The paper deals with the change of management values in Estonian business life in the year of the rapid growth (2007) as compared with the year of hard decline (2009). The hypothesis is set that company managers d...The paper deals with the change of management values in Estonian business life in the year of the rapid growth (2007) as compared with the year of hard decline (2009). The hypothesis is set that company managers do not have permanent values but they change accordingly to the change in economic conditions: in economical welfare situations business-managers more eagerly take larger responsibilities on ethical and philantrophical stages but in crisis only the lower stages (economical and legal ones) could be detained. In the paper, we firstly observe if values change in general and secondly we study if our pre-stated hypothesis holds. As the research method we use the method of critical incidents展开更多
The investment strategy choice of state-owned commercial bank is related to its franchise value change information. This paper analyzes the franchise value change information of state-owned commercial bank. The franch...The investment strategy choice of state-owned commercial bank is related to its franchise value change information. This paper analyzes the franchise value change information of state-owned commercial bank. The franchise value change information shows that the franchise value of state-owned Commercial Bank is descending. Along with the descending of the franchise value, state-owned commercial bank strengthens its high risk investment motive when it chooses its investment strategy. State-owned commercial bank tends to run the high risk of investing securities because its investment variety is very sparse. Based on the theoretical principle of how to control securities investment risk, this paper proposes some countermeasures and suggestions that state-owned commercial bank strengthen the control of its securities investment risk in order to perfect its investment strategy.展开更多
A Wall Street Journal report on May 3 said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to declare. for the first time in more than a decade, that the yuan is fairly valued. "China's contributions to the world...A Wall Street Journal report on May 3 said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to declare. for the first time in more than a decade, that the yuan is fairly valued. "China's contributions to the world economy in recent years are obvious to all. It's natural for the IMF, a multilaterat international organization, to change its attitude toward the Chinese currency," Tan Yaling, President of China Forex Investment Research Institute said during an interviewwith China Radio International展开更多
Currently afflicting more than 50 million people worldwide, epilepsy is the spectrum disorder characterizing seizures that occur without other plausible medical explanations. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the...Currently afflicting more than 50 million people worldwide, epilepsy is the spectrum disorder characterizing seizures that occur without other plausible medical explanations. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common forms of epilepsy. Current clinical methods;including MRI scans, EEG tests, and doctor visits;can take upwards of several months to confirm a TLE diagnosis;during this time, patients may experience additional seizures and are at an increased risk for other psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study is to identify candidate genetic biomarkers to facilitate the earlier detection and diagnosis of TLE through gene-based testing (e.g., genomic heatmap analysis or genetic and/or microarray testing). It was hypothesized that potential biomarkers could be identified by analyzing genes that are normally significantly overexpressed in the temporal lobe relative to the gray matter. Statistical and functional analysis was performed on significantly overexpressed genes (≥3.000 fold change) in the gene expression profiles of four donors without epilepsy. The experimental-evidence-based STRING protein interactions analysis showed associations between genes found in DAVID keyword search and other genes facilitating network interconnectivity. After evaluation of the genes’ STRING enriched functions, changes in the expression of the genes <em>CAMK2A</em>, <em>NPY</em>, <em>DLG4</em>, <em>MEF2C</em>, and<em> MAPK7</em> were concluded to be potential biomarkers for TLE, confirming the original hypothesis. Specifically, the identification of <em>MEF2C</em> and <em>MAPK7</em> for this purpose is relatively novel in the fields of bioinformatics and neurogenetics. Future work includes investigating the utility of the candidate genes in real-world gene-based diagnostic methods.展开更多
The statement that the world’s ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating due to human intervention and global warming is nowadays commonplace.Some of the ecosystems most heavily impacted are inland salt lakes.The salt lak...The statement that the world’s ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating due to human intervention and global warming is nowadays commonplace.Some of the ecosystems most heavily impacted are inland salt lakes.The salt lakes are among the most valuable and fascinating ecosystems on Earth,and their study has both basic scientifi c interest as well as applied aspects.展开更多
In this study, a monthly dataset of temperature time series (1961-2010) from 12 meteorological stations across the Three-River Headwater Region of Qinghai Province (THRHR) was used to analyze the climate change. T...In this study, a monthly dataset of temperature time series (1961-2010) from 12 meteorological stations across the Three-River Headwater Region of Qinghai Province (THRHR) was used to analyze the climate change. The temperature variation and abrupt change analysis were examined by using moving average, linear regression, Spline interpolation, Mann-Kendall test and so on. Some important conclusions were obtained from this research, which mainly contained four aspects as follows. (1) There were several cold and warm fluctuations for the annual and seasonal average temperature in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions, but the temperature in these regions all had an obviously rising trend at the statistical significance level, especially after 2001. The spring, summer, autumn and annual average temperature increased evidently after the 1990s, and the winter average temperature exhibited an obvious upward trend after entering the 21st century. Except the standard value of spring temperature, the annual and seasonal temperature standard value in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions increased gradually, and the upward trend for the standard value of winter average temperature indicated significantly. (2) The tendency rate of annual average temperature in the THRHR was 0.36℃ 10a^-1, while the tendency rates in the Yellow River Headwater Region (YERHR), Lancangjiang River Headwater Region (LARHR) and Yangtze River Headwater Region (YARHR) were 0.37℃ 10a^-1, 0.37℃ 10a^-1 and 0.34℃10a^-1 respectively. The temperature increased significantly in the south of Yushu County and the north of Nangqian County. The rising trends of temperature in winter and autumn were higher than the upward trends in spring and summer. (3) The abrupt changes of annual, summer, autumn and winter average temperature were found in the THRHR, LARHR and YARHR, and were detected for the summer and autumn average temperature in the YERHR. The abrupt changes of annual and summer average temperatures were mainly in the late 1990s, while the abrupt changes of autumn and winter average temperatures appeared primarily in the early 1990s and the early 21st century respectively. (4) With the global warming, the diversities of altitude and underlying surface in different parts of the Tibetan Plateau were possibly the main reasons for the high increasing rate of temperature in the THRHR.展开更多
According to optimal contracting theory, compensation contracts are effective in solving the agency problem between stockholders and managers. Executive compensation is naturally related to firm performance. However, ...According to optimal contracting theory, compensation contracts are effective in solving the agency problem between stockholders and managers. Executive compensation is naturally related to firm performance. However, contracts are not always perfect. Managers may exert influence on the formulation and implementation of compensation contracts by means of their managerial power. As fair value has been introduced into the new accounting standards in China, new concerns have arisen over the relationship between profits and losses from changes in fair value(CFV) and levels of executive compensation.In this study, we find that executive compensation is significantly related to CFV. However, this sensitivity is asymmetric in that increases to compensation due to profits from changes in fair value(PCFV) are higher than reductions to compensation due to losses from changes in fair value(LCFV). Furthermore,we find that managerial power determines the strength of this asymmetry.展开更多
The compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions(δ^(13)C) of leaf wax n-alkanes from two short sediment cores recovered off the Pearl River estuary(PRE) were analyzed to check for their capability of indicati...The compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions(δ^(13)C) of leaf wax n-alkanes from two short sediment cores recovered off the Pearl River estuary(PRE) were analyzed to check for their capability of indicating decadal scale catchment environmental change. Sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes exhibited an odd-over-even predominance, with a maximum at n-C_(29) or n-C_(31), indicating their leaf wax origin was from vascular plants. The δ^(13)C values of C_(29) and C_(31) n-alkane in all the sediment samples were in the range of -28.8‰ to -31.2‰, consistent with the C_3 plant-dominated vegetation in the Pearl River catchments. The time series of δ^(13)C records from the two cores were comparable and displayed a decreasing trend from the early 20 th century to the end of the 1970s, followed by a reversal in that change leading to continued increase for ca. 15 years. After being corrected for the effect of atmospheric CO_2 rise and δ^(13)C_(atm) decline, the δ^(13)C_(29) records largely retained their raw changing pattern; the post-1980 increase being more conspicuous. The slightly decreasing trend in corrected δ^(13)C records before around 1980 may have been caused by an increase in precipitation, whereas the subsequent increase of δ^(13)C is likely associated with the observed dry climate and/or intensive anthropogenic deforestation. Our results thus demonstrate that leaf wax n-alkanes buried in the sediments off the PRE may well reflect change in the regional climate and/or human activity in the river catchments over the past century.展开更多
The characteristics of oxygen isotope compositions and distributions of the seawaters inthe Huanghai(Yellow) Sea and the Bohai Sea have been investigated based on δ^(18)O data meas-ured for 608 water samples. By usin...The characteristics of oxygen isotope compositions and distributions of the seawaters inthe Huanghai(Yellow) Sea and the Bohai Sea have been investigated based on δ^(18)O data meas-ured for 608 water samples. By using the property of tracing atoms, the mixing and theinfluencing range of the diluted freshwater of the Huanghe (Yellow) River and the exhibitionof δ^(18)O values in the movements of the Huanghai Sea warm current and its residual flowshave been discussed. Particularly, the regional, vertical, seasonal and tidal changes of the δ^(18)Ovalues of the waters influenced by the Huanghe River have also been studied. A beneficialexploration was thus made for the application of stable isotope to the physical oceanography.展开更多
In the research of bio-molecular chips and sensors, extra electric biases are most often employed to control and manipulate the DNA and protein molecules moving through micro/nano-fluidic channels. In order to accurat...In the research of bio-molecular chips and sensors, extra electric biases are most often employed to control and manipulate the DNA and protein molecules moving through micro/nano-fluidic channels. In order to accurately and flexibly control the bio-molecules as they move within the channels, a clear understanding of how the current changes within the buffer solution caused by an applied bias is fundamental. In this report, the current changed value of different buffer solutions, e.g., KC1, TE, and TBE was systematically studied with real-time monitoring and quantitative analysis in the situation of the buffers moving through a fluidic channel with a 5 μm inner diameter, driven by biases of 50 or 100 mV. The results revealed that the relation- ship between the current changed value and the pause interval of the applied electric field is highly consistent with the Hill Equation, which is helpful for accurately detecting and manipulating single biomolecules in microfluidic sensors and biochips.展开更多
This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes...This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes towards cohabitation,childrearing,and divorce over a 10-year period in the four East Asian societies.The findings suggest that the second demographic transition,if any in East Asia,is an uneven process between societies,and China's Mainland stands out as the only society in which attitudes had become more conservative,even after controlling for compositional differences in population.In the other three societies,attitudes had shifted to be more liberal.Moreover,the study finds little evidence on the diffusion within societies,given their similar trends across different sociodemographic groups.From an ideational perspective,China's Mainland and the other three East Asian societies illustrated different patterns of attitude changes regarding marriage and family.From a behavioral perspective,trends in attitudes do not always align with demographic patterns at the macro level,especially in China's Mainland.More studies are needed to understand the nuanced differences in ideational shifts between societies and the relationship between ideational and behavioral changes in East Asia.展开更多
文摘The paper deals with the change of management values in Estonian business life in the year of the rapid growth (2007) as compared with the year of hard decline (2009). The hypothesis is set that company managers do not have permanent values but they change accordingly to the change in economic conditions: in economical welfare situations business-managers more eagerly take larger responsibilities on ethical and philantrophical stages but in crisis only the lower stages (economical and legal ones) could be detained. In the paper, we firstly observe if values change in general and secondly we study if our pre-stated hypothesis holds. As the research method we use the method of critical incidents
文摘The investment strategy choice of state-owned commercial bank is related to its franchise value change information. This paper analyzes the franchise value change information of state-owned commercial bank. The franchise value change information shows that the franchise value of state-owned Commercial Bank is descending. Along with the descending of the franchise value, state-owned commercial bank strengthens its high risk investment motive when it chooses its investment strategy. State-owned commercial bank tends to run the high risk of investing securities because its investment variety is very sparse. Based on the theoretical principle of how to control securities investment risk, this paper proposes some countermeasures and suggestions that state-owned commercial bank strengthen the control of its securities investment risk in order to perfect its investment strategy.
文摘A Wall Street Journal report on May 3 said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to declare. for the first time in more than a decade, that the yuan is fairly valued. "China's contributions to the world economy in recent years are obvious to all. It's natural for the IMF, a multilaterat international organization, to change its attitude toward the Chinese currency," Tan Yaling, President of China Forex Investment Research Institute said during an interviewwith China Radio International
文摘Currently afflicting more than 50 million people worldwide, epilepsy is the spectrum disorder characterizing seizures that occur without other plausible medical explanations. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common forms of epilepsy. Current clinical methods;including MRI scans, EEG tests, and doctor visits;can take upwards of several months to confirm a TLE diagnosis;during this time, patients may experience additional seizures and are at an increased risk for other psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study is to identify candidate genetic biomarkers to facilitate the earlier detection and diagnosis of TLE through gene-based testing (e.g., genomic heatmap analysis or genetic and/or microarray testing). It was hypothesized that potential biomarkers could be identified by analyzing genes that are normally significantly overexpressed in the temporal lobe relative to the gray matter. Statistical and functional analysis was performed on significantly overexpressed genes (≥3.000 fold change) in the gene expression profiles of four donors without epilepsy. The experimental-evidence-based STRING protein interactions analysis showed associations between genes found in DAVID keyword search and other genes facilitating network interconnectivity. After evaluation of the genes’ STRING enriched functions, changes in the expression of the genes <em>CAMK2A</em>, <em>NPY</em>, <em>DLG4</em>, <em>MEF2C</em>, and<em> MAPK7</em> were concluded to be potential biomarkers for TLE, confirming the original hypothesis. Specifically, the identification of <em>MEF2C</em> and <em>MAPK7</em> for this purpose is relatively novel in the fields of bioinformatics and neurogenetics. Future work includes investigating the utility of the candidate genes in real-world gene-based diagnostic methods.
文摘The statement that the world’s ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating due to human intervention and global warming is nowadays commonplace.Some of the ecosystems most heavily impacted are inland salt lakes.The salt lakes are among the most valuable and fascinating ecosystems on Earth,and their study has both basic scientifi c interest as well as applied aspects.
基金The National Science and Technology Support Plan, No.2009BAC61B01
文摘In this study, a monthly dataset of temperature time series (1961-2010) from 12 meteorological stations across the Three-River Headwater Region of Qinghai Province (THRHR) was used to analyze the climate change. The temperature variation and abrupt change analysis were examined by using moving average, linear regression, Spline interpolation, Mann-Kendall test and so on. Some important conclusions were obtained from this research, which mainly contained four aspects as follows. (1) There were several cold and warm fluctuations for the annual and seasonal average temperature in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions, but the temperature in these regions all had an obviously rising trend at the statistical significance level, especially after 2001. The spring, summer, autumn and annual average temperature increased evidently after the 1990s, and the winter average temperature exhibited an obvious upward trend after entering the 21st century. Except the standard value of spring temperature, the annual and seasonal temperature standard value in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions increased gradually, and the upward trend for the standard value of winter average temperature indicated significantly. (2) The tendency rate of annual average temperature in the THRHR was 0.36℃ 10a^-1, while the tendency rates in the Yellow River Headwater Region (YERHR), Lancangjiang River Headwater Region (LARHR) and Yangtze River Headwater Region (YARHR) were 0.37℃ 10a^-1, 0.37℃ 10a^-1 and 0.34℃10a^-1 respectively. The temperature increased significantly in the south of Yushu County and the north of Nangqian County. The rising trends of temperature in winter and autumn were higher than the upward trends in spring and summer. (3) The abrupt changes of annual, summer, autumn and winter average temperature were found in the THRHR, LARHR and YARHR, and were detected for the summer and autumn average temperature in the YERHR. The abrupt changes of annual and summer average temperatures were mainly in the late 1990s, while the abrupt changes of autumn and winter average temperatures appeared primarily in the early 1990s and the early 21st century respectively. (4) With the global warming, the diversities of altitude and underlying surface in different parts of the Tibetan Plateau were possibly the main reasons for the high increasing rate of temperature in the THRHR.
基金supported by the Leading Academic Discipline Project from the Education Committee of Shanghai (Project No.J51701)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.70902063)+2 种基金the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (Project Nos.09YJC630157 and 12YJA790197)the Key Research and Innovation Project of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (11ZS86)the IAPHD Project of Nanjing University
文摘According to optimal contracting theory, compensation contracts are effective in solving the agency problem between stockholders and managers. Executive compensation is naturally related to firm performance. However, contracts are not always perfect. Managers may exert influence on the formulation and implementation of compensation contracts by means of their managerial power. As fair value has been introduced into the new accounting standards in China, new concerns have arisen over the relationship between profits and losses from changes in fair value(CFV) and levels of executive compensation.In this study, we find that executive compensation is significantly related to CFV. However, this sensitivity is asymmetric in that increases to compensation due to profits from changes in fair value(PCFV) are higher than reductions to compensation due to losses from changes in fair value(LCFV). Furthermore,we find that managerial power determines the strength of this asymmetry.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41061160498&41276072)
文摘The compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions(δ^(13)C) of leaf wax n-alkanes from two short sediment cores recovered off the Pearl River estuary(PRE) were analyzed to check for their capability of indicating decadal scale catchment environmental change. Sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes exhibited an odd-over-even predominance, with a maximum at n-C_(29) or n-C_(31), indicating their leaf wax origin was from vascular plants. The δ^(13)C values of C_(29) and C_(31) n-alkane in all the sediment samples were in the range of -28.8‰ to -31.2‰, consistent with the C_3 plant-dominated vegetation in the Pearl River catchments. The time series of δ^(13)C records from the two cores were comparable and displayed a decreasing trend from the early 20 th century to the end of the 1970s, followed by a reversal in that change leading to continued increase for ca. 15 years. After being corrected for the effect of atmospheric CO_2 rise and δ^(13)C_(atm) decline, the δ^(13)C_(29) records largely retained their raw changing pattern; the post-1980 increase being more conspicuous. The slightly decreasing trend in corrected δ^(13)C records before around 1980 may have been caused by an increase in precipitation, whereas the subsequent increase of δ^(13)C is likely associated with the observed dry climate and/or intensive anthropogenic deforestation. Our results thus demonstrate that leaf wax n-alkanes buried in the sediments off the PRE may well reflect change in the regional climate and/or human activity in the river catchments over the past century.
基金Science Foundation of State Oceanic Administration.
文摘The characteristics of oxygen isotope compositions and distributions of the seawaters inthe Huanghai(Yellow) Sea and the Bohai Sea have been investigated based on δ^(18)O data meas-ured for 608 water samples. By using the property of tracing atoms, the mixing and theinfluencing range of the diluted freshwater of the Huanghe (Yellow) River and the exhibitionof δ^(18)O values in the movements of the Huanghai Sea warm current and its residual flowshave been discussed. Particularly, the regional, vertical, seasonal and tidal changes of the δ^(18)Ovalues of the waters influenced by the Huanghe River have also been studied. A beneficialexploration was thus made for the application of stable isotope to the physical oceanography.
基金supported by the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.91123030)the Interna-tional Cooperation Foundation of the National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2011DFA12220)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61378083)
文摘In the research of bio-molecular chips and sensors, extra electric biases are most often employed to control and manipulate the DNA and protein molecules moving through micro/nano-fluidic channels. In order to accurately and flexibly control the bio-molecules as they move within the channels, a clear understanding of how the current changes within the buffer solution caused by an applied bias is fundamental. In this report, the current changed value of different buffer solutions, e.g., KC1, TE, and TBE was systematically studied with real-time monitoring and quantitative analysis in the situation of the buffers moving through a fluidic channel with a 5 μm inner diameter, driven by biases of 50 or 100 mV. The results revealed that the relation- ship between the current changed value and the pause interval of the applied electric field is highly consistent with the Hill Equation, which is helpful for accurately detecting and manipulating single biomolecules in microfluidic sensors and biochips.
基金supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,China(General Research Fund,CUHK14609219)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41901140)the Worldwide Universities Network.
文摘This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes towards cohabitation,childrearing,and divorce over a 10-year period in the four East Asian societies.The findings suggest that the second demographic transition,if any in East Asia,is an uneven process between societies,and China's Mainland stands out as the only society in which attitudes had become more conservative,even after controlling for compositional differences in population.In the other three societies,attitudes had shifted to be more liberal.Moreover,the study finds little evidence on the diffusion within societies,given their similar trends across different sociodemographic groups.From an ideational perspective,China's Mainland and the other three East Asian societies illustrated different patterns of attitude changes regarding marriage and family.From a behavioral perspective,trends in attitudes do not always align with demographic patterns at the macro level,especially in China's Mainland.More studies are needed to understand the nuanced differences in ideational shifts between societies and the relationship between ideational and behavioral changes in East Asia.