雄の求愛歌の特性決定に関与するcroaker遺伝子の同定とその機能の解析

要約のみTohoku University小金澤雅之課

Democracy, Regime Stability and Economic Growth: A Cross Country Dynamic Panel Data Analysis.

This study assesses the impact of democracy on the economic growth in a dynamic panel data of 132 countries from 1970 to 2010 using fixed effects (FEM) and simultaneous equation model (2SLS); controlling for the unobserved individual heterogeneity and simultaneity bias. Further, the impact of democracy on economic growth is reassessed by augmenting the models with Regime Stability. The results obtained indicate that democracy has a positive impact on the economic growth when the Regime Stability is controlled for. The incorporation of the reverse causality and individual heterogeneity further increases the democracy coefficient. On the other hand, economic growth has been found as insignificant determinant of the democracy. Keywords – Democracy, Regime stability, Economic growth, Panel data analysis

The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure on Business Performance: Evidence from High-Polluting Industries in China

Environmental management is a major goal for many Chinese companies as sustainability has become a critical issue not only for one company but, for the whole society. The paper studies the relationship between environmental information disclosure and business performance by investigating the publicly available environmental information disclosure in China. We use data of annual financial statements, sustainability disclosure reports, environment reports, and social responsibility reports of high-polluting companies listed at Shanghai Stock Exchange. Our investigation leads towards following two findings: (1) Environmental information disclosure has a positive impact on business performance; and (2) the positive impact is more significant for state-owned enterprises as compared to non-state-owned enterprises. Keywords: Environmental information disclosure; Business performance; High-polluting industries; Chin

Marketization Level，Debt Maturity and Expense Stickiness of Chinese Listed Companies: Analysis Based on Fixed Effect Model

Expense stickiness is the phenomenon that the marginal rate of change of expense is different when the volume changes in different directions. It can be regarded as a form of agency cost. Both the debt financing and the external environment of the companies are important corporate governance mechanism and can play a role of inhibition on agency cost. With the data of listed companies from Shanghai Stock Exchange(SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange(SZSE) in China, this paper finds that expense stickiness exists in the listed companies in China. We also observe that the shorter listed companies’ debt maturity can inhibit the cost stickiness. At last, this paper shows that the lower marketization level of the place the listed companies are located in, the stronger the debt maturity’s inhibiting effect on expense stickiness is. This result also suggests the substitution between the debt maturity and the marketization level. Strengthening cost management and rationalizing the maturity of debt are two important issues of Chinese companies. Hence, putting cost stickiness and debt maturity into a research framework has a significant guiding meaning. Keywords: Marketization level；Debt maturity；Expense stickiness；Fixed effect model

Financial crises and Adjustment rate of firms towards target capital structure: Evidence from China

This paper examines the impact of the global financial crisis of 2007-08 on 897 Chinese listed non-financial firms by examining changes in their adjustment rate towards target capital structure from 2003 to 2012. Dynamic panel data technique has been used and it is found that there is noticeable change on both firm level and macroeconomic level determinants of target capital structure before and after the financial crisis. The study observes increased adjustment rate towards target capital structure after the financial crises. During pre-financial crises period Chinese non-financial firms adjust toward their leverage targets at an annual adjustment rate of 15-53% and fully reach their leverage targets within 2-7 years. While during post-financial crises period Chinese non-financial firms adjust toward their leverage targets at an annual adjustment rate of 24-60% and fully reach their leverage targets within 1.7-4.1 years. Keywords – Target capital structure, adjustment rate, dynamic panel data models, China.

Motion Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Using Artificial Potential Fields: A Review

Autonomous ground vehicle systems have found extensive potential and practical applications in the modern world. The development of an autonomous ground vehicle poses a significant challenge, particularly in identifying the best path plan, based on defined performance metrics such as safety margin, shortest time, and energy consumption. Various techniques for motion planning have been proposed by researchers, one of which is the use of artificial potential fields. Several authors in the past two decades have proposed various modified versions of the artificial potential field algorithms. The variations of the traditional APF approach have given an answer to prior shortcomings. This gives potential rise to a strategic survey on the improved versions of this algorithm. This study presents a review of motion planning for autonomous ground vehicles using artificial potential fields. Each article is evaluated based on criteria that involve the environment type, which may be either static or dynamic, the evaluation scenario, which may be real-time or simulated, and the method used for improving the search performance of the algorithm. All the customized designs of planning models are analyzed and evaluated. At the end, the results of the review are discussed, and future works are proposed

Improving maize growth and development in relation to soil applied elemental sulfur

A field experiment was conducted to ascertain the effect of varying soil applied elemental sulfur (S) levels viz; 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg ha, on maize growth and development. Experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Growth and development parameters were computed; included leaf area per plant LAI, LAD, CGR, NAR and TDM and experimental results revealed that increasing S levels were pragmatic in improving maize performance. However, soil applied elemental S @ 30 kg ha proved to be beneficial involved in growth and yield improvement. Maximum CGR (23.44 g m-2 d-1), NAR (6.23 g m-2 d-1) and LAI (4.85) was in plots where S was applied at 30 kg ha while least LAI (4.40), LAD (193.45 days), TDM (1178.13 kg ha) was in control treatment. Therefore, elemental S @ 30 kg ha was noted to be most suitable for sustainable maize production amongst all other treatments

Bronchogenic Cyst in a 13 month Old Child

Background Persistent cough ,stridor and respiratory distress are most common symptoms encountered by paediatrician in their daily practices.Although bronchogenic cyst is rare cause of persistent cough but should always be kept in differential diagnosis of respiratory sypmptoms nonresponding to antibiotics and bronchodilators. Case presentation 13 month old baby had history of frequent visits at hospital and treated as case of pneumonia and hyperreactive airway disease.Chest X-ray revealed cystic mass in mediastinum with CT chest confirmed bronchogenic cyst for which patient underwent surgical excision.Histopathology report revealed bronchogenic cyst .After surgical excision patient got stable with stridor got settled. Conclusion Case is being reported to create awareness related to bronchogenic cyst as cause of persistent cough and respiratory distres