Showing papers by "Fu Jen Catholic University published in 2000"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine several features of the IPO underwriting business that result in a market structure where spreads are high and offer a few ideas about this pattern, but the convergence remains puzzling.
Abstract: Gross spreads received by underwriters on initial public offerings ~IPOs! in the United States are much higher than in other countries. Furthermore, in recent years more than 90 percent of deals raising $20‐80 million have spreads of exactly seven percent, three times the proportion of a decade earlier. Investment bankers readily admit that the IPO business is very profitable, and that they avoid competing on fees because they “don’t want to turn it into a commodity business.” We examine several features of the IPO underwriting business that result in a market structure where spreads are high. IT IS WIDELY ACCEPTED THAT there are fixed costs associated with issuing securities, leading to economies of scale in the costs of issuing debt, equity, and hybrid securities. For initial public offerings ~IPOs! of moderate size, however, no economies of scale are evident when one examines the commissions paid to investment bankers, also known as the gross spreads or underwriting discounts. In the period from 1995 to 1998, for the 1,111 IPOs raising between $20 and $80 million in the United States, more than 90 percent of issuers paid gross spreads of exactly seven percent. This clustering of spreads at seven percent has not always been present. There is much more clustering at seven percent now than a decade ago, although the average spread on IPOs has not changed during this period. In the 1985 to 1987 period, only about one-quarter of moderate size IPOs had spreads of exactly seven percent, in contrast to the more than 90 percent incidence that has prevailed in recent years. We offer a few ideas about this pattern, but the convergence remains puzzling. Spreads on IPOs outside of the United States, such as in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, or Europe, are approximately half the level of those in the United States. Spreads within the United States for bond, convertible bond, and seasoned equity offerings do not show pronounced clustering on one number.1
829 citations
TL;DR: It is found that Taipei residents have the highest migraine prevalence of all Chinese populations studied, although it is still in the low range of prevalence compared with the results from Western countries.
Abstract: We conducted the first population-based migraine survey in Taipei, Taiwan, using a validated questionnaire administered by interviewers during the period from August 1997 to June 1998. Our target population comprised all individuals (age > or = 15 years) in 1400 randomly selected households. Migraine diagnoses were made according to the classification criteria of migraine without aura proposed by the International Headache Society, 1988, except that attacks with a duration of between 2 h and 4 h were also included. Of the 4434 eligible subjects in the 1211 respondent households, 3377 (76%) completed the questionnaire. After adjustment for age and sex distribution according to the population structure, the prevalence of migraine was 9.1% (F/M 14.4%/4.5%). Fifty-four percent of the subjects with migraine had consulted a physician about their headaches in the past year. However, only 18% of them reported that their migraine had been diagnosed by physicians. This study found that Taipei residents have the highest migraine prevalence of all Chinese populations studied, although it is still in the low range of prevalence compared with the results from Western countries.
140 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe 1-alkylimidazolium (1-LDZ) salts as good solvents providing a partially ordered reaction environment, with a bilayer structure.
132 citations
TL;DR: A series of palladium complexes with a hemilabile terdentate carbene ligand, 1,3-bis(2-pyridyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (pyimypy), has been synthesized as discussed by the authors.
124 citations
TL;DR: In this detection system, the morphology-based eye-analogue segmentation process is able to reduce the background part of a cluttered image by up to 95%.
117 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that information obtained by self-report should be validated before use, especially in the case of assessment of the prevalence of medical conditions in the elderly, if the level of disease prevalence in the population needs to be known for health planning estimates for hypertension and diabetes would not necessarily be a problem.
110 citations
TL;DR: Under either the hot-air- or the freeze-drying treatment, the amounts of most carotenoids were higher in the soaked daylily flowers than in those that were not soaked, and the amount of cis carotanoids showed a higher yield in soaked samples than in nonsoaked samples.
Abstract: The analysis and stability of carotenoids in the flowers of daylily (Hemerocallis disticha) as affected by soaking and drying treatments were studied. The various carotenoids in the flowers of daylily were analyzed using a reversed-phase C30 HPLC column and a mobile phase of methanol/methylene chloride/2-propanol (89:1:10, v/v/v) with methanol/methylene chloride (45:55, v/v) as sample solvent. Twenty-one pigments were resolved, of which 14 carotenoids were identified, including neoxanthin, violaxanthin, violeoxanthin, lutein-5,6-epoxide, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, all-trans-β-carotene, and their cis isomers, based on spectral characteristics and Q ratios. Prior to hot-air-drying (50 °C) or freeze-drying, some of the daylily flowers were subjected to soaking in a sodium sulfite solution (1%) for 4 h. Under either the hot-air- or the freeze-drying treatment, the amounts of most carotenoids were higher in the soaked daylily flowers than in those that were not soaked. With hot-air-drying, the amount...
107 citations
01 Dec 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy controller for strict-feedback canonical nonlinear systems is proposed and H/sub /spl infin// tracking performance is applied to substantially attenuate the effect of the modeling errors and disturbances.
Abstract: In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy controller for strict-feedback canonical nonlinear systems is proposed. The completely unknown nonlinearities and disturbances of the systems are considered. Since fuzzy logic systems can uniformly approximate nonlinear continuous functions to arbitrary accuracy, the adaptive fuzzy control theory is employed to derive the control law for the strict-feedback system with unknown nonlinear functions and disturbances. Moreover, H/sub /spl infin// tracking performance is applied to substantially attenuate the effect of the modeling errors and disturbances. Finally, examples are simulated to confirm the applicability of the proposed methods.
97 citations
TL;DR: An intermediate and a double helical complex of mercury with a new tridentate carbene based ligand were obtained and structurally characterized in this article, where the ligand was derived from a double-helical complex.
Abstract: An intermediate and a double helical complex of mercury with a new tridentate carbene based ligand were obtained and structurally characterized
92 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the stability of pigment in freeze-dried carotenoid powder during dark storage at 4, 25, or 45°C, or under light at 25°C was studied.
80 citations
TL;DR: The results strongly support the belief that DT-diaphorase plays a central role in protecting cells against menadione-induced oxidative stress by decreasing the ROS formation.
TL;DR: In this paper, an ab initio theoretical study of the precursors of the charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) states in I-(H2O)n clusters is presented.
Abstract: In this paper an ab initio theoretical study of the precursors of the charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) states in I-(H2O)n clusters is presented. While there is no bound excited state in monohydrated iodide I-(H2O), the CTTS precursor states, denoted as I-(H2O)n*, emerge at cluster size n ≥ 2, which confirms a recent experimental observation [Serxner et al. J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 105, 7231.]. In addition, two or more bound excited states are found for larger clusters. The absorption maximum of the interior structure of I-(H2O)6 is found to be 5.02 eV, comparable to the experimental value of 5.48 eV found in the bulk, indicating that the first hydration shell of the aqueous halide makes a very significant contribution to the solvation energy of the lowest CTTS state and that the molecular details of solvent molecules play an important role in forming the CTTS states. Comparing the CTTS precursor states I-(H2O)n* with the electronic states of the corresponding water cluster anions, e-(H2O)n, shows that the ex...
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01 Jan 2000TL;DR: A novel framework for location-aware information agent that operates on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) environment is proposed that can obtain user’s location dynamically, and respond him the information or service depending upon his geographical position.
Abstract: Information agents on mobile computing environment should adaptively provide information based on the changing location of mobile users. The agent has to obtain user’s location dynamically, and respond him the information or service depending upon his geographical position. We propose a novel framework for location-aware information agent that operates on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) environment. There is a locating module that can obtain user’s location by GSM cellular network. A topology-based data model is devised to represent geographical information. Search algorithm can find location-dependent results from the topology graph. Search results are organized as dynamic documents, which are Wireless Markup Language (WML) cards and decks. Finally our framework is implemented with Ericsson WAP simulation environment.
TL;DR: The suppressant effects of piperlactam S on proliferation of T cells activated by PHA seemed to be mediated, at least in part, through inhibition of early transcripts ofT cells, especially those of important cytokines, IL-2,IL-4, and arresting cell cycle progression in the cells.
Abstract: Effects of piperlactam S (C17H13NO4; mol. wt. 295) isolated from Piper kadsura on phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated cell proliferation were studied in primary culture of human T cells. The results showed that piperlactam S suppressed T cell proliferation at about 0 to 12 h after stimulation with PHA. Synthesis of total cellular proteins and RNA in activated cell cultures was also suppressed. The inhibitory action of piperlactam S was not through direct cytotoxicity. Cell cycle analysis indicated that piperlactam S arrested the cell cycle progression of activated T cells from the G1 transition to the S phase. In an attempt to further localize the point in the cell cycle at which arrest occurred, a set of key regulatory events leading to the G1/S boundary, including gene expression of cytokines and c-Fos protein synthesis, was examined. Piperlactam S suppressed, in activated T lymphocytes, the production and mRNA expression of cytokines such as interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and interferon-γ in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, Western blot analysis indicated that c-Fos protein expressed in activated T lymphocytes was decreased by piperlactam S. Results of kinetic study indicated that inhibitory effects of piperlactam S on IL-2 mRNA expressed in T cells might be related to blocking c-Fos protein synthesis. Thus, the suppressant effects of piperlactam S on proliferation of T cells activated by PHA seemed to be mediated, at least in part, through inhibition of early transcripts of T cells, especially those of important cytokines, IL-2, IL-4, and arresting cell cycle progression in the cells.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors re-examine the hypothesis of PPP allowing for the adjustment to follow a nonlinear process and show that an exponential smooth transition autoregressive (ESTAR) process for PPP deviations can be used to explain the failure of long run PPP.
TL;DR: This paper revisited the Bowles-Garoupa model with regard to corruption and crime, and interpreted additional costs inflicted on a caught corrupt officer as psychological costs, and incorporated social norms into these psychological costs.
TL;DR: According to the analysis based on the Hush formalism, the contribution due to Coulomb repulsion energy dominates the overall stability of the mixed-valence state in 1+, 2+, and 3+.
Abstract: To study metal-to-metal interactions in mixed-valence states of two weakly coupling ferrocenyl groups assembled in E or Z conformation on an ethylenic double bond, E-1,2-dimethyldiferrocenylethylene (1), Z-1,2-dimethyldiferrocenylethylene (2), and 1,2-diferrocenylcyclohexene (3) were synthesized and structurally characterized. Crystals of 1 are triclinic, P1, with a = 7.494(9) A, b = 10.801(3) A, c = 11.971(2) A, α = 102.17(2)°, β = 106.12(9)°, γ = 90.42(2)°, V = 907.8 A3, and Z = 2. Crystals of 2 are monoclinic, P21/c, with a = 13.601(8) A, b = 11.104(4) A, c = 13.732(1) A, β = 114.26(7)°, V = 1890.8(3) A3, and Z = 4. Crystals of 3 are orthorhombic, P212121, with a = 5.766(2) A, b = 13.090(1) A, c = 26.695(2) A, V = 2014.9(3) A3, and Z = 4. Intervalence transition spectra (IT) and electrochemical data have been determined and compared with those of diferrocenylbenzene (para, ortho, and meta). The comproportionation constants in nitrobenzene at 25 °C were found to be 490 and 813 for 1 and 3, respectively...
TL;DR: The results tend to suggest a potential for an effect of longest held occupation in a lifetime on risk of ADL disability, with a significant dose-response trend in which unskilled blue collar workers had an 1.8 times higher risk of disability than higher social classes of white collar workers.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES To examine the association between the longest held occupation in a lifetime and risk of disability in activities of daily living (ADL) among elderly people (65 years and older) in northern Taiwan. METHODS A case-control design was used nested within two cohorts of a total of 2198 elderly people who had been followed up either between 1993 and 1997 or between 1996 and 1997. Cases were 360 elderly people with ADL disability within the study period. For each case, two sex matched controls were randomly sampled from the pool of elderly people free from ADL disability. Occupational data were collected through interviews conducted in 1997. Performed job contents were classified into occupational categories and occupation based social classes. Unconditional logistic regression techniques were used to estimate relative risk and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of ADL disability. RESULTS Compared with people who were former legislators, government administrators, or business executives and managers, workers in agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, or fishing (odds ratio (OR) 1.9, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.5) and workers in craft and related trades (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.4) had significantly increased risks of subsequent ADL disability. Differential risks of ADL disability were found across social classes, with a significant dose-response trend in which unskilled blue collar workers had an 1.8 times higher risk of ADL disability than higher social classes of white collar workers. CONCLUSIONS After adjustment for education, there was still an inverse relation between risk of ADL disability and social class. Although total control for all the known risk factors for ADL disability among elderly people was impossible, the results tend to suggest a potential for an effect of longest held occupation in a lifetime on risk of ADL disability.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined methods for process target optimization in industries where several grades of consumer specifications (and hence several quality-grades of products) may be sold within the same market.
TL;DR: The stability of 15 Heterocyclic Amine (HA) standards was kinetically studied during heating at 100, 150 and 200°C for varied lengths of time in this article.
TL;DR: In this article, temperature dependence of ultrasonic velocities (both longitudinal and transverse) in two ZBLAN glasses were determined by ultrasonic pulse-echo technique and the experimental results were used to obtain elastic constants.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of wealth-enhanced social status on capital accumulation in an optimizing monetary growth model with liquidity constrained consumption were examined and it was shown that inflation positively affects the steady-state level of the capital stock.
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that if there exists an infinite sequence {y (x ; nj )}j = 1 of Dirichlet eigenfunctions of the operator -(d2 )/(dx 2 )+P (x ) whose components all have zeros in common, then P(x ) is simultaneously diagonalizable on [0, 1].
Abstract: Let P (x ) denote a 2 × 2 symmetric matrix-valued function defined on [0,1]. We prove that if there exists an infinite sequence {y (x ; nj )}j = 1 of Dirichlet eigenfunctions of the operator -(d2 )/(dx 2 )+P (x ) whose components all have zeros in common, then P (x ) is simultaneously diagonalizable on [0,1]. This result can also be generalized to the general n -dimensional case.
TL;DR: In this paper, the Brillouin scattering was used to investigate the elastic properties of calcium alumino-silicate glasses, along with measurements of density and refractive index, allowed the calculation of sound velocities and elastic constants.
TL;DR: The first aza-Diels-Alder reactions of arylsulfonyl isocyanates with thio-substituted 1,3-dienes via the 3-sulfolene precursors 1 gave the cyclized products 3 with complete control of regio- and chemoselectivity as discussed by the authors.
TL;DR: The solvent-dependent and substituent-dependent intervalence transfer bands were found to vary almost exclusively with deltaE(1/2), and the empirical equation allows one to finely tune Eop of this series to Eop = 0.82 + 0.44sigma eV at 298 K, and the discrepancy between the calculated and experimental data is less than 6%.
Abstract: A homogeneous series of heterobimetallic complexes of [R-Fc(4-py)Ru(NH3)5](PF6)2 (R = H, Et, Br, acetyl; Fc(4-py) = 4-ferrocenylpyridine) have been prepared and characterized. The mixed-valence species generated in situ using ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate as the oxidant show class II behavior, and the oxidized sites are ruthenium centered. deltaE(1/2), E(1/2)(Fe(III)/Fe(II)) - E(1/2)(Ru(III)/Ru(II)), an upper limit for deltaGo that is an energetic difference between the donor and acceptor sites, changes sharply and linearly with Gutmann solvent donor number (DN) and Hammett substituent constants (sigma). The solvent-dependent and substituent-dependent intervalence transfer bands were found to vary almost exclusively with deltaE(1/2). The activation energy for the optical electron transfer versus deltaE(1/2) plot yields a common nuclear reorganization energy (lambda) of 0.74 +/- 0.04 eV for this series. The equation that allows one to incorporate the effect of both solvent donicity and substituents on optical electron transfer is Eop = lambda + deltaGo, where deltaGo = (deltaGo)intrinsic + (deltaGo)solvent donicity + (deltaGo)substituent effect (deltaGo )intinnsic with a numerical value of 0.083 +/- 0.045 eV was obtained from the intercept of the deltaE(1/2) of [H-Fc(4-py)Ru(NH3)5]2+,3+,4+ versus DN plot. (deltaGo)solvent donicity was obtained from the average slopes of the deltaE(1/2) of [R-Fc-(4-py)Ru(NH3)5]2+,3+,4+ versus DN plot, and (deltaGo)substituent effect was obtained from the average slopes of the corresponding deltaE(1/2) versus sigma plot. The empirical equation allows one to finely tune Eop of this series to Eop = 0.82 + 0.019(DN) + 0.44sigma eV at 298 K, and the discrepancy between the calculated and experimental data is less than 6%.
TL;DR: In this article, trichromophoric rhodamine dyes (TCR-1 and TCR-2) containing two 1,8-naphthalimides as antennas had been observed for the solid lasing operation using the dyes in methacrylate.
Abstract: The excellent photostability of the trichromophoric rhodamine dyes (TCR-1 and TCR-2) containing two 1,8-naphthalimides as antennas had been observed for the solid lasing operation using the dyes in methacrylate. Further understanding of the stabilization mechanism operating in these compounds would require a study of photophysical properties. The fluorescence lifetimes of TCR-1 and TCR-2 have been measured by the single-photon counting technique and the intramolecular singlet energy transfer from the naphthalimide moiety (NA) to the rhodamine moiety (Rh) has been observed. In order to obtain laser dye polymer materials with a high laser-radiation-damage threshold, modified rhodamine 6G molecules (Rh-Al or Rh-Aln) with polymerizable double bonds have been copolymerized with 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives. The absorption spectra of these new copolymers indicate there is little or no interaction between the two NA and the Rh moieties in their ground state, however, the fluorescent spectra indicate that energy transfer from the NA group to the Rh-Al or Rh-Aln group in the copolymers does occur. In comparison, energy transfer was not observed in an equal molar mixture of monomers corresponding to the copolymers, which demonstrated that intramolecular energy transfer in the copolymer synthesized in this study occurred mainly along the polymeric chain.
TL;DR: An architecture of the next-generation shopping agents is presented, composed of a Product/Merchant Information Collector, a Buyer Behavior Extractor, a User Profile Manager and an Online Learning Personalized-Ranking Module and preliminary evaluation results show this system is quite promising in overcoming the reality challenges of comparison shopping.
Abstract: Agents are the catalysts for commerce on the Web today. For example, comparison-shopping agents mediate the interactions between buyers and sellers in order to yield more efficient markets. However, today's shopping agents are price-dominated, unreflective of the nature of seller/buyer differentiation or the changing course of differentiation over time. This paper aims to tackle this dilemma and advances shopping agents into a stage where both kinds of differentiation are taken into account for enhanced understanding of the realities. We call them next-generation shopping agents. These agents can leverage the interactive power of the Web for more accurate understanding of buyer's preferences. This paper then presents an architecture of the next-generation shopping agents. This architecture is composed of a Product/Merchant Information Collector, a Buyer Behavior Extractor, a User Profile Manager and an Online Learning Personalized-Ranking Module. We have implemented a system following the core of the architecture and collected preliminary evaluation results. The results show this system is quite promising in overcoming the reality challenges of comparison shopping.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors set up an endogenous-growth model in which the consumer's preference is subject to habitual consumption, and examined how consumption habits will govern the rate of sustained growth.
Abstract: This paper sets up an endogenous-growth model in which the consumer's preference is subject to habitual consumption, and examines how consumption habits will govern the rate of sustained growth. It is found that the habitual behavior may be either growth-enhancingor growth-reducing, depending upon whether the substitution between intertemporal consumption is inelastic and whether the consumption experience is harmful or beneficial to the agents. It is also found, given that the elasticity of intertemporal substitution is less than unity, that the learning speed of consumption habits has a positive (negative) impact on the balanced-growth rate if the consumption experience is harmful (beneficial) to the agents.