Business failure prediction for Korean lodging firms using multiple discriminant analysis and logit analysis

This study makes an attempt to develop business failure prediction models for lodging firms located in South Korea using multi-variate analyses. These multi-variate analyses include Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and logit analysis. This study looked at the financial statements from a total of 154 firms to develop the prediction models, and used 11 different financial ratios from liquidity, solvency, leverage, and efficiency categories as classifying variables. The descriptive statistics of the 11 ratios for the failed and non-failed groups indicated that non-failed hospitality firms were significantly better than failed hospitality firms in terms of liquidity, leverage, and solvency, demonstrating the potential classifying ability of the financial ratios between failed and non-failed groups; A MDA model and a logit model were then developed based on sample firms\u27 financial ratios one year prior to failure. For MDA, stepwise procedure was used and a model with three ratios was established. These three ratios were debt ratio, interest coverage ratio, and total assets turnover ratio; For the logit analysis, maximization of the log-likelihood function was used to derive a logit model also with three variables. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Failure prediction for hospitality firms in US and Korea using logit and neural networks models

This study developed failure prediction models for Korean and U.S. hospitality firms using logistic regression and artificial neural networks (ANN) techniques; For Korean hospitality firms, the one-variable logit model with interest coverage ratio correctly classified 83.74% of in-sample firms and 76.32% of hold-out firms. The ratio\u27s negative coefficient suggests that low interest coverage of a firm increases its failure probability. To prevent the failures, Korean hospitality firms need to move away from heavily leveraged financial structure. The developed ANN model demonstrated an overall classification rate of 86.18% for in-sample firms and 77.63% for hold-out firms. Empirically, this study shows that the logit model is not inferior to the ANN model in terms of prediction accuracy. In addition, the logit model allows its user to interpret the coefficient of each variable and draw practical implications. Therefore, it is recommended to employ the logit model for predicting hospitality firm failures in Korea; For U.S. hospitality firms, the logit model retained three ratios: earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to current liabilities (CL), quick ratio, and debt ratio. These ratios imply that, to decrease the probability of failure, U.S. firms need to: (1) exercise a tight control on the operating costs; (2) increase sales revenue by pursuing market-share gains; (3) invest in operating assets that produce higher returns than cash or marketable securities; (4) adopt a conservative financing policy. The logit model correctly classified 83.33% of the in-samples firms and 77.63% of the holdout firms. The estimated ANN model, on the other hand, demonstrated overall classification rates of 91.98% on in-sample firms and 85% on hold-out firms. While the ANN model may achieve higher classification rates, the downside is the model\u27s lack of self-explanation capabilities. The decision for model selection, therefore, should be made based on the objective of classification. If the primary objective is to classify a set of observations as accurately as possible, then the ANN model may be used. Alternatively, if the researcher wishes to make a practical interpretation of the developed model, then it is recommended to use the logit model for predicting firm failures

Searching for Own Space: Korean Female Graduate Students’ (Re)construction of Their Professional Selves in the U.S. Academia

Taking the transnational feminist approach, the purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of Korean female graduate students in the U.S. higher education institution and the host society

The Leading Causes and Consequences of Citizenship Pressure in the Hotel Industry

Purpose – This study aims to examine the causes of citizenship pressure and to investigate the relationship between citizenship pressure, job stress and turnover intentions. Specifically, the current study examines the effects of the personality trait of neuroticism and the organizational cultures of bureaucracy and the market. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 224 hotel employees in the People’s Republic of China using a self-administered survey questionnaire. The participants completed measures examining citizenship pressure, personality, organizational culture, job stress and intention to quit. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings – The results showed that employees who are more neurotic are more likely to experience citizenship pressure. Moreover, citizenship pressure was found to increase job stress and turnover intentions. However, a bureaucratic culture, which prizes stability, was found to reduce citizenship pressure. Practical implications – This study presents factors that may influence hotel employees’ perceptions of citizenship pressure and reveals the negative consequences of such pressure. Thus, the study results contribute to a better understanding of citizenship pressure and can be used to develop guidelines to reduce citizenship pressure in work environments. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is the first empirical study to examine the antecedents and consequences of citizenship pressure in the hotel industry. Moreover, previous citizenship pressure studies have mainly been conducted in a Western cultural context; it is unclear whether citizenship pressure can be similarly observed in China, where the nature and form of employment relationships differ significantly from those in Western countries

FAM20: an evolutionarily conserved family of secreted proteins expressed in hematopoietic cells

BACKGROUND: Hematopoiesis is a complex developmental process controlled by a large number of factors that regulate stem cell renewal, lineage commitment and differentiation. Secreted proteins, including the hematopoietic growth factors, play critical roles in these processes and have important biological and clinical significance. We have employed representational difference analysis to identify genes that are differentially expressed during experimentally induced myeloid differentiation in the murine EML hematopoietic stem cell line. RESULTS: One identified clone encoded a previously unidentified protein of 541 amino acids that contains an amino terminal signal sequence but no other characterized domains. This protein is a member of family of related proteins that has been named family with sequence similarity 20 (FAM20) with three members (FAM20A, FAM20B and FAM20C) in mammals. Evolutionary comparisons revealed the existence of a single FAM20 gene in the simple vertebrate Ciona intestinalis and the invertebrate worm Caenorhabditis elegans and two genes in two insect species, Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae. Six FAM20 family members were identified in the genome of the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes and five members in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. The mouse Fam20a protein was ectopically expressed in a mammalian cell line and found to be a bona fide secreted protein and efficient secretion was dependent on the integrity of the signal sequence. Expression analysis revealed that the Fam20a gene was indeed differentially expressed during hematopoietic differentiation and that the other two family members (Fam20b and Fam20c) were also expressed during hematcpoiesis but that their mRNA levels did not vary significantly. Likewise FAM20A was expressed in more limited set of human tissues than the other two family members. CONCLUSIONS: The FAM20 family represents a new family of secreted proteins with potential functions in regulating differentiation and function of hematopoietic and other tissues. The Fam20a mRNA was only expressed during early stages of hematopoietic development and may play a role in lineage commitment or proliferation. The expansion in gene number in different species suggests that the family has evolved as a result of several gene duplication events that have occurred in both vertebrates and invertebrates

The intratumoral administration of ferucarbotran conjugated with doxorubicin improved therapeutic effect by magnetic hyperthermia combined with pharmacotherapy in a hepatocellular carcinoma model

BACKGROUND: Local hyperthermia of tumor in conjunction with chemotherapy is a promising strategy for cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intratumoral delivery of clinically approved magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) conjugated with doxorubicin to simultaneously induce magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HCC cells expressing luciferase were implanted into the flank of BALB/c-nu mice (n = 19). When the tumor diameter reached 7–8 mm, the animals were divided into four groups according to the injected agents: group A (normal saline, n = 4), group B (doxorubicin, n = 5), group C (MNP, n = 5), and group D (MNP/doxorubicin complex, n = 5). Animals were exposed to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) to receive magnetic hyperthermia, and intratumoral temperature changes were measured. Bioluminescence imagings (BLIs) were performed before treatment and at 3, 7, and 14 days after treatment to measure the tumoral activities. The relative signal intensity (RSI) of each tumor was calculated by dividing the BLI signal at each time point by the value measured before treatment. At day 14 post-treatment, all tumor tissues were harvested to assess the apoptosis rates by pathological examination. RESULTS: The rise in temperature of the tumors was 1.88 ± 0.21°C in group A, 0.96 ± 1.05°C in B, 7.93 ± 1.99°C in C, and 8.95 ± 1.31°C in D. The RSI of the tumors at day 14 post-treatment was significantly lower in group D (0.31 ± 0.20) than in group A (2.23 ± 1.14), B (0.94 ± 0.47), and C (1.02 ± 0.21). The apoptosis rates of the tumors were 11.52 ± 3.10% in group A, 23.0 ± 7.68% in B, 25.4 ± 3.36% in C, and 39.0 ± 13.2% in D, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The intratumoral injection of ferucarbotran conjugated with doxorubicin shows an improved therapeutic effect compared with doxorubicin or ferucarbotran alone when the complex is injected into HCC tissues exposed to AMF for magnetic hyperthermia. This strategy of combining doxorubicin and MNP-induced magnetic hyperthermia exhibits a synergic effect on inhibiting tumor growth in an HCC model

Thyroid-Related Protein Expression in the Human Thymus

Radioiodine whole body scan (WBS), related to sodium iodide symporter (NIS) function, is widely used to detect recurrence/metastasis in postoperative patients with thyroid cancer. However, the normal thymic uptake of radioiodine has occasionally been observed in young patients. We evaluated the expression of thyroid-related genes and proteins in the human thymus. Thymic tissues were obtained from 22 patients with thyroid cancer patients of all ages. The expression of NIS, thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR), thyroperoxidase (TPO), and thyroglobulin (Tg) was investigated using immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR. NIS and TSHR were expressed in 18 (81.8%) and 19 samples (86.4%), respectively, whereas TPO was expressed in five samples (22.7%). Three thyroid-related proteins were localized to Hassall’s corpuscles and thymocytes. In contrast, Tg was detected in a single patient (4.5%) localized to vascular endothelial cells. The expression of thyroid-related proteins was not increased in young thymic tissues compared to that in old thymic tissues. In conclusion, the expression of NIS and TSHR was detected in the majority of normal thymus samples, whereas that of TPO was detected less frequently, and that of Tg was detected rarely. The increased thymic uptake of radioiodine in young patients is not due to the increased expression of NIS

Simultaneous Detection of EGFR and VEGF in Colorectal Cancer using Fluorescence-Raman Endoscopy

Fluorescence endomicroscopy provides quick access to molecular targets, while Raman spectroscopy allows the detection of multiple molecular targets. Using a simultaneous fluorescence-Raman endoscopic system (FRES), we herein demonstrate its potential in cancer diagnosis in an orthotopically induced colorectal cancer (CRC) xenograft model. In the model, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were targeted with antibody-conjugated fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (F-SERS) dots. FRES demonstrated fast signal detection and multiplex targeting ability using fluorescence and Raman signals to detect the F-SERS dots. In addition, FRES showed a multiplex targeting ability even on a subcentimeter-sized CRC after spraying with a dose of 50 µg F-SERS dots. In conclusion, molecular characteristics of tumor cells (EGFR in cancer cell membranes) and tumor microenvironments (VEGF in the extracellular matrix) could be simultaneously investigated when performing a colonoscopy

Кераміка «terra sigillata» з с. Зимне на Волині

Стаття присвячена публікації чотирьох керамічних посудин типу «terra sigillata», знайдених на дні р. Луги у с. Зимне Володимир-Волинського району Волинської області. Попередній аналіз цих знахідок дозволяє віднести їх до Понтійського центру виробництва такого посуду. Вірогідним шляхом потрапляння цієї колекції на Волинь була готська експансія у Північне Причорномор’я

The Impact of the Recent Recession on U.S. Lodging Firms: An Examination Based on Ratio Analysis

To assess the impact of the recession on the financial performances of the lodging industry, this study examines sample firms’ financial ratios in 2006, the year immediately prior to the recession, to those in 2008, the year during which the recession was in full swing. The findings of this study indicate that both non-gaming hotels and casino hotels experienced deterioration in all five aspects of their financials, namely liquidity, leverage, solvency, efficiency and profitability. To overcome the recession impact and better cope with future recessions, hotel firms should strive to use existing assets to maximize sales revenue and avoid excessive expansions. In addition, both regular hotel firms and casino hotel firms need to move away from heavy debt financing. A prudent and conservative assets growth policy is necessary for them to curb the leverage and increase solvency