Abstract:In this paper, the biosynthesis process of phenolic compounds in plants is summarized, which includes the shikimate, pentose phosphate and phenylpropanoid pathways. Plant phenolic compounds can act as antioxidants, structural polymers (lignin), attractants (flavonoids and carotenoids), UV screens (flavonoids), signal compounds (salicylic acid and flavonoids) and defense response chemicals (tannins and phytoalexins). From a human physiological standpoint, phenolic compounds are vital in defense responses, such as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities. Therefore, it is beneficial to eat such plant foods that have a high antioxidant compound content, which will cut down the incidence of certain chronic diseases, for instance diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular diseases, through the management of oxidative stress. Furthermore, berries and other fruits with low-amylase and high-glucosidase inhibitory activities could be regarded as candidate food items in the control of the early stages of hyperglycemia associated with type 2 diabetes.

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This article investigates the way in which political connections impact auditor choice. Using a political connection index constructed based on the bureaucratic ranks of executive managers and board members in Chinese private sector firms, we find that for firms with weak political connections, the likelihood of hiring high-quality auditors increases with the degree of political connectedness, while it decreases with political connectedness for firms with strong political connections. This inverse U-shaped relationship is particularly pronounced for firms with ownership structures that intensify agency problems. Finally, we find that political connections and accounting transparency also have an inverse U-shaped relationship.

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This paper introduces an evolving network model of credit risk contagion containing the average fitness of credit risk contagion, the risk aversion sentiments, and the ability of resist risk of credit risk holders. We discuss the effects of the aforementioned factors on credit risk contagion in the financial market through a series of theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. We find that, on one hand, the infected path distribution of the network gradually increases with the increase in the average fitness of credit risk contagion and the risk aversion sentiments of nodes, but gradually decreases with the increase in the ability to resist risk of nodes. On the other hand, the average fitness of credit risk contagion and the risk aversion sentiments of nodes increase the average clustering coefficient of nodes, whereas the ability to resist risk of nodes decreases this coefficient. Moreover, network size also decreases the average clustering coefficient.

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