Some identities on derangement and degenerate derangement polynomials

In combinatorics, a derangement is a permutation that has no fixed points. The number of derangements of an n-element set is called the n-th derangement number. In this paper, as natural companions to derangement numbers and degenerate versions of the companions we introduce derangement polynomials and degenerate derangement polynomials. We give some of their properties, recurrence relations and identities for those polynomials which are related to some special numbers and polynomials.Comment: 12 page

Does Mandatory IFRS Adoption Impact Audit Fees?: Theory and Evidence

Concurrent sessions 4C - Auditing / AuditThis study examines the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on audit fee. We first build an analytical audit fee model to analyze the impact on audit fee of the change in both audit complexity and financial reporting quality brought about by IFRS adoption. We then develop our hypotheses based on the model’s predictions, and test the hypotheses using audit fee data from European Union countries that mandated IFRS adoption in 2005. We find that mandatory IFRS adoption has led to an increase in audit fees. We also find that the IFRS-related audit fee premium increases with the increase in audit complexity brought about by IFRS adoption, and decreases with the improvement in financial reporting quality arising from IFRS adoption. Finally, we find some evidence that the IFRS-related audit fee premium is lower in countries with strong legal regimes. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.published_or_final_versio

Preparation of titanium dioxide (TiO<inf>2</inf>) from sludge produced by titanium tetrachloride (TiCl<inf>4</inf>) flocculation of wastewater

Sludge disposal is one of the most costly and environmentally problematic challenges of modern wastewater treatment worldwide. In this study, a new process was developed, which has a significant potential for lower cost of waste disposal, protection of the environment and public health, and yield of economically useful byproducts. Titanium oxide (TiO2), which is the most widely used metal oxide, was produced from the wastewater sludge generated by the flocculation of secondary wastewater with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4). Detailed analyses were conducted to compare TiCl 4, ferric chloride (FeCl3), and aluminum sulfate (Al 2(SO4)3) flocculation. Removal of organic matter and different molecular sizes by Ti-salt flocculation was similar to that of the most widely used Fe- and Al-salt flocculation. The mean size of Ti-, Fe-, and Al-salt flocs was 47.5, 42.5, and 16.9 μm, respectively. The decantability of the settled flocs by TiCl4 coagulant was similar to that by FeCl3 coagulant and much higher than that of Al 2(SO4)3. The photocatalyst from wastewater (PFW) produced by TiCl4 flocculation was characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray, transmission electron microscopy, photocatalytic activity, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The resulting PFW was found to be superior to commercial TiO2 (P-25) in terms of photocatalytic activity and surface area. The PFW was also found to be mainly doped with C and P atoms. The atomic percentage of the PFW was TiO1.42C0.44P 0.14. © 2007 American Chemical Society

Soft x-ray resonant magneto-optical Kerr effect as a depth-sensitive probe of magnetic heterogeneity: Its application to resolve helical spin structures using linear p polarization

We have calculated the soft x-ray resonant Kerr intensities as a function of the incident grazing angle of linearly p-polarized waves from the model spin structures, where the chirality (handedness) of the spin spirals (twist in depth) in a magnetic layer and the periodicity of a unit spiral are designed to vary. Variations in the chirality and the periodicity lead to noticeable changes in the Kerr intensity versus the grazing angle, which is due not only to a large sensitivity of the Kerr intensity of the linear p polarization to both the magnitude and direction of the transverse components of magnetizations, but also to a large dependence of the depth sensitivity on the grazing angle at the resonance regions. The measurement and analysis of the specular Kerr intensity are relatively straightforward in determining the inhomogeneous spin structures in depth, compared to those of the Kerr rotation and ellipticity. This is proven to be a convenient and useful probe to determine the handedness of spin spiral structures, as well as to resolve the detailed magnetic heterostructures in depth in ultrathin-layered films.open4

Magnetoresistive biosensors with on-chip pulsed excitation and magnetic correlated double sampling.

Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors have been shown to be among the most sensitive biosensors reported. While high-density and scalable sensor arrays are desirable for achieving multiplex detection, scalability remains challenging because of long data acquisition time using conventional readout methods. In this paper, we present a scalable magnetoresistive biosensor array with an on-chip magnetic field generator and a high-speed data acquisition method. The on-chip field generators enable magnetic correlated double sampling (MCDS) and global chopper stabilization to suppress 1/f noise and offset. A measurement with the proposed system takes only 20 ms, approximately 50× faster than conventional frequency domain analysis. A corresponding time domain temperature correction technique is also presented and shown to be able to remove temperature dependence from the measured signal without extra measurements or reference sensors. Measurements demonstrate detection of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) at a signal level as low as 6.92 ppm. The small form factor enables the proposed platform to be portable as well as having high sensitivity and rapid readout, desirable features for next generation diagnostic systems, especially in point-of-care (POC) settings

Accounting conservatism and bankruptcy risk

Date posted: June 6, 2010 ; Last revised: July 14, 2015This study examines the relation between accounting conservatism and bankruptcy risk using a large sample of U.S listed firms from fiscal year 1989 to 2007. We present evidence that unconditional and conditional conservatism generally mitigate subsequent bankruptcy risk by creating cushions for bad times and reducing information asymmetry about bad news. We identify two channels for accounting conservatism to mitigate bankruptcy risk: enhancing cash holdings and constraining earnings management. The effect of accounting conservatism does not change for firms with extreme distress and income smoothing, but weakens for firms with debt contracts referenced by credit default swaps (CDS), consistent with CDS lowering debtholder monitoring. Results are robust to reverse causality, relations between unconditional and conditional conservatism, and alternative measures of bankruptcy risk and accounting conservatism. These findings extend research on accounting conservatism, bankruptcy risk and debt contracting, and help inform debates regarding conservatism's role as a pervasive property and long-standing tenet of financial accounting.postprin

Adaptive Horizon Model Predictive Control and Al'brekht's Method

A standard way of finding a feedback law that stabilizes a control system to an operating point is to recast the problem as an infinite horizon optimal control problem. If the optimal cost and the optmal feedback can be found on a large domain around the operating point then a Lyapunov argument can be used to verify the asymptotic stability of the closed loop dynamics. The problem with this approach is that is usually very difficult to find the optimal cost and the optmal feedback on a large domain for nonlinear problems with or without constraints. Hence the increasing interest in Model Predictive Control (MPC). In standard MPC a finite horizon optimal control problem is solved in real time but just at the current state, the first control action is implimented, the system evolves one time step and the process is repeated. A terminal cost and terminal feedback found by Al'brekht's methoddefined in a neighborhood of the operating point is used to shorten the horizon and thereby make the nonlinear programs easier to solve because they have less decision variables. Adaptive Horizon Model Predictive Control (AHMPC) is a scheme for varying the horizon length of Model Predictive Control (MPC) as needed. Its goal is to achieve stabilization with horizons as small as possible so that MPC methods can be used on faster and/or more complicated dynamic processes.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1602.0861

Visible light responsive titanium dioxide (TiO<inf>2</inf>)

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most researched semiconductor oxides that has revolutionised technologies in the field of environmental purification and energy generation. It has found extensive applications in heterogenous photocatalysis for removing organic pollutants from air and water and also in hydrogen production from photocatalytic water-splitting. Its use is popular because of its low cost, low toxicity, high chemical and thermal stability, But one of the critical limitations of TiO 2 as photocatalyst is its poor response to visible light. Several attempts have been made to modify the surface and electronic structures of TiO2 to enhance its activity in the visible light region such as noble metal deposition, metal ion loading, cationic and anionic doping and sensitisation, Most of the results improved photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation. This paper attempts to review and update some of the information on the TiO2 photocatalytic technology and its accomplishment towards visible light region

Atomic-scale depth selectivity of soft x-ray resonant Kerr effect

A study was performed to demonstrate that soft x-ray Kerr rotation, ??K, versus incident grazing angle, ??, and energy, hv, measurements provide an extremely large depth selectivity on the atomic scales even in an ultrathin single layer, simply by choosing appropriate ?? and hv around the resonant regions. Both the experimental and simulation results of ?? vs ??K measurements were considered for depth-varying magnetization reversals in a 3.5-nm-thick Co layer of NiFe/FeMn/Co/Pd films.open161