It\u27s a Matter of Principle: The Role of Personal Values in Investment Decisions

We investigate the role of personal values in an investment decision in a controlled experimental setting. Participants were asked to choose an investment in a bond issued by a tobacco company or a bond issued by a non-tobacco company that offered an equal or sometimes lower yield. We then surveyed the participants regarding their feelings toward tobacco use to determine whether these values influenced their investment decision. Using factor analysis, we identified investment- and tobacco-related dimensions on which participants’ responses tended to load. Two of these factors, relating to the societal impact of investment decisions and the health effects of tobacco, were highly significant in determining whether participants selected a tobacco or non-tobacco related investment. More importantly, we found that when the rate of return on a tobacco-related investment exceeds the rate of return on an investment not involving tobacco by 1%, the intensity of participant concerns about the societal effects of their investment decisions was especially important in determining investment choices. This finding indicates that traditional wealth-maximization approaches, which do not consider the personal values of the investor, omit an important factor that affects investment decisions

Determination of output composition in reaction-advection-diffusion systems on network reactors

We consider reaction-transport processes in open reactors in which systems of first order reactions involving a number of gas species and solid catalysts can occur at localized active regions. Reaction products flow out of the reactor into vacuum conditions and are collected at an exit boundary. The output composition problem (OCP) is to determine the composition (molar fractions) of the collected gas after the reactor is fully emptied. We provide a solution to this problem in the form of a boundary-value problem for a system of time-independent partial differential equations. We then consider network-like reactors, which can be approximated by a network consisting of a collection of nodes and 1-dimensional branches, with reactions taking place at nodes. For these, it is possible to solve the OCP in a simple and effective way, giving explicit formulas for the output composition as a function of the reaction coefficients and parameters associated with the geometric configuration of the system. Several examples are given to illustrate the method

Expanding the Repertoire of the Harp: Adaptations, Transcriptions, and Alterations

Harpists are often associated with thoughts of peace, love, angels, and tranquility. While playing the harp can evoke these feelings, preparing the music is a task that is anything but. Enharmonic spellings, assigning fingerings, and strategically placing mufflings are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to preparing music for the harp. Whether the music is originally written for the harp or not, there is a long process that must happen before a piece can be effectively rehearsed with other musicians. While every instrument has its idiosyncrasies and complexities, the harp is a special beast. Forty-seven strings, 7 foot pedals, and only eight fingers, it takes a special kind of person to submit to the daunting instrument. While a majority of the repertoire for solo harp is idiomatic, much of the orchestral repertoire is awkwardly written and requires some sort of editing

Accounting Firm Internet Sites That Work (And Those That Do Not)

Gives advice to accounting firms in creating and maintaining an effective Internet site. Items commonly found on the accounting firm Internet sites; Suggestions in building an Internet site; Most important aspect of Internet site content

Determination of output composition in reaction-advection-diffusion systems and improving language model performance with Re-Tuning

There are 2 main subjects studied in this thesis. The first is on modeling chemical reactions. We formulate the problem of determining how much product is formed from a reactor and model this problem using metric graphs. We develop an efficient method to explicitly solve the problem on metric graphs. We work through examples by hand and with code to solve the problem. The second subject is a novel method to improve language model performance on compositional tasks. Our method teaches a language model to break a given problem into different subproblems, create prompts for these, and then solve the subproblems in separate contexts. The model uses the solutions of the subproblems to return the solution to the original problem given to the model. This method improves performance on 3 common tasks in the length generalization literature

Silicon Valley Meets Norwalk

The article discusses financial reporting issues raised by the U. S. corporations in the increasing use of the Internet. The Internet is affecting traditional statements and audits as companies explore online options. Financial information is now easily available online, creating a new readership. CPAs must consider how to help make this information useful to the expanded public. Companies need to identify who will use their sites and provide appropriate features. Search engines help users connect information from all over a given Web site. Analysts may want to download financials into spreadsheets

The Internet: Changing the Way Corporations Tell Their Story

Discusses the effect of technological changes in the dissemination of financial information. Potential of the Internet to change the way decision makers can use the information; Future of financial disclosure

The Incorporation of Novel Water-Soluble Potato Protein Extract in Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) Fillets Through Brine Injection Technology to Improve Quality

Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) is one of the most abundant fisheries on the American west coast. However, these fish are historically underutilized due to quality issues resulting from fillet softening that occurs as a result of both endogenous and exogenous (Myxosporidian parasite infection) cathepsin protease action during either storage (cathepsin B or H) or cooking (cathepsin L). As a result, fillets from Pacific whiting have struggled to find a domestic market. Currently, Pacific whiting is either converted into a mince that is utilized to produce surimi or sold as headed and gutted fish in foreign markets. A higher value product that is more common in the US market is the fresh or frozen fillet. As a result, research is needed to understand how to limit protease action in Pacific whiting fillets. Most of the research focused on limiting the proteolytic action of cathepsin proteases in Pacific whiting has been in surimi. Ingredients that have been blended into surimi to prevent protein degradation have included beef plasma protein, whey protein, egg white (EW), and potato extract (PE). The literature on incorporation of protease inhibiting ingredients through marinade (brine) injection directly into a fillet is limited. Previous work, in this laboratory, evaluated benchtop marinade injection of Pacific whiting fillets with 1, 2 or 3% EW or a crude (80% protein) acidified and non-acidified potato protein extracts were developed (Avebe, Veendam, Netherlands). The focus of this project was to determine their potential for use as a cathepsin enzyme inhibitory ingredient for marinade injection of Pacific whiting fillets. A preliminary study was conducted to determine both solubility and cathepsin enzyme inhibitory activity of refined, high protein content (>80%) non-acidified and acidified potato protein extracts. Solubility was evaluated by incorporating non-acidified or acidified extract into BB. Results indicated acidified extract was highly soluble and the non-acidified extract was only partially suspended. The acidified potato protein extract (PPE) was therefore selected for all subsequent evaluations. Cathepsin inhibitory activity was evaluated using Pacific whiting with visible parasitic infection as infected fish have heightened enzymatic levels. For the first experiment PPE, EW, or PE was incorporated into a BB at a concentration of 3%. Treated BB was incorporated into fish mince at a 10% by weight level. Cathepsin L activity was significantly (p EW > PE. The experiment was repeated using only PPE at 1.5%, 2.25%, and 3% concentrations. Results indicated no significant differences in the reduction of cathepsin L activity between the concentration levels. As a result, PPE was subsequently evaluated at even lower concentrations of 1%, 0.5% and 0.1%. All inhibitor concentrations showed similar cathepsin L activity reductions. Finally, the experiment was repeated using 0.1% PPE with cathepsin B, H and L activity measurements being obtained. The PPE treatment significantly reduced cathepsin B and L activity, but not cathepsin H. Results suggested that PPE is an alternative to PE for the inhibition of cathepsin proteases in Pacific whiting. The second study evaluated Pacific whiting fillets injected with 0.1% PPE in BB. Fillets injected with BB were utilized as the control treatment. Protein functionality was assessed through 0, 3, 6, and 12 freeze-thaw (F/T) cycles (1 cycle: 48-hour freeze at -18 °C followed by 24-hour thaw at 4 °C) designed to mimic long term storage. Tests applied included, non-cooked/cooked color and cooked fillet texture. Treatment with PPE did not have a significant effect on pH, drip loss, water holding capacity, cook loss, lipid peroxidation, protein solubility, surface hydrophobicity, or sulfhydryl groups. However, drip loss (p value < 0.05), cook loss (p value = 0.00046), lipid peroxidation (p value < 0.05), protein solubility (p value < 0.05), surface hydrophobicity (p value < 0.05), and sulfhydryl groups (p value < 0.05) did vary significantly due to F/T cycle treatment. Some variables did not behave as expected when assessing treatment within F/T groups, including water holding capacity, protein solubility, surface hydrophobicity, and sulfhydryl groups. The stabilization of water holding capacity and lack of change in protein solubility as F/T cycles increased could indicate some cryogenic protection added from phosphate addition in both brine treatments. Sudden decreases in surface hydrophobicity in early F/T cycles could indicate early formation of hydrophobic bonds. Low initial sulfhydryl content in F/T 0 shows evidence of disulfide bond formation masking free sulfhydryl group content. Color change was not visibly different in raw or cooked products between treatments or F/T cycles, but colorimeter measurement found that in cooked products, generally PPE treated fillets had significantly lower L* (p value < 0.05), hue (p value = 0.048), and chroma (p value = 0.026) meaning PPE treated fillets were darker overall. Texture profile analysis found the only variable impacted by brine treatment was hardness (p value = 0.038). The PPE treated fillets showed significantly firmer texture in F/T cycle 0. However, BB treated fillets showed similar firmness to PPE by F/T group 3 likely due to an increase in drip loss. Addition of PPE also resulted in more consistent readings (as indicated by lower standard deviations) for all texture variables throughout F/T cycles. Based on results from tests assessing protein functionality (cook loss, drip loss, WHC, protein solubility, surface hydrophobicity, TBARS, and sulfhydryl groups), there was no evidence to suggest that PPE improved these measures of protein functionality at the 0.1 % level in BB. However, PPE is a good inhibitor of cathepsin L and B at low concentrations and results in more consistent texture measures, minimal color change, and firmer initial texture. Moving forward, it would be interesting to determine whether PPE could work synergistically with ingredients that enhance protein-protein interactions and cooked protein gel formation