Long-Run Underperformance And The Offering Price Clustering Phenomenon

The study proposes a new informational role for the offering price of an equity IPO.  Offering prices are quoted either in whole prices (e.g., $2,$11, $19, etc) or fractional prices (e.g.,$2.35, $11.15,$15.75, etc).  Using Jay R. Ritter’s sample of 1,526 IPOs issued during the period 1975 to 1984, the study examines the relation between the presence of whole price clusters and long-run underperformance.  The results indicate that fractional offering prices are associated with better long-run performance. &nbsp

The Strategic Setting Of Real Estate Mutual Fund Expense Ratios

Real estate mutual fund expense ratios are analyzed using panel data comprising 1,130 observations. The results show that expense ratio is inversely related to share class assets, fund family size, and fund age. Conversely, the expense ratio is positively related to larger funds and fund families with superior performance. This result is interesting because individual fund classes with favorable performance are associated with lower expense ratios. The results are robust to common estimation methodologies

Investor Sentiment And Close-End Country Funds?

An innovative method to estimate the duration of investor sentiment is applied to closed-end country fund returns and it finds that U.S. investor sentiment has a short life.  The effects of sentiment on closed-end country fund returns are largely consistent with existing literature however, it is only apparent in daily time-series regressions.  Sentiment rapidly fades at a weekly frequency and virtually disappears using monthly return observations.  These results suggest that the kind of investor sentiment for country fund prices does not have a persistent component

Surface modification of biomedical Mg-Ca and Mg-Zn-Ca alloys using selective laser melting: corrosion behaviour, microhardness and biocompatibility

Magnesium alloys such as Mg–Ca and Mg–Zn–Ca are good orthopaedic materials; however their tendency to corrode is high. Herein we utilize selective laser melting (SLM) to modify the surface of these Mg alloys to simultaneously improve the corrosion behaviour and microhardness. The corrosion rate decreased from 2.1 ± 0.2 mm/y to 1.0 ± 0.1 mm/y for the laser-processed Mg–0.6Ca, and from 1.6 ± 0.1 mm/y to 0.7 ± 0.2 mm/y for laser-processed Mg–0.5Zn–0.3Ca. The microhardness increased from 46\ua0±\ua01 HV to 56\ua0±\ua01 HV for Mg–0.6Ca, and from 47\ua0±\ua03 HV to 55\ua0±\ua03 HV for Mg–0.5Zn–0.3Ca. In addition, good biocompatibility remained in the laser processed Mg alloys. The improved properties are attributed to laser-induced grain refinement, confined impurity elements, residual stress, and modified surface chemistry. The results demonstrated the potential of SLM as a surface engineering approach for developing advanced biomedical Mg alloys

In vivo photoacoustic tomography of EGFR overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma mouse xenograft

EGFR is a promising cell surface target for in vivo imaging that is highly overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a common cancer worldwide. Peptides penetrate easily into tumors for deep imaging, and clear rapidly from the circulation to minimize background. We aim to demonstrate use of an EGFR specific peptide to detect HCC xenograft tumors in mice with photoacoustic imaging. Nude mice implanted with human HCC cells that overexpress EGFR were injected intravenously with Cy5.5-labeled EGFR and scrambled control peptides respectively. Photoacoustic images collected from 0 to 24 h. Photoacoustic signal peaked in tumors at 3 h post-injection. Images from 0 to 1.8 cm beneath the skin revealed increased target-to-background (T/B) ratio from tumors. The T/B ratio was significantly greater for the EGFR versus control peptide. Clearance of signal was observed by ∼24 h. EGFR overexpression was validated with immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. A peptide specific for EGFR delivered systemically can detect HCC xenograft tumors in vivo with photoacoustic imaging

Visualization 1: Integrated monolithic 3D MEMS scanner for switchable real time vertical/horizontal cross-sectional imaging

Visualization 1 Originally published in Optics Express on 08 February 2016 (oe-24-3-2145