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Using returns of 4,916 stocks from 22 developed countries and 15 developing countries, this study examines the relative magnitude of conditional volatility and the international market systematic risk of stock prices in countries at different developmental stages and in various geographical areas. Consistent with the finding of Bekaert et al. (2008), the results of non-parametric Mann-Whitney tests suggest that the stock prices in emerging markets are riskier than the ones in developed countries, measured by both conditional volatility and global beta. Our empirical findings also support the geographical variation in stock risks. Specifically, the equity values in Southeast Asia, South Europe, and Latin America are more volatile than the rest of the world. Similar results can be found in the country-level tests. The time-series analysis suggests that the stock returns in high risk countries tend to be less volatile but the conditional volatility of stock return in less risky countries leans to increase.

Objective and accurate evaluation of patients who underwent lower limb operation is important in determining a proper rehabilitation process according to the patient's recovery status. Gait symmetry analysis is a common protocol that is used to evaluate lower limb function; however, most studies have focused only on the terminal symmetry of lower limb during gait motion and were unable to provide information about detailed motions of the whole leg. To more accurately analyze mutual symmetry of the left and right leg during gait motion, measurement of motions of the whole left and right leg including the pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle is required. Eight patients (mean [standard deviation]: age = 22.87 [6.05] years; height = 167.81 [5.86] cm; weight = 629.52 [133.63] Newtons) who underwent limbsalvage surgery and eight normal volunteers (age = 28.87 [3.79] years; height = 167 [8.36] cm; weight = 657.46 [157.02] Newtons) participated in this study. Using motion capture cameras arranged around each subject, real-time gait motion of each participant was recorded and moving trajectories of 12 submotion elements were extracted. Mutual symmetry of the motion between the left and right leg was then calculated using a Pearson correlation method, while a nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was performed for group comparison. Experimental results showed that the moving trajectories of the left and right leg were similar in the normal group (r = 0.8114[0.22]) but were critically different in the patient group (r = 0.624286[0.15]). In addition, there was statistically significant difference (p = 0.0162) in gait symmetry between the normal group and the patient group (95% confidence level). We conclude that the proposed protocol can provide a useful evaluation tool for patient recovery condition and that it could be helpful in establishing an effective postoperative treatment protocol for lower limb patients.

The due process of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) enables interested parties to comment on the development of new IFRS. Unsurprisingly, different advocacy groups have very different perspectives and interests. For example, businesses are more likely to be interested in “user-friendly” rules, whereas standard-setters and academics tend to prefer theoretically coherent standards.

This paper analyzes the response behavior of different advocacy groups using the example of lease accounting reform whereas leasing seems to be a promising example. First, to analyze the response behavior, five different advocacy groups are defined. The 657 comment letters submitted for the Re-Exposure Draft “Leases” are then assigned to these five advocacy groups. The Re-Exposure Draft formulates questions about different aspects of the new standard and asks for comments regarding these aspects. Next, the response behavior of the different advocacy groups with respect to the most relevant questions is examined quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analysis uses the Kruskal–Wallis test (H-test) and the Mann–Whitney test (U-test) to evaluate the response behavior. The main result of the study is that the response behavior to various questions differs significantly between advocacy groups. In particular, it is shown that the response behavior differs drastically between more “user-oriented” and more “theoretically oriented” advocacy groups.