Can Developmental AIS Provides Immunity to a Multi-cellular Robotics System?

The major challenge to multi-cellular robotics system is how to ensure the system is homeostatically stable. This position paper pro- poses a developmental artificial immune system (dev-AIS) framework that tries to provide and maintain homeostasis to the multi-cellular robotics system. If immunity is defined as the ability to maintain home- ostasis; the dev-AIS framework will be designed based on the under- standing and the abstraction of how different organisms attain for this property through evolution and developmental process. Early form of In- nate Immunity evolve from the predator-and-anti prey relationship of the single-celled organism. Progress in evolution drove the evolution of im- munity from this simple relationship to the development of the immune system in multi-cellular organisms

A joint source/channel coder design

Source coders and channel coders are generally designed without reference to each other. This approach is justified by a famous result of Shannon's. However, there are many situations in practice in which the assumptions upon which this result is based are violated. Specifically, we examine the situation where there is residual redundancy at the source coder output. We have previously shown that this residual redundancy can be used to provide error correction using a viterbi decoder. In this paper, we present the second half of this design; the design of encoders for this situation. We show through simulation results that the proposed coders consistently outperform conventional source/channel coder pairs with gains of up to 12 dB at high probability of error

A joint source/channel coder design

The situation where there is residual redundancy at the source coder output is examined. This residual redundancy can be used to provide error correction without a channel encoder. This approach is extended to conventional source coder/convolutional coder combinations. A design for nonbinary encoders for this situation is also developed. Through simulation results it is shown that the proposed systems consistently outperform conventional source-channel coder pairs with gains of greater than 10 dB at high probability of error

Copyright Complements and Piracy-Induced Deadweight Loss

Conventional wisdom suggests that copyright piracy may in effect reduce the deadweight loss resulting from copyright protection because it allows the public unlimited access to information goods at a price closer to marginal cost. It has been further contended that lower copyright protection would benefit society as a whole, as long as authors continue to receive sufficient incentives from alternative revenue streams in ancillary markets, for example, touring, advertising, and merchandizing. By evaluating the empirical evidence from the music, performance, and video game markets, this Article highlights a counterintuitive yet important point: copyright piracy, while decreasing the deadweight loss in the music market, could simultaneously increase the deadweight loss in ancillary markets via the interaction between complementary goods. The deadweight loss in ancillary markets tends to become dominant if a substantial portion of relevant consumers have high valuation but low frequency in music consumption, are risk averse toward up-front payment with uncertain demand, or discount future value at a high rate. Additionally, this Article’s findings shed new light on the current debates over several competing propositions to reform indirect copyright liabilities in the digital age

Copyright Complements and Piracy-Induced Deadweight Loss

Conventional wisdom suggests that copyright piracy may in effect reduce the deadweight loss resulting from copyright protection because it allows the public unlimited access to information goods at a price closer to marginal cost. It has been further contended that lower copyright protection would benefit society as a whole, as long as authors continue to receive sufficient incentives from alternative revenue streams in ancillary markets, for example, touring, advertising, and merchandizing. By evaluating the empirical evidence from the music, performance, and video game markets, this Article highlights a counterintuitive yet important point: copyright piracy, while decreasing the deadweight loss in the music market, could simultaneously increase the deadweight loss in ancillary markets via the interaction between complementary goods. The deadweight loss in ancillary markets tends to become dominant if a substantial portion of relevant consumers have high valuation but low frequency in music consumption, are risk averse toward up-front payment with uncertain demand, or discount future value at a high rate. Additionally, this Article’s findings shed new light on the current debates over several competing propositions to reform indirect copyright liabilities in the digital age

The effect of analyst coverage on accounting conservatism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether high analyst coverage increases or decreases accounting conservatism. Design/methodology/approach – Sample firms were selected from the Compustat and I/B/E/S databases for years 1989-2006. The authors used both accrual-based and market-value-based measures of accounting conservatism, also the extent to which negative cash flow from operations is more timely recognized via accruals than positive cash flow from operations to measure accounting conservatism. The regression analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. Findings – Strong evidence was found that analyst coverage is positively associated with accounting conservatism. The results suggest that firms choose more conservative accounting methods when they are followed by more analysts than when they are followed by fewer analysts. The results are robust to a battery of sensitivity analyses. Originality/value – This paper sheds light on how analyst coverage affects firms\u27 accounting choices and extends the limited research on the monitoring role of analyst coverage. The findings are consistent with the notion that analyst coverage plays an important corporate governance role in the financial reporting process. This paper also adds to the literature on the economic determinants of accounting conservatism, and provides some implications for practitioners

The Impact of the CSRC Regulation No. 12-1996 on the Credibility of Chinese IPO Earnings Forecasts

This study examines whether the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (the CSRC) Regulation No. 12-1996, Announcement of Some Rules on the Issuance of Shares, may enhance the credibility of management earnings forecasts in Chinese IPO prospectuses. Using a sample of 858 IPO earnings forecasts over the period 1991-2005, we find that earnings forecasts have been less optimistic and more accurate after the regulation was promulgated on December 26, 1996. Overall, our findings suggest that the CSRC Regulation No. 12-1996 can improve the reliability of Chinese IPO earnings forecasts

Industry specialist auditors, outsider directors, and financial analysts

This study investigates the relationships among industry specialist auditors, outside directors, and financial analysts. Specifically, we examine the effect of analyst coverage on the association between auditor industry specialization and outside directorship. We find that outside directors are less likely to hire industry specialist auditors for firms with high analyst coverage than for firms with low analyst coverage. Our findings suggest that analyst coverage moderates outside directors\u27 demand for industry specialist auditors, that is, financial analysts may compete with industry specialist auditors to some extent in monitoring financial reporting process