Linear and Nonlinear Predictability of International Securitized Real Estate Returns: A Reality Check

This paper examines short-horizon return predictability of ten largest international securitized real estate markets, with special attention paid to exploring possible nonlinearity-in-mean as well as nonlinearity-in-variance predictability. Although international securitized real estate returns are generally not predictable based on commonly used statistical criteria, there is much evidence for the predictability based on economic criteria (i.e., direction of price changes and trading rule profitability), which is more often due to nonlinearity-in-mean. The forecast combinations for various models appear to improve the forecasting performance, while the allowance of data-snooping bias using White’s Reality Check substantially mitigates spurious out-of-sample forecasting performance and weakens otherwise overwhelmingly strong predictability. Overall, there is robust evidence for the predictability in many international securitized real estate markets.

Generation of Narrow-Band Polarization-Entangled Photon Pairs for Atomic Quantum Memories

We report an experimental realization of a narrow-band polarization-entangled photon source with a linewidth of 9.6 MHz through cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion. This linewidth is comparable to the typical linewidth of atomic ensemble based quantum memories. Single-mode output is realized by setting a reasonable cavity length difference between different polarizations, using of temperature controlled etalons and actively stabilizing the cavity. The entangled property is characterized with quantum state tomography, giving a fidelity of 94% between our state and a maximally entangled state. The coherence length is directly measured to be 32 m through two-photon interference.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Role of disordered bipolar complexions on the sulfur embrittlement of nickel general grain boundaries

Minor impurities can cause catastrophic fracture of normally ductile metals. Here, a classic example is represented by the sulfur embrittlement of nickel, whose atomic-level mechanism has puzzled researchers for nearly a century. In this study, coupled aberration-corrected electron microscopy and semi-grand-canonical-ensemble atomistic simulation reveal, unexpectedly, the universal formation of amorphous-like and bilayer-like facets at the same general grain boundaries. Challenging the traditional view, the orientation of the lower-Miller-index grain surface, instead of the misorientation, dictates the interfacial structure. We also find partial bipolar structural orders in both amorphous-like and bilayer-like complexions (a.k.a. thermodynamically two-dimensional interfacial phases), which cause brittle intergranular fracture. Such bipolar, yet largely disordered, complexions can exist in and affect the properties of various other materials. Beyond the embrittlement mechanism, this study provides deeper insight to better understand abnormal grain growth in sulfur-doped Ni, and generally enriches our fundamental understanding of performance-limiting and more disordered interfaces

A Resource Depletion Spiral? A Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Exhaustion and Venting at Work

We investigate whether, why, and when emotionally exhausted employees may engage in venting, or discharging negative feelings to others at work. Drawing on emotion regulation research, we envision that emotionally exhausted employees engage in response-focused emotion regulation, which depletes regulatory resources and leads to emotion regulation failures (i.e., venting). We further examine employees’ core self-evaluation and turnover intention as boundary conditions for different stages of the mediated relationship. Moderated mediation analysis suggests that emotional exhaustion is positively related to venting only among employees with low core self-evaluation who reluctantly stay in organizations. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Regional economic status inference from information flow and talent mobility

Novel data has been leveraged to estimate socioeconomic status in a timely manner, however, direct comparison on the use of social relations and talent movements remains rare. In this letter, we estimate the regional economic status based on the structural features of the two networks. One is the online information flow network built on the following relations on social media, and the other is the offline talent mobility network built on the anonymized resume data of job seekers with higher education. We find that while the structural features of both networks are relevant to economic status, the talent mobility network in a relatively smaller size exhibits a stronger predictive power for the gross domestic product (GDP). In particular, a composite index of structural features can explain up to about 84% of the variance in GDP. The result suggests future socioeconomic studies to pay more attention to the cost-effective talent mobility data.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Quantum spin Hall effect induced by electric field in silicene

We investigate the transport properties in a zigzag silicene nanoribbon in the presence of an external electric field. The staggered sublattice potential and two kinds of Rashba spin-orbit couplings can be induced by the external electric field due to the buckled structure of the silicene. A bulk gap is opened by the staggered potential and gapless edge states appear in the gap by tuning the two kinds of Rashba spin-orbit couplings properly. Furthermore, the gapless edge states are spin-filtered and are insensitive to the non-magnetic disorder. These results prove that the quantum spin Hall effect can be induced by an external electric field in silicene, which may have certain practical significance in applications for future spintronics device.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure