Short-term competition and long-term convergence between domestic and global rating agencies: Evidence from China.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tian W
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7241749 | biostudies-literature | 2020
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Short-term competition and long-term convergence between domestic and global rating agencies: Evidence from China.
Tian Wei W Zhou Xiangyun X Tian Yixiang Y Meng Wei W
PloS one 20200521 5
This article adds to the existing literature on global rating agencies (GRAs, i.e., the S&P, Moody's, and Fitch) and domestic rating agencies (DRAs). In our research, we introduce the reputation, rating cost and rating accuracy of rating agencies to improve the Hotelling model. According to the theoretical analysis and empirical tests, the results show that the open policy of the Chinese rating industry contributes to higher rating quality in the domestic bond market. This open policy leads to r ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:This paper evaluates the numerical convergence of very short (1 h) simulations carried out with a spectral-element (SE) configuration of the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). While the horizontal grid spacing is fixed at approximately 110 km, the process-coupling time step is varied between 1800 and 1 s to reveal the convergence rate with respect to the temporal resolution. Special attention is paid to the behavior of the parameterized subgrid-scale physics. First, a dynamical core test with reduced dynamics time steps is presented. The results demonstrate that the experimental setup is able to correctly assess the convergence rate of the discrete solutions to the adiabatic equations of atmospheric motion. Second, results from full-physics CAM5 simulations with reduced physics and dynamics time steps are discussed. It is shown that the convergence rate is 0.4-considerably slower than the expected rate of 1.0. Sensitivity experiments indicate that, among the various subgrid-scale physical parameterizations, the stratiform cloud schemes are associated with the largest time-stepping errors, and are the primary cause of slow time step convergence. While the details of our findings are model specific, the general test procedure is applicable to any atmospheric general circulation model. The need for more accurate numerical treatments of physical parameterizations, especially the representation of stratiform clouds, is likely common in many models. The suggested test technique can help quantify the time-stepping errors and identify the related model sensitivities.
| S-EPMC5016774 | biostudies-other
Project description:The China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), which produces one-third of the world's cigarettes, is the largest tobacco company in the world. Over the past 60 years, the CNTC has been focused on supplying a huge domestic market. As the market has become increasingly saturated, and potential foreign competition looms, the company has turned to expansion abroad. This paper examines the ambitions and prospects of the CNTC to 'go global'. Using Chinese and English language sources, this paper describes the globalisation ambitions of the CNTC, and its global business strategy focused on internal restructuring, brand development and expansion of overseas operations in selected markets. The paper concludes that the company has undergone substantial change over the past two decades and is consequently poised to become a new global player in the tobacco industry. This article is part of the special issue 'The Emergence of Asian Tobacco Companies: Implications for Global Health Governance'.
| S-EPMC5553430 | biostudies-other
Project description:Protecting the environment and enhancing food security are among the world's Sustainable Development Goals and greatest challenges. International food trade is an important mechanism to enhance food security worldwide. Nonetheless, it is widely concluded that in international food trade importing countries gain environmental benefits, while exporting countries suffer environmental problems by using land and other resources to produce food for exports. Our study shows that international food trade can also lead to environmental pollution in importing countries. At the global level, our metaanalysis indicates that there was increased nitrogen (N) pollution after much farmland for domestically cultivated N-fixing soybeans in importing countries was converted to grow high N-demanding crops (wheat, corn, rice, and vegetables). The findings were further verified by an intensive study at the regional level in China, the largest soybean-importing country, where the conversion of soybean lands to corn fields and rice paddies has also led to N pollution. Our study provides a sharp contrast to the conventional wisdom that only exports contribute substantially to environmental woes. Our results suggest the need to evaluate environmental consequences of international trade of all other major goods and products in all importing countries, which have significant implications for fundamental rethinking in global policy-making and debates on environmental responsibilities among consumers, producers, and traders across the world.
| S-EPMC6003527 | biostudies-other
Project description:The continuously growing number of COVID-19 cases pressures healthcare services worldwide. Accurate short-term forecasting is thus vital to support country-level policy making. The strategies adopted by countries to combat the pandemic vary, generating different uncertainty levels about the actual number of cases. Accounting for the hierarchical structure of the data and accommodating extra-variability is therefore fundamental. We introduce a new modelling framework to describe the pandemic's course with great accuracy and provide short-term daily forecasts for every country in the world. We show that our model generates highly accurate forecasts up to seven days ahead and use estimated model components to cluster countries based on recent events. We introduce statistical novelty in terms of modelling the autoregressive parameter as a function of time, increasing predictive power and flexibility to adapt to each country. Our model can also be used to forecast the number of deaths, study the effects of covariates (such as lockdown policies), and generate forecasts for smaller regions within countries. Consequently, it has substantial implications for global planning and decision making. We present forecasts and make all results freely available to any country in the world through an online Shiny dashboard.
| S-EPMC8024267 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Although scoring and machine learning methods have been developed to predict patient deterioration, bedside assessment by nurses should not be overlooked. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of subjective bedside assessment of the patient by the rapid response team (RRT) nurses in predicting short-term patient deterioration. METHODS:Patients noticed by RRT nurses based on the vital sign instability, abnormal laboratory results, and direct contact via phone between November 1, 2016, and December 12, 2017, were included. Five RRT nurses visited the patients according to their shifts and assessed the possibility of patient deterioration. Patient acuity rating (PAR), a scale of 1-7, was used as the tool of bedside assessment. Other scores, including the modified early warning score, VitalPAC early warning score, standardised early warning score, and cardiac arrest risk triage, were calculated afterwards. The performance of these scores in predicting mortality and/or intensive care unit admission within 1 day was compared by calculating the area under the receiver operating curve. RESULTS:A total of 1,426 patients were included in the study, of which 258 (18.1%) died or were admitted to the intensive care unit within 1 day. The area under the receiver operating curve of PAR was 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.84-0.89), which was higher than those of modified early warning score (0.66, 95% CI 0.62-0.70), VitalPAC early warning score (0.69, 95% CI 0.66-0.73), standardised early warning score (0.67, 95% CI 0.63-0.70) and cardiac arrest risk triage (0.63, 95% CI 0.59-0.66) (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS:PAR assessed by RRT nurses can be a useful tool for assessing short-term patient prognosis in the RRT setting.
| S-EPMC6855430 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hyperthyroidism is a common endocrinopathy of domestic felines. In humans, toxic nodular goitre is pathophysiologically similar to feline hyperthyroidism and can be caused by chronically low or fluctuating dietary iodine intake. The aetiopathogenesis of feline hyperthyroidism is not known, but chronically low or fluctuating dietary iodine intake is likely common. This study assessed habitual iodine intake in domestic cats by: (1) conducting a dietary survey involving 361 owners of 549 cats, (2) analysing iodine content of 119 cat feeds, 38 urine and 64 hair samples and (3) assessing variation in iodine content of eight cat feeds over 4-6 different batches. Owners varied their cats feed regularly, usually on a day-to-day basis and often between wet and dry feeds with differing flavours. The majority (78%; 93 of 119) feeds for cats were within the guideline range for iodine. Of the 22% (n = 26 feeds) that were not compliant, the majority (n = 23) were below the nutritional minimum value with most (n = 16) being dry kibble. Iodine content of feeds did not vary considerably between types of feed or feed packaging, but variation between different batches of the same feed was 14-31%. Hence, urine iodine in cats also varied markedly. Cats being treated for hyperthyroidism had lower hair iodine. In conclusion, a survey assessing how domestic cats are fed, together with an analysis of commercial cat feeds suggests that domestic cats are likely to experience chronically low or fluctuating dietary iodine intake. The latter is supported by wide variation in urine iodine content.
| S-EPMC9148307 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInterest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address. Therefore, there is a clear need for educational interventions concerning these ethical issues.MethodsWe developed and evaluated an introductory curriculum, "Ethical Challenges in Short-term Global Health Training." The curriculum was developed through solicitation of actual ethical issues experienced by trainees and program leaders; content drafting; and external content review. It was then evaluated from November 1, 2011, through July 1, 2012, by analyzing web usage data and by conducting user surveys. The survey included basic demographic data; prior experience in global health and global health ethics; and assessment of cases within the curriculum.ResultsThe ten case curriculum is freely available at http://ethicsandglobalhealth.org. An average of 238 unique visitors accessed the site each month (standard deviation, 19). Of users who had been abroad before for global health training or service, only 31% reported prior ethics training related to short-term work. Most users (62%) reported accessing the site via personal referral or their training program; however, a significant number (28%) reported finding the site via web search, and 8% discovered it via web links. Users represented different fields: medicine (46%), public health (15%), and nursing (11%) were most common. All cases in the curriculum were evaluated favorably.ConclusionsThe curriculum is meeting a critical need for an introduction to the ethical issues in short-term global health training. Future work will integrate this curriculum within more comprehensive curricula for global health and evaluate specific knowledge and behavioral effects, including at training sites abroad.
| S-EPMC3598721 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Current prevention guidelines recommend using the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE) for 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. However, the PCE has serious limitations in older adults: it excludes heart failure (HF) hospitalization, estimates 10-year risk, which may not be the most relevant time frame, and is not indicated for individuals age >79 years. OBJECTIVES:This study sought to determine whether adding biomarkers to PCE variables improves global CVD (coronary heart disease, stroke, and HF) risk prediction in older adults over a shorter time period. METHODS:Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants without prevalent CVD including HF (n = 4,760; age 75.4 ± 5.1 years) were followed for incident global CVD events. Adding N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein to the PCE and a "lab model" with the biomarkers, age, race, and gender were assessed for prediction improvement. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and net reclassification index (NRI) were calculated. RESULTS:Over median follow-up of ?4 years, incident HF was the leading CVD event (n = 193 vs. 118 coronary heart disease and 81 stroke events). Compared to the PCE, each biomarker improved risk prediction. The largest improvement in risk prediction metrics was with the addition of all 3 biomarkers (?AUC 0.103; continuous NRI 0.484). The lab model also performed better than the PCE model (?AUC 0.091, continuous NRI 0.355). CONCLUSIONS:Adding biomarkers to the PCE or a simpler "lab model" improves short-term global CVD risk prediction and may be useful to inform short-term preventive strategies in older adults.
| S-EPMC5984171 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although European integration can be expected to result in mortality convergence (reduced mortality differences), a life expectancy divide persists in the European Union (EU) between the old Member States (OMS) in the west and the new Member States (NMS) in the east. Studies investigating the impact of European integration on mortality convergence are rare and did not consider regional differences. We examine the short-term effects of the 2004 enlargement on mortality convergence at the supranational, national, and subnational levels. Using sex-specific life expectancies for 23 Member States (1990-2017) and the NUTS 2 regions in Czechia, Hungary, and Poland for 1992-2016, we examined the trend in sigma and beta mortality convergence measures at the country and regional levels using joinpoint regression. We found no compelling evidence that EU accession influenced the process of mortality convergence between OMS and NMS, or within the three NMS, over the short term. While there was overall beta and sigma convergence at the national level during 1990-2017, no regional convergence showed, and the trends in convergence did not significantly change at the time of EU accession or soon after (2004-2007). The accession in 2004 did not visibly impact the overall process of mortality convergence over the short term, likely because of the greater influence of country and region-specific policies and characteristics. The interaction of Member State and regional contexts with the mechanisms of European integration requires further study. Future enlargement procedures should emphasise tailored support to ensure more equitable gains from European integration.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-021-09596-y.
| S-EPMC8575723 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Land use policies have turned southern China into one of the most intensively managed forest regions in the world, with actions maximizing forest cover on soils with marginal agricultural potential while concurrently increasing livelihoods and mitigating climate change. Based on satellite observations, here we show that diverse land use changes in southern China have increased standing aboveground carbon stocks by 0.11 ± 0.05 Pg C y-1 during 2002-2017. Most of this regional carbon sink was contributed by newly established forests (32%), while forests already existing contributed 24%. Forest growth in harvested forest areas contributed 16% and non-forest areas contributed 28% to the carbon sink, while timber harvest was tripled. Soil moisture declined significantly in 8% of the area. We demonstrate that land management in southern China has been removing an amount of carbon equivalent to 33% of regional fossil CO2 emissions during the last 6 years, but forest growth saturation, land competition for food production and soil-water depletion challenge the longevity of this carbon sink service.
| S-EPMC6949300 | biostudies-literature