Quality of Provisions for Bad Debts and Earnings Information Contents

We measure the quality of provisions for bad debts, based on both the cross-sectional and time-series basis. Empirical tests show the impacts on earnings information contents, as well as on the incremental information content of cash flows.

Improving the Effectiveness of Image Classification Structural Methods by Compressing the Description According to the Information Content Criterion

The research aims to improve the performance of image recognition methods based on a description in the form of a set of keypoint descriptors.The main focus is on increasing the speed of establishing the relevance of object and etalon descriptions while maintaining the required level of classification efficiency.The class to be recognized is represented by an infinite set of images obtained from the etalon by applying arbitrary geometric transformations.It is proposed to reduce the descriptions for the etalon database by selecting the most significant descriptor components according to the information content criterion.The informativeness of an etalon descriptor is estimated by the difference of the closest distances to its own and other descriptions.The developed method determines the relevance of the full description of the recognized object with the reduced description of the etalons.Several practical models of the classifier with different options for establishing the correspondence between object descriptors and etalons are considered.The results of the experimental modeling of the proposed methods for a database including images of museum jewelry are presented.The test sample is formed as a set of images from the etalon database and out of the database with the application of geometric transformations of scale and rotation in the field of view.The practical problems of determining the threshold for the number of votes,based on which a classification decision is made,have been researched.Modeling has revealed the practical possibility of tenfold reducing descriptions with full preservation of classification accuracy.Reducing the descriptions by twenty times in the experiment leads to slightly decreased accuracy.The speed of the analysis increases in proportion to the degree of reduction.The use of reduction by the informativeness criterion confirmed the possibility of obtaining the most significant subset of features for classification,which guarantees a decent level of accuracy.

An Information Content and Set of Common Superconcepts-Based Algorithm to Estimate Similarity between Concepts of Ontologies

Ontologies have been used for several years in life sciences to formally represent concepts and reason about knowledge bases in domains such as the semantic web, information retrieval and artificial intelligence. The exploration of these domains for the correspondence of semantic content requires calculation of the measure of semantic similarity between concepts. Semantic similarity is a measure on a set of documents, based on the similarity of their meanings, which refers to the similarity between two concepts belonging to one or more ontologies. The similarity between concepts is also a quantitative measure of information, calculated based on the properties of concepts and their relationships. This study proposes a method for finding similarity between concepts in two different ontologies based on feature, information content and structure. More specifically, this means proposing a hybrid method using two existing measures to find the similarity between two concepts from different ontologies based on information content and the set of common superconcepts, which represents the set of common parent concepts. We simulated our method on datasets. The results show that our measure provides similarity values that are better than those reported in the literature.

Glacial debris flow susceptibility mapping based on combined models in the Parlung Tsangpo Basin,China

Machine learning(ML)-based prediction models for mapping hazard(e.g.,landslide and debris flow)susceptibility have been widely developed in recent research.However,in some specific areas,ML models have limited application because of the uncertainties in identifying negative samples.The Parlung Tsangpo Basin exemplifies a region prone to recurrent glacial debris flows(GDFs)and is characterized by a prominent landform featuring deep gullies.Considering the limitations of the ML model,we developed and compared two combined statistical models(FA-WE and FA-IC)based on factor analysis(FA),weight of evidence(WE),and the information content(IC)method.The final GDF susceptibility maps were generated by selecting 8 most important static factors and considering the influence of precipitation.The results show that the FA-IC model has the best performance.The areas with a very high susceptibility to GDFs are primarily located in the narrow valley section upstream,on both sides of the valley in the middle and downstream of the Parlung Tsangpo River,and in the narrow valley section of each tributary.These areas encompass 86 gullies and are characterized as"narrow and steep".

New Hybrid AD Methodology for Minimizing the Total Amount of Information Content:A Case Study of Rehabilitation Robot Design

Converting customer needs into specific forms and providing consumers with services are crucial in product design.Currently,conversion is no longer difficult due to the development of modern technology,and various measures can be applied for product realization,thus increasing the complexity of analysis and evaluation in the design process.The focus of the design process has thus shifted from problem solving to minimizing the total amount of information content.This paper presents a New Hybrid Axiomatic Design(AD)Methodology based on iteratively matching and merging design parameters that meet the independence axiom and attribute constraints by applying trimming technology,the ideal final results,and technology evolution theory.The proposed method minimizes the total amount of information content and improves the design quality.Finally,a case study of a rehabilitation robot design for hemiplegic patients is presented.The results indicate that the iterative matching and merging of related attributes can minimize the total amount of information content,reduce the cost,and improve design efficiency.Additionally,evolutionary technology prediction can ensure product novelty and improve market competitiveness.The methodology provides an excellent way to design a new(or improved)product.

The Link Between Internet Financial Reporting and Information Asymmetry for American Depository Receipts

We provide evidence on the effect of the presentation format and information content of Internet financial reporting on the market value of American Depository Receipts and on country-specific variables that drive Internet financial reporting. A two-stage Heckman approach was used to determine if Internet financial reporting adds incremental value to firms beyond the decision to cross-list in the United States. The results indicate that investors more highly value firms that provide information in multiple formats. We also find that country-specific variables affect the information content, but not the presentation format of disclosures on corporate websites. The results uncover a disconnection between what the market values （presentation format） and what the firms believe the market values （information content）. This implies that firms are not entirely aware of investors＇ information wants and that they are not utilizing their resources in the manner that will have the most impact on their market value.

Information content of index inclusions： Evidence from China

This paper examines whether index inclusion has information content and the downward-sloping demand curve hypothesis in China. We investigate the stock price and volume effects when stocks are included in two major stock indexes, the Shanghai Stock Exchange 30 Index （SH30） and the Shenzhen Component 40 Index （SZ40）. Furthermore, we also study the performance changes after index inclusion. We find significant price and volume increases for the stocks selected by the SH30 when the index was created and announced. Thus, the original inclusion may not be an information-free event. For subsequent index inclusions, we observe significant abnormal returns but not abnormal trade volume around the announcement date. However, the stock returns quickly reversed at the post-announcement period. Moreover, the financial performance of index included firms does not improve. The evidence does not support the price pressure hypothesis in China.

Design and Implementation of Weibo Sentiment Analysis Based on LDA and Dependency Parsing

Information content security is a branch of cyberspace security. How to effectively manage and use Weibo comment information has become a research focus in the field of information content security. Three main tasks involved are emotion sentence identification and classification,emotion tendency classification,and emotion expression extraction. Combining with the latent Dirichlet allocation(LDA) model,a Gibbs sampling implementation for inference of our algorithm is presented,and can be used to categorize emotion tendency automatically with the computer. In accordance with the lower ratio of recall for emotion expression extraction in Weibo,use dependency parsing,divided into two categories with subject and object,summarized six kinds of dependency models from evaluating objects and emotion words,and proposed that a merge algorithm for evaluating objects can be accurately evaluated by participating in a public bakeoff and in the shared tasks among the best methods in the sub-task of emotion expression extraction,indicating the value of our method as not only innovative but practical.

Assessment of genetic diversity in Dalbergia sissoo clones through RAPD profiling

We studied the genetic polymorphism among 29 clones of shisham （Dalbergia sissoo Roxb） belonging to different geographic regions using random amplified polymorphic DNA （RAPD） markers. Out of 30 primers used, only 20 primers generated polymorphism in amplified product. In total 232 bands were amplified with 20 primers, of which 192 （82%） were polymorphic with an average of 9.6 bands/primer. The resolving power （Rp） ranged from 2.14 （Primer 5） to 11.93 （Primer 4）. Primer 4 and Primer 3 possessed high Rp value. Polymorphism information content （PIC） ranged from 0.15 （Primer 5） to 0.37 （Primer 4）. Primer 4 amplified total 18 bands in 29 genotypes with PIC value of 0.37 hence; this set of primer was most informative. The similarity coefficient analysis revealed two clusters. The first cluster comprised of only 10 clones and the second major cluster comprised of 19 clones. The genetic similarity among 29 clones ranged from 25.86% （clone 10 and 235） to 100% （clone 19 and 59）, suggesting a wide genetic base in shisham clones.

A genetic diversity assessment of starch quality traits in rice landraces from the Taihu basin,China

There are nearly 1 000 rice landrace varieties in the Taihu basin, China. To assess the genetic diversity of the rice, 24 intragenic molecular markers（representing 17 starch synthesis-related genes） were investigated in 115 Taihu basin rice landraces and 87 improved cultivars simultaneously. The results show that the average genetic diversity and polymorphism information content values of the landraces were higher than those of improved cultivars. In total, 41 and 39 allele combinations（of the 17 genes） were derived from the landraces and improved cultivars, respectively; only two identical allele combinations were found bet ween the two rice variety sources. Cluster analysis, based on the molecular markers, revealed that the rice varieties could be subdivided into five groups and, within these, the japonica improved rice and japonica landrace rice varieties were in two separate groups. According to the quality reference criteria to classify the rice into grades, some of the landraces were found to perform we ll, in terms of starch quality. For example, according to NY /T595-2002 criteria from the Ministry of Agriculture of China, 25 and 33 landraces reached grade 1, in terms of their apparent amylose content and gel consistency. Th e varieties that had outstanding quality could be used as breeding materials for rice quality breeding programs in the future. Our study is useful for future applications, such as genetic diversity studies, the protection of rice variety and improvment of rice quality in breeding programs.

Integrated Semantic Similarity Model Based on Ontology

To solve the problem of the inadequacy of semantic processing in the intelligent question answering system, an integrated semantic similarity model which calculates the semantic similarity using the geometric distance and information content is presented in this paper. With the help of interrelationship between concepts, the information content of concepts and the strength of the edges in the ontology network, we can calculate the semantic similarity between two concepts and provide information for the further calculation of the semantic similarity between user’s question and answers in knowledge base. The results of the experiments on the prototype have shown that the semantic problem in natural language processing can also be solved with the help of the knowledge and the abundant semantic information in ontology. More than 90% accuracy with less than 50 ms average searching time in the intelligent question answering prototype system based on ontology has been reached. The result is very satisfied. Key words intelligent question answering system - ontology - semantic similarity - geometric distance - information content CLC number TP39 Foundation item: Supported by the important science and technology item of China of “The 10th Five-year Plan” (2001BA101A05-04)Biography: LIU Ya-jun (1953-), female, Associate professor, research direction: software engineering, information processing, data-base application.

Genetic Diversity of Indigenous Chicken (Gallus Gallus domesticus) from Ecozones of Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Genetic diversity of two chicken ecotypes from Ismailia-Egypt (ISM) and Taif-Saudi Arabia (TA) was evaluated using 39 microsatellites. DNA was extracted from blood of 25 chickens/ecotype. The number of alleles was 157 and 138, the number of alleles/locus averaged 4.2±2.2 and 3.6±1.6, and the highest number of private alleles was 9 and 5 for ISM and TA, respectively. Percentage of shared alleles between the two ecotypes was 45%. This panel of markers is reasonably informative as the mean polymorphic information content for ISM and TA was 0.47±0.21, and 0.41±0.2. Similar average of observed heterozygosity was attained for both ecotypes. Conversely, averages of expected heterozygosity differed between two ecotypes, 0.52±0.23 vs. 0.45±0.21 for ISM and TA. 8 and 12 loci have significantly deviated from HWE of ISM and TA. Estimate of genetic distance was 0.2 and FST index was 0.29. Results showed only 6% of genetic diversity is shared between these two ecotypes.

Development and characterization of SSR markers in Himalayan species Betula utilis

Betula utilis D.Don.is an important species of alpine Himalaya and forms the major treeline component of western Himalaya.The different populations of B.utilis are declining and are under high risk.In the present study,novel expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat(EST-SSR)primers were developed from expressed sequence tag(EST)data of different Betula species.Of the10,796 designed primers,the percentages of di-,tri-,tetra-,penta-,and hexa-repeats were 36%,35%,15%,5.5%and7.7%,respectively.For validation,50 primers were synthesized randomly and were characterized in 20 different B.utilis accessions from north-western Himalaya.Of these,45 primers amplified fragments in a range of 1-6.The 24 polymorphic primers produced 111 fragments in aggregate with 4.6 fragments on average.Polymorphism information content(PIC)ranged from 0.288 in marker BUMS-24 to 0.497 in BUMS-3 and BUMS-7,with an average of 0.447 among polymorphic markers.Dendrogram based on Jaccard’s similarity coefficient and UPGMA method showed that newly developed SSR markers distinguished twenty accessions of B.utilis into two groups.As no SSR markers were available in this species,the newly developed markers will foster molecular genetics research and conservation efforts for this species.

Genetic Analysis of Three Populations of Barbados Blackbelly Sheep at Microsatellite Loci

The phenotypic traits of high prolificacy, low fat on the rib eye muscle and high tolerance to internal parasites make the Barbados Blackbelly （BBB） sheep a valuable economic resource for small subsistence farmers on some Caribbean islands. However, the determination of what is a purebred BBB sheep has long been a contentious issue because of the subjectivity. It is therefore necessary to have a more reliable means of identifying what is a purebred BBB sheep for purposes of conservation and breed improvement. Three geographically isolated populations of BBB sheep were genetically analysed at 19 microsatellite loci. Eighteen of the microsatellites were found to be useful for genetic analysis of the BBB sheep, based on polymorphic information content （PIC） values （0.5 〈 PIC 〉 0.25）. One microsatellite was not useful for genetic analysis based on PIC （0.111）, however it is considered to be a locus of interest because it is fully inbred （f = 1） and homozygous in all of the populations analysed. The analysis also showed that the purebred population of BBB sheep can be distinguished from other populations by formation of distinct clusters when subjected to analysis of molecular variance （AMOVA） and the construction of a rooted consensus tree using the Neighbour-Joining method and pair-wise distances based on marker estimated kinships.

Are Islamic incomes relevance to commercial banks in Malaysia？

A significant price-to-earnings relation is evident in many research findings, which includes study on Malaysia Stock Markets, that the strength, consistency and magnitude of the relation are not as large as those reported in institutionally more developed markets. However, the price adjustment is stronger if price reaction is measured over a long periods, which is consistent to speculative trading. Firm-specific variables such as revenue, firm size and debt-equity have no incremental information content beyond earnings implies that the market monitoring process in an emerging market focuses on earnings only during financial announcement. Therefore, this paper revisited the study on the relevant of accounting banks in Malaysia using the earnings response coefficients, earnings by looking at Islamic Income for commercial which are the earnings-to-share return coefficients that are estimated for sub earnings components by including Islamic banking incomes in the analysis. This paper discovered that though there is a positive effect, the earnings from Islamic banking operation are small. Thus, the total earnings as well as the sub-categories of earnings of banks appear to enter the pricing considerations of investors.

The information content of rules and rule sets and its application

The information content of rules is categorized into inner mutual information content and outer impartation information content. Actually, the conventional objective interestingness measures based on information theory are all inner mutual information, which represent the confidence of rules and the mutual information between the antecedent and consequent. Moreover, almost all of these measures lose sight of the outer impartation information, which is conveyed to the user and help the user to make decisions. We put forward the viewpoint that the outer impartation information content of rules and rule sets can be represented by the relations from input universe to output universe. By binary relations, the interaction of rules in a rule set can be easily represented by operators： union and intersection. Based on the entropy of relations, the outer impartation information content of rules and rule sets are well measured. Then, the conditional information content of rules and rule sets, the independence of rules and rule sets and the inconsistent knowledge of rule sets are defined and measured. The properties of these new measures are discussed and some interesting results are proven, such as the information content of a rule set may be bigger than the sum of the information content of rules in the rule set, and the conditional information content of rules may be negative. At last, the applications of these new measures are discussed. The new method for the appraisement of rule mining algorithm, and two rule pruning algorithms, λ-choice and RPClC, are put forward. These new methods and algorithms have predominance in satisfying the need of more efficient decision information.

Comparative Analysis of Transcription Start Sites Using Mutual Information

The transcription start site （TSS） region shows greater variability compared with other promoter elements. We are interested to search for its variability by using information content as a measure. We note in this study that the variability is significant in the block of 5 nucleotides （nt） surrounding the TSS region compared with the block of 15 nt. This suggests that the actual region that may be involved is in the range of 5-10 nt in size. For Escherichia coli, we note that the information content from dinucleotide substitution matrices clearly shows a better discrimination, suggesting the presence of some correlations. However, for human this effect is much less, and for mouse it is practically absent. We can conclude that the presence of short-range correlations within the TSS region is species-dependent and is not universal. We further observe that there are other variable regions in the mitochondrial control element apart from TSS. It is also noted that effective comparisons can only be made on blocks, while single nucleotide comparisons do not give us any detectable signals.

Identifying M&A targets and the information content of VC/PEs

The information gap in the M&A market hinders acquirers from effectively identifying high-quality targets. We examine whether VC/PEs convey information content in the M&A market and whether acquirers can use such information to identify high-quality targets. We show that VC/PEs have significant information content and can signal high-quality target companies via ‘‘certification". When acquirers lack acquisition experience and targets are located in inferior information environments, VC/PE ‘‘certification" is more significant.The better reputation a VC/PE has, the more information it conveys. Syndicate VC/PEs convey stronger information than independent VC/PEs. We also find that acquirers do not pay higher premiums for high-quality targets. Overall, our results suggest that VC/PEs have value relevance in the M&A market,confirming their ‘‘certification" role. We present means for acquirers to select high-quality targets and investors to build efficient portfolios.