The Influence of Leverage Capacity and Cash Reserves on Long-term Operating Performance of Mergers and Acquisitions in US

This paper basically investigates the influence of leverage capacity and cash reserves on long-term operating performance of acquirer firms in the US public firms after M&As. I use accounting-data based measure, create an OSL model to examine whether and how the different firms, deals, industry relativity characteristics and economic environment condition could improve post-M&As operating performance of acquirer firms in the long run. Using a sample of 760 US firms M&As deals that completed from 2000 to 2012, I find that the better historical operating performance is, the higher the firm profitability would be achieved, while leverage capacity and industry relatedness between targets and acquirers has no significant effect on improving long-term performance. Moreover, my results also suggest that prepare more cash before mergers would deteriorate post-merger operating performance of acquirers, while during financial crisis period and for cash payment deal, the influence of cash reserves could be altered, and it would have a positive significant influence on enhancing operating performance. Keywords: Long-term operating performance, leverage capacity, cash reserves, industry relativity, financial crisis, method of payment

Suppression of stimulated Raman scattering by angularly incoherent light, towards a laser system of incoherence in all dimensions of time, space, and angle

Laser-plasma instability (LPI) is one of the main obstacles in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) for achieving predictable and reproducible fusion at high gain. For the first time we have proved analytically and confirmed with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that angular incoherence has additional and much stronger suppression of the instability growth rate than the well-known temporal incoherence and spatial incoherence usually used in ICF studies. For the model used in our calculations, the maximum field ratio between the stimulated Raman scattering and the driving pulses drops from 0.2 for the Laguerre-Gaussian pulse with a single non-zero topological charge to 0.05 for the super light spring with an angular momentum spread and random relative phases. In particular, angular incoherence does not introduce extra undesirable hot electrons. This opens a novel way to suppress LPI with the light of an angular momentum spread and paves the way towards a low LPI laser system with a super light spring of incoherence in all dimensions of time, space, and angle

Geometric Prior Based Deep Human Point Cloud Geometry Compression

The emergence of digital avatars has raised an exponential increase in the demand for human point clouds with realistic and intricate details. The compression of such data becomes challenging with overwhelming data amounts comprising millions of points. Herein, we leverage the human geometric prior in geometry redundancy removal of point clouds, greatly promoting the compression performance. More specifically, the prior provides topological constraints as geometry initialization, allowing adaptive adjustments with a compact parameter set that could be represented with only a few bits. Therefore, we can envisage high-resolution human point clouds as a combination of geometric priors and structural deviations. The priors could first be derived with an aligned point cloud, and subsequently the difference of features is compressed into a compact latent code. The proposed framework can operate in a play-and-plug fashion with existing learning based point cloud compression methods. Extensive experimental results show that our approach significantly improves the compression performance without deteriorating the quality, demonstrating its promise in a variety of applications

Development and Inter-Laboratory Validation of Unlabeled Probe Melting Curve Analysis for Detection of JAK2 V617F Mutation in Polycythemia Vera

Background: JAK2 V617F, a somatic point mutation that leads to constitutive JAK2 phosphorylation and kinase activation, has been incorporated into the WHO classification and diagnostic criteria of myeloid neoplasms. Although various approaches such as restriction fragment length polymorphism, amplification refractory mutation system and real-time PCR have been developed for its detection, a generic rapid closed-tube method, which can be utilized on routine genetic testing instruments with stability and cost-efficiency, has not been described. Methodology/Principal Findings: Asymmetric PCR for detection of JAK2 V617F with a 3'-blocked unlabeled probe, saturate dye and subsequent melting curve analysis was performed on a Rotor-Gene (R) Q real-time cycler to establish the methodology. We compared this method to the existing amplification refractory mutation systems and direct sequencing. Hereafter, the broad applicability of this unlabeled probe melting method was also validated on three diverse real-time systems (Roche LightCycler (R) 480, Applied Biosystems ABI (R) 7500 and Eppendorf Mastercycler (R) ep realplex) in two different laboratories. The unlabeled probe melting analysis could genotype JAK2 V617F mutation explicitly with a 3% mutation load detecting sensitivity. At level of 5% mutation load, the intra-and inter-assay CVs of probe-DNA heteroduplex (mutation/wild type) covered 3.14%/3.55% and 1.72%/1.29% respectively. The method could equally discriminate mutant from wild type samples on the other three real-time instruments. Conclusions: With a high detecting sensitivity, unlabeled probe melting curve analysis is more applicable to disclose JAK2 V617F mutation than conventional methodologies. Verified with the favorable inter- and intra-assay reproducibility, unlabeled probe melting analysis provided a generic mutation detecting alternative for real-time instruments

Mortality Prediction with Adaptive Feature Importance Recalibration for Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

The study aims to develop AICare, an interpretable mortality prediction model, using Electronic Medical Records (EMR) from follow-up visits for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients. AICare includes a multi-channel feature extraction module and an adaptive feature importance recalibration module. It integrates dynamic records and static features to perform a personalized health context representation learning. The dataset encompasses 13,091 visits and demographic data of 656 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients spanning 12 years. An additional public dataset of 4,789 visits from 1,363 hemodialysis (HD) patients is also considered. AI Care outperforms traditional deep learning models in mortality prediction while retaining interpretability. It uncovers mortality-feature relationships, variations in feature importance, and provides reference values. An AI-Doctor interaction system is developed for visualizing patients’ health trajectories and risk indicators

Willingness to accept monkeypox vaccine and its correlates among men who have sex with men in Southern China: a web-based online cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The May 2022 global outbreak of monkeypox (MPX) poses a threat to the health of men who have sex with men. However, there is limited data on the willingness of MSM to receive monkeypox vaccination in Southern China. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of MPX, concerns regarding MPX, and willingness to receive monkeypox vaccination, as well as their correlates, among MSM in China. METHODS: We conducted a Web-based online survey of MSM in Southern China from August to September 2022. Data were collected on the socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, worries, concerns regarding MPX and willingness to receive monkeypox vaccination. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to explore the factors associated with willingness to receive monkeypox vaccination. RESULTS: A total of 1903 participants completed the survey. Among them, approximately 69.9% reported being aware of MPX awareness, 94.1% of the participants supported the promotion of monkeypox vaccination. The majority of participants (91.4%) expressed their willingness to receive monkeypox vaccination. Participants who considered monkeypox vaccination safe [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 4.82, 95% CI: 1.35-17.18], agreed on the necessity of government promotion of monkeypox vaccination in China (aOR = 6.03, 95% CI: 1.07-33.93), believed in prioritizing monkeypox vaccination for MSM (aOR = 5.01, 95% CI: 1.10-22.71), and had friends or sexual partners who had already received the monkeypox or smallpox vaccination (aOR = 10.37, 95% CI: 2.11-50.99) are more likely to be vaccinated. Conversely, married individuals (aOR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03-0.47), those engaging in anal sex 4-6 times per week in the past 3 months (aOR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.09-0.77) expressed hesitancy toward monkeypox vaccination. CONCLUSION: There was a high willingness to receive monkeypox vaccination among MSM in China. The hesitancy toward the monkeypox vaccine can be effectively mitigated by addressing concerns about its safety and potential adverse reactions. Moreover, increasing acceptance of the monkeypox vaccination among MSM and their peers is crucial, as social influence significantly impacts vaccine attitudes and behaviors

Uptake of HIV testing and its correlates among sexually experienced college students in Southwestern, China: a Web-Based online cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is becoming more common among college students in China. However, latest data on the prevalence and correlates of HIV testing among sexually experienced college students is rarely. METHODS: An online survey was conducted among college students aged 18 years or older using multistage stratified cluster sampling from 16 colleges. Data on socio-demographic, HIV testing, HIV-related awareness, attitudes, sexual education and behaviors were collected. Propensity score matching (PSM) and logistic regression model were used to identify factors associated with HIV testing. RESULT: A total of 108,987 students participated the survey, of which 13,201 sexually experienced college students were included in this study. 1,939 (14.69%) college students with sexual experience reported uptake of HIV testing in the preceding year. The uptake of HIV testing increased for college students with a rising HIV knowledge score and sexual health knowledge. Being awareness of HIV-related knowledge (aOR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.01-1.30), accepting one-night stands (aOR = 1.16, 95%CI:1.03-1.32), obtaining satisfactory sexual interpretation from parent(s) (aOR = 1.24, 95%CI: 1.07-1.43), ever had unintended pregnancy (aOR = 1.78, 95%CI: 1.32-2.38), ever had received HIV-related preventive service(s) (aOR = 1.37, 95%CI: 1.10-1.70), ever had participated HIV-related preventive services (aOR = 3.76, 95%CI: 2.99-4.75) and ever had anal sex (aOR = 2.66, 95%CI: 2.11-3.34) were positively associated with uptake of HIV testing. However, accepting premarital sex (aOR = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.66-0.88), accepting cohabitation (aOR = 0.75, 95%CI: 0.61-0.92), occasionally discussing sex with parent(s) (aOR = 0.68, 95%CI: 0.50-0.91), and being with moderate satisfaction of school sex courses (aOR = 0.74, 95%CI: 0.58-0.95) were negatively associated with uptake of HIV testing. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HIV testing was relatively low. Participation in HIV-related services and high-risk sexual behaviors were important enablers for testing. Improving sex education for students, increasing HIV preventive services on campus, and improving family sex education are necessary to increase HIV testing among college sexually experienced students

Prevalence of depressive symptoms and correlates among individuals who self-reported SARS-CoV-2 infection after optimizing the COVID-19 response in China

BACKGROUND: The burden of depression symptoms has increased among individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 during COVID-19 pandemic. However, the prevalence and associated factors of depressive symptoms among individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 remain uncertain after optimizing the COVID-19 response in China. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among the public from January 6 to 30, 2023, using a convenience sampling method. Sociodemographic and COVID-19 pandemic-related factors were collected. The depression symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the associated factors with depressive symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 2,726 participants completed the survey. The prevalence of depression symptoms was 35.3%. About 58% of the participants reported experiencing insufficient drug supply. More than 40% of participants reported that they had missed healthcare appointments or delayed treatment. One-third of participants responded experiencing a shortage of healthcare staff and a long waiting time during medical treatment. Logistic regression analysis revealed several factors that were associated with depression symptoms, including sleep difficulties (OR, 2.84; 95% CI, 2.34-3.44), chronic diseases (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.64-2.82), inpatient treatment for COVID-19 (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 2.19-4.77), with COVID-19 symptoms more than 13 days (OR, 1.30, 95% CI 1.04-1.63), re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.07-2.15), and the increased in demand for healthcare services (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.08-1.61). CONCLUSION: This study reveals a moderate prevalence of depression symptoms among individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2. The findings underscore the importance of continued focus on depressive symptoms among vulnerable individuals, including those with sleeping difficulties, chronic diseases, and inpatient treatment for COVID-19. It is necessary to provide mental health services and psychological interventions for these vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 epidemic

The Influence of Leverage Capacity and Cash Reserves on Long-term Operating Performance of Mergers and Acquisitions in US

This paper basically investigates the influence of leverage capacity and cash reserves on long-term operating performance of acquirer firms in the US public firms after M&As. I use accounting-data based measure, create an OSL model to examine whether and how the different firms, deals, industry relativity characteristics and economic environment condition could improve post-M&As operating performance of acquirer firms in the long run. Using a sample of 760 US firms M&As deals that completed from 2000 to 2012, I find that the better historical operating performance is, the higher the firm profitability would be achieved, while leverage capacity and industry relatedness between targets and acquirers has no significant effect on improving long-term performance. Moreover, my results also suggest that prepare more cash before mergers would deteriorate post-merger operating performance of acquirers, while during financial crisis period and for cash payment deal, the influence of cash reserves could be altered, and it would have a positive significant influence on enhancing operating performance. Keywords: Long-term operating performance, leverage capacity, cash reserves, industry relativity, financial crisis, method of payment