Informativeness and Timeliness of 10-K Text Similarity for Predicting Tail-Risk Comovement

We measure a bank’s connectedness by constructing a measure of its text similarity with other banks based on 10-K business description and MD&A discussions. We find that tail-risk comovement between a given bank and the banking system is increasing in the bank’s average similarity. We also construct groups of connected peer banks, finding that banks co-move significantly more in the tails with their highest similarity peers. Finally, we separate 10-K text into boilerplate and non-boilerplate components. We find that both boilerplate and non-boilerplate similarity have incremental information about future tail comovement. However, non-boilerplate similarity is significantly timelier than boilerplate, consistent with non-boilerplate similarity capturing commonalities across banks in currently evolving fundamentals and boilerplate similarity capturing commonalities in structural features that evolve slowly over time

The Effectiveness of Coenzyme Q1 and Q10 in Mitigating Myocardial Reperfusion/Ischemia (MI/R) Injury

Mitochondria may be a principle source of oxidative stress causing MI/R injury. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is essential for electron transport in normal mitochondria, has antioxidant properties but its bioavailability is likely reduced due to oxidative stress during MI/R. Coenzyme Q1 (CoQ1) is a derivative of CoQ10, but is a more potent antioxidant than CoQ10 due to a shorter isoprene chain. We hypothesize that CoQ1 will exhibit better cardioprotective effects during MI/R. CoQ1 (MW=250 g/mol; 20 μM, n=5) and CoQ10 (MW=863 g/mol; 20 μM, n=5) were given at reperfusion in isolated rat hearts subjected to I (30 min)/R (45 min). We found that MI/R hearts (n=7) and MI/R+DMSO hearts (n=4) (0.2% DMSO was used to solubilize CoQ1 and CoQ10) exhibited significantly compromised cardiac contractile/diastolic pressures and coronary flow during reperfusion compared to those of sham hearts (n=5). By contrast, the final left ventricular developed pressure was significantly improved by CoQ1 treatment (56.0±5.3 mmHg), but not CoQ10 treatment (38.4±8.6 mmHg), when compared to that in MI/R hearts (33.6±6.2 mmHg) and MI/R+DMSO hearts (36.4±9.7 mmHg) (p\u3c0.05). Similarly, the final peak of the firstderivative of left ventricular pressure was significantly higher in CoQ1 treatment (1294.2±104.6mmHg/s), but not CoQ10 treatment (770.6±120.1 mmHg/s), when compared to that in MI/R hearts (700.6±134.7 mmHg/s) and MI/R+DMSO hearts (and 741.5±168.6 mmHg/s) (p\u3c0.05). CoQ1 and CoQ10 treated hearts showed no improvement on diastolic pressure and coronary flow compared to the controls. Moreover, infarct size was reduced by CoQ1 treatment (25±3%) and CoQ10 treatment (29±4%) compared to that in untreated MI/R (44±6%) and MI/R+DMSO (35±3%). In summary, our preliminary results indicate that CoQ1 was more effective than CoQ10 in restoring post-reperfused cardiac contractile function, but not infarct size during MI/R

Be Stars in the Open Cluster NGC 6830

We report the discovery of 2 new Be stars, and re-identify one known Be star in the open cluster NGC 6830. Eleven H-alpha emitters were discovered using the H-alpha imaging photometry of the Palomar Transient Factory Survey. Stellar membership of the candidates was verified with photometric and kinematic information using 2MASS data and proper motions. The spectroscopic confirmation was carried out by using the Shane 3-m telescope at Lick observatory. Based on their spectral types, three H-alpha emitters were confirmed as Be stars with H-alpha equivalent widths > -10 Angstrom. Two objects were also observed by the new spectrograph SED-Machine on the Palomar 60 inch Telescope. The SED-Machine results show strong H-alpha emission lines, which are consistent with the results of the Lick observations. The high efficiency of the SED-Machine can provide rapid observations for Be stars in a comprehensive survey in the future.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, AJ in pres

Advancing Inclusion in the Geosciences: An Overview of the NSF-GOLD Program

Here we report on five pilot projects working to develop effective professional development aimed at improving diversity, equity, and inclusion within the geosciences. All five projects were funded by the NSF GEO Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD) program, which was designed to bring together geoscientists and social scientists to create innovative pilot programs for preparing and empowering geoscientists as change agents for increasing diversity. Each project has different objectives and applies different combinations of methods, but focuses on professional development, bystander intervention training, and the formation of new networks in the pursuit of systemic, institutional change. This article describes the origins, aims, and activities of these projects, and reflects on lessons learned to date. These projects are still ongoing, but in their first two years they have received more interest than anticipated and more demand than can be fulfilled, suggesting an unserved need in the field. We have also found that teams with varied backgrounds, experiences, and expertise are vital to overcoming common struggles in facing inequalities. Coaching from experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion keeps the teams motivated, particularly when many team members are accustomed to typical scientific research. Finally, institutional change requires time to catalyze, develop, and institutionalize, highlighting the importance of sustained effort over years

Microscope 2.0: An Augmented Reality Microscope with Real-time Artificial Intelligence Integration

The brightfield microscope is instrumental in the visual examination of both biological and physical samples at sub-millimeter scales. One key clinical application has been in cancer histopathology, where the microscopic assessment of the tissue samples is used for the diagnosis and staging of cancer and thus guides clinical therapy. However, the interpretation of these samples is inherently subjective, resulting in significant diagnostic variability. Moreover, in many regions of the world, access to pathologists is severely limited due to lack of trained personnel. In this regard, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools promise to improve the access and quality of healthcare. However, despite significant advances in AI research, integration of these tools into real-world cancer diagnosis workflows remains challenging because of the costs of image digitization and difficulties in deploying AI solutions. Here we propose a cost-effective solution to the integration of AI: the Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM). The ARM overlays AI-based information onto the current view of the sample through the optical pathway in real-time, enabling seamless integration of AI into the regular microscopy workflow. We demonstrate the utility of ARM in the detection of lymph node metastases in breast cancer and the identification of prostate cancer with a latency that supports real-time workflows. We anticipate that ARM will remove barriers towards the use of AI in microscopic analysis and thus improve the accuracy and efficiency of cancer diagnosis. This approach is applicable to other microscopy tasks and AI algorithms in the life sciences and beyond