species and its morphologically close species, field observations, and examination of pollen morphology. In addition, our phylogenetic analysis based on the complete plastid genome sequences further confirms the status of the new species and indicates that it is closely related to Prunus clarofolia, however, it notably differs in leaf shape, size, petiole villus color, gland location, timing of flower and leaf openings, and reflexed or spread sepals, as well as drupe color

GWAS Identifies Novel Susceptibility Loci on 6p21.32 and 21q21.3 for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Carriers

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently identified KIF1B as susceptibility locus for hepatitis B virus (HBV)–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To further identify novel susceptibility loci associated with HBV–related HCC and replicate the previously reported association, we performed a large three-stage GWAS in the Han Chinese population. 523,663 autosomal SNPs in 1,538 HBV–positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers were genotyped for the discovery stage. Top candidate SNPs were genotyped in the initial validation samples of 2,112 HBV–positive HCC cases and 2,208 HBV carriers and then in the second validation samples of 1,021 cases and 1,491 HBV carriers. We discovered two novel associations at rs9272105 (HLA-DQA1/DRB1) on 6p21.32 (OR = 1.30, P = 1.13×$10^{−19}$) and rs455804 (GRIK1) on 21q21.3 (OR = 0.84, P = 1.86×$10^{−8}$), which were further replicated in the fourth independent sample of 1,298 cases and 1,026 controls (rs9272105: OR = 1.25, P = 1.71×$10^{−4}$; rs455804: OR = 0.84, P = 6.92×$10^{−3}$). We also revealed the associations of HLA-DRB1*0405 and 0901*0602, which could partially account for the association at rs9272105. The association at rs455804 implicates GRIK1 as a novel susceptibility gene for HBV–related HCC, suggesting the involvement of glutamate signaling in the development of HBV–related HCC

Strain-restricted transfer of ferromagnetic electrodes for constructing reproducibly superior-quality spintronic devices

Spintronic device is the fundamental platform for spin-related academic and practical studies. However, conventional techniques with energetic deposition or boorish transfer of ferromagnetic metal inevitably introduce uncontrollable damage and undesired contamination in various spin-transport-channel materials, leading to partially attenuated and widely distributed spintronic device performances. These issues will eventually confuse the conclusions of academic studies and limit the practical applications of spintronics. Here we propose a polymer-assistant strain-restricted transfer technique that allows perfectly transferring the pre-patterned ferromagnetic electrodes onto channel materials without any damage and change on the properties of magnetism, interface, and channel. This technique is found productive for pursuing superior-quality spintronic devices with high controllability and reproducibility. It can also apply to various-kind (organic, inorganic, organic-inorganic hybrid, or carbon-based) and diverse-morphology (smooth, rough, even discontinuous) channel materials. This technique can be very useful for reliable device construction and will facilitate the technological transition of spintronic study

Laboratory Characterization of Geosynthetics-Reinforced Asphalt Mixture

In order to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt pavement, geosynthetics can be employed in asphalt mixture. This research designed 12 reinforced schemes based on the types of geosynthetics, bonding layers and reinforced position. For the relative tests carried out, reinforced specimens were prepared according to each individual scheme. Moreover, rutting tests, bending creep tests and split fatigue tests were carried out on reinforced specimens in the laboratory. The results obtained in this investigation showed that the dynamic stability, bending creep rate and fatigue life of geocell-reinforced specimens are better than those of geogrid-reinforced specimens. The bonding layer of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) modified asphalt is better than epoxy modified asphalt. The dynamic stability and fatigue life of middle reinforcement are better than those of the lower reinforcement, while the bending creep rate of the lower reinforcement is better than middle reinforcement. In addition, reinforced scheme (9) has the largest increase in dynamic stability and fatigue life by 103 and 137%, respectively, and reinforced scheme (12) has the largest reduction in bending creep rate by 46%. However, scheme (9) improved dynamic stability and fatigue life by 43 and 29% higher than scheme (12), while the reduction of flexural creep rate of scheme (12) is only 7% higher than that of scheme (9)