Do Insiders Trade on Government Subsidies?

We examine whether and how insiders trade on government subsidies, a major instrument through which the governments intervene in the economy. Using a novel dataset of government subsidies of Chinese listed firms, we find that net insider purchase increases significantly during the month of subsidy receipt. The effect of subsidies on insider trading is weaker in firms with a more transparent information environment and when subsidies are granted in a more predictable manner. In contrast, the effect is more pronounced for politically connected firms. Further analysis shows that the subsidy-trading relation may reflect both insiders’ informational advantage concerning subsidies and their superior ability to detect mispricing-related opportunities. Our findings provide new insights into the capital market consequences of government subsidies through the lens of insider trading

Structure-function of hydroxyl radical scavenging and chromium-VI reducing cysteinetripeptides derived from rye secalin

This study evaluated for the first time hydroxyl radical scavenging and chromium VI (Cr(VI) reducing properties of four cysteine containing peptides derived from rye secalin. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to determine the antioxidation mechanism and the effect of residue order. The peptides tested (CQV, QCA, QVC, QCV) were obtained from in silico digestion of rye secalin with Proteinase-K and selected because they contained thiol, a known redox functional group. It was found that at pH 7.4, CQV had the highest Cr(VI) reducing activity (76 %) followed by QCA and QCV (30.8 and 25.5 %, respectively). QVC and GSH had similar but lower activities (11.3 and 11.7%). At pH 3.0, CQV and QCV were found to be less active than the other two peptides. In the hydroxyl radical scavenging assay, CQV had the highest activity with 28.9 ± 1.3 % inhibition of the formation of HO• radicals compared to 19.0 – 13.6% for other peptides. The highest reactivity of CQV with Cr(VI) under neutral conditions was due to the proximity of thiol and amine of glutamine that allowed the formation of a transition state that facilitated the reduction. Cysteine at the N-terminal was important for both the reduction of chromium (pH 7.4) and the HO• scavenging activity because the S-H bond at that position was found by the DFT analysis to have the lowest bond dissociation energy

Population Ageing, Labour Market Rigidity and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China

Population ageing leads to labour scarcity and labour market rigidity. Contrary to supply-side economists’ belief that labour market rigidity tends to suppress firm innovation, we provide novel evidence of a positive relationship between population ageing and firm innovation in China. This enhancement effect is greater for firms with higher labour costs, consistent with the argument that labour scarcity encourages labour-saving innovation in response to demographic shifts. In addition, the observed positive effect is particularly pronounced for state-owned enterprises, which are widely acknowledged to be overstaffed with older workers, and firms in industries that pursue Schumpeter-II innovation and engage in more intense research and development. In addition, population ageing helps firms to generate more exploitative (vs. exploratory) innovation. Overall, our findings suggest that firms facing population ageing can adapt their strategies to innovate successfully

Do business groups affect corporate cash holdings?:Evidence from a transition economy

AbstractWe examine whether business groups’ influence on cash holdings depends on ownership. Group affiliation can increase firms’ agency costs or benefit firms by providing an internal capital market, especially in transition economies characterized by weak investor protection and difficult external capital acquisition. A hand-collected dataset of Chinese firms reveals that group affiliation decreases cash holdings, alleviating the free-cash-flow problem of agency costs. State ownership and control of listed firms moderate this benefit, which is more pronounced when the financial market is less liquid. Group affiliation facilitates related-party transactions, increases debt capacity and decreases investment-cash-flow sensitivity and overinvestment. In transitional economies, privately controlled firms are more likely to benefit from group affiliation than state-controlled firms propped up by the government

Capturing Nucleation at 4D Atomic Resolution

Nucleation plays a critical role in many physical and biological phenomena ranging from crystallization, melting and evaporation to the formation of clouds and the initiation of neurodegenerative diseases. However, nucleation is a challenging process to study in experiments especially in the early stage when several atoms/molecules start to form a new phase from its parent phase. Here, we advance atomic electron tomography to study early stage nucleation at 4D atomic resolution. Using FePt nanoparticles as a model system, we reveal that early stage nuclei are irregularly shaped, each has a core of one to few atoms with the maximum order parameter, and the order parameter gradient points from the core to the boundary of the nucleus. We capture the structure and dynamics of the same nuclei undergoing growth, fluctuation, dissolution, merging and/or division, which are regulated by the order parameter distribution and its gradient. These experimental observations differ from classical nucleation theory (CNT) and to explain them we propose the order parameter gradient (OPG) model. We show the OPG model generalizes CNT and energetically favours diffuse interfaces for small nuclei and sharp interfaces for large nuclei. We further corroborate this model using molecular dynamics simulations of heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation in liquid-solid phase transitions of Pt. We anticipate that the OPG model is applicable to different nucleation processes and our experimental method opens the door to study the structure and dynamics of materials with 4D atomic resolution.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures, 12 supplementary figures and one supplementary tabl

Dynamic Format Selection of Media Content

Disclosed herein is an improved mechanism for dynamic format selection of media content. The mechanism can use a machine learning model to select a format (e.g., a playback resolution) for providing media content based on information available at the time when the request for providing the media content is received. Such information can include, for example, location information (e.g., the geographic location of a user device that is presenting the media content), account information (e.g., previously selected media content items, watch time statistical information, subscription information, etc.), and/or network condition information (e.g., current egress traffic from one or more servers associated with the media streaming service)