Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Determinants of Optimism in Financial Analyst Earnings Forecasts: The Effect of the Market's Ability to Adjust for the Bias

This paper examines whether the documented bias in analyst earnings forecasts is intentional by examining whether it is related to the market's ability to adjust for this bias. For intentional bias to exist it is not enough for analysts to face incentives but rather, analysts should also be willing to respond to these incentives. As the market's ability to adjust for the bias increases, its market effects decrease while analyst reputation costs increase reducing analyst willingness to bias their forecasts. The paper utilizes a firm-specific design that allows for both the bias component of the forecast error and the market's ability to adjust for the bias to be computed at the firm level. Results suggest that even though forecast error is positive in the latter part of the period under review reflecting overall analyst pessimism, the bias embedded in the forecasts is optimistic throughout the period. More importantly, I find that analyst forecast bias is decreasing in the market's ability to adjust for it. This result provides further evidence that analysts knowingly bias their forecasts and provides support for the existence of reporting bias, in particular. Thus, the evidence provides justification for recent regulatory efforts to increase the objectivity of analyst research reports.
Enriching Data Imputation with Extensive Similarity Neighbors

Incomplete information often occur along with many database applications, e.g., in data integration, data cleaning or data exchange. The idea of data imputation is to fill the missing data with the values of its neighbors who share the same information. Such neighbors could either be identified certainly by editing rules or statistically by relational dependency networks. Unfortunately, owing to data sparsity, the number of neighbors (identified w.r.t. value equality) is rather limited, especially in the presence of data values with variances. In this paper, we argue to extensively enrich similarity neighbors by similarity rules with tolerance to small variations. More fillings can thus be acquired that the aforesaid equality neighbors fail to reveal. To fill the missing values more, we study the problem of maximizing the missing data imputation. Our major contributions include (1) the np-hardness analysis on solving and approximating the problem, (2) exact algorithms for tackling the problem, and (3) efficient approximation with performance guarantees. Experiments on real and synthetic data sets demonstrate that the filling accuracy can be improved.
The Meaning Factory: Formal Semantics for Recognizing Textual Entailment and Determining Semantic Similarity

Shared Task 1 of SemEval-2014 comprised two subtasks on the same dataset of sentence pairs: recognizing textual entailment and determining textual similarity. We used an existing system based on formal semantics and logical inference to participate in the first subtask, reaching an accuracy of 82%, ranking in the top 5 of more than twenty participating systems. For determining semantic similarity we took a supervised approach using a variety of features, the majority of which was produced by our system for recognizing textual entailment. In this subtask our system achieved a mean squared error of 0.322, the best of all participating systems.
Phosphorylation and Alanine-76 Contribute to α-Synuclein ’ s Plasma Membrane Binding and Aggregation

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease, which afflicts nearly 4 million people worldwide. The hallmark symptom of PD is the formation of Lewy bodies containing aggregated, phosphorylated, and membrane phospholipid associated α-synuclein. The molecular determinants for α-synuclein aggregation and membrane association are still unknown. Past studies suggest that alanine-76 and phosphorylation at serines 87 and 129 may contribute to aggregation and membrane-association, which we tested here in two yeast models. By studying phosphorylation mutants (S87D and S129D), we found evidence that phosphorylation increases α-synuclein plasma membrane association in budding yeast and intracellular vesicular aggregation in fission yeast. Study of an A76R and A76E mutant demonstrated that this site promotes α-synuclein membrane association in budding yeast and aggregation in fission yeast, but the extent of aggregation is sensitive to the charge of the side chain. Thus, both yeast models help illuminate the molecular basis of α-synuclein pathology.
Regulatory Scientific Advice on Non-Inferiority Drug Trials

The active-controlled trial with a non-inferiority design has gained popularity in recent years. However, non-inferiority trials present some methodological challenges, especially in determining the non-inferiority margin. Regulatory guidelines provide some general statements on how a non-inferiority trial should be conducted. Moreover, in a scientific advice procedure, regulators give companies the opportunity to discuss critical trial issues prior to the start of the trial. The aim of this study was to identify potential issues that may benefit from more explicit guidance by regulators. To achieve this, we collected and analyzed questions about non-inferiority trials posed by applicants for scientific advice in Europe in 2008 and 2009, as well as the responses given by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In our analysis we included 156 final letters of advice from 2008 and 2009, addressed to 94 different applicants (manufacturers). Our analysis yielded two major findings: (1) applicants frequently asked questions ‘whether’ and ‘how’ to conduct a non-inferiority trial, 26% and 74%, respectively, and (2) the EMA regulators seem mainly concerned about the choice of the non-inferiority margin in non-inferiority trials (36% of total regulatory answers). In 40% of the answers, the EMA recommended using a stricter margin, and in 10% of the answers regarding non-inferiority margins, the EMA questioned the justification of the proposed non-inferiority margin. We conclude that there are still difficulties in selecting the appropriate methodology for non-inferiority trials. Straightforward and harmonized guidance regarding non-inferiority trials is required, for example on whether it is necessary to conduct such a trial and how the non-inferiority margin is determined. It is unlikely that regulatory guidelines can cover all therapeutic areas; therefore, in some cases regulatory scientific advice may be used as an opportunity for tailored advice.
The Perception of Dynamic and Static Facial Expressions of Happiness and Disgust Investigated by ERPs and fMRI Constrained Source Analysis

A recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study by our group demonstrated that dynamic emotional faces are more accurately recognized and evoked more widespread patterns of hemodynamic brain responses than static emotional faces. Based on this experimental design, the present study aimed at investigating the spatio-temporal processing of static and dynamic emotional facial expressions in 19 healthy women by means of multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG), event-related potentials (ERP) and fMRI-constrained regional source analyses. ERP analysis showed an increased amplitude of the LPP (late posterior positivity) over centro-parietal regions for static facial expressions of disgust compared to neutral faces. In addition, the LPP was more widespread and temporally prolonged for dynamic compared to static faces of disgust and happiness. fMRI constrained source analysis on static emotional face stimuli indicated the spatio-temporal modulation of predominantly posterior regional brain activation related to the visual processing stream for both emotional valences when compared to the neutral condition in the fusiform gyrus. The spatio-temporal processing of dynamic stimuli yielded enhanced source activity for emotional compared to neutral conditions in temporal (e.g., fusiform gyrus), and frontal regions (e.g., ventromedial prefrontal cortex, medial and inferior frontal cortex) in early and again in later time windows. The present data support the view that dynamic facial displays trigger more information reflected in complex neural networks, in particular because of their changing features potentially triggering sustained activation related to a continuing evaluation of those faces. A combined fMRI and EEG approach thus provides an advanced insight to the spatio-temporal characteristics of emotional face processing, by also revealing additional neural generators, not identifiable by the only use of an fMRI approach.
State building in Latin America

Introduction: the origins of state capacity in Latin America 1. The emergence of state-building projects 2. A theory of state-building success and failure 3. Alternative historical explanations and initial conditions 4. State projects, institutions, and educational development 5. Political costs, infrastructural obstacles, and tax state development 6. Local administration, varieties of conscription, and the development of coercive capacity 7. Conclusion.
Characterization of Sugarcane Mosaic Virus Scmv1 and Scmv2 Resistance Regions by Regional Association Analysis in Maize

Sugarcane Mosaic Virus (SCMV) causes one of the most severe virus diseases in maize worldwide, resulting in reduced grain and forage yield in susceptible cultivars. In this study, two association panels consisting of 94 inbred lines each, from China and the U.S., were characterized for resistance to two isolates: SCMV-Seehausen and SCMV-BJ. The population structure of both association panels was analyzed using 3072 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. The Chinese and the U.S. panel were both subdivided into two sub-populations, the latter comprised of Stiff Stalk Synthetic (SS) lines and Non Stiff Stalk Synthetic (NSS). The relative kinships were calculated using informative 2947 SNPs with minor allele frequency ≥ 5% and missing data ≤ 20% for the Chinese panel and 2841 SNPs with the same characteristics were used for the U.S. panel. The Scmv1 region was genotyped using 7 single sequence repeat (SSR) and sequence-tagged site (STS) markers, and 12 SSR markers were used for the Scmv2 region in the U.S. panel, while 5 of them were used for the Chinese panel. For all traits, a MLM (Mix Linear Model) controlling both population structure and relative kinship (Q + K) was used for association analysis. Three markers Trx-1, STS-11, and STS-12 located in the Scmv1 region were strongly associated (P = 0.001) with SCMV resistance, and explained more than 16.0%, 10.6%, and 19.7% of phenotypic variation, respectively. 207FG003 located in the Scmv2 region was significantly associated (P = 0.001) with SCMV resistance, and explained around 18.5% of phenotypic variation.
Citizenship, Gender, and Racial Differences in the Publishing Success of Graduate Students and Young Academics.

Although extensive research exists on the publishing success of academics, few studies have examined factors influencing the publishing success of graduate students and young academics. Data from a survey of 12,000 graduate students in the Humanities and related social sciences was used to examine citizenship, gender and racial/ethnic differences in publishing success during graduate school and the first three years after graduation. The results of this analysis indicate that international students have the highest publication rates during graduate school as well as in the first three years following receipt of degree. Results also indicate that female graduate students are less likely than male graduate students to publish, a gap that remains in the years following graduate school. Finally, results indicate that U.S. citizen minority students exhibit lower levels of publishing success compared with non-minority students during graduate school, but that this gap that disappears within the first few years after graduate school.
A New Improvement to the Ohlson (1995) Model: Empirical Evidence from Japan

This paper investigates the validity of the Ohlson (1995) information dynamics (Linear Information Model: LIM) and attempts to improve LIM. The difficulty concerning the empirical tests on LIM lies in identifying v, which denotes information other than abnormal earnings. Recent papers, such as Myers (1999), Hands and Landsman (1999), and Barth et al. (1999), all try to specify v by using various accounting information. Instead of tackling this difficult task, I circumvent it by dealing with serial correlation of the error terms that will be caused by omitting a necessary variable v from the regression equation. The results indicate it leads to the improvement on LIM. Key Words: Ohlson (1995) model; Information dynamics; Other information vt; Serial correlation; Durbin's alternative test; GLS
Abnormal emotion processing, but intact fairness and intentionality considerations during social decision-making in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that is highly characterized by social cognitive impairments. Most studies investigating these impairments focus on one specific social domain such as emotion recognition. However, in daily life, processing complex social situations relies on the combination of several social cognitive and affective processes simultaneously rather than one process alone. A modified version of the economically based Ultimatum Game was used to measure the interplay between fairness, intentionality, and emotion considerations during social decision-making. In this task, participants accept or reject fair and unfair monetary offers proposed intentionally or unintentionally by either angry, happy, neutral, or sad proposers. Behavioral data was collected from a group of schizophrenia patients (N = 35) and a group of healthy individuals (N = 30). Like healthy participants, schizophrenia patients differentiated between fair and unfair offers by rejecting unfair offers more compared to fair offers. However, overall patients did reject more fair offers, indicating that their construct of fairness operates within different margins. In both groups, intentional unfair offers were rejected more compared to unintentional ones, indicating a normal integration of intentionality considerations in schizophrenia. Importantly, healthy subjects also differentiated between proposers’ emotion when rejecting unfair offers (more rejections from proposers depicting angry faces compared to proposers depicting, happy, neutral, or sad faces). Schizophrenia patients’ decision behavior on the other hand, was not affected by the proposers’ emotions. The current study thus shows that schizophrenia patients have specific problems with processing and integrating emotional information. Importantly, the finding that patients display normal fairness and intentionality considerations emphasizes preservation of central social cognitive processes in schizophrenia.
Approximate Analysis of Central Server Models

Service time distributions at computer processing units are often nonexponential. Empirical studies show that different programs may have markedly different processing time requirements. When queuing disciplines are first come, first served, preemptive priority or nonpreemptive priority, models reflecting these characteristics are difficult to analyze exactly. Available approximate techniques are often too expensive for parametric analysis. Inexpensive approximate techniques for solution of central server models with the above characteristics are presented. Ther esults of these techniques are validated with simulation results.
A Logarithmic Quantization Index Modulation for Perceptually Better Data Hiding

In this paper, a novel arrangement for quantizer levels in the Quantization Index Modulation (QIM) method is proposed. Due to perceptual advantages of logarithmic quantization, and in order to solve the problems of a previous logarithmic quantization-based method, we used the compression function of ¿ -Law standard for quantization. In this regard, the host signal is first transformed into the logarithmic domain using the ¿ -Law compression function. Then, the transformed data is quantized uniformly and the result is transformed back to the original domain using the inverse function. The scalar method is then extended to vector quantization. For this, the magnitude of each host vector is quantized on the surface of hyperspheres which follow logarithmic radii. Optimum parameter ¿ for both scalar and vector cases is calculated according to the host signal distribution. Moreover, inclusion of a secret key in the proposed method, similar to the dither modulation in QIM, is introduced. Performance of the proposed method in both cases is analyzed and the analytical derivations are verified through extensive simulations on artificial signals. The method is also simulated on real images and its performance is compared with previous scalar and vector quantization-based methods. Results show that this method features stronger a watermark in comparison with conventional QIM and, as a result, has better performance while it does not suffer from the drawbacks of a previously proposed logarithmic quantization algorithm.
Weight loss in people with Alzheimer's disease: a prospective population based analysis

Objectives: To study the ictal phenomenology, aetiology, and outcome of convulsions occurring within seconds of impact in violent collision sport. Design: Retrospective identification of convulsions associated with concussive brain injury from case records from medical officers of football clubs over a 15 year period. Subjects: Elite Australian rules and rugby league footballers. Main outcome measures: Neuroimaging studies, electroencephalography, neuropsychological test data, and statistics on performance in matches to determine presence of structural or functional brain injury. Clinical follow up and electroencephalography for evidence of epilepsy. Results: Twenty two cases of concussive convulsions were identified with four events documented on television videotape. Convulsions began within 2 seconds of impact and comprised an initial period of tonic stiffening followed by myoclonic jerks of all limbs lasting up to 150 seconds. Some asymmetry in the convulsive manifestations was common, and recovery of consciousness was rapid. No structural or permanent brain injury was present on clinical assessment, neuropsychological testing, or neuroimaging studies. All players returned to elite competition within two weeks of the incident. Epilepsy did not develop in any player over a mean (range) follow up of 3.5 (1-13) years. Conclusions: These concussive or impact convulsions are probably a non-epileptic phenomenon, somewhat akin to convulsive syncope. The mechanism may be a transient traumatic functional decerebration. In concussive convulsions the outcome is universally good, antiepileptic treatment is not indicated, and prolonged absence from sport is unwarranted.
Modeling programmable logic controllers for logic verification

Verification method has been developed for determining the safety and operability of programmable logic controller (PLC) based systems. The method automatically checks sequential logic embedded in PLCs and provides counterexamples if it finds errors. The method consists of a system model, assertions, and a model checker. The model is a Boolean-based representation of a PLC's behavior. Assertions are questions about the behavior of the system, expressed in temporal logic. The model checker generates a state space based on the above two inputs, searches the space efficiently, determines the consistency of the model and assertions, and supplies counterexamples. A modeling technique has been developed to verify relay ladder logic (RLL), a PLC programming language. The performance of the model checker is studied in a series of alarm designs. <<ETX>>
Bridewell Legal Advice Study: adopting a 'whole-systems' appraoch to police station legal advice

The Bridewell Legal Advice Study was intended to improve access to legal advice by basing duty solicitors in a large city centre police station. Implications for legal advice, for changing relations between the police and the defence, and in improving the pre-charge process were examined. The study examines issues concerning the take-up of legal advice, duration and case outcomes, as well as police disclosure and the quality of pre-charge decision-making. Also highlighted were issues concerning positive policing practices and implciations for using police custody as a form of social control.
Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Cytotoxic, and Anti-Inflammatory Potential of the Leaves of Solanum lycocarpum A. St. Hil. (Solanaceae)

Ethanol extract and fractions obtained from leaves of Solanum lycocarpum were examined in order to determine their phenolic composition, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic potential. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with DAD analysis indicated that the flavonoids apigenin and kaempferol were the main phenolic compounds present in dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions, respectively. The antioxidant activity was significantly more pronounced for dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and hydroethanol fractions than that of the commercial antioxidant 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol. The hexane and dichloromethane fractions were more active against the tested bacteria. The hydroethanol fraction exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity at the dose of 75 and 150 mg/kg in the later phase of inflammation. However, the antiedematogenic effect of the higher dose of the ethyl acetate fraction (150 mg/kg) was more pronounced. The ethyl acetate fraction also presented a less cytotoxic effect than the ethanol extract and other fractions. These activities found in S. lycocarpum leaves can be attributed, at least in part, to the presence of phenolic constituents such as flavonoids. This work provided the knowledge of phenolic composition in the extract and fractions and the antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic activities of leaves of S. lycocarpum.
Exploiting user profile information for answer ranking in cQA

Answer ranking is very important for cQA services due to the high variance in the quality of answers. Most existing works in this area focus on using various features or employing machine learning techniques to address this problem. Only a few of them noticed and involved user profile information in this particular task. In this work, we assume the close relationship between user profile information and the quality of their answers under the ground truth that user information records the user behaviors and histories as a summary. Thus, we exploited the effectiveness of three categories of user profile information, i.e. engagement-related, authority-related and level-related, on answer ranking in cQA. Different from previous work, we only employed the information which is easy to extract without any limitations, such as user privacy. Experimental results on Yahoo! Answers manner questions showed that our system by using the user profile information achieved comparable or even better results over the state-of-the-art baseline system. Moreover, we found that the picture existence of a user in cQA community contributed more than other information in the answer ranking task.